I haven't posted anything in a long time because I actually left my job in South Korea. It is quite a long story and even though this blog highlights the best time in my life of working in South Korea, there are so many dark stories that most people wouldn't believe that happened to me and my coworkers. This blog was to show my friends and family all the 'good times' I was having in Korea. But deep down inside, I really wasn't having a good time at all. I have met many public school teacher or private teacher who had some great gigs in that they loved their job and their apartments. Then I met an equal amount of people who absolutely hated their jobs and living situations.
Korea is really a hit and miss type of country to work in. Even though the job post for my teacher's training job sounded incredible. Once I got there, literally the first night, things in the contract that were promised were falling apart or totally breached! My advice is talk to the school yourself, ask for photos, and make sure they really explain every article in the contract. Don't consider yourself annoying by asking a million questions. I thought I asked a bunch of questions, but apparently I didn't ask enough because simple things like my employer shutting down hot water in my house on the weekend happened even though the contract promised hot water.
I only survived working at JETI for 5 months and I sure did get to see the good and bad about working in a foreign country. But unfortunately I experienced to much negativity which eventually lead to me leaving along with another coworker. I am an experienced traveler who has traveled to a variety of Asian country and I have also lived in Japan. But honestly, Korea is quite different from most Asian countries. I recently found out that another 4 coworkers were leaving as well before the end of the contract. Now there are a total of 6 position opened with 2 of the teachers renewing their contracts.
If anyone is looking for honest advice about working and living at The Jellanamdo Educational Training Institute (JETI), here are some pros and cons of working in Korea:
Pros
- Great pay - you can save a lot of money because the cost of living is quite cheap and you get a rent free, nearly fully furnished apartment
- Western restaurants in Gwangju - McDonalds, KFC, Popeyes chicken, Starbucks, and other Western places are available because some types of Korea food are not that appealing to Western palates!
- Overtime work - at 30,000 won now (use to be 10,000) there is always tons of marking to be done because trainees are constantly writing essays!
- Opening and closing parties - a great way to bond with your trainees. Sometimes there are up to 100 trainees with a variety of English levels. However, parties are great way to sing and dance the night away with your trainees.
- Field trips - during each one month workshop, you get to go on a field trip with all the trainees to a city in Korea. The trips are paid for and they are great mini break from work!
- Hours of work - now you teach 9am-6pm which is better than teaching either in the morning or afternoon (alternating schedule). So you have your evening free to mark essays!
- The institute is located in between some rice paddies, farmer fields and some beautiful mountains. If you really love nature and isolation from the city, you'll love it here!
- One month long workshops - if you enjoy spending lots of time bonding with your trainees, then it's a great opportunity for you to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with your trainees. You are also encouraged to spend your free time in the evening with the trainees.
- Lots of team bonding - there were times when after work I was in my apartment on campus and I was told I must come to eat dinner with my supervisors. In Korea, everyone does what they are told and it's about being a 'Korean family'
Cons
- The institute is far from Gwangju - there are only 2 buses:
- Bus 225 - comes once an hour on the hour and takes 30 minutes to reach to edge of the city. If you want to go downtown, it will take up to 45 minutes, on a good day of traffic. Bus stops running at 9pm
- Bus 187 - comes once an hour about the same time as the 225. A way longer route that kinda drops you off near the edge of town. It goes up the local mountain so it takes a while and isn't safe in the winter. Bus stops running at 9pm.
- There are NO amenities near the institute. You need to take the 30 minutes bus ride to town for groceries or to eat at a restaurant. There is a small town about a 20 minute walk down the winding road. In the town there is a local corner store with some basic supplies. There is also a bank and post office. Otherwise, anything else you need you need to go to Gwangju!
- In Korea, not only at my job, but at many other schools, Koreans are always right. What I mean by this is that there is no room for negotiation or having an opinion. You must do what you are told no matter how much you disagree because in the end you never win a battle in Korea.
- Status and power - In Korea, the older you are, the more power you have. Being a young female in Korea, I was frowned upon constantly and scrutinized. My older male coworkers were respected way more despite some of their unethical behaviours (for example, one of my older male coworkers came to work hung over and stinking of alcohol. My supervisors turned a blind eye to it even though in the contract it's grounds for termination).
- Taking time off for personal appointment or vacation - if you need to go to the doctors or take a day off to be sick, think twice. In a workshop, you can not because there is no one to teach your classes so you must be there. If you want to take vacation, this is impossible. Once we were in Korea, we were told we must take our vacation at the end of the contract (even though this wasn't mentioned in the contract). This is because the one month workshops literally run back to back with only one week breaks in between so you can prepare for the next camp. So it is a very exhausting job!
- Lack of communication - Korea is still catching up at learning English and is quite far behind then most Asian Countries. It is very hard to communicate both at work and in the city. There is constant misunderstandings that have caused many problems. Always ask your employer to write down what they want you to do. One day they tell you to do something and the next day they'll change it. Even if you mention what they originally wanted, they will deny it. My Korean employees would constantly change their mind which is frustrating because you would do a lot of work for nothing!
- Being ranked - in Korea, like most Asian countries, it is all about being #1. In the camp, you must give each trainee a different score. So even if 3 people wrote perfect essays, each one needs a different score (100%, 99%, 98%). So at the end of the workshop, one trainee is selected to be number 1 even though in actually you might have 20 trainees with a score of 100%. Even the instructors are ranked. This can be unfair in a way because if you receive a score of less than 3 out of 4, you can get terminated from your job.
