Winter break in Australia and Thailand

Finally a new blog! Sorry it took so long but i've been away for the last little while enjoying my winter break in the summer weather! I spent most of my holiday in Australia but also spent a couple days in Thailand on my way back to Korea. Australia was amazing, I loved it. It reminded me a lot of home which was nice because I needed to get back to the western world. I stayed in Perth which is on the west coast of Australia. It was very laid back and the people were really nice. Unfortunately everything closed pretty early around 6 or 7, but i guess that was also good since it's so expensive there! But it was a nice break from the busy lifestyle I have in korea. The beach was one of the best I've ever been to. I spent most time relaxing by the beach, shopping and some day trips. One of which included going to the petting zoo and seeing kangaroos and kowalas. The best part was getting to hold a kowala. I also went to an aquarium where I got the see the diversity of the ocean creatures found in the west part of australia. I definately wanna go back and see the eastern side of australia. I've included some pics for you to see. The first is of me and my new friend. The second is of the beach where I was, the 3rd is when we went fishing except i didn't do much of that i just enjoyed the view, we were lucky because a couple dolphins were in the area. The 4th is of my cousin Danielle, her boyfriend Mike and I at new years enjoying some very good and expensive wine. The last is of me and a kangaroo i saw at the petting zoo. Hope you enjoy, and I also added a blurb on Thailand if you scroll down.

Australia continued

THAILAND

The second stop of my vacation was Thailand. Thailand was amazing and I definately recommend it. I heard nothing but good things about Thailand before I went and they all held true. It is very tropical and the weather was great. I was only there for 3 days so I didn't get to see everything I wanted to see. I spent most of my time on the beach and eating really good food. Thailand has a great variety of food from all over the world not to mension all the yummy fruit. I did manage to sneak in a day trip where I got to go on a boat and see a couple of the islands. I also had the chance to snorkel. Unfortunately 20 minutes into the first spot i got stung by a jellyfish. After that I wasn't able to explore the other sites. But what i did get to see was beautiful. Lots of reefs and colourful fish...I saw the Nemo fish...lol. I posted a couple pictures. The first one is a traditional building, u'll see these everywhere. The next one was the view I had at my hotel while I ate breakfast. The next three are of when I went on the day tour on the boat and the last is a pic of the beach across the street from my hotel. I hope you enjoy!

Thailand continued

Feliz Navidad!!!

Hey Everyone!! Just wanted to show you all that even though Christmas isn't a big holiday here I have brought Christmas to my appartment! Here's some pictures of how I've decorated my appartment. I've also added a couple pics of me and one of private lesson students. Her name is Soyoon, she's very cute and smart. She knows more english than my middle school students!! Which is a nice change. Her mother took me out for christmas dinner. It was delicious, it had a wonderful buffet. I ate pasta for the first time since being here, I also ate tacos! Not the same as back home but they were good. Anyways I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Holiday. I'm thinking of all of you during this time and am sad I won't see anyone over Chistmas. I'm sure the saddness will subside once I hit the sandy beached in Australia and Thailand next week!! haha Ok talk to you all soon! Also Happy New year!!

DMZ (pictures...scroll down to get explanations)

DMZ

Hey Everyone!
Well yesterday was a great educational experience for me. I went to the DMZ and learned a lot about the problems between North and South Korea. Being there and feeling the tension between the both sides is very hard to put in words, it's one of those things you just have to be there. It was a day long tour that started at 7am and lasted until 2pm. We started out first by going to the JSA and getting a briefing by one the american soldiers on the history of the DMZ and the different things we were going to see. We were then taken to one of the viewing points where they have a soldier observation north korean 24/7. At this spot we were surrounded by North Korea on 3 sides. The view was amazing, we were able to see the town of North Korea just north of south Korea. Next we were taken to the conference building where the leaders of both sides as well as other leaders from other nations meet. This was the best part of the tour. This building is half in South Korea and half in North Korea. So technically I got the change to be in North Korea. This was also the most tense part of the tour because just outside this building there were soldiers standing facing North Korea onto other North Korean soldiers. You could actually see the North Korean soldiers facing us, watching our every move. For this reason we had Soldiers all around us to protect us incase something happened. We were only allowed to walk and stand between these soldiers. I saw the actual line that separates the 2 countries. You'd be amazed to find out that the only thing separating them is a 2 or 3 inch high piece of concrete, no fence or anything, you can litterally just step over and be in North Korea. Truly an amazing experience. Next we went to an observatory point where they have those coin telescopes. For 500 won (50 cents) you get an amazing view of North Korea. We were only allowed taking pictures from a certain spot which wasn't that good cause you could hardly see anything. None the less the view you got from the telescopes was worth it. The last thing we did was go to one of the tunnels that the North Koreans built to try to invade south korea. There are 4 tunnels in total, we saw the third one. We went down about 400 meters. This to was great to see, you could actually see the marks from the exposives they used to make the tunnel. Of course we we're allowed to take pictures. One of the coolest parts of this tour was that I bought a book that tells you about the whole history of the DMZ not knowing till after I bought it that the author was in our tour group!! On the way home the tour guide announced that he was on out bus. So he got up and said a few things. He was actually stationned for the JSA in 1976. Needless to say that capped off the tour and I got him to sign my book. I have posted some pictures, one of them is me standing in the conference room beside the soldier that guards the door leading to North Korea. It was the strangest feeling standing beside him, you weren't allowed to stand behind or infront of him. There is also a picture of the view of North Korea, a picture of the guards facing north korea and one of the bridge of no return...this is were the people and prisonners from both sides crossed into the other country never to be allowed to return. I hope you enjoy!

