And finally, after 8 fantastic months....

... it is time to say goodbye... My last weekend in Korea was spent with the beautiful people I have met in Korea. The past three days have been filled with laughing, dancing, crying, singing, eating, drinking, cheersing, silliness, and so much love.

"One way to get the most out of life is to view it as an adventure."
~ William Feather

"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles."
~ Tim Cahill

"Don't die without embracing the daring adventure your life is suppose to be."
~ Steve Pavlina

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel only read one page."
~ St. Augustine

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."
~ Jawaharial Nehru

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Dsiscover."
~ Mark Twain

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old familiar pillow."
~ Lin Yutang

Adventures of all kinds..

My last couple weeks have been busy busy busy. Work has been more busy than usual because of summer camp, and well lets just say sleep isn't my top priority. I am trying to absorb as much of Korea in as I can, and spend as much time with my wonderful friends before I leave.


Last Saturday I did something, that was the most terrifying and exhilarating thing I have ever done. Yup. I went Bunjee Jumping. A coworker and I had been talking about going for a while, but every Saturday something else came up. Finally we made the two hour journey (by all means of transportation: Subway, bus, and taxi) and went to Yuldong park. We had to take a ticket, to mark our reservation, and then we walked around the park. The funny thing (and I feel confident telling you this because I survived the jump) is that Korea has such a different way of doing things (I know- shocking!). But seriously, we paid our money, wrote down our name, got into our gear and went up the tower. There was no demonstration, no liability waivers, no safety talk. Just the two minutes it takes to pay and put on your harness. The elevator ride to the top was the worst. It went really slow and looking down at the water, I started freaking out. There was no way I was going to be able to jump off this!

We watched a group of 4 Korean men jump before us, and I was thinking Okay. I can do this. It doesn't look that bad, and they didn't die! What really motivated me was in the elevator there are pictures of people jumping and in one, this tiny Korean woman is leaping off the tower in HIGH HEELS! I mean, really, if people can jump off this in high heels, There is no reason I can't!

Finally it was my turn, and I was so nervous! I was shaking, and close to hyperventilating. The worker said come stand of the edge, with your feet half off. I went to the edge and looked over, and I have never felt more terrified in my life. I thought I must be crazy to willingly jump of this thing. But, then again, if I could do this, I can do anything! The worker said look at that house in the distance, and jump towards it. And then "5-4-3-2-1-BUNJEE" and I was off! Really, you never believe it until it happens,  but 5 seconds can literally slow down, and feel like forever. One second I was staring a house, and then all of a sudden staring right down into water. And I thought I was never going to stop. I was just plummeting to my death.  And then the roped tightened, and I went back up and down for a while, screaming like a maniac, laughing, and crying. Never have I ever had so much adrenaline pumping through me.

My friend Trish was next, and sadly, she didn't jump. She got to the edge, and realized she couldn't do it. Apparently 50% of people who go up the tower don't jump. I am proud to say that I am among the 50% who did!




Just this Saturday 10 of us rallied together, and went river rafting.

I really had no idea what to expect, because I have never been before.Trish, Daniel, Sara, Will, Dave, Jessica and I met Sangdo, Haeho and Minjae in Seoul. Sangdo and Haeho were late so instead of riding the nice, luxury buses, we got stuck with the short bus. Literally.

Rafting was a blast. Our instructor was really funny, and determined to make all of us go into the water which not all of us were too thrilled about. Really, why would someone go rafting if they didn't want to get wet? Ahh, the life of a high maintenance woman! But in all seriousness, we had a blast.

The rafting was fun, but our bus ride was the most entertaining. Our trip was only suppose to take us 2 1/2 hours, and instead took us 6 hours! It was a long weekend, and so the roads were super busy, our bus driver got lost once or twice, and okay (if any of you know me well) I had to pee at least twice. But overall the day was a complete success. We all survived, ate really bad corn on the cobb, washed off in freezing cold showers, and made it back to Ansan without missing appendages.

Let me take you to the Wild Wild West.....

