To a new year?

Well, March has come and gone..thank god. April arrives on our doorstep tomorrow and I couldn't be more ready. I hate to say it, but I'm hoping time flies here. The last few weeks have been quite confusing for Shan and I. Her job seriously went down the crapper, her old boss Michael was fired for running this school into the ground (his 3rd business to go bankrupt). Thank god he was fired though, this was an evil man. Not even evil in the sense of being a jerk for a boss but he wanted to completely control his staff under him. Luckily enough Shan had nothing to do with that, however, one of her coworkers became quite submissive to Michael. Her co-worker was a gentle soul who would do what he could to help, he had a couple social problems and a few physical ones as well, but he was just a nice guy in general. Michael saw this in him and exploited it in its fullest. Making him spend time with him on the weekends (because Michael is a sad and lonely man), making her co-worker practice martial arts until he cried, he was abused physically and mentally. There's so many other stories that I'm not even getting into here...it's crazy. But her coworker decided that he had enough of Korea and we did we could to help him leave, thankfully.

So this left Shan in an awkward position. Teaching at a school (in the same building) owned by her previous chairmen, being the only foreigner, and not being able to speak with her boss...at all. So, she's been having problems getting her money and has had to go to the labour board and immigration and all this...it's messed up. As of now, she's been paid in full and we've been trying to get her over to work at Maple Bear where my boss wants (needs) her desperately. We don' think any of this will actually be able to happen becuase her schools owner wont release her Visa allowing her to work at another school. So we've decided to leave Korea at the end of my contract and hopefully be able to do some travelling around Europe. So something good can from this eh? We're trying to figure where we'll fly into from Korea and what countries are considered 'a must see' and which ones are expendable..and which ones are just not possible. It's hard to weed throught hte countries so we're trying to pick the ones that are most important to ourselves, two each. Ireland and Scotland are mine, and she's picked Italy as one of hers...and we'll wait for the other after we get alot more of research. Her research is so different from mine, of course our motivations are different too...I want to photograph :) haha

Things at Maple Bear are fine, my old kids are gone and I know have twice as many younger kids. It's sad because I really can't teach that many kids effectively. I'm lucky if they learn anything honestly. But our Business Director makes all the academic decisions in the school (which isn't a great idea). She's cut costs everywhere she could, hired new teachers becuase our old experienced teachers wanted nothing more to do with her, and upped the price of the school. So she's offering a subpar product for something that costs alot more now. Short term gains equal long term loss. This concept means nothing to her. I'm sure she's a fine person and I want to believe she is, but sometimes you have to question your beliefs.

So yeah, things have been down here for the past few weeks (months, really). But life is starting to come back to Korea and I'm back out with my camera and trying to find more ways to get into the woods here. The Cherry Blossoms are just starting to bloom and I see a little light coming from them in my life. As important as having Shannon here with me, I need nature.

I'm doing better mentally over the past few days then I have in a few weeks, I've become very cynical and bitter towards this place and I'm really trying to let go of it. Physically, I'm doing better than I have in over 10 years. I now weigh 149lbs. I haven't been this light since, well I don't remember. I feel great, so much lighter on my feet, muscle tone is back and I can't wait to get back to the gym. I think I was going too much in the past and I'm going to cut back to give my body a break and my head a chance to relax in my apartment with a book or outside with my camera. I feel like a new person, with old clothes that dont fit...even the new ones I bought two months ago!

Time for a new one?

Well February is here already! January flew by rather quickly actually and thank god for the Lunar New Years long weekend. I know I just had my Christmas vacation but I really needed this one. I came up with a list of activities and ideas for our break that was a page long and we did none of them! It was great, I have to say. We have some good news and some bad news here, the little cafe that we enjoy has closed down..boo urns...it happens alot here, places open and close regularly here. It's hard for businesses to really take hold and have 'staying power' here since there are sooo many other businesses just like it moments away. So, back to hunting for a tea sipping place. However, the bad news is easily forgettable compared to the good news! Asim and Etaf finally had their little baby boy and everyone is happy and healthy here, so cheers to all that.


