New Camera!

Our new camera came and it couldn't be more perfect! The manual is Korean so we downloaded the English version and printed it up at school. I think we have already taken about 100 photos, so this blog will definitely be updated with lots of pictures in the very near future. We bought it used off a very popular ESL website for foreigners and got a great deal. You really have to go by the honor system here. We put the money directly into the seller's bank account via an ATM (reading Korean really came in handy!) and the next day the camera came! It felt like Christmas, especially because MaryAnne's mom sent a bunch of goodies from home including some much needed vitamins and crest whitening strips (something about this Korean food/water really discolors your teeth). This was a great day!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was a quiet weekend for us. We had intended to go to Seoul, but our colds/coughs seem to be lingering so we'll put it off until we're 100% better. We had a lot of fun though. We got a soccer ball and a puzzle, went over to a friend's apartment for some chili and board games and wandered around the city a bit.

Some interesting facts about Korea we just read:
1. Koreans rank near the bottom of the list for number of hours of sleep each night
2. Koreans rank at the top of the list of number of hours spent working and studying
3. Koreans rank 23rd out of 25th in terms of productivity

This is something we have noticed a lot. At E-Mart (Wal-Mart equivalent), there are 10 times more employees working. Actually, there are more employees everywhere. In the public washroom at E-Mart the other day, there was a group of 4 cleaning women sitting on the bathroom floor talking with each other.

Students go to so many academies and spend so many hours studying. We learned recently that although high school students go to school until midnight, they don't actually spend that time IN class. They just study at school. Koreans place a huge emphasis on math so from age 7 onwards, every student (who can afford it) goes to a math academy. Their math skills are amazing, but it all seems without purpose. Our 5th grade students can do high school math, but as my middle school students told me yesterday, they will never use it in everyday situations.

MaryAnne has a private class with a 10 year old boy once a week who is preparing for the SATs. This is a standardized test Americans take to get into college. We both have middle school students taking classes to prepare for standardized tests that they will probably never take.

Anyway, we hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving! We are getting a new camera this week so we should have lots of new photos to share next week.

Cheusok and Soccer

This weekend was Cheusok, the Korean Thanksgiving so we had an extra day off work, yet the weekend really seemed to fly by. It was relatively uneventful because I managed to get a throat infection and also many places were closed. On Friday, we went downtown and saw the movie "Fame" (one of the worst movies we've ever seen!) and did some shopping and then went over to our friends to play some board games (yes...life is very exciting!). Saturday was pretty much a write-off because I felt so sick and then on Sunday, we went to see a professional soccer game.

The soccer game was really fun. For some reason, you didn't have to pay to go in (usually the tickets are about $10 each). Also, you don't pay for parking and you can bring in your own food so really there is no cost. Everyone brings coolers with beer and food and even if you decide to buy drinks/food there, the cost is the same as it would be at the grocery store (or even less). I think a can of beer was about $1.50. We have never seen Koreans so excited and enthusiastic. The game ended in a tie, but it was really fun. It was also so hot. It's October 5th and we are still wearing tshirts, shorts and sandals.

We have a four day week and then we're headed to Seoul and will either stay one or two nights depending on how much there is to do.

We've been here two months now and can't believe there are still 10 months to go! We are definitely missing many things about home and wish we could come home for Thanksgiving!!

Also, we have both learned how to read and write in Korean which is sometimes useful if we actually know what the Korean word means. It's a really easy language to read because each letter is pronounced phonetically and there are no exceptions. Neither of us really realized how difficult and complicated English was until we started teaching it. Although we may be able to speak English really well, we never took the time to think about how many rules there are and how for every rule there are at least two exceptions. Often students will ask us to explain a rule and all we can think of is "because it just sounds right."

Anyway, time to get ready for work!

Busan

We went to Busan yesterday which is the 2nd biggest city in Korea. It's at the southern tip of Korea so surrounded by lots of beaches. We took the bus (only $7 per ticket!) and it only took an hour and 20 minutes. I think the speed limit is 100km/hr on the highways, but most buses and cars go about 140km/hr. There are big signs on the highway that tell you when you're approaching a speed trap (cameras take pictures of your car's license plate), so as soon as you see one of those signs, you slow down to the speed limit. It is really strange.

