Thailand. Bangkok

I thought I could write just one post about Thailand and fit everything, but I think I'll break it up by city or something? I'm not sure. Anyway, here's the first one.
The whole trip was a bit surreal, it was my first real 'vacation' I call it that because it was so short, but it was also more of a backpacking vacation than the regular stay in resort and lounge on the beach sorta deal. Anyway, part one Bangkok and stuff. I don't even think I have all of my adventures there listed yet!

I've wanted to go to Thailand for a long time. And I almost didn't go.
I found myself sitting my friends apartment the weekend before my winter break obsessing over what I should do (as I do) and basically being talked out of it by my friends. I went home in more doubt than I'd been in before and feeling sad about the whole situation. I imagined staying in Korea for the whole winter break. Sitting at home everyday (as I'm prone to do) watching hours of travel shows and movies and wishing beyond hope that I was somewhere beautiful and warm as well. Well that pretty much did it for me, I had to go.

I literally booked my ticket that night and despite the closeness to my departure date I managed to not get an awful price. Then I found a hostel and all was right again. I was going to Thailand!

The pessimist in me is still surprised the trip went off with a hitch. I made it to the airport in plenty of time, had no delays or trouble with my flights and arrived at the hostel with no problems either. The first day I was there I was pretty tired and overwhelmed, it probably wasn't the best day to go see Thailand's largest and most famous tourist attraction, but honestly I didn't even think it through. I asked the front desk what I should see and they said go to the palace.When I was about to leave I overheard the receptionist talking to someone else about going to the palace... well here was my chance! I told a bemused british guy that I was going to the palace as well and would he like to go together? He agreed. I briefly worried he had a girlfriend somewhere who would view my intrusion as something more than friendliness, but the guy (Rob) seemed pretty chill and unconcerned about a jealous girlfriend popping up so I figured that wasn't something I needed to worry about.

So he showed me how to take the sky train (best thing ever) and also the ferry (also very helpful) and we went to the busiest tourist attraction I've ever seen. Now, I will offer my advice here for any of you planning on going to Thailand. If you visit the palace and Emerald buddha, do not do as I did and go at the height of the afternoon. No, definitely get up early and go in the morning. As well as being insanely busy with people. Literally everywhere you also have to keep your knees and shoulders covered up, I actually didn't know this so I wore shorts just above my knees and a tank top. Oops. Luckily I brought a long sleeved top and we found a lady selling long, wrap-around skirts near the palace entrance (no doubt making a bundle of ignorant tourists like me). You can also rent or buy (?) clothes to wear around the temples inside. I wasn't concerned about it though, pretty pink wrap around for a 100 baht? (approx $3 cad), well you can't go wrong with that anyway.

The temple was insanely beautiful and decorated with colourful, shiny stuff and gold. It was insane. Everywhere you looked you saw something beautiful, interesting or old. The only complaint I really have about the whole thing was how busy it was. You couldn't look at anything without five people standing in your way or trying to get by you or whatever. Unfortunately all the temples I visited in Bangkok were like this, although the palace and emerald Buddha were by far the busiest. The other thing I wished for a lot while there was some sort of information about the buildings, artwork, architecture...anything. I guess having stuff to read everywhere would slow down the immense movement of people through the grounds, but still, it would've been interesting and enriched the experience.

Actually, now that I think about it, there were people offering to be tour guides, but as with all things in Thailand you should be a bit weary of Thai people approaching you and offering you services so Rob and avoided what we assumed was a tourist trap. Another thing to avoid in Bangkok were the Tuktuk's although I did end up riding in one after a night out. Apparently they try to scam tourists by taking them to various businesses and getting them to buy stuff they don't want, a guy at my hostel had an experience where they took him everywhere but where he wanted to go and he finally ended up at a suit shop so he just bailed, not the best situation to be in.

