Where in the World are Daniel and Tova?

we are moving!

2009-12-05T04:36:00.003-05:00

ok, after 100 posts, and much fighting with blogspot we are moving our blog . . .

you can now visit us at: http://danielandtova.wordpress.com/

better in america

2009-11-28T23:20:00.000-05:00

we talked about the things that are better in korea.

here are some things that are better in america than in korea
no, we are not bashing korea, just pointing out differences . . .

1: forming lines. we've mentioned this before, but we need to mention it again. we've been cut in front of, people jump in taxis while we are actively opening the door etc. in america its a lot more orderly.
2: personal space. kind of goes with #1 a lil' just one "normal" scenario. i (daniel) was sitting on the floor with my legs crossed at a school dinner when a man sat "next" to me. by next i mean he was straddeling me, one leg on each side of me! then he had one hand on my back, and another on my inner-thigh! YIKES! he stayed there for about 5-10 minutes? totally normal.
3: tie fashion. in korea there are sequins and glitter on 99% of koreans ties. actually thinking about it, is that good or bad :-p
4: privacy in public bathrooms. there are randomly placed OPEN windows in bathrooms, and the doors of public bathrooms are often kept open.
5: quantity of soap and toilet paper in bathrooms. its hit and miss finding these things in korea :-p
6: school safety. its very common to see every student carrying INSANE box cutters in every class.
7: public garbage cans. as much as people in korea want to recycle this makes them not put public garbage cans all over the place. in koreas downtown there are a couple?
8: safety for people on the sidewalks. walking down the street you need to dodge people, scooters AND cars! keep your head on a swivel people!
9:gift giving. as much as the gift giving is awesome, once you give a gift you NEED to give back. when you give back then the person who gets your gift feels obliged to give you something in return. then when you get another gift you have to give another gift. its reciprocity gone MAD people :-p
10: giving people the right of way. in korea whether its walking down the street or driving, there seems to be no given right of way. this causes many "awkward stranger dances" with people, or people just running in to you. we have heard stories where koreans who havent gotten out of the way of army tanks, and have been run over by tanks. true or not, sadly it is believable.
11: coffee. even though i am a self-described "coffee snob" the vast majority of coffee (99%) in korea is instant coffee. we have gone to a coffee shop and watched the barista open up a thingy of instant coffee and serve it to a customer. YUCK!
12: planning ahead. in america people LOVE to plan ahead. in korea its often common to go to work, and walk in a classroom with NO students. then a teacher will call you and say "todays classes are all canceled due to exams" another scenario, you will be sitting in your office with no class, and a teacher will ask where are you? you are supposed to be teaching!" also, you can ask anytime during the semester and ask "when are finals" and no one will know. i JUST found out the dates for finals just two weeks before finals. since i love schedules, this has been the most difficult thing to adjust to.

we have absolutely loved our time here, and have adjusted very well and the differences we just smile and say "we love it here"

Thanksgiving Adventures in Riveraland

2009-11-25T20:17:00.004-05:00

Since today is Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate to do a review of memorable Thanksgivings past. Here is a brief overview of the Daniel and Tova Thanksgivings since we've been married:

Thanksgiving 2005 ~ Detailed in this blog. I'm not going to spoil the surprise.

Thanksgiving 2006 ~ Spent in Alpena. I got to meet many of Grace's relatives for the first time!

Thanksgiving 2007 ~ Spent in Jacksonville in a tiny apartment with Daniel and JL and Grace.

Thanksgiving 2008 ~ Spent in Miami in a crowded, family-filled place with Orlando and Ricardo fighting over something ridiculous. This included many fact-finding Google missions together that (not) surprisingly resulted in BOTH Orlando AND Ricardo even more convinced that they were correct.

Thanksgiving 2009 ~ Spent in Korea. We won't have much of a celebration, if any. This makes me both homesick and reminded of how much I do have to be thankful for.

As I said, today's blog will be focused on Thanksgiving 2005 ~ the first Thanksgiving Daniel and I had as a married couple. We had such high expectations for this Thanksgiving. This was to be the "parade the new wife around the family" Thanksgiving. I was supposed to meet Daniel's awesome grandpa and aunts and uncles and cousins and all that. As you can probably already tell, this was not what wound up happening.

Daniel and I put all our junk in Bob (our little Scion xa we'd recently acquired). We mapped out the trip. We'd decided that our best bet was to go from Madison, WI up north through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, then down through the glove to Alpena. We timed it just right for our arrival. We loaded Anners, our cute little muttley, into the car. We set off into the evening on our journey.

The drive was going incredibly smoothly. Annie was the best car-trip dog you could ever imagine. Give that punkley a pillow and put her no further than 4 feet away from her people, and she's set. We had the maps and the coats and everything we needed to brave Michigan in late November. We drove and drove, stopping in Green Bay at one point and stopping at the Brett Favre (I think?) McDonald's that was a stone's throw away from the stadium. We kept driving on into the night, hoping to make it up through the Upper Peninsula before we got too tired. We finally got into the UP, and things were going just swimmingly.

We were following the little highway 2 through the UP. We made it to Escanaba pretty easily. A little while after that, we encountered our first Lake Effect Snow. We were in the middle of this crazy swirling white blackness. It was like nothing I've ever seen. We were moving along at about 2 inches an hour, trying our hardest not to freak out (okay, so that was just me). Every now and then, we would be passed by an SUV that seemed to think nothing was going on at all. We finally decided to stop at a hotel when we realized we'd gone 2 miles in the last 20 minutes. We pulled over to a little Comfort Inn at the side of the road. We came in, and the desk person gave us their last hotel room. The tiny hotel was packed to the gills with holiday travelers that had been stranded in this tiny town. We were SO thankful that it was a pet-friendly hotel. We grabbed a few things from the car and headed in to our room.

In the morning, we looked out and saw a sea of white. There was snow EVERYWHERE, piled higher than I would have thought possible. We realized for the first time that we were literally right across the street from Lake Michigan. While we were driving, we were hugging the lake the whole time, and I had no idea! We saw that some parts of the road had been cleared, and the sky was pretty clear as well. We decided we would pack up and try again. When we went down to check out, the desk dude said, "Are you sure you want to go anywhere?" As it turns out, the snow the night before was horrible. The highways in the UP had been closed a little further ahead because there were too many fatalities.

We decided that it was too important for us to get to Alpena to give up at 6 am. We thanked them, checked out, and headed off down the road.

We made it about 5 miles ~ TOPS ~ when the snow hit. It was the same as the night before ~ insane, blinding snow. We couldn't see a foot out the windows. Everything was so white! We turned around and headed back to the hotel after we realized it was too dangerous to continue. Almost the second we'd turned around, the snow stopped. It completely disappeared! We said, "Okay, let's try again." We turned around and made it maybe a mile before the snow hit full force AGAIN! We tried this again and again, failing each time. Finally, when we realized we'd been covering the same mile or so for an hour, we decided to go back to the hotel and stay there for Thanksgiving. When we got back, the desk person chuckled and said that we could have our room back ~ they hadn't even bothered to clean it when we left.

We got back to the room, put our stuff in, and tried to figure out what to do. After all, it was Thanksgiving! We couldn't just do nothing to celebrate! Unfortunately, almost everything was closed down. It was too dangerous for people to drive to work.

Daniel and I did what every sane person would do. We went to the gas station next door and got our Thanksgiving dinner.

This was the menu for Thanksgiving 2005: Turkey (tortilla chips). Stuffing (salsa). Sweet potatoes (graham crackers). Gravy (peanut butter). Pumpkin pie (a giant hershey's kiss). We then finished off Thanksgiving in style by watching a 24-hour marathon of "Deadliest Catch". (Thank you, cable TV!)

The next morning, completely defeated by the Upper Peninsula, we packed our things and headed back to Madison. It was a sad Thanksgiving, but certainly a memorable one.

This year, we're going to brave the UP at the end of December. Hopefully I will NOT have another blog entry like this one.

its better in korea :-)

2009-11-23T00:58:00.003-05:00

so after almost a year in korea we have found some things that are just better in korea than in the states.

i am not at all hinting that korea is better than america, but being from a country (the US) that prides itself in taking the best from other cultures, here are some things that we think America could learn from korea :-p

1: chicken strips. seriously so much better in korea than in america. a wonderful balance of spicy and juicy with some awesome added at the end.
2: fermented food, i.e. kimchi. sorry, had to give korea props for preparing a dish in a way that makes most americans queezy :-p
3: shopping carts. the wheels on the front and the back pivot. sheer genius i tell you, sheer genius
4: teachers field trips. when a majority of the field trips can be classified as "life-threatening" then they are awesome.
5: oral hygiene. my students brush their teeth after almost every class.
6: gift giving. in korea people find ANY reason to give a gift. its so nice. a week doesn't go by without walking in to your office and finding a box of something on your desk for some reason or another.
7: school parties. they have so much fun, and its definitely a bonding experience.
8: recycling. they recycle everything. even having recycling bins at the beach.
9: drying food. they will dry ANY kind of food.
10: umbrellas. they use them for all four seasons.
11: tv. its not the actual t.v. programs, but their format. minimal commercials, and most shows last 45-50 minutes with a 10-15 minute break in between. very nice to use that time for doing the dishes etc. :-)
12: the use of garlic and onions in their food. seriously one of the best things! they eat RAW garlic and onions. i love going to dinners, and being served raw garlic and onions. that makes my day. but not only that. what makes it the nest is that after being served i eat the raw garlic and raw onions and NO ONE looks at me funny :-p

so that's our "top12" list of things that are better in korea :-)

hope you enjoyed :-) next time things that are better in america :-)

ad hoc

2009-11-21T18:30:00.005-05:00

in korea sometimes you need to find the randomest things ever to get by.

the reason why, is because sometimes you dont know where to get things, so you have to improvise with things that you can find.

other times a very simple project can be very expensive which makes you improvise. for example . . . i wanted to hang a picture. then i thought "if i wanted to hang one picture i would have to go buy nails AND a hammer." i then weighed the pros and cons, and i thought "is it really worth the 10 bucks for a hammer to put up one picture?" so then the improvising starts :-p

sometimes people classify this as "ghetto" but sometimes we have to embrace that living in korea.

so with that backdrop here is todays blog:

when we moved in to our new apartment we had some closet doors that didnt close all the way. we would close the doors before leaving for work, and then come home and they would be open.i used some cardboard to make sure half of the door remained closed,
(the piece of cardboard is wedged at the top of the door frame and held on there with double-sided sticky tape :-p)

but the left hand door was pesky, and didnt respond well to the cardboard treatment.

so what do you do in korea with limited tools?

VELCRO!

seriously, we tried velcro. :-p

it looks like this:
(look at the top left corner of the door, and where the door would close :-p )

we put on the velcro the first week we moved in, and it is still working, and we are happy with the results :-p

i would list more ghetto fixed things in the house, but they all involve double-sided sticky tape so its not as fun as velcro :-p

until next time people!

random = typical

2009-11-13T00:14:00.002-05:00

so again, with the cultural differences theme, this is a compilation of things that happened in one hour, which just made me laugh

1: I got a phone call in my office, and my co-teacher told me that I had to leave right then to get a chest x-ray. all the male teachers are getting them (i dont know why, i just follow directions :-p). i asked if i needed a coat, and he said no. expecting to hop in a car to go to the hospital, which is only a 5 minute drive from my school i go find my co-teacher. he takes me to the schools parking lot where there was a mobile x-ray bus thingy, where all the men got there chests x-rayd. so today i got my chest x-rayed randomly, only in korea :-p. (no one has told me anything about the results so i guess it was ok :-p)

2: when getting the chest x-ray my co teacher asked me if i had anything metal on. i said just my belt. he said "no, i mean any metal attached to your insides" i laughed . . . a lot :-)

3: then i asked him if i need to take my belt off. this was now his turn to laugh at me :-p he was like "sure, and while you are at it, take off your shirt, your socks, and your pants." he then laughed and then said "no, you dont need to take off your belt. why would you need to take off your belt" i said maybe cause it was metal and he said "we arent going to be x'raying down there, just in your chest. you can keep your belt on. if you want though, i can announce it to the whole school, and tell them you are taking off your pants for the chest x-ray" touche' co-teacher, touche'

4: my co-teacher gets his x-ray before me. he says "please dont look at my x-ray. i will be very embarrassed if you see my insides "it was again my turn to laugh at him :-p

5: also, while waiting to get the x-ray (outside in the cold, and drizzle with no coat) we were talking about a field trip that i need to go on. he said "you know what? i would love to go to that place, but if someone told me i HAD to go, then i would not want to go" (i totally agree!)

and also, who knew that getting a chest x-ray would be so fun :-p

6: lastly, in class my co-teacher was trying to figure out if a 9 volt battery was working. i promptly picked it up and put it on my tongue. my co-teacher looked at me like i was trying to kill myself. i asked him why he was looking at me so weird and he was like "cause you are trying to electrocute yourself with the battery. be careful you dont want to die" it was then my turn to look at him like he had a third eye growing in the middle of his forehead. apparently the only time he EVER had done this was when he was three, and proceeded to laugh hysterically. i laughed cause i was like "why is this weird" and promptly checked another battery with my tongue, which made him almost fall on the floor laughing. i guess in korea they dont do that :-p

and that is why my co-teacher and i get along so much.

seriously, we are very much alike, and like making fun of each other :-p
I only have a month or so before i am passed on to my next co-teacher :-/ so sad

cultural differences

2009-11-10T02:11:00.001-05:00

sometimes, after living in a different culture there is a sense of comfortability with the cultural differences. you usually just smile and nod and think "only in korea", some differences you just leave smiling and grateful for such experiences, and then there are sometimes where the differences are so maddening that they make you want to rip your hair out.

here are a couple that happened on the same day, all involving taxis :-p

last monday was a terrible rainy day. usually i walk to school, but with the rain i decided to take a taxi. i crossed the street and tried to hail a couple of taxis. a man was on the other side of the street. he saw me trying to hail a taxi. he crossed the street and walked towards the traffic a little bit so he was about 20 feet away from me. when he stopped he started trying to get a taxi! he totally cut in front of line! he knew i was trying to get a taxi, but that didnt stop him. (this hasn't been a one time thing. "lines" in korea are very amorphous)

i was really upset, cold, and wet from the rain. then to make matters worse the taxis were stopping to ask the guy where he was going, and tried to piggy back a fair with him. (piggy-backing is normal in taxis in korea) they didnt pick him up, and then when i tried to wave them down they would stop and ask me, even though the taxis had some of my students in them and it would be easy to piggy back fairs. i decided to start walking to school, and catch a taxi further down the street 'cause there was no way i was going to get a taxi any time soon due to "line-jumper"

i finally got a taxi after walking in the rain for 20 minutes, my socks and shoes thoroughly soaked. i was in a terrible state of mind.

while in the taxi, stewing, we passed the main intersection by my school. there is a "cop dude" who directs traffic in the mornings, since there are 1,000 students at my school it needs a "cop-dude" to direct traffic. when i see him every morning he bows and says "good-morning" with the biggest smile on his face, proud of himself to be able to communicate with someone in another language. i always respond with a bow and saying hello in korea. he loves it. he is a very cute old man. he makes my mornings :-) again, faithfully, he was there in the rain, in his poncho directing traffic.

after school,with my socks still wet, i was still in a grumbling state of mind. its tough when you are raised thinking that an action is totally rude, and go to another culture and it be "normal"

so i was grumbly, and it was still rainy, so i took a taxi home. i saw a taxi coming and did the customary waiving to get the taxi to pick me up. in the rain, through the windshield, i saw the taxi driver and it was the "cop crossing-guard dude"! (some taxi drivers wear uniforms that can be confused as cop uniforms) he recognized me while still in his taxi stopping and was waving to me excitedly. he had the biggest smile on his face, and the frostiness in my heart started to melt a little. when i got in he was so excited, and happy to see me. he, very animatedly, tried to tell me that he was the same guy that i saw every morning, and he was the same person who said hello every morning. he did this all in korean, but i understood enough to know what we was saying. i tried to tell him that yes i remember him. i think he understood me :-p

at this point i was starting to forget the "line-jumper" and started to think more about the small things that i LOVE about korea. this guy, i dont even know his name, and the extent of our conversations is a "hello" every other morning was so happy to see me! he truly felt like we had a connection, and even though, to me, that connection might be shallow, to him it was a deep connection.

its so true when people tell you to try and ignore some of the cultural differences that you cant understand, and focus on the positives. in all honesty, i/we have found that the people who are having the toughest times in korea seem to only focus on the differences they cant understand.

i choose to focus on "random cop looking but really a taxi driver who moonlights as a glorified crossing guard" over the "line-jumper" :-p

Love!

2009-11-01T03:25:00.009-05:00

I love my job. I love my coteacher. I love absolutely everything about my career in Korea. I am having a blast.

My coteacher and I taught a class on Friday that we needed to tape. (There's an upcoming contest for the Korean teachers that she needed it for.) It was a blast.

After the class, BoRam approached me with the video camera. She wanted me to describe my thoughts about the class. I took that opportunity to share some completely mature thoughts that show evidence of how incredibly well-educated and wonderful I am.

Enjoy. :-)

Here is a link to the video, just in case it's not working: http://bocl.org/tova/tovaInterview.mpg

(Thank you, Dad!!!)

