2009 in Review....and 2010 beginnings

I can't believe how fast 2009 went. It has only been 11 months since I went dog sledding, 8 months since I graduated University, 6 1/2 since I got back from studying in Chicoutimi, 5 since my sister got married and 4 1/2 since I came to Korea. All this stuff and yet it's only been a year. Already for 2010 I have so many plans to travel and I can't wait for the exciting things this year will bring.
So before I talk about my New Years celebrations, here's some of the best things about Korea so far. Both in and out of the classroom. These are the things I haven't written here. I appologize if some are the same though.

1. Kpop. Seriously. It's awesome. Check out these songs and that is kpop in a crunch.

"Sorry Sorry" by Super Junior (Kristen and I know the dance...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAWqnA8PdcY

"Ring Ding Dong" by SHINee (we know part of this one too. See what we do with our free time?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roughtzsCDI&feature=fvst

"Man Man Ha Ni" by U-Kiss (watch the music video and then think about the fact these guys are between the ages of 16 and 21)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvgYTKEFxuw

"Love like this" by SS501 (this one is my current favourite kpop song ever)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imDcnoHMQMk

"Heartbreaker" by G-Dragon (He's part of Big Bang. This song grew on me)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOXEVd-Z7NE&feature=fvst

"Lies" by Big Bang (I only like this one for the chorus and because it's mine and Kristen's kpop song that we sang in the Noraebong and got 100% on... yeah that's right. We sang Korean. Go us) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cv3phvP8Ro


"Sarangalhee" (love sick) by F.T. Island (second favourite behind "love like this")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bCr4Imp0Ts

"Again and Again" by 2PM (I only like 2PM because my girls LOVE them and they were the first kpop band I was told about. I'm really not a fan of any of their other stuff though.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUgReo37ECw

"Gee" by Girls Generation (singing this in a taxi will draw laughs from the taxi driver and make him very happy you know kpop)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7mPqycQ0tQ

"Nobody" by Wonder Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFjP-OJ7Bh4

"I don't care" by 2NE1 (sick of this one, but the kids LOVE singing it to you when they don't care about something...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgAxMO1KD0&feature=fvst

ok, I got a little carried away with the songs, but you need variety right? I could post so many more too. Like Kristen's favourite "Strong Baby" by Big bang or T.O.P? She's going to hate me for not remembering if it was the whole band who sang it or just T.O.P or maybe G-Dragon? I donno. She knows much more about kpop than I do. Or "Super Girl" by Super Junior. And then there's "Pajama Party" by Super Junior which is just plain adorable. Ok, on to other things.

2. The Classroom:

- Finding out how many students were actually fluent, or close to fluent, in English after the first class and then feeling like a complete fool when thinking about how I taught the first class. Good thing they don't remember those kind of things.
- Playing "Incomplete" by the Backstreet Boys for my grade three classes and watching one of my boys rocking out in his seat singing all the lyrics.
- Watching a student almost fall out of his chair, laughing at him, then realizing he saw me laughing thus between us we distracted the whole class who was supposed to be listening to Cindy talk about the exam.
- Trying to get students to answer a question and their answer is "Teacher, you're beautiful". Repeat the question and the answer is "Teacher, I love you".
- One of my students trying to explain "homie" to me by saying "you know, homie. Like, you and me are homies!"
- Doing grade two speaking tests and the very first student leaves the room and lets out the biggest relief sigh I have ever heard and exclaims to the other students it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. All while I'm laughing in the classroom because I could hear him.
- Watching how quickly the students caught on that if their answer is "Canada" they get extra points and a high five from me. Now every answer is Canada... not always what I'm looking for though.
- Grade three speaking tests and having one boy give me a synopsis of how he came to like Snoop Dogg. He got an A.
- Watching the students play games where the loser gets injured in some way or another and letting them do it... oops.
- Playing Gong ji with my students and watching their faces when they realize I know how to play already.
- Having snowballd fights with every single school, three times at one of them, and always ending up on the loosing side and covered in snow.
- Watching an entire class get punished because they were late for class and having one student put on a dramatic act telling me to call 119 (911 in Canada...).
- Teaching the kids how to do fist pumps and awesome handshakes.
- Having my students speak to me in Korean and when realizing I understood what they were asking (even if I don't understand the actual words they said), keep speaking to me in Korean.
- Cindy and my grade two classes... me: "Cindy! we can't play "sexy back" in class!" Cindy: "why not? they need to get introduced to club music early on!" (keep in mind Cindy is my co-teacher)
- Telling a student that Cindy was "out" when he asked where she was and having him misunderstand me and think I was kicking him out. I don't think he even understood when I tried to explain he wasn't being kicked out.

3. With the teachers:

- The constant concern over my choice in clothing... I apparently don't dress for the weather. However, if I did, I'd be sweating. No, it's NOT freezing out and I really don't need to wear my coat all day long unless you want me to feint of heat.
- Magic man and the surrounding stories
- Barefoot man and trying to set me up with his son (still haven't met him...)
- Teachers dinners... "oh, you don't want a beer? here, drink this (hands me a beer)"
- Gym teachers and their apparent affection for English teachers.
- Getting made fun of for my attempt to speak Korean. (it really is funny)
- Knowing they are talking about me even though they think I have no idea.
- Getting told I don't eat enough at least three times a week (trust me, I eat plenty)
- Being told I looked tired and should go sleep in the classroom for a while.


