Autumn!

FINALLY autumn has arrived in Korea and I'm ecstatic! Autumn is by far my most favourite season. In my opinion it's far too short. The only problem with autumn is no snowboarding or wakeboarding, but you can still go horseback riding! Unfortunately you can't do any of those here anyway so I'm stuck with just looking and walking and taking pictures. Not that I'm complaining though! (ok, maybe I am a little depressed about the no horseback riding thing) Anyway, a lot has happened over the past week. I even made a list of "Things that'll only happen in Korea" and I'll post that eventually. It really is astounding how different our two cultures are! especially with what's acceptable and what's not...but you'll have to wait until later for that info!

Last weekend I was sick...all weekend. Made for quite a wonderful weekend hanging around my apartment coughing, popping meds, sniffing, and sleeping...I just loved it! (note the sarcasim) On the upside, Kristen was also sick so at least we were sick together and neither of us had to be super bored. Except with being sick. I still have an annoying cough that just won't go away, but other than every single co-teacher insisting I go to the hospital for it (seriously...it's a cough. I'm not dying here) I've been quite fine.

Despite being sick I met with an elementary teacher, Mi-Jang, who wants to improve her English. She's actually pretty good, but like every other Korean, is way too modest about it and thinks she's horrible! We got some coffee - well, she did and after going through the usual horrors of finding out I don't drink coffee or tea, she accepted that I'd have a smoothie...even though I insisted I didn't want anything at all!

We walked and talked and next time we're going to some underground biking thing...that's FREE! Guess I found my exercise station for the winter!

After we met with Kristen and Cindy to head downtown for the Gwangju Cultural Festival. It was awesome. We went through this castle like thing that showed Korean life in the 60s and 70s. At this disco section the poor DJ was having a hard time getting people to dance so Kristen, Cindy, and I took to the dance floor making the DJ a very happy person and gave onlookers a chance to take pictures and laugh. Mi-jang's only comment to me later that night when I asked how it was and if she had fun was "you shocked me! Dancing!" She's said that twice to me so far...I haven't figured out what she meant though I think she may come from a conservative family. I think she was embarassed by us!

Later we got our faces painted for free...and Cindy and Mi-jang got their nails done, for free. They couldn't believe I didn't want my nails done for free. Sure, it's free. But nails? not a chance. Nail polish and me just don't mix.

We also used holla hoops and beat all the kids. Then we saw STILTS! You know, those things you used in grade school? Loved them! so Kristen and I hijacked a couple and showed up all those little kids. We had a crowed watching us! Not sure if they were impressed or thinking "crazy insane tourists. Don't they know they're using KIDS stuff?"

This week was busy in school. Only one class cancelled this week and it wasn't my hated one. We had the Education Office people at my one school for their school evaluation that according to my co-teacher is only important to the Education Office people, but really it's not important at all. They only act like it is. Hmmm...

That was also the day of my Teachers Workshop which the teachers decided once again they didn't want to discuss stuff in English so we went to some river. They stood around and talked in Korean while I took pictures. For an hour. Then I got bored and just wanted to go. The place wasn't even super pretty. Then we drive the scenic way home and drive through the most beautiful mountains ever and past a gorgeous lake. Why we didn't stop THERE is beyond me! so I settled for taking pictures out the window while wishing I could walk along the lake. Sigh.

Yesterday we went to Naejangsan Mountain which is the most beautiful mountain in South Korea in autumn. We're still three weeks away from peek season here, but it was still gorgeous. I think I want to go back in three weeks! After minimal confusion getting there we hiked to find a waterfall on the map. Who knew that after two hours we'd get to where it was supposed to be, but it wasn't there. Not the season for water, duh. So we hiked back. And then up the steepest trail ever to get to the observation deck. It was either that or pay 4,000 won to get up there and we weren't about to wait in line nor pay for that. So being dead tired already, we hiked. After the most amazing view ever we took the cable car down because I'm pretty sure we would've rolled down the mountain if we climbed. At least we only had to pay 4,000 won once, not twice!

