Kelly has been holding down the posting so it's time I try to pick it back up a bit, a little something to tide you over while we're on vacation.
Most of the kids at our school have normal names. Sam is popular. Ladies like Sally, Alice and Sarah. Daniel, Jack, Steven, Catherine, Katie, the list goes on and on. Candy owns a disproportiate market share for some reason, but that's not absurd in North America. Of course, there are exceptions.
Some students don't have English names when they sign up for class, so that leaves naming them in the sometimes capable hands of us foreign teachers. We all have different methods for naming them, and they usually involve some sad inside joke (the kid is always as far outside the joke as is possible). Kelly's latest have been Snoop in honour of the incomparable Ornob Dey and Toby for the spineless HR rep from The Office (although the little man insists that it's spelt "Tody").
I have settled on naming kids after my favourite Toronto Raptors and Indy Colts. I give them a list on the board to choose from, and other students are free to offer suggestions too. So far I have several Sams (Mitchell), Chris (Bosh), TJ (Ford), Jose (Calderon), Anthony (Parker), Carlos (Delfino), Peyton (Manning), Reggie (Wayne), Freddy (Keiaho), Kelvin (Hayden), and a Bob (Sanders). I have a few Brians, but I need to change one to Bryan-with-a-Y in honour of Mr. Colangelo. I also dubbed one shy middle schooler Jamal, another Bernie (after Frank and Mitch were refused), and one final ass that refused to choose a name is now Nothing. I was in a stripper phase for a while so Misty and Ivy came about. The hardest sells have proven to be Marvin, Jorge, and Andrea. As much respect for Bargnani as I have, I feel bad naming a boy what any other English speaker would think is a woman's name.
Most of the kids we name are older students who don't care about English (hence them not having English names to begin) so I don't feel too bad about naming a Korean kid 'Jose'. If it was someone with an English future it would be a different story.
There are many great names at our school. One is Young for the attendence sheet but Grandfather Washington in reality. Andy, who is notoriously anti-fun in the view of the students, refused to change White's name to Chicken Stone Head. When Jeremy finally allowed it, he soon wanted to go back to White which Jeremy gleefully refused. Kelly has had Spiderman, Golden Pig, Ace, Tiger, Limerick, and Kiwi. I have had Coca & Cola (who came up with it together), Jewelery, Piggy, K (male), and Roll (female). One kid claims his name is Hell, but Andy refused so he remains Hey You until he picks something different.
The branch down the subway line in Gireum has some classics. Apparently Beckham is big there. Our friend Mark who left had a difficult time getting students to pick names until he found out that they all liked the computer game Starcraft. Soon he had a Command Centre, Docking Station, and Missile. The first day of a new semester brought him a kid whose name was spelt Allen. Turned out that was a misprint and the dude was Alien.
The days with new students are always the best, especially if they don't already have an English name.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Preparing for our BIG Trip!
Helloie everyone! Thought I would offer a little update. It is probably going to be short and sweet, since I am sooo much marking to do before we go away for our vacation!
Last weekend we took it easy, for the most part. On Friday night, Ian and I along with our Junggye-dng branch friends went out for Gulbi, barhopping in our neighbourhood and of coarse ended up at the Noreabang. For those of you who are just joining us, Noreabangs are singing rooms in Korea- Great fun! You bring in your own food and drinks, rent a room and sing karaoke with all your friends. It is a great time! It was Melissa's first time too, and I could tell she was loving it!
Saturday Ian and I went to Meoyoung-dong. It is one of my favourite shopping places here. Unfortunately because I am trying to conserve my money for our trip, I couldn't buy much. It was our "4 and a half year anniversary" though, so it was pretty much just an excuse to go out for a nice dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant that was recommended to us by our friends Jen and Jeremy. It was so good, and it was especially awesome to have hot bread served with a meal! It had been too long! (I take it that that's one of the reasons Koreans are so skinny though!) We went home and made Soju slushies with Fanta and ice (Soju is Korea's "vodka") and watched a few movies. On Sunday we spent most of the day planning our trip and I headed to Itewan for a few hours. (Itewan is the foriengers district.)