There are really so many other things that I could go on and on about. When I was looking for information about JETI when I applied, there was nothing on the internet. My friend and I took a chance because we love Asia and Asian culture. I just want to provide some insight into teaching at JETI.
If you have any questions what so ever please feel free to email me at backpacking_roxy@hotmail.com
I'll be glad to give you the good and bad about anything you like to know!
All the best to the future JETI teachers!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Last images of Korea...That I forgot to post!
Here are some last memories/moments of my time living and working in Korea. Even though I will now be going on to my 6 month of living in Korea, I realized this is definitely not the place where I want to be in life. I have enjoyed my time exploring different parts of this country, definitely not the food, and getting to experience a different culture. Lots of good times and well a fair amount of bad times (mainly work related) that have lead me to choose coming back to Calgary to my family and friends. I have truly gained an appreciation for my wonderful life I have back in Calgary. Canada is a beautiful country that is full of opportunity and many luxuries. I am happy to be going home.
So here are photos:
One night, with some last minute instructions from our employers, we were told we must all go out for dinner to the Outback Steakhouse together. It is apart of team building. I am not a fan of fake scenarios where you can feel the tension between the Koreans and foreign teachers. Lots of kissing butt by pouring alcoholic beverages to supervisors (I didn't do this even though people who are lower in the totem pole of status should be).
After a painful dinner where my employers got drunk and then proceed to drive home afterward like assholes, yes, I said it because I hate people that drink and drive. The girls and I decided to take a taxi but first we were going to wonder around a new part of Gwangju. It was the new part of the city and was full of flashing lights and neon signs. I think it's funny that at the Outback Steakhouse, they give each guess a complementary dinner roll with butter in a bag for a gift. It's weird. But the girls and I decided to hand it out to random people on the streets of Gwangju. The funniest thing is that high school kids were all over it. But full grown business men where scared to death of white woman approaching them. Literally, a group of 5 men ran away from us! Korean men, well, they aren't the bravest.
Here is a typical street vendor selling different foods. I had to take a picture of the girls because as you can see those Korean men are staring. This is super common in Korea to have men stare at us white woman. Sometimes they make comments and snicker. I find it's rude and sometimes I said to men, 'Hi, can I help you because you are staring?" then they turn away because they are embarrassed.
Here is the newer part of Gwangju. For some reason, all over Asia, especially in cities, they love using neon signs for advertising. I think it's interesting and sometimes really really tacky. Most of the time I can't even read the signs so I have no clue what these stores sell.
Garbage in piles everywhere. Yes, at night there are huge piles of garbage all ready to be picked up. The most messed up things is that there never are any public garbage cans during the day. So if you buy a drink or a snack from the convenient store, you need to eat it there so you can throw your garbage out. It's uncommon to eat and walk.
I love vending machines, especially odd onces like this that sell telephone cards, coffee and cans. maybe they should change the word 'cans' to 'pop' or 'soda' but technically it's not a can. Unless they say 'can of pop or soda'.
Thai massage sign on the back of a truck. Now that is clever advertising.
Chonnam University - an interesting part of the town where there is a large student population. I like how there are a variety of restaurants, bars, clubs, cafes, and just some nice scenery. I enjoyed hanging out here and taking in the university life all over again, minus the studying.
I wicked photography skills of the flowers in bloom in Korea. Look at the bee work it for the camera!
The notorious holding of hands. Koreans love holding hands with friends. Men with men, woman with woman. However, boyfriends and girlfriends don't really hold hands because well that isn't acceptable. What is up with that? So homosexuality is frowned upon heavily but yet if you were to just walk off a plane as a tourist in Korea, you would think, man this is one big gay country. Even at the sauna, you see friends scrubbing each other down in the nude. So that is okay but true love between 2 people of the same sex isn't? By the way, girl in the middle of the hand holding, mini backs are so 90s.
These are the guard dogs at the gas station where my bus to my house stops at. These dogs look so sad and skinny. I feel bad for them. Apparently Koreans do eat dogs and many of my Korean teachers talk about eating 'dog stew' especially for men's stamina. hmm, I don't know but that ain't right.
Did someone says fridge sale? I have never seen so many different kinds of fridges in one store.
A glove making factory. Yup, I watched these machines turn out some gloves. It was interesting that no one was around and this shop was wide open. Weird. I could have stolen at the gloves in the middle of the day.
So this lady hangs out near the bus stop by the giant Homeplus grocery store in Gwangju. I think she sells various yogurt drinks. Yup, yogurt drinks are quite the trend here. You can get different yogurt drinks that supply you with different types of vitamin and effects (like prune yogurt drinks to clear out your colon). What boggles my mind is that when I worked at Second Cup coffee shop during university, a lot of Asian customers always wanted soy milk because they were lactose intolerant. Yet, in Korea, all coffee shops, including Starbucks serve homogenized milk. Even ice cream shops are super popular. Isn't that weird that Asian people aren't lactose intolerant in Asia but magically something happens when they move to Canada. Just a thought.
My little drunk farmer friend's tools for working in the field. I don't know the mans name, but I see him when I walk to the bus stop and he is always drunk and smelling like booze but he one of the nicest old men I have met. We do a lot of sign language/acting to get our ideas across to each other. One day I even gave him my green tea and he then took me to show me his house so we could drink it together. Hilarious! But honestly he one person I respect for his hard work in the fields at the age of 70.