Today we had a church picnic in Damjung County, about 45 minutes outside Gwangju. We were at a beautiful park where we ate some amazing food. I have to say though, my salad and chocolate chip squares were a huge hit.

After lunch we played us some ball. T-ball that is. Who knew you could have a serious competitive T-ball game? Well, I've found something I suck at. Hitting the stupid baseball off a T! There was a "foul" line too and if it bounced within it then it didn't count so since I couldn't hit anything but grounders I struck out - each time. For those that know me, I hate losing. So I had to prove my worth in the field where I made some good plays so at least they'd let me play third base! Oh, they also have girls and guys bat. The girls is about the length of my arm. How am I supposed to hit with that? (although, we've already established I can't hit anyway) so I argued and they finally let me us the "guys" bat. At the end we tied...though we batted once less so I say we won. Then Kristen and I took charge to prove we can actually play ball and lobbed it to hit the ball and then they were impressed. Yes, I know, who cares right? but me being me had to prove I could do it. I'm sure all Korean's now think that I'm the most non-traditional woman ever, but what can I say? I don't do things the normal way!

So all in all it was an amazing weekend. Lots of fresh air, beautiful scenery, and some good 'ol T-ball! Now for the easiest week of my life... 12 classes cancelled, two school sports days and a school picnic. All while getting paid! Enjoy the pictures! Well, you probably already have since they're at the top. Later!

