We've Moved!

If you liked this blog, and wanted to keep tabs on our lives, you can find us at www.thelemerys2.blogspot.com

This is our new blog about our life in China.

Things I'll miss

Things I'll Miss:

1. Service-uh (the giving of free things, especially toilet paper and ice cream).
2. Heated Toilet Seats. No not from other people's asses being on them, but rather the cool Japanese ultra toilet seats. Just. Plain. Awesome.
3. Being a celebrity.
4. Random hiking tails, complete with water, soju, and food if you need it.
5. Klogic.
6. Kim Bap Nara.
7. Consuming massive amounts of pork.
8. Students and their use of English.
9. My school
10. Even my co-teachers.
11. Finding western food products/stores in random places.
12. Getting wicked excited for a soccer game.
13. Norea Buses (yes, thats right, kareoke on a bus)
14. What just happened nights.
15. Being told I'm beautiful by strangers, every day.
16. $10 hair cuts, complete with the best head massage ever!
17. Easy transportation around the country (buses, trains, planes, automobiles, and even boats!)
18. Service-uh
19. Crazy and wicked scary, yet fun taxi rides.
20. Randomness that is Korea.
21. Ajumas (old married ladies).
22. Kim Bap
23. Friends
24. Friends
25. And last but not least. Friends (and service-uh).

Things I Won't Miss:

1. Klogic
2. Taxi driving
3. Eating "surprise" dinners (aka: teacher dinners where I have to pretend to eat live octopus, crazy seafood items, raw fish, etc).
4. Destroying my liver.
5. Squatter Toilets (even though I know they are in China, I secretly hope they are not).

Arrgg!!

No I'm not a pirate, but I am sure as mad as one.

All my pictures from Nov-2008 to Nov-2009 are gone.

Vanished.

Vamoosh.

Very bad.

Uggg! It was my plan to send this site to a blog bookmaker company so that we could have a photo album/journal of our time here....but now, with no pictures.

I guess I just have to load them all on to the blog again...unless someone out there knows how to else to do it.

Grrrrr... (and now I'm not allowed to publish this post with exclamation points. wtf blogger??)

List of Love

Here's to the start of my list(s). There is no particular order or number. I am just writing things down as they come to me.

1. Love from Strangers: Strangers love us. They love to tell us we are beautiful. They love to smile at me, hold my hand, touch my hair. If I'm ever angry, I don't stay that way for too long because I get stranger love. I mean, what gets you out a bad mood faster than being told your beautiful or given a free apple? Nothing. It happens daily. Old people, young people, people in the middle all love to see us. They love to say "You are beautiful." It doesn't get old. EVER. I makes me happy.



2. Love for Foreigners: This is much different from Stranger Love, but the effect is the same. Ed and I have found that the people here are extremely generous and helpful, only because we are foreigners. Giving a good impression is important here, and trust me, the Korean people have won us over! Service-uh (the giving of free stuff) is greatly appreciated in this household.



3. Love of Soju: This kind of love is a special love. Its the kind of love you know is not good for you, but every once in a while, you love to get your Soju love on. You see, Soju is a dangerous, dangerous drink. It creeps up on you. It makes you dance in the streets. It makes you sing ridiculous songs in a norae bong. It can even make you pass out randomly in the streets (Thanks to Blackout Korea for some proof of what I'm talking about). But you can have the best time when Soju is around. It is liquid courage for many people here. Its the cultural barrier breaker. Its ability to enable all of us to interact (like fools most of the time) is notorious and wonderful. Its Soju Love.



4. Love of Ice Cream: Koreans love ice-cream. Thank God! Because that means I get to eat it all the time, any where, and in any season. It could be 40 below and there will be a group of small children licking down some delicious ice cream cone. I love ice cream. Koreans love ice cream. It is a match made in heaven.



5. Love of Pork: The sheer amount of pork that consumed in this country is amazing. But seriously, how awesome is pork? It makes any day better. And by God, a belly full of sam gyup sal (bbq pork) is pretty amazing. I will greatly miss the meat bellies and meat comas induced by consuming large amounts of pork and only pork.

Countdown begins...

With less than twenty days left in Korea, I've been trying to decide how to give it a proper send off. I think I've decided on making a list (Ed gasping in the background) of the things that have become most important to me while here. And because I can be very long winded and because I have a lot to say about Korea, I'm going to do it in segments. So be on the look out for:

Ed and Jen's Super Korean List!

Welcome to My Huge Picture of a Tiger

I know. I'm working on it. I've lost the other picture that used to be up there, and I am continuing to look for it. Until I find it again, you get the giant picture of a tiger. Enjoy!~

PS: I've taken care of the huge tiger picture, but just in case you didn't see it!

