4 Months In: Time Flies When You're Teaching English

Hello again,
First off, an apology for the lacking posts. It's a mixture of our laziness, the annoying sticky keyboard we have to type on (because we are too lazy and forgetful to buy a new one), our computer once again being swarmed with a strange virus that turns off our monitor every few minutes and then we are forced to restart the computer (well, now it's actually in the computer graveyard and we are in a stinky, smoky PC room or internet cafe), the daunting task of uploading and explaining my millions of pictures and not all that much going on in our lives!

I'm sure we've mentioned it a million times over, but times has just flown since we've got here! We are already 1/3 finished our contract, and we now know all the students at the academy by name (we're guessing around 200 of the little buggers). Most of the Korean names are a combination of two of these in no particular order: Young, Min, Cha, Dong, Bin, Yay, Hye, Un, Hee, Jung, Da, Ji. None of the names are gender specific either. For example, I've had a male Jung Wee, and a female Wee Jung, and both a male and female Da Oon. We know our students all by their Korean names, even though in Korean English Academy's it is regular practice to give the students an "English" name, and always go by that name in the academy, and when the students meet english speakers.

As our computer, and hence all our pictures and files, are currently unaccessible, I will just post the pictures that I uploaded to Facebook before our beastly and emo computer took it's own life, and include a short update.

Our first experience at English Camp was a ... ... hmm... strange but not too painful one. We hopped into our bosses Hyundai Mini-van at 5pm on Saturday with 10 students (that's right, plus, Jake, me and our boss!) , and headed to (one of) our bosses "beach appartments" about 45 minutes outside of the city.

Jake taught and sang the classic BNL (Barenaked Ladies for those of you that aren't the die hards) "If I had a Million Dollars", we made some curry for dinner (the students peeled the potatoes and carrots), and then slept on the floor. Well, everyone except me and the tiny little Cindy you will see in the pics slept on the floor. We got a queen sized bed to share, and though I was in a separate sleeping bag, I feared in the night I was going to roll over and crush her like the 10 pound bug that she is. Fortunately for me Cindy fell off the bed in the middle of the night on her own, eliminating that possibility... haha. She climbed right back on though, still completely asleep and unaware. Her mom told us that she hadn't slept the night before because she was too excited for English Camp, so she was pretty exhausted that night. My thoughtful students woke me at 5am, and the day had some more games, and then ended at the local fish market. We got back into Ulsan around 2pm with 150,00 won.

I was able to witness my first Korean concert on a soccer field at the local Ulsan University campus. It was pretty elaborate and interesting, though I didn't quite care for most of the music.. except of course, the latest boy band sensation Big Bang with their latest (and only) single "Lies". I'm going to try to get it on my Ipod and perhaps post it here. I have a video of it that I will post later as well!

Have a good one, we have to head to bed now. We'll write more when our new computer we ordered today gets in on Thursday. Until then, call us!

**Pictures 1, 2 , 3 **

Cheerios,

콜린 (Colleen) and 제이크(Jake)

Everything is bigger in Beijing

Thanksgiving is certainly a different holiday in Korea. While everyone is spending this weekend back in Canada enjoying gravy, turkey, and an extra day off, we in Korea have celebrated thanksgiving a long time ago, by eating chewy and strange rice cake treats called "Song Pyun" (I think). Chusok is the name for Thanksgiving, and it lasts 5 days -- the weekend plus three days off. The Koreans themselves returned to their hometowns and bowed to their grandparents, or at least that's what I could gather from the assignment I gave them called "How I Spent Chusok." Colleen and I took the opportunity to visit our giant neighbour to the west, China.

We booked a travel package with an agency based out of Busan (Korea's 2nd biggest city, 45 minutes from us) to Beijing. It was a full tourist deal -- pay a lump sum and be treated to airfare, hotel, meals, and even a Chinese local tour guide who spoke English and told cheesy jokes. His name was Duncan, and he was the man. There's a lot to be said about 'roughing it' and backpacking through the real parts of a country, but time was limited for this trip and we had no regrets choosing this option. Beijing was huge. Halifax is big, Toronto is much bigger, but Beijing is freakishly large. Without a set itinerary and an old pro like Duncan, we would have spent our 4 days running around in circles. Big, smoggy circles.

Our trip started with an early morning bus ride to the Busan airport. Our boss, Mrs. An, graciously drove us to the bus terminal at 8:30am. I'm sure it was no big thing for her, as she regularly gets up at 5am to hike mountains, but we were very appreciative. She gave us $10 each too, just like grandma. I didn't tell her, but it bought me a lot of 40 cent Chinese beers. We soon arrived in Busan, met up with our friends Jake and Alison (see previous posts about them... yes, I realize Jake and I have the same name), and hoped aboard a Chinese Air vessel bound for Beijing. The first thing we noticed was the white people. For the first time in 3 months, we were part of a big white group, primarily made up of English teachers like us. The second thing I noticed was the hysterical Chinese newspaper they gave me on the plane. Reading their state-controlled press certainly informed me that I wasn't in Kansas anymore. The big protest controversy in Burma (which was headline news on CNN International) wasn't covered until the 5th or 6th page, and they never actually mentioned what the protests were actually about.

As soon as we landed, we were whisked on our tour bus (which would become our second home for the next 4 days) and introduced to tour guide Duncan (who would become our second father for the next 4 days). Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven. This was where the emperors of China would come to pray for good harvests and lucky lottery numbers. We hadn't previously heard of the Temple of Heaven, but we soon recognized it's famous Hall of Prayer, which is often used as a symbol for Beijing. The temple, situated on about three square kilometers of Beijing park land, was beautiful, and was an excellent appetizer for the grandeur we were to view on the rest of our trip. Back in the day, what the emperor wanted, the emperor got; the Temple of Heaven was on the smaller end of the imperial temples and palaces we were to visit. It was littered with guys selling everything from Beijing 2008 Olympic t-shirts to Rolex watches (of the $1.50 variety). Actually, I'm fairly certain these guys followed our bus around Beijing. Afterwards, we were treated to Beijing Duck (formerly known as Peking Duck). This famous meal, synonymous with the city, was brought out whole from the kitchen and then thinly sliced by the chef at our table.