These are some shots I took of the mountains that surround where I live.
Here is what a typical us stop looks like by where I work and live. Not really classy but it is functional for the 2 buses the come once an hour.
This is what a typical Korean farm looks like. A bit disorganized and messy to the naked eye.
So down where I live there are a handful of overpriced Korean restaurants. I have gone to 2 and they are pretty sad. The decor is bad and the food tries to look fancy with parsley bits and stuff, but it tastes bad! Some of the buildings have the oddest architecture, like this mushroom restaurants which well as you guess serves mushroom dishes. I can't eat Korean food anymore, it makes me nausea when I see it. Honestly, a lot of my coworkers don't like Korean food either.
So in one of the farmer's fields, they have a goat pen. It's cute and the goats look happy with their hay and water buckets. But right behind the goat pen is 9 dogs in tiny cages. As you can kinda see in this photo, behind the wire fence are the cages. Inside are 9 identical looking dogs. The sad thing is that I think the dogs are breed for eating. eeekkk. Under there cages are giant piles of poo which means that the dogs are pretty much living in those cages and they never get out. I don't know what to say. In North American standards, I guess most people would consider eating dogs a horrible and cruel thing to do. In Korea, it's food. But dogs are slowly becoming popular as pets here. But who knows how much longer dogs will be eaten before they eventually just become friends.
I think this tree is great. I like it because it looks like something out of a Tim Burton film.
Here is a close up of it! Scary!
The cute little tractor that one of the farmers own. It's interesting to see what simple lives the farmers live. But once you go to the city, young Koreans are covered from head to toe in name brands including ones that I haven't even heard of! haha
So this is a distance shot of JETI, the place where I worked. On the left side of the photo is the main campus with a variety of buildings. I work and live on that side of the campus. The building on the far right is the English building that is still being built. In my interview to Korea, they promised and said that is where I would be living and work. But unfortunately, that was a lie and the building will possibly be done in May.
Here is a close up shot of the campus. The white building on the left side, it is whre the international department is located (where supervisors life). I leave in a residency behind this building. It's sad to look outside my room and see my supervisors office. horrible. The other buildings are used from the management department and so on.
Here is a close up of the English building that is still being constructed. Thank goodness, I won't be living there because the apartment is like a shoebox, no joke. It's tiny.
Once again, in this photo the white building is where my supervisors work. Where my coworkers and I work is in the building red colored building behind the smoke stack. I don't know why there is a smoke stack because they never use it. But yes, I have climb three flights of stairs on giant hill to get to my office every morning.
Here is a shot of what one of the fancy restaurants near my work looks like from behind. It's pretty gross and really shabby. There is garbage everywhere and the building looks like it is falling apart. eeekkk. I have watched a few episodes of 'Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares' and this is a typical scary restaurant!
This is a photo taken near the Damyang Spa Lyndsey and I went too. It was a great treat to go to a fancy spa for only $6.00 Canadian! It was great! There is a lot of nice scenery out in the countryside I will admit.
Spring is in the air. I am a bit happy that I will not be here for the humid weather. That is killer. I have experienced it in Japan and in China in the summer. It's the type of humidity where you sweat in places you never knew you could sweat in. I like summer and sun, but Asian summers are too much for me!
So here are photos:
One night, with some last minute instructions from our employers, we were told we must all go out for dinner to the Outback Steakhouse together. It is apart of team building. I am not a fan of fake scenarios where you can feel the tension between the Koreans and foreign teachers. Lots of kissing butt by pouring alcoholic beverages to supervisors (I didn't do this even though people who are lower in the totem pole of status should be).
After a painful dinner where my employers got drunk and then proceed to drive home afterward like assholes, yes, I said it because I hate people that drink and drive. The girls and I decided to take a taxi but first we were going to wonder around a new part of Gwangju. It was the new part of the city and was full of flashing lights and neon signs. I think it's funny that at the Outback Steakhouse, they give each guess a complementary dinner roll with butter in a bag for a gift. It's weird. But the girls and I decided to hand it out to random people on the streets of Gwangju. The funniest thing is that high school kids were all over it. But full grown business men where scared to death of white woman approaching them. Literally, a group of 5 men ran away from us! Korean men, well, they aren't the bravest.
Here is a typical street vendor selling different foods. I had to take a picture of the girls because as you can see those Korean men are staring. This is super common in Korea to have men stare at us white woman. Sometimes they make comments and snicker. I find it's rude and sometimes I said to men, 'Hi, can I help you because you are staring?" then they turn away because they are embarrassed.
Here is the newer part of Gwangju. For some reason, all over Asia, especially in cities, they love using neon signs for advertising. I think it's interesting and sometimes really really tacky. Most of the time I can't even read the signs so I have no clue what these stores sell.
Garbage in piles everywhere. Yes, at night there are huge piles of garbage all ready to be picked up. The most messed up things is that there never are any public garbage cans during the day. So if you buy a drink or a snack from the convenient store, you need to eat it there so you can throw your garbage out. It's uncommon to eat and walk.
I love vending machines, especially odd onces like this that sell telephone cards, coffee and cans. maybe they should change the word 'cans' to 'pop' or 'soda' but technically it's not a can. Unless they say 'can of pop or soda'.
Thai massage sign on the back of a truck. Now that is clever advertising.
