What do I do when an old Korean woman yells at me?

Ignore her, naturally....

As it turns out, I was shopping at Home Plus (close to a super walmart- it has everything- shoes, silver, soju, spinach....an all around store) when the event occured. As I am sauntering through the isles (yes sauntering- okay, I had seen a cute foreigner... I had to slow down my shop a little bit) and calculating how much beer I needed to buy, I see an older Korean woman coming towards me. Not thinking anything of it, I walk past. She starts yelling. So I keep walking. In my defense... I dont know any Korean, so what she is yelling at me doesnt have any meaning. This continues for about two isles. I am weaving in and out of other customers, occasionally glancing back, wondering what she wants.

Finally I stop. She continues to yell. But... with a smile. We try to have a conversation- unsucessfully I might add- before I see why she has been yelling at me. At the end of the isle, trying to hide behind a giant hulahoop is one of my students- Julie.

Me and Julie

Of course the whole situation made much more sense once I saw Julie. The best part about the situation was that she actually used some pretty great English sayings in our conversation ("We are shopping for dinner" and "No, no! She is not my mother!!! Miss Ashton! She is my grandmother.") Ha! I loved it! While it was formal, she still managed to roll her eyes at me!

Speaking of students, I have an exceptionally great team this week (more to come about "teams").  The girls are absolutely darling!

Sophie, Laura, Crystal, Me, Anna, Rachel, Amy, Jessica.

Not to say that the boys are not geat- they are!!! But... their attention strays just a bit more than the girls. As this picture was being taken, they slowly toppled into a doggie pile, laughing hysterically, while the girls stood obediently in a line and waited for them to finish (I couldnt help it- I just laughed, it was too cute!)

The dogpile begins....

 Okay.... so I couldn't let them doggiepile forever. We had to get to work. This weeks theme is "New Inventions" of which my brilliant students came up with:

- Orange Ball (a ball you can eat and play with- YUM!)
- Butterfly Nintendo (Nintendo DS that FLIES!- Who doesnt need one of those!)
- 3D books (hey- they are the wave of the future!)



And..... me teaching my regular classroom. Where the students are making (writing, colouring, cutting) a poem about themselves. Maybe I will post my poem later. It is great fun!!!!

Domo, Domo, Domo, Mr. Roboto

Aside from a great weekend socially, I also had a couple fantastic meals. I ate sushi at this place called "Domo" in Ansan. One of those places that I never would have found, or tried, without the help of other people! The greatest thing about Domo is that it is fairly westernized, so there are a lot of fusion rolls (the owner lived in LA for 9 years, speaks good English) and really great prices.

Each dinner comes with starting appetizers. Kimchi (the red cabbage) is standard with every meal in Korea, but at Domo's we also got ginger, turnips, garlic, mushrooms and some brown pickled stuff (top right) that is slightly spicy and a bit oniony.

 Then with an order you get a noodle soup, almost like a miso, but with thick noodles and tofu. We ordered Edamame (for 1,000 won) and honestly by this time I was thinking, I ordered way too much sushi!!!

 Yes... they brought me out two rolls. Why, you ask, did I order two rolls when there was soo much other food? Well normally back at home california rolls are small, and any other roll that is bigger is really expensive. At Domo's??? Not the case.  I ordered  TNT roll (the first one) and a california roll (with orange and green fish eggs). The rolls were HUGE!!!! The TNT roll was a crab roll with shrimp tempura and sauce topping, and was delicious. Because of the topping it was a meal in itself.

 Really, what I ordered could have been enough from two. Good thing there were other people with me, because it was so much food. The best thing? My meal was less than 11 dowla. Awesome! Just awesome!




I had also tried an all you can eat Korean BBQ. Let me rephrase: All you can eat MEAT! Pork (lots and lots of pork- sausage, bacon, curry sausage) and beef (lean, fatty, teryaki) and unlimited amounts. Korean BBQ requires you to sit down and cook your own meat at a BBQ in the table.

With Korean BBQ you coo the meat, then wrap it in lettuce and add any toppings (garlic, kimchi, onions, relish, whatever is on the table). Wrap it up and pop the whole thing in your mouth. Delicious.

While nothing like this would work in America or Canada (beacuse there would probably be no meat left after about an hour) it was great here!! It seems like most people eat within reason, though I will say... I dreamt of meat all nigt long.....

"Touch Me Party"

Wait. Before you get any ideas about the title.... I can explain!

This Friday was fantastic. Why you ask? Great food, new friends, and yes... a club called "Touch Me Party". Oh and beer....lots of beer....

 Me and a few co-workers at a loft bar in Ansan. Literally, you just yell down at the waitress what you want. "Jagerbombs" and "Cass...wait two Cass....better make it five Cass" was yelled entirely too much! I met a girl form Tennessee (Go Vols!) and another foriegn teacher from Washington. Both of which who live and teach in Ansan. Networking over a few drinks. Fantastic!

Afterwards the ladies headed to the dance club. Yes, the Touch me Party.

Really it turned into a hilarious, and slightly raunchy night. While this club was petty mellow, they played some good music, but we needed something bigger and better. I wasnt allowed to take any pictures but the next place we went was unlike anything I have ever been to before. It was huge... almost like an auditorium with loads of tables and private rooms. The ushers come and grab you from your table, and take you to another table, so its like a mixer. Except that most of the people I met didnt speak English. So there was a lot of drinking and hand actions!!!!! There was a huge dance floor. Best part about the night? There were various live performances on a huge stage. These ranged from group K-Pop to male nudity. Yes... Korean Male nudity. Yes. Yes. Yes.... it was a great night.

A Sunday in Seoul...