The next day, after an early morning wake up call and delicious Western-style breakfast (a rare treat for ESL teachers in Korea... perhaps worth the entire price of the travel package), we were off to the Summer Palace. This place was absolutely stunning. Basically, the emperor wanted a place to hang out in the summer, with a lake, in Beijing. And a mountain too. So, they built a vast man-made lake, and used the excavated soil to build a small mountain. What the emperor wanted, the emperor got. It also featured the world's longest corridor. We're not sure the Asian obsession with corridors, but yeah, it certainly was long. Next, we were bound for the city centre, home of Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. This was another instance which reaffirmed that we weren't in Kansas anymore. Our tour guide Duncan described Tienanmen Square as the world's largest city square, home to many festivals and such... and... was where... "those students and the tanks and things happened." It certainly struck home when we came into view of the front gate of the Forbidden City, with the massive painting of Chairman Mao, that we were square in the middle of where a lot of wild shit had gone down. The square was packed, with tourists of all nationalities, and salesmen of all levels of dignity. One was so persistent that I eventually caved and bought a Mao wristwatch (which now, only works if I flick my finger against it). The Square was also well endowed with a vast Olympic display. The city is certainly pulling out all the stops for the games. We soon entered the Forbidden City, the place where the emperors of old would live. The place was inhabited by the Emperor, his 3,000 concubines, and government officials, all eunuchs. What the Emperor wanted, the Emperor got. The place was well guarded, too. The cobblestone paths upon which we walked were 15 layers deep, in case assassins got the balls to tunnel under the walls. The rest of the palace was an array of buildings and gardens, laid out much like a maze (which was why myself, Colleen, Alison, and Jake got separated from the group -- or lost -- for a period of time). Afterwards, we enjoyed Mongolian BBQ and made our way to a Chinese acrobat show, which was simultaneously the most amazing and horrifying thing I've ever seen (and I've been to a few live pro wrestling events).

The next morning, Duncan (who lovingly became known as "Dirty D," due to his bringing us to the most random convenience stores -- all owned by his "cousins" -- to "buy the beer and the pepsi") informed us that Chairman Mao once said that a man is not a hero until he climbs the Great Wall of China. That morning, we were to become heros. When we arrived at the Great Wall, I was struck with a real sense of an authentic "holy crap we're in China" feeling. We had visited Tokyo, which was fantastic but was well endowed with Western comforts. We live in Korea, but the shock has settled down and it's starting to feel like home. But the Great Wall slapped me in the face and made me wake up and smell the Chinese ginseng tea. We were to climb one of the Wonders of the World. 3,000 steps and one hour later, we made it to the top, and to our surprise, we ran into a couple of X-Rings. Even more surprising, was the fact that I had gone to elementary school with one of the X-Rings. Small world, no? We were sure to snap a few pictures for our friends at the Alumni Office. The coolest part of the Great Wall, aside from the magnificent view, was that is was sort of a converging point of world travelers. We heard more languages than we could count, including some Russian guys singing old army marching songs, to a Mexican Soccer team galloping up the Wall shouting "Arriba!" Colleen and I, being Colleen and I, ended up spending too much time at the top, and realized we were late for the bus. We soared down the Wall, shaving about 50 minutes off our climbing time, and dooming our thighs and calves for the next few days.

The next day was a 'free day,' ie - we were left on our own to tackle the giant, and we took in some shops, which meant some intense bargaining. There is no such thing as a sticker price in Beijing, and you have to usually talk the shop keepers down about 700% before you make your final deal. I'm pictured to the right with a woman who tried to sell me what she called a "C-U-B-A" bag, before I educated her on the country of Cuba. Our other stops included the Beijing Hard Rock Cafe, Tienanmen at night, and a cool lakeside restaurant/bar area. Beijing was mind-blowing. The architecture was huge and innovative. The people were fun and full of life. And the beer was dirt cheap... there's nothing wrong with a few drinks around Thanksgiving. We had an opportunity to drive past the Beijing National Stadium -- best known as "The Birds Nest" -- which was still under construction. The building was too immense to describe (largely built on the backs of Chinese guys getting paid next to nothing). They do everything big in Beijing; always have and always will. My one concern about the Olympics in particular is the terrible air quality. The sky was hazier than I've ever seen. At many points, you couldn't actually see the sun, more just a big bright yellow smudge of a circle. I sure wouldn't want to run a marathon in that stuff.

On the whole, the trip was absolutely magical. You truly felt a certain uniquely intangible sensation in Beijing, where its mystical history and culture is beginning to mash with western world foundations, but still holding strong. It satisfied our travel bug for a while now (or perhaps ignited it further).

Hope all is well back in the true north, strong and free!

-Jake

PS: Click the following links for our pictures!
Jake's Facebook album (1 of 2)
Jake's Facebook album (2 of 2)
Colleen's Picasa album (the big one)

September Adventures

So, September has come and almost gone!
We've switched classes, which will happen every two months, so we have a new batch of kids to get to know and learn. That's 5 - 8 classes of new names! It's thrown a much needed change of pace into the work schedule though.
September has been somewhat quieter than the past few wild months, but not a lot quieter! We went to a dance club one night to satisfy Bla's (Simon's gf) unquenchable desire to go dancing since her broken foot had finally healed. So, she got the names of a few clubs, and we went to the one that was supposed to be a 20-25 year old crowd, what we thought would be a fun night. We all got on our dancing shoes and headed to New Concert dance club in New Downtown. There were some serious looking but scrawny Korean bouncers at the door in suits and headsets. We were nervous there was a dress code, but in the end it seems there wasn't. (Though I was later informed that there was an "age code"... any Korean older than 25 is rejected. Good thing Simon is British and intimidating, otherwise he could have been kicked out because he is 35) The place was HUGE! Absolutely large. The ceiling was a few stories high, and there were tables and booths everywhere, and then a huge dance floor at the front with a giant stage, and a d.j in center stage that rotated every song set (as shown in picture!).

So, the dance floor was rocking, we got some beers, and then Bla and I went to dance. We started grooving to some really cool remixes, all of western hip hop and pop songs. It was nice to hear songs we knew.... even though I hate those Much Music songs in Canada, they were a rare comfort here on the dance floor. Dancing to random Korean songs just wouldn't have been the same. So, we are just getting into it, 3 or 4 songs in, and the music stops, moves into a slow tune, and everyone leaves the dance floor. Bla and I are confused. We go back to our seat and drink. In Korea, a lot of things are organized or pre-decided for the youth by elders. Opening a dance club must have come with its rules by the older generation, because a dance club this big and popular and hot, and with such great sound and music is probably too taboo and Western for the average Korean parent. So the Korean flair is that the music stops/slows every 5 songs exactly, so that no one get too tired, exhausted or too close and sexy with a member of the opposite sex that they would get the chance to hook up. Then you go back to your table with your friends, and wait for the next 10 min dance set. It was tooo weird. The second you get into your groove, the music stops and everyone leaves. It was definately a way mostly to deter close dancing and mingling of opposite sexes, as the groups of friends were all single sex. Actually, the majority of people on the dance floor were groups of guys dancing together in a circle, breaking out intense dance moves. It was strange to have a mainly guy dance floor, as girls are usually the overwhelming majority in Toronto clubs. The age limit also probably ensures that if people do hook up, they are within 5 years of one another in age.

