Drama Skit After Pary

Enjoy! I am tired but this needed to be posted for the hilarious clips of Karaoke! Please enjoy. Sorry if there are any grammar/spell errors, it was a long day at work!

Anyone who has ever preformed in a play would know that there is always a cast party after the show. All the Korean teachers decided to host an after party for everyone! It was super sweet of them and it gave everyone a night to relax and have some fun!

Just as any party in Korea there are always the basic party standards: 1.6L of beer, Soju (Korean hard alcohol), weird pizza, fried chicken, mandarins, Noriban (Korean Karaoke), bad dancing, and random moments! Here is the evening a nutshell:

Massages are super popular in Korea. My trainees will randomly come up behind me and start giving me a neck massage. I am not a fan of them because literally they are painful! Even the casual gesture of hitting someone arm in Western culture (like if a friend says an inappropriate comment and you just slightly hit there arm to let them know your there) is a full on hit! The love force here! haha Here is Lyndsey enjoying the massage train!




Georgie is rocking the noriban by singing a famous Korean boy band song. haha After this photo, I proceeded to be a back up dancer with the other ladies. He is quite the crowd pleaser!




Lyndsey is being Lyndsey haha Just joking. I should really be the one in the photo because I do love beer. But yes Lyndsey and I have had our moments of drinking alcohol. In Korea, it is rude for someone to pour themselves any type of drink. So if your thirsty, you could make some sort of verbal comment suggesting how thirsty you are. Then someone has to pour you the drink. Also, you can not refuse a drink if someone offers it to you. So the main lesson learnt here is drink slowly! Always drink slowly in Korea!




So I performed my first noriban song ever! Victoria and I performed 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. Lyndsey chickened out! Grrr, if you are reading, I'll get you my pretty! hahaha But it was actually really fun and I would totally do it again!




Here is good old YYOK shaking his money maker for Victoria. Oh man, by the end of the night, YYOK was no OK haha He was super drunk but he did some brilliant noriban. This man makes me laugh. His English is really bad, but I appreciate how he tries. That is when he is not sleeping in my class!



Here is a panoramic shot of the party in action. I have no clue why Victoria is in all my photos...hmmm....maybe she is stalking me!!!




Lyndsey is pointing at YYOK and for some reason is really red in the face. Hmm, maybe she is enjoying his nice dance moves! hehe There is Sunflower again. She is pretty annoying and is constantly making these annoying kids voices. She thinks that she is being super cute but really everyone is just super annoyed!



One of the highlights of the evening was watching YYOK sing a Korean song. Honestly, I wish I would have taped this whole song. He is so funny! I died of laughter! haha This is the best Karaoke I have ever seen in my life. If you can put more passion into your singing, please prove me wrong!



Here is Phil, the head teacher and possible future husband of Lyndsey, haha (I will play 'couples manager' and hopefully make them a couple) hehe Just Joking! Phil is great and I love joking with him all the time, it makes the time pass by! Here he is singing his heart and soul out!




Here is another classic Noriban moment. Georgie, one of the guys from my class, is singing a famous boy band song! He is such a cutie and he is always saying he wants to marry a Canadian girl haha Today my group and I were talking about beauty pageants and how I was in Miss Teen Calgary. My female teachers were saying how I was beautiful and joking about how Bill, my partner teacher, is beautiful too. However, Georgie said 'no Bill is not beautiful, I think Melissa is beautiful' aww he is a cutie! He is also a boy scout leader for his school haha Anyways, enjoy the clip!



This is a really brief clip that for some reason didn't upload right. But enjoy, it's about my homeroom class enjoying the singing!




This is a traditional Korean song that was performed by a lot of the older female Korean teachers. It was nice to have some traditional Noriban hits. I had a great time this evening and you can definitely tell by my reaction at the end of the clip! I'll be updating the blog this weekend to talk about Lyndsey and I experiencing Korean night life.

Korean Drama!

Every homeroom had to perform a skit (a one act play) for one of the project. The teachers have been working hard over the past 2 weeks preparing for this one night event. My homeroom, the Shreks, have been practicing this play non-stop. I love how devoted they are to perfecting their English. My homeroom did a tradition Korean folktale. It was brilliant and honestly the best play! This is not just my opinion but many other teachers felt the same way! Hopefully the homeroom gets first place in the skit competition! I'll let you guys know when the results are in!