This weekend Sang-do invited me to go shopping. I took the subway by myself, which I was pretty proud of! At first all of the subway lines are pretty intimidating, but once you figure out how to read the map its pretty easy. I headed to Seoul to meet him at a transfer station. While waiting I used the bathroom. This is what I used:

Granted... I have "popped a squat" many times, but it was weird when I HAD to squat to pee! I stared at this toilet for a good 2 minutes. I had to decide how to approach this because I was wearing a skirt. Really its not too terrible, but I will make sure that I "drop the kids off at the pool" before I head out anywhere. I dont think I could handle poopin in one of these!

Shopping with Sang-do was quite the experience. We went to these "Markets" in the South of Seoul. I was expecting giant, outdoor markets, but they were huge indoor shopping centers. Floors, upon floors of clothes, shoes, purses, jewlery, anything really. To be honest it was a bit overwhelming, because there was sooo much stuff, but I did manage to buy a pretty nice sweater and t-shirt.

Afterwards we headed to dinner. Sang-do treated met to Tapoki, a favorite dish among Koreans. It is rice cakes mixed in a spicy sauce. It is super cheap (around 3-5000 won) and pretty delicious.

We had noodle tapoki. The rice cakes take on the spicy sauce flavour, and there are loads of vegetables inside. I was suprised beacuse I actually enjoyed the spicyness (and I am not usually a fan) but towards the end my mouth was burning a bit!

We ended the day walking through a tourist alley, with loads of street vendors and small shops. I enjoyed the walk, but it was about -8 around this time, so I wasnt really able to look around like I would have liked. We did watch this guy make Kkultarae, a Korean cake.

It was really neat because the guy started with a hard block of honey. Then divided it into two long strings, wrapped it around to make 4, then 8, then 16, then 32, etc...... Eventually he had like 2000 tiny little strings of honey. They wrap this around a mixture (we got Almond flavour) to make the "cake". Its not very sweet, but the strings are so delicate.

Overall it was a pretty sucessful trip! Shopping, food, and candy made a pretty good Sunday!

Weekend in Ansan

My first night out was also New Years Eve. My Adoptive friends as I like to call them, Sangdo and Haeho took me out for a night on the town. I ate my first Korean bbq. Pork, almost like slices of thick bacon, placed in lettuce with toppings (kimchi, onions and sprouts, garlic..)all wrapped up and popped right in your mouth. Delicious! While I haven’t really gotten used to kimchi yet, I enjoyed it warm and in this lettuce-pork wrap.

We went out for beers afterwards, and all I could think about was bowling pin beer, and what a great idea beer coolers in the table are! New Years has always been such a production in Canada. Not here. Literally ten seconds till New Years, the countdown came on.. 3, 2, 1. We said “Happy New Year”, had a cheers, and got on with our conversation. Of course I thought about my girlfriends back home who I normally spend New Years with, wishing somehow they could have been there! But just as I was missing my girls,and calling my parents, Haeho bought some soju!

What they taught me is that when people drink, they eat, so I had my second meal of the night.

They weirdest thing about this meal? It was cold. Not just cold, but served with shaved ice on top. I cant say that it was bad, but when it is -11 outside it wouldn’t have been my first choice.

 The greatest part about my new years eve? Aside from the beer, good meal, and great company… the cab ride was less than 4,000 won!!!! Less than 4 dowla!!! I even got change. No tipping is the weirdest feeling, like I am doing something wrong. I ran away thinking the cabbie might chase me down, but nope… that’s just how it is here.

The rest of the weekend went fairly smoothly. I finished organizing my apartment, and because it was trevors before me I got all sorts of special presents. Mozza sticks in the freezer (which I am saving for drunk food), 2 bottles of wine, and brand new sheets. I also got notes in random places, like the top of my “Do not open for 6 months- Good Ol’ Canadian Food” box, or the back of my shower mat.

I went for a walk before it got dark, to get myself aquanted with the apartment location. Walk one block, turn left, turn left again, turn left again. Then make it two. I ended up walking for an hour, and I feel pretty good about the block where I am living. However…. The most important discovery I found? Ladies and gentlemen… this is my new gym.

Yes… this is the public workout area. So next time you are at the gym, sweating up a storm, listening your mp3 player, wondering how much that person is lifting, or thinking… hmmm I should try those types of sit ups next time……think of me. On my communal elliptical.

First Impressions....

Friends. I have decided to start a blog. Actually I decided long before I left that I wanted some form of documentation of my trip. Mostly so I can go back and look at some of the things I was thinking and doing on this adventure. So a blog it is! I know… you might say that a certain sibling of mine started a blog that didn’t make it past the first post…. No guarantees I won’t follow down the same path!

After my first 24 hours in Korea these were my first impressions:

-          It is COLD!

-          I have never seen so much neon in my life…

-          My apartment is small. Really small. Like… really small…

-          The floor might actually be softer than my bed.

-          I love heated floors.

-          My brother spoils me.

-          Kimchi is an acquired taste…

To be completely honest, I don’t know exactly how I feel yet! The fact that I was leaving Victoria and am in Korea, still hasn’t really set in. I am not sure if this is because I was so hectic before I left, that I didn’t really have a chance to absorb the idea, or I was so excited to be doing something I really wanted that I didn’t get nervous. The flight was blah- like you would expect a 12 hour flight to be. But getting into Ansan was great! Sang-do met me at the airport and we bussed to the terminal. I was treated to a delicious dinner… melted cheese with spicy chicken. Apparently this isn’t regular Korean fair, but I can see it becoming a staple dinner for me. The first few days at the school was a bit of a blur. Everyone already seemed to know me already which was great, and most of the teachers were really nice. Teaching starts next week… and the blog will continue… enjoy!