All in all, we are just getting really excited for out trip. At Plus Academy, foreign teachers are allotted 5 vacation days per 6 month term. We are combining 4 of our vacation days with Korean Thanksgiving (3 days) and another National Holiday. So we will be gone for 11 days and still have one day leftover to make our trek to Japan in November. We are flying into Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from Korea, and then flying to Bangkok that same day. This is where our journey will begin! We will be spending a few days in Bangkok with one day trip to Kanchanburi to visit the tiger sanctuary and some other cool landmarks. From Bangkok, we will be heading to Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit the Ankor Temples. (One of the 7 Wonders of the World.) From Siem Reap we will be heading to Phemn Penh, Cambodia which is Cambodia's capital city. From there we are taking a scenic ferry to Chau Doc, Vietnam and heading north to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where we will spend a few days. Then we are back to Korea! So exciting! We will take a lot of pictures (obviously) and write lots about it when we get back, I am sure! If anyone wants anything specific from these countries, let us know!
We are so excited, and have so many more adventures coming up to look forward to... in 2007 alone! We are heading to Japan the first weekend in November, and Ian's parents are coming at the end of November. Time is just flying by! We will be home before you know it. We couldn't believe it when we hit out 4 month milestone of being here a few weeks ago. Only 8 months to go! (And mom: STOP worrying!!!)
Miss ya'll! xoxo
Last weekend we took it easy, for the most part. On Friday night, Ian and I along with our Junggye-dng branch friends went out for Gulbi, barhopping in our neighbourhood and of coarse ended up at the Noreabang. For those of you who are just joining us, Noreabangs are singing rooms in Korea- Great fun! You bring in your own food and drinks, rent a room and sing karaoke with all your friends. It is a great time! It was Melissa's first time too, and I could tell she was loving it!
Saturday Ian and I went to Meoyoung-dong. It is one of my favourite shopping places here. Unfortunately because I am trying to conserve my money for our trip, I couldn't buy much. It was our "4 and a half year anniversary" though, so it was pretty much just an excuse to go out for a nice dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant that was recommended to us by our friends Jen and Jeremy. It was so good, and it was especially awesome to have hot bread served with a meal! It had been too long! (I take it that that's one of the reasons Koreans are so skinny though!) We went home and made Soju slushies with Fanta and ice (Soju is Korea's "vodka") and watched a few movies. On Sunday we spent most of the day planning our trip and I headed to Itewan for a few hours. (Itewan is the foriengers district.)
All in all, we are just getting really excited for out trip. At Plus Academy, foreign teachers are allotted 5 vacation days per 6 month term. We are combining 4 of our vacation days with Korean Thanksgiving (3 days) and another National Holiday. So we will be gone for 11 days and still have one day leftover to make our trek to Japan in November. We are flying into Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from Korea, and then flying to Bangkok that same day. This is where our journey will begin! We will be spending a few days in Bangkok with one day trip to Kanchanburi to visit the tiger sanctuary and some other cool landmarks. From Bangkok, we will be heading to Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit the Ankor Temples. (One of the 7 Wonders of the World.) From Siem Reap we will be heading to Phemn Penh, Cambodia which is Cambodia's capital city. From there we are taking a scenic ferry to Chau Doc, Vietnam and heading north to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where we will spend a few days. Then we are back to Korea! So exciting! We will take a lot of pictures (obviously) and write lots about it when we get back, I am sure! If anyone wants anything specific from these countries, let us know!
We are so excited, and have so many more adventures coming up to look forward to... in 2007 alone! We are heading to Japan the first weekend in November, and Ian's parents are coming at the end of November. Time is just flying by! We will be home before you know it. We couldn't believe it when we hit out 4 month milestone of being here a few weeks ago. Only 8 months to go! (And mom: STOP worrying!!!)
Miss ya'll! xoxo
Monday, September 10, 2007
Another Weekend in So-Ko
"Aneoung-hey seyo" from So-Ko!
This past weekend was jam-packed for Ian and I. Ian did his "all Korean" diet this week, so I am sure he will write about his menu and how it went. Friday night we went to Chicken Palace with all of our branch colleagues. It is an amazing BBQ chicken restaurant in our neighbourhood. We had to wait longer then usual for our food due to language barriers because our favourite manager wasn't working, but other then that it was really fun! After that, Ian, Melissa, Andy, Leah and I decided to go to our local convinience store "GS 25" for a few more cocktails and ran into a Korean teacher from our school, Joy. She is awesome, so it was nice to hang out with her.
