Wax Museum & Trick Eye Museum

March was a bit of a whirlwind, lots of events, changes of plans, and some misfortune.

The weekend after the Jindo Sea Parting festival, Alison, Maynah, Chris and I decided we would rent bikes and ride along the Han River. This is something that I have wanted to do since I got here in Korea last year. We met at the subway station and headed to Yeouido park together. The plan was to have a picnic then get bikes. Unfortunately things did not quite work out that way. Finding food that we wanted ended up being a bit of a challenge. But what I think is very cool is that we were able to order chicken and have it delivered to us in the park! I feel like this should be a service offered in Vancouver, especially for events like the Celebration of Lights. People who work for various companies stand in the park handing out flyers, you call in and order, pay the man in the park and then return to him after however long and a delivery car has dropped off your order with him. It was very cool. Unfortunately the day got very cold and windy so our picnic was short. We were joined by Ben who suggested going to 63 Building which was nearby and has an aquarium and wax museum.

Chris, Maynah, Alison and I having lunch and wine in the park. 

Maynah and I with the cherry blossoms! I didn't realize we were so privileged to have so many in Vancouver. They are such a big deal over here. 

While most of the sculptures were not very realistic looking, the eyes were!

There was a section of Halloween stuff and even a mini haunted house which I loved. 

We all posed with Obama, Ellen style. 

Sunset walk in the park

That night, I went out dancing with Ben, Chris, Sy and his girlfriend. The majority of the night was awesome, until I lost both my phone and wallet. It was probably the worst day experience I have had here. Not to mention I was devastated as I have never lost anything important in my life before. I was supposed to meet a friend the next day which did not happen and having no way to communicate made things more frustrating. So that didn't happen, but my amazing friend Chris spent the day with me and it was nice to have her support as well as the support of those other people who were there for me - you know who you are and I appreciate it. Luckily and still to my amazement I managed to get both my phone and wallet back the following Tuesday night - while I know I am extremely lucky this is a bit of a testament to just how honest people can be here. The only thing missing was my Korean ID card, which is a pain (and getting a new one is proving to be a bit of a pain) but I really can't complain. So while I am a bit embarrassed by this fiasco, it is still a part of my adventure and I will definitely be locking everything up in lockers in the future!

We celebrated Isla's birthday at school!

The following weekend was a bit more relaxed. As I am still running a board game meetup group here, I hosted an event on the Friday night. We played games at a beer cooler which was fantastic. I ordered a new game called Saboteur and was excited to finally play it. Below we are playing Phase10.

Saturday I relaxed at home before going to a BBQ at Reid's house. He is super lucky and has a huge deck so we enjoyed some barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers. Instead of heading out for drinks afterwards, Chris and I went and saw The Grand Budapest Hotel, which was not as funny as we thought it would be but still very quirky. 

Sunday I met up with Matt and we checked out the Trick Eye Museum. The pictures and lighting are set up to create illusions and it was a fun day of picture taking and just being outgoing. 

There was also a separate smaller ice museum that we checked out and enjoyed a ride down the ice slide.

I'm still checking out new places, and checking things off my bucket list which is exciting!

<3 

Jindo Sea Parting Festival

Many of you have probably heard already that there was a very tragic ferry accident here in Korea recently. I have received several messages from people asking if I am okay, and I am, thank you for your thoughts and concern. Honestly this accident is heartbreaking for everyone in Korea. Something that I have learned about Korean culture though this is their solidarity as a country. Everyone - directly affected or not - comes together to mourn. All entertainment events (concerts, performances), field trips etc. have been cancelled out of respect to those who have lost their lives. I even read today that even movie theatre attendance has dropped by 40%. While some may say that this is a band-aid solution to prevent future tragedies, this is one country's way of dealing with loss and I am in no place to judge that. This has been in the news non-stop and is broadcast on almost every TV channel. How the situation was handled makes me feel angry and being in a country where something devastating has happened makes the reality of it so much more real. I just hope that everyone will be able to find peace. It's also crazy to think that I myself was on a ferry only a few short months ago going to Jeju myself, although not the same ferry. 