....and allow me to kill two cowboys with one gun.

Our school is on the outskirts of the city, so each morning I leave my apartment, 7:55am sharp and wait for the yellow bus. There are some days when teachers are running for the bus, shoes untied, hair unbrushed, but we have a twenty minute drive so these can be fixed easily in that time. I will admit, there is the rare occasion that I have stayed up too late and missed the shuttle, but thankfully there is a public bus that goes to our school, and in the worst case, a taxi. Trust me, I try not to make a habit of missing the shuttle, not only because it is a huge inconvenience for me, but as soon as the bus pulls away without a teacher on it, the murmurs start. It is only a matter of time before "So and so teacher missed the bus because they were fighting alligators in the streets of Jungang while drinking copious amounts of soju, and has probably ran away to Japan after the shame of loosing a tug of war battle with an ajima."

Our morning commute is usually pretty quiet. I listen to music, or read a book (okay, most of the time I sleep for a little bit), while we make two other stops to pick up teachers coming in from other places. Once spring came, and we leave the city, our scenery is actually quite beautiful. Rice fields every which way.

And then we pull up. Our school is fairly small compared to some schools, but unlike a lot of hagwons, we are spoiled by a soccer field, basketball court and picnic tables.

Our school has 12 classrooms, all designed as "situational"; we have a hospital, post office, market, science, cinema class..... Our school is used as a place where Korean students can practice the English they already know in "real life" situations.

One of the best classes in our school is Ecology. We have a room with a few animals, and after a lesson about animals, they students can "play" with the animals. We have mice, hedgehogs, toads, scorpions, a tarantula and hamsters. Can you believe that I have touched and taken out a tarantula????? Its true!!!! But my all time favorite animal is Vernon. The snake. To be completely honest, when I found out I was teaching ecology, I was terrified! And it took me a good 20 minutes to take him out of the cage my first time. But after about the second time of taking him out, I realized he wasn't nearly as scary as I thought he was and actually really enjoyed taking him out. (Don't worry mum, I know what your thinking, I am not thinking of getting a snake as a pet- I didn't like him that much). One time I even got to feed him a hamster in front of the students. Okay. I know. Its morbid that I actually enjoyed it, but hey...... circle of life. Plus the kids were absolutely enthralled, down to the last open mouthed swallow.
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We have a culture class that talks about 5 different "English Speaking" countries. While that genre choice is up for debate, Canada is featured, and of course, so are the typical Canadian artifacts: maple syrup, beavers, and hockey sticks. But one of the cool things about the Canada section is the famous person listed: Terry Fox. I am actually really proud when I get to talk to the kids about him. I have never had one student know who he was, and they are in awe when I talk about his life, and what he did.

I always include a question about him at the end of class, because he is awesome, and well I think its cool that the kids can learn about Terry Fox, and not just maple syrup!!!!

Currently all of our classes have been transformed to fit this years Summer Camp theme "The Wild Wild West".

 I am teaching Newsroom class. Normally in this class teachers talk about Newspapers and the kids make up their own articles. But for Summer Camp they are making WANTED posters. Its amazing what the kids can come up with. Mr. Shawn was one of my favorites.

Most of the kids love the fact that they get to hold a gun, but a lot of higher level students have a great
time thinking of "bad" things they would do if they were an outlawed cowboy.


At the end of each week, every teachers homeroom team has to come up with a performance. It could be singing, dancing, role play, but it has to be related to out summer camp theme. My team developed a role play where there was good cowgirls and bad cowboys. The good cowgirls are drinking at a saloon, when the bad cowboys come in. One of the students did not show up on the last day, so the kids asked me if I would say her lines.

 Actually, I think I had the best role in the house. I got to have a shoot out with the "main bad cowboy"!!!!

Summer Camp is exhausting, with more students, more classes and an overnight camp out. But I get to wear a cowboy hat everyday, and can validate having Korean children listen to country music! Nothing could have thrilled me more than a Western theme! The shootouts, line dancing and moonshine making has made the business of the past couple weeks completely worth it!!!!!