Chonnam University - an interesting part of the town where there is a large student population. I like how there are a variety of restaurants, bars, clubs, cafes, and just some nice scenery. I enjoyed hanging out here and taking in the university life all over again, minus the studying.
I wicked photography skills of the flowers in bloom in Korea. Look at the bee work it for the camera!
The notorious holding of hands. Koreans love holding hands with friends. Men with men, woman with woman. However, boyfriends and girlfriends don't really hold hands because well that isn't acceptable. What is up with that? So homosexuality is frowned upon heavily but yet if you were to just walk off a plane as a tourist in Korea, you would think, man this is one big gay country. Even at the sauna, you see friends scrubbing each other down in the nude. So that is okay but true love between 2 people of the same sex isn't? By the way, girl in the middle of the hand holding, mini backs are so 90s.
These are the guard dogs at the gas station where my bus to my house stops at. These dogs look so sad and skinny. I feel bad for them. Apparently Koreans do eat dogs and many of my Korean teachers talk about eating 'dog stew' especially for men's stamina. hmm, I don't know but that ain't right.
Did someone says fridge sale? I have never seen so many different kinds of fridges in one store.
A glove making factory. Yup, I watched these machines turn out some gloves. It was interesting that no one was around and this shop was wide open. Weird. I could have stolen at the gloves in the middle of the day.
So this lady hangs out near the bus stop by the giant Homeplus grocery store in Gwangju. I think she sells various yogurt drinks. Yup, yogurt drinks are quite the trend here. You can get different yogurt drinks that supply you with different types of vitamin and effects (like prune yogurt drinks to clear out your colon). What boggles my mind is that when I worked at Second Cup coffee shop during university, a lot of Asian customers always wanted soy milk because they were lactose intolerant. Yet, in Korea, all coffee shops, including Starbucks serve homogenized milk. Even ice cream shops are super popular. Isn't that weird that Asian people aren't lactose intolerant in Asia but magically something happens when they move to Canada. Just a thought.
My little drunk farmer friend's tools for working in the field. I don't know the mans name, but I see him when I walk to the bus stop and he is always drunk and smelling like booze but he one of the nicest old men I have met. We do a lot of sign language/acting to get our ideas across to each other. One day I even gave him my green tea and he then took me to show me his house so we could drink it together. Hilarious! But honestly he one person I respect for his hard work in the fields at the age of 70.
These are some shots I took of the mountains that surround where I live.
Here is what a typical us stop looks like by where I work and live. Not really classy but it is functional for the 2 buses the come once an hour.
This is what a typical Korean farm looks like. A bit disorganized and messy to the naked eye.
So down where I live there are a handful of overpriced Korean restaurants. I have gone to 2 and they are pretty sad. The decor is bad and the food tries to look fancy with parsley bits and stuff, but it tastes bad! Some of the buildings have the oddest architecture, like this mushroom restaurants which well as you guess serves mushroom dishes. I can't eat Korean food anymore, it makes me nausea when I see it. Honestly, a lot of my coworkers don't like Korean food either.
So in one of the farmer's fields, they have a goat pen. It's cute and the goats look happy with their hay and water buckets. But right behind the goat pen is 9 dogs in tiny cages. As you can kinda see in this photo, behind the wire fence are the cages. Inside are 9 identical looking dogs. The sad thing is that I think the dogs are breed for eating. eeekkk. Under there cages are giant piles of poo which means that the dogs are pretty much living in those cages and they never get out. I don't know what to say. In North American standards, I guess most people would consider eating dogs a horrible and cruel thing to do. In Korea, it's food. But dogs are slowly becoming popular as pets here. But who knows how much longer dogs will be eaten before they eventually just become friends.
I think this tree is great. I like it because it looks like something out of a Tim Burton film.
Here is a close up of it! Scary!
The cute little tractor that one of the farmers own. It's interesting to see what simple lives the farmers live. But once you go to the city, young Koreans are covered from head to toe in name brands including ones that I haven't even heard of! haha
So this is a distance shot of JETI, the place where I worked. On the left side of the photo is the main campus with a variety of buildings. I work and live on that side of the campus. The building on the far right is the English building that is still being built. In my interview to Korea, they promised and said that is where I would be living and work. But unfortunately, that was a lie and the building will possibly be done in May.
Here is a close up shot of the campus. The white building on the left side, it is whre the international department is located (where supervisors life). I leave in a residency behind this building. It's sad to look outside my room and see my supervisors office. horrible. The other buildings are used from the management department and so on.
Here is a close up of the English building that is still being constructed. Thank goodness, I won't be living there because the apartment is like a shoebox, no joke. It's tiny.
Once again, in this photo the white building is where my supervisors work. Where my coworkers and I work is in the building red colored building behind the smoke stack. I don't know why there is a smoke stack because they never use it. But yes, I have climb three flights of stairs on giant hill to get to my office every morning.
Here is a shot of what one of the fancy restaurants near my work looks like from behind. It's pretty gross and really shabby. There is garbage everywhere and the building looks like it is falling apart. eeekkk. I have watched a few episodes of 'Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares' and this is a typical scary restaurant!
This is a photo taken near the Damyang Spa Lyndsey and I went too. It was a great treat to go to a fancy spa for only $6.00 Canadian! It was great! There is a lot of nice scenery out in the countryside I will admit.
Spring is in the air. I am a bit happy that I will not be here for the humid weather. That is killer. I have experienced it in Japan and in China in the summer. It's the type of humidity where you sweat in places you never knew you could sweat in. I like summer and sun, but Asian summers are too much for me!