The other temples I saw were sorta similar to the first, not identical by any means though. The reclining Buddha was definitely impressive and I enjoyed the atmosphere at that temple more than the Emerald Buddha temple, but it was also less impressive in other ways. When you went in to see the Emerald Buddha you couldn't take pictures and the guards asked us to sit down. There was something about sitting on the floor like that, with a bunch of other tourists, just being quiet and admiring something so stunning and old that I will never forget. It wasn't even the Buddha itself, but just the sense of sacredness and holiness that came over the room. Despite everyone there as a tourist just to stare and gape at the statue. It still didn't lose it's power somehow.

Wat Arun was still my favourite temple though. You could climb up the side and get a wonderful view of the Chao Phraya River which winds through Bangkok's old city. It was stunning. Some of my favourite moments in Bangkok were definitely going down the river on the ferry. They were crowded with tourists (everywhere was) yet some how very relaxing for me. I guess just being on the water is relaxing in a general sense.

Besides visiting temples in Bangkok I also went to Khao San Road, which was basically a bar lined street (from what I saw of it) and the atmosphere sort of reminded me of Canada day in Victoria in the Inner Harbour...I don't know, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it certainly felt crazy. I may have tried scorpion well there, it tasted awful, like burnt paper or egg shell, without the stink. I didn't eat very much though. I also had a delicious wrap (middle eastern and Indian food is popular in Thailand).

I also visited Chatuchak weekend Market which was seriously the most insane thing I have ever seen, well shopping wise anyway. I got lost in it for over an hour (maybe two). It's a weekend market too, I honestly don't understand how that works. I feel like it's one of those things where they say it is a weekend market, but it really isn't. Anyway it's really hard to describe how massive this place is. You enter a maze when you go inside, no metaphor. A literal maze. I tried to imagine trying to find your stall in it and had trouble. It didn't feel real, but also felt like a living thing, constantly changing and evolving as I was there. I definitely saw people put up new stalls as I wandered around. I was surprised, even shocked when I saw the same places more than once, second guessing if they were actually the same place (well that's a bit dramatic, but you get the idea). They sold everything you could want there. So many cute, cheap clothes, knick knacks, both touristy and not. It was a shoppers paradise and possibly someone else's hell.

When I was taking the sky train to the market I looked out the window and saw a massive array of buildings and wondered if that was it, row upon row of roofs all crunched up close together, it looked sorta like a slum from the roof, but nicer.

I also visited a floating market, it was small and less interesting to me. Still really neat to see the women on their boats making food. I wanted to go to one of the larger ones,but unfortunately they were further out of town so I would have had to plan ahead a lot more. Still, I got some really yummy food there and enjoyed looking at the stalls. The market I went to was about a 30-40 minute bus ride away from the hostel so I also got a nice view of the city that way and there were lots of locals on the bus.

I should mention here how the fair system was very different on the buses and ferries. They had a woman with a long tube case full of coins and tickets go around and ask each passenger for their fare. I couldn't help but think it must get confusing when a lot of people got on the bus or ferry. I never did see the ladies miss anyone though, they're probably used to large crowds anyway.

Bangkok was super fun and busy I met some really cool people there, including a French girl who'd been studying in Hong Kong, a Hispanic guy from Porto Rico, a fun Norwegian girl, lots of Germans, two guys from the same neighbourhood in New York City who were strangers before I told them about each other and a few other really interesting people. I was really worried about traveling alone in Thailand, but there are seriously so many backpackers I had absolutely no trouble meeting people to do stuff with. I think it's a great country to travel alone in as long as your safe and take care of your belongings. The backpacking community there was amazing and so fun to be a part of, even for a brief period.

After Bangkok I took a train to Chiang Mai and met some interesting girls from Massachusetts, but I will save that for my next post about Thailand! If there is anything else you want to know about, any pictures on facebook you have questions about or anything your confused by please feel free to comment! I love getting some comments. Anyway, enjoy. 

Oh the foods you will eat (Korean food part one, the intro)

I know I've probably mentioned in a couple posts that I like Korean food. You know, maybe.

Well I do. I love it.

Korea has some of the most delicious, unique food I've ever eaten. They love two popular flavours sweet and spicy, those flavours often go together. Although it is not only sweet and spicy foods here, they have many kinds of food you could never experience outside Korea. An array of different kinds of soup and fish, a billion side dishes. My favourite are the ones that have green leafy veggies and lots of sesame oil on them. Yummy.