Halloween and Pepero Day in korea cont'd (READ the next post first!)

Ok now pepero day. It's basically a commercial holiday that the chocolate factories made here to make money. Pepero day falls on our Remembrance Day, Nov. 11. So because this date is 11/11 on this day you give people chocolate covered cookie things that look like sticks or the number '1'. So I got many of these pepero sticks from my students, I guess one perk about being a teacher! The streets were filled with venders selling these sticks. They have in all sizes, as you can see from my picture some sticks are very big. This pink thing in my hand is one of the pepero sticks I got from a student. Ok well I hope you enjoyed the photos, I gotta run but thanks again for all your emails and msn check-ins. I really appreciate it! I've also gotten some nice surprises in the mail which i'm always excited to get! Thanks so much you know who are! K talk soon! Miss and love you all!!
As you can maybe see I also got my first haircut! Not sure if I like how short it is!!!!

Halloween and Pepero Day in Korea!

Hey Everyone! I know it's been a while since I've last posted but I've been really really busy! But now that I have a few seconds to breath I want to catch you up on some things that have been happening here. First, Halloween isn't celebrated here! Can you believe it! Many kids haven't even heard of it. So I decided to bring Halloween to my students. I decorated my class and dressed up as a few different things. I also had a costume contest with my students. My lesson was on the origins on halloween and how it came to North American and how we celebrate it today. I think the kids really enjoyed it, I mean what kid wouldn't like a day where they get candy! So I put some pictures of what I dressed up as, as well pictures of my student's costumes.


Scroll up and read 'Halloween and Pepero day in Korea cont'd'...haha

Classroom and Uiwang...con't from next blog

This blog actually comes after the next one...something got screwed up so read the next one then come back to this one...lol

K now a couple on Uiwang. The one taken at night is the side street off the main street where my apt is. The one taken during the day is one of 2 main streets...haha

My Apt/School and Uiwang

Hey Everyone! Well I've been asked many times what my apt and little town of Uiwang are like so i thought it was best to show you some pics. I've posted pictures of my apartment, classroom Uiwang. Hope you enjoy and now feel like you know where I live! oh and Happy Halloween!! Can you believe thay don't celebrate it here! I'm so sad...but next week i'm doing a special lesson on the history of halloween and how it came to be in North America. I am decorating my class and having a costume contest with the students. I will post pictures of all that next week!


So as you see my place is pretty big, especially for Korean standards, so I lucked out on that! K here are some of my school and classroom...

Fun Fun English Festival

Hey Everyone! So this week was my first English festival. I'm told that there will be many of these throughout the year. When I first heard of it I didn't think it was going to be as big as a deal as it was. Over 3000 elementary and Middle school students were invited to come participate. They were suppose to be the more advanced students of their schools. But like i've come to learn that doesn't always mean they know a lot of english.


Like I said before it ended up being a bigger deal than I thought. When I first arrived there was a huge band playing outside and 3 or 4 huge white outdoor tents sent up.
It started with an opening ceremony where all the principals of the schools were introduced, followed by skits preformed by some students. The Mayor also was there to address everyone. The funny part about the whole thing was it was all in Korean, they didn't even translate. So here they are saying how important english is in their education program but not even the english teachers said anything in english. But it's something I've gotten use to with some of my co-teachers who understand little. The problem is that most korean english teachers don't go abroad so they speak broken english.
But it was a fun day off getting to interact with many students. I also was able to meet more foreign teachers which was nice.
Speaking of new foreign teachers I finally met one that works in my town! So now i'm not the only one. He works at the language institute across the street from me. So it will be nice to know someone in town.
Ok well i'm off but I hope you're all doing well and will talk soon!

PRO Hockey in Korea!!

Hey! This blog is dedicated to all my Canadian friends and family who like me enjoy the great game of hockey! Yesterday I experienced my first hockey game overseas and let me tell you what a good time. For $10 we got to sit in the "hotdog party zone"...haha! This price included the ticket which was right up against the glass, a hotdog and all you can drink beer! And if you get the membership for $20 you get a jersey and tons of discounts including saving about half on tickets. What a great deal!
The league consists of 8 teams, 2 in korean, 2 from china and 4 from japan. They play about 4-5 home games a month. The season just started and lasts a few months. So I think I will become a regular, the arena is only a couple subway stops away. One main difference between Canadian fans and Korean fans is the atmosphere at the game. Koreans are quite reserved and quiet. Fortunately usually half the fans there are foreigners, mostly Canadians so we know how to rock the place. We do get odd looks from the korean fans whenever we start screaming and yelling but it doesn't bother us, by now we're all use to the stares we get whenever we walk down the street...so this is nothing!
This was definately a fun way to spend a sunday afternoon and I look forward to future games. I've also posted a couple more pics so take a look!