In the Classroom

So what's it like teaching middle school kids in Korea? Well, it's awesome! Out of the 17 different classes I teach I love 16 of them and only want to strangle one of them. I count myself lucky because that is not the case for everyone.
Each class is very different, but in general, the grades are fairly similar to each other. Let's start at Samgye Middle School. All my grade one's (grade seven) are extremely well behaved. I think that's in part to my wonferful co-teacher who won't tolerate bad behaviour. All three classes of grade one's listen carefully and even without me asking, repeat anything I read off of the power point. I also have the privilage of reading the thoughts of these students. My grade one's write in a diary for ten minutes each time I teach them (once a week). I then read these diaries and correct the grammar and spelling. Some kids write a lot, others write very little. It all depends on their English level. However, these kids don't hid anything which makes my marking quite interesting. For instance, during the first weeks I read about how pretty and nice I was (by the way, they know that I read these). Recently I read the diary of one girl who talked about how it was her last class with me because her family was moving away. (students come and go quite frequently in my school since 3/4 of them are from military families and move according to their father's posts). Last week I read about a students house that burned down over the weekend. Pretty much every kid wrote about that. I also learned that I looked much prettier that day than usual. Though the student didn't forget to mention that I always looked pretty, just prettier that day. They really know how to boost your confidence!
My grade two's (grade eight) are a completely different story. They have way too much energy! I was warned about teaching second grade because they're not first graders who just entered middle school and are still easily frightened and they're not third graders who have many exams to study for and so listen. These kids are insane! But a good kind of insane. My co-teacher for my four grade two classes is the sweetest woman ever. I've mentioned her before because we do stuff outside school together. That's right, Cindy. This is Cindy's first year teaching and she's not like most Korean teachers who quite willingly hit the students for getting out of line. I usually plan my grade two classes so that the kids aren't sitting and listening to me the whole class or just doing worksheets. They wouldn't be able to concentrate if I did that. These kids all try hard though and always want to try and impress me.
Grade three (grade nine). What can I say about these kids except that they are my favourite kids to teach! That's saying a lot too because I have fun in all my classes. The grade three's at Samgye are so much fun and are quite hilarious. All three classes have at least a few students who like to joke around with me and keep the class interesting. Last Friday we were talking about a whole bunch of different countries around the world and I had them trying to name flags from many different countries. I was really impressed with how many countries they knew. They knew pretty much every single flag and if they didn't know, it was because there are similar flags. In the middle of the activity I had the flags of France, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, and then Russia. For those of you who know, they are all very similar. Especially the Netherlands and Luxemburg who only differ by the shade of blue. Well, first came France and they all knew it. Then for the Netherlands many thought it was Russia. When I told every group they were wrong, they started to realize I was making this difficult for them. Then when Luxemburgs flag came up, every single class looked at me like I was crazy. It was so funny to see their expressions when they realized those were different flags! then they were all certain the second flag was Russia. Which is wasn't. One boy was so convinced I was lying that he told me I was wrong because the smartest boy in the class said that it was Russia. When I finally showed Russia's flag the kids were so confused! The same boy says "ohhhhh!!! that one is Russia!" I just laughed and shrugged and he goes " ohhh! I know it's Russia, I see it on your face!". (Apparently I still haven't learned to mask anything on my face!). Needless to say, the class went over very well. Unfortunately, since my grade three classes are on Friday's, class was cancelled for Chuseok, were cancelled today for school midterms, and are cancelled in two weeks for a school field trip! The following week I may be going to this volunteer camp from Friday to Sunday in which I would again miss my grade threes! Sadly they are also all graduating come February. Good thing the high school is one the same property because then I'll still get to see those kids!
At my other two schools it's much different stories. At Sameso, my grade ones are so eager to learn! One little boy keeps trying to convince me games are the only way to learn English. The girls on the other hand randomly throw out comments about how they want my body which then temporarily makes me forget what I was teaching because they say it in the middle of me talking. Usually when they say stuff like that though, they just mean they want to be as tall as me or want my nose. Don't get me started on that! Grade two at Sameso is also a lot of fun. Their English isn't the greatest, but they're fun nonetheless. The girls work hard and the boys just keep telling me it's too hard and thus can't do the assignment. What they haven't seemed to learn yet is that I won't let that get them out of finishing the assignment and will sit next to them until they finish the sheet if I have to. I'm beginning to think they're just saying that SO THAT I'll sit there and make them finish it! Grade three is fun as well. Their English is worse than grade one and twos, but they are a funny bunch and make the class interesting.
Sinheung middle school is my least favourite school, but that's not saying much because I still love that school as well. The grade ones listen, the grade three's don't understand a word I say so we usually end up laughing over how no one understands anything I just said, and the grade twos....those grade twos. I can't stand them! The boys don't know much English and so don't talk. Half the girls are too shy to even look at me when I talk to them and the other half of the girls have formed a posse and if they could enshrine me in their school I am sure they would. They follow me everywhere and ask me a million questions about myself. What's the problem you say? well, when I'm trying to teach they keep changing the subject. I ask, ok, answer this question, they say, teacher, is your brother ever going to come to Korea ?(yes, they are in love with Andrew). I say, no he's not. Answer the question. what's your favourite music teacher? we went over this last week. Answer the question. It's like pulling teeth just to get them to focus on the lesson! I don't mind talking about it outside class, but inside class just gets me. One girl is the leader girl and she takes that roll seriously. It doesn't help that there's a love triangle going on between two grade two girls and the only grade three boy (this is the school with 24 students total). Oh the drama of 13 year olds!

Quite frequently my kids try to convince me their friends are crazy and they're the only one worth talking too. It's cute to see really. One little boy will pass me in the hall and then turn around and walk backwards just to look at me as he walks away. I'm not sure if I should be creeped out or not...
There's also my extra class that I teach on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. There's only eight students - four girls, four boys. The girls are so eager, the boys like to sleep. Unless we're watching a movie or doing some sort of riddle. They love those! Last class two of the boys came up to me with long sad faces telling me about the midterms they were writing this thursday and friday and if they could please use class time to study. I'm pretty sure these kids have learned how to get to me because I agreed. Though I did make them ask me in proper English sentences before I said yes. What they didn't know was that I knew about the exams and planned for them to play games and eat brownies I made so that they wound't have to think too much. So while the boys studied the girls and I talked about tons of stuff. Like how they all want my nose. In Korea, all the girls want western noses. They hate their noses. I spent a good fifteen minutes telling them that they didn't need plastic surgury to get better noses. I'm not sure they were convinced though. I did learn with my grade ones that if they had a million dollars (yes, they all learned the song "if I had a million dollars" that class and I am now singing it in my sleep) all the girls would get plastic surgury to fix their noses. So I spend my time telling them not to get it.