Saturday I went shopping with Jen and Melissa from my school. We went to one of my favourite places, Ewha Women's University area. This district is is home to the biggest women's university in the world. Needless to say, the women's shopping is always incredible!
Something there bothered me this weekend though. A homeless woman was selling a malnourished kitten and puppy. All she could afford to feed them was black bean tea water
that was been given away for free on the street. She was picking them up and tossing them around like bean bags on parade. Jen loves cats, so she was heartbroken and was SO close to just buying it and taking it home. It was really sad.Saturday night, Ian and I headed down south to Erin and Justin's place in Beomgye. (For those of you who have not read previous posts, Erin and Justin are Ian's hometown friends that arrived a little while after us!) What a fun area! Their apartment is beautiful and we enjoyed some munchies, wine and Captain Morgans before hitting the town. We went to a really
tasty Mexican restaurant and then a neat bar where we drank cocktails our of a giant, hollowed out pineapple. Ian and Justin played some kind of shooting marble game before heading back in the for evening. Sunday unexpectedly was a great day too. Erin made us all breakfast and Ian and I headed out to meet our friend from Laurier, Josh. He plays in a baseball league here in Korea, and we went and watched his game for a bit. It was awesome sitting outside, since the weather was so beautiful. After a bit of baseball watching, Ian and I decided to head to Seoul Grand Park and see what was there.
Seoul Grand Park encompasses alot. There is a Contemporary Art Museum, a theme Park called "SeoulLand" and a zoo. Ian and I went to the zoo because we love going to the zoo! It was a great time. We watched Lions being thrown huge steaks and fighting for them and watched a dolphin and seal show which was really cool! One thing that Ian and
I noticed that was sad was the fact that the tigers were in tiny cages, while the lions, zebras and gazelles got large, grassy ar
eas. We felt bad for them! After that, I headed to Itewan and picked up some "foreign" groceries and Ian headed home to play basketball with Andy and a Korean test teacher from our school who invited them. Maybe Ian will write more about their games with all the Korean guys, but I don't know much about it other than that they had fun!
It was a great weekend! All I can say is thank goodness Monday's classes are over for me right now! I am beat!
Here are some pictures from September in Korea, including one of my classes and the homeless woman selling the animals: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2109931&l=a1bf5&id=187905622
Here are pictures from Seoul Grand Park!: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2109969&l=8ca89&id=187905622
Until next time!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Interesting Little Excursion
I am trying to write more about the little things Ian and I do in Korea. There are so many amusing, different and cultural things we see everyday but don't mrntion because we are used to them!
So, Ian and I went to the Vietnamese Embassy yesterday to apply for out Multiple Entry Visas for Vietnam. Let me tell you, it was an interesting experience. Maybe because the only Embassy's I have been to are the Canadian, American and Korean, but still.
So we took the subway to Insadong, which is the pretty, older area in Seoul. We took a cab to a large building where a man saluted to us and told us we were actually about a block away from the Vietnamese Embassy. Fine. So we walked along a hill and entered some 'welcoming' gates that had a little plaque on them that read "Vietnam" (The only English word). So we walked in and turned left, to see what looked like a run-down, wartime house. We walked up the steps and through the doorway into a waiting room of Korean and Vietnamese mothers with their crying babies, men and families. The carpet was brown and torn, there was a cash register against the wall with no attendant and a dusty counter for filling out applications with no pens in sight. We walked to the right to the next doorway and found a door with a plaque on it that read "Consular" and opened it. There were two desks most likely from the 1970's and one man was at each desk.
We were told that we were supposed to come before 12, and that they were about to leave, but they helped us anyway. After taking turns writing our applications in the waiting room with the one pen I had and watching the Consulate worker apply white-out to fix our written apps, we had successfully applied for our Vietnam Visas.
We go back on Monday to pick them up. That's all she wrote!
So, Ian and I went to the Vietnamese Embassy yesterday to apply for out Multiple Entry Visas for Vietnam. Let me tell you, it was an interesting experience. Maybe because the only Embassy's I have been to are the Canadian, American and Korean, but still.