Typical Night in Korea

The nights around here have been pretty jammed pack with excitement. I'm not talking about the 'fun nights' when we go out with friends. I'm talking about weekday nights, when we go to bed at 9:30pm. Here's a run down of our nights as of late:

11:00pm Drunk signing from an old man out side our window.

11:10pm Drunk yelling from an old man. Old woman yelling at the old man to shut up.

Special Event!!(if there is a Korean game) 11:00pm-5:30am Possibly drunk shouting "대한민극!" (Go Korea!) from rowdy fans. Yes it lasts all night long!

4:20am Loud piercing alarm goes off outside our apartment. When this happens, Ed and I are the only ones who seem concerned (as we are the only ones leaving our apartment).

4:30am Alarm still going off. No movement from any one else in the building.

4:35am Alarm still going off.

4:40am Security gets out of bed to turn of the alarm. He does this by banging the alarm unit loudly.

5:00am - 7am Peaceful sleep.

Football (ahem, soccer) Fever!

Go USA!!

(and go Korea--I mean I have to cheer for my 'adoptive' home right?)

Yup its June!

Annyong Saram! (Hello People!)


So I guess I should update you all on what we have been doing here. Basically keeping busy, doing the same ol' same ol'. Which is playing, playing and playing. And I guess we do some teaching in there some times!


We've had a busy couple of months here. I think the biggest thing we have done is head up to Seoul for the Dream Concert (and my birthday). You, of course, are wondering what the Dream Concert is. Well lets just say its like the biggest concert in Korea. All year long. Its similar to a three day music festival in the States, but not three days and with out all the cool side show stuff you can see. But you do get to see twenty of the top K-Pop bands all in one night. Imagine 40,000 of your closest friends (aka High School Girls) screaming along with all your favorite K-Pop bands. It was fantastic!


Needless to say it was an interesting, yet really exciting, experience. You all by now are aware of our fascination with the monster that is K-Pop. So we were in our element. The funny thing is that we were soooo far away we really couldn't see anything (or hear for that matter---did I mention there were like 40,000 high school girls there??). So we ended up watching the concert on TV when it played for the 'nation' the next weekend. It was definately better being there to experience it first hand!


While we were there, we did a short tour of Seoul. We didn't really do much other than walk around, but it was actually kind of nice to 'see' some of the tourist attractions that Seoul has to offer.

I've tried several times to upload the pictures for you guys, but for some reason I can't get them to upload. SOOOOO what I've done is add them to the right panel. You can click on the picture and that will take to you the online photo storage service I use.

Sorry for the inconvience, but at least this way to get to see all the pictures!

We're Safe

Hey Guys,

Just thought I'd write a quick little note to let you all know the 411 with N. Korea (at least from the South's perspective).

I know that it has been in the news a lot lately, and I also know that the American news goes straight for the fear factor. So I'm not going to soften things, but they are definately not as bad as you may be imagining.

The reality from this side of the world is that yes, everyone is worried, South Koreans and us alike. The current president's policy is very different from the old one, especially when regarding the North. He likes to think USA style. In reality the South has delt with the North with kid gloves on for many, many years, so now with a new line of treatment the North is not happy. The people that I have spoken too are worried that his line of dealing with the North with cause something.

But here's the thing. We ALL know that the North is a caged animal waiting for someone to stick their arm in. The entire country does not want ANYTHING to happen, to anyone. So it's my opinion (and that of my co-workers as well) that the South will tread lightly and carefully. I have not recieved anything from the Embassy, and nothing has been sent about any danger.

We are hoping that things will end in peace and the North will not go bat shit crazy on us. And just so you know, more people in Korea want reunification and hope to meet their brothers and sisters in the North. Hopefully the world and the North will take that into account when talking about how to handle this situation.

So for now, we are safe. We are happy. We are healthy.

Thinking out of the Box

Most of my students (actually most of the students in Korea) love automated responses. For example, when you ask a student (any student) "How are you?" you will most likely get "I'm fine, thank you. And you?"

The student could have a broken arm, and that is still the response that you will get. It is easy to say that this love of the "I'm fine." phrase by Korean students is the bain of all Native English Speakers here in Korea.

I'm no exception. This semester I've made it my number one goal to get the students to say how they really are feeling, not "I'm fine." I'm glad to report that it is working for some students. I'm going to leave you with a story of one successful conversation I had with one of my students Friday.

I started the class like every class by asking the students "How are you?". Of course I got the "I'm fines", but I had a few "I'm good," "I'm tired", "I'm hungry." mixed in there. One student piped up and said: "Teacher I have tiger power!".

"What? You have tiger power? Why do you have tiger power?" I asked.