Of course there's also kimchi, which is most westerners image as only be pickled cabbage. It's not. There are actually different types of pickled vegetables, not all called kimchi, but some them are. My favourites are the radish kimchi and the sweet pickled radish. Radish kimchi is super crunchy and juicy. It's not sliced like you'd imagine, but the radishes are cut in half with the tops left on in most cases and pickled with left over kimchi sauce. Or they are cut into fairly large cubes. Either way they are delicious.

Another thing that you probably already know about Korea food is the BBQ. There are different kinds of BBQ meals like bbq'd pork slices called samgyeopsal and then bulgogi the Korean classic. Both are delicious as they look. Usually when you eat Korean bbq they give you lots of side dishes, soup (there is soup and side dishes with every Korean meal traditionally) and various leafy greens to make wraps with for the meat. Seriously, the leafy greens are the way to go. So delicious. You gotta put some garlic and a Korean bean paste called doenjang in them and maybe a little kimchi. It is seriously so tasty.

The last thing that most people know about Korean food is the street food. It's very popular here. Any market you go to is gonna have dumplings (called mandu in Korean and my personal favourite), tteokbokki which is basically rice cakes (not actually cake, there's more like a chewy noodle made out of rice flour) and fish cakes (again not actually cakes) in a steaming hot, spicy and sweet red sauce. Koreans at work were worried this dish would be too spicy for me, but I handled it fine. The last really popular street food is fish cake soup. It has fish cakes on sticks that boil in broth. you eat the cake off the stick and drink the broth. It sounds kind of strange, but it's really good, I wasn't a huge fan of it the first time I had it but, since trying it again I've come to love it.

Moving on the some lesser known Korean foods... there is duk galbi which is a chicken dish cooked at the table. I've posted a few pictures of it. Actually, I've probably posts a few pictures of most of the dishes I've mentioned. It is spicy and has a variety of veggies, rice cakes and chicken in it. Most good places make it at the table in a large flat pan so you know it's freshly made. After eating all the chicken and veggies they will bring you steamed rice and seaweed to sop up all the yummy sauce left in the bottom of the pan. Be warned though, this dish is spicy and can mess up your clothes cause if it's too hot then the sauce splatters.

I feel like I could easily dedicate a whole blog to Korean food, but I think I will only high light one more dish for today. There are still many many things I haven't even mentioned and many more that I haven't tried. Korea actually has a lot of regional cuisines, which Koreans are fairly proud of. This past weekend three of my friends and I went to Jinju, a city about an hours drive from Changwon to see a castle. According to my Korean friends we had to try this special bibimbap (a mixed rice dish, it's very pretty and fresh) with thinly sliced raw beef on top and a yummy soup with it., The meal did not disappoint. It had the yummy red chili sauce that is also a little sweet and a bunch of veggies, carrots, mushrooms, bean sprouts... and on top of it all in a neat little mound was pile of thinly sliced, small slivers of beef. The soup with the meal was also pretty good. It had some blood cubes in it which didn't really taste like anything to me and liver which I actually don't like that much.

All in all Korean food is good. Really good. Don't be fooled into thinking it is just BBQ and rice dishes. I mean I didn't even talk about bean paste soup, Korean pizza, the fried chicken, soondubu jjigae, Korean Chinese food (yes, it's different, yes, it's good), kimbap (rolls that look like sushi rolls, but taste nothing like them) and many other things. I think this post will have to be part of a series? This can be Korean food part one, the intro. So look forward to Korean food part two, jiggae, kimbap and regional cuisine. 

Update of sorts and western holidays in Korea

I know, I know. I have been a lazy blogger. Very lazy, my last post was about a month ago. Sorry about that guys.

So I guess I should update you on the happenings here in Korea? 

Well, December, as it always is for me, was a rather busy month. Classes got a little more intense because we were wrapping up for winter break, then there was Christmas to think about and finally English camp. 

So I guess I'll start with holiday's in Korea, in the order I wrote the title. I'll try to keep this brief. 

