The frayed cord that used to charge my laptop has completely died, which is part of the reason why I haven't been blogging. Other reasons include being busy, but mainly being lazy.
We were supposed to go the electronics mart today to pick up a new cord, but sleeping in turned out to be our number one priority. It was also really, really crappy out today. There was thunder and lightning all night last night and it was raining what seemed like monsoon rain all day.
I was also supposed to go with Dennis' co-workers to the Melaleuca store in Gangnam, but again, sleeping in dominated. I went to a Melaleuca presentation last Wednesday and am interested in picking up a few things. That'll have to happen another day, I guess. The whole Melaleuca thing (products and the mlm side of it) interest me, but that's a whole other blog post.
Hopefully, we can pick up a cord for my computer tomorrow so that I can start updating more. We're also going to a baseball game tomorrow evening... that'll be a nice way to end the weekend. Plus, next week is a 3 day week! I have Thursday and Friday off because it's Children's Day on Thursday and my school, shockingly, gave us the Friday off as well. Dennis wasn't so lucky with his school. He still has to work that Friday.
Anyway, that's all for now. Happy belated Easter!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
happy 4/20
I've been having a rough week... being sick as well as being super busy at work and super frustrated by a majority of my students and with life here in general.
BUT!.... Instead of bitching and moaning, I'm going to do the exact opposite.
Why I like being here: (in no particular order)
1. I never have to sit in traffic!
2. I'm saving a tonne of money on gas.
3. I don't need to fiddle in my purse for 5 minutes to look for keys. I get into my building with a key card and into my apartment with a code.
4. I see my husband in the evenings and on weekends!
5. If I'm out of something, like soap, I can just go down 3 floors to get it.
6. When I check the weather forecast, it's actually right.
7. Sanrio stuff is cheap!
8. Alcohol is cheap!
9. I have a full-time job.
10. My husband does a lot more housework!
11. Galbi is cheap!
12. Ice cream is cheap!!
13. There's a million things to do, see, experience here. No more boring weekends.
14. Almost all the cars on the road here are new.
15. I don't have to pay rent!!!
16. My cell phone bill isn't $80 a month.
17. I don't need to use my credit card!
18. My work weeks fly by so quickly.
19. I don't have to drive over the Port Mann bridge!
20. I'm meeting new people.
21. I'm reading more.
I'm sure there's more, but this is where I'm ending it because it's past my bedtime!
BUT!.... Instead of bitching and moaning, I'm going to do the exact opposite.
Why I like being here: (in no particular order)
1. I never have to sit in traffic!
2. I'm saving a tonne of money on gas.
3. I don't need to fiddle in my purse for 5 minutes to look for keys. I get into my building with a key card and into my apartment with a code.
4. I see my husband in the evenings and on weekends!
5. If I'm out of something, like soap, I can just go down 3 floors to get it.
6. When I check the weather forecast, it's actually right.
7. Sanrio stuff is cheap!
8. Alcohol is cheap!
9. I have a full-time job.
10. My husband does a lot more housework!
11. Galbi is cheap!
12. Ice cream is cheap!!
13. There's a million things to do, see, experience here. No more boring weekends.
14. Almost all the cars on the road here are new.
15. I don't have to pay rent!!!
16. My cell phone bill isn't $80 a month.
17. I don't need to use my credit card!
18. My work weeks fly by so quickly.
19. I don't have to drive over the Port Mann bridge!
20. I'm meeting new people.
21. I'm reading more.
I'm sure there's more, but this is where I'm ending it because it's past my bedtime!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Em and Jeff
Been busy hanging out with these two, which is why I haven't been blogging. We've pretty much been eating and eating and eating. And Jeff's been going crazy with the jersey buying. We went to Busan this weekend, which was nice because of the awesome weather we had, but it was crappy for me because I was sick..... yes, again. I was pretty much dead all Saturday. I stayed in our hotel and rested while they went to the beach and market. They saw a flash mob! After dinner and a couple bar hops and ice cream at Lotteria, the boys went to the casino while Em and I headed back to our hotel... ice cream and waffle from Baskin Robbins in hand. I haven't gotten my passport back from immigration yet because my Alien Registration Card is still being processed, which is why I couldn't get into the casino. Em was just being nice and chilled with me back in our room. Our room was pretty sweet for a "love motel". Still disgusting in that sense, but very nice for love motel standards.