I'm sure I could remember many other funny stories in my classes. I have at least one or two hilarious moments ever day, but I am coming down with a cold right now and I just don't feel like thinking anymore. I need to go to bed. I picked up drugs at the drug store, but I have no idea what the guy gave me or if it will even work for the symptoms I have. I just acted out being sick and he gave me some stuff. So far it's not working because I feel worse. Even though I am sick though, I can still gloat that it is beautiful and warm weather here and I'm hearing it is not only snowing in Saskatchewan, but Hamilton as well! Suckers!

A Canadian Thanksgiving

A few weeks ago Kristen and I were talking to another Canadian English teacher (Gabrielle)living in our area about how we love Thanksgiving and are really going to miss the food we usually eat. It took me all of two seconds to decide that we should have our own Canadian Thanksgiving here in Korea. Gabrielle knew several other Canadians who would most likely be interested in having one as well. She set things in motion and last night about ten of us got together for a good 'ol Thanksgiving dinner!
I had decided from the start that I was going to make the apple pie since I make the best apple pie's in the world. The only problem was, the amazing recipe I have for it was at home and my Mom wasn't able to find it among my millions of recipe books, binders, and containers so I had to settle for an internet version. Now those of you who cook are probably wondering..."apple pie? that is SO easy. Why did you need a recipe?" well, the recipe I have at home has a couple extra ingredients in it that make it just that much more amazing. I just couldn't remember what they were. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that it tasted amazing as I was making it, smelled amazing as it was baking, looked amazing when it was done...but fell apart when we cut it! I was so sad! It didn't even taste amazing either. It tasted so-so. Thankfully though, apparently no one these has ever tasted amazing apple pie because some of them told me it was the best they ever had... makes me wonder what they've been eating all these years if THAT was the best they've had! The rest of the food was amazing though. We had pasta salads, pumpkin pie (which was disgusting...I don't know what they did to that poor pie, but I'm sure glad I have good pumpkin pie in my freezer here!), rice cakes (there were Koreans there too), stir fry, and the best part... stuffing! The worst part was that it was being held in Gabrielle's apartment and she's vegetarian and won't even allow meat in her house so we didn't get meat....a little depressing, but I can't complain since everything else was amazing.
At the dinner I met another girl who is just as obsessed with horses as I am and just as depressed as I am that we can't ride in Korea and searched the internet just as much as I did for places to ride in Korea (of which there are basically none). We both got excited when we found out we both rode. It was a little obvious to tell I rode since I wear my cowboy boots everywhere I go when I'm not at my schools. Then we got into a small debate about which was better, English or Western riding. She rides English, I ride Western. She's all prim and proper about show jumping, I get thrills riding cutting horses and galloping my horse across open fields. You'll be glad to know I didn't argue with her. Though I like to think I'm right most of time I know better than to get into a serious debate about something when I first meet them. Most of the time anyway.
It was nice to meet more North Americans though I could've done without the American guy. I try not to be sterotypical most of the time, but this one guy there reafirmed all my previous asumptions about many Americans. He was one of those ignorant, cocky, America-is-the-best-country-in-the-world kind of Americans. After he said his first sentence to me I knew I wouldn't get along with him and that if he didn't shut up soon I'd probably get into a debate with him and that was the last thing I wanted last night. Unfortunately for me he didn't shut up. All night. When he first arrived we were talking about something to do with Canada and then he goes "well our president just won the nobel peace prize". Clearly he didn't think things through carefully before he said that in a room of Canadians. So I said "for doing NOTHING!". Then we got into a small debate about whether Obama deserved the prize or not. I wasn't arguing Obama isn't a good president or that he hasn't done good things so far, I was just arguing that he hasn't done anything worthy of the prize YET. Maybe during the next three years he'll do extrodinary things, but they could've waited until he did those things before they gave him the NPP. But lets not get into my political views on here. The rest of the night he said annoying arrogent things proving to me he knew a lot about America, but nothing about any other country in the world. He was one of those Americans. (I should note here that I have nothing against American's in general, just the American's like him).
Other than him, the night was great! Well, I guess he did make things interesting and gave me a story to tell on here. At least he lives in the city next to us so the chances of me seeing him often are very slim indeed.