Everything referenced in the video is a true story, by the way. :-)

funny thing happened while shopping at the store :-)

2009-10-25T06:20:00.008-04:00

so, in korea they offer some pretty sweet action things when you buy a product.

sometimes the pairings are weird, for example a roll of paper towels when you buy 4 cans of spam. and sometimes they are the coolest things ever.

back in january we went to e-mart and i saw a lady giving away free snowman ear-muffs

all you had to do was to buy some febreeze (which we didnt need at the time) and the cool ear muffs were mine . . . guess who bought some febreeze that day :-p

so then that takes us to this weeks shopping. we went to buy some awesome cereal, but we had a choice, either get the normal box that looks like this . . .

or get a box with something random and free attached to it. the choice was obvious, we choose the box below . . .
we didnt know exactley what was in plastic bag so delicately taped to the box, but we knew we wanted it (and by we i mean me (daniel) so i got home and immediately opened the bag, and this was in it:
and this is a picture of our fan . . .

apparently you are supposed to put your fan in the bag like this:

and then you are supposed to zip it up. if you look closely you can see a handle, to carry it?

i dont know why you are supposed to do this with your fan. koreans are a firm believers in "fan death" so maybe this is supposed to help with it? (if you sleep in a room with fan on then the fan someway somehow kills you) i dont know, but at least we got a bag for our fan. something we have been missing our entire lives, and now we dont know what we would do without it :-p

quick update

2009-10-22T21:53:00.001-04:00

so everyone . . .

it looks like we are going to be staying a second year

and it looks like we are getting close to getting vacation dates

when we know these things we will let you know!

another year in korea? i guess so :-)

busyness

2009-10-18T05:58:00.003-04:00

ahhhh busyness :-p

it seems like no matter where you live, no matter what you do, you still face the same obstacles in your life. those things are: managing time, money, and relationships.

for the most part tova and i have been doing very well with so many aspects of our lives here in korea. it hasnt been until the past couple of weeks that we had to truly tackle the managing time thing.

tova and i both will tell you that we strive to be good stewards of our time. at times we have been successful and at times we have failed. but the past couple of weeks, and until december are a completely different beast . . .

we HAVE TO watch every second of every day. if we dont then we leave things undone that really need to get done.

a couple of weeks ago we were approached by the office of education and given the opportunity to teach some extra classes. we gladly accepted the challenge not knowing what we were getting ourselves in to. now i am in the process of re-writing a wizard of oz script to include a dorothy AND timothy, and doubling up on the lion, tin-man, and scarecrow. should be rather interesting. we are going to tape the play when they perform it and definitely post it. it should be awesome!

on top of this my school has asked me to start another HUGE project with my 2nd grade class. this is two large projects in one semester, and time is ticking.

so we are juggling a lot of balls, but we are thoroughly enjoying it.

we are also to crunch time about making a decision on staying a second year or not. please pray for us as this is a big decision. we dont have any job prospects in america, at this time, but at the same time its tough to say good-bye to "normal" life for a whole 'nother year. my pops has said "you can do ANYTHING for one year" and we have done that? will this adventure be as exciting a 2nd time around?

we miss you all, and will tell you when we have vacation dates/going home dates as soon as we know

it seems like there are so many things up in the air, but then we think about the One who holds us in our hands, and we have some kind of peace come over us that lets us know that "everything works together for good for those that love the Lord" then the busyness doesnt seem that overwhelming :-)

My Essay ~ Don't Laugh At It!!!

2009-10-13T08:42:00.001-04:00

** Still need to edit... This is for a province-wide essay contest. Picture this formatted well with perfect grammar and spelling. It's long, so read at your own risk. **

Many people of all ages have been bitten by the traveling bug. They have this burning desire to see the world, to experience new things, and to live an adventure. I am decidedly not one of these people. I have always been very comfortable in my boring, predictable life. Sometimes I wonder how I became an English teacher in South Korea, since Korea is pretty much as far away from home as I could possibly be. The decision to come to Korea was a difficult one. My husband and I talked it over and thought about it for months before even applying. However, the time between applying and getting on the plane was incredibly short. Therefore, looking back on it, this has been one huge whirlwind, one that I am excited to share with you.
My name is Tova Rivera, and I am 26 years old. I have been married for a little over four years now. My husband, Daniel, and I were happily going about our lives in Florida. I was an elementary school teacher and Daniel was finishing his degree. Although we discussed coming to Korea many, many times, we actually didn’t do as much research on our new country as we probably should have. Daniel and I came to Korea in December 2008. We left our family, our lives, our friends, and everything familiar to come on this adventure. Adjusting to life in Korea has been exciting and difficult in many different ways.
When we first came to Korea, I was completely unprepared for what I found. Our first night, we stayed in a hotel near the airport in Incheon. It was all so strange. We had to take off our shoes before going all the way into the hotel room. The shower in the room didn’t have a curtain. You had to put your key in a little thingy by the door in order to work the lights. When we turned on the television, people were speaking a different language. The decorations looked completely different. That night, Daniel and I started to realize the huge change we’d made in our lives. I was a little happy about it, but mostly terrified still.
In the morning, a van took us to Chuncheon for our first orientation. We were in an office with a few other crazy waygooks who’d up and moved halfway across the world. As we went over our contracts line by line, the excitement started to build. We actually had a purpose for being in this new land. At lunchtime, Francesca and Albert took us for our first ever Korean meal. It was a strange affair. We took off our shoes at the entrance and sat on a heated yellow floor. There were about a million small white dishes filled with things I’d never eaten: whole fish (scales, eyes, bones, and all!), noodles, kimchi, and so much more. We ate a ton and had delicious persimmons for dessert. This was the life!
After lunch, we were told there would be a ceremony telling us where we were working. We also were to meet our new coteachers. I became extremely nervous at this point, as I had no idea what was going to happen. Unfortunately, neither one of our coteachers were able to attend. Daniel and I met one of his lovely coworkers, who was kind enough to take us to Sokcho. The few hours in the car were mostly filled with silence, as I looked around at the scenery and thought about the completely new world I’d just thrown myself into. That night was filled with another huge Korean meal (beef barbeque – yum!) and my first ever E-Mart trip. At E-Mart, I saw so much food that was completely foreign to me. In a tiny little corner in a forgotten aisle in E-Mart, we found a dusty jar of Goober Grape (“America’s favorite!” it proclaimed). We grabbed a loaf of bread and a baggie of plastic spoons. Our coteachers then whisked us off to our hotel, where we were to stay for a week before moving into our apartment.
Motel Neo is a cute little hotel on the edge of a beautiful lake in Sokcho. We proceeded to unpack as much as possible (who knew closets don’t exist in Korea?!) and get settled into our new home. We put the Goober Grape carefully into the fridge, the bread on top of the TV, and the spoons somewhere on the vanity. We discovered the in-room internet and promptly made our first ever Skype call home. We assured our family and friends that we had, indeed, made it safely to our new home. We discovered the efficiency of drying rain-soaked clothing on the heated floors. We checked the TV channels, finding quite a few Brad Pitt and / or Angelina Jolie movies. That first night, we slept soundly, happy as clams in our new temporary home.
The next morning, we decided to explore the city. Daniel and I chowed down on a delicious Goober Grape sandwich (which is surprisingly difficult to get out of the jar with plastic spoons) and headed out the door. We decided to check out the area around Motel Neo first. It couldn’t be that difficult to find our way back to our little hotel. We walked for what seemed like hours. We eventually found our way back home after deciding that Sokcho must be at least 20 square miles. The next few days proved to be fairly mundane, filled with things like stopping at local GS 25s, Buy the Ways, and Family Marts. We found food that was amazingly delicious, food that was pretty strange, and things in between. I quickly learned that the key to culinary survival in Korea is to not expect things to be the same as they were back home. For example, buying a Hawaiian pizza in Korea might result in a pizza that has fruit cocktail on it. True story.
The worst part of that first week was, hands-down, jet lag. Daniel didn’t get jet lag too badly, but I got completely beat up by it. Jet lag had me crawling into bed around 9 am after getting up around 7. Jet lag had me nauseous and begging Daniel to just let me sleep all day, every day. Jet lag had me wondering why in the world I’d decided to move all the way to the other side of the earth. Jet lag had me regretting every minute of that plane ride when I didn’t sleep. I didn’t think I’d ever get over jet lag, but I did. It happened right around when Daniel and I started working at our schools.
As an elementary school teacher, I was terrified of teaching high school. I know with absolute certainty that I can handle myself in a room full of kids around 11 years old and younger. However, I had never worked with teenagers, and that was terrifying. Luckily, the EPIK teacher I replaced still had a week to go on her contract, so I got to come in and shadow her all week. It turned out to be a fairly uneventful week, as they were on the very end of units I hadn’t seen. My role that week was to be a monkey in the zoo; to let all of the students watch me, check me out, investigate me, and feel me out. I went into each class shaking before I got up in front of 36 intimidating girls to introduce myself. In some classes, they wanted to know everything about me, from my age to who I voted for in the presidential election. In other classes, they just wanted to get on with their studies.
The first week ended in tears for the kids, the teachers, and the leaving EPIK. It also ended in many parties, or meetings as they’re usually called. This was my first introduction to the drinking culture that exists in Korea. I do not drink alcohol of any sort, and this was not something I knew before we came to Korea. On that first night, I learned how to respectfully accept a shot, how to drink it, and how to reciprocate. I drank more soju that first night than any amount of alcohol I’d ever consumed. After the party, we went to a norebang (again, my first) which was very entertaining. After that, everyone went to a bar. It was a crazy and interesting night.
After that, Daniel and I moved into our first real home in Korea. We moved into the top floor of a 15-story apartment building in a massive complex. This was completely new to me, as the highest apartment buildings where I’m from are three stories. We had a beautiful view of mountains, lakes, and the East Sea. We quickly learned that you must turn the hot water on before taking a shower, and that floor heating is the coolest thing since pockets. We learned how to hang our laundry after washing it (no clothes dryer!), and how to gauge the correct timing of the laundry (at least two days before you need to wear the clothes). We learned that recycling is a requirement in Korea, and that you must keep your food garbage in a little yellow bag in your kitchen until you’re ready to throw it out. We began exploring our neighborhood and getting settled even more.
Then we began our first week of actual teaching. I was to teach a two-hour intensive course for third graders and a one-hour intensive course for teachers every day. This added up to three solid hours of teaching every single day for three weeks. I had no clue what to do and no idea how to even begin this task. As a high school teacher in Korea, I have no textbook to follow. I tried to find interesting activities and lessons. In my first teacher’s class, I failed miserably. I felt like I was fumbling around and completely lost in what to do. I tried greeting the other teachers in the office and saying goodbye every day, only to be met with either polite smiles or chuckles. At times, I was corrected on what I was saying (who knew that anyanghikahseyo and anyanghikaeseyo are so easy to mix up?). I felt like I had made a massive mistake in coming to Korea, and that I wouldn’t ever really fit in.
As time went on, I began to get to know my fellow teachers better. I began to see that their chuckles weren’t as much in mockery of me and my pitiful attempts at speaking Korean as they were in gratitude that I was trying. I began to see the “little” things my coworkers were doing to try and welcome me into their fold. I was invited to join teachers in the cafeteria for lunch. I had teachers offering to walk me to and from work. I had teachers asking me for help with their English. As I settled in to my new routine, I started to see how many people were welcoming me into their country and how badly they wanted to be able to communicate with me.
There were so many mistakes I made in those first few weeks (even months). I definitely accidentally insulted a few teachers by not eating a lot at my first dinner in Sokcho. I wish I had known before accepting the dinner invitation that I was expected to eat quite a bit. I didn’t ask my coteacher for help with lesson planning in the beginning, as I looked at it as my burden, not hers. She asked me a few times if I needed help, and in my pride I always chuckled and said, “No, it’s okay.” Those first lessons were horrible because of that mistake. I didn’t know how to approach my principal and vice principal. If I had learned a few short phrases, I would have been much better off.
I wish I had known much more about Korean culture before I came to this beautiful country. I am still learning a little more every day, and I try my hardest to show that I’m making an effort in everything. Any little one- or two-word Korean phrase that I can learn and use in practical contexts (pepulayo!) helps. Every time I use a Korean word or phrase with my fellow teachers, I feel their gratitude and acceptance. I may have botched up quite a few things in the beginning, but I think they understand that I come from a completely different culture and that it’s difficult for me to fit in. I’m so grateful to my school for being so kind and forgiving.
I think working with Korean high school students has been an incredible opportunity. I really respect all these students go through in their daily lives starting from such a young age. Coming in, I expected to work with students who had attitudes and behaviors similar to American high school students. I found that, although there are many similarities, Korean students value education much more than American students tend to. I discovered that Korean students truly want to feel that their time is used well in school. They want to feel challenged in their studies.
One of the most difficult things about teaching Korean students is finding a good balance. As an EPIK teacher, I know my classes should be lighter, more conversational, and really engaging. At the same time, my students want to learn quite a bit during their allotted one hour a week with me. I am never quite sure if I’m doing enough for the students or if I’m pushing them too hard. Thankfully, I have an amazing coteacher and a wonderful team of teachers to work with. They do an excellent job planning units, lessons, and activities that are both difficult and engaging. I think that listening to the Korean teachers is one of the most important things to do.
In orientation, everyone told us exactly that: always work with the Korean English teachers. They know their students and the curriculum really well, and they are trained to teach English. I can’t reiterate that fact enough. Teaching in Korea would be absolutely miserable if I didn’t get along with the teachers I work with. They are some of the funniest, most capable people I have had the pleasure to work with. There is always a little bit of a language barrier, but a little humor and patience will get you through without any problems. I am so happy to be part of the EPIK program.
I believe the EPIK program is excellent. I think that much of the program has been thought through very well, and the goals and expectations have been clearly laid out. I have been very impressed with EPIK since coming to Korea. I can see the students becoming more and more comfortable speaking with foreigners. Students will approach me and Daniel no matter what we’re doing or where we are in Sokcho to start up a conversation, regardless of if they’ve even met us before. It’s wonderful to see such enthusiasm and willingness to try.
I think there are a few things EPIK could change to become more effective. I think these changes, although most are minor, would help to transition foreigners to life in Korea as well as improve the quality of education. I think EPIK should stagger the start dates of new foreign teachers, provide more individualized training during orientation, and encourage schools to look at the EPIK classes as supplemental to their regular English classes. Those minor changes should help EPIK improve its program.
One of the problems I faced when I first started in my school was the overwhelming newness of everything. I wasn’t sure how to walk to school, where everything was in relation to everything else, and how to go about planning for my lessons. The EPIK I replaced was able to show me some of the ropes, and I would have been completely lost without her. She was able to tell me some of the things I could expect, some issues I might run into, and her guidance was absolutely priceless to me. If every EPIK was able to stay for an extra week after the new EPIK arrived, they would be able to introduce the newbie to other foreigners in the community, show them around school, and have the newbie observe some classes. These things would help the new EPIK transition to a new community, understand what is expected of them, and start off more confidently.
Another problem I faced in Korea occurred during orientation. I thought orientation was extremely well-planned and very interesting. The only problem was that many EPIK teachers had come at different times. I had been in Korea for a few months before orientation occurred, and I had already encountered many of the issues and situations that were discussed in orientation. I really would have appreciated more tailored discussion time. Also, some of the orientation sessions were in very large groups, so it was difficult to get some questions answered. I think having smaller, more individualized sessions would have been excellent.
One issue I have faced at my school is probably very different from school to school. I know the coteachers go through training when learning about the EPIK program, but I don’t think the other teachers in the school go through training. I think every school would benefit from a mandatory training for all English teachers that work with EPIKs in any capacity. I feel that some of the Korean English teachers are not sure as to how to use the EPIK teacher. Since EPIK is a relatively new program for many schools, I believe all English teachers would benefit from some form of training in order to implement the program well.
I think South Korea is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have absolutely fallen in love with the land, the culture, and the people here. I have discovered that even a travel-bug-a-phobic like me can pick up my roots and land in a completely new world and feel like I’ve found my home. I will not be a lifer like some foreigners, but I absolutely will always cherish the years I will spend in Korea. I have learned so much about myself and teaching while here. I look forward to taking some of the techniques I’ve learned in Korea back to the States. Thank you, Korea, for welcoming me with open arms. Thank you, EPIK, for giving me this opportunity.

Making Kimchi ~ Thank you, Matthew Campbell!

2009-10-11T03:31:00.007-04:00

A great friend of ours in Sokcho made kimchi the other day and posted the pictures. Being a great Facebook stalker, I decided to totally steal the pictures and the captions to make an interesting blog post of my own.

All of the food was bought and prepared by Matthew Campbell. All of the pictures were taken by Matthew Campbell. All of the information comes from Matthew Campbell.

Thank you for the blog material! :-)

Cabbage! Yum.

All sliced up. Just waiting to rot. :-)

Lazy cabbage.

Since cabbage is the star of kimchi, it only makes sense that it would be the star of this post.

Cabbage. :-)

Cabbage. Pretty cabbage.

Salt? I think. I'm pretty sure.

Cabbage with salt all over it.

Salted cabbage.

It's still chillin in some salt.

Now, the salt is getting washed off.

Washing off the salt.

The cabbage is drying. It only makes sense after chillin in salt for a while and then washing it off.

The ingredients. Looks delicious to me! :-)

Starch.

Red pepper powder.

The starch is ready.

Garlic is getting chopped.

Green onions.

Salted fermented shrimp.

By FAR my least favorite ingredient. Do you see the eyes? Not a fan.

Asian pear and apple.

Getting ready!

Looks delish so far!

Apple, pear, and onion puree. Yum!

Ginger.

Ginger without the outside. Wierd.

Straight from M.C.: Note: Ginger is in a bit of water. It's really chewy so soak and squeeze out the juice into the mixture. Throw away the solids.

Mixing the ingredients.

All finished! Now they just need to sit there for two weeks to rot, and you have delicious, homemade kimchi!!!! I think I might actually ask for a recipe ~ minus the shrimp, of course. :-)

Thanks again, Matthew! :-)

what kind of person am i?