School has been the same here, nothing new to report. The kids are all still quite lovable and I have a great time with them. I find myself so impressed with them on so many days with their abilities and their growing knowledge. It pretty cool to know that I was apart of it in some way. Whether I was a big or a small part of it..who knows! We had our Lunar New Years here on the 28th of January and it's the equivalent of our new years, in terms of holidays and parties. We had a 4 day weekend and we really needed it. For the school we had a sleep over for the 7 year olds and then we had a new years day theme for the morning after. This means that we all bow to each other (students to teacher) and then I bowed to them. It was a pretty nice little ceremony for me, the kids taught me a few lessons and I really enjoy it when they do. The kids and the teachers we all dressed in 'Hanboks', the traditional wear here in Korea. The pants were huuuge and instantly reminded me of MC Hammer. So with that in mind the kids had a little lesson on how to 'Hammer Dance'. I showed them a little video of Hammer shimmying back and forth in his parachute pants. Justin saw the video and yells out 'MC HAMMER! One of the funniest moments of my year. We're heading to the zoo in a few weeks and I think this is where I'll really shine.



The weather here has begun to get warm and then get cold again but I think it's really starting to warm up all together now. Spring arrives here in March and I'm so ready for it. I'm very tired of living in a dull city where your only recreational acitivity is based around consumerism. But thank god for this little cafe Shan and I found, 'Gloria Jeans'. It's small, quiet, good teas and plays English music! Boo yah! I know this seems like a small victory for me, but it's nice to go in there and completely forget where you are.



Well, this piece of the blog is taking a while to actually finish. It's the week of the new arrivals and departures. The new teachers begin arriving today and 3 of our teachers leave for greener pastures. This will be an interesting change for the school and for myself. I lose my 7 year olds (6 year olds in Canada) and I get new 6 year olds (5 years old in Canada). In Korea when you're bown you start off at 1 year old. Which doesn't make alot of sense to me, but hey...what do I know?





Shan's school continues to get crazier all the time, I have to get her to start writing some of these stories down so we don't forget about them.

Here's to a New Year

So far we're off to a great start to a brand new year (and I think everyone was ready for 2008 to be over). The new year celebration was a mild one, but rest is what we needed. Shannon's getting settled into her apartment and new life after coming down with a nasty virus that took a week to get rid of and I'm back to the grind here at Maple Bear with my kids. It was great to see the kids again after the vacation but I think most of us could've used a 'teachers vacation', more than just a week off.



Me trying to rest and the kids trying to rest on top of me.


It was a nice week between Christmas and New Years for me. I didn't do too much. After Shannon became sick with something as she called the 'Korean Crud' (after she found an article on the internet about foreigners getting sick in Korea) the week was most focused around rest. Unfortunately, they didn't have any vacation at her school. She wasn't complaining since she just started, but it would've been nice to have some time off with her.


Shannon resting with London



Poor London caught the 'Crud'.

My big news for this new beginning in 2009 is that I decided to shed a few pounds....of hair and to go back to the my old look. The hair is gone and it feels great, I dont miss it at all. My kids were shocked for days at school and would laugh whenever they could, it was pretty cute really. My first purchase was a new toque since my head's getting very cold very easily.


Good bye curls!

We're getting settled into a lifestyle now here in Ilsan. Shan's getting more and more comfortable with her new life here and laughs more and more about her school and the weirdness that goes on there. You should hear some of her stories. We tried to get a night to go to an orchestra and dinner, turns out our schedule was a litttttle tight, but we had some great international food from all over and then enjoyed some great music from a new orchestra here in Korea.



Fancy Shcmancy!

Our lives are abit of a blur and we all look forward to each weekend we have were we can just slow down and relax. Something I'm getting used to again. Our weekends consist of movies and cafes, it's a great life so far.

Oh, I do have a funny cafe story to talk about though. After buying a $5 waffle (yeah, waffle) Shannon brought over the waffles and the little cups for the syrup. She lays it all on the table, our two waffles and two 'containers' for syrup and I looked in to see how much syrup I was given from the staff....syrup is essential for me and to my surprise I see not even 1/16 of an ounce of syrup in the cup. I couldn't help but laugh. After I got my laughing out I went up and asked for more, so they doubled it for me to 1/8 of an ounce. So then I had to point to the top of the container to get enough syrup to eat the waffle with. I know this doesn't seem like a big deal, but if you saw the amount of syrup they gave, you would've laughed pretty hard yourself :).






Us playing on the big traditional swings here in Korea.



Shannon Cactus hair.

Things here are on the up and up. School's fine, the kids are learning about the world and about world music. Shannon's feeling much better now and I'm getting more and more comfortable with this lifestyle everyday. Now to think about what's next...I'm thinking New Zealand!