In other news, I finally have a cell phone that works! It's about time. I have the coolest ring tones ever on my phone. Currently it is set to 'Surfin' the USA'.
I finally got my health card so now I can do stupid things without worrying if the hospital will fix me up afterwards.
My vacuum cleaner is still broken which means since I hate sweeping my apartment cleanings are few and far between.
I got a package in the mail the other day and got excited because up until now I've only got cards from family. Then I realized it was actually for Kristen. She gets her mail sent to my school since her school won't let her send there so it'll say Tara Heeg on the mail, but the return address actually says who it's from. Hint hint Mom and Dad... I still need my new visa sent here so that would be an excellent time to send me some other stuff as well...
Yep. That's about all I can think of right now. Sorry, no pictures this time. I didn't take any at the dinner last night.
Hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the fairs that I am so sad I can't go to this year. First year since I joined 4-H back in grade three that I haven't been to the fairs. Depressing really.

A 36 Hour Birthday

Yesterday was the first birthday I had outside of Canada and it was weird. When I woke up Monday morning it didn't feel like my birthday. I think it's because deep down I was thinking that it isn't really my birthday yet because in Canada it's still the fourth and you can't just skip a day in your life even if you can skip a day going over seas. That might not make sense, but in my mind it does. Lucky for me I didn' t have school on my birthday because my school still had a holiday that day for Chuseok. Kristen however, did have school so I was all alone... I spent the morning talking to my family on webcam, catching up on the latest gossip while attempting to show them around my apartment and the street below all while webcam kept on freezing. It was rather annoying, but we made it work. I'm still using Kristen's computer for webcam since mine is STILL broken, and her computer always has background programs running so that may have been why skype wasn't working right.
Anyway, I went for a run - it was the first cold morning in Korea! Go figure it's on my birthday! At home it rains on my birthday, here it's the first cold morning. I stress, first cold MORNING. The afternoon was cookin' hot like usual. I went grocery shopping, talked to some friends online and generally did nothing. One of my co-teachers called and we went out to finally set up my cell phone so now I have a phone! Except that since I am using an old one, they didn't have an adaptor for the charger that would fit in my phone so my phone is dead so that doesn't really help me! Hopefully I'll get that this week though! that's the plan anyway, but we already know how plans work in Korea...they take FOREVER!
Monday night I talked to Rach on webcam, but again, difficulties arose and we ended up only talking, not seeing each other. It was really nice to be able to talk to her again and hear her voice. We could talk for hours on the phone in Canada if we lost track of time and I missed that. Plus Rach's random comments she says without thinking...I miss those! Our conversation only ended because Rach...oh wait, I shouldn't say that. Rach would kill me. If you know Rach though you probably know why she had to end the conversation!
Monday night I got the best surprise of my life and the best present I've ever gotten (Mom, Dad, I appreciate all your gifts since I was a kid, but this one was special!). Adelle called me!! It cost $2 a minute for her to call me, but she called anyway and we talked for five minutes. It made me so happy! It also felt more like my birthday about then because it was October 5th in both Canada AND in Korea. All morning today too I got birthday wishes even though it was the 6th here. It was so weird to have birthday wishes one day and then wake up the next morning and still get birthday wishes. I'm thinking that when I get back to Canada I'll have a 36 hour birthday anyway! So that was my birthday in Korea this year!

Chuseok!