2009-10-06T05:35:00.003-04:00

as a general rule i am a VERY cautious person. i LOVE change, but you have to give me a couple of years to gear up for it and plan for it :-p (i have these two personalities raging within me, its kind of fun :-p )

a very wise person in tovas an my life said that our personalities are the type were God has to make us change things in our lives cause we both like our routines and dont like change.

us moving to korea is one of those things. i needed to get in a different career field, and financialy it was pretty rough going for us.

many of our major moves have happened because of outside forces forcing us to make a move.

many people from different circles in our lives have told us that they were surprised that we actually moved to korea because they "would never picture us doing something like this"

so put those thoughts aside and move on to the past couple of weeks

over the past two weeks tova and i have had a chance to hang around a lot of fellow foreigners.
we do not have too much physical interaction with the foreigners for a variety of reasons so it was nice to be able to meet some people in the same boat as us.

in talking to them it made me realize what a different life tova and i are living compared to some other foreigners. it was interesting to hear some stories

one person hopped on a bus and got off at a random stop and had to find their way back home.
some one else talked about hiking up the mountain and spending the night in a tent
another story was of ordering some interesting food off a menu.

its funny cause even though we are living in another country tova and i are still our same selves in a lot of ways.

when we order pizza we go for pepperoni, and thats all
we dont visit too many different restaraunts cause we want to know what we are ordering when we order it.
we hike up mountains, but we havent spend the night in a tent etc. . .

i have made the comment to tova that "we are the worst people ever to be living in another country" and to a certain extent its true. we like understanding whats going on around us etc
but on the other end this is definitley the best situation for us, and the best decision we have made in our young marriage.

we have had to deal with some things that might seem trivial but they stretch you.
for example, having almost EVERYONE staring at you as you walk down the street cause you look very different from everyone else. its not a racist thing, its just people are genuinley curious.
also, its helped us get be used to the unexpected. its very common for classes to be canceled last minute, or to be added last minute. its very normal for someone to tell us that we need to pay 100 bucks that day, and also to be told that in 5 minutes you need to go to a teachers "meeting" and stay out with the teachers until very late.

so, in hearing their stories i wonder what kind of person am i? am i the crazy type of person who would move to another country (which everyone tells me i am not, and i dont think i am like that), or am i still the same cautious person that i believe i am, or am i somewhere in between. i think its a cautious person with a hint of crazy :-p

its always a learning experience, every day, every minute living in korea

thanks for reading another post. and to leave you with probably the most popular pizza in korea:
its wedges of potato, ham, bacon, mushrooms, and sourcream. actually pretty tasty, and one of those things that we went out on a ledge and ordered without knowing how it would turn out :-)see we are going out on a ledge :-p . . . sometimes

ahhhh korea . . .

2009-10-03T06:38:00.003-04:00

over the past couple of months i have really gotten in to a routine . . .

now, sometimes routines are good, but sometimes they are bad and need to be broken . . .

in all honesty lately its been been bad routines that i have been needing to break out of, but have not known how i got in them, or how i could get out of them.

i think a BIG reason why i have found it so easy to fall in to the same "bad" routines is because in so many ways i feel really comfortable here in korea. we have been so lucky to have great jobs, and a great apartment that every now and then we kind of forget that we are in another country.

then comes the past couple of weeks where i have been reminded that i am definitley not in america :-)

in korea teachers "meetings" are very important. its a time where the teachers kick back, relax and enjoy each others company. these parties, oh i mean meetings :-p can get very lively and they are a lot of fun, even when you dont speak korean and have no idea whats going on.

last week i went to one meeting where i was talking with some teachers and when they found out that i was married for over four years and didnt have any kids the tone changed in the room. they were all concerned for my health (both physically and mentally) and they couldnt understand why i didnt have kids yet. (you should have seen their faces when i told them the reason was because i was too young :-p )

then for my classes i had to proof read pen pal letters from 360 of my students. one student wrote in his letter "my girlfriend is very cute, but overweight, sometimes i worry cause she eats lots" my co-teacher said "this is the first time you are going to talk to someone in america, do you really want to tell them that your girlfriend is overweight" and without even thinking the student said a resolute "YES!"

then at another teachers meeting i had another table full of co-workers concerned as to why tova and i dont have kids, and then someone "read my palm" and told me that i would have two kids :-p i was informed later that this person always reads palms when they have had too much to drink :-p

then today is chuseok . . . chuseok is koreas thanksgiving, the 2nd biggest holiday. its so big that the schools give the teachers bonuses to cover their travel back to visit family cause EVERYONE visits family on chuseok.

so tova and i went to have a bbq with some friends on chuseok. when we got there, our normal place of grilling had a couple of korean families there enjoying the beautiful day. when they saw that we were there to bbq they were naturally intrigued why some foreigners would be grilling. they came over and introduced themselves and asked us what we were cooking . . .
they did this all in korean . . .

we tried to talk with them and tell them we had full spreads of food (chicken ka-bobs, potatos, pasta salad, hot dogs etc). apparantley something got lost in translation and they thought that we didnt have any meat (they were very concerned that we would grill and eat and not have any meat). they left and we thought it was nice that they came and said hello.

two minutes later a man from one group came with a HUGE plate of sliced pork and took my tongs from me, took over my grill and started cooking pork for us! then another woman from another group came and gave us a huge bottle of soju (korean whiskey) this is a HUGE sign on acceptance and it showed that they respected us. then a woman from another group came with even MORE traditional korean food. squid, fish etc . . .

then the man who is still taken ownership of my grill yells to his daughter. two minutes later she comes by with cups for us to drink from, traditional korean pears, and then asked us if we wanted some kimchi (no meal is compelte without kimchi). a friend of ours and myself like kimchi so we said yes. the girl comes back with a bowl full of the most delicious kimchi EVER (seriously, it was soooooo goood!)

we talked with this man, exchanged cups with him (very traditional korean thing) and had a great time as he helped us cook some food.

then i realized, again, that i love korea. sometimes its takes moments like the ones that i have said to kind of gently remind you that you are in a different place. (even in another country you need that sometimes)

at that moment God reminded me that some people move to change things in their lives, others take big changes that have happened in their lives (being laid off, death in the family etc) to make even more changes in their lives. i was gently reminded about the complacency that has been in my life over the past couple months, and God really spoke to me (yes He spoke to me while the korean man was grilling on my grill :-p)

God reminded me that i am in a different place and i can really take advantage of things being different to make the changes in my life that i want for the better. it could have been over a loud speaker and it couldnt have been clearer. i was reminded that i have an opportunity that very few people have, and that i can either take full advantage of it and come out so much richer as a person, or let this opportunity slip through my fingers and have nothing to show from this experience other than some cool pictures and a couple of funny stories of people reading my palm, and random strangers hijacking my grill. parable of the talents anyone?

maybe this will be the needed kick in my pants to gently remind me to get things back on track.

so i will quote a famous theologian who i empathise with. this theologian was plucked from a very normal life and then transported to a very different situation, and had a moment of understanding when she realized things were different . . .

"yes toto, this isnt kansas anymore :-)"

ulsanbawi

2009-09-29T03:15:00.007-04:00

so here is a picture blog of our latest adventure:
climbing ulsanbawi. ulsanbawi is a tall mountain thingy at the national park here in sokcho.
so of course we need to start with the obligatory picture of the HUGE buddah statue :-p

so this is where we are headed to. the map said it was going to be over a kilometer of "hard" hiking. yeah, we were in for a long day . . .the rocks of ulsanbawi are rather interesting. they are almost like a stark white when everything around them isnt. also there isnt any foliage on it, it makes ulsanbawi rather distinctivealong the way there were a couple of random temples. so we stopped and took some pictures. rather cool. this is about the coolest temple fountain we've seen . . .we think some random monks are interred in these . . .another random temple along the way . . .also, along the way was heundeulbawi. . . literally translated it means rocking rock. the goal is to push the rock off the ledge, even though its impossible. pretty much its famous for being a rock :-peven though there were stairs for part of the hike it was a literal climbing of a mountain. at many points the stairs were more like a glorified ladder then stairsthe rock above the stairs fell and is percariously perched above the stair case. it would be nice to think this was the first time we thought we would die along the hike, it wasnt, and it wasnt the last either :-pagain the rocks looked really coolthe coolest thing about the hike was at the top they set up a mini tourist trap! now the last thing you need after hiking for 5 hours are people trying to sell you stuff. about the most humorous thing up there is that one guy had a bull horn. what makes this funny? the top portion was only 10 feet wide by 30 feet long. if he just talked you would have been able to hear him :-p

tova was happy that we survived . . .i was ecstatic apparantley :-pand a view of our city from the top. thats pretty much our whole city. its tiny, but we love it
in total we spent about 5 hours going up (including stops for pictures, and random temple viewage) and two hours climbing down. it was pretty awesome. we had a great time, and we were sore for the next week:-p until next time . . .

Weekend Adventures

2009-09-27T06:07:00.004-04:00

This weekend, Jump was in Sokcho! I'd seen signs up around Sokcho that said it was a "comic martial arts performance." I had decided long ago that I wanted to take D to it, but I wasn't sure about the details. This week, my coteacher told me it was free to go, so that completely decided it for us. :-)

We walked into the cultural center in our town and were promptly hosed down with hand sanitizer from an employee. We were then given a little booklet and a pamphlet about swine flu. :-) We took our seats, and waited for the performance to begin.

It was AMAZING... Here's a little clip that shows some of what it was like. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hnv-bSOCPo

We also stopped by a festival thing at Expo Park. It was so fun!! We're so blessed to be in such an exciting city. There are so many "tiny" things going on all the time that we just happen to run into. There are so many reasons to miss home, but so many reasons to be grateful for where we're at. I just wish y'all were here with us. Miss you guys.

cactus

2009-09-23T03:34:00.002-04:00

oh how i love korea . . .

here is a funny story, hope you enjoy it.

so my co-teacher has a cactus. he had it when i first met him in december.
it was a very sorry looking cactus. it was in a browning paper cup and it hadnt been watered in months, and that was in december.

fast forward to february. we move our offices to the new office space. he moves said cactus. he doesnt want to throw it away, but there isnt any room for the cactus in the new office, so it finds its way behind a door in a cabinet.

three may comes around, and said cactus is still in the cabinet. no water, no sunlight . . . nothin'.

then comes mid-july. there is a woman who worked at my school for just the summer break. there was no room for her in the main office space, so she worked out of our office (we had an extra desk)

she was looking around the office, and went inside the cabinet and saw the sorry looking cactus. she took it out of the cabinet and gave it some much needed TLC for the first time in almost a year. a few weeks later she leaves.

for some reason today (almost october) i ask my co-teacher where is his cactus. (i always teased him about how he didnt take good care of the cactus) and this is what he said:
"you wouldnt believe it. you know the woman that worked in our office? she took my cactus. for real. when she left she took MY cactus. she didnt even ask me, it was MY cactus" (he is saying this while half laughing)

such is the life in korea. you go to another school for a month, you find a cactus in a cabinet, you nurse it back to health and then you take it home without asking whose it is :-p

i love it

how are you doing?

2009-09-03T22:12:00.004-04:00

many people when they learn a new language stick to the basics. they know a couple of phrases and that is all. that is totally fine with me. as many of you know with my struggles with spanish, i can easily empathise and i understand this completely

sometimes when i am walking home i will have some random stranger try to talk to me to practie their english since i am a foreigner. i love having the interaction with people, and see how they respond when i understand them. (i totally understand this feeling when i try to speak korean to someone and they understand my very basic and rudimentary english)

now as further backdrop to the story . . .
when you ask someone in korea "how are you doing?" you get the very basic "i am fine thank you how are you?" they have memorized this. i once had this funny exchange with a 7 year old boy with tova
boy: how are you doing?
me: great, how are you?
boy: i am fine thank you how are you?
me: great, how are you?
boys: i am fine thank you how are you?

this went on for a while, he was just so used to repeating that phrase. again completely understandable. i only know a couple of korean phrases myself

so in my class i want to push my students, so EVERY class i ask them how are you doing, and i do NOT take "fine" as an answer. instead on my powerpoint i have many words: happy, sad, depressed etc. to get more information from them.

this was a funny exchange yesterday in my class

me: how are you doing?
student: i am ashamed
me: why are you ashamed?
student: uhm, elevator 20 minutes
me: what?!
student: yesterday, elevator broke, me in elevator 20 minutes
me: yesterday you got in the elevator and it broke, and you were in the elevator for 20 minutes?
student: yes, that is why i am ashamed

HILARITY! i love my job, and my boys they are hilarious

vacation part 3!!!

2009-08-22T19:30:00.018-04:00

soo here is my picture blog/take of our vacation. a little different twist on what tova has done, hope you enjoy!

First day on vacation we walked around the lake, and here is my impersionation of the sokcho dude!

we then visited a traditional village

we then when to sokcho beach:

we then hiked all the way up to a cave on the side of a mountain. CRAZY!

more views of seoraksan:

probably the coolest picture i've taken. (this was a sign for a coffee shop though :-p)

we then went to seoul, and the DMZ. here is a picture of me IN North Korea standing next to a south korean military officer. dude was INTENSE!

i found it a little unnerving that right when i went to take a picture of the north korean military officer he immediatley picked up his binoculars and looked RIGHT AT ME! YIKES!

We then visited a beautiful palace in seoul:

random bush animal :-p

final view of seoul:

and my favorite:

seu-ta-buk-seu caw-pe :-)

From vacation...

2009-08-20T20:39:00.002-04:00

Yes, I'm still stuck on vacation. It was fun! I just got pictures from my fabulous coteacher from August 2nd - the day we went all around to a million different places. I saw a theme in her pictures - I'm making a goofy face in every single one!! Mind you, it was NOT intentional. I guess I should stop making these faces. It seems to be true - my face HAS gotten stuck like that!!!!!!

Oh, Vacation... How I miss you...

2009-08-17T23:06:00.007-04:00

So our vacation was AMAZING. I'm going to sum up vacation in 7 pictures (one for each day of events). Here goes!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Yup, I think that's about it. We had a BLAST. If you want to see more pics from our vacation, there are PLENTY on our Picasa site. :-)

Now we're back at work, and it's life as usual.

I can't wait till our next vacation! :-)

vacation!

2009-08-12T01:11:00.004-04:00

so vacation is almost over :-(

here is what we did on our vacation . . .
friday - met up with dale
saturday - walked to e-mart, and walked the lake
sunday - went to the dmz, and kim jong il's childhood summer home
monday - walked to the pavilions and lighthouse and also visited my school (11 miles of walking!)
tuseday - went atv'ing and went to sokcho beach
wednesday - climbed a couple of mountains, and went to seorkasan
thursday - recupperated from the mountain climbing :-p
friday - went to fish market, ate fresh squid sundae (they pulled the squid out of the fish tank and prepared them in front of us, talk about FRESH!) visited tovas school and then left for seoul
saturday - we went to the uso dmz tour and actually went to north korea, also went to a temple, and met up with friends at a HUGE mall
sunday - went to a HUGE palace (even though it was a billion degrees out)
monday - dale left and tova and i went to the aquarium!

we have a bazillion pictures on the picasa site, and they will be up shortly, here is a short video on top of the side of the mountain that had a temple in a cave . . .

so thats a short recap, we'll put some pictures up over the next couple of days as highlights!

talk to you soon!

Dale's Visit

2009-08-06T03:56:00.003-04:00

We've had fun with Dale here.

The best was going to Seoraksan on August 5th. It was a blast.

The best part was climbing up to the HUGE high places.

(You can see me and Daniel on the rock!)

The scariest part was rappelling down.

(Look closely - we're there!)

But luckily we had Sherpa Dale to help us.

There will be tons of pics on Picasa as soon as we can get them all captioned.

ATV-ing

2009-07-23T06:52:00.007-04:00

So this is a SUPER late post.

We have some wonderful friends in Korea. I think the couple we're getting closest to is R&A. They are absolutely fantastic, and we have a great time with them.

A few weeks ago, they took us out for a Sunday afternoon adventure. We went to an ATV place in Yang Yang. We were a TAD skeptical.

We had no reason to be nervous - this place was the COOLEST! There were three courses that were kind of interwoven. The outer course was just a big circle. It was for kids, and of course was my favorite. There were no major bumps - just minor parts that had worn down a little. There was an S course in the middle which was just a curvy part. It was fun though - there was a HUGE part that was completely soaked in water. Of course, everyone (except me) went through at top speeds, ensuring a complete mud shower. Then there was the advanced course. It was INSANE! There were parts where I was sure I was going to die! There were MAJOR hills - no MOUNTAINS - no HIS EYE WAS THIS BIG!! Oops, got carried way on that last one... Anyway...

Daniel took to it like a fish to water. He was ready to tear up some dirt!

Thankfully, Daniel was kind enough to stop caring about safety every now and then and take some videos of our adventure. While driving one-handed. Over the crazy hills. Enjoy!

(The advanced course.)

And here is another video:

(The S course.)

Of course, no adventure is complete without some kind of lasting momento.

We're having a blast in Korea, that's for sure!!!!! :-)

design and function collide :-p

2009-07-23T06:43:00.005-04:00

so as a cultural experience we went to a hotel/resort that was in our province.

we just spent a couple of hours there. it was rather nice.

the interesting think about the hotel is that it was shaped like a boat, but on a mountain side. . .

dont believe me here is a picture to proove it:

they did a lot to make the resort look like a hotel, even with the port holes in the side of the boat.

here is where design and function collide:

i thought it was humorous . . .

oh and did i mention that there was an ecclipse?

thats all for now, more to come . . .

fun stories

2009-07-20T17:50:00.008-04:00

so in korea you get in to some very interesting situations and you dont know how you got in to them, and how you can get out of them because you are a foreigner, and there is that whole language barrier thing.

last week my kiddos had an english camp, where they spent three days at a hotel going to english classes and EVERYTHING being in english. it was a major thing for my school and for the kids. here are two of my favorite kiddos retelling "the princess and the pea"

one of the overnites my school graciously put tova and i up in a SUPER NICE hotel. it was a beach front hotel, and really nice . . .

it was very nice of them. the boys stayed at a hostel and the rooms looked like this:

yes, its just a floor. its a typical hostel room in korea.

my school felt like tova and i worked so much that we deserved a nicer place. we would have gladly stayed at the hostel. but were very happy with their genorosity.

so anyways . . . . on to the fun part of the story

we didnt finish teaching until 10:30 pm or so. and my co-teacher gave us a ride to the hotel.

in korea to save electricity when you get in to the hotel room you put your room key in a special slot by the door that looks like this :

the electricity ONLY works when the key is in the slot. (this is a very important detail in the upcoming story :-p )

we were exhausted (we hadnt slept much the previous nights, only 4-5 hours a night for three straight nights) so we got ready for bed and turned off the lights, and turned on the a.c. (a nice bonus when you arent the one paying for the electricity!)

we turned off hte lights around 11:30'ish . . .

then at 12:27, right when we were really starting to fall in to that deep sleep . . .