We also went on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Busan, Korea's 2nd largest city (Seoul = 1st). I needed to shop, and Jake needed to go to a casino! Casino's in Korea are only for foreigners (another example of controlling citizens behaviour), so they are obviously rare, as the clientelle pool isn't very large. We had some nice dinner, chicken galbi, went to the mall where I got a few unique articles of clothing, and then we played Black Jack and Roulette at the Busan Lotte Seven Luck Casino!

Jake and I are heading to Beijing for the Chusok, or Thanksgiving, holiday for 5 days and 4 nights Sept 22nd-26th. We just got our finalized travel itinerary and take a look at our 5 star hotel!! The Loong Palace Hotel has 9 restaurants (2 clubs) and anything else you need for sports, spa, cinema, bowling or anything else really. We are very excited. Here's our travel itinerary!
Only one more week of work 'till we hit up China!! Yaaay! I am super stoked for the Beijing duck, acrobat show, Forbidden City, Great Wall and Tian'an Men square!!
That's it for now, here are my pics!

** Colleen's Pics**

Birthdays!

Hey everyone!
Colleen here for the birthday update! Thanks to everyone for the b-day wishes and gifts, namely all the pencils and erasers I received from my thoughtful students who probably purchased them minutes earlier from the stationary/candy store located directly underneath our school. The month of August has just flown by, and we can't believe we are already two months in! It has been fun, frustrating, tiring, hilarious, exciting and absolutely dumbfounding at times, but the overwhelming consensus is that coming to Korea, and Ulsan in particular, was probably the best decision we could have made after graduating. We are already able to pick out certain words when listening to Koreans talk, and can order several dishes at restaurants that don't have pictures on the menu or wall. We've got two "How to read/speak Korean" books that came with the house, and sometimes you can hear me annoyingly repeating the "awe" "ooo" and "uhhh" noises, slowly and unassured as I attempt to read the Hangul symbols.

Anyways, onto the post topic of birthdays!
As I'm hoping all of you are aware of, both Jake and my birthday have passed in the past week or so and they were both fun and memorable. First up was my birthday, on August 23rd. On Aug. 22nd, Jake and I decided we would head down to Ilsan beach for a casual beer or two. We went to the WA Bar (the only Western themed bar in the area) and got some beers. Just to put a Korean Western bar into context for you, they sell "Western" dishes that you have never seen in the west. A popular one is pork cutlet in sugar-gravy with a strange vegetable on it. All Koreans assume every restaurant in the West will have this dish, and that it is the best seller too. Another head scratcher is the Koreans obsession of associating Western food with pickles. If you order pizza, it comes with pickles. French fries- you get pickles, spaghetti - you get pickles.... you get the drift. It's like some Korean a while back went to the "West" and informed the entire Korean population of the food we ate, but was sorely mistaken, or just couldn't remember the real recipes. (Probably the exact feeling Chinese people have when they eat at a "Chinese restaurant" in the West for the first time) So at the WA Bar, our favourite western food is shredded cabbage in a mustard-yogurt sauce with chicken, pickles, cherry tomatoes and jalapeño peppers on the side. Sounds just like home, right? Once midnight struck, and it was officially my birthday we headed to the beach, got a beer at the convenience store, and set off some fireworks. After fending off a drunk, soaking wet and feisty man by offering him a sparkler, we went back into the convenience store for one last beer, calling it a night, we had decided. However, when we got to the store we were greeted by a table of Sri Lankens and some Korean HHI workers (Hyundai Heavy Industries basically employs 90% of the city's population, give or take a percentage point). So, semi-well versed in English, we were invited to their table for soju and mekchu (beer in Korean). We obliged, and several hours later, not to mention a haphazard Joe Louis birthday cake and a fire work or two later, we stumbled home and went to sleep.
An hour before I turned 22 for real (at 8:01am) I was awoken by a phone call from my mom. Jake made me some breakfast while I snoozed a little longer and I opened my presents from him (jewelery, a singing card and a spa facial) and my mom (a card and pasta sauce in the mail) Work that day was fun, as I gave my students candy and a word search - I wasn't interested in doing much more. My boss served us birthday cake for lunch and I got lots of gifts from my students, some more useful or touching than others, such as 4 red roses from a shy boy named Dong Gew, or a wallet and notebook from cute Tay Eun and her sister Day Eun. We were too tired to go out that night, but strolled to Ilsan beach to play a few games- basketball, batting cages, and rock, paper, scissor machines.
Saturday we were treated to a joint birthday lunch by our boss. All of our coworkers attended, as well as Mrs. An's son and nephew. She took us to "the most expensive restaurant" in the area, which was a traditional Japanese restaurant where her husband has very important business meetings. Unfortunately for me, the entire menu was shellfish, and it was a set menu for everyone. She was well aware of my shellfish allergy, she even wrote me a post it in Korean saying "I am allergic to shellfish. Please do not serve me food with shellfish in it" for me to show at Korean restaurants. However, I think she was so excited getting reservations that she temporarily forgot my allergy. So, while strange snails, squid, eel, sea cucumber, sea urchin, sea squirts, and other indistinguishable foods were being cracked and consumed, I had a bowl of plain rice, kimchi and some tuna.
In the evening Simon and Min He came to our place for some pre-drinks, and we set off to the beach for a long night of football (Man City vs. Man United - Simon "obviously" roaring and screaming for Man. city through to their defeat). We enventually ran into the Sri Lankens we met the other night, and arrived home around 6am.
(Oh God, I write waaay too much... sorry)

Jake's B-day went well. We went out the night before for some Booldak (Fire chicken - seriously the hottest thing we have eaten in our lives, but soooo good despite the fiery hot pain!) and beer. We witnessed our second WA Bar birthday party; the lights go out, weird birthday music comes on and the bartenders juggle flaming bottles and make the b-day boy drink some fiery shot ..... its wild. They usually set off fireworks inside too. Thankfully we witnessed someone else getting the WA Bar b-day, don't worry, it wasn't for Jake. We played some games, and headed home in the pouring rain. Because it was well after midnight, Jake decided to open his gifts from me, and save the ones from my mom and his family until the morning. I got him some stretched canvass, acrylic and watercolour paints, and two books - a compilation of Nietzsche's work and F. Scott Fitzgerald's. The morning was a bacon and egg breakfast, complete with a talking picture frame from his family. A cake was consumed at lunch and he received pencils and letters from his students.
So there you have it, our birthdays mingled into one.