Where to start?! Chuseok in Korea is absolutely INSANE! The best I can describe it as is Christmas in North America. Everyone goes to visit their family and they bring gifts. Koreans love gift sets so all the stores are filled with gifts sets the week prior to Chuseok and all weekend all you see is Koreans carrying around gift bags. My principle gave all of us in my school wine sets. So I have four bottles of Korean wine and a wine shot glass to go with it (yes...a wine shot glass). Laura got a huge box full of anchovies. It was rather funny. She gave it away to a Korean friend. Anyway, on to my actual trip.
Thursday night Laura and Amanda stayed over here and ate some cake for an early surprise birthday party for Amanda who's birthday is today. I just wanted to bake and making her a cake was a good excuse to do that! Like usual we didn't get to bed on time and regretted it the next morning when we had to drag ourselves out of bed at 5:45 am so we could make out 7:00 am train into Seoul. Three hours later at a speed of 304 km/h for more than a hour and we arrived in Seoul ready to rely on my directions to get to our hostel and hope I didn't skrew up while booking our rooms online or manage to get us stuck in a sketchy hostel. We only managed to get lost once and that wasn't my fault either so we ended up eating lunch before we went to the hostel. We decided we'd make the weekend an international one and eat a different country's food each meal. Our first meal was Vietnamese. Delicious! Then we made our way to the hostel which turned out to be very cute and run by really nice people. Our whole stay there was a very positive experience and about the only thing I could say was that the common area in our living section smelled gross. Though I think the smell was made worse by the British girl who lit this awful smelling candle to get rid of the smell and only made it worse. But we spend only our sleeping hours there so it didn't matter.
Soon after arriving we got started on our long list of things to see. We went to Seoul Tower which is basically the Korean version on the CN Tower. The bus ride there was beautiful. We drove up the mountain it's on the middle of the city and it was beautiful! At the top of the tower it had the names of every major city in the world in the direction that city was in. We found Toronto and I tried to picture Canada somewhere out there beyond all the Korean mountains. We also found Amsterdam and us three Dutch girls took a picture of us pretending to be a windmill, but it doesn't really look like one unless you know what we were trying to do! At the bottom of the tower there's a lock wall. People write messages on locks of all shapes and sizes and then put them on the fence. I'm not sure the significance of it or if it's just there for fun. They were selling cotton candy so we decided since we were all missing the Caledonia fair this weekend then we'd have our own fair. We walked down the mountain stairs and met a Korean man and his son and talked the rest of the way down. It was rather amusing because he introduced himself to me by asking if I was allergic to peanuts because he had some on him and had heard North American's were allergic. I assured him I wasn't and so he gave me some! I should point out here that Korean's aren't allergic to anything.
At the bottom again we met up with one of Laura's friends from university who has been teaching in Seoul for 3-4 years now. He showed us around Myong-dong market where we ate melon on a stick (I'm starting to think Korean's are in love with everything melon...) and, continuing our international meals, we made our way by subway to an Indian restaurant and ate warm Naam bread dipped in curry and some of the most amazing chicken and shrimp ever (actually, it wasn't shrimp...something that looked like it, but much bigger and better tasting. I just don't remember what it was).
Friday night we went exploring the market area around our hostel. I bought some stickers (go figure) and a shawl thing. I have refused to buy them until now. I figured it would dress up some of the more simple outfits I have and that way my co-teachers won't think I'm not dressy enough!
Saturday is Everland day! Again, bed too late and had to wake up at 6:30 to leave for Everland, which we weren't exactly sure how to get to since we were given three different subway stops for the bus terminal. On the subway we went above ground for a bit going over the Han River and the traffic leaving Seoul was insane! bumper to bumper traffic, whereas coming into Seoul was nearly empty. I thought people were joking when they said Seoul was nearly empty for Chuseok, but they weren't. When we got off the subway there was barely anyone on the streets. We found a nice bus driver who, after using a lot of Conglish words and hand gestures, got us to the right bus stop to catch the bus to Everland Theme Park. 9:30 and we were at the park where we found out it was foreigners festival weekend and we got $10 off our entrance tickets!
Everland is nothing like I could've ever imagine. Each section of the park is a different continent. There was American Adventure which was set as America in the 60's and 70's, European Adventure which had Holland Village, a gorgeous rose garden, and the worlds steepest incline on a roller coaster! 77% incline. It was like dropping on Drop Zone at Wonderland except on a roller coaster. Plus it was wooden, but smooth unlike the wooden one at Wonderland. There's also Zootopia which had a safari ride where we got to see white tigers, giraffe's, and elephant, lions, bears, and a liger (yes, no miss spell. The sign said Liger. We're not sure which one was the liger). Then there was Majic Land and Global Fair.