Em and Jeff left for Shanghai today and they'll be back again Thursday. We still have to take them out to a norae bang (karaoke room). This weekend we're gonna stay with them in Seoul to hit up Itaewon (more jersey shopping apparently) where we'll grab a few drinks at the Canadian bar, Rocky Mountain Pub (I think). We'll likely have more galbi, since we'd had it 3 nights last week, and do more drinking and dart playing at a bunch of pubs. This is Korea, after all.
Em and Jeff left for Shanghai today and they'll be back again Thursday. We still have to take them out to a norae bang (karaoke room). This weekend we're gonna stay with them in Seoul to hit up Itaewon (more jersey shopping apparently) where we'll grab a few drinks at the Canadian bar, Rocky Mountain Pub (I think). We'll likely have more galbi, since we'd had it 3 nights last week, and do more drinking and dart playing at a bunch of pubs. This is Korea, after all.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
friday... friday...
Last Friday night after work was spent eating out at this American Diner called Daily King's Diner. I got the Bacon and Mushroom pasta with an amazingly creamy and buttery cream sauce and Dennis got a super moist meatball sub. They were both quite yum. I dug into mine so fast that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it. No biggie. Didn't look like anything that I couldn't get back home. But it did taste quite good. The cream sauce was so heavy, I had a super hard time finishing it off. The portion wasn't even that big.
After dinner, we vegged out on the couch and watched 3 episodes of The Wire. Went to bed at 3am somehow. Oh, I remember... we discovered the National Geographic channel and watched show after show of The Weirdest Animals on Earth (or something like that) and this crocodile show.
Awesome Friday night. And I'm not being sarcastic! Haha.
After dinner, we vegged out on the couch and watched 3 episodes of The Wire. Went to bed at 3am somehow. Oh, I remember... we discovered the National Geographic channel and watched show after show of The Weirdest Animals on Earth (or something like that) and this crocodile show.
Awesome Friday night. And I'm not being sarcastic! Haha.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Em and Jeff are coming tomorrow!
I'm so excited! My cousin and her hubby are coming to visit and they arrive tomorrow! I really wish Dennis and I weren't working during their stay here. They love eating, drinking, and gambling. That's easy enough to fulfill in this country. I'm a bit worried about the gambling part... not losing money or anything like that. It's that we need our passports to enter any casino in Korea because they have to ensure that none of us are Korean citizens. Koreans aren't allowed to gamble in casinos. I may not have my passport with me when we go because I have to get my alien card, and in order to do that I have to give my school my passport and I think it takes about a week to get it all processed. I'm supposed to give them my passport this Monday. Dammit. We're heading down to Busan next weekend, where the casino is, and if I don't have my passport back by Friday... well, frig, I can't get into the casino. Now where's the fun in that?!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
I've never been so excited!!!
About getting a microwave, that is. We bought a 3-in-1 microwave/oven/grill last weekend for 240,000 Won (about $211 CAD) from Emart and it just arrived tonight. We have no idea how to use it, but I've taken a picture of the dials and buttons and the Korean writing next to them and I'm on a mission to ask the gyopo (Koreans who have lived abroad for some time) teachers at my school what they mean. We really wanna start cooking and baking like we did back home. And by "we" I mean Dennis. ;)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
20 things to check on your teaching contract before you sign it
For those interested in teaching in Korea or anywhere else outside of your home country, check this out.
Read the comments as well.
Read the comments as well.
medical check #2
My two co-workers and I met Eunice (assistant to the VP) outside the clinic at 8:30am. We had exactly one hour to get our medical checks done because we start teaching at 9:30.
Raise your hand if you think we were done in an hour.
It ended up taking us close to two hours to get everything done. We filled out some paperwork and then waited to get called. After about 15 minutes, we were called. At this place, we only had to change out of our tops. We kept our pants on, but had to take everything off up top and were given a wrap-around shirt to cover ourselves. Then we had to wait in line. First came our chest x-rays, then more waiting. Next, a man took us to the side of the reception area and gave us 3 plastic cups (no lids). "Urine sample." he says, half embarrassed and half seriously. And then he motioned for us to leave the clinic and go down the hall where the bathrooms are. I don't know why, but the inside hallways of every building in Korea are a dark, depressing grey colour. The three of us start laughing as we collectively take our piss cups, leave the clinic and head down the dark hallway like prisoners taking a drug test. And it was perfect, 3 of us and 3 bathroom stalls. Only one of which had toilet paper. I totally forgot that the dispenser was outside of the stalls and you're supposed to take a bunch BEFORE you go in. Silly me for forgetting I was in Asia. It was odd that one stall had toilet paper inside... definitely must have been a mistake.