ALL THE LIGHTS IN THE HOTEL TURNED ON!

first this woke us both up

second . . . it scared the EVERYTHING out of us!

we both looked at each other and tried to figure out what was going on.

i got up and looked around the room, and to my delight no intruders were in. but EVERY light in the hotel was on. we were even more exhausted. so i tried to turn off the lights and go back to bed . . .

i gots nothin'! seriously, i tried to turn off the lights and the switches werent doing anything!

i tried for about 10 minutes and nothing.

at this point i thought about calling my co-teacher but decided against it cause he was so tired too, and it was for something small like a light being on.

then we thought about going to the front desk, but at one in the morning now, and with the language barrier we thought it might be more trouble then anything else. also we didnt want to be rude and just point to a light and repeat "on, on, off, off" that is really condescending and rude in our minds.

so we decided that the lights would eventually turn off, so we tried to go back to bed.

10 minutes later, i am still awake, and have a flash of genius!

why dont i take out the key from the wall? that would turn off the a.c. but at least i could have the lights off.

so i took the key out of the wall, thereby canceling ALL electricity in the hotel room, and went back to bed and waited.

again, i gots NOTHIN'!

we waited and waited and the lights and a.c. still stayed on :-(

so we decided to hunker down for the night and try to sleep with the lights on. eventually we fell asleep, close to 1:30-2:00 a.m. it was a terrible sleep cause every light was on. (seriously this hotel room had about 500 lights in it!)

then at 5:32 ALL THE LIGHTS TURNED OFF! and so did the a.c.!

that woke us up, we tried to figure out what was going on. by this point the sun was up and our room was rather bright as well. we tried to go back to sleep, but barely did.

in the end we got the worst night sleep EVER, even though the hotel was very beautiful.

we also were going to go for a walk on the beach in the morning, but with the terrible sleep that was canceled as well.

all in all another experience for us in korea!

(the only reason that we came up with for the lights being on is that the hotel forgot that the room was booked and turned on some hotel lights to make the hotel look fuller and more inviting. other than that the second best option is that aliens were coming to invade and if your room lights were on they would ignore your room and move on to someone elses room :-p )

Anniversary ~ Late Post

2009-07-18T04:30:00.007-04:00

So, July 9th was our 4-year wedding anniversary. Crazy, right? I agree!

Daniel and I celebrated four wonderful years as a married couple.

Right before our anniversary, we got a sweet present from my Dad, Karla, and Gramma D. There were so many awesome things in the package!!! THANK YOU!!!

On our actual anniversary, Daniel surprised me with the sweetest bouquet of flowers ever. They were ridiculously beautiful and huge!! :-) What a great guy.

The next day (the 10th), we hopped a bus to Chuncheon - it's about a two-hour bus ride from Sokcho. Chuncheon is beautiful - a much bigger city than Sokcho. We chose Chuncheon for that specific reason - we wanted a little taste of home. In Chuncheon, there are all kinds of familiar restaurants -- we chose to visit Outback, Starbucks, and McDonald's.

When we stepped inside Outback, I almost cried. It just felt good to see a familiar place again - the inside of a Korean Outback looks EXACTLY like the inside of an American Outback. So fun! For those who are curious, Daniel and I went for a strictly starch menu: Aussie Fries (they didn't have Bloomin' Onions!!), a salad, a steak, a baked potato, and a baked sweet potato. Delicious!

The next morning, we got up early (okay, not so early -- like 8 a.m.) and went to Starbucks. We got drinks (D got a caramel macchiato and I got a hot chocolate) and breakfast (D got a muffin and I got a BAGEL AND CREAM CHEESE). We sat in Starbucks soaking up the familiarity of it all (except the random Jelly in Your Coffee promo...) and talking. After a while, D got a drink for the road (iced caramel macchiato) and some coffee.

We checked out the underground mall that's right by Starbucks. It was just that -- a mall underneath the ground. However, this mall was different than malls in the states - each store was just a CROWDED stall -- no giant, spacious stores.

We then went to an art gallery that was supposed to be really cool. Turns out, it was one artist who had painted the exact same thing (lights reflecting off water at night) a million times. We spent about five minutes there. :-)

After that, we decided to take a short walk to the lake. So, we started walking. We walked and walked and walked and walked. Then, we rested for five minutes. Then we walked and walked and walked some more. Finally, we decided to take a cab. We wound up at one of the most random places ever -- the Memorial Hall for Ethiopian Veterans in the Korean War.

We checked out some things in the hall, then we went across the street to a sculpture garden. We had a GREAT time checking things out there.

We also saw a very cool water clock in the sculpture garden.

After that, we went to McDonald's.

Then, we went home.

All in all, a pretty amazing way to celebrate our anniversary. I'm so blessed to be married to such an amazing guy!! :-)

trying to settle in

2009-06-29T03:38:00.003-04:00

its been a crazy time these last couple of weeks!

first of all a tank came by and almost ran over tova and some friends of ours luckily i was there to save tova, as for our friends its best not to talk about them :-p . . .

ok, so a tank didnt come, thats good news!

pretty much, its been 200 days since we first set foot in sokcho! how crazy is that?!

it has been a great time, and we are truly blessed beyond measure.

the toughest part had been the anxiety of not knowing when we were going to move.

to recap. . . we moved in to our old apartment december 20th. feb. 3rd we were told that we needed to move. we barely had over a month to get settled in, and once we felt like we could settle in, then we were told we had to move by the end of the month. even though the time table changed, we have been living with a pending move over our heads. (in korea they could tell you "you are moving next week" and thats normal)

i dont think tova or i really understood how much of a relief it is to be in OUR place. once we moved, and started to really get situated we felt like we could really settle down, and not have to worry about a pending move. the lease was signed for 2 years, so if we stay 2 years, we will NEVER have to move again. (the contract will expire 6 months after we would leave) this is AWESOME. already we have put up pictures around the house, done a little decorating, and i even added some door handles to a door that was lacking door handles (something i wouldnt do at the old apartment cause of the pending move)

to sum up, it feels AWESOME. to know that you are in a place, and its home, to know you can settle and put down some roots, just makes everything so much better. (seriously, the air even smells better :-p )

it doesnt mean that we are going to stay here forever, it doesnt mean anything like that. as much as we get settled, there is still the little thing in the back of our brains that tells us this is for a short time. we know that, but at least we can be settled, and feel like we have a home.

all i can say is that, even though we are thousands of miles away God is still good, and He still is keeping watch over us!

moving in korea

2009-06-24T08:05:00.003-04:00

WOW! we moved!

so since we moved here is a quick update . . .

we moved :-p

we are going to update soon, but here is a video just giving a glimpse of what moving in korea entails. keep in mind while watching the clip we lived on the 15th floor. craziness is all i have to say :-p

enjoy!

A Lame Video

2009-06-23T01:59:00.002-04:00

So I was trying to figure out the movie thing today (everything's in Korean ~ I just have to click around till something works) so that I can put a teaching video together for tomorrow. This is pretty lame and there's no music, but I like it. :-) Enjoy!

Stress

2009-06-15T06:13:00.004-04:00

Today was a DAY.

I have been a teacher for three and a half years in the states. I have worked with other people in my classroom and I have worked on my own. I have worked with the TINY ones (kindergarten) and the not-so-tiny ones (fifth grade). I have taught different classes in extremely different situations.

Teaching comes with stress. It's part of the job description. There's stress in the lesson planning -- "What in the world can I plan that will simultaneously engage, challenge, mystify, and make sense to my kids without being so hard that they won't try?" There's stress in the actual teaching -- "Johnny! Pay attention! Susie, what's the answer to this question? Jim, what do you want? No, you cannot go to the bathroom for the third time in ten minutes!" There's stress in the grading -- "Do I give Sally an A on this paper? It's far beyond anything she's ever turned in, and I know she worked hard, but it's not A material. I don't want to come across as unfair to the other kids or too hard on Sally. I want her to know that hard work is worth it." There's stress in dealing with parents -- "I think Nick is a wonderful child. He's so imaginative and full of excitement. He brightens the classroom. He's having a little difficulty in paying attention, which is why he's failing." There's stress in the "extras" -- "Yes, I will help you plan the Christmas program and teach the kids some songs in class while preparing them for their tests." There's stress in working with other teachers -- "I think I should cover this because it's necessary. If you want to cover something else, I'll try to squeeze it in." There's stress around every corner.

In Korea, teaching is a BLAST. I'm having so much fun, and I'm learning so much!!!

The only thing is, it can be STRESSFUL sometimes! Working with another teacher and trying to meet the expectations of all the teachers is hard enough in itself. Throw a charming little language barrier in there, and you have the makings of a fine party.

Today was one of those days.

I'm trying to look at the bright side. After all, at the end of the day, each class is only 50 minutes long. I do the best I can, but if something doesn't work, it won't last forever. I love these kids, and I think they're amazing. I'm in this adventure with my husband ~ the love of my life. I have a beautiful apartment, some fantastic coworkers, and some great friends.

God is good, and He's blessing me more than I deserve.

And, in the end, I'm still WITH.

Ode to a Goofball...

2009-06-12T05:08:00.005-04:00

It's true... You were one of the goofiest looking babies ever born.

However, my mullet and I soon grew to love you.

You broke my toys, stole the limelight, and made my life miserable at times.

But, in the end, you turned out to be not as shabby as I'd expected. Your hair made for some fun Elvis moments. At least you were amusing.

I'm really impressed by how mature you are now. Who would have guessed that the pumpkin-headed little kid would grow up to be a pretty decent 22-year-old?

Happy 22nd Birthday, goofy brother of mine.

6 months!!

2009-06-09T01:28:00.005-04:00

We've been in Korea 6 months today. Craziness!!! :-)

People often ask why Daniel and I chose to do this -- to up and move around the world to teach in Korea -- in a place we've never been, with people we've never met, etc etc etc. Yes, it may be crazy, but I love it.

The main reason I love it - the kidlets. Here are the kids at my school (most of them, not all) singing their school song. Fun! :-)

english camp video

2009-06-08T20:12:00.003-04:00

This video was JUST given to me a couple of days ago.

When tova and i first got to korea we both participated in an english camp at my school.

afterwards they made a video with some highlights.

one great thing about this video is that tovas hair is SO much shorter now, my hair is VERY long in the video, and both of us have "lost our weight" since the video was taken.

this was the first time we had the opportunity to teach, and we have many fond memories of that great week. hope you enjoyed!

PSA

2009-06-01T17:40:00.003-04:00

so this is one of the things that i have been working on with my co-teacher.

he was asked to make a short video about our school. he put everything together and i (along with tovas help) edited the script. i then was the voice chosen to be in the video. i was told i have a gorgeous voice!

in the end i thought it turned out pretty good.

hope you enjoy!

PHEW!!!!!

2009-05-30T23:32:00.002-04:00

it has been a couple of weeks since we updated, and for good reason . . .

we've been BUSY!!!!!

there have been various school functions that we have needed to attend, like sports day, also we survived mid-terms, and were a part of one of the biggest festivals in all of korea, the danoje festival. (we have pictures up on our picasa site. if you need the web address let us know)

of course, since this is korea, since there were special events there were the parties afterwards that we had to attend. so all in all a very eventful couple of weeks.

things are going very well. we are so happy and couldnt be better. its officially been 172 days since we have left and it feels like we have been gone FOREVER!!!

its getting to be closer to feeling like spring all the time so we are trying to get out as much as possible and enjoy the weather.

a quick note on the rumblings from our neighbors . . .

tova and i are totally safe. we are not worried, and neither are the people in our city. if something does happen we are going to be totally safe. we have taken a couple of precautions just in case, but we arent really worried.

well, thats all for this post. we are going to run out and play some frisbee football by a rock that looks like a tiger :-)

talk to you all later

Teachers' Hike Day

2009-05-14T08:34:00.004-04:00

I had a BLAST on Wednesday the 13th. I took a one and a half hour bus ride to a town seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. The teachers and I (it was a "voluntary" teacher party day) had boiled chicken and various side dishes for lunch, then took a huge hike in the mountains. We hiked for an hour or two, then took the looooooooooooong bus ride back to Sokcho for some duck for dinner. (Unfortunately, not pumpkin duck, which has quickly become my favorite!) It was an amazing day, and I had such a great time. I just continue to be amazed and blessed...

Me, my coteacher BoRam, and Mr. Kim. I could write all day about the amazingness that was hike day, but I won't. You're welcome. :-)

This was taken at a temple near the top of the mountain. You can hear a monk in the background. You'll also see Mr. Kim in his element - explaining the history to other teachers. And you'll see BoRam fiddling with her camera. Fun times!!! :-)

Sports Day!

2009-05-10T04:57:00.007-04:00

Daniel and I had the distinct honor of participating in a local sports day for high school teachers on Thursday, May 7th. Think field day for grownups.

(this is daniel: i asked my co-teacher why they had a sports day and his answer was "for teachers to say 'my schools better than your school' " gotta love it, now back to tova :-p )

We had four events - volleyball, three-legged race, tug-of-war, and jumping rope.

My school won. :-)

Here are some pictures:

The raffle prizes. Included -- bicycles, rice, toilet paper, soap, sunscreen, and coffee.

One of the opposing teams -- Sokcho Boys' High School. We beat them, by the way. Do you see Daniel?

My school playing volleyball. I was a key player in this event. Do you see me? I'm in the back, in a red shirt. Close to the guy dressed head to toe in red.

Yup. I was there. And apparantley yelling a lot???

Daniel's school getting trounced in the three-legged race. Do you see Daniel?

VERY nervous before the tug-of-war. I'm next to my coteacher--she's the one with the white striped shirt and red headband. She's so sweet!

So then, I was cheesin' at the camera when THE TUG-OF-WAR STARTED!!! My coteacher had also been cheesin', which is why she's falling over. There wasn't any reason to be nervous after all -- my school won this too. ;-)

Daniel getting suited up for his school's turn at tug-of-war. Did I mention they lost? ;-)

You can't blame Daniel for his school's loss though. He gave it a valiant effort!!!

Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the jump rope contest. They put 15-20 teachers in at one time. It was hilarious. My school won that too. :-)

Korea is hilarious and amazing. After sports day, we went out with our respective schools, then met back up later. Fun! :-)

Things I miss from the States...

2009-05-08T19:51:00.004-04:00

I have officially fallen in love with Korea. I've pretty much always enjoyed it (except for the homesickness hiccups!), but it has developed into full-blown love.

However, I do miss the States! There are some things I miss more than others... Here is a short list:

1) Being able to find the same items in the same places in stores from week to week. Here, you never know if what you see on the shelves will be there next week. It's always a gamble!

2) Little Lehn**** Feet... There's this family in Wisconsin who absolutely stole my heart... I taught the older child a few years ago, and fell madly in love with the family. My favorite days at school were days when I would hear these two amazing children running down the hall, giggling uncontrollably, then stoping in their tracks in the hall when I would announce, "I hear little Lehn**** feet!!" Then, after a minute of laughter, they would burst through my door... I think, the "bigger picture" thing I miss is being able to make such strong bonds with people. People here are so welcoming, friendly, and loving... But there's always that little missing part. There's always a little distance -- because I don't speak the language, because I'm from a different culture, or whatever the thing is...

3) As always, food. I think of the average fare in Korea, and my mind just can't comprehend that this is what they've always had... I used to eat in the cafeteria, but I just wasn't eating enough. I think about the fish -- scales, eyes, fins, bones, and all -- and I try to imagine feeling the same way about that as I do about, for example, hamburgers off the grill. Or I think about kimchi and try to imagine feeling the same way as I would about a baked potato. It's just hard to imagine how homesick a Korean would feel in America, looking at the food that I miss so much!

4) Being able to understand the "minor details" of life... I would LOVE to understand what makes the mind of a Korean tick. Why do they value some things so much (for example, the ability - or lack thereof - to hold gigantic quantities of liquor is one of the first things you learn when you meet someone new... i.e. -- "This is Lee Tae Yong. He can drink SO MUCH! He's a teacher at __.") and why other things don't seem to make a difference at all.

5) Knowing the common language of the country in which I live! I cannot begin to describe how dramatic an impact my time in Korea has had on my opinions about people in America who are from other countries / cultures. I've always had a respect for people who have immigrated to America and are trying to make a life for themselves / their families in a strange place. But now, I UNDERSTAND what they're feeling -- it's such a ridiculously helpless feeling. And it's sooooo difficult to learn a new language!!!

6) CHURCH! Oh, how I miss church. I miss being an active member -- volunteering, spending time at church, being a part of church! I miss the sense of community and the friendships formed in church. I miss building others up and being built up. I miss it soooooooo much.

7) Independence. Yes, you can certainly be independent in another country. There are so many foreigners here who are totally independent. I feel pretty lost a lot of the time in Korea. I've gotten my town down, and I feel pretty comfortable with that. However, getting places that are far away can be difficult -- if it's a rainy day, getting a taxi is very hard!

8) Predictability. This may be a Korea-specific thing, but it's definitely been one of the more difficult things to get used to. There will, seemingly randomly, be days where you'll show up for work, only to be told, "Yeah, there aren't any classes today." Or there'll be days where you think there are no classes, and are told, "You need to be in class now!" Many days, I've been told that there's a party that night, and my whole night's plans will have to be chucked out the window. Often, there's no advance warning for ANYTHING. This experience has DEFINITELY taught me to roll with the punches!!