Merry Christmas!

So! What a week it's been here. We finally finished up at Maple Bear and we are now on our winter vacation for the next week...thank god. I know most of us needed it desperately. But the big news for me here is that Shannon arrived last Monday morning :). After a 7 week long struggle to get here including lost passports and visas (thanks to Canada Post) and couriers not delivering the new ones she finally got here. She had to battle her way through customs and then make her way through JFK (days before Christmas) just so she could sit on a 15 hour flight to Korea. She was supposed to arrive at 5:15 am and I really wanted to be at the airport when she arrived but I wasn't sure if I could or not, due to timing. But I was able to get there with the help of Sarah arranging a cab to pick me up at 430 Monday to take me to wait for her. The cab was the fastest drive I've ever been on! He was driving 180kms an hour! Casually at that! I thought I was going to die while he blast 'It's raining men' by Gloria Gaynor. But I made it there safely..and swiftly! So her flight was a little delayed but she made it to Korea. Our 'limo' driver to us to her new apartment (2 blocks away from mine) and we arrived to a completely empty place! Shan was not impressed and we were both confused since they had soo much time to prepare her place. Her apartment is about two times the size of mine (that's not saying much though).

So later that night we were out with a man from her school picking up stuff for her apartment and they spoiled her! So much! I was pretty jealous haha. After a few days at my little apartment we got her finally settled into her place, a full fridge, a queen size bed and a tv...it's a pretty nice apartment. I'm pretty jealous of all the space, to say the least.

It's been a crazy week for both us, mostly for her though. We had a small, quaint Christmas eve. It was great though, we decorated my little tree, had hot chocolate with bailey's and watched a Muppets Christmas Carol until she fell asleep. Then I woke her up at 5:30 the next morning, that's typical of me on Christmas morning and we had a great little Christmas morning with our gifts and tea. Even though it was my first Christmas away from all of my family it was a great one.



Me and London (named after the Littlest Hobo)



Me and the other littlest hobo ;)



Christmas mornin



Awwww isn't it pretty...and 'quaint'

So, it's been 'go go go' all week here and it's taken its toll on Shan. She needs this weekend to rest and I'm still trying to make plans around it all. I'm still in the 'excited to have her here' phase and I need to relax and remember that we have all year long to do these activities. So she's resting and I'm going to go watch a movie in a bit.



Shan's apartment, they just brought her a big tv too..lucky little...and she has a dryer...and a table...i'm most jealous about the table...her fridge is kick ass too







Life has certainly changed. For the better.

One last week

Well, it's been almost another month here and I wish I had extraordinary times to write about, but not so much. The best day was when Asim and I were out in the mountains just as the colours were peaking. We both got some stunning photos of the day.

As for school, same ol same ol. My afternoon classes seem to be in a constant state of flux. One class gets smaller, then larger, my other class loses students to the higher grade and fills up with other students. It's really hard to get used to new dynamics with all these new personalities. I much rather my morning kindergardners.

The kindergardners, Sarah and I took off to an aquarium this month for our field trip, thanks to Sarah. We did a lesson on Oceans for all of October and the kids were very excited to go to the aquarium, and so was I to be honest. Unfortunately, it was sooo small. We completed it in like a half hour. So we had to go back and do it again. The penguins were the best part but their 'sharks' are smaller than a Louisianna catfish, not impressive! But the kids had a good time, so cheers to that.

But, I have a guitar here now and I'm happy for it. I go to the gym 6 or 7 times a week, not the best idea but it kills time, so cheers to that. I tried to throw out this scrap guitar I found here and used for parts and our security guard (who's a pretty cool guy..I think?) was trying to tell me where to throw it out. We usually have a corner for big junk, so I thought I'd throw it there. Nope! I had to take it outside and smash it up to put in a different dumpster..then I thought I was done. After we both finish smashing it up, I try to place it in the dumpster so I can head back to the gym then he starts ranting about something in Korean, knowing full well I dont understand him, but it doesn't stop him. So, I had to go back up to my place to get a bag to put all the scraps that he and I made then I had to put it in another dumpster from another building, like we were being sneaky or something? It was rather random and took waaaay too long.

But some good news, I found Jim Beam Black here.. for $20! Ha! I have to go pick up more today. Okay, for the real good news... Shannon should be here in about 10 days :) Life will change in 10 days.