So, anyway, there we were three in row, holding our pee cups to our peeing parts, separated only by a thin stall wall, simultaneously peeing and laughing at this really awkward situation we were in. Allison was in the middle stall, which had the TP in it and she kindly passed us some. I drank a crapload of water beforehand, so I was out of there first. It was really embarrassing holding a lidless, see-through cup of very fresh, warm piss in your hands and walking down a public hallway into a clinic where everyone stares at you when you enter. I was directed to put my cup on a tray that was filled with other lidless, see-through pee-filled cups.
I then got weighed and measured, had my blood pressure taken, my vision tested and my blood taken... all in the same 10 x 10 room. The lady who took my blood, of course, had the same problem that everyone always has. She couldn't find any veins. She finally just decided to go for it. She poked me and nothing came out, so she went deeper... still nothing, so she pushed the needle even further into me. I thought I was going to puke. Don't ask me why I was watching, I just couldn't not watch. Oh god, I'm getting queasy just thinking about it. Anyway, the whole needle was pretty much half way through my arm when blood started to gush into the tube. Thank god! But, of course, this wasn't enough. She had to pump and pump and pump the other end of the tube to get the suction going, so the whole process took a super long time! Ahh!! When she finally got enough blood out of me, she bandaged me up, let out a big, huge sigh of relief (as did I) and released me. Yikes.
Now, what happened next has never happened to me before. When I got up from the chair, I felt really, really dizzy, my legs started to turn to jello, and my vision got really blurry... like the room was closing in on me. I also felt my face get pale. I was feeling myself starting to faint, but before that happened, I found a seat and sat down. I just kept thinking, "don't faint, don't faint, don't faint". I was very close to collapsing, but I didn't end up fainting afterall. Holy crap was I close. I just started breathing very deeply and very slowly. Soon enough, I regained my sight and I felt better after a while. It was pretty scary. I stayed seated until the last of us was done. Poor, Melissa, she cried again. She said she just can't help it. She's terrified of needles.
After that whole ordeal, we each got "interviewed" by a doctor who pretty much looked over all our information and asked us if we have any preexisting conditions or if we had taken any drugs. Once that was over, we were done. We went to Dunkin' Donuts because we were starving and then headed to work.
I learned something from this second debacle. I'm never donating blood. I honestly think I'll be more of a hassle than I would be a help.
Raise your hand if you think we were done in an hour.
It ended up taking us close to two hours to get everything done. We filled out some paperwork and then waited to get called. After about 15 minutes, we were called. At this place, we only had to change out of our tops. We kept our pants on, but had to take everything off up top and were given a wrap-around shirt to cover ourselves. Then we had to wait in line. First came our chest x-rays, then more waiting. Next, a man took us to the side of the reception area and gave us 3 plastic cups (no lids). "Urine sample." he says, half embarrassed and half seriously. And then he motioned for us to leave the clinic and go down the hall where the bathrooms are. I don't know why, but the inside hallways of every building in Korea are a dark, depressing grey colour. The three of us start laughing as we collectively take our piss cups, leave the clinic and head down the dark hallway like prisoners taking a drug test. And it was perfect, 3 of us and 3 bathroom stalls. Only one of which had toilet paper. I totally forgot that the dispenser was outside of the stalls and you're supposed to take a bunch BEFORE you go in. Silly me for forgetting I was in Asia. It was odd that one stall had toilet paper inside... definitely must have been a mistake.
So, anyway, there we were three in row, holding our pee cups to our peeing parts, separated only by a thin stall wall, simultaneously peeing and laughing at this really awkward situation we were in. Allison was in the middle stall, which had the TP in it and she kindly passed us some. I drank a crapload of water beforehand, so I was out of there first. It was really embarrassing holding a lidless, see-through cup of very fresh, warm piss in your hands and walking down a public hallway into a clinic where everyone stares at you when you enter. I was directed to put my cup on a tray that was filled with other lidless, see-through pee-filled cups.
I then got weighed and measured, had my blood pressure taken, my vision tested and my blood taken... all in the same 10 x 10 room. The lady who took my blood, of course, had the same problem that everyone always has. She couldn't find any veins. She finally just decided to go for it. She poked me and nothing came out, so she went deeper... still nothing, so she pushed the needle even further into me. I thought I was going to puke. Don't ask me why I was watching, I just couldn't not watch. Oh god, I'm getting queasy just thinking about it. Anyway, the whole needle was pretty much half way through my arm when blood started to gush into the tube. Thank god! But, of course, this wasn't enough. She had to pump and pump and pump the other end of the tube to get the suction going, so the whole process took a super long time! Ahh!! When she finally got enough blood out of me, she bandaged me up, let out a big, huge sigh of relief (as did I) and released me. Yikes.