**Jake's pictures**
**Colleen's pictures**

Japan: Part Two -- Turning Japanese, I really think so.

Disneyland -- Luckily for us, the Happiest Place on Earth exists in more than one place, with one located just east of Tokyo. Tokyo Disney Resort contains the classic Disneyland portion -- which is an almost exact replica of the original Anaheim, California; along with the newly opened DisneySea, the most expensive theme park ever built. It contains a goddamn man-made volcano equipped with a lava dodging roller coaster. How cool is that? The park is comprised of several 'Ports of Call,' which are themed on different parts of the world (both real and fictional), including the Mediterranean, "USA," Aladdin's "Agraba," and more. Disneyland itself was fantastic. We spent a good chunk of our daylight hours in the magic kingdom, and more than satisfied our quarter-life-crises. I got to relive my wondrous journey to Disneyland in 1994, and Colleen got to buy the Minnie Mouse ears that her rich childhood friend would bring back every year from Florida. We feared massive line-ups (this is Tokyo) and blazing sunburns, but we made it through the day largely unscathed. The line-ups were not terrible and we were able to go on the vast majority of the rides which we wanted, and for some reason the Japanese sun doesn't burn skin. As the sun started to set, we made our way over to DisneySea, taking advantage of the 'after 6pm' discount. Lucky for us, this was about the same time that everybody went home. There was absolutely no wait time for any of the fantastic, more intense rides at DisneySea. Unlike the long line-ups for feel-good easy rides like It's a Small World in Disneyland, we were able to run through the queues and hope on intense roller-coaster rides like Journey to the Center of the Earth. Disney left us with the intangible magic that everyone seems to experience, regardless of age. They are so damn good at what they do. Right down the finest detail, Mickey and the gang spare no expense to make a trip to Disneyland something truly unique (not counting the 4 or 5 replicas throughout the world).

(the rest of) Tokyo - Our plans for the day after Disney weren't really solid. We had a room booked in Kyoto (a three hour bullet train ride away) that night, but we felt like we weren't quite finished with the big city. We could hop the train at any point -- one leaves about every 20-40 minutes (and the Japanese are very punctual). We decided to shove our bags in a locker at the Tokyo train station and take our time exploring a bit more, until we were satisfied. Our mission: Find the INTERSECTION. That's right, our goal was to find an intersection. Not just any intersection, no, we wanted the intersection, otherwise known as Shibuya Crossing. If you've seen any film (such as Lost in Translation) or tv show set in Tokyo, you've seen the Shibuya Crossing. Featured in the stolen, unauthorized photo to the right, it's supposedly one of the busiest intersections in the world. All traffic stops while swarms of pedestrians move every which-way as they try to cross. The Crossing itself, well, it was busy, but a tad underwhelming. Maybe we had built it up too much, but the crowd outside of Piper's Pub at around 2am on a Saturday night in Antigonish could have given Shibuya Crossing a run for it's money. That said, it was satisfying to reach the "Times Square" of Tokyo as several giant video screens played Ads above us, and we even managed to catch a glimpse of the world's busiest Starbucks. Below is a video of our 30 second journey across the 'the world's busiest.' That's a few small steps for Jake and Colleen, and a giant leap for .. ah, I don't know. (we've been experiencing technical difficulties with this one, folks... just click my YouTube link at the bottom of this post if you can't view the video here)

Kyoto -- We effin' loved this city. I'm not sure if we were simply biased due to our left-winged fondness for the environmental protocol signed there, or if its pure old-world beauty charmed us off our feet. I suspect it's a larger chunk of the latter. Kyoto was the former imperial capital of Japan before the feds packed up for Toyko, and contains a wealth of fascinating architecture and civil design to match. We arrived around 10:30pm, and made our way to our first Ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese inn similar to a Bed and Breakfast. We opened the door to find two large guys from the Southern United States playing Magic Cards in the ryokan kitchen/lobby. We unpacked our bags and checked the internet to investigate a supposed Typhoon which was heading toward our departure port, Fukuoka/Hakata, the next day. Mr. Internet told us that 120 domestic flights had been canceled in Fukuoka. We could find any direct info about our hydrofoil ferry, but we had a phone number. Unfortunately, we were well past office hours. Secretly, we hoped the Typhoon would blast Fukuoka, postponing our ferry, and allowing us extra time in the city we so desperately wanted to explore. With the office hours forcing us to play the waiting game until the morning, we did the only thing any self respecting maritimer or maritime-graduated 21 year old would do -- we cracked open my duty-free litre of Jack Daniels and then hit the town. In very broken Japanese, we asked a cab driver to take us to the Kyoto hotspots. He seemed confused, then responded, "Drink Street?" We hopped in the cab and he dropped us off in a curiously quiet neighbourhood, and told us to climb the stairs to the second floor of a boring looking building. We reached the top floor to find... (drumroll)... a Japanese restaurant. We were a tad bummed, until a waitress came up to us and asked us if we spoke French. Suddenly the night became more exciting. We crapped our way through about an hour and a half of drunken highschool French with our Japanese host, who studied French in high school. We also took a number of ridiculous videos, which we're currently debating whether or not to upload to YouTube. To the right is a picture of yours truly readying his chopsticks for an assorted grab bag of raw fish, complete with a shrimps head for garnish. Jack Daniels and Kyoto are not a great mix.
The next morning, I struggled toward the phone to see if we had to hop a bullet train and sail across the rough Sea of Japan. To our shock, despite the fact that the sea would no doubt "be angry that day," our ferry company said we were good to go. Suddenly, the ghost of Jack Daniels himself possessed me and I asked if we could change our reservations. Thankfully, we were able to push them back two days, which would allow us to both see more of Japan, and recover from the previous night. So, after shaking the cobwebs and finding another Ryokan for that night, we rented some bikes and cycled across Kyoto. It turned out to be a great idea. We were able to cover a lot of ground that day and check out some very interesting buildings and streets. Also, I bought a ninja death star. I hope I can get that puppy through customs on my way back to Canada. We finished our day with a great Italian meal (a little taste of home), made it back to the Ryokan before our 11pm lock-up/curfew time (the old lady who owned that place ran a tight ship). We decided to draw up some plans for our extra day in Kyoto. Half way between Kyoto and our ferry in Fukuoka was Hiroshima, and we thought we should check it out before we departed the land of the rising sun.