It's hard to transition from discussing the accident to my adventures over the past month, so I hope sharing my times of joy and fun doesn't come across as insensitive. 

It's been awhile since I last posted! In my last post I mentioned going away the upcoming weekend (end of March) which I did. My friend Mel (from the UK) and I went to the Sea Parting Festival in Jindo. We were getting picked up early Saturday morning, so we had a sleepover at my place on Friday night. This lead to us staying up late and booking the first flights for our trip to Malaysia in July! 

Saturday morning, Mel and I got onto the WINK (When In Korea - organizer) bus and we all headed to Jindo. Once we arrived we grabbed lunch and then headed to a traditional performance. Unfortunately there were so many people there that most people could not get a seat to enjoy the performance. But afterwards, many of the performers came outside and we all danced together as they drummed. It was so amazing to be a part of this huge happy crowd of people. Mel and  I were grabbed by the hands by another person and we started a circle chain of dancing and jumping around the drummers. These are a few photos taken from the group Adventure Korea - can you spot me in the second one?

From here, we went to a dog show. Jindo is famous for their Jindo dogs, both smart and beautiful. I'm not sure how I feel about the dog show as they had the dogs jumping through multiple rings of fire which just seems cruel. What was funny though is that some of the dogs just wouldn't do the trick if they didn't want to.

After this, we were dropped off at the hostel. We shared a room with our friend Martin, my friend Emmalee, her friend Tina and about five other people. Most people when down to the festival area for the live stage performance, but as I had started to get a cold the previous Thursday, I wasn't feeling so great and decided to stay in. Besides, we were getting up for the sea parting at 4am anyways - and it came quickly!

So this is a festival that occurs every year and I believe it is based on the cycle of the moon and the tide? But in this specific area, the sea parts so that you can walk to what would normally be an island in the sea. In previous years the parting doesn't happen until the afternoon, but this year it was super early in the morning. So at 4am we got up, dressed and headed down to the sea. We were warned in advance that the water may not part fully so we were prepared with thigh high rubber boots! We were also given torches to help us see when walking in the water.

Mel, Martin and I walking down to the festival

Martin and I with our torches and the mass of people entering the water behind us. 

Thankfully for the boots, we couldn't feel how cold the water was. For others, who decided to do the walk without shoes or in sandals, were quite cold. We joined the masses of people walking across the sea until the water came up to an inch below our boots. At this point, the lady on the microphone was telling everyone to come back out of the water because the tide was coming back in quickly. It was a bit unfortunate to not be able to do the walk completely but it was still a fun, unforgettable experience. Here is a shot of the three of us when we got out:

 You can see the boots more clearly in this photo. 

As we were getting out of the water, there was a fireworks show to top things off. Mel has a bit of a fear of fireworks, but she did well! We returned our torches after several more pictures then headed back to bed! Here is a photo from previous years to get a better idea of what we were doing:

After getting some more sleep we enjoyed the rest of the festival. There were a lot of food stands, you could try playing a traditional Korean drum, we wrote wishes, and we painted. 

Enjoying some Turkish ice cream

This is where we were standing in the rocks and sand just earlier that morning. The water rose high and quickly.

Putting up my banner of my wish

Mel and Martin trying out the drums. 

Jindo!

Painting on a banner - while I was doing this, a Korean man from some media source came up and took several shots of me painting. 

Martin and a Jindo puppy.

There was also a parade scheduled. Before the parade started, I found my friend Robin, and Mel and I were talking to him. Out of nowhere, we had three men with cameras approach and they started to take pictures of us chatting. We though they wanted a posed photo, but he said no and told us to put on our sunglasses and keep talking to one another. We were photographed for a good ten minutes by several people, it was a very odd experience. 

Here are a few photos from the parade, which was a community effort. We were even invited to take part!