The best way to say goodbye....
So Lyndsey, Tim (a coworker), and I decided to have a sacred ceremony to burn a copy of our employment contract and our information booklet from Shane Finnie of Canadian Connections Recruitment Agency. May I add, that I do not recommend using Canadian Connections for coming to work in Korea. There were many things that Shane told us about our job in Korea that turned out to be false or didn't exist once we arrived in Korea. I don't want to say it was solely Canadian Connections fault, but they didn't provide us with correct information and mislead Lyndsey and I. Lesson learned, never use a recruiting agency for finding you a job.
So one brisk night, we decided that we needed to vent our feelings and emotions about working and living in Korea. So for each piece of paper we vented our feeling about all the bad and negative experiences we have had in Korea.
May I say, we did this in the dark so it was hard to see haha. But here I am looking mad and angry about Korea and all it's lies. Grrr....
Once we said how we felt and made our wishes and prayers for our futures, we lit the stack of lies. Burn baby burn!!!!!!!!!!!!
Burn Burn Burn! There were so many items breached in my contract, it makes me sick to think about it. I can't believe that a government run teacher's training institute, could be so corrupt! Oh man. Living and working in Korea has made me realize what a great life I have back in Canada with my family and friends. I am so thankful for who I am and I look forward to working for a 'professional' teacher's board back home.
Look how high those flames! I did know that lies, breached articles, and false information could make such big flames!
Afterwards, we decided to move on to something I like to do for fun, play with fireworks! I am happy that I introduced Tim to the world of Roman candles and how much fun they are. I wish him all the best! We had a great time watching these fire works go off in the pitch black sky. It was beautiful.
Oh gosh, I can't believe I still know her haha but we survived Korea together, thank God! Even tough there was LOTS of crying, eating cake, bitching over Starbucks, and watching Lyndsey eat cheeseburger "settos" from McDonalds, we survived. And now we are coming home!
So one brisk night, we decided that we needed to vent our feelings and emotions about working and living in Korea. So for each piece of paper we vented our feeling about all the bad and negative experiences we have had in Korea.
May I say, we did this in the dark so it was hard to see haha. But here I am looking mad and angry about Korea and all it's lies. Grrr....
Once we said how we felt and made our wishes and prayers for our futures, we lit the stack of lies. Burn baby burn!!!!!!!!!!!!
Burn Burn Burn! There were so many items breached in my contract, it makes me sick to think about it. I can't believe that a government run teacher's training institute, could be so corrupt! Oh man. Living and working in Korea has made me realize what a great life I have back in Canada with my family and friends. I am so thankful for who I am and I look forward to working for a 'professional' teacher's board back home.
Look how high those flames! I did know that lies, breached articles, and false information could make such big flames!
Afterwards, we decided to move on to something I like to do for fun, play with fireworks! I am happy that I introduced Tim to the world of Roman candles and how much fun they are. I wish him all the best! We had a great time watching these fire works go off in the pitch black sky. It was beautiful.
Oh gosh, I can't believe I still know her haha but we survived Korea together, thank God! Even tough there was LOTS of crying, eating cake, bitching over Starbucks, and watching Lyndsey eat cheeseburger "settos" from McDonalds, we survived. And now we are coming home!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Dog cafes and eco parks! What more could you want?
Just so random moments that I had while living in South Korea. I'll try my best to fill you all in with details for these random moments.
This little guy is Max (my coworker Bill's son) who is really a cool kid. He is almost 5 years old and I liked hanging out with him. We would draw pictures in the staff room. It was sweet! Made me connect with my young side again haha but I am pretty much as a child sometimes! It's true!
This picture was taken on the bus to the city. Yes, the buses for some reason have weird decor like fake flowers. I don't know why. Does it make the bus pretty? I think just plain tacky!
So one night Lyndsey and I are coming back from town on the good old bus and this drunk man was just staring at us. He then started to mumble and well I just smiled and ignored. But Lyndsey turns to me and says, ' I think he speaking English' Weird eh? So it turns out he was totally speaking bits and pieces of English asking us where we are from and so on. I thought it was hilarious that he kept saying things about how pretty we were and Lyndsey and I were 'same same pretty' haha I told him he was pretty as well! It was funny. He was really friend and Lyndsey gave him a bowl of ramen from her shopping bag! I took a photo! It was fun!
This is the long road I walk down to the bus stop from my work. Yeah it's a long road with some farmers living beside it on the left. They are really nice people and are always working hard in their farming fields.
Now you know where I work haha so come and stalk me anytime! I am joking! But here is the sign that is in front of the institute. I like how around my work and house is nothing but nature and fresh air. But the problem is that it is pretty far from well life haha
I couldn't imagine a better twosome then with a cake and sandwich. Honestly, who comes up with the titles to a lot of these shops? Really!
So there is a giant eco park that is near where I live. It's pretty nice and I like it there. I think it is funny that they posted this sign in the eco park. Without seeing this sign I probably would have done at least 5 of these things while at the park haha
Here is the beautiful lake in all it's glory! I love how nice it looks!
I like my cheesy pose that I am doing by the lake. In Korea, you will see couples and friends honestly doing the cheesiest photo poses ever. Plus, they are usually deadly serious in the photos. No smiles. It's so odd to me that the photos must be perfect and really artificial. So I am imitating a couple who is beside me on the dock doing a very serious Korean couples pose. By the way, I am wearing Lyndsey's winter coat because I left mine in Bill's room while I was hanging out with Max. I make Lyndsey's coat look good.