9) Family and friends. 'Nuff said!

10) CHAIRS IN RESTAURANTS. I am, by nature, a floor-sitter. I love sitting on the floor -- always have, always will. However, there's something about sitting on the floor (no cushions / padding / etc) in one tiny confined space without the ability to move your legs for literally hours at a time. It gets achy and uncomfortable after a while.

Daniel and I have now been in Korea for about five months. I am still 100% certain that this was an excellent decision. I will be thrilled to go home, but I'm glad to enjoy my time while I'm here. I love Korea!

alligators . . .

2009-05-04T03:33:00.005-04:00

i miss alligators . . .

not those! or these kind either:

alligators = florida

florida = some kind of normalcy

i miss alligators :-/

i am not getting truly home sick, i am still having the time of my life, and i am happy.

i just miss some knd of normalcy.

after 5 months of being barraged with EVERYTHING from EVERY ANGLE being so foreign and so different, it would be nice for a little bit of normalcy.

i guess i have been able to make the apartment and things like that "normal" but still, i would LOVE to have one day where i dont feel like a complete foreigner.

another reason why i am feeling this way is that i have been sick for a solid week, and its just getting old :-p

tomorrow i have the day off. maybe being cocooned in the apartment with tova will charge up by batteries a lil and make me feel like i dont miss the aligators as much :-p

picture blog

2009-04-21T05:44:00.004-04:00

so today was absolutley beautiful, so we took pictures.
the first two were from our apartment, the rest were on my walk to work.
pictures cant really fully show how pretty it was. there was a HUGE rainbow in the sky since it rained all day yesterday. also, the mountains for the first time actually looked green!
so beautiful, hope you enjoy

Seoraksan Trip

2009-04-18T05:45:00.003-04:00

This weekend, Daniel and I took a trip to Mt. Seorak, which has a gorgeous park and so much to do! We decided to hike to the waterfall, which was absolutely beautiful!! :-) We spent a little over five hours at the park... It was a two and a half mile trek to the waterfall from the main entrance, and definitely worth the price of admission! :-)

Daniel perched himself on a VERY high point on the edge of the waterfall thingy... He took a quick video around the whole place. You'll see me (in a black t-shirt and jeans) standing still as a statue on rocks. That's because I'm trying to figure out exactly which rocks will help me cross the stream and which rocks will get me soaked! No worries -- I made it out okay. It also gives you a little perspective on the size of the place and how high up Daniel was...

Enjoy!

funny kid story

2009-04-17T03:12:00.002-04:00

so my students had to write a personal ad for themselves.

the past weeks we have covered hobbies, jobs, personality, and what they want in a girlfriend.
in this lesson we wanted them to put together everything they have learned so they can write their personal ad.

here is an ad, word for word, from one of my students. needless to say, i am a failure as a teacher! :-p

"My name is ______. I am 18 years old and I love in Sokcho, South Korea. I am a cool person. I'm very cool and stylish. I'm, also 2K fashion leader in addition. My IQ is 430. I can fly and a music method of shifting from place to the other place in a moment. Also I can talk one on one with the God of space who is talk everything and know everything.
I am lookin for a girlfriend who is kind.
My dream is peace of the world.If you want to call me you only use telapathy.
I'll visit you soon.
from ______"

i had kids also quoting martin luther king jr's "i have a dream" speech in their personal ad.
rather inventive i must say, but not totally on point!

so hilarious! thought i'd share! :-p

Spring has Sprung!

2009-04-11T01:17:00.007-04:00

South Korea is gorgeous. It has been gorgeous the whole time we've been here. It's been much warmer recently, and all the flowers are starting to bloom. Cherry blossom trees are looking GORGEOUS. All of the pictures above were taken by Daniel on his walks around Sokcho.

Teaching is going SO WELL. Daniel and I are having a blast. His classes are going well, he's having fun teaching, and he's really enjoying working with his students. My classes are also awesome. I love my kids (and my newfound rock-star status!), I love working with the teachers at my school, and I'm really satisfied...

Daniel and I both say this a lot, but we're so glad we came to Korea. It was a HUGE decision (and a very difficult one!), but it was the right decision. We miss you guys, but know that we are genuinely happy here. :-)

Oh, and here are a couple pictures of the infamous pizza cones. Yum!!

new hair cut!!!!!

2009-04-05T03:00:00.007-04:00

here is a picture of me before the hair cut:

this is me with my hair muse :-p

and here is an outtake of me when i didnt know that the camera was on . . . then i realized that it was :-p

fun times . . .

2009-03-27T22:37:00.004-04:00

as much as we have gotten used to being in korea there are still some things that we just don't quite understand since it is still a different country, and we are foreigners in a foreign land.

so because of this it leads to some funny stories, so here is one.

one morning i was getting ready for work and i noticed that there was a button in our bedroom that i hadnt noticed before. it looked like this:

we have been in the apartment for months and i was really intrigued as to what this button was since i never noticed it before. the button is only about six inches off the ground, and why would there be a button if you arent supposed to push it? so i pushed it with my big toe!

all of a sudden a ringing alarm bell started to go off! logic being at the forefront of my mind i surmised that if i pushed the button and a noise started, then if i pushed it again it would turn off. i was wrong.

tova was getting ready in another room and ran in the bedroom and worriedly asked what was going on. i told her i pushed the button with my big toe. she was pretty annoyed with me (almost upset) she said that i shouldn't push buttons in a foreign country if i didnt know what it did.

i logically told her that they wouldnt install a button if it wasnt meant to be pushed. seriously, that would be cruel to the button's purpose in life, it was made to be pushed!

she then walked (ran?)to the living room and pushed some buttons on our apartment phone and the alarm went off.

tova said something like "you might have called the police or fire department . . ." and i dismissed her cause why would a button in our bedroom be linked to the police?

she still wasn't fully happy, but she was ok and went to school. when she got there she asked her co-teacher to explain why there was a button in our bedroom because i pushed it.

her co-teacher (not so calmly) explained that it was a button to call the fire department, and that we should NEVER push it! the reason why its so close to the ground is because since smoke rises you should be on the ground. (makes total sense)

so then tova had all the ammo and came home and told me to never push any buttons EVER, even if i did know what they were linked to! all i had for a response was to eat crow and to say "yes dear" with my head hung low in shame :-p

so, again, as much as we think we know whats going on there are still things that trip us up every now and then, and will possibly involve the authorities :-p

moral of the story: always listen to tova :-D

schedules . . .

2009-03-23T06:20:00.003-04:00

so again, another milestone has passed. we have been in korea over 100 days! pretty awesome.

we are really in the daily grind of a normal routine. this is something that is very very important to tova and i. we NEVER have had the same schedule, even remotely, for our dating and marriage. this is something that is really important to us. there were times when i worked at 5 am, and she started work at 8:30, then there were times when i started work at 8, but had to leave the apartment at 6:45 and get home around the same time, leaving us only 2 hours together every day. we understand that there is a time when you might need to "suck-it-up" and deal with the schedule differences, but we think we have put in our time :-)
having the same schedule is really important to us, and i dont think we really understood how important it was to us until we got here. i just think that both of us dont want to feel like we are two different people who happen to see each other every once in a while. now, we know that people are different and thats ok, tova and i are very much the same in this regard, and ironically it was a major factor in us moving over here. we both wake up at the same time, get ready at the same time, leave for work at the same time, and she gets home about 20-30 minutes before me, unless she meets up with me on my walk. it is so wonderful for us, and so much what we have been wanting for years!
the funny thing about it though is that as much as we LOVE our schedules koreans dont like schedules at all. having things "sprung up" on you is the norm, and its a normal thing for koreans, unlike us westerners who like to get a memo 3 days in advance about changes: -p (which i LOVE) for instance, today 4th period was over and my co-teacher said that we needed to go out for lunch since there was a party during lunch. i was planning on eating lunch in the cafeteria (15 minutes tops) and then spending the other hour and 45 minutes lesson planning. OH WELL i wont be doing that! its just expected that you get up and go.
its not being rude, its not anything like that, its just a HUGE cultural difference. just 2 years ago i dont think i would have been able to be here in korea. i was so strictly tied to my schedule(s) and any changes in those would make me furious (in a bad way) over the past 2 years though i have been working on that a lot, and the scheduling thing is now just an annoyance, and something that i laugh at (even though i still like to schedule things, and love my day-planner!)
its amazing how God uses the little things to help you grow, and yet another lesson that we are learning/growing from here in korea. (WE LOVE IT!)

Cultural Differences

2009-03-19T20:58:00.005-04:00

Please keep in mind that this post is in no way a criticism of Korea or the United States. I absolutely love both of my "homes". There are differences between the States and Korea that I find interesting, and I am only making observations.

:-)

In the United States, depending on where you are, it's an every man for himself mentality. In some places of the country (the south, small towns), it's much different, but in the majority of places (in my mind), people pretty much fend for themselves. No one really reaches out to help each other.

In Korea, it's a very community-oriented culture. People always want to take care of each other, even to the point of telling them what to do.

The other day, at a restaurant, we were given our food and began eating. The waitress left to go get napkins or something, and when she came back she observed that we were all happily eating. Instead of putting the napkins down and walking away, she turned the plates in front of each person to make sure the food was acceptably close to the eater.

A small action, but the implications were endless.

I have had someone walk me through a grocery store and point out the kind of food I should buy. It wasn't a good bargain; it wasn't the best of the bunch from what I could see. I was told I had to get it because it was healthy...

Again, a small action, but the implications are there...

I have had students at my school hold my arm and physically drag me in the direction they think I should be walking... Not where I want to go, but where they think I should go...

That is actually pretty funny... :-) I like my students! But still -- the implications...

However, there are some circumstances where the community-oriented mindset apparantley doesn't apply. For example, if an elevator arrives, there is no rule... people push and shove in a battle to see who will win -- the people getting off or the people getting on. I have literally seen physical pushing to try to get onto / off of an elevator.

Also, if you're walking down a sidewalk, there's a huge battle. Even if the sidewalk is big enough to fit four people across comfortably, it can sometimes be a game of chicken. And, no way is either person going to move! It's interesting...

What's really interesting to me is that the United States is so not community-oriented... There is a huge sense of every man for himself. No waitress would ever turn a plate to make it better for the diner, and no person would tell another adult that they don't know what he or she should eat. However, there are definite rules for the "small stuff" like elevators and sidewalks. The person on the elevator has right of way, and you try to walk on the right side of the sidewalk... And, you move out of the way of people...

It's interesting -- there is never a moment where I don't feel taken care of in Korea. I always feel like people are looking out for my best interests and being considerate. On a public blog, I can't go into the details, but suffice it to say that I am taken care of in EVERY aspect of life in Korea. It's a little overwhelming at times, but very sweet. If this is the hardest thing to get used to in Korea, then this is the life.

1st week of teaching

2009-03-15T21:32:00.003-04:00

wow, sorry its been a week since we updated, it was our first FULL week of teaching since we got here, so it was rather busy!

some updates . . .

the first week of teaching went very well for both of us. we both did some basic introductory things in class. its rather interesting how different our classes are in a couple of ways. . .

1st: we are teaching such different things to our students. tova has a huge arching theme for all of her classes, while mine is a little more loose planning wise

2nd: each class has its own personality. we each have 20 classes with 35-40 students each. each class is very different. i already have my "favorite class", some classes are loud, some quiet, and only one or two are going to be handfuls :-p

so teaching is going to be a lot of fun. we are both really excited about the opportunity and we are having a blast!

another thing . . . last week marked 3 months of us being in korea!

how crazy is that? on one hand it has seemed like its been a million years, and another its seemed like 2 seconds.

when we talk to family and get awesome facebook updates from people who we love and care about it makes it seem like we have been gone for so long. then during the regular days of being here is seems to be going by so quickly.

here are some awesomer things that have happened in the 3 months since we have been here.

1. we have been able to pay down quite a bit of our personal debt (THANK GOD)

2. we have gotten closer to family members, which seems like it should have been the exact opposite.

3. we have met some amazing and awesome people

4. we have both started on our masters programs

5. and we've experienced a culture totally unlike our own, but wonderful and amazing in everyway

looking back on three months we really feel like this was the best decision that we have made, and we feel like it was the right decision then, and now, and even if/when things get difficult we can look at many opportunities that we have had and be comforted that this was the right thing for us to do.

we miss family a ton, we miss friends a ton, we miss our church a ton, but we are so happy where we are, what we are doing, and what God is doing in our lives preparing us for the next phase in our lives that we are happy as clams!

thank you for all of your support, we wouldnt be half as happy without it!

EPIK Orientation

2009-03-08T05:52:00.007-04:00

A few weeks ago (February 21st through the 24th), Daniel and I had the incredible opportunity to participate in an orientation for EPIK (English Program In Korea -- that's us!) and TaLK (Teach and Learn Korean -- for college students). We stayed at a gorgeous resort outside of Yang Yang up in the mountains. It was a great hotel -- rooms for the events, beautiful hotel rooms, great food, a spa -- everything you could ask for! We stayed at the Oseak Green Yard Hotel. It was gorgeous!

We arrived late for the events (winter camp didn't end until Saturday, Feb 21st, and it technically started on Friday the 20th), but I don't think we missed all that much.

On Saturday, we arrived in time to eat a late lunch (spaghtti -- yum!) and then start attending lectures. We learned about team teaching from an actual pair of team teachers (an EPIK teacher and his Korean coteacher), then had an hour and a half lecture entitled "Let's Learn Korean!" After dinner, there was a rather...interesting movie ("When the Spring Comes") -- it was designed to show us Korean culture and traditional Korean singing.

The next day (Sunday), we had a Q & A session that was totally open for any questions we had about ANYTHING. That was really nice! Then we learned about what to teach and about adjusting to life in Korea. Very cool!

After lunch on Sunday, we had a cultural tour -- an old Korean home (it was gigantic!) and a fish market. It was a little sad -- we didn't get to stay very long at either one -- but it was so cool.

We got a few pictures and videos at the fish market that are really cool!! :-)

The fish market was about a zillion little tubs of fish, lots of water pouring through them, Koreans scattered around to sell you the fish, and TINY lanes to walk between the stalls. There were about four lanes total, but they were pretty long. There were also a couple of restaurants serving up the amazingly fresh fish.

We also got to see the sale of an octopus... There were a couple people who were very picky about which octopus they wanted, so they made the guy pick up multiple octopii (sure...). Then, the guy pulled it out of the water and bagged it up, while yelling for someone to bring him a box. The people pay for the octopus (20,000 won) and put it in a white styrofoam cooler. After the video ends, they wrapped it in lots of bright red tape to make sure it stayed shut the whole way home. It was interesting!! (It looks like they're out of order, but the videos are in chronological order!)

Sunday night, we had a social event at the hotel -- it was a giant norebang, but it was closer to states-style karaoke than anything else. It was fun!

Monday morning, we went to Mt. Seorak park -- it was AMAZING. We took a cable car up to a SUPER high point on the mountain. It was really scary, but well worth it!

Monday afternoon, we visited GILI to tour their school. It's a really awesome school that does weeklong camps for sixth and eighth graders. GILI also does six month teacher training courses for Korean English teachers. GILI was absolutely amazing -- I was so impressed!

Monday night, we saw a performance by a group of women and girls. It was breathtaking -- I fell in love with the traditional singing and performance. It's amazing how rich the culture and history of Korea is.

Tuesday morning, we watched the ceremony for the new EPIK and TaLK people. It was so funny -- we watched as a bunch of new people sat nervously in the same position we were in a few months ago. They had just arrived in Korea, they had no clue what they were getting themselves into, and they were about to meet their coteachers for the first time. It was nice to realize how far Daniel and I have come in a few short months -- we're so settled and happy, much more so than I'd expected!

After the ceremony, we had lunch at the hotel, then began the huge adventure that was getting home. I'll tell you that story another time. ;-) Feel free to visit our Picasa photo albums to see more pictures of orientation. They wouldn't all fit in this post! :-)

We are so grateful to be living this adventure!!

First days of school...

2009-03-03T04:08:00.000-05:00

First days of school, and last week recap . . .

Last weeks recap: we will put up pictures on picasa and you’ll read through it, sorry L

Ok, on to this week, starting of the new semester! Their school year starts at the beginning of March and ends in the middle of December. December through February is a time where they plan for the next year, and they also have intensive learning camps. So Monday was a big day for all the schools.

Tova and I were really stressed about the starting of the new year. We had a lesson planned and we were ready to teach. When I got to school on Monday I was told that I didn’t have to actually teach until next week! Tova doesn’t really have to teach until next week as well. The pressure was off (a little) but then we attended the beginning of the year ceremony. This was crazy!

I enter the gym, and there are hundreds of teenage boys were standing in the middle of the gym facing the stage. They then were directed to say some pledges all at the same time, stand at attention, at ease etc . . . It was very different since you would never see anything like this back in the states.

There were seats situated on the sides of the standing students. When I sat down I realized that I couldn’t see the stage or anything that was going on. This is really tough since the whole ceremony was in Korean and the only thing that really would have made it enjoyable is seeing what was happening, so I sat there and applauded when everyone else applauded.

Then they introduced all the teachers. The teachers would walk on stage and their names would be said. The interesting thing is that the students would cheer louder for the teachers that they liked better. They were also jumping up and down trying to see their favorite teachers which made the floor shake. It again dumbfounded me since this was a blatant show of who they liked and disliked. Now, I was warned that I was going to have to go on stage in front of everyone. I wasn’t too worried since I thought I would be with other teachers. Then one of the Korean teachers told me that I would go up last. I was sitting there trying to hear my name, but when there are hundreds of young men yelling and screaming!