Here is my group looking eager to get a final dress rehearsal on the stage. We are just leaving the main teaching centre to head to the auditorium!




Before the performance - Inside of the auditorium, everyone is waiting patiently and eying the competition! I do admit, everyone has put in a lot of effort from making costumes to set pieces! Here is Mi Jeung - striking a pose for the camera!



This is Lyndsey's homeroom class, with some students missing. Here partner teacher is Phil, who I think she will marry, but Phil does not know this yet haha I'll play 'couples manager (Korean Matchmaker)' and hopefully make them a match! Otherwise, I love making fun of Phil and he loves making fun of me!




Here is my homeroom, with my partner teacher Bill! The reason why Bill has a badminton birdy on his nose is because he played the swallow in our play. I was the director for the group. I thought it would be better for Bill to play a giant swallow! What a sexy group of teachers!!




Here is classroom one and their Christmas themed played. This class for some reason is so dead whenever I teach them. They once told that they do not like to speak because they are 'calm'. I say bullshit! Glad Ryan (with the bandanna) whipped them into shape. I don't know much about Sandra, she is just weird!!!!




Here is classroom two with Tim (in the drag) and Victoria (pink wig). They are a funky bunch and the class is full of older but determined teachers!



Here is a picture of Tim, the oldest foreign teacher and he has a PhD, in drag for his play! Man, everyone was laughing so hard!! I will never forget him in drag, ever!!





This is YYOK, the 50's man who has the poorest English level of the group. He is pretty fun in that he can be the biggest craziest drunk I have ever seen. Yet, I don't appreciate him passing out in my class while I am teaching. This makes me a bit mad!!!!



Class one performing their Santa themed play. This made me happy because I enjoy Christmas and now I am definitely in the Christmas spirit!




Here is Lucy and So Young doing a chick fight on stage to win the heart of Nolbu (Georgie's Character). I enjoy the cat-fighting choreography I threw in there! Nice!




So Young strutting her stuff like the young vixen she is in the play and in real life haha She is seducing Nolbu and trying to win his heart!




This is Georgie's creation of cartoon like comedy! When So Young pops out on to stage as the tempting lady, Georgie popped this huge hearts on to his eyes! Nice thinking Georgie!



This is Sarah, who is playing the Genie in the play. She did a great job and is so cute! I just want to pick up her and put her in my pocket hehe




Left to Right is Bo Bae, Rina, and Sarah. In this scene the Genie has given a mansion, a large corporation and Visa without a limit to the couple. There over the top acting is brilliant!



Here is Bill playing the large swallow with a broken leg! Bill did a great job and the audience loved his character!



Rina is begging for money and food from the rich couple of Lucy and Georgie. Definitely some difficult moments trying to express various emotions, but they did an excellent job!




A panoramic shot of Bo Bae, Rina, Lucy, and Georgie. Gotta love our low maintenance set!



Here is the end scene of Lyndsey's play. The rest of the photos of Lyndsey's play and the other plays did not turn out at all! Mrs. Heo, one of the supervisors running this session, kept changing the lights so at one point one of the plays was in darkness hahaha




This is Bo Bae, one of my homeroom students striking a pose for the camera. She is a hard working trainee and she is a perfectionist! She is also single and looking for a husband! I was told that it is difficult for men to woman and vice versa. A lot of Korean youth are segregated in school so it is difficult to date. So by the time they graduate high school, they are so awkward when it comes to dating. That is why they have 'couple managers' usually older people who play matchmaker. Or you could go to a certain type of nightclub were the waiters set up random customers on dates in the club. But things are now changing with younger Korean generations.




This is Lucy and Georgie. Lucy has really good English and she enjoys traveling. She has a son who is just finishing up high school and is going to college.
Georgie is hilarious! His English level is lower but he is a such a sweetheart and is really keen to marry a Canadian girl! In one of journal entries for class, he wrote about how it is his dream to go to Whistler, BC and jump from a helicopter with a snowboard. Then he wants to snowboard down the mountains on his honeymoon! hahaha I thought it was too funny! First, he should look for a girlfriend!




This is So Young and Rina. So Young is a funky lady who is single and looking for a husband hahaphenomenal and I enjoy talking to her.
Rina is a spunky lady with two children and is now 5 months pregnant with twins. Honestly, Asian woman look so skinny when they are pregnant compared to Canadian ladies! Thats for sure!