Another scenic shot of the lake. It's really beautiful out in the country side. Lots of people come here to walk around and hang out. I think it is funny that most woman will wear high heels and skirt while walking around the eco park. I just don't understand how they do it, I really don't!
My epic shot of me enjoying the view at the eco park. I look like a goddess or so I tell myself everyday haha It must be all that kimchi that gives me a healthy glow because well that is one of Kimchi's many benefits!
So Lyndsey and I are walking back from the eco park and we see a trail of cars, the exact same make and model all parked in front of Soho restaurant. It was hilarious to see all these cars in a row. We were joking about maybe it is some kind of convention haha
By the way, Soho restaurant is something out of the Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. It is a cheesy decorated restaurant (sitting on old floral print sofas, white sheets draped everywhere, porcelain dollar store figurines, ect...) that serves really bad Western/Korean food. But people go there because it's next to the lake and looks pretty from the outside. Any who, I was there the other day because it was one of my supervisors last days at work. So the meal consisted of regular rounds of first soup and salad. The waiters had to lean over the couches to put the plates properly on the table. One young waiter had a few soup bowls on his tray and when he leaned over to put my soup on the table, he tipped the tray and a bunch of red vegetable soup landed on my bright green sweater! It was horrible. The manager scrubbed my sweater in the sink as I sat there freezing at the table. It sucked! The moral of the story: stay away from Soho's.
The long distance bus stops for washrooms and eating are sure interesting in Korea. Most rest stations provide restaurants, food vendors, sometimes knock off coffee shops, convenient stores and even prize machines to eat up your pocket change. I do enjoy watching people at rest stops haha that doesn't sound right at all! whoops but hopefully you know what I mean!
Here are some men hanging out smoking in front of the washrooms. Yes woman in Korea do not smoke in public. It is the oddest thing. I have never seen a woman smoke in Korea. It is not acceptable in societies eyes and only men are allowed to smoke in public. Trust me, most men do smoke in public!
Here is a food vendor at the bus stop who is selling some interesting bits of food. I wonder what the gruel is...
This is a caravan shop parked in the parking lot of the bus rest stop. This one is selling camping and hiking gear. If you go hiking in Korea, Koreans have specific outfits for hiking. I am not joking! Koreans for some reason have specific outfits for specific times. If you go play volleyball, which is one of the most popular sports in Korea, everyone will wear a track suit. If you go hiking, everyone will wear khaki pants, windbreaker type jacket, fishing type hat, a backpack with a water bottle and hiking pole along with hiking boots. One time I saw 20 people near my work walking in a line like ants all in their hiking gear towards one of the mountains around my work. It was insane! Koreans believe in fitting in and not being an individual.
Did you know middle school and high school girls can not wear make up, dye their hair or have piercing of any sort. If they do any of that, they are considered as a rebel and can get in trouble. It's insane. So most teens look identical with their matching hair cuts and uniforms. Sad to say, but you just have to see it to believe it!
In Seoul, Lyndsey and I stayed in Itaewon which is the foreigners part of town. Mainly it's where all the US soldiers hang out. There are a few good East Indian restaurants here. There is also an Indian and African community here. It's really odd at first because well it's Korea and there is honestly like ethnic diversity in the south where I live. This part of town is kinda sketchy at night and even has a hookers hill which is devoted to brothel like places. It's odd. Anyways, it was raining and Lyndsey and I needed a place to sleep. So we stumbled across a Korean hole in the wall hotel. So for 30 Canadian a night, this was my room. It was so sketchy with the hard as a rock pillows and weird marks all over the wall. Here is my washroom that did not even have a sink!
Here is a picture of my room. I had the worst sleep of my life in this room. The next day I thought I was going to fall over sick because I was running on no sleep.
In Seoul, I like to travel in style. I bought this giant 2L water for $1 Canadian. What a bargain compared to buying a 500 mL bottle for $0.50. You do the math! But it is a bit unsafe to drink the tape water here in Korea. So I am bottle water girl here. I also went to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I hope they hope them in Canada. They are awesome. I like the gingerbread latte. It's the coffee shop of celebrities like David Beckham. Ohh smashingly good!
TGI Friday's isn't that great as I make it out to be in this photo. But it is one of the few Western restaurants in Korea. Beggars can not be choosers. But the foods is overpriced in comparison to eating local food. Literally it's 2 to 3 times more expensive to eat Western food. So when I get home, oh man, watch out, I am going on an eating rampage!
I couldn't resist this little guy outside of a noodle restaurant. He is cute! The women who were making noodles in the little see through room on the edge of the restaurant where laughing at me!
Enough said...But this odd clothing store with a hilarious name sells clothes that remind of Ralph Lauren meets the Gap to go yachting. It was odd and to top it off the song that was constantly being played was 'tiny yellow polka dot bikini' non stop by singing children. Just horrible. I could not work there.
The dog and cat cafe. Yes, this friendly groomers shop (literally it's on one side of the cafe beside the washroom) is a popular little joint in Gwangju. For $5 Canadian dollars you can spend endless time playing with dogs and cats dressed up in costumes. Yes it is true! The worst thing is that you get a horrible tasting instant coffee in a travel mug to sip on while you are there. It was the worst coffee ever!