Hiroshima -- The city name seems to resonates within our collective conscience as one of those "we really shouldn't have done that" things, right up there near the Holocaust and other nasty things throughout mankind's history. We knew our stop in Hiroshima wouldn't be exactly a chipper way to end our Japan trip, but I think we both felt we needed to see their monuments and reflect on the destruction and devastation of the A-Bomb that dropped to end WWII. We hadn't realized it, but we arrived in Hiroshima a day or two before they were to commemorate and mourn the anniversary of the bomb, which dropped on August 6th, 1945. The city was bustling as people came from all over the world to attend the ceremony. Activists and important figures from all over the world were descending upon Hiroshima, which has now become a beacon of peace and tolerance. We were very lucky to get the last hotel room available, and after checking in, we set about trying to find the monument grounds. Perhaps the main monument in the Peace Park is the A-Bomb Dome, a government building relic which survived the blast. The bomb actually detonated about 600 meters above it, and due to the way the bomb exploded (outwardly, slightly), it didn't totally destroy the building. The city has preserved it as a constant reminder. We also viewed the Children's monument, which is based on the young girl, dying from A-bomb radiation induced cancer, who attempted to fold 1,000 paper cranes. The grounds contained a vast amount of breathtaking monuments, and the whole message truly struck home. It put the stats and time lines from history class into perspective, and it's not something that either of us will soon forget.

Back to Korea -- The next morning we woke up, and hopped on the train back to Fukuoka. It was by far the easiest train ride we took -- after a week of struggling, we actually understood how to properly and efficiently use the Japan Rail. Dems da breaks. The hydrofoil back wasn't so bad, a tad rocky, but we were glad to have avoided the typhoon. We hope you've enjoyed our 2 part trilogy on our trip to Japan.

Hope everyone back home is doing well. Our birthdays are coming up (Colleen -- Aug 23 / Jake -- Aug 29), we'll try and have a drink for each and every one of you.

Be sure to check out our photo albums of Japan:

**[Jake's: 1 ,2, 3]**

***[Colleen's millions of photos and videos]. ***

I'm also slowly uploading videos to my YouTube account.



Cheers!

Japan: Part One

Hello there avid readers!

Finally, the much awaited post to read, though quite daunting to even begin writing, the 7 days of adventures in Japan!

Alison and Jake Visit
Our week long holiday began with a friendly visit from our old Torontonian neighbours on Saturday morning. My high school lockermate Alison, and her boyfriend Jake (who was addressed as Jake 1 for the weekend as he is older than Jake 2... kinda like Thing One and Thing Two a la Dr. Seuss styles) have recently moved to a place near Seoul to teach English at a Hag won (Korean private academy school) as well. After hearing their stories of a lengthy, tiring and confusing trip, just from Seoul, Jake 2 and I wondered what would become of us on our taxi-bus-subway-ferry-taxi-Japan Rail path that would begin on Monday morning.
Nevertheless, we all managed to ignore the traveling blues and party hard, sight-see in the GUA (Greater Ulsan Area), bow in buddist temples, drink from the fountain of youth, eat too much Galbi, haphazardly shop downtown, attempt to see a sold out Die Hard 4, brave torrential downpour, Nori-Bong (private Karaoke room) with Simon and Blah for Simon's birthday, avoid being hit by a fire-breathing bartender juggling vodka bottles, and drunkenly set fireworks off at the beach after playing several unbeatable curbside vendor games (my favourite of which you purchase a cockroach for 2,000 won ($2 CDN) put it into a funnel, and watch it swim around until it chooses a sort of "gate". Whichever gate it stops at you win a designated prize. Alison won a loud pocket calculator that looks like a cell phone. Handy n'est pas?), all in two days. (Phew, that was a mouthful, 1 weekend, 1 sentence). A fun and enjoyed weekend indeed, and we have the pictures to re-live it.....and the sand that was dragged back into the apartment that night via shoes, pockets, and in Jake 2's case, hair (he had a wee lie down on the beach) that we still haven't swept up .....

**Pictures**

The Japan Trek Begins (Day 1 & 2)
So, Monday morning we awoke at 6:30am, did a final packing check - passports, Alien Registration Cards, rubber ducky - and got a taxi with Alison and Jake 1 to the inter-city bus terminal. We headed south to Busan, while Alison and Jake 1 went north for some more Korean sightseeing. Between an Ulsan taxi and bus, and a Busan subway and mad-dash-taxi, we arrived at the ferry terminal 15 minutes to "take-off". Unfortunately, our aggravated ticket attendant told us we were not going to be allowed on our 10am ferry. We pleaded, looked very lost and confused and white, but she didn't flinch. So, instead, we were able to make it on the 2:30pm ferry which got us into Japan at 5:30... which made us miss the last train to Tokyo, where our reservations were for that night. So, tired, frustrated and down-trodden we decided to JR (Japan Rail) it to the closest destination to Tokyo that the train went to and caught the last run to Osaka. We arrived in Osaka around 10 pm or so, and decided to wander outside the station and find the closest hotel to crash at. We found a rather expensive one, got some hot dogs and salad at the closest restaurant, showered and crashed.

We made it to Tokyo the next day (Tuesday) at 11am. We got off at our station in Ueno (an area of Tokyo), and wandered through a maze of escalators, train and subway platforms, restaurants, gift shops etc. towing our luggage behind us. With exhaustion, hunger and motion sickness all in full effect after finally exiting the station, we suddenly remembered that Jake had left our hotel directions, and a new 1 liter bottle of Jack Daniels in a bathroom somewhere in the station. After returning to the maze-like station, and with the retrieved bag in hand, we finally trotted along, through a park, of course getting lost again, backtracking and arrived at our Tokyo hotel. A nice place with a cute lobby and really nice garden. And, despite their cancellation policy, they didn't charge us the 50% of the cost of the room for canceling the night before! Great success, finally.
We explored our area of Ueno (one of the 3 busiest areas of Tokyo, and Tokyo's 'historical downtown), walked through the markets located between and under two rail tracks, a booming area called "Ameyayokocho" which is a street market district that "evolved out of an open-air black market that sprung up after World War II" (thanks Wikipedia). If interested in info on Ueno Park (our hotel actually was in the park grounds, which also included a zoo, temples, restaurants and more) click here.
At night we ventured to a man made island that supposedly had a substantial nightlife, but we didn't really find said nightlife. Instead we shopped and played arcade games and headed on another subway mission to find a good bar and restaurant. Unable to find sushi, literally after passing dozens of traditional Japanese restaurants in a decent area of town (outside of Tokyo Station and towards Ginza), we settled for an Irish pub that had Guinness on tap, and signed the pint with a shamrock imprint in the head. I enjoyed some fish and chips, and cherished my 700Yen Guinness. We once again attempted to find a bustling downtown bar scene, asking a local who gave us an uninteresting location, and settled for a drink in a random dead bar. We later realized that it was only a Tuesday, but hey, if Antigonish can have a booming Tuesday nightlife, why the heck wouldn't Tokyo!?? Also, apparently dancing and dance clubs are illegal in Japan... "dancing is considered a violation of public morality" (check out this article of a dance bar raid and it's owners sentiments) .
We headed back to the hotel to rest up for the big day at Tokyo Disneyland the next morning! Disneyland post up next!

