Noriban - Korean Karaoke, my new love....

The international department of JETI decided that they should 'dine and wine' us, yes not 'wine and dine' us on Thursday night. Oh what a great idea to get drunk the night before we go to visit a prestigious middle school haha Anyways, the following pictures show what a typical night of what Korean partying looks like. This night was filled with the following items:




Bill, my homeroom partner for the first session, banging away on his 'drums' hehe He is a great drummer, really! Tim playing away on the electronic autoharp, I believe that is what it is called!















Sorry for the crazy photo haha but I just thought I would physically show you how much I am enjoying the party!



















The head supervisor, Mr Hong Kong Kim, of the International Department shows off his dance moves! You know it's a great party when the business men take off their suit jackets!



















The staff dancing the night away in the crazy kitchen with the industrial sized bowl of rice on the table. Yes, I do eat rice twice a day, I can't eat it for breakfast! Too much rice.....
















- Mr. Yang (one of my supervisors) who my coworkers and I get major laughs from. This guy is hilarious with his mullet and super crazy stories that really have no point to them!












- Mr. Hong Kong Kim making is his introduction speech that includes talking about coping mechanisms for the foreigners in Korea. He helped me realize that if I shop and drink Starbucks on the weekend, I will survive living in Korea!
















- lots of food including Bulgogi (wicked tasting beef that you wrap in lettuce with other veggies like a taco)


















- Tons of dancing with the Noriban machine providing the music. Some crazy 80s type dancing emerged that night!














- I like beer and drinking 1.6 L! Yes! It is the cheapest way to buy beer and if you are not finished 1.6 L in one sitting, you can always use the screw on lid to store it away. Oh Korea, what will you think of next!


















- Mr. Yang, providing his excellent singing for the Noriban machine. He was just doing his job of making us new teachers feel welcomed at JETI!




















Korean pizza with corn, sausage and a weird light pink tomato sauce...Otherwise, it tasted OK!

Who would have known where I live is famous!

So we went on a staff excursion around JETI. Little did I know there was a bunch of temples, a famous garden, and a poetry museum around the Institute. We ended up going to the Gasa Poetry Museum, which is literally a 10 minute walk down the road. I found out that the famous Gasa poetry form was created in Damyang. Weird... But yeah I guess the beauty around here is quite inspiring! This picture is in front the museum



Here are the rest of the picture followed with a brief synopsis haha I am that nice!

Lyndsey is clearly over dressed for the nice day of weather! I like how Victoria and Phil are
mocking her!













Our English speaking tour guide is telling us about the famous mountains in the area. As you can tell they really can't compare to the Canadian rockies!



Ryan, Phil, and Lyndsey were amazed by the talented little boy playing the flute on the cow!















Inside the museum, our tour guide told us that we must stop and admire the artwork before moving on in the museum. We look like pros admiring the painting!

Here I am exercising in front of the museum! Must work off all the whole milk I drank....eeee.....
















After the Gasa museum, we went over to Suwon, I think that is the correct name, haha, basically it's the famous garden where the poets lived and were truly inspired to write poetry. This beautiful garden is next to my work so I could hang out here and maybe be truly inspired to write!

Here is Victoria, Phil, and Sandra looking inspired in the pagoda!











These are scenic shots of the garden! Look how pretty it appears in Autumn. The weather is still pretty nice except at night, man it becomes chilly!














Alright now to go to work for a long day of unit planning for the elementary session! Yikes!

Welcome to the Rice Paddy!

November 4, 2007

I have now been in South Korea for one week, well tomorrow it will be one week. I work outside of Gwangju (a large city that is pretty nice) near Damyang. I work at JETI (Jeollanamdo Educational Training Institute) which a teacher's training institute. It's different then a public school jobs because you do need a BEd or a Master's degree with teaching experience to work here. Basically I create lesson plans and eventually a curriculum on how to teach English as a Second Language. I work with 7 other foreign teachers from Canada and so far we have just been getting use to Korea. We have a campus type set up that allows for the Korean teachers to live here for one month and be fully immersed in English. We will teach teachers from elementary all the way up to high school. This should be interesting because I am only 23 and I have just received my teaching degree. I have heard some of the Korean teachers can be quite older so I hope they take me seriously!

The view from my room at JETI (mind the screen)

We have been given a 2 week orientation which is sweet! However this week we are beginning to prepare for the first month orientation for elementary school teachers! I have been hanging out in Gwangju this weekend. It is great to go the city because there is literally nothing near the institute except for rice paddies and a few tourist spots of temples and gardens. It's beautiful but I love the city and I need some luxury items like Starbucks!

Gwangju (Across from the Bus Terminal)

I personally like Gwangju in that it's a weird mix of China meets Japan. I have been to both China and Japan (Japan more extensively) but it is fun to be shocked but what I see. Today a few teachers and I went and explored a local market. It was great to see everything from big pig carcasses hanging from hooks to women descaling fish. I thought the market is brilliant for eating food that is fresh and not processed. Also I got a chance to interact with the locals. By the way my Korean is horrible considering I have been here short while. I can count to 10 and I know some basic greetings but I definitely need practice! Yikes!

The weirdest think I saw at the market was a bag full of bees and honeycomb being sold. Now these were not typical cute Canadian bees. These were scary bees that made me cringe cause they could do some damage!!!!