Here is an evil cat, I saw evil because he tried to bite me, looking outside the window and planning his root of escape. The treats in the background can be purchased as well to feed the animals here. Lyndsey and I were wondering if the dogs and cats were owned by the cafe or customers who send them there to get groomed. Little do the customers know, the owners are charging people to play with there animals. Hmmm, it was thought Lyndsey and I discussed.
Here is my little pink dog friend. It slept on me. It was super cute. I couldn't tell if it was a guy or a girl because of it's puffy fur and nor did I bother to look. I am super tired in this picture because Lyndsey and I took the bus back from Seoul that day at 3:30am in the morning. I woke up at 1pm and Lyndsey and I decided to go to the dog cafe!
The little dogs in the background playing away with some customers. I like how this cat was busy watching the TV and not interacting with the customers. It was hilarious!
This giant chow chow was so adorable. He had a little bow in his hair which made me sad because well he is a boy and why is he wearing a girls boy in his fur? I don't get it. But this dog was cute and I gave him a hug and in return he sneezed into my hair and tried to lick my ear. Naughty!
This is the puppy now awake and me pretending to eat it. I am joking, I am not! But I don't think it spoke English because we had a hard time communicating.
This dog well I feel sorry for it. Look at it's crazy hair do and to top it off they make him look like a French artist with a tiny hat. It's horrible. This dog hid the majority of the time. I wanted to rescue him and give him a proper hair cut!
Overall, the dog cafe was pretty interesting to play with random dogs and cats. I like how a lot of the animals were friendly. I didn't enjoy how my nose was itching from all the animal hair after. It smelt like giant animal in there considering there were like 20 animals in a room with the sun shining through massive windows. Yeah not so smart!
Otherwise, the adventures continue, I am enjoying them as they unravel.
This little guy is Max (my coworker Bill's son) who is really a cool kid. He is almost 5 years old and I liked hanging out with him. We would draw pictures in the staff room. It was sweet! Made me connect with my young side again haha but I am pretty much as a child sometimes! It's true!
This picture was taken on the bus to the city. Yes, the buses for some reason have weird decor like fake flowers. I don't know why. Does it make the bus pretty? I think just plain tacky!
So one night Lyndsey and I are coming back from town on the good old bus and this drunk man was just staring at us. He then started to mumble and well I just smiled and ignored. But Lyndsey turns to me and says, ' I think he speaking English' Weird eh? So it turns out he was totally speaking bits and pieces of English asking us where we are from and so on. I thought it was hilarious that he kept saying things about how pretty we were and Lyndsey and I were 'same same pretty' haha I told him he was pretty as well! It was funny. He was really friend and Lyndsey gave him a bowl of ramen from her shopping bag! I took a photo! It was fun!
This is the long road I walk down to the bus stop from my work. Yeah it's a long road with some farmers living beside it on the left. They are really nice people and are always working hard in their farming fields.
Now you know where I work haha so come and stalk me anytime! I am joking! But here is the sign that is in front of the institute. I like how around my work and house is nothing but nature and fresh air. But the problem is that it is pretty far from well life haha
I couldn't imagine a better twosome then with a cake and sandwich. Honestly, who comes up with the titles to a lot of these shops? Really!
So there is a giant eco park that is near where I live. It's pretty nice and I like it there. I think it is funny that they posted this sign in the eco park. Without seeing this sign I probably would have done at least 5 of these things while at the park haha
Here is the beautiful lake in all it's glory! I love how nice it looks!
I like my cheesy pose that I am doing by the lake. In Korea, you will see couples and friends honestly doing the cheesiest photo poses ever. Plus, they are usually deadly serious in the photos. No smiles. It's so odd to me that the photos must be perfect and really artificial. So I am imitating a couple who is beside me on the dock doing a very serious Korean couples pose. By the way, I am wearing Lyndsey's winter coat because I left mine in Bill's room while I was hanging out with Max. I make Lyndsey's coat look good.
Another scenic shot of the lake. It's really beautiful out in the country side. Lots of people come here to walk around and hang out. I think it is funny that most woman will wear high heels and skirt while walking around the eco park. I just don't understand how they do it, I really don't!
My epic shot of me enjoying the view at the eco park. I look like a goddess or so I tell myself everyday haha It must be all that kimchi that gives me a healthy glow because well that is one of Kimchi's many benefits!
So Lyndsey and I are walking back from the eco park and we see a trail of cars, the exact same make and model all parked in front of Soho restaurant. It was hilarious to see all these cars in a row. We were joking about maybe it is some kind of convention haha
By the way, Soho restaurant is something out of the Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. It is a cheesy decorated restaurant (sitting on old floral print sofas, white sheets draped everywhere, porcelain dollar store figurines, ect...) that serves really bad Western/Korean food. But people go there because it's next to the lake and looks pretty from the outside. Any who, I was there the other day because it was one of my supervisors last days at work. So the meal consisted of regular rounds of first soup and salad. The waiters had to lean over the couches to put the plates properly on the table. One young waiter had a few soup bowls on his tray and when he leaned over to put my soup on the table, he tipped the tray and a bunch of red vegetable soup landed on my bright green sweater! It was horrible. The manager scrubbed my sweater in the sink as I sat there freezing at the table. It sucked! The moral of the story: stay away from Soho's.
The long distance bus stops for washrooms and eating are sure interesting in Korea. Most rest stations provide restaurants, food vendors, sometimes knock off coffee shops, convenient stores and even prize machines to eat up your pocket change. I do enjoy watching people at rest stops haha that doesn't sound right at all! whoops but hopefully you know what I mean!