Western Thanksgiving is non-existent, unless you are of course, western. 

Halloween was just another day, unless you are a foreigner, then you feel it lacking in your life. I don't know if I spoke about this before, but it was the worst holiday for me so far. First, I was barely a month into my contract and second, nobody celebrated it. Nobody. The most that happened was I played a Halloween themed game with the kids. That was it. None of the kids dressed up, no teachers gave out candy, there were no pumpkins, nothing. It was a sad holiday for me. 

I wasn't really sure how I felt about Christmas though. Since working in retail I've had a love hate relationship with Christmas. Pretty much it's like I love food, family, presents and goodies, I hate getting up early, Christmas shopping and all the small talk. I always get stressed out around Christmas. Do I buy that person a gift, what do I get them? Who do I give cards? Should I have a Christmas party? etc etc. 

Then there was work, basically if you work in retail your working everyday and full shifts, no sweet little 4 or 6 hour shifts during the Christmas season! Those shifts are also really busy cause there are soooo many shoppers, just where do they all come from? I don't know. 

Also, I hate seeing the sheer about of crap people buy for Christmas. It's frustrating. Do you really need Christmas balls every year? or is it necessary to buy your kids a billion and 1 presents? (I mean I do like presents, but the amount of gifts I've seen some people buy is ridiculous). I just don't really get it I guess. I mean I like the holiday, but after seeing it from the other side, so to speak, it looks a lot less about family and a lot more about blind consumerism. 

Well there's my rant for the week! Now, in comparison, let's look at Korea. First, Koreans always seem to be shopping, yes there did seem to be a slight upturn in the shopping around Christmas, but it was nothing shocking. I could go into the stores and see just as many people shopping as usual. 

Second, there are very few Christmas decorations. While I can remember in my store we had the entire Homesense side of the store dedicated to just Christmas stuff for at least two months of the year in Korea it was much less in your face. There would be displays of seemingly random Christmas decorations in the front of stores and then maybe something small inside, nothing like Canada. Nothing taking over the entire store. Also, Koreans just take Christmas day off, at least in my job. They don't seem to worry about Christmas a lot. 

Another thing I noticed was going out on Christmas day, the streets downtown were the same as they usually are. No different. Just as many people walking around. It was different. I'm used to empty streets on Christmas, closed stores where you're lucky to find one or two things open. It was just a casual holiday for Koreans though. 

In my classes I tried to ask the kids what they wanted to for Christmas and I got a lot of confused looks, although Koreans do exchange Christmas presents, it was way less exciting. I heard of only one truly ecstatic little girl. My coworkers 4 year old daughter was stoked for Santa to deliver presents. The kids in my classes just seemed to get comic books for Christmas, they also didn't seem to know what flavour candy canes were and they had no idea that you're supposed to kiss when caught under the mistletoe!

I had a small Christmas dinner with some friends who work at a academy together, it was really relaxed. We sat around drinking makali (Korean rice wine), wine, and homemade eggnog; eating pizza, chicken wings and delicious homemade cookies my friend Jackie made in her toaster oven (I don't know how she managed it!) 

New years was a little bit less different for me, Koreans actually seemed to have a new years tradition. The bars were busy when I went out with a different group of friends and we even counted down to midnight at the foreigner bar O'Brian's which was packed with people, I honestly had never seen that many foreigners in one place until new years eve. I'd say my new years eve and the day following were pretty much perfect. 

Despite the late evening my friends and I dragged ourselves out of bed in the morning and caught a bus to Busan, the neighbouring city, and second largest in South Korea. Apparently (as I found out later) many Koreans gather on the beaches of Busan at sunrise to welcome the new day and send off lanterns with hopes for the new year. I was a little sad I missed that, but I had such a fun New years eve with my friends it was okay.

So that's basically the western holiday's I've experienced in Korea so far. I was here for one Korean holiday, but as I didn't know anyone at the time I didn't do anything. It was alphabet day, which happened soon after I got here. 

As I stated in my facebook post I am happy to be here. Korea is beautiful and travelling to see just how big and small the world is has been wonderful. Still, despite my cynicism of the Christmas season, I'm not ready to abandon it altogether. The thing I did miss most was having a delicious, family dinner and spending time with everyone at home. 