Then I looked ahead, and one of the administrators is waving frantically towards my direction, motioning me to go to the stage (I cant even see the stage). When I get to a point where I actually see the stage I realize that they are going to introduce me all by my lonesome in front of everyone! This normally wouldn’t scare me, but when it is SO important to do things culturally proper and you have conditioned yourself to watch other people so you don’t make any mistakes, and you have to do something culturally proper without any kind of hints, it was terrifying! When I started to walk on stage all the boys were trying to get a glimpse of me, I felt like a rock-star. Some of my boys from English camp were saying “Daniel, Daniel” again, kind of cool. Then something inexplicable happened . . . They called my name from the podium and the place went CRAZY! Seriously, they all love me without even knowing me. Again kind of cool!

Tova had the same experience as I did, just change Daniel to Tova, and change the he’s to she’s and there you go! :-p

We will update more when we get more time. We have beginning of the year “meetings” to attend, so we are pretty busy. (and sorry for no pictures)

home . . .

2009-02-26T00:50:00.008-05:00

so sorry it's taken a while to update -- it's been busy!

here is a quick recap and we will give more details about each thing in soon to be published posts

1: last week was english camp. a select 34 students were chosen from my all-boys high school to take full days worth of different types of english classes for the whole week. it was a lot of fun!

2: the english camp lasted monday through saturday, there was an overnight friday night where there was a cooking competition, ski(r)ts, and singing

3: right after camp we had to attend orientation in another city. school begins here in march, so at the beginning of the school year they have an orientation for all new teachers. since we didn't attend an orientation we attended this one. lots of fun, many pictures, will update fully later

4: the orientation lasted until tuesday around noon, then we got home and started back to work on wednesday, where we only have 3 days to prepare for the upcoming new year. craziness. but on our way back to sokcho it got me thinking about home

home . . .

its a very interesting term. you hear a lot of times that a house is a house until someone makes it a home. the bible uses the terminology of us being a temple for God to dwell in, and kind of makes the same kind of statement when it states we aren't who we need to be until God dwells in us, also just like a home needs people in it to be a home, a building needs people to be The Church.

this term "home" has been really tough to get a handle on here in Sokcho. when we first arrived, we lived in a hotel for a week or so and knew that was temporary. when we got to the hotel room after work there wasn't a sense of calm when we went through the door.

then we moved in to an apartment. we did not choose the apartment, we didn't choose any of the furniture. the only things we brought with us were our clothes, computers and that's pretty much it.

it has been very hard to to make our apartment our home for two reasons:

1: we don't know how long we are going to be staying here in Sokcho (no esl teacher really knows!) and

2: it's hard to make a place your home when it's other people's stuff in it.

we tried to get past this feeling by rearranging some of the furniture, and getting some pictures from home. this had a really good effect on Tova. she really felt that it was becoming our home. it has been a big goal of ours to try to make it feel like home. but i still haven't had the sense that it was home

last weekend we had the aforementioned english camp followed by orientation in another city. we left our apartment friday morning and didn't return until tuesday afternoon. we've never spent a night outside of our apartment since we moved in. i was really antsy to get home because there were a lot of things to do at the apartment. i felt a tug to go home just to get things done, nothing else.

the strangest thing happened though on the bus ride home . . . as i was looking out the window as we entered Sokcho i saw the "skyline" of Sokcho, anchored by the expo tower and its weird sibling brother. i had this sense come over me that was almost like when i saw the skyline of chicago while driving from madison, or when i saw the dames point bridge driving back to jacksonville.

it hit me HARD. was/is sokcho becoming my "home"? am i feeling so comfortable here that my body feels relaxed when i see its skyline? i am still trying to comprehend these thoughts. there is/was a part of me that felt like this would never feel like "home" because i knew that it would be temporary. there was a part of me that felt like nothing so foreign (literally,figuratively, every sense of the term!) could even come close to resembling "home" but i guess in some way it feels like home.

when i got off the bus and realized where we were in the city it felt . . . right. and when i opened the apartment door it really felt like i was back "home".

someway, somehow over the past couple of months this little korean city has grabbed a piece of my heart and has claimed it all for its own. it's made me feel comfortable, it's made me feel like i can call it home.

that got me thinking about how we are supposed to feel here on earth as Christians. the Bible says as Christians we aren't supposed to feel like this (earth) is our home, we aren't supposed to get comfortable cause this really isn't home, we're moving soon, and in the end God has some pretty cool digs for us to move in to, and a Real place to really call home, and plant some roots cause we wont be moving for quite a while! (i took my own personal liberties with the exegisis, sorry) there is a pull within us that says "this is good, but there's something better" "just wait, cause 'you ain't seen nothin' yet' "

that's kind of how i am viewing Sokcho as a home now. yes it is home, but i know it isn't. i feel comfortable and all that, but i know that there is something more for me. for the time being i will love this little town and enjoy everything about it, til God calls me to another home.

now, this doesn't mean that i am staying forever, and will never leave. all i am saying is that i don't feel totally like a foreigner here. i feel somewhat accepted as part of my cities community, and i feel like i can come home, and everything will be ok. now, all i need is Charlie to great me at the door, some good arroz y gondules with extra salchichon (i know i butchered the spelling) to smell up the apartment (in a good way), that would be the final touches to home :-)

Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T19:07:00.003-05:00

Holidays in another country are interesting. You have a set pattern of what you do while you're in the States... Maybe it's Olive Garden, maybe it's getting flowers, maybe it's cookies. There are just unspoken expectations on what a holiday will look like. In Korea, we have discovered that holding expectations will only result in disappointment. We realized during Valentine's Day weekend that we need to talk through what we'd like to do on each holiday BEFORE it happens. The nice thing is it's all an adventure -- we're having a blast, no matter what we wind up doing! I think the highlight of our Valentine's Day had to be pork soup. There's a restaurant by my school that I've been trying to take Daniel to for a long time. We finally went for Valentine's Day! Pork soup is AMAZING. It's pork (on the bone) in a semi-spicy broth with onions and other vegetables. They bring out a bowl for the bones, a bowl for you to put the pork pieces in, and a sauce for dipping the pork in. It was AMAZING... Daniel wants to go for pork soup every day -- it's really that good!!!! We took more pictures of food. I know I promised to blog about something more meaningful after my last food post, but I am again blogging about food. My apologies.

This is pork soup, in all its delicious awesomeness. Yum! The pork is on the bone, but it literally falls right off when you stir the soup. Amazing!

Some of the side dishes -- the silver bowl is for the bones after you remove the pork. The green stuff is delicious -- cold, spinach-y, garlic-y. Above the green stuff is radish kimchi. It's good! Above that is Daniel's meal -- he's removing pork from the bone after taking it out of the black pork soup bowl. There's a small bowl to his right with the amazing dipping sauce. (Yes, that's a Coke. Yum!) The dish to the right of the green stuff is cabbage kimchi. It's all delicious!!!!

The silver bowl next to Daniel's black pork soup bowl is rice. Usually, unless it's a rice dish, you get a small portion of rice. Underneath that, in the small bowl, is a soy sauce for the mandu. You can see the mandu to the right of the sauce. Next to the soy sauce is something -- not sure what it was!! Underneath that is a white bowl that looks like it has nothing in it. It's actually a clear broth with ice in it -- it's a cold, bitter soup-type thing. To the left is the cabbage kimchi from earlier.

This was the biggest mandu I've ever seen. It was SO GOOD!!!!!!! There was way too much food, but it was an excellent Valentine's Day feast. Daniel wants to go get more today... :-) Not a bad idea...

WATER+FIRE=AWESOME!!!!!

2009-02-12T03:05:00.009-05:00

so here is a re-cap of our water fire festival experiences! it was fun!

Friday the 6th: Randomly walked right up to the opening parade!

it was quite an experience to say the least. Many people saw us as oddities which was rather interesting/cool. many photographers from newspapers (we think) took pictures of us watching the parade, and MANY of the people involved in the parade waived at us. we do stick out like sore thumbs around here!

we then walked to the festival, took in some opening ceremonies, saw a concert type thing, went to eat with friends, then went back to check it out at night. all it all, AWESOME

Saturday the 7th: we saw some of our friends pictures who stayed later than us at the festival . at the festival a giant bonfire was lit! We totally missed it. Tova and I were determined to see it before the festival was over.

Sunday the 8th. We took a circutous route around the lake to get to the festival. along the way we took a ferry across the water to get to the C-Bridge. Took manh pictures of the bridge that literally goes no where and proceeded to the festival. We arrived too late to get pictures during the day so it was at night, and we wanted to walk on the temporary dragon pier (yes they had a temporary dragon pier. when we got there the guards were kicking people off the pier. we noticed that everyone was gathering RIGHT where we were standing so we stayed put. we waited for 30 minutes, the whole time people were piling behind us now 10 deep! a HUGE light/lazer show started RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! we seriously had the best seats in the house.

after we experienced the fireworks after the lazer show we watched some women drummers and then watched them light the small bon-fire. we were experienced out, so we decided to go home and try for the big bon-fire the next day.

Monday the 9th: this time we made sure to leave in time to get to the festival to make sure we didnt miss the big bon-fire. the only reason why we went today was to see the large bon-fire. we tried to decipher the schedule of events and surmised that they would set it on fire around 9-10 o'clock. it was 3:30, we had time. we walked around a bit, walked on the temporary dragon pier and decided to get some food. we had enough time since at this time it was only 4:30. we went to the theater so we could get some hot dogs. the hot dog place was closed so i had popeyes! it was awesome. we decided to head on back to the festival and saw that people were running towards the large bonfire. it was only 6:30 at this point! we decided that we had to run as well. right when we got there they started the ceremony to light the large bonfire. WE ALMOST MISSED IT!

the drummers who had the ribbons on their heads started to march around the haybale structure. they were followed by the 2 person costumed lion that we saw in the museum. they marched in drumming and regular citizens who had torches followed them around the haybale structure. they made a large circle around the structure and slowly but surely made smaller concentric circles around the structure as more and more people with torches filed on in. there had to be at least 200 people with torches!

when they finally were done they all stopped. an announcer counted "hana, tul, set" and on 3 (set) everyone with a torch lit the structure on fire and started to RUN!!!! they ran right towards us AND PAST US!!! we almost died.

in less than a second the whole structure was up in flames and the heat was indescribable!

i started to walk back a bit since it was pretty hot when all of a sudden the structure was shedding some of its LONG embers and they started to head right towards me! we were down wind so all of it was shedding right at us! some of the embers were falling around me, and some hit my coat and neck. i almost was set on fire. the firemen came and started dousing the ground with water, so that made me feel like if, no wait, when i caught on fire they could drench me and i would be ok.

tova by this point was really scared since she lost sight of me for a bit when everyone ran away. i was scared cause i almost was set on fire and almost died AGAIN. luckily we only lost track of each other for 10 seconds or so (tova thought it was 12 years, it definitley felt that way!) then there was a fireworks show!

btw: we have video of this whole experience, but its 30 minutes long, and dont have video editing software :-(

we couldnt believe our luck over the festival. we literally stumbled upon EVERYTHING!

we are so grateful that we could experience a part of our cities culture.

we took tons of pictures, if you dont have the link to view them let me know . . .

ps: tova took all these pictures, i stink at night photography, and according to my dad i also stink at madden!

Food in South Korea

2009-02-11T03:02:00.004-05:00

Life in South Korea is absolutely amazing. There are so many wonderful things about living here, but I think one of the best things has been getting healthier. The food here is fabulous -- always interesting, to say the least!!

Friday (Feb 6th), Daniel and I went out to dinner with some of our friends in Sokcho. We had bibimbap at a restaurant here. It's a rice dish with tons of different ingredients -- mostly veggies and seaweed -- mixed with a partially cooked (sometimes not cooked, sometimes totally cooked) egg on top. You're supposed to mix all the ingredients together and add hot pepper paste. There are also several side dishes served with the bibimbap.

It was delicious!! I've had at least three different kinds of bibimbap so far in Korea. I love them all! :-) Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

This is the bibimbap. Here, it's served in a very fancy fashion! It was all wonderful and delicious. Sometimes, the ingredients come on top of the rice, sometimes the egg is totally uncooked, and sometimes there are different ingredients. It's always a surprise in Korea! :-) You can see a couple of side dishes above the bibimbap. The one on the top left is a sweet, mayo-ey corn and veggie mixture. The top right is a white kimchi.

Ahhh, the bibimbap spread! You can see the white kimchi and the sweet mayo-ey corn thing. To the left of the corn is regular kimchi -- I know you're jealous, JL! :-) To the left of that is a dyed fermented radish, I think. Above that is a hard-boiled egg. To the right of that, I really have no clue. The small round bowl right under that is the hot pepper paste. To the right of that is a DELICIOUS cold noodle-y thing. Yum!

To the upper right of the cold noodles is a tofu thing. Under that is a tray of three things to add to the bibimbap. Pretty sure they're different kinds of seaweed. :-) To the right of that is my Coke! Yum!

Daniel loves his bibimbap! He's stirring away!! :-)

The stirred (and mostly eaten) bibimbap.

Food (and exploring new foods) is such a huge part of our life here! Next time, I'll post on something more meaningful. Just thought you might enjoy a culinary excursion today. :-)

temporary post (UPDATED)

2009-02-08T19:29:00.006-05:00

so here is a quick explanation of the videos that are posted below.

we were at the water fire festival for a 2nd day (we went 3 days!) and witnessed something pretty cool.

during the water fire festival they have fires out on the lakes, there are many displays, lanterns lining the lake, and they also light these bon-fires.

we were watching a concert-type-thing and when it was over the crowd walked towards a pyramid type thing. some drummers started to walk around it, and they set it on fire.

the structure is about 10-12 feet tall, fyi. people tied ribbons, or papers along the edges, and you can see some people tying them on while the drummers are marching. we assume that they have something to do with luck.

while its on fire, you see people throwing things in to the bonfire, and those are lit candles. dont know why people were doing it, but people all around were doing it. all in all it was pretty cool.

later we will post a video of the big bonfire where we both almost died in multiple ways!

first part of the lighting ceremony:

2nd part of the ceremony:

PARADE!!!!!!

2009-02-06T08:46:00.004-05:00

there is a festival going on over the weekend called the water & fire festival. they burn wood in the lake to revitalize the lakes minerals.

tova and i were going to go for a long walk (ended up being over 7 miles!) and we noticed that a main intersection was closed off. we were wondering why when we looked down the road to our left and saw the festivals opening parade!!!!!!!! seriously it was awesome, and its only about 5 minutes total:

here is the 2nd video:

we will give more updates, and throw up some pictures later on today, we just HAD to put up the videos, it was SOOOOO COOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!

the torch at the front was the main fire for the festival, and it was awesome. sorry if it was a little shakey, i tried to keep it steady, but i was too excited!

well, its really late so i am going to go to bed, i will update more in the morning!

MOVING!

2009-02-02T21:02:00.005-05:00

ok, so it looks like we are moving. not to another city, but to another apartment in Sokcho.

we dont know any other details other than our lease looks to be up. we will keep you updated.

we dont know how we are actually going to move our stuff, but then we went walking today (downright miserable, 40 degrees and rainy, weather.com lied to us :-( )

and we saw this:

aparantley sometimes when you move you hire these guys to help you:

there is a platform that goes up to the windows from the outside. then movers put your things on the platform and lowers it to movers on the gound:

it seems very efficient!

if this what happens when we move its going to be cool to watch it! we would have taken a video but it was rainy and miserable :-/

we'll keep you updated!!!!!!!

vacation . . . week 1

2009-02-01T03:39:00.006-05:00

so vacation started pretty cool with lunar new years. we went to the sokcho museum and displaced persons villiage. it looked something like this:

here we got to learn a lot about the history of our city, and then eat some traditional korean new years soup which looked like this:

the broth is very basic, the white things are rice noodles which are yummy, and the green things are seaweed. it is very good and they gave it to us for free! you cant go wrong with free :-p

it was an amazing experience to be here during lunar new year and learn more about the culture that we are living in. there were a lot of people who moved here from the north during the korean war and the museum had a displaced persons villiage which showed what the conditions were like for the people who were displaced. they lived in places that looked like this:most of the places were just single rooms, very sobering.

it was probably the coolest thing that we have done so far. we are loving our vacation and are looking forward to go on many more walks. last week we went on 3 walks? each walk was 5 miles. quite fun!

we have quite a bit of pictures. we cant put everything up on facebook or on this blog so if you want to see them just send us a note and we will send you the link.

Stealing Daniel's Idea...

2009-01-27T20:31:00.005-05:00

So, I'm going to steal Daniel's idea about getting used to things. The following is a list that reflects what I think are the hardest parts of getting used to life in Korea. :-)

If you are going to live in Korea, you must get used to:

1. Children staring at you and backing away slowly, never taking their eyes off you. Some children (and older people) really want to talk to you, and will come up and say hi and smile. Most of the time, they just stare at you. It's interesting, to say the least.

2. Following arrows blindly. It is definitely my goal to eventually be able to speak / read very basic Korean (I am realistic), but right now, I have no clue what's going on. If you see an arrow, it's usually best to follow it, regardless of where it's going.

3. The food! It's delicious and wonderful, but definitely WAY different than any food I'm used to. Our town is on the East Sea, so there is seafood / seaweed in almost every dish. The Lunar New Year soup had plenty of seaweed! :-)

4. You walk. Everywhere. And by that I mean EVERYWHERE.

5. Rice. Lots and lots of rice. I guess this kind of goes along with the food one, but in my mind, it's separate!

There are so many more things, but these are the basics.