Now, what happened next has never happened to me before. When I got up from the chair, I felt really, really dizzy, my legs started to turn to jello, and my vision got really blurry... like the room was closing in on me. I also felt my face get pale. I was feeling myself starting to faint, but before that happened, I found a seat and sat down. I just kept thinking, "don't faint, don't faint, don't faint". I was very close to collapsing, but I didn't end up fainting afterall. Holy crap was I close. I just started breathing very deeply and very slowly. Soon enough, I regained my sight and I felt better after a while. It was pretty scary. I stayed seated until the last of us was done. Poor, Melissa, she cried again. She said she just can't help it. She's terrified of needles.
After that whole ordeal, we each got "interviewed" by a doctor who pretty much looked over all our information and asked us if we have any preexisting conditions or if we had taken any drugs. Once that was over, we were done. We went to Dunkin' Donuts because we were starving and then headed to work.
I learned something from this second debacle. I'm never donating blood. I honestly think I'll be more of a hassle than I would be a help.
Monday, April 4, 2011
there aren't any drugs in my bloodstream, i promise!
So the assistant to the vice principal (I guess that's what she is) knocked on my classroom door and interrupted my class to give me bad news. It's not so much bad news as it is annoying and frustrating news. You know that medical check I wrote about here? Well, I have to do it all over again!! She said the reason why I (and my two other co-workers) have to do it again is because starting April 2011 the Korean government wanted to start testing for drugs. I think she's lying, or I think the president told her to lie, or something, because it says right in my contract that as part of the medical check a drug test will be done to test for heroin, cocaine, and philopon (Japanese meth). The president obviously screwed up and forgot to tell the medical staff to test us for drugs when we went for our medical checks.
You'd think that since we only need the drug test portion done that we'd just need to give a blood sample, but noooooo... for some nonsensical reason, we have to do the whole entire procedure all over again. The co-worker who cried last time she gave blood was not happy when she heard the news. Poor girl.
Well, at least I don't have to go through half the day without eating anything like I had to last time because my appointment was after lunch and I wasn't allowed to eat anything beforehand. This time my appointment is first thing in the morning. I can eat breakfast right after.
I'll let you know how it goes this second time around.
You'd think that since we only need the drug test portion done that we'd just need to give a blood sample, but noooooo... for some nonsensical reason, we have to do the whole entire procedure all over again. The co-worker who cried last time she gave blood was not happy when she heard the news. Poor girl.
Well, at least I don't have to go through half the day without eating anything like I had to last time because my appointment was after lunch and I wasn't allowed to eat anything beforehand. This time my appointment is first thing in the morning. I can eat breakfast right after.
I'll let you know how it goes this second time around.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Of course I miss home.
I miss...
-the familiarity
-playing cards at my sister and brother-in-law's house almost every weekend
-eating at my sister and brother-in-law's house pretty much every weekend
-my parents
-my siblings and their squabbles (not really, but sort of)
-watching my nieces grow up so fast
-Maggie (my parent's dog)
-my extended family's gatherings (yeah, I'm not kidding)
-working at SPL (that's right, I actually liked going in to work)
-the staff at SPL (you all rock!)
-our car
-having a dishwasher, oven, and dryer
-watching HD channels on an HD TV
-having a PVR
-my shows (What Not to Wear, Say Yes to the Dress, Four Weddings, Oprah, Ellen... haha)
-having a closet
-soft clothes (everything gets crusty when you don't have a dryer)
-speaking English to everyone and having them understand me
-being spoken to in English immediately
-having a larger living space (we used to chase each other around the house because we're mature)
-our bbq
-our soft bed
-having everything written in English
-my personal bubble (they have no problems pushing, shoving, and elbowing you without apology here)
-BC mountains
-our computer chair (the one we have really sucks)
-being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet
-getting weekly massages for free (SPL benefits were pretty good)
-ground turkey
-most of all... struggling to pay off our debt (NOT!!!)
We're doing this for a better future for us and for our unborn kids.
As much as I miss all of these things and all of you, I'm really glad we're here taking care of business and grabbing life by the balls!
-the familiarity
-playing cards at my sister and brother-in-law's house almost every weekend
-eating at my sister and brother-in-law's house pretty much every weekend
-my parents
-my siblings and their squabbles (not really, but sort of)
-watching my nieces grow up so fast
-Maggie (my parent's dog)
-my extended family's gatherings (yeah, I'm not kidding)
-working at SPL (that's right, I actually liked going in to work)
-the staff at SPL (you all rock!)