**Colleen's Pictures**
**Jake's Pictures**

Back from Japan: Safe and sound

Dreams and Magic in Tokyo Disneyland!!

Hey there, just letting everyone know that we arrived back from Japan last night (Sunday night) at 9pm or so. It was an amazing trip and we got to spend 7 days there, and saw a good chunk of 5 cities; Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Fukuoka (Hakata). We are currently exhausted, so this post is just to assure you of our good health and spirits. We have over 1,200 pictures to sort through to show you and posts describing our wonderful trip will come shortly!
Hope all is well in all your lives!
xox
Colleen

I like the nightlife.

I've said the following line to too many people for it to be considered even remotely original, and to be honest, I stole it from my Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook (which I recommend to anybody thinking of teaching in Korea):

"Drinking is Korea's national pastime."

For better or for worse, South Koreans don't seem to have any semblance of the Western notion of "problem drinking." Where buying liquor in most parts of Canada means being 19 (21 in the States -- poor bastards), wandering into a government-owned liquor store and paying mountains of "sin tax" on top of your pint of Captain Morgan ("mickey" of Captain Morgan for my Ontario readers); in Korea, you simply saunter in to your local "dis caunt stoa" or FamilyMart, pick up a cheap bottle of Soju or Hite, and continue about your business.

In Antigonish, Nova Scotia, if you open up your kitchen window while holding a bottle of Keith's and a gentlemanly RCMP officer catches you, he'll charge you with a $445 fine for public drunkenness. In Korea, you can walk down the street with a beer, drunkenly set fireworks off at the beach, play ball at the corner batting cage, or simultaneously vomit while pissing yourself, and you're more Korean then the day you received your Alien Registration Card.

It truly is an amazing place if you've recently graduated from university, enjoy beer, or are of any vague Canadian descent. The following is a run-down of the Korean night-life, starting with the drinks to which we've been introduced.

Soju -- A type of rice/sweet potato vodka. It's generally a 20% alcohol content, making it a bit stronger than wine. However, vodka by any other name, still tastes like fire water. Granted, it's a bit more mild than Smirnoff or Skyy, but it's still vodka. Picture a 50/50 vodka-water mix. Also, it's dirt cheap. It's about a dollar for a pint, and maybe 3 -4 bucks for a mammoth '66er' equivalent. What's more shocking is the Koreans love this stuff like it's holy water. Rarely will you find a mixed Soju drink. No sir, the Koreans like their Soju by the shot glass. And not only while raucously partying -- it's extremely common to see 5 -6 empty Soju bottles at a table of Koreans enjoying fried chicken at the neighborhood shack. Soju is king here. I've only challenged it once, and I lost my umbrella that night.

Hite -- For a beer with a name so remarkably similar to "shite," it's not half bad. We were told that Korean beer was indeed crap, so our expectations were low. We were pleasantly surprised, however, to stumble upon Hite. It's a very light beer, like Miller Genuine Draft. It goes down very easy. Koreans love their Hite. Also, as I pointed out in an earlier post, you can buy them in huge plastic jugs at convenience stores. It's no Keith's, but it will have to do until Ulsan opens up a trade route with Halifax.

...put them together and what do you have...

Car-ak-ju --This devilish cocktail was taught to me by a co-worker. It's a drop-shot extraordinare. In a large beer mug, insert one shot glass of Pepsi, followed by a shot glass of Soju (resulting in a leaning tower of doom). Fill the beer mug up with Hite until it almost reaches the top of the upper shot glass. Consume in one swift motion. Repeat as needed.

The Bars --

I know there are a lot of Maritimers reading this saying "Jake, why go to the bars if you can drink on the street?" Yes, you do have a point. As I mentioned, public drunkenness is almost an olympic sport here. We happen to live very close to Ilsan Beach, which is a fun little strip of bars and mini outdoor amusement zones. You can stroll on to the beach with whatever you please, be it alcoholic, explosive, or otherwise.

Even if you don't feel like going completely indoors, you can hit up a sidewalk Soju tent and enjoy liquor with random seafood, though Colleen and I usually avoid anything with tentacles. Here's a picture of Colleen and I sitting with Blah (a Thai name meaning 'fish') in a tent. The photo was taken by her fiancee and our co-worker, Simon. This was during typhoon min-ya, or whatever it was called. As you can imagine, it was a tad blustery in that tent.

Our Ilsan Beach area has tons of Korean bars, which are usually situated in what looks like office buildings, with bars stacked 4-7 stories high. The booze is cheap, and white-folk are treated like celebrities. You usually get some complimentary side dishes, like plums, boiled eggs, and other random crap, and Koreans usually like to order more food as well. I'm thinking the constant influx of snack food prevents any serious Soju poisoning from happening multiple times in one night. Here's a picture of our random complimentary scoff, along with a bottle of the infamous Soju:
A great feature about the Korean pubs, and restaraunts in general, is the airplane/doorbell style service button located at every table. One press of this puppy and you're in business. It avoids any of that awkward server interaction, which usually comes too often or not enough.
Beyond the Korean bars, which have thus far been our favourite spots, there are a number of "Westerner bars" located in Ulsan. At these places, you'll find imported beer from all over the world, at ridiculous prices (so far, the only Canadian selections we've found are Molson Canadian and Moosehead). You can get anything from Nacho's to Poutine. You're surrounded by white people playing pool and foosball. Basically, you feel 'right at home.' There seems to be a booming ex-patriot community around here, and we're just starting to scratch its surface.

Finally, we come to my favourite part of the nightlife in Ulsan, particularly that of our area near Ilsan Beach. The batting cages. These gems are surrounded by all kinds of ridiculous punching bag games and things of that nature. There are also these whacky rock-paper-scissors gambling games where you have the potential to win up to about $2.00 Canadian. In the following video, you'll see our co-worker Min-hi slugging it out in the cages, and yours truly cleaning up at the R-P-S machine. I must have walked away $3.00 in the good that night.