Have a great day!! :-)

"getting used to"

2009-01-24T17:59:00.006-05:00

hey!
its been a long time, this whole blogging thing has taken a back seat, sorry . . .

this past week was the last week of schooling for tova and I before our winter break so we were busy getting everything ready to go so we could enjoy our vacation as much as possible.

things have been going very well for us. we are pretty surprised as to how much we are enjoying it, and how little homesickness is hitting. it helps that we have pretty awesome friends here in sokcho, and that we have each other to have some company.

we have gotten in to a little routine and that makes us happy to a certain extent. we are trying to get out and hang out, but balancing that with trying to save money is pretty difficult :-(

i was talking to my brother yesterday and he asked if i was "used to living here" it got me thinking that it is very interesting what the term "getting used to" means now. living in another country makes "getting used to" a very interesting term.

we HAVE gotten used to living here. our co-teachers are phenomenal! we could not have been paired with people who could have been better. they have made our transition here as easy as possible. we have found a lot of food in our grocery store that we like, and we are getting used to the food at restaurants (personal note: the redder the dish, soup, or sauce, the hotter it is. this was a great point made by my co-teacher and its helped me a lot!) we have gotten used to withdrawing 50,000 won, and paying bills of around 360,000 won. it seems like a lot, but with the exchange rate being around 1350 to 1, its more like 37 bucks, and 266 bucks, but still seeing a bill with lots of zeroes is rather disheartening at the very least!

then there are aspects of living in another culture that you "get used to" since you are in a different culture but i might never find "normal" just cause its so out of my realm of understanding.

for instance:

these are dried fish/squid on a clothes line. its a normal sight here. there are probably 10 balconies in our building alone that have fish of some sort hanging from the railings or baskets and drying in the wind. we used to walk by them and stare, now we are "used to it"

also this:

you can buy a drumstick in the grocery store packaged just like this in the fridge section. it looks raw, but i saw a wrapper right outside the store, so i guess you eat it cold, and its cooked. again, we are now "used to" seeing these things in the stores.

and then my personal dangerously favorite picture:

this was taken outside a hagwon, which is a private school. there is a slide directly out the second story window. no railings in the sides, and pretty steep. we would NEVER see this in the states, and yet now we are "used to" it.

we have also gotten used to turning on the hot water before showers and washing dishes (we dont have any unless we turn it on), we are used to eating while sitting on the floor at restaurants, used to seeing korean commercials (who knew that if you smash your finger with a hammer all you need to do is drink oj and its ok, or that they use a talking radish who is losing his "hair" to sell payday loans!) and we are used to drying our clothes on drying racks rather then throwing them in a dryer.

so yes, we have gotten used to it. the one thing that i dont think we will ever get "used to" is the beautiful scenery in sokcho. we have the mountains to the west of us, the east sea to the . . . drum roll please . . . the east of us! and there is a very large beautiful lake not to far from us as well. every day i wake up and look out our apartment windows at the mountains, lake and sea (all visible from the same window in our apt!) and just cant stop thinking that "we live here" and being so grateful for the opportunity to experience a foreign land, grateful for everything that South Korea has to offer, and grateful to God that even through all of this I still see him in the everyday things and He has shown Himself True even thousands of miles away from home and the comfort that Someone is looking out for us.

We are now on vacation so we will be updating frequently and uploading many pics over the following weeks on our walking tours of sokcho, hope you enjoy!

It's been a long time!

2009-01-18T00:47:00.004-05:00

I'm so sorry I'm a blogging slacker. I so appreciate you guys for keeping up with our adventures in South Korea. It's so much fun for Daniel and me to share everything with y'all. :-) Basically, Daniel and I have been having a blast in Korea. We're meeting lots of nice people and exploring our city. There's so much to do here! Teaching is amazing. Daniel got the sweet deal -- he teaches the teachers for an hour a day and teaches the students every now and then (a total of ten hours teaching (five lessons done twice) for the entire month! I got a more difficult assignment -- I teach the teachers for an hour a day and teach high school seniors for two hours a day. My day is pretty much working in the office from 9-1:40, with an hour lunch break in there, then teaching from 1:50 to 5. It's busy, but lots of fun! :-)

I think I'm becoming a more adventurous person in Korea. I bought a hat last night that I think is very awesome. It's a little funky / strange looking, and maybe I look like a nerd in it, but I love it. I have become a little more outgoing, which has been fun. I have eaten foods I would NEVER have tried in the States, and I've loved it!! :-)

All in all, I'm so glad Daniel and I came to Korea. I'm growing and learning every single day. I think that anyone who is given this kind of opportunity should absolutely jump at the chance.

I think y'all should come visit us, too. It's awesome here. :-)

pictures

2009-01-10T02:04:00.008-05:00

normally on saturdays and sundays tova and i take looooong walks (minimum 4 miles) around our city and take many many pictures. unfortunately we havent had time to put up all the pictures on our picasa site (if you want the links to check them out just send us a note) so here are some of the best pictures that are, as of yet, unavailable.

this is probably my favorite picture that we have taken. it is on top of Beombawi. Beombawi is a very famous rock by the lake that locals say looks like a tiger lying down. from the top of the rocks you have a great view of the mountains . . .

the characters (i've been told) are chinese characters. i dont know how old they are or what it says, but its pretty darn cool!

this next picture was taken not too long after our HUGE snowstorm (i say blizzard and people laugh :-( ) but it was a blizzard!

the picture was taken just a short walk behind our apartment. the views are amazing here.

this next picture was taken by my school. they still use these carts to move things around the city.

closer to our apartment when you walk towards the main road the mountains really come in to view

in the morning since the mountains face east, the sun really highlights the mountains and makes them look wonderful!

by our apartment is a wonderfully beautiful lake as well as the mountains. around the lake many people walk to work out. this statue is one of many monuments around the lake.

and lastly, we were walking towards my school and looked down a street and there was the EAST SEA!!! we knew we were close, but we didnt realize how close we were, so we decided to take a detour

we were lucky to have someone ask us if they wanted them to take a picture of us, so here we are by the east sea. we are loving all our adventures here, and will put up more pictures when we have time (its laborious work!

Decision Making

2009-01-05T16:54:00.003-05:00

So, some of you have asked questions about what it's like to get around and get what you need in a place where you don't speak the language.

I am going to unlock the secrets to decision-making TODAY.

I will use a specific example. The other day, we went to our local grocery store to purchase groceries and some needed household items.

One thing on our list was "all-purpose cleaner".

We thought that would be easy. However, pictures and lots of writing in Korean aren't always as specific as you'd like, making it difficult to differentiate between a potential all-purpose cleaner and, say, bleach. Getting the wrong thing is potentially VERY bad!!

So, we were perusing the various bottles when we stumbled upon a stroke of genius!! This epiphany just came upon us unexpectedly.

This is our current all-purpose cleaner:

How did we choose this particular cleaner? It's simple, my friends. Look how excited and happy the gentleman on the front is!!! If he's happy, of course we will be!!

That, my friends, is how you find what you need in a foreign country. That is your lesson for the day on how to live sucessfully in Korea.

random thoughts

2009-01-05T06:18:00.005-05:00

too many serious thoughts going on in my head
(i will update later)
so i decided to stick with a top ten list of random things that are different in korea:
(there are plenty more and will probably be a recurring theme throughout our stay here)
10: if a cabbie waves at you it doesn’t mean that he will pick you up, it means that he is leaving you in the dust

9: when a dog barks in the stairway at our apartment it sounds like a woman is being brutally beaten (its all concrete, straight 16 stories up, open staircase right out our front door, the sound just bounces around like crazy!)

8: when we turn on our lights its like a light switch rave, the lights flicker for a while then turn on
7: we live on the 15th floor and PRAY that the elevator doesn’t break and make us walk up 15 flights of stairs! But, less than a week into it, we had to walk all the way up. Not cool! Someone apparently moved and overloaded the elevator. Since it was overloaded they had to reprogram it.

6: they only use really short brooms here. I don’t know why, but they do

5: there is a man in our grocery store who gets on a microphone and tries to sell you the “blue light special” produce product of the day (or that’s what we think he is doing)

4: all 4 shopping cart wheels pivot, which makes for awesome maneuverability, something that should be adopted in the states right now!

3: pool is very very different here in south korea. The pool table looks regulation with one glaring detail missing: there are NO POCKETS!!! Also they use 3 balls. The rules involve hitting one ball then making sure the other ball gets hit as well, but we don’t know the exact details. It is a lot harder then it looks.

2: Duracell uses a bunny in its ads, when everyone knows it’s the energizer bunny, can they do that legally?

1: pizza is WEIRD. So weird that dominos is “creative dominos”. i.e. for a pepperoni pizza you need to specify “no corn” on your pizza, you can get all kinds of seafood and veggies on your pizza and when you order a pizza you WILL get sweet pickles in containers that look like this:

if you look closely enough you can see the words "sweet pickles" :-p

have a great day!!!!!!

Happy New Year!!

2008-12-31T23:38:00.003-05:00

Daniel and I saw 2009 quite a bit sooner than almost all of you. So far, it's a good year. :-)

New Year's is good for reflecting on things past and hoping for things to come... I've been doing quite a bit of that over the last day or so. Somehow, being in a totally foreign country gives you a completely new perspective on things.

Daniel and I have been married about 3 1/2 years now. In that time, we've had quite a bit of ups and downs. Some of the "downs" were (in no particular order) my Momma's death, the loss of Daniel's grandfather, some pretty rough medical issues and surgery, moving farther away from everyone and everything than we had ever imagined, and some tough times financially. Some of the "ups" were (again, no particular order) getting super close to Daniel's parents (emotionally and physically---a 700-sqare-foot apartment with four adults is nothing to laugh at), Daniel's sister getting married, the surgeries working well, good jobs, good friends, our marriage getting stronger, and moving to the other side of the world.

When I look at everything that happened just in 2008, it's hard to believe. In such a short time, our lives changed drastically a few different times. We moved with Daniel's parents from the apartment to a gorgeous house, I had three different jobs (fifth grade teaching, daycare, and South Korea), Daniel graduated college--YEAH BUDDY!!!!, and we've moved into the future (14 hours ahead of the east coast).

I am so grateful that God has blessed us in so many ways. We have had unexpected blessings time and time again. We have had amazing friendships and a wonderful church family. My health is 100%. We have family that is just phenomenal. We have so many things to be thankful for! :-)

When I think about everything we left behind--family, friends, good jobs, warm weather, etc--I get so upset. I can't even imagine why I would ever move so far away from everything I hold near and dear. But then I think about how many times God has come through for us. He has ALWAYS been there--even in the most unexpected of ways. Sometimes I can't see the good that could come out of leaving everything behind. However, I know that His plans are GOOD. I know that we are here for a reason. I am so grateful for this opportunity.

Please know that I miss you all more than you could imagine. But also know that we are truly doing well--we know this is exactly where God intended us to be, and that this was never a surprise to Him. We are here to be a blessing to others, to learn so much, and to be blessed along the way. I don't know exactly where our lives will be headed in the next year or so, and I know that it might be rough at times. But I do know that we will be just fine, even in the bad times.

God is here, and He knows what He's doing.

Jeremiah 29:11.

Fun times!

2008-12-28T04:57:00.004-05:00

We are having so much fun so far in South Korea! Daniel and I are getting situated, making friends, and exploring our neighborhood. It's awesome!

We went out with Cedrick today. He had so much fun getting put on random things and standing in the freezing cold snow!! :-)

Cedrick by Lake Yeongnangho.

Cedrick chillin in some snow--literally. Ha ha!

Cedrick on a sign. Look at those gorgeous mountains!!!

Cedrick's on a sign again!

Cedrick even had time to make a snowman!!!

Cedrick and me by the lake.

Cedrick and Daniel... :-) What handsome men! ;-)

Last night, we went to a party at Toni's... She's a pretty cool chick.

Daniel, me, and Toni. Check out the bling on my glasses! Whoa! ;-)

My lovely husband.

Jenga!!!! I rock that game! :-)

getting to work after a blizzard = fun!!!

2008-12-26T08:24:00.003-05:00

(sorry for the length of this post, it is worth reading though . . .)

My time to work these past couple of days has been rather interesting to say the least.
I was waiting at the corner and there were about 500 million people waiting there as well . . . and they kept on coming! (because of the snow storm) The bus came and a ton of people got on and there still were a lot of people waiting. People were making the turn down the street/hill where we live and they were coming very close to hitting people, it was SCARY! Then I realized that everyone was walking down the street (against the flow of traffic) to get in front of me to catch any of the cabs! So I started walking and got in front of some people and FINALLY talked to a cabbie. He told me NO! the next cabbie pantomimed to me that I needed to catch a taxi on the other side of the street since he was headed in the opposite direction. So I crossed the street and waited. And I waited, and I waited. I was seriously getting worried (45 minutes of waiting) when an suv stopped and asked if I was going to sokcho! Now for those of you who don’t know . . . the city I live in is Sokcho! It was an suv filled with people that I thought looked like the people I worked with so I got in! seriously, I got in to a car filled with people who I thought possibly maybe looked like the people I worked with. After a couple of minutes of being in the car I realized that I didn’t fully ask them if they were going to my school, and I started to doubt weather or not I worked with these people! I started to freak out a little bit. I thought that the car was headed the right way, but at the same time I had no clue, and the doubts about the people started to creep in to my assurance that we were going the right way to school! At this point the anxiety and stress started to build, and I started to get really uncomfortable with my current predicament. (all this while we were driving down streets where at best there was a solid inch of ice covering the roads at best, and at worst 8 inches of SOLID ICE or so in hilly and mountainess sokcho). We let one person out and kept driving. Then as we were driving the driver spotted someone he recognized and offered her a ride. When she turned her head I realized that she was one of the ladies that I work with in the English department at school! We continued our drive to school, all anxiety now gone, and I got to school safe and sound.
Everyone parked at the bottom of the hill leading to my school. There was a truck trying to get up the hill and it wasn’t working that well. He was pretty much going backwards. . . eek!

That was tuesday . . .
Now for wednesdays adventure . . .

I saw how hard it was to catch a cab on wednesday:

(i wish that picture was true!)

so I left for work even earlier and gave myself well over an hour to get to work. I woke up thinking that I am going to outsmart the weather and the taxis and get to work, not just on time, but get to work early. I leave the apartment at 7:40 with a sense of pride. (I start at 9) I get to the main intersection and start looking for a taxi. I wave some down, but they all have people in them. Then I see Tova walking to work. She left 20 minutes after me! We say hi, and she realizes that I am going to be waiting a while to get to work.
(side note: I would normally ride a bike to work, that is going to be my primary source of transportation to and from work, but with the blizzard leaving at least 3 feet of snow there is NO WAY that I can bike. There are buses that go close to my school, but I don’t know which ones which only leaves a taxi to get me to and from work)
I am waiting and waiting, the whole time almost getting hit by cars, buses and bulldozers (no joke) when a car stops and a women gets out. I HAFTA BE THE LUCKIEST MAN ALIVE! The women who gets out is one of the teachers at my school and she recognized me. She asked if I was waiting for the bus, and I said I was waiting for a taxi or a bus, just something to get me to the school! She said that there were quite a few students from my school waiting for the bus so she asked one of them how long he had been waiting, he said 45 minutes! I thought I had it bad since I was waiting for 35 minutes! He said that he called his parents and his parents were going to drive him to work and offered us both a ride! Seriously, I could not be luckier! (Tova said I should play the lotto!)
Then when I got to work I had to walk up the steep icy hill to get to the school. All the schoolboys, who were lucky to get there, were hanging out of the windows watching everyone walking up the hill. When someone would slip or fall you would hear them cheering! Ode to be 15 again, cause I would be doing the same thing!
So that’s been getting to work in snowy icy Sokcho. I am hoping that I figure out a better way to get to work then gambling on a ride from strangers!

merry christmas!!!!!

2008-12-25T03:38:00.004-05:00

wow. . . christmas this year is very very different! last year we were in sunny florida, we cooked a large christmas dinner, and we were surrounded by family. As much as we love this years christmas it just isn't the same. last year we had a mini (1.5 feet) fake christmas tree and this year we had this: (which stands at a whopping 4 inches and is awesome by the way!)

we had a nativity scene, and this year we had to go mini:

last year we attended church with thousands of people, and this year we attended church on-line, just the two of us with about 50 other "virtual" people.

and that's where the rubber hits the road. as much as we have family and friends who are amazing, it is just the two of us. we don't have family a couple hours away (or two feet away like this past year and a half!) we don't have food that we are accustomed to, all we have is each other. in a sense that is really sad, and depressing (to be honest) but at the same time its a refreshing and reassuring sense of what has bought tova and i together, that all we need is each other, and that God really bought us together and bought us here for a reason.

then we think of all the people that we love, and who love us, who are supporting us through this crazy journey and it helps us to get through times when we are sad to be so far away.

so this christmas, as much as everything is different there are a few things that remain the same

1: our love for each other (which is stronger than ever)

2: the love of our family (which they have shown us has depths that we never thought possible)

3: the love of our friends (we have AMAZING friends)

4: and ultimately no truer words were spoken then the words spoken by the great philosopher linus:

"and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and lo the angel of the lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid and the angel said unto them 'fear not for behold i bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of david a Savior which is Christ the Lord and this shall be a sign unto you ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger' and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying 'glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men'"

so to everyone that we love and care so much about (which is everyone who is reading this and then some) merry christmas!!!!
(ps tommorow will be a funnier post of how i got to work on tues and wed after the storm!)

Stolen pictures...

2008-12-22T00:37:00.002-05:00

I soooo wish I was able to take pictures like these! I stole them from another English teacher in Korea. His shots of today's snow are AMAZING!! (I really hope he doesn't mind!)

Until we get a camera, I have to steal! :-(

SNOW DAY!!!

2008-12-21T17:50:00.001-05:00

Daniel and I just got a free day to work around the house and plan for school... Yay!!!

How awesome is my family???

2008-12-20T17:40:00.003-05:00

Look at the amazing detail...

Cedrick:

Little Flower:

So cute! They're going to be doing some online dating once we get our digital camera from Dad... Should be fun!!!

http://littleflowertravels.blogspot.com/

MOVING DAYYYYYYYYYYY!