Hopefully the new year is full of hope and happiness for everyone! 

Hiking in Changwon

Since I first saw the mountains in Changwon I've been dying to climb and hike in them. 

Finally that day came on Sunday. I decided to go in the afternoon, I heard the hike up a near by mountain (Mt. Jeongbyeong) was only about 4 hours round trip (the way I went up was much less than that) and a beautiful hike. The first thing I realized when I left my room was I forgot to check the weather and it was in fact wet and dreary out, but my main concern was the wetness. I decided to persevere because I really wanted to get up into those hills. 

The hiking trail is fairly close to one of my schools so it wasn't that hard to find, luckily and it was also pretty clearly laid out with a giant map at the beginning of the trail. Despite the weather there were quite a few people hiking up or coming down the trail. I wasn't too sure which way to go to get up to the top of the mountain, but I guessed and ended up being right. 

Not long after I had started up the trail I passed a middle aged man (honestly everyone I saw hiking was middle aged or in their 30s at least). Just after I passed him he must've realized I was a foreigner because I heard him say hi behind me. This actually happens to me quite often where people will randomly greet you in English or make conversation with you because they want to practice English, but I also think sometimes they're just being friendly. For some reason a lot of the Korean's I've met seem worried about me (mostly my coworkers, but still other people too). They seem to assume you need help all the time so sometimes they were help you out without you asking. 

The man asked me where I was from, a pretty normal question and he told me a little bit about the trail, mainly that it was difficult and steep. He asked if I was going up jeongbyeong mountain which I was and asked if I knew how to get up there, which I didn't. He offered to take me so since we seemed to be going the same direction anyway off we went. Now, I know what you're gonna say here going off with strange men in the woods! Anything could happen. Actually, despite being in the woods the trail was fairly busy, even for a dreary, wet day. I don't think I walked 10 minutes without passing someone. 

Also, if we were walking the same way I'd be walking up the mountain with him regardless so I decided to go for the less awkward route. It was the right decision in the end. He just had a lot of questions about Canada and what I was doing in South Korea, which was pretty standard. He also told me a bit about the area and seemed genuinely concerned I wouldn't make it up the mountain due the the steep hike (and my god it was a steep hike, for the last 15-20 minutes or so it felt like it was going straight up!).

The hike was gorgeous, even without the views of the Changwon below. Some how the fog and clouds all around made the landscape more beautiful and mysterious. I couldn't help stopping to stare down into the fog, wondering what was below. It was also kinda creepy not being able to see very far because you didn't know how far those steep hills actually went down. The top of the mountain definitely would've been more exciting on a clear day where I could see the view, but it was still nice to get up there. The air felt fresh and clean and the hike was strenuous but relaxing. 

After hiking down the mountain together my guide offered to show me a restaurant to get pajeon at the bottom of the mountain. Who can say no to that? He even bought me pajeon even though I insisted he didn't have to, I think it's a Korean thing? I'm not sure, can someone tell me if this was weird? (oh and the food was delicious, hard to explain but pajeon is like a green onion pancake similar to the kimchi pancake). Mostly I think he was happy to have a hiking buddy, as was I and he wanted to practice speaking English and here about Canada which, to be fair, is pretty interesting. 

I can't wait to go up into those hills again and do some more exploring. From the looks of the map (I posted it on facebook!) there are lots more trails to explore around Changwon. 

Also, mom, I will look into geocaches, just for you. And you would've loved this hike, it was a shorter hike than you usually do, but I also think the trail continued along the ridge for awhile, I just couldn't see it in all the fog! It was steep though so I got a good work out, my legs are so sore today! Anyway, if you ever want to come see me in Changwon, just know that the hiking is really good here, so worth it and very beautiful. 

Also, 

I think I must still be recovering because I just posted this on the wrong blog. 