Our day seemed to be filled with a lot of bad luck. We spent most of our time wandering in circles trying to find particular places. Despite our Korean phrase book, it was extremely difficult to ask for directions! We spent a good hour wandering around trying to find a non-Korean place to eat dinner, but in the end, we wound up at a Korean restaurant and didn't really touch most of the dinner. We tried to order a non-spicy vegetable stir-fry with rice and ended up getting rice with onions, garlic and carrots covered in hot sauce.

Before leaving we had written down directions to a part of the city with lots bars/clubs with foreigners and must have walked for about 3hrs trying to find it! We finally went to a "PC room" to get the phone number of one of the bars. We hopped into a cab, gave the # to the cab driver so that he could call and ask for directions. He dropped us off on the side of a street and pointed to a dark alley. Anyway, we ended up finding the bars although there were pretty much empty.

We decided to go to a "noory" bar which is like karaoke but you get your own room. It was so much fun! There were tons of English songs, so we plan on frequenting these places on a regular basis in an attempt to become professional karaoke singers.


Afterwards, we went back to the sketchy alley to see if any more people were there, but it was still pretty much deserted, so we found an old drunk man and asked him to take our picture before heading back to the bus station at about 12:15am.

When we got to the bus station, we found out the last bus for Pohang had left an hour before, so we ended up having to take a taxi back for $60. There was a mosquito in the car and the driver had the windows rolled up the whole time.

The next stop for us will be Seoul in October. Korean Thanksgiving (Choosok) is next weekend so we have a day off, but apparently the traffic is horrible because everyone's going to see their families so we will most likely go the following weekend (with lots of maps).

The Outback

Tonight we went to dinner with a 9yr old student to the Outback Steakhouse. It is probably the "nicest" Western restaurant in Pohang so I guess this is where Koreans assume most foreigners would love to eat. We went in the car with my 9yr old student, her two younger brothers and their mother, but when we got to the restaurant, the 9yr old insisted that her mother and brothers sit at a separate table.

Since arriving in Korea, we have yet to feel REALLY full after a meal until tonight. The prices were completely outrageous though...I think the steak was $33 and we had a pitcher of mango juice which was $20. All of us shared the food, so we had shrimp and calamari spaghetti, chicken mango salad, steak, onion coconut rings, kimchi (of course), mushroom soup and bread.

We were also given a "parting gift" consisting of a small loaf of bread with what appears to be strawberry cream.

All in all, a fun evening!

Soju tasting and an 8 course meal

Last night we went out to a fancy restaurant that served eight courses. We wish we could tell you what all of those courses were, but unfortunately, many dishes were a mystery. There was a lot of raw fish, there was even a "rotten fish" that smelled like ammonia. There was duck, beef, pork, chicken, noodles, rice, pickled vegetables and for dessert, some dates sprinkled with sesame seeds. It was nice to be out and to experience this kind of dinner, but we didn't think it was really worth $30.

After dinner, we went to a "Soju tasting party" which basically consisted of 30 different kinds of Soju. Soju is a very popular (and cheap) Korean alcohol that tastes a bit like Vodka but comes in many different flavours. It has a pretty strong taste and isn't something either of us would drink on a regular basis. You can buy it anywhere, even in the convenience store for about a dollar.

The popular Korean beer is called "Hite" but is pronounced "hite-uh" because in the Korean language, you cannot end a word with a consonant sound, so the word bus for example is pronounced "bus-uh." Anyway, we both actually like the taste of Hite which is weird considering neither of us drink beer with any regularity at home. Beer drinkers here tell us it is horrible tasting and really watered down so maybe that's why we don't mind it. It could also have to do with the fact that when you go out to eat, there's always water and beer and when you've just put something really spicy or gross into your mouth, beer gets rid of that taste way better than water!

Today one of my students has invited us to the "Outback Steakhouse" for dinner. She's 9. We're not sure how common this is, but she has been asking us for the past few weeks and we've run out of excuses. At first we really didn't want to go because we assumed that her whole family would be there and so we'd feel a bit awkward since none of them speak English. Then we found out that it would just be her and that her parents would give her the credit card to pay for our meals.

Anyway, we'll let you know how it goes. It should be interesting to say the least!!

Let's go to the Movies!

Our new movie is now on YouTube! Check it out!!!