Well, that's a taste of the shadier side of our time here in Korea. I'm not sure why Colleen insisted that it be my post, but, I sure had a fun time telling you about it all. I now leave you with a picture of Korean men bronzing each other before taking the stage at the bodybuilding contest today at Ilsan Beach.
All the best,

Jake

Going's on for the First Two Weeks in Crazy KoKorea

Anyong Haseyo friends and fam,



Thought we'd give you a bit of an update of how our first two weeks have been and all the cultural adventures we have stumbled upon both un- and intentionally.

School: Our boss, school and coworkers are all pretty awesome. The school is relatively small, with class sizes no bigger than 12 students, and there are 3-6 classes going on at any given time. There are 3 foreign teachers, Jake and I and a bloke from England(/ he has been living in Thailand for the past four years) named Simon, and 3 Korean teachers. The kids are pretty well behaved save for the mandatory few class clowns and the one or two "I'm too good for this" Emo child. The kids, aged 7-14, are usually in school from 9-5, and then have other daily classes, ranging from piano, taekwondo, math, English and more Korean classes until about 10 or 11pm. So, to say the least, we can kind of understand when students are tired and unmotivated. Not really though, because we've never actually been pushed that hard at school, so we don't really understand in that "I've been there" way, but rather the, "I feel sorry for you because I'm wearing my undergrad ring and probably in my 21 years haven't worked as hard as you have in your measly 7 years" kind of way.

Classes are 40 minutes long Monday to Friday. We work either 1:30pm-7:40pm or 3:20pm- 9pm. So, we get to seep in and have enough time in the morning (sometimes) to do groceries and errands and such, and in the evening have time to go out for dinner and beers if the mood strikes us.
Neighbourhood: The neighbourhood is quaint yet bustling and downtown is pretty hip and happening, loud and bright. Jake and I ventured alone downtown last week, our first time using public transit. It took about 25 mins to get down there, and over an hour to get back. We couldn't really figure out the reason on our own so we asked a co-worker who told us we had taken an express bus down, and a regular one back home. The buss token system is pretty cool as you buy a little key chain that has an electromagnetic thing-a-ma-jiggy in it that you wave in front of a screen when you get on the bus. The screen will say some things in Korean and display your remaining balance on your card. Then it says "Kamsa haminada", or "Thank you" in a polite female voice. You can go to more popular bus stops that have vendors at them and put as much or little money onto it as you want.
Shopping: The main stores that we have been able to explore are the less scary-more western department stores. These are the Hyundai Department Stores (x2), Lotte Department Store, and the New Core Dept store. These department stores are absolutely ji-normous compared to Canadian standards. Think the Bay or Sears with style and on steroids. The local Hyundai store is 8 stories tall, and is all store. None of that "top 5 floors are offices" thing that the Eaton's Center has. Basement=groceries, electronics, int'l bank and food court. 1st-3rd floor= women's clothes. 4th=kids stuff. 5th=sports equipment. 6th= mens. 7= ikea-esque and 8th= restaurants. You get the picture. The fashion for ladies in these dept stores are pretty cool by my standards which some find strange, but everything is ridiculously overpriced. I asked our Korean coworkers (both male and female) where to go clothes shopping and they told me that everyone in Korea basically shops online. This upset me as I love to spend hours wandering around malls and bargain basements and second hand stores. I feel like by all Koreans buying clothes online they are deterring the possibility of wonderful, cheap malls erupting in Ulsan. Hopefully when we go to Japan at the end of the month we will find some sweet discount stores. Or when we visit Seoul... but that is too far in the future, my shopping bug needs to be satisfied before then!
Ok, sorry about the shopping rant for any male readers.
Foreigners: Our school, just today, got two new giant banners that they have hung on the exterior of the academy. One features Jake, Simon and I with our names printed in English underneath, and some Korean characters, and another taken at the speech contest we judged, with both kids and teachers. We are going to be way more famous than we had anticipated in our area of Bang O Dong, Ulsan. As the only non-Koreans for kilometers, the local store owners and citizens are starting to get used to us. The "Dis Caunt Stoa" in front of our apartment is used to us purchasing chips, pop and beer, and the ladies across the street that wash vegetables in large bowls on the street 6 days a week always say annyong haseyo and giggle when we return in our Canadian accents. We assume these ladies wash and prepare vegetables for stores and restaurants, but maybe they just eat absurd amounts of it themselves. Until we learn more Korean, we can only speculate.
Customs: We have adventured the areas local temple which was pretty and serene. There are lots of small parks around where unattended children, as young as 4 I'd guess play without any supervision. The crime rate here is so low that there really is no point in worrying about regular Canadian frights such as robbery, abduction, theft, bar fights etc. Along with letting kids roam free, most people live in smaller apartments and let their animals run free as well. We've been told that you basically let your dog out in the morning, and if it comes back, feed it at night and let it sleep inside. We have made several local cat and dog friends. Considering the fact that there are no traffic laws here the unattended children and animals learn the ways of the street quite fast and have swifter reaction times than the average oblivious Canadian pedestrian. In our area, and Korea in general, there are no stop signs at intersections, simply lights at select major intersections. When approaching an intersection with no lights, it's basically a game of chicken...one speeds up and honks the horn loudly and the bravest gets through). While it sounds chaotic, it really works quite well, and there is none of the stop-and-go 4-way-stops residential area stuff that there is in Canada.
Also it's very important to know, and most do, that when traveling in Korea, as well as most Asian countries, it is very, VERY important that you remove your shoes before entering a house or any restaurant where you eat on the floor. Our house came equipt with slippers for the house, and slippers for the bathroom and slippers for outside. Each pair of slippers waits for you at the entrance to the designated area, and one size will have to fit all. (In Korea they call one-size fits all "Free size")
Food: We have eaten at several local restaurants, each one discovered better than the last. Our new favourite food, galbi (a garlic marinated pork rib with onions and pepper paste wrapped in a leaf) is available at many many places. We went to a new restaurant on Friday with our crazy co-worker Min He and couldn't finish it all, so they made us a spectacular doggie-bag and we had it for dinner again the next night at home.
Partying: We have gone out on one Friday and two Saturdays to the local watering hole called Ilsan Beach. It's an area about a 10 minute walk from our apartment and is like a mini-downtown. There are many buildings that are about 6 stories, with each story being a new bar, restaurant or Nori-bong (singing room). Jake will explain the beauty and excitement of the area in the next post.
Hugs and kisses
Colleener

**Click for Pictures **

Here's a video of the view from our apartment roof:

A Clarification

Contrary to popular belief (particularly that of the Toronto Fitzpatricks), our Korean beer of choice is called "Hite," not "Shite."
I am pictured here holding the convenient "pitcher" size, which is just as common in corner stores as 2L jugs of Pepsi. $4.30 at a corner store (our local spot is called the 'dis caunt stoa'), or $3.70 at the grocery store.
mmmm HITE.