-our car
-having a dishwasher, oven, and dryer
-watching HD channels on an HD TV
-having a PVR
-my shows (What Not to Wear, Say Yes to the Dress, Four Weddings, Oprah, Ellen... haha)
-having a closet
-soft clothes (everything gets crusty when you don't have a dryer)
-speaking English to everyone and having them understand me
-being spoken to in English immediately
-having a larger living space (we used to chase each other around the house because we're mature)
-our bbq
-our soft bed
-having everything written in English
-my personal bubble (they have no problems pushing, shoving, and elbowing you without apology here)
-BC mountains
-our computer chair (the one we have really sucks)
-being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet
-getting weekly massages for free (SPL benefits were pretty good)
-ground turkey
-most of all... struggling to pay off our debt (NOT!!!)
We're doing this for a better future for us and for our unborn kids.
As much as I miss all of these things and all of you, I'm really glad we're here taking care of business and grabbing life by the balls!
Kpop
For those of you who aren't aware, Kpop is Korean pop. I don't like Kpop. I don't hate it either. Let's just say I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it, download it, or buy it in any form. But for some reason, if I come across it on TV I just can't help but watch it and want to watch more of it. The guys in the boy bands bug me and the girls in the girl groups make me laugh, and I make fun of the videos as I'm watching them, but I wouldn't dare change the channel.
Here's a little taste of Kpop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev3bu4mVurA
Enjoy! Or not.
BIG BANG
GIRL'S GENERATION
Here's a little taste of Kpop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev3bu4mVurA
Enjoy! Or not.
BIG BANG
GIRL'S GENERATION
Friday, April 1, 2011
Costco!
Went to Costco last night! It was my first time going to Costco in Korea. The last time I taught here for a year, I never went to Costco because it was just unnecessary since I was just "cooking" for myself.
It was about a $15 cab ride there and a $10 cab ride back. Getting there took extra long because of traffic and our cabby made a bad choice and went the longer way. He felt really bad about it (he spoke a bit of English and has a cousin who actually goes to UBC!), he apologized and actually stopped the meter from running! He was really nice. My co-worker, Allison, came along and brought her friend, Mike. Made for a cheaper cab ride. :)
Here's Costco Korea:
Click on the images for a closer view.
It was about a $15 cab ride there and a $10 cab ride back. Getting there took extra long because of traffic and our cabby made a bad choice and went the longer way. He felt really bad about it (he spoke a bit of English and has a cousin who actually goes to UBC!), he apologized and actually stopped the meter from running! He was really nice. My co-worker, Allison, came along and brought her friend, Mike. Made for a cheaper cab ride. :)
Here's Costco Korea:
Click on the images for a closer view.
successful day!
Seeing as I had a horrible day with my kindy students yesterday, today I came in prepared for the worst. To my surprise, they were very good to me. Both classes were so good that almost each kid had 4 out of 5 stars next to their names on the board! If they get 5 stars then they get a sticker to put on their little sticker poster. And for every 5 stickers they get a prize. In my case, the prize is a Canada sticker. I know, I know, crappy prize.... but that's all I could fit in my suitcase coming over. I'll get them better stuff when I get paid.
Anyway, I was able to get through my lessons today with little disciplining. It was great. Not to mention it's Friday and my easiest day. I also got my monthly lesson plan and homework plan in before they were due, along with my report cards. And I was able to lesson plan for all of next week for my kindergarten classes. Awesome. Oh, I was also able to get some marking done, so I have very little marking to do over the weekend. As the kids say in Korea when they're happy, "Asa!"
On a different note, I just hacked up a lung, but my voice is getting better, slowly. Still sound like a man/frog and am still producing a never-ending amount of mucus and phlegm. Yummy. Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. And the weather is getting nicer and nicer. Yay for the weekend!
Anyway, I was able to get through my lessons today with little disciplining. It was great. Not to mention it's Friday and my easiest day. I also got my monthly lesson plan and homework plan in before they were due, along with my report cards. And I was able to lesson plan for all of next week for my kindergarten classes. Awesome. Oh, I was also able to get some marking done, so I have very little marking to do over the weekend. As the kids say in Korea when they're happy, "Asa!"
On a different note, I just hacked up a lung, but my voice is getting better, slowly. Still sound like a man/frog and am still producing a never-ending amount of mucus and phlegm. Yummy. Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. And the weather is getting nicer and nicer. Yay for the weekend!
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