Everything about the park was amazing. It was like you were actually in certain countries. There's no doubt in my mind the best part of the park though. They had pony and camel rides for kids. Just to be able to smell horses again made me so happy! The smell of a horse is one of my most favourite smells in the world. Yes, I'm weird, but if you spend as much time around horses as I do when I'm home you'd agree with me! Anyway, the camel rides had a rule that kids under three had to have an adult so obviously adults were allowed on them too. So I stood in line with the kids and got to ride the camel. Not only did I have Kristen taking pictures of me, but so was every other person in the nearby area.
We went through Friendly Monkey Valley and saw some of the weirdest looking monkeys ever. What was sad though was that there was also an ape living on a man made perch. There were clear wires preventing him climbing down so that people could see him all the time. There were some lions and tigers in a very small area as well. The one's on the safari could at least wander around, but these ones had an area smaller than my apartment to live. Then there's the penguins in the tiny water cages and the seal just swimming back and forth and the polar bears... sometimes I just wish people would leave animals in their natural habitats. As much I as love seeing them, I'd rather they be able to choose their own lives.
Holland Village was one of my most favourite things. It actually felt like I was walking in a European village. While there a parade started with people dressed in crazy outfits doing this dance thing. There were a lot of white foreigners in it too which was cool to see. We ate lunch here and had sausages and sauerkraut - definitely European!
The whole park was a Halloween theme which was cool, but weird when they'd say happy Halloween and it's not for another month. So we spent the day on a couple rides and exploring the world while having Korean's, Filipino's, and others asking us to take a picture with us. Kristen and I were a bit of a spectacle at the park despite the fact there were a lot of white people there. At safari world we bought animal ears and wore them all day. Some people were brave and asked for our pictures, others would sneak a picture (but we always noticed), others would laugh and others would just talk to us about it. It made for an interesting day. Especially when we left the park and were back in Seoul, but still wearing the ears. Amanda and Laura would walk behind us because they found watching people's expressions as we walked past was funny. Made even more amusing when we started singing random songs down Seoul's streets. Eventually we made it back and decided to hit up a Noraebong. Noraebongs are karaoke bars basically expect not really. You rent a room with you and your friends with your own karaoke machine. We rented it for an hour, but decided to re-rent for another hour and by the end our voices were dead, but it was well worth it. I don't have pictures on my camera since the flash doesn't work so you don't get to see those.
Following the theme for the weekend we went to bed too late, but were then able to sing happy birthday to Laura in English, Spanish, French, and Chinese (thanks to Laura!). Since our voices were dead from singing all night I'm sure anyone listening was covering their ears!
Sunday morning we made it to Yoido Full Gospel church which is the largest church in the world with over 850,000 members. They have a church service ever two hours on Sunday's with translations in most languages. We went to the 9:00am service and got escorted to the section where we could wear headphones to hear the English translation. It was an interesting service and to be able to hear the way they evangelize in Asia. We even got on the TV screen! After the service they immediately converged on the foreigners section and practically dragged us to this foreigner debriefing. Somehow we were the only ones who weren't able to sneak our way out of it. So for the next 20 minutes we listened to a man talk about how we should go to this prayer rally where they parade the foreigners through Olympic Stadium, have skydivers, and treat foreigners like Olympians. It was weird. We did learn some interesting things about the church though. All in all, it was a good experience.
Our last stop before heading back to Gwangju was the war memorial museum. We didn't have the time to go into the museum building, but we got to spend a while admiring tanks, trucks, war planes, subs, bombers, and missiles. We could go in a couple of the planes as well as the tanks. It was awesome and so interesting!
After spending the whole weekend not seeing anyone from Canadian Connection we ran into a lot of them at the train station. Everyone apparently had trains or buses leaving around the same time and we were once again able to catch up.
So that concludes my weekend. It is now 50 minutes into Monday morning which means that here in Korea it's my birthday! Which means that in Korea I'm also 24 years old. The whole age thing is weird here. But since I don't want to be old, I'm sticking with my Canadian age and stay 22. Now I'm off to bed! ok, all the pictures aren't working. More later. I'm tired.