Here are the hottest instructors at JETI. On the left you have the lovely Lyndsey who enjoys baseball and wearing lululemon. On the right you the beautiful and sexy Melissa. She enjoys shopping, drinking Starbucks, and downloading English TV and music.



This a group shot of my homeroom! Aren't we just a lovely bunch? hehe I really like my students in my class and I am very happy that they are in my homeroom! By the way, I am the gal in the pink wig!

Random moments from the elementary teacher's session!

So the elementary teacher's workshop is in full swing! Even though it has only been 2 weeks of teaching this wacky group of 24 Korean teachers, I have had a blast! I decided that I would let you all in on some of my crazy but embarrassing moments that I have experienced while teaching in Korea!!

The Elementary Korean Teachers Welcome Party!

So the first night of the elementary teachers workshop, the International Department held a welcome party! This night was full of dried squid, beer, mandarins, and good times! The 24 Korean teacher were divided into 4 homerooms with 2 NET (Native English Teachers) per a homeroom. My partner is Bill and let me tell you, he is absolutely hilarious and we get along swell! If you are starting to get any ideas, please don't! He is married and has a 4 year old son!

In my homeroom, we decided to call ourselves the 'Shreks' because our color is green. Each homeroom has a color and we compete in a variety of activities for points. Koreans love competition!

My homeroom is full of some wicked teachers! In the photo below from left to right, we have Lucy, Rina (who is 5 months pregnant with twins, man she looks good), So Young, Sarah, Bo Bae, Georgie, Bill and me. In this photo we are presenting our cheer that we made for the cheer competition. It was a lot of fun! On our poster, the teachers wrote 'Shrek' and made the acronym:

S- Super sexy
H- Happy
R - Ready
E - Excellent
K - Korean Teachers



Here is another shot showing the beautiful poster they created! haha We look funny making little Shrek ears with our hands. Notice the big bottle of beer is in close proximity. Koreans love to drink!!




Left to Right, is So Young, Georgie (who is looking for a Canadian wife haha), Bill and I giving a little speech about our poster!




Here is Lyndsey's class which is also full of a variety of personalities! The woman in the red leather coat, Sunflower, drives us nuts! She is so animated and over the top. Oh gosh, sometimes I just want to strangle her, a little bit haha So their homeroom created is called 'Burning Love'! Yeah, I bug Lyndsey about how cheesy her students are on a daily basis! haha



Here is a close up of the 'Burning Love' poster. I told that class maybe they should see a doctor if the burning sensation does not disappear haha The girl in the pink hoodie, I forget her name!, is a bit annoying. One day she told me I didn't look nice. Grrr! I'll talk about how blunt Koreans are in a moment! Mi Jeong, the girl on the right side of the photo, is a sweetheart and loves learning English! You go girl!




Here is classroom one, the English Sunflowers, who are a quiet group of Korean teachers. They are honestly my least favorite class because they don't talk much at all. There is one man, YYOK, who is in his 50's and he is the biggest drunk I have ever seen. There will be more information about him and his crazy antics later!




Here is classroom two, the English bluejays or something like that. I don't remember haha but this group is pretty nice and I enjoy teaching them! Here they are performing a traditional Korean dance with Victoria!




Everyone is mingling and enjoying some good food and spirits! Nice!




Random Moments during the Teacher's session (in point form):

- Georgie, the Korean guy in my homeroom, always eats across the table or beside me at lunch and dinner. So one time when we were eating lunch, he went to say something and he accidentally spit a piece of rice on to my hand. I did notice this and was about to wipe it off when he suddenly grabbed my hand and picked off the piece of rice. 'Whoops' he said and smiled hahaha

- Koreans being blunt and honest to you all the time about your appearance. There have been mornings when I have woken up tired and every class I have taught has pointed out how tired I look!

- Old Korean men on the bus to town have random one sided conversations with me. One man kept talking to me even though I kept saying 'I don't know' in Korean. He then showed me a lemon he bought and kissed it in front of me! weird!

- YYOK falling asleep in my Drama class right in front of me! One time he drank 3 bottles of Soju (Korean alcohol) and then came to my class the next day super hung over! grrr

- My Korean female teachers couldn't believe my eyelashes are real! They were so amazed! When Lyndsey and I were buying make up downtown at 'Banali's' a super femanized man was helping us. He was so random and wonderful with his comments! He pointed to my eyes and said 'your eyes are like Beyonce! hahaha They he called Lyndsey Britney Spears because of her blonde hair and they danced while singing 'Give me, Give me more!!'