4. Outside the classroom:

- Dancing to "Sorry Sorry" with Kris everytime we hear it no matter where we are.
- Kia Tigers and our championship
- Getting lost....all the time.
- Wando, Seoul (clubFF!), Everland, Busan, Najangsan, Jirisan, Hwasun etc. (as seen in previous posts. Except Busan. That is later in this post)
- Super Fun Rockin' Christmas Dance Party (Club T.H) at my place.
- Cooking two turkey's, mashed potatoes, carrots, and stuffing before church on Thanksgiving.
- Hiking, hiking, and more hiking.
- Buying a guitar (best thing I bought in Korea. I missed playing)
- The ears and wearing them all over Korea and getting weird looks for it.
- IRIS and Boys over Flowers
- Lee Byung Hun, T.O.P, and Nagasaki handshakes.
- Mi Piache (Italian restaurant we frequent)
- Dinner with Mr. Lee, my grade three co-teacher, and his family and getting told by his oldest son (who is fluent in English and in University) that I look like Tyra Banks. NO idea how he figured that made any sense.
- Dance parties with Kris (which we haven't had in a while...)
- Sitting in my office and watching a high school student scale the building and climb into a second story window. I was the only one who saw and was killing myself laughing while every other teacher thought something was wrong with me.
- Watching fighter jets practice and seeing them whip around the moutains just like in the movies.
- Having kids say hello to you just because you speak English.
- Banana man
- Getting revenge on the idiot who swindled 1,000 won from Kris back in our first week here. He tried it again and I got to wave him by angrily in his face and give him dirty looks. I got an elbow in the arm for my efforts - he wasn't too impressed. Oh well. He knows not to mess with us again.
- Wolgwang English Ministry. Best thing that ever happened to me in Korea. I love that church and all the people in it.
- Kris falling down rocks. It was hilarious.
- Kris coming in my house looking like she rolled in dirt, grass, and blood after falling when running to my place.
- Baskin Robins. Enough said.
- Chain Gang infiltrating our neighbourhood. We have since claimed it back.
- Cafe crawls
- Kristen, Tara, Gabrielle. Good times all the time.
- Houze
- Halloween
- Boxing Day
- Christmas Eve and Day
- New Years... and here's that story:

There two pictures are basically our New Years summed up. We woke up December 31st to beautiful snow that we haven't seen in a few weeks. Almost missed our bus because the roads were terrible and we were running late, like usual. Got on the bus, an hour later we were outside of the snow and spent our New Years on the beaches of Haeundae in Busan on the Pacific Ocean.

Unam dong, Gwangju 9am December 31, 2009

















Haeundae Beach, Busan 1pm December 31, 2009




Watching the last sunset of the year on Haeundae beach.

We celebrated New Years on the beach and quickly realized that the countdown isn't important in Busan. We were six of about 30 people on the beach. We were the most enthusiastic of the bunch. Kris and I ran up and down the beach screaming. We watched some high school boys play these drum things. Danced around a little and then found a noraebong where we were told it was 20,000 won for the ENTIRE night (usually it's 10,000 an hour!) so we settled into a night of super awesome fun. I fell asleep for about and hour and half. Kris sang ALL night. We both sang to "lies" by Big Bang and scored 100% like I already mentioned. It is significant though so I mention it again. We rock kpop's socks.

At about 4:30 am we made our way out for breakfast. Gimbap, Bibimbap, and ddeokbokki. I LOVE ddeokbokki.

Next we waited for sunrise. Cafe's were lined with sleepers. In Canada they'd be kicked out by now. In Korea, they all just sleep. It looked like someone knocked out all the people in every cafe... it was hilarious! We found space in Starbucks (yeah, definitely didn't buy anything!) and crashed there for a while. The above picture is from there. Oh yes, the guy is Tom. We met him on the subway there. He's been in Korea a month. We showed him the ropes. He was pretty cool and we had an awesome time. I don't think we scared him off. Even when Kris and I broke into the "Sorry Sorry" dance. But anyone who can survive a noraebong experience with Kris and I can't be scared off by much else.

Here's the first peek of the sun. The beach had thousands on it by this point. I had to fight for a spot at the front. It took a bit for the sun to rise because of the clouds, but the first peek had everyone cheering! It was spectacular!

I got a soaker from taking this shot. A wave came too close, the Koreans all backed up, I used to it get to the front, but got a soaker as a result. My toes were so cold by that point.

Around 8am we left to go to bed. Here's the crowd that's left and one of the many video crews there. Who knows, maybe I made it on Korean TV? I already made it into the Korean newspaper.

After 4 1/2 hours of sleep we went on a cruise to Oryukdo island. It was BEAUTIFUL out! I look cold because it was a little cold with the wind, but oh so beautiful out!

Part of the island.

On the way back. I love this shot because of the seagull flying into the sun.

We pretty much crashed the rest of the night in our motel. Watched a little kpop and random movies on TV before going to bed really early. The next day we had an "American breakfast" where the "sausages" turned out to be mini hotdogs. What a disapointment! Then we went to the UN memorial park in Nam-gu, a little bit away from Haeundae. The first picture was the only grave with something by it. The second picture is the memorial wall of everyone who died in the Korean War.

The first one below is a Canadian soldier who died at 19. There were so many grave of boys who died between 19-21. It's heartbreaking to think of it. It wasn't only the Korean War like that. Going to these memorials always gets me thinking about that. What really is the point of war? I guess that's why I'm so interested in it.

The second one below is the Canadian memorial with the graves of the Canadian soldiers. The only graves that are here are the ones of the soldiers whose real grave is unknown.

This last photo really gets to me. This water way, which goes the length of the memorial where the graves for the soldiers whose real grave is unknown, was created in memory of the death of the youngest soldier who died in the Korean war. He was 17.

After spending the afternoon at the memorial we went back to the bus station and headed on home to Gwangju...where the snow had all but disapeared. Sigh. All that's left is ice.

*And I just remembered so I'll add this now. We also went to Korea's largest underground aquarium the first day we were here. My pictures aren't the greatest since it was dark and my camera doesn't work in the dark. But we went and it was AWESOME. Love the sharks.