** ok. Picture explainations. The top one is in Seoul Tower through a mirror in the roof. The one below is a view of the Han River in Seoul. The first on the right is us Dutch girls making a windmill in front of Amsterdam (yes, it's a windmill!). The one below that is me on the camel. Then the white tigers. Then me in the drivers spot in a Korean Tanker which was clearly made for short Koreans! Next is Holland Village! and lastly is Kristen and I in front of the only Canadian made plane (although it was altered by the USA before coming to Korea!)

The bad luck continues...

I was bored at school today (nothing new) and I decided that since all the schools for some reason block the blogging websites, I'd write my next post in WORD and then copy and paste it here when I got back home. That was the plan anyway. Then I got home and for some dumb reason I can't copy and paste from WORD into the blog. Just my luck. So you don't get to hear about the funny restaurant stories, which, now that I think about it, are probably only funny to me because I was there. Maybe once I figure the copy and paste thing out I'll post it up here. So then I get a phone call from Cindy (the co-teacher who came to the ball game with me) saying that KB, the cell phone company I was going to get my phone hooked up with, had computer problems today so I have to go back on Monday. Then my bank was just peachy and wouldn't let me get a check card (like a debit card) and I have no idea why. This was all after school. During school I had my usual posse of girls who follow me around whispering (though I don't know why. I can't understand Korean anyway!) about this or that about me. Eventually one of them will get the courage to ask me whatever it was they were whispering about. Last week it was that the hair on my arms was so white and much longer than their black hairs. The week they were wondering if my arm pit hair was also white. Yesterday I had three teachers surounding me feeling my hair for about ten minutes unable to get over how blonde and smooth it was. When they found out I refuse to dye my hair they were in even more awe that it was my natural colour and not fake like pretty much every other North American female. I think both the teachers and students gained some over the last week. On the way to school today my co-teacher was bringing his daughter to her school. Once she was gone, I told him she was adorable. He didn't know the word, so I explained it meant "cute". So he says, "oh! I get it! she is adorable. Just like you!". Right....

It's Amanda's birthday on Sunday October 4th and since we're in Seoul on the weekend I thought I'd bake her a cake tonight. Sadly, I don't have many ingredients here so my options are rather limited. But, I went to the Underground Grocers last night so I had the ingredients for frosted banana bars. I almost wish I didn't go... I ate way too much frosting! But I made an amazing looking cake! We're going to surprise Amanda with it tonight. Her and Laura are coming up from Hwasun and staying over the night since we're leaving at 6:00 am for Seoul! I can't wait! Long weekend here I come!

Blonde moment for Tara (and I know you all loves these). I found out yesterday that a phone in your house is called a lanline. NOT a landline. Learn something new everyday right?!

Well, I think I should be starting to clean my apartment. It's so dirty. Doesn't help my vacuum cleaner is broken or that I have to walk down five flights of stairs to bring out the garbage and recycling. Kinda just builds up until it smells. Just joking Mom! It only got that bad once. Promise! Now before I say anything else I'll regret, I'm going to stop writing. oh, the pictures are a view from the bus stop of my school. I also put pictures from the last post on here that didn't work last time. The jazz band stuff.