The student gave me strong arms (think muscle man) and repeated "Tiger power, teacher! You know!"

At this I told him that I had no idea what he meant by tiger power, and admitted that I was pretty confused. He explained what he meant in Korean to the students (hoping someone could help him tell me what he meant by tiger power). His explaination garnered a ton of laughs from the students, so I know that what he was talking about had to be good.

Someone shouted out "Teacher, breakfast!" followed by a chorus of tiger powers. I still had no idea what he meant.

Finally my co-teacher stepped in and translated for me. "Jennifer," she said "do you know the cereal with the tiger on it? He ate that cereal this morning, so he has tiger power."

The light came on. The student had eaten Frosted Flakes. He indeed had tiger power! I told him that was "Great!" that he had tiger power. He didn't get that part!

Spring is here!

All work and no play means...

....you can leave your boots anywhere?? I was on my way to work, when I came across these lonely pair of boots this morning. There were no feet (drunk or sober) to go in them. Ahhhh Korea....Spring has finally decided to stop on by, and boy is she pretty! The Cherry Blossoms have popped and I wanted to show all of you who are not in Asia (so everyone who reads this blog??) how wonderful it is here right now. I've decided that if I could live in a world where cherry blossoms blossomed all year long, I would be one very happy lady. They are BEAUTIFUL! Its too bad they only last a few days...

See what I mean?? Amazing! It's like snow has fallen and only landed on the pretty trees.

This lady didn't really appreciate them this much this morning, or me taking pictures of them for that matter. But I guess I wouldn't if I had to lug three shovels up a huge mountain to go pick/plant some thing all day long either!

On a side note, we've been keeping pretty busy lately with work and such. The kiddos for some reason are extra cute this year. Perhaps its because we know we are leaving in a few short months (the end is in sight type of thing) but I don't think Ed and I have enjoyed a group of students more.

I've got kids making mini-dramas about their English book cartoon characters, 'Steve' and 'Yu-jin'. Steve and Yu-jin are having quite the love affair---that is when Steve is not beating Yu-jin, like he was today. Its very Days, trust me! Let me know if you want all the gory, lovey details. I will provide them for you!

Ed's students are dancing in class and freaking out over boy bands. So I guess thats not too new, but still its enough to make him (and me) giggle.

I wanted to take some pictures of the azaleas for you all, but my foot, back and nose are saying no way to any sort of hiking (or physical activity for that matter) so I'm hoping they (the flowers--and my foot and back and nose for that matter too!) will still be around by this weekend. But don't worry! I've been keeping busy cuddling with Eddie--so everything is all good!

How is your spring turning out??

Chunnam Opening Day

The Chunnam Dragons had their opening day last week and of course we went to cheer them on. I have to say, they looked great (a little tired there at the end). It was a physically rough game (with the other team being a bit brutish if you ask me). In the end, the Dragons tied with Ulsan.

Opening day cheering!

And a magic wizard.

The half time show. Lots of drumming and circle running.

And of course the bench warmers can still warm up while the half time show is going on.

And when they scored, the stadium released giant amounts of confetti. It was amazing!

Some more confetti!

And some more drumming

Go Dragons!

Jonjesan Hiking

A few of us got together for a fabulous day of hiking near Boseong Tea Fields. I think the mountain we climbed was named Jonjesan, but it could be called something else. I really wasn't paying that close attention to the mountain name. I was paying close attention to the hike itself, which was amazing! As always, here are some pictures:

Starting Out

Can you see the Nun??

There she is!

Rest stop!

Ji Hye

Meghan

Sang Jun

Almost at the the top.

Thumbs up from Hak Kyeong

Another of Ji Hye

Steve

Meghan

Going to the other 'top'

Steve attempting the big climb

And Hak Kyeong using his billy goat skills to get up the sheer rock.

And Steve's stopped.

Hak Kyeong made it

And Sang Jun too!

Group Shot!

Robin's Visit at Nagan Folk Village

While Robin was visiting us, we took her to some of the best Korean Heritage Sites: Boseong Tea Fields and Nagan Folk Village. While we did take her to see some other neat stuff, these are the only pictures we have of our time together. I'm anxiously awaiting some photos from her, so you can see some of our cool adventure!

Robin admist the Boseong Tea Fields

Some gentlemen walking at Nagan Folk Village

Ed: "Jen don't touch it!" Yup I did touch it. With glee. And yes, thats what you think it is.

Some local wild life.

A wild rabbit that has not been eaten!! A rare site in Korea.

Me and my new boyfriend.

Ed as a guard.

My turn.

Water wheel.

Some local houses.

Totem Pole of terror!

And finally, there she is! No its not a lamp shade, but rather a very stylish hat. I think Robin looks great with it on. Don't you??