Here are some men hanging out smoking in front of the washrooms. Yes woman in Korea do not smoke in public. It is the oddest thing. I have never seen a woman smoke in Korea. It is not acceptable in societies eyes and only men are allowed to smoke in public. Trust me, most men do smoke in public!
Here is a food vendor at the bus stop who is selling some interesting bits of food. I wonder what the gruel is...
This is a caravan shop parked in the parking lot of the bus rest stop. This one is selling camping and hiking gear. If you go hiking in Korea, Koreans have specific outfits for hiking. I am not joking! Koreans for some reason have specific outfits for specific times. If you go play volleyball, which is one of the most popular sports in Korea, everyone will wear a track suit. If you go hiking, everyone will wear khaki pants, windbreaker type jacket, fishing type hat, a backpack with a water bottle and hiking pole along with hiking boots. One time I saw 20 people near my work walking in a line like ants all in their hiking gear towards one of the mountains around my work. It was insane! Koreans believe in fitting in and not being an individual.
Did you know middle school and high school girls can not wear make up, dye their hair or have piercing of any sort. If they do any of that, they are considered as a rebel and can get in trouble. It's insane. So most teens look identical with their matching hair cuts and uniforms. Sad to say, but you just have to see it to believe it!
In Seoul, Lyndsey and I stayed in Itaewon which is the foreigners part of town. Mainly it's where all the US soldiers hang out. There are a few good East Indian restaurants here. There is also an Indian and African community here. It's really odd at first because well it's Korea and there is honestly like ethnic diversity in the south where I live. This part of town is kinda sketchy at night and even has a hookers hill which is devoted to brothel like places. It's odd. Anyways, it was raining and Lyndsey and I needed a place to sleep. So we stumbled across a Korean hole in the wall hotel. So for 30 Canadian a night, this was my room. It was so sketchy with the hard as a rock pillows and weird marks all over the wall. Here is my washroom that did not even have a sink!
Here is a picture of my room. I had the worst sleep of my life in this room. The next day I thought I was going to fall over sick because I was running on no sleep.
In Seoul, I like to travel in style. I bought this giant 2L water for $1 Canadian. What a bargain compared to buying a 500 mL bottle for $0.50. You do the math! But it is a bit unsafe to drink the tape water here in Korea. So I am bottle water girl here. I also went to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I hope they hope them in Canada. They are awesome. I like the gingerbread latte. It's the coffee shop of celebrities like David Beckham. Ohh smashingly good!
TGI Friday's isn't that great as I make it out to be in this photo. But it is one of the few Western restaurants in Korea. Beggars can not be choosers. But the foods is overpriced in comparison to eating local food. Literally it's 2 to 3 times more expensive to eat Western food. So when I get home, oh man, watch out, I am going on an eating rampage!
I couldn't resist this little guy outside of a noodle restaurant. He is cute! The women who were making noodles in the little see through room on the edge of the restaurant where laughing at me!
Enough said...But this odd clothing store with a hilarious name sells clothes that remind of Ralph Lauren meets the Gap to go yachting. It was odd and to top it off the song that was constantly being played was 'tiny yellow polka dot bikini' non stop by singing children. Just horrible. I could not work there.
The dog and cat cafe. Yes, this friendly groomers shop (literally it's on one side of the cafe beside the washroom) is a popular little joint in Gwangju. For $5 Canadian dollars you can spend endless time playing with dogs and cats dressed up in costumes. Yes it is true! The worst thing is that you get a horrible tasting instant coffee in a travel mug to sip on while you are there. It was the worst coffee ever!
Here is an evil cat, I saw evil because he tried to bite me, looking outside the window and planning his root of escape. The treats in the background can be purchased as well to feed the animals here. Lyndsey and I were wondering if the dogs and cats were owned by the cafe or customers who send them there to get groomed. Little do the customers know, the owners are charging people to play with there animals. Hmmm, it was thought Lyndsey and I discussed.
Here is my little pink dog friend. It slept on me. It was super cute. I couldn't tell if it was a guy or a girl because of it's puffy fur and nor did I bother to look. I am super tired in this picture because Lyndsey and I took the bus back from Seoul that day at 3:30am in the morning. I woke up at 1pm and Lyndsey and I decided to go to the dog cafe!
The little dogs in the background playing away with some customers. I like how this cat was busy watching the TV and not interacting with the customers. It was hilarious!
This giant chow chow was so adorable. He had a little bow in his hair which made me sad because well he is a boy and why is he wearing a girls boy in his fur? I don't get it. But this dog was cute and I gave him a hug and in return he sneezed into my hair and tried to lick my ear. Naughty!
This is the puppy now awake and me pretending to eat it. I am joking, I am not! But I don't think it spoke English because we had a hard time communicating.
This dog well I feel sorry for it. Look at it's crazy hair do and to top it off they make him look like a French artist with a tiny hat. It's horrible. This dog hid the majority of the time. I wanted to rescue him and give him a proper hair cut!
Overall, the dog cafe was pretty interesting to play with random dogs and cats. I like how a lot of the animals were friendly. I didn't enjoy how my nose was itching from all the animal hair after. It smelt like giant animal in there considering there were like 20 animals in a room with the sun shining through massive windows. Yeah not so smart!
Otherwise, the adventures continue, I am enjoying them as they unravel.
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