2008-12-19T19:43:00.004-05:00

we are moving today! we are pretty excited!

here is a quick run down of the apartment which tova has yet to see.

1: it is in a 15 year old building, but the inside was just refurbished not to long ago.

2: its on the 15th floor

3: it has wonderful views of the mountains AND the east sea

4: its furnished, with almost everything (if not everything) in the apartment being only 1 year old

5: its a one bedroom apartment, but has 2 offices

6: it has its own washing maching

7: it has a tv, sofa, microwave toaster combo (NOT JOKING!), rice cooker, a 2 burner countertop burner (they dont have ovens) dining room table and chairs, a bike for me (daniel) to take to work, bed, fridge, water purifier, did i mention wonderful views?

ultimatley, its going to be AWESOME!!!! the people who lived there before took really good care of the place and we are going to be really comfortable. the kitchen is probably the smallest we've ever had, but its going to be really nice! we are looking forward to it.

we may or may not be able to get internet right away. there is some paperwork that needed to get filled out and we dont know if it was turned in in time. if it was we should have immediate internet, if not then probably monday? they set up the internet fast here.

next week is when the rubber really hits the road for tova and I. i will finally be getting my own desk and chairs in my new office (shared office space) i wont be doing lessons until next monday, but i will use all my time next week to prepare for the following week. it will be during supplemental times so i wont have as many students so i can eeze my way into things. i also have to set up lessons for the english speaking teachers as well. i dont know how many i have to do, or what to cover, so next week will be good in trying to nail down those details as well.

well, its moving, unpacking, shopping, and trying to figure out how to get to our jobs from our apartment for this weekend. should be exciting!

Dinner tonight...

2008-12-18T05:40:00.002-05:00

We tried the green onion pancake tonight, this time specifying NO seafood! We had a chicken strip meal kinda deal, a green onion pancake, and a coke. It was not all we'd hoped and dreamed, although at least there wasn't any octopus!!!

When unsure of a language, writing it down and showing the waiter is a surefire fallback! I wrote it at work, then we tried it out on the waiter. He was very relieved to see that we were prepared tonight, since the last one was a total failure!

Ready for your Hangul lesson of the day?

닭고기 튀계 주세요 -- fried chicken, please

파잔 해울 넣지 마세요 주셰요 -- green onion pancake NO SEAFOOD, please

하나 Cola 주세요 -- one Coke, please

There! Now you're ready for a night out sans octopus.

Last night (Wednesday night)

2008-12-17T17:25:00.002-05:00

It's 7:30 am here, which means it's 4:30 pm (and still Wednesday!) for most of you. It's really strange to not even be on the same day as everyone we miss!!

Last night, we had a very nice dinner with all of the EPIK teachers and their Korean co-teachers. It was at a fancy hotel. It was a "Western-style" meal, which meant we used forks (strangely enough, the fork felt awkward!) and had a salad at the beginning of the meal. On the buffet table were supposedly Western items like sushi, fried rice, and many Korean side dishes. (Come to think of it, maybe it was supposed to be a mix... The only Western thing was the salad, though!)

The supervisors in the Ministry of Education put on this dinner, and one of them gave a very nice talk at the beginning (translated by a Korean teacher). It was a lovely evening. :-)

I'm sure, like my need for a fork, the craving for Western food will go away in time. Right now though, it's pretty painful! Korean food seems to be much healthier in many ways, but Koreans place high value on being able to eat like a fiend. They "love big eaters"! (Our coteachers told us this on our first night.)

Yesterday at school was great. Daniel got a half day, so he left school around 1 o'clock. Pretty sure he didn't do much, other than going through lesson ideas. My day was equally as exciting--I sat at my desk till around 10 then ate a Korean snack (VERY interesting). Then I sat at my desk till 11:40 then ate a Korean lunch in the cafeteria. Then I sat at my desk till 2 then drank Korean sugar coffee (YUM!!). Then I sat at my desk till 3:30 then went to two classes with the teacher I'm replacing.

It was sooooo funny! The girls were AMAZED at me and did lots of "OOOOO"s and "AAAAA"s. It was so cute! Then I walked around to talk to the girls while they were doing projects. Every time I talked to a girl, she would laugh! I asked C about this, and she said they're nervous because they're not used to the way I talk.

I think I'm really going to like it here. I have some HUGE shoes to fill--C is amazing, and very much loved and respected here. I hope I can live up to the expectations everyone at the school has for me! I leave for work again in an hour--I don't think I get to observe any classes, but I do get to go to EMart to help buy supplies for lessons tomorrow. Should be fun!

Have a great day. Daniel and I miss y'all so much!!!

(My wonderful father is sending D and I a battery for the camera, so expect pictures starting next week!!!)

1st day of school

2008-12-15T21:06:00.003-05:00

so yesterday was our first day of school!

we are in a transitional period in the schools on two fronts:

1: the teachers we are replacing are still in the schools and,

2: its testing time, which means the kids don't have classes and just have tests all day

so we went in and met our respective vice-principals and principals. story of the day:

my principal asked where i was from, and i said florida

he asked where i went to university and i said greenville illinois

he asked me why i traveled so far to go to university, and i said that i was born in chicago

my principal said "i know chicago, obama from chicago"

no matter your personal feelings obama has definitley captured lots of peoples imagination.

we then learned about our placements some more, tova met her students (they were really excited and called her mrs. america!), mine were testing.

then we drove to get our alien registration cards. its really interesting to think of us as aliens:

apparantley we cant get anything done without it, so its pretty important. we then checked out cell phones. we are probably going to get cell phones since they only cost 15 bucks a month.

then we tried to go out to eat by ourselves. we ordered what i thought was a green onion pancake. but instead it came with all kinds of sea food, which i am not a fan of. octopus legs and other things were on top of it, and i couldnt eat it :-/ at the very least we also ordered fried chicken and it was very good.

all in all pretty interesting day, learned a lot, and knew new ways to order food!

Things I will never get used to...

2008-12-14T03:48:00.003-05:00

1) Hotel rooms with shower rooms. There is no curtain on the shower, the walls are made of stone, and the floor has a drain in it. It's designed to be a super-steam shower, but because it's winter and there's no heat in the bathroom, it stays ridiculously dripping wet and cold. It was kinda cool at first to have a sauna and shower at the same time, but now I'm just tired of the toilet paper being soaked.

2) Heated floors. You can't put much on them! Electronics would get zapped!

3) The time difference. Okay, maybe I will get used to that, but around 4 pm, I start getting ridiculously tired, despite having slept a full eight hours the night before. Tired to the point of getting nauseous and dizzy. Please, dear jet lag, go away!

4) How amazingly awesome it is that we're ACTUALLY in South Korea!!!!! Who would EVER have guessed that Daniel and I, the super-scheduled, super-old, super-predictable people would move halfway across the world?? I love it!

5) Korean game shows. Enough said?

:-)

Today's been a really nice day. We bought some gifts for our coteachers, vice principals, and principals at E-Mart. We had lunch at Popeye's that was REALLY gross (a cold chicken cordon bleu sandwich??). We got our computer stuff organized.

It's been fun!

Have a great week!!!!

first full day

2008-12-13T18:32:00.002-05:00

so yesterday was the first full day in sokcho! i dont think that tova and i have had a day like yesterday in a looooooooong time.

first things first we didnt set an alarm, and just woke up whenever we felt like it. (tova actually slept longer than i did! first time EVER! not kidding) then we did absolutely NOTHING!!!!

the floor is heated so we used that to our advantage and dried our clothes on the floor.

at around noon, we got an unexpected visit from one of the teachers in our area and the english speaking teacher who is our go between to help us with anything we need. we felt bad that we didnt invite them in to our hotel room, but we had all of our clothes spread all over the floor where you couldnt walk without walking on our clothes!

we then got geared up to go out for a walk. here is a picture of what is right outside our hotel:

we are not kidding when we say that we actually walked on that path! we walked around and checked out some of the sights. then. . . big news. . . . are you sitting down . . .
WE BOUGHT AN IRON!!!!!! i know, its hard to believe! all of our clothing is so wrinkled from being packed and then getting wet, it was an investment we had to make :-p we went to the local hi-mart (think best buy without the cd's) and got to use our very very very rudimentary korean.

we then went home and got geared up to go out to eat with our district coordinator and some of the teachers in the area. when we got to the place it was very different from the other places we have eaten, it had a table and chairs. the other places had very low tables and you sat on the floor.

then people started to pour in! we didnt realize how many english speaking people are in this area. they all seem really nice, and supportive, and had nothing bad to say about the area.

after hanging out and talking for a while, we left and went back to our apt (almost getting lost, thankfully we have the tower as a reference point)

we will be moving in to our place in friday (we think) they told us the apartment has a wonderful view of the mountains AND OCEAN!!!!!

when we get settled we will update you!!!

In Sokcho...

2008-12-12T19:29:00.001-05:00

...which is pronounced soak-cho.

Wow. Daniel and I are in Korea. It's been AMAZING so far! We're staying at a hotel for the next week. There was a mix up in when we were starting and when the teachers we're replacing are leaving, so basically we get a "free" week to stay in a nice hotel and look around. On the 19th, we move into our apartment and start teaching high school soon after.

Things I've learned:

1) Airport people really don't care about your luggage at all. They don't really mind if ALL of your things get soaked, leaving you to take everything out and leave it on hotel floors to dry. What fun! :-) Thank God for heated floors.

2) There are much fewer English-speaking Koreans than what I'd thought. There are much fewer English signs than I'd thought. There are many ways to get frustrated.

3) Korea is far more beautiful than ANY pictures have shown. The mountains, the lakes, the ocean, it's indescribable!!!!! We're going walking today to explore some of the scenery.

4) Korean food is amazing. It's sometimes delicious, sometimes ridiculously hot, sometimes gross, but always amazing. I have tried things I never thought I'd try! I learned last night that "Koreans love big eaters", and that even if I'm stuffed I have to eat until everyone is done. That was a painful lesson!

5) Koreans are so welcoming!! They've been so nice to us!!!

Daniel and I will meet our respective principals and see our respective schools on Monday. Each Guest English Teacher (GET) is paired with a Korean English Teacher as coteachers when they arrive. Daniel and I met our coteachers last night. Daniel works with a guy at a boys' high school and I work with his wife at the girls' high school. They're roughly our age, just had a baby a year ago, and are the sweetest people EVER!!! I think this is really going to work out well. Hopefully we'll be getting paid soon so we can live off more than bread, water, and bananas. :-) Oh, and Goober Grape, which is apparantley "America's favorite". :-) I miss you all, and I can't wait to send pictures once we get settled in our apartment and get the camera set up!

Update...

2008-12-09T09:00:00.004-05:00

We are officially leaving on this CRAZY adventure tomorrow at 4 a.m. Our plane takes off from Jacksonville at 7:30, takes us to Atlanta, then we fly straight to South Korea.

It should be exciting! We are mostly ready...

We are taking a special guest with us on our trip. His name is Cedrick, and he will be the star of some pictures. Cedrick was Daniel's birthday gift for me this year to take with us. :-)

Here's Cedrick beside a Panera fruit and yogurt parfait and a Starbucks sleeve.

(by they way, this might be the last post for a bit as we don't know when we will have the internet. have no fear though, we WILL be traveling and having fun!)

2008-12-06T20:40:00.002-05:00

Goodbyes stink.

So, because I'm sad, here's a picture just for fun.

I'm going to miss you all! Even though I may not see many of you on a regular basis, it FEELS different. I am so grateful for all of the absolutely amazing family and friends that Daniel and I have in our lives. Thank you so much for everything!!!!!!

in virginia

2008-12-06T08:05:00.002-05:00

so here are a list of states that we have visited in a whirl-wind tour of family and friends:
1: florida
2: georgia
3: tennesse
4: kentucky
5: illinois
6: south carolina
7: north carolina
8: virginia

in all we are going to be traveling over 5,000 in just 9 days. crazy? yes. necessary . . . yes

tova and i both had our last days at our jobs. said good bye to a lot of people that we are going to miss A LOT!!!

i was thinking that i am not all that excited. in all honesty i am way too busy to be happy. way too many things that are on my mind that need to get done. this is also shared with me being sad. part defense mechanism, part reality. if i dont think about missing everyone, then it won't hurt right? :-(

anyways . . . we are chilling in virginia, then tommorow its driving back down to jaksonville, but making a stop in south carolina , and a stop in ponte vedra to see people before getting to my house seeing my 'rents and sister and brother-in-law.

busy busy busy, should get everything done :-p

We're actually going...

2008-12-03T10:38:00.005-05:00

It's sinking in. By this time next week, we will be on the plane to South Korea.

This is a strange feeling. Very surreal! Daniel and I have moved away from people before. I know it's going to be just fine. Really, you won't be able to tell much difference. I can't see people as much as I'd like, and will probably see them just as many times when we're in Korea.

I have so many things to miss. I have a GREAT relationship with people at work. I love the kids I work with--I'm going to be a wreck tomorrow! I will miss my Jacksonville friends so much. I'll miss my church and the sweet kids there. I will so miss my family too!

Even that doesn't seem as tough as I'd expected. Getting used to a whole new country just seems daunting right now.

As stressed and as sad as I am, I am almost equally excited. I can't WAIT for this new adventure! I can't wait to learn more about a new culture, grow as a teacher, and be independent. I am so excited! Most of the people Daniel and I have talked to about this have been super excited--some of them even jealous! It's going to be fun.

All in all, I'm really excited. I can't wait until Daniel and I can post FROM Korea with pictures and information about our new life.

Thank you all for coming with us on this adventure.

:-)

back in jax

2008-12-02T06:20:00.007-05:00

so tova and i finished our 1st tour of the u.s. after 2320 miles (not inluding the 1000 miles we put on the other car since we drove up both cars)

we got to see quite a few people, drove a ton, but it wasnt too stressful and we got some rest!

we got our visas yesterday and they are LAME!!!! all it is is a sticker. . . yes a sticker. not all that cool. i was hoping for something cooler, but thats one less thing to worry about. we are buying our plane tickets today, it looks like we are leaving the tenth at 7:30 am!

we are hoping to get everything done by tommorow (unlikely) so that we can semi-kinda-sorta-pseudo-not really-relax before we head on out. the cool thing is that we are going to be going to the zoo with my sister and brother in law. nothing says good times like going to the zoo acting like a kid and giving a gorilla a noogie:

or saving my sister from a killer anaconda:

or wrestling an alligator:

or feeding lorakeets:

or surviving their vicious attacks (natalie, you know its true)

now, if you look closely, the bird drew blood! but the zoo is fun, and that's all for my ridiculous post of the day. for more serious posts i leave that to tova!

Question time...

2008-11-28T13:57:00.004-05:00

Feel free to add any more questions you'd like to have answered... Hopefully this post will be helpful, informative, and fun! :-)

These are the questions we have received from many of you.

#1 most popular question answered: No, we are not going to South Korea as missionaries. We are going as employees of the public school system.

#2: No, Daniel and I do not speak Korean. None whatsoever.

#3: No, we do not know how that will work.

#4: Yes, we should have internet while we are there. It may be a little while before we actually get the internet, but we will have it eventually.

#5: We are planning on staying one to two years. We signed a one-year contract. This contract may be renewed if we like it and if the schools like us. If we enjoy our time in SK, we may stay.

#6: We will both be teaching High School English. We will be at two separate high schools. Most teachers have their apartments within walking distance of their school. However, the recruiting agency isn't sure how it'll work with Daniel and I teaching at two schools.

#7: The plane ride will be long. Super long.

#8: We are SUPER excited.

Please post any further questions you may have. Those questions will be answered in a later post.

:-)

craziness

2008-11-28T11:24:00.004-05:00

so we have officially applied for our visas!!!
we should be ready to go to korea very shortly.

here is a little explaining as to this whole process and how his went down. we know that it has been such a shock for everyone to hear about us leaving, but seriously . . . it is even a larger shock to us. we are really sorry for people who have heard about this third/fourth hand and not from us, hopefully we can explain this past week and how fast this time table has been for us.

tues. 18th: no job prospects, we are thinking of leaving in february
wed. 19th: at night we get a job lead for a position that starts the december 15th
thurs. 20th: have an interiew at night
fri. 21st: in the morning we have contracts, tova gives her 2 weeks notice
sat 22nd: lots of freakin' out :-p, daniel gives his notice, tell our childrens pastors next sunday is our last sunday
sun 23rd: we go to church and tell everyone that next week is our last week at church. we are sad
mon. 24th: our shipping date was moved to december 10th! giving us even less time to see everyone, and pack. we start "trying" to get plans to see people
tues. 25th: we get our notice of placement which gives us the ability to get our visas. we change our plans to include a stop in atlanta so we can stop at the korean consulate to apply for our visas
wed. 26th: we start our trip to atlanta, apply for visas and drive to paducah kentucky
thurs. 27th: THANKSGIVING!!!!! get to hang out with family
fri. 28th: hanging out in champaign . . .

the next week or so we are traveling back to jacksonville, working our last days, driving to miami, driving to richmond va, and back to jacksonville, not to mention packing the rest of our things and getting ready to go. its crazy!!!!

keep is in prayer as we start this crazy adventure, and we will be keeping everyone updated with this blog and via e-mails

PODS

2008-11-25T15:41:00.004-05:00

so, today we just recieved our pod it looks something like this:

things are moving very quickly as we just recieved our notice of appointment from gangwon as well.

we are in th process of finalizing visitation plans to TRY to see everyone before we go. we would love to see everyone, but the timing just is CRAZY!!!

if you are in the area and want to help us pack up the pod, let me know!

Pulled off Google Images...

2008-11-24T15:46:00.002-05:00

Where we'll be living...

Current plans...

2008-11-23T17:14:00.001-05:00

Destination: Sokcho, Gangwon Province, South Korea.

Employment: High School English teachers - two separate schools.

Departure Date: December 9th.

Begin Date: December 11th.

All plans subject to change.

:-)