 Probably the most memorable part of the parade - older Korean man dancing and behind him is a man dressed as Moses for the sea parting.

We represented the water.

Group shot of some of us who went on the WINK trip.

Finally, there was a performance on the stage and then they released a bunch of balloons that we were supposed to wish on. Afterwards it was back on the bus heading to home to Seoul.

<3

Kindergarten Old & New

We had been preparing for graduation since the end of January, learning songs and dialogues, prepping the students for the big day come the end of February. We practiced almost daily in class and had four big school wide rehearsals. This practicing was essential of course to ensure perfection for when their Moms would come to watch. My class had been practicing singing and dancing to Summer Nights from Greece as well as memorizing the "LCI News" script I wrote for them. As part of the skit, Micheal was the sports reporter and because I wrote the script in January, we assumed Yuna Kim would win gold -again- in the Sochi Olympics for figure skating. Unfortunately she won silver - which created a huge outcry in Korea - so we had to change the script a bit last minute. As well, two of my students were sick graduation day so more last minutes adjustments were made but everything, surprisingly, went smoothly. I was impressed with how well my students were able to remember and change the dance routine the day of. 

I arrived early graduation day to find out that Tyler, my most shy student, had been crying since she arrived at school that day. So I immediately went to class to help improve everyone's spirits. Tyler and I sat in another room, chatting and hanging out for awhile to try and calm her nerves. She was so incredibly nervous about going on stage in front of so many people as all of the Moms of all of the students would be there (as well as some grandparents and a few dads).

Tyler very upset as the other students try to encourage her

Unlike the previous song contests we have done, where we get to view everything. We did not get to see the entire graduation. We stayed with our students in our classrooms getting them ready for their next performances. When it was their turn to shine, we sat in front of the stage prompting them. So I didn't actually get any videos of their work which is too bad. 

As you can see from the first picture of Tyler the students wore costumes! It's a big enough event where the school orders outfits for each student to wear. So as part of my job that day I helped my students change a few times. At one point, they were changing out of their costumes into their jeans, I assumed they were able to put on their pants themselves. I assumed wrong. I remember Anie not even knowing which way to put her pants on! So I had a classroom of little kids undressing and dressing and I just thought it was so bizarre as you would never see that in North America!

Grace, Sally, Michael and Diana in their Summer Nights costumes

Sally being Sally

And other classroom costumes: Joseph in Sarah's class

Dane in Nate's class

Sally and Anthony in Sarah's class

William and Emily in Ben's class

My students in their "LCI News" costumes

Tyler in her graduation gown

All of the students on stage after receiving their "diplomas"

An awkward picture of my class and their Moms

At one point during the ceremony, all of us teachers went on stage and had to make a short speech. At the end of my Cheny, Sally's sister ran up on stage and gave me a bouquet. I get a few more afterwards as well. The appreciation from the Mom's here is incredible.

A photo of my class from their graduation album

Not only does the end of a school year mean students moving on, but teachers as well. The foreign teaching staff at LCI shrunk from nine teachers to six as well said goodbye to Sarah, Nate and Ben. I was so sad to see my good friend Sarah go! But excited for the new adventures she will have!

Miss this girl!!

On a side note - why is she wearing the mask?! The 'yellow dust from China' as everyone calls it has been quite bad this past month. We have been told by our supervisors to wear masks. The air quality here is quite bad. You can search a cities AQHI (air quality). If you look up Vancouver's it is usually around 3 which is green = good, whereas in Seoul for a while it was 135 which is orange = unhealthy. Today it is at 60 which is moderate. But 3 - 135 is significant!!! Not only is this bad to breathe, but it also hasn't been great for my skin. 