Ladies Day! Oh what a day!

So the ladies (Lyndsey and Victoria) and I decided that after a long first week of teaching we should reward ourselves! So on Friday at 1:50pm we made our way downtown to Gwangju for some relaxing, shopping and good times! We went straight down to the downtown core where we definitely had some fun and caused some trouble! So here is how our adventure planned out on the evening of November 16, 2007:


Considering how tired everyone was, we decided to swing by Paris Baguette (a chain coffee shop and bakery) for some coffee and people watching. We sat up on the second floor and enjoyed some delicious mocha's and lattes! Sorry for the horrible photography, but I am working on it! The weather is still pretty nice here as you can tell from the sweaters and mini skirts in the photo! But at night, man does it get cold! If you look in the background, they just opened up a Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and it is insane walking by there!




In Korea, showing affection to your friends is very common! Common gestures include holding hands, linking arms, and placing your arms on each others shoulders while walking down the street. Couples, friends, and family will all walk down the streets showing their affection for the special in their lives. Lyndsey and Victoria demonstrate just how beautiful it is! hehe When I get a boyfriend, I'll be join the crowd of hand clinging couples in Gwangju!




Cellphone shops! Oh where to start when describing the craziness of how cell phones are marketed in Korea. Or should I say 'hand phones' because that is what Koreans call cell phones. No matter where you go in Gwangju, hand phone shops are everywhere just as Starbuck is on ever corner in Canada. Whether it is a scantily clad woman speaking into a microphone about the great deals to cute men luring you into the shops with a smile; the cell phone business in Korea is serious! However, here is one cellphone marketing scheme we all enjoyed: the giant dancing man! Now, I would gladly buy a phone from him!





For some reason this weekend, they have ripped up some parts of the downtown core and are reconstructing the roads. If you were honestly drunk, this would suck because the roads are very uneven due to construction. However, I was sober so I should not be complaining! I just had to take a picture of it! I could not believe the ladies wearing stilettos who didn't even seem to notice the sudden change in the road!




After eating a delicious dinner of sushi at a Japanese restaurant, we proceeded to find the store 'Missha Girl'. Missha Girl was a clothing store that Lyndsey and I found the weekend before but we didn't have enough time to look around. I wanted to return to buy a V-neck sweater for work. Anyways, Lyndsey and I couldn't remember where the store was because literally downtown resembles a maze of streets! So after asking a few school girls and having really no success, we walked for quite a while in the cold of night. While trying to find Missha girl, we ended up passing a store named 'Brown Girl'. I had to chuckle because well that is a bold name for store!

Finally, after walking around, we found Missha Girl and decided to go on a clothes shopping frenzy! The girls and I noticed after going to numerous shops that no matter what store you go to, the clothes are usually 80% the same! The only thing that changes is the price and the label inside of the clothes! Victoria explained how Koreans felt that everyone needs to look relatively the same. No one should stick out and not conform to the majority. This theory reminded me of Japan as well. The clothes in Korea are an odd mix of 80s meets oddness! haha I can't really describe it. The fashion reminds me more of China when I was there, rather than Japan. I like Japanese fashion way better! Anyways, we decided to find the ugliest things in the store and model them for each other! Don't you just love the sweater combo on Victoria and Lyndsey! I like how there is a mini sitting area with vending machines in case you get thirty while shopping!




Victoria and myself are making a universal symbol of love, Korean style with our arms! Gotta love the ugly clothes in the background! eeeeeee Don't you love the bling on our outfits! I will admit that I absolutely hate the fake diamonds, ruffles, bows, and flowers on clothes!!!!



After a long afternoon of shopping and giggling, Lyndsey and I decided to take the bus back to JETI. Victoria decided to stay over night while Lyndsey and I waited for the bus. Here a video that describes Gwangju Bus Terminal where I catch the bus to get back to JETI. I love this place because there is a giant mall attached to it! So I can enjoy some Starbucks while shopping for a Luis Vuitton bag after grabbing some groceries at E Mart (Korean Walmart)!!!



Wait for the video to load!

Video clips of my JETI adventure!

