Venture to Korea with Amanda & Abi
To all our friends, families, and vistors - thank you for visiting. We will be updating this blog as our adventure develops.
Name: Amanda and Abi
Mo'nonymous on 5 weeks
Mo'nonymous on 5 weeks
Mo'nonymous on 5 weeks
Mo'nonymous on 5 weeks
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In other news, we’ve officially on second shift. What does this mean? Weekday drinking is now perfectly acceptable. In fact, tomorrow we have a school sponsored outing including dinner, drinking and karaoke. The school is still expanding and they’ve added 4 new teachers, including one Canadian teacher – Alisha. I suppose this is the reason. But really, our school will find any excuse to party some times.
Don’t know if it’ll last, but today was beautiful! It has been hot, hot, hot!!! But today we had a breeze and we were able to walk the streets without sweating – it was awesome!
Here’s a few pictures – sorry – I’m really bad with keeping up!
Gwanganli Beach - one of our stomping grounds
After a late night beach party - Seth, James, Abi, Evan, and Sam~I got a cake, gifts and the birthday song at lunch today....I did mention that my birthday isn't until next week but, well, um....
~Last night sitting on the beach some old Korean man handed me his phone and on the other end was a man speaking in English telling me about how he would like to meet and talk about "the joy and passion"....I didn't stick around to find out what he meant. Your guess is as good as mine.
~I've seen at least ten girls with shirts on that say "white trash."
~Two nights ago on the beach a little boy came up to us and made faces, farting noises, and attempted English...he seemed to be trying to be friendly, but I had to confiscate his lighter anyway. Really, 10 year old kids out alone at night with lighters...can't be good.
~While walking by the beach some man came out of bar and yelled "beautiful" at Amanda, Sam and myself....
~While standing in line for the bathroom at a Korean club some dude gave me a high five, not sure why...
~Discovered unisex bathrooms....as in a urinal on one side and a toilet on the other. Same room....
~Went to a public bath where you strip down naked and go in a variety of baths....the only Korean who spoke to me carried on an entire conversation, asking me to tutor her son, while we were both buck naked in the sauna.
~Am experiencing some sort of severe stomach pain...not really very funny but wanted to complain to someone.
~Was asked which of my students is "the most attractive" to give a presentation to the parents, I refused to answer.
~Went into a bar I've been in only once or twice and was given severely discounted beer, many hugs and hellos, and free food (free food and drink are extremely rare) and somehow they all know my name. When I asked the owner why, he said "because you are VIP." Ok with me....
~Learned that pronouncing the word salsa with a Korean accent means diarrhea....
~Got in a taxi with a Korean who claimed to speak no English only to have him turn to me and say "love means never having to say you're sorry."
~What I originally thought was a truck on fire traveling at high speeds is actually a smoke spewing attempt at avoiding epidemics.
~Had to explain the meaning of the word "cannibal" to my kids
~Gave a stunning pantomime of "garbage bags," in a crowded super market, in an attempt to get the only garbage bags the city will pick up. And yes, you have to pay for them.
So yeah, that's about it. Well there's loads more but not enough time or space to share it all. Hope this keeps you all giggling! I've had a lot of questions about my address for packages...y'all are so sweet...but from what my mom tells me it's pretty pricey so check into rates and if it's cheap email me and I'll attempt to type an address that has no literal English translation. Wish you all could be seeing this!
~abi
Well we just wrapped up our second four day weekend and are approaching our one month anniversary (that's right, two four day weekends in one month!!) This past weekend I went to the raw fish market, some sort of six story mall where you can actually bargain with people, and attended quite a few beach parties. Really it's just some friends and the beach, it's great! Work is pretty easy, the kids are so cute! Today we got our immigration cards so we're officially here I guess. It's funny because there are a lot of foreigners here but we all stick out so badly that you run into people you know everywhere you go! The Korean's still stare like no other but I've started coming up with some pretty witty retorts that they undoubtedly don't understand but hey, if it makes you feel better right? Believe it or not I can actually say about 15 phrases in Korean, most of which shouldn't be shared on this site, but I have the basics. And, strangely enough, English is getting more difficult. Amanda and I catch each other dumbing down our sentences for each other. We've found food we like and can order and have found that the Pizza Hut here is better than the one at home! I also made a new Korean friend, Evan, who is hilarious! His laugh is quite contagious and he's very helpful. We're gonna have a big bash for my birthday at the end of the month and the rumor is that I get quite a generous monetary gift from our employer....I don't know why but my mom always said "don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Today my boss had me call a girl in Texas who is thinking of coming to our school and it was so weird to be on the other end of the phone calls I had been receiving almost every day.....oh, and found my first crush. He's gorgeous although a bit hard to talk to....hope all is well by you guys!!!