Being a Foreigner in South Korea (from an attractive, white females perspective)

Okay, so this is something I may have already mentioned or briefly talked about, but I thought I'd do a post in a little more depth today. I also want to note that this post will purely be from my perspective. I do not know what other peoples experiences are like and I do not want, in any way, imply that everyone will have or has the same experience. I don't know for sure, but a guy, or a POC may have a very different experience in Korea. Also, people's experiences might be different depending on where in Korea you are. I'm sure someone in Seoul will have a different experience than me, since I am in a much smaller city. Also, my generalization of Korean's are simply of the Korean's I've met. I don't want to generalize too much, but it's hard not to generalize at least a little to save some time and space and whatnot.

Anyway, moving onwards. First, I'd like to say, my experience has been mostly positive, although I do have some advantages, mainly the advantage of blonde hair and big blue eyes, which, lets face it, are usually held in some sort of esteem in many other parts of the world as well. So do people treat foreigners differently? I guess so. Apparently I get stared at more, but I honestly was oblivious to this for a while until a foreign friend pointed it out to. And I do get stared at, quite a bit. People definitely openly stare at me sometimes, but I'm actually pretty used to this due to my stunt with a full head of red hair a couple years back. That gets you pretty stared at in Canada as well.

The other thing Koreans love to do is tell me I'm pretty or beautiful, which is fairly awkward, it is pretty cute to hear an 8 year old go, 'teacher,' points at your face, 'blue eyes, beautiful'. Korean's also love to stare into my eyes, especially the kids. They also love to look at my and go, blue eyes, pretty or beautiful. My land lady  has said this too me, also the other day at work my coworker took my photo so she could show her four year old what I look like. I presume since her daughter isn't school aged she probably hasn't seen a foreigner yet. Little kids and elderly are usually the ones who stare the most as well.

Last thing Korean's do that I think is actually kinda cool, in the right circumstance anyway, it would get creepy if random dudes were hitting on you by doing this. Koreans love to speak to you in English. Random hello's on the street to full blown conversations asking where you are from. I think they just like practicing English, they're being friendly and curious. I don't mind it. One day I had a guy come up to me at the bus stop and ask where I was from and we had a short conversation about it. I think he had a relative in Vancouver or Victoria or something.

That is another thing about Korean's they all seem to have relatives in North America somewhere and they always tell you this, or they've been to North America. I are just being friendly and trying to relate to you, which is cool, but it's actually sorta predictable now when they immediately tell you about there cousin in Toronto or there son in Vancouver or Minnesota or whereever as soon as you say where you are from. This literally happened to me yesterday when I went to the doctors to get a prescription (don't worry mom, it was just for allergy medication!). The Doctor told me all about his son in Toronto.

Okay, last thing I want to talk about here, not so nice occurrences. Now, lucky for me I haven't really had any bad experiences with Korean's yet. Of course there is the language barrier which can be pretty frustrating, but there's also something else, sometimes, just randomly, you'll a cold look from someone or a hard stare that seems to say 'why are you here' and it kinda sends a shiver down your spine. I'm sure I could be reading these looks wrong and the majority of Korean's I've met are friendly and nice to you, even if they can't understand you and vice versa. I feel like I definitely have an advantage being a young, white female so tell me about your experiences in Korea! I want to know about other people's experiences as foreigners. Or what you think of mine. :)  

A Day in the life... Of an English Teacher in South Korea

So as the title of this post says I will talk about a day in my life here in South Korea. I want to do a fairly typical day, nothing too special for this post. Maybe later I will write one about the weekend or going on a trip.

7:00 am
I wake up and check my phone because there are a bunch of notifications from everyone home. Next I get dressed and make tea. I'm lazy in the morning and have time at work so I grab a yogurt cup to take to work (also there are snacks in my office so I just steal some of those).

8:05 am - 8:10 am
Depending which school I'm at that week I either leave right around 8 or a bit after. I walk to work, it's not to far to walk to Bansong, but Bongrim is further away, I might start busing there instead it's practically a half hour walk. The weather is good most days, I think there have been less than a handful of rainy days here so far, and it's warmer than I'm used to at home so walking is nice. I also like that I can walk to work again, I missed walking when I moved out my apartment in Victoria.