Another tangent - My good friend Joel also left Korea to go back to Vancouver. He also kept a blog but one that more so documented the realities of living and working in Korea. You might want to check that out here: http://joelseoulsearching.tumblr.com/ More recently he has blogged about dating relationships that take place in Korea. I have been questioned by several people as to why I am not in a relationship, or why I haven't even gone on a date in the past year for that matter. While some may disagree with my thought process on this, one huge factor is the fact that we all have a clock on top of our heads, as Joel puts it. Whenever you meet someone new, you ask and are asked the same three questions - How long have you been in Korea? When does your contract end? Are you going to stay longer? We all have clocks and we are all on different timelines. It's just too complicated and too messy. He also makes some good observations as to why people stay so long in Korea known as 'the trap'. Worth the read if you are interested!

Moving on. The new year has started and I have a wonderful bunch of students! I got the class I was hoping for which was a bonus. I started off with six kinder students but now have five as one left to go to a school that has "a lot of playtime" - I don't blame her. 

Roy, Jae-hun, Jaden in the back and Jenny and Isla in front

We also celebrated Jenny's birthday in the first week

Isla has such a fun and silly personality, she loves to make goofy faces

The first week of the new school year was extremely draining on every level. Honestly, I could not imagine starting this job in March when the new year starts. If I did not know the how great the last half of a year could be, I would have wanted to quit that week. It was hard to not have those feelings as it was. I don't even know how to explain why it was so hard either. But everyday I would get home from work and go to bed until I had to wake up the next morning and that was basically how we all survived that first week. Everything was last minute, we didn't have all of our books we needed, some students couldn't even speak English, there is no system in place, they don't know how to do the new books, you have new students, they aren't comfortable with you, you aren't used to them yet, there were new Korean teachers, new bus teachers, new classrooms, new students thrown in half way through a class, miscommunication, wrong paperwork, it was just absolutely chaos. Everyday. 

But we are now nearing the end of the first month and things are getting smoother. I didn't realize how easy it was to come in half way through the year with foundations laid already. My students knew how to do everything and it was routine. I now have to lay those foundations for my new students. For example, they still don't really know how to copy from the board and with no access to technology things take an incredibly long time to accomplish. And while I miss my old students SO much, my love for my new students is constantly increasing. 

My afternoon classes have also changed. I teach quite a few lower level classes compared to before. Here is a breakdown of my classes:

I teach two first grade classes: In one class (four of my former kinder students) I teach grammar, and language arts. In the other class I teach social studies and critical thinking. 

I teach three second grade classes: In one I teach grammar and language arts. In another I teach science and critical thinking. In the last one I teach social studies - which is actually American geography. 

I also teach a grade five class literature. In this class, we read a condensed version of a novel, discuss it, they act it out. I was excited for this class but they aren't very enthusiastic about it, so it's not as amazing as it could be. It probably doesn't help that we are reading Sense and Sensibility in a class of mostly boys. 

One thing that has remained that same is that my prep time has stayed the same which means I still leave school early on Fridays! 

And finally - my NEWS!

Some of you know this already, but for those who don't - I have extended my contract! I had been anticipating being asked to stay longer for a while so it was no surprise when I returned from my Christmas vacation and my supervisor asked me. I did not take the decision lightly, it was actually quite a hard decision for me to make and there were a lot of factors that lead me to my choice to stay. I also sought out advice from a few of you, so thank you. I have extended my contract for 7 months, which will bring me to the end of the existing school year. So instead of finishing at the end of July 2014, I will end my contract at the end of February 2015. Quite fitting as my last day will be my birthday! 

I do not feel like it's the right time for me to return to Vancouver quite yet, and there is still a lot more I want to see and experience in Korea. As well, a huge factor, I had no idea what I would do back in Vancouver. Since I made my decision a few months ago, I have made a rough plan for the next year and a half which I feel confident about. 

It's crazy to think that as of Monday, I have been here for 9 months. It's strange to think that I could have been going home in a few months. It's a bit scary to know I'm here until next February. But I am looking forward to all of the adventures, and all of the learning and growing I will do within the next year!

I will leave you with that - this weekend I am going to the Jindo Sea Parting Festival which I will post about next week. Spring weather has also arrived and I'm embracing the warm weather!

<3