I finally was able to upload these videos of my good times at JETI. This clip shows the staff volleyball game. The head supervisor of the international department, Hong Kong Kim, recommended that the foreign teachers come and tryout for the team. So I did go and try out with Lyndsey but we gave up half way through because the dumb men took over the court! Grrrr! In the end, I did not make the team nor did Lyndsey. However, that is a good thing because next weekend Phil and Ryan have to a weekend long volleyball tournament haha So the girls and I are having a ladies weekend in Gwangju!





The clip is from the welcoming partying a few nights ago for the foreign teachers at JETI. As you can see, Mr. Yang decided to pull out some of his classic noriban songs such as 'let me take you a holiday' - I have never heard of this song! - and other favorites like 'Gloria'. haha This man is pretty fun and he keep the party going strong all night long! Nice!




This is another clip from the welcome party showing key members of the international department getting their groove thing on! haha I love the strobe light/disco ball that came with the Noriban machine! It makes me chuckle! Honestly, these types of parties are a lot of fun and I really enjoy them! I can't wait to have more parties like this in the future filled with food, drinks, and good times!

From a Korean Middle School to downtown Gwangju

Here are some more random photos from my adventure in Korea. I will provide some information about each photo so you are not sitting there and wondering 'what the heck'? haha So there are "1000 won shops" which are like a dollar store in Canada. I went there picked up a few random items for my apartment. No, I am not cheap, honestly, dollar stores are the trendy thing in Asia!




So I wanted a spoon and fork combo and I thought I picked the right one up based on the writing on the package. So can you guys tell me which one is the fork? One of my coworkers, Victoria or Victory (a 4 year old Korean boy named her and now so have I) gave me this beautiful box of candy for Peppero day (Korean Pocky literally created a holiday for itself so they could sell mass amount of their product! Now that is good marketing). The name says it all!!!




Here is another example of the Peppero day marketing! I was a little sad because inside there was only 4 sticks of Peppero!! I don't think that is love at all!




The only thing that I have seen for Christmas commercialism in Korea so far is at Starbucks. The other day when I was at Shinsegae (the bus terminal that has a Louis Vuitton store and other high end shopping...not what you imagine a bus terminal would have!) visiting my Starbucks haha notice how I said 'my Starbucks' because literally I go there on Saturdays and Sundays. Anyways, back to the point of the story, I was super excited that the Christmas drinks have arrived. They have Toffee nut Lattes (which I adore) and Peppermint Mochas! Yum Yum!

So here is a picture of my 5 dollar coffee in all it's glory!



In downtown Gwangju there is a network of underground shopping! The shopping mall underground contains literally hundreds of mall vendors selling miscellaneous goods. Here is what a typical cheap shoe store looks like. Don't worry not all stores are like this. These stores basically sell really cheap goods directly from China. Lots of knockoff merchandise! The problem is you need to find the right shoe size!




Speaking of knockoffs, check out the wall of handbags! This is every girls dream and yes soon enough I will become a victim of cheap imitation handbags haha I love them!



David Beckham is a hot commodity in Korea and he was everywhere in the downtown shopping centre. I just thought I would show my love for him with a big hug! haha While I was taking this photo, a group of elderly Koreans was sitting on a bench staring at me like I was crazy! If only I could take a photo of their reaction!




This is the downtown shopping center and picture of how one of the many corridors appears. Honestly you could get lost in their no problem!


A typical Korean classroom from what I am told. Yes, my coworkers and I visited a middle school after a hard night of Noriban and alcohol. It was pretty fun though! I enjoyed watching the Native English teacher teach the students alongside of a Korean teacher. It was super interesting!


After watching the English class in action, the principal invited us to eat lunch before the students did in the cafeteria! The lunch wasn't bad and yes there was 2 different types of kimchi. I will honestly have to write an entry just about all the different kinds of kimchi haha Anyways, after we ate lunch the students poured into the cafeteria to have their share of the food! I like how the boys were pushing each other while the girls on the other side of the cafeteria waited patiently!




The lunch ladies serve the girls their food! Notice how the girls are waiting and not pushing each other!


The boys made sure that they were in the photo! Aww the typical peace sign, how I love it!


These girls followed us to the entrance of the school were they continuously giggled at us. Yes, school girls giggle at everything from a simple 'hello' to even just looking at them and smiling! They honestly get kicks out of foreigners and they think it's the coolest thing to talk to foreigners.