8:30 am - 8:35 am
I arrive at work a few minutes before I'm supposed to be there (8:40) and I start up my computer, check my schedule to see what class I have first and check the textbook or lesson plan to see what lesson we're teaching that day and what materials I will need for it (although the co-teacher takes care of getting materials, it's still useful to know what's going to happen and what I have to work with). Then I just go on the computer, talk to my co-workers and eat my yogurt.

9:00 am/10:00 am - 12:30/1:20pm
When I work at Bongrim I start class at 9 am everyday, but at Bansong I start a little bit later and it changes depending on the schedule. I either go to class with my Korean teacher or meet them in their classroom (again depends on the class). There are many students in the halls at Bansong so they often test out their English on me. I start teaching class, greet the students, go through our lesson for the day and then maybe do an activity or game. I have class right up to lunchtime with ten minutes in between each class. I have three or four classes before lunch depending on the day and school. Most days I teach 3-5 classes.

12:30/1:20 pm - 1:00/1:50 pm
Lunch time! This is my favourite, maybe because I'm lazy in the morning and don't eat very much breakfast or maybe because I never know what we are having for lunch. The teachers eat in the cafeteria with students. At Bansong teachers line up with the students and the cafeteria ladies serve us. Lunch always has rice, soup and some kind of kimchi usually radish or cabbage, then some other vegetable dish and a main dish, but the rice, soup and kimchi never change they are staples of the Korean meal. The other day my co-worker told me that the school has a nutritionist who plans the meals of the month and the cafeteria ladies make and serve it. There are in fact actual cafeteria ladies. They wear little white outfits with caps, rainboots, and aprons. At bongrim the teachers serve themselves lunch, I always take a little too much. Lunch is a time for teachers to relax. They chat in Korean and sometimes English, lots of the other teachers like to ask me how I like the food and why I can eat kimchi, Koreans are surprised that I eat it so easily and I am so good at using the chopsticks.

1/1:50 - 2:50/3 pm - 4:40pm
When I have an after lunch class it is right away. If I don't have an after lunch class I go to my office and spend the rest of the afternoon sitting at the computer, working on lesson plans, thinking of ideas for classes, talking to other teachers and generally desk warming. Usually if my co-teacher at Bansong needs me to go do anything this is the time we do it, Korean's call it a business trip. On Wednesday's the teachers play volleyball or go do something together off campus as teacher bonding time. This week we had dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant, it was delicious and there was tons of food. I hadn't been that full in a long time.

4:40 pm
Home time! I also walk home. I stop at either Top Mart (a korean grocery store that seems to be popular and is near my house) or a smaller grocery or convenience store on the way home. I buy dinner ingredients if I don't have anything, and sometimes if I do as well. I often end up with random food or snack items that look interesting, but I'm not sure what they, in all honesty I buy candy or those ice cream bars I keep posting. If I have plans with friends I won't stop to buy groceries so I can spend some time at home before going to meet them.

5:15 - 5:30 pm
Sometimes I'm home a bit closer, but it usually falls within the range of 5 pm. I change out of my work clothes right away, have a glass of water, and check my facebook to see if Jon is still awake (sometimes he waits up to talk to me after work, but it's like 2 am Victoria time by the time I'm home). I then figure out what I will make for dinner, maybe watch a cooking video or two, put on my favourite show of the moment, clean dishes or just make dinner. If I'm going out again to do something I will change, sometimes have a quick snack, check to see if my friend(s) still want to meet up and then leave to meet them

6-7 pm
The time varies a lot more than that, but roughly I will make dinner plans around 6-6:30. Often I find myself eating at City 7. It is a mall near my house. I realize it sounds weird to go to the mall for dinner, but unlike western style malls the food is much better and not just fast food. In Korea, there are restaurants everywhere, so there are quite a few good restaurants throughout the mall. The number of restaurants in the mall surprised me the first time I went there. If I am meeting someone else for dinner. I will go downtown to meet them and if it is a Korean friend I let them decide what we should eat, if it is a foreigner we pick something together.