-Jake

PS: Photo Update:

** Click for Jake's Pics**

** Click for Colleen's Pics**

Facebook Photos

Pictures from the first few days in Ulsan.

**Click for Pictures **

The Apartment

So, our apartment is pretty sweet. 2 bedrooms, an office, a big kitchen, 2 enclosed balconies, 2 27"screen t.v.'s, a bathtub (very rare in Korea), and to top it all off, the colour of choice throughout the apartment is a stunningly fashionable easter egg purple! Our faves! hahaha. Other than the tacky wallpaper and the purple doors and their frames, the apartment is gorgeous. And it's definitely a good price too....free!!

In Korea all interior doors and windows are sliding, usually opaque, large squares. It's pretty fancy looking. So when in the kitchen, you can open a sliding window and see the computer room/office. Same goes with the two bedrooms and the balconies.
A strange twist to Korean apartments is that they are all made entirely of concrete. So, you can't really hang anything with nails or screws into the walls or ceilings. We've been told it is because of the massive rebuilding of the country after war and recession. Concrete seemed like the quickest and easiest way to build up a stable standard of living and economy.
Other apartments in the neighbourhood are either very bland, or very 'classic Asian' styled, with swooping roofs and round shingles.... you know the type, the stereotypically Chinese design.
Hope these videos give you an idea of how we are living. We haven't had time to decorate yet so don't mind its sparseness.

APARTMENT TOUR PART 1

This tour is interrupted by who we refer to as "The Plum Man." The Plum Man drives around the area with a truck full of produce (often, but not always, plums), and blares a recorded message on loop from his truck. The first time we heard him we thought he was a propaganda man.

APARTMENT TOUR PART 1.5: The Plums of Wrath

Colleen's camera misses the plum man... but you can hear the bugger.

APARTMENT TOUR PART 2: The Conclusion

The Travelers' Lament

Hey there everyone. We welcome you to our new blog about our goings-on in Ulsan, South Korea.

The preparation to come teach English in Korea was long and sometimes tedious. However after being here only 3 days, we both know it was well worth it!

After deciding on a school offer in a mid-sized coastal city we went to work getting passports, work visas and putting together a contract package for our new boss Mrs. An.

We chose Ulsan because of its relatively small population of 1.4million (and hence is relatively low polution levels), its location on the eastern coast (we need the ocean close by), its temperate climate (summers high of 30C, winters low of -3C), and because it is far from North Korea (Hey, you can never be too careful. Why not cover all your bases?). Our apartment is 3 bedrooms, 5 min walk to the school, 10 min walk to the beach and has all the necessities. It's a 20 min cab ride to downtown which is always bustling and interesting, and it only costs $14.

To get here we began our trip at 5am on Wednesday, June 26th at Toronto Pearson Int'l Airport. We took a 5 1/2 hour flight to San Francisco and had a 6 hour stop over. It was only supposed to be 4 hours but the Korean Air flight that we were taking to Seoul was delayed by 2hrs. We debated trying to walk around San Fran, but we had too much luggage, very little American money, no idea how far the airport was from downtown, and realized that there was too much room for disaster.

We had some breakfast/lunch, went through security and began the best flight we have ever experienced on Korean Air 024 in a Boeing 777. A 12 hour flight in total, we didn't even get to do/see everything that was offered to us on this awesome flight. Once we were settled into our seats we were given packages with a toothbrush, toothpaste, sleeping mask, thick green socks, a pillow and blanket. Our chairs had a built in tv remote/video game controller/wireless mouse and there were large screens on every chair. There were movies, games, tv shows, albums and an 'online' duty free shopping option right at your seat. The movies, tv shows and music were both in Korean and English. The games had a multi player option so that you could play with other people in the plane. You just clicked their seat number. Jake and I played some Tetris, and Yhatzee together and watched Children of Men (a rather somber movie) and some interesting documentaries, one on panda bears and one on martial arts (I bet you can't guess who watched which one?). The person next to us bought some duty free stuff on her computer/tv screen and the flight attendants came over within 5 mins with with a shopping bag and her purchase. It was very futuristic. Also, there was free alcohol. Unfortunately we were too out of wack and tired to get too many drinks.
Our in-plane meal was called Bibimbap and it was very tasty. It came with instructions too. We also got seaweed soup, a dish of pickles (?), and for breakfast we got shrimp spaghetti with peas (!?).
Once we landed in Seoul/Incheon we needed to take a 45 min shuttle to the "domestic flights only" airport in Gimpo to catch a flight to Ulsan. But because of the previous 2 hour delay we missed the last shuttle and flight from Gimpo. So we put on our most confused and upset faces and approached the Korean Air customer service desk. We spent at least 20 minutes there as the agent set us up with a free stay at the hotel and sent us on a free shuttle ride to the Seoul Hyatt Regency Hotel. They put us up for the night, gave us a free meal at the hotel restaurant, and prepared a wake-up call for us at 4:30 am. At this point we were so jet-lagged and confused with time changes and the like it didn't really matter that we were only going to get3 1/2 hours of sleep. The hotel was unbelievable and included lots of cool things such as: to turn on the lights in your room you placed your room key in a slot - therefore you cannot leave your room and leave the lights on! Also, after taking a shower, and the mirror was all fogged up, there was a prefect square in the middle that was automatically de-fogged- even when we blew hot breath on it it would not fog up! Genius. Simply genius.

The next morning we caught the shuttle to the Gimpo airport and everything went off without a hitch. The plane ride was interesting because it was a 1 hour domestic flight at 7am, and we were the only two people that weren't in business suits, and there were only 3 girls on the plane, minus the stewardesses.

Our boss, Mrs. An and the couple we are replacing, Shayne and Joanna, were there to greet us at the airport and we drove to our new neighbourhood!
A long flight, long stopovers, little food and little sleep finally brought us to our destination and our new home.

----Colleener

Testing

Testing in Canada. Wooo.
So Jake and I have decided to create a blog space to update all you curious friends on our adventure halfway across the world in Ulsan, South Korea. We will put up pictures and narrate them.
You can comment on the stuff too.
See you soon,
Colleener