Holy Heck its almost October!

Where has all this time gone? I remember being overwhelmed and wanting to come home, seems like yesterday; or maybe that was yesterday! No I had yesterday off. Korea is always so much more enjoyable when I am not at work.

I applied for a public school job. I hope it works out. It maybe less pay, but more vacation! I hope to have an interview in the next month. I hope it is a sweet school so that I can stay for a couple of years.

The thanksgiving holiday is this week!! YIPPEE. It is called Chuseok. It is the biggest National holiday. It is similar to Christmas in North America. Many people go to there grandparents houses where they eat and drink into oblivion. I am so excited to have 5 days off, I don't know what to think. I think we are going to hang around Busan and see all the sights we have yet to see. I am pumped.

So I am also entering week 6 of my Body-for-Life program. It is intense weight and cardio training. I have shed about 1-2 kgs, but my body shape has definitely changed! I am so pumped. It is a 12 week program, and for my prize for working through it, is buying the little black dress (or any dress really)! I am so excited. Finally doing something that is completely for me, and it is going to improve my life exponentially!!

Ciao

28 and lovin' it

It was my first birthday in Korea. It was a little difficult. My two good Canadian friends in Busan happened to be away, so instead Mark and I went for Chicken and Beer with my Korean coworkers. It was fun. But 2 out of 4 don’t really drink much, and the other 2 out of 4 don’t really speak much English, so it was difficult to relax and both parties were struggling to express themselves, and have the others understand.
On Saturday we went to Wazwan for some delicious Indian food. It was awesome!
At school on Friday both groups of teachers bought me a cake and sang happy birthday. Then a number of my students and classes wished me happy birthday as well. They were cute. We had fun together.

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OH yeah, Mark brought me home a ring.... don’t worry folks we won’t be getting married until we get back to Canada. It will be another 2 or 3 years. That’s all the details we have.

Our First Dinner with some Rich Korean Guy

My co-worker friend Vannet invited us to join her and her family friend for dinner on Sunday night. Our initial plan was to go scuba fishing, but it was canceled do to rain. Her friend, Jae Hyun, wanted to meet foreigners and make some friends. At first sight me did not know he was excessively rich. We enjoyed some nice Nolboo Jigae and then went for coffee. He gets his car and it happens to be a sweet black Audi Sedan of some kind. I felt really funny in that car. That car is probably more than all the money I have had access to in my life. He is either an architect or a construction manager of his own company, and he his only 35. He is single which also seems strange as rich men don’t tend to last very long in Korea, so I have heard. It was a little difficult to communicate as Vannets English is limited and Jae Hyun is more limited; and as for Mark and I our Korean is nil. All in all it was fun and we are going to go to Taejondae together in a couple of weeks. He is very activate, which mean he will be able to show us some great stuff around Korea.

Randomness

A few things have been happening that I have met to write about. It can all be summed up in one word ‘strangee’.

A couple of weeks ago I was waiting in the subway station to meet Clare for dinner. While I was waiting I noticed a crowd of maybe Southeast Asian men milling around. One in particular walked past me a couple of times. On his next trip by, he stopped to ask me a question. I am not sure what language he was speaking, so then he tried Korean, which I replied no again. I said I was from Canada, and he made a funny sound that indicated I was a hopeless case. Before he departed back to his friends, he gave me an ice cream cone! I tried to decline, only because I was going to eat supper in 10 minutes, but he insisted. Needless to say Clare and I enjoyed a laugh and an ice cream cone before dinner.

Another night after a delicious meal at Wazwan (greatest Indian food restaurant in Busan), we were on the subway politely minding our business waiting for our stops to arrive, when suddenly this old Korean man is saying “coffee, coffee” and give us each a dollar. I was surprised and a little freaked out. At first we tried to insist that he take his money back, but he would have none of that. So we sat there uncomfortably, not touching the money and not really knowing what to do, and the train full of people looking at us to see what we would do. It was my stop so Michaela and I decided that we would just leave the money on the seat. Unfortunately for me, I was getting off at the same stop as this guy, so I ran to another exit and successfully lost him. I was never really afraid he was going to hurt me, he was just really creepy.

I find out later that there are such things as ‘coffee girls’. These women are essentially escorts. Prostitution is illegal, but in Korea a person can get anything delivered at anytime. The lady delivers the coffee, and you can imagine the rest. I am not sure what that old guys intentions were; maybe he just wanted to talk to some foreigners.