7 pm on wards
Pretty much do what I'm doing right now. Write, watch tv, clean, work on lesson materials, facebook, exercise normal evening activities, then go to bed and get ready for the next day.
If I was out after dinner I we will wander around and look at stuff, if I'm with a group of friends we might go to a bar or if I'm downtown. Mostly I just walk or bus home then spend time watch tv, surfing the internet and getting ready for bed.

So that is a typical weekday for me. I will write another post about the weekend soon. On another note, I can't believe I'm already been here for almost a month! It does not feel like that long at all. Time has flown by, still I miss everyone at home and my moms yummy home cooking.

Things that are different in South Korea (from Canada)

Okay, first I want to state that these are generalized differences that do not apply to all of South Korea or to all of Canada. They are just things I've noticed that are different or intrigued me. I also want to say I know some of them may seem really obvious and you'll be like well duh, but it's just nice to write about them for you because it is very different talking about something and experiencing it.

I don't even know what the first thing I noticed that was different. The airport I arrived in felt pretty much the same as any other airport I'd been in. There were lots of people though, everywhere. Since the airport is the main one near Seoul this wasn't surprising. It just felt like there were people everywhere all of the time.

I also noticed the heat when I stepped outside, it was surprisingly warm. I wasn't expecting that for some reason, even though I knew it would be warmer. Maybe the air felt different? I can't even explain if it was drier or heavier or something? It was just different.

There are cars everywhere in Korea and from what I can tell none of them look older than 10-15 years (although don't quote me on that, my car knowledge is limited). People also don't really give a shit where they park, we that's not entirely true. They don't seem to part on the main roads, but if you go down any side road, especially somewhere suburban (with houses, not apartments) there are literally cars lining the streets. The houses don't have driveways so people don't really have another option.

Also, unlike Canada where there are rules about parking in front of, say, someone's door, Koreans do not care. I have seen cars on the sidewalk, cars parked partially on the street. Cars parked on corners, cars parked directly in front of stores. People also save their parking spots in a funny way, there are buckets with ropes tied to the handle and the other end tied to someone's fence sitting on the street. Sometimes you see giant yellow traffic sign or cone, this mostly happens on residential streets, not so much downtown, although I've seen some there too.

Buses do not usually pull up to the side walk. You must go out into the bus lane (which it pulls up beside) and hope onto the bus. Also, they do not have very many seats, just one row along the front part and a few in the back. The buses are also pretty bumpy and fast, so you must hold on tight.

Another thing about side walk, you will often see elderly people sitting on the side walk selling random vegetables. Usually they are right downtown too (although I've seen them on the side of busy roads as well). Some people sell other things too. I saw a man selling little wooden tables the other day). They don't even usually say anything (to me anyway), they just have all there veggies or fruit spread out in front of them waiting for someone to buy.

There are also lots of little street food stalls in the downtown area. There are a couple near my house too. One is a cute little cart that sells those fish shaped fried cake things that are usually full of red bean paste, I've yet to try one but they are so cute. I want to get a picture next time I go by.

Everyone I've talked to in Korea seems to online shop (at least the girls), they all seem to know about these mysterious Korean clothing sites I've never heard of full of decently or cheaply priced Korean clothing. Also, most of the girls wear heels and invisible makeup. I swear, some of my coworkers aren't wearing makeup, but then at lunch I will see them touching it up. Also, everyone bushes there teeth at the office after lunch. People seem to keep an extra tooth brush at there work.

The way people talk to you is also a lot more forward, but I think that could have more to do with the language difference than anything. Also, people often ask your age shortly after meeting you and they constantly seem worried this is rude. Maybe some people would be offended, but I know it is the cultural difference. People who are older are treated slightly different than people the same age so Koreans need to know if someone is their peer or not. Although, I haven't really experienced that myself some Koreans told me it is sometimes harder to be friends with someone who is older than you.

Of course there are many other interesting cultural differences in Korea, but I don't want to get into everything right now. Those are just some things I've noticed. Please take this list with a grain of salt, I'm no expert and I've only been to one city in Korea, I have no idea what somewhere like, say, Seoul is like. I will make another list when I think of more things because I'm sure I missed stuff.