So we took the subway to Insadong, which is the pretty, older area in Seoul. We took a cab to a large building where a man saluted to us and told us we were actually about a block away from the Vietnamese Embassy. Fine. So we walked along a hill and entered some 'welcoming' gates that had a little plaque on them that read "Vietnam" (The only English word). So we walked in and turned left, to see what looked like a run-down, wartime house. We walked up the steps and through the doorway into a waiting room of Korean and Vietnamese mothers with their crying babies, men and families. The carpet was brown and torn, there was a cash register against the wall with no attendant and a dusty counter for filling out applications with no pens in sight. We walked to the right to the next doorway and found a door with a plaque on it that read "Consular" and opened it. There were two desks most likely from the 1970's and one man was at each desk.
We were told that we were supposed to come before 12, and that they were about to leave, but they helped us anyway. After taking turns writing our applications in the waiting room with the one pen I had and watching the Consulate worker apply white-out to fix our written apps, we had successfully applied for our Vietnam Visas.
We go back on Monday to pick them up. That's all she wrote!
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Comings and Goings
Trust me, we are trying to keep you all informed of our whereabouts and events here, but nothing really exciting has been 
happening!
happening!I guess when you live somewhere new, after a while you just get settled. It can be an entirely new and dramatic experience for you, it can be a culture shock or even feel just backwards for a bit. But once you get into a routine, especially when you work in that certain place, it just becomes your life style. And you just become settled and comfortable. I think that is our current mode.
There is one thing that is really hard to get accustomed to here, though. That is, things come and go in Korean so quickly. Friends, students, places... 
In our neighbourhood, for example, there was an amazing non-fat yogurt place called Red Mango. It is a chain here, and I think it actually might be Japanese, but don't quote me. The employees would top the vanilla yogurt with whatever you desired- watermelon, mango, kiwi, cocoa puffs, bananas, chocolate chips... the list is endless. (However, some of those ingredients may take away from the "non fat" part about the yogurt!) Anyway, I walked by it last week and to my surprise- and dismay- it was closed! I later found out that yet ANOTHER cell phone store is going in its place! It makes me really upset! :(
In our neighbourhood, for example, there was an amazing non-fat yogurt place called Red Mango. It is a chain here, and I think it actually might be Japanese, but don't quote me. The employees would top the vanilla yogurt with whatever you desired- watermelon, mango, kiwi, cocoa puffs, bananas, chocolate chips... the list is endless. (However, some of those ingredients may take away from the "non fat" part about the yogurt!) Anyway, I walked by it last week and to my surprise- and dismay- it was closed! I later found out that yet ANOTHER cell phone store is going in its place! It makes me really upset! :( There was also a cute mandu place that Ian and Andy really liked on our neighbourhood corner. It was closed down and replaced by an Etude House. Etude House is a makeup and body store chain in Korea, so I was satisfied to learn that it was coming to our neighbourhood, but at the same time it is really sad to see little family-run businesses going under all the time here.
Occurrences such as these happen weekly in our neighbourhood. Two more little Korean food places were closed down last week, and already new clothing stores have replaced them.
As far as friends, everyone homes here at a different time, on different contracts. You can make room in your heart for people, and before the blink of an eye, they are gone. It is really hard to deal with sometimes. Fortunately, most of the people that has happened with so far are from Ontario, so at least we know there is a lot of time in the future to keep building on these friendships. People like Mark, Julia, Anne and Colin are people Ian and I wish we had more of a chance to hang out with. Even Julianne and Eric, who were here for less then a week, we wish we could have gotten to know better! I guess that is just the way it is here, though. Goodbye party, after goodbye party!
We are REALLY happy that our friends Leah and Andy have extended their
contract, however. It seems like all of our friends at our school and our surrounding branches have come within the past few months, so we are all going to be here for a while. I am really pumped about that. I keep thinking about Christmas and how difficult it is to be away from our families, and then I think of our little family here and I know it won't be so bad!
contract, however. It seems like all of our friends at our school and our surrounding branches have come within the past few months, so we are all going to be here for a while. I am really pumped about that. I keep thinking about Christmas and how difficult it is to be away from our families, and then I think of our little family here and I know it won't be so bad!Miss you all... Much love.
Pictures:
Goodbye Parties and Other Summer Stuff: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2105234&l=7cf17&id=187905622
Welcomes, Goodbyes, and other fun stuff: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2107764&l=4aca2&id=187905622
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