Oh and one more thing.... PUT YOUR NAME ON YOUR COMMENTS! I see these comments like "i really miss you and love you, etc" and I know you all love us but if you'd toss your name on it it'd be great, then we'll know who to send the gifts to :) xoxo
~abi
Ok, so what’s new and interesting? Well, we have another 4-day weekend. Last night we kicked it off with a beach party. Really, we just joined it. A few of our Western friends were bidding farewell to a couple of teachers just recently replaced. Good folk, cheap booze and the beach – really, can it get any better?
Sure, we have a full four days left!
Much love - Amanda
Ok so it's been a while since we've posted so here's some stuff.....Last night we witnessed a brawl in the streets between two old men and three old ladies. It was really funny because we couldn't tell what they were saying but man, were they mad and it went on forever! We walked by them as it was just starting to heat up, went and had dinner and came back and they had begun shoving each other. The funny thing was they were clearly really mad and weren't afraid to push each other but they never threw a punch! A little entertainment at least....since my TV only gets one channel that appears to be either an EKG machine or a seismograph...not sure which. This weekend we get another four day weekend and amazingly I've actually got plans!! On friday I'm going out for dinner with a guy who claims his English name is "Mr. Right"! On Monday some Korean guys (one adorable) are taking us to the top of a mountain....should be interesting. We're also going to the raw fish market called Nam Po Do with my best Korean friend Robert. It should be a great weekend! Money is tight, I budgeted for four weeks in August but luckily Kim pop is only 1$ so if I eat that every night I figure I'll make it! I miss everyone and although I don't want to come home, I do sometimes wish for 24 hours in an English speaking country...oh the ease! Amanda and I are already dumbing down our English for each other and we have to remind each other that we're both fluent. When I come back, I'm probably not going to be able to speak English..... Miss you all!!!
~abi
So I'm still not adjusted to the fact that smacking and slurping when eating are not only acceptable but also encouraged. It's like nails on a black board. I just think of all the times as a kid I was corrected on that one....sheesh. School is school...I had to give the kids a test today where they were recorded speaking to me....poor things. I'm not sure what it is but I hate tests!! The smartest kids had the worst nerves and made the most mistakes. It wasn't fair at all...I suppose Alverno may have had a small affect on me... Tonight we are going to try a pub crawl that we're making up as we go. There are so many cute little pubs on the beach we want to try. Not like we're alcoholics but there is a serious lack of things to do without a car or a command of the Korean language...imagine that. One bar owner/friend keeps saying he's going to take me to this mountain with a great view etc but we have yet to plan it. Hopefully it will be this weekend. Hard to make plans without a phone, hard to sign a cell phone contract in Korean without speaking Korean.....oh the cycle of language pain. I'd like to sign up for classes at the university to learn Korean but once again...hard to read a bus schedule, fill out a registration form, understand a schedule.......ha ha, at least my complaints are consistent huh? Hope you're all loving the heat!!! Just remember the weather now when you're complaining about how cold it is in December and how you're so sick of snow and ice... Much love~abi
Oh wow - four days off and the first day back at work (Wednesday) this week. We've tripped around the city - finding everything from new friends to actual English books. Oh, and had our fair share of beer (Hite, most popular and economical beer).
And another mystery is solved - we found adapters!!! Finally. We aksed like ten stores, and evenutally, with enough map pointing we found ourselves in a dirty Korean neighborhood, down some random alley. Believe it or not, we found it. I though Abi was going to grab the guy and kiss him! Well, I almost did too. The last of the big mysteries...I think.
The rough thing about a four day weekend is this - people like vacation! Who wants to go back to work? Especailly after enjoying late nights and sleeping in? Although, perhaps the hardest part is not getting the teacher back in work mode, but waking the kids and shaking them to remember what they learned last week!
- Amanda
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