This is our 24 story building. We are on the 21st. It is beautiful because we can see the ocean and the morning sun. And there is a Starbucks practically right outside my door. LUCKY!

Land of the zigzagers

It seems that no one walks a straight line. People are regularly walking in front of me and through me almost. Lucky for them no one has ran into me! I am having a bit of a tough week. School is so busy because we are offering intensive speaking class while the children are on winter break. I am at school from 1230 until 8pm usually. I really did not think that being an English language prostitute was going to be this difficult. Let me tell you i was very wrong!! These days i am teaching seven forty minute classes a day. It is just a bad week, and i am sure once January comes to a close, i will feel better again.

I am almost an official alien. I dropped the papers off this week, and i will have them back by the 16th. Once i have that then we will be able to get phones and internet. I can't wait for the internet connection so that i can catch up on all the tv i have been missing!! I will be glad when all of this beaureacratic nonsense is completed. Once i get the card i will also be able to get the bank account which is great because i am sure the credit card people are wondering where i am and why they haven't gotten any money lately...oops.

Anway i will post pictures on facebook, that way i won't slow down the blog to much.
love you

blood, urine, xray... under 10

To stay in Korea you must apply for your alien registration card, so that is what we set out to do today. I was dreading it, as everybody knows how the Canadian system is, and not speaking the language i really thought this was going to be very painful. To my surprise the entire ordeal was over in less than half and hour!! It cost 50,000 won, which i should get half back under my insurance. Once i paid, up a flight of stairs, pee in cup, get blood taken, then a chest xray- 5miniutes total. Then go outside to the Dept. of Health building, height and weight, eyes and hearing test and finally blood pressure, DONE. I was so surprised. It took us longer to get there.

Luckily we were now only a few subway stops away from the Famous Fish Market (Jagalchi) and the Foreigner Market. The fish market was huge. A person could find anything they could ever need relating to the fishing industry. At the market is also the port for the fishing boats and i think some ferries leave from here as well. It was neat to see, never been to a port before.

The foreign market wasn't really anything spectacular. There was all of the name brands clothes like puma, patagonia, north face and such. But in the area that we live in we can get that stuff, and it is not over an hour subway ride away. I was hoping to find jewelry making supplies, but no such luck.

On the subway ride home a little girl plopped beside and stared at me. i could tell, so i looked at her and of course she pointed at my nose ring wondering what the heck is that?! It is very uncommon here as well as tattoos, so it is not the first time that i was asked questions about it. So she continued to stare for a long time, then she gave Mark and I a vitamin C tablet? There seems to be no shortage of vitamin c in these parts, not really sure why.

So that was our saturday, i am not sure what we will do tomorrow, probably go to the beach as we haven't been there for a while.

Week Two

Well i had a case of the Mondays yesterday. My day was fine and then i came to work and everything seemed to be off. I got my first goose. This is a friendly gesture in Korea that is done between friends. However i think the kid new that foreigners do not like it. I was standing over another kid, a little bent over, helping him read, and along comes another kid who sticks his finger in my buttt!! Yes i turned around and glared and made sure that he wasn't going to move again for the rest of the class. I had been a little prepared because i had heard of this before my arrival. I just didn't think it was going to happen so soon!
The kids on Mondays always seem to have more energy then they know what to do with, so i have found them difficult.

We met a bunch of expats on Sunday, it was fun. We took a long subway ride, followed by a crazy bus ride in the hills, hairpin turns included, to Kosin University. They were supposed to have a festival of lights, but because it rained that day, they cancelled the outdoor light show??? We were a little confused. So instead we went back to Michala's house and watched Christmas vacation and ate Dominos. It was really expensive and not that great. The veggie pizza was the best; mushrooms, broccoli... We ordered bulgogi which is apprently beef of some kind, but i missed out.

For Christmas day we are going to join a number of other expats for dinner. They have arranged for a turkey dinner with everything. I don't even feel that it is Christmas. In the Lonely Plant Christmas Day is when Grandfather Santa comes to bring you presents!! i like that idea, however Mark and I haven't even thought about it. Since we are still in moving expense mode, i doubt that we will splurge, but we can't complain we are in a tropical paradise compared to you folks... We are having a gift exchange at the potluck. I bet it is going to be funny. There will be many gifts whose function will remain a mystery, or at least that is the objective.

We talked to Ira today using Skype, it is the best. So anyone with highspeed make an account, because it is free and it is so clear, it may be better than the tele. Mark has the account on his computer, so look him up.

Much love and HAPPY FESTIVUS!!

Ahh the first week is finished.

Well happy to report that i have survived the first week of teaching, and the first weekend off. Mike came to see us on Friday which was great. He is so comfortable here, i can't wait to be able to get around with such ease. We went to 'Home Plus' which is owned by Tesco, so i was able to find lots of stuff for the house such as pots, dishes, food and or course wine; the Chileans pulled through again, a wine i love and only 10$.

We went to the aquarium after we had a most fantastic lunch. The exhibit is pretty sweet. They have the shark tank which you can walk through. They was also this giant turtle and some stingrays. Fun times for an aquarium.

Then we hung out at the beach for a while. It was busier than any day this week, but the water was very choppy this time. The waves were pretty big. But the air felt oddly warm.

Tonight we are going to a festival of lights at Kosin university with a bunch of expats. Then i think we are going to watch a Christmas movie and just hang out, should be fun.

We did a bunch of cleaning and relaxing today, as it is our first day that is cloudy and rainy. Our washing machine is one of those super efficient ones, so it takes about 2 hours to do a load, but it comes out fairly dry, need a clothes horse.

Well nothing to funny has happened yet, but i will keep you posted.
lOVE YOU LOTS AND MISS YOU