It's like Christmas in a
glass!!

Muddy Times

Are you allowed to swear on this thing? I probably would for only my parents will be looking at this! Well I mostly swear when I am in a not so pleased mood. But this is a good thing........ I am going to MUD FESTIVAL!!

Mud festival is the biggest event of the year and in all of Korea. The name speaks for itself......mud! Held in Daecheon Beach in mid July, events include mud sliding, mud wrestling, fireworks and of course other fun filled events.

I am heading off with a group called Adventure Korea. Adventure Korea is an awesome setup that organizes trips and events all over Korea. And so a way to meet some new people and have fun times! I just can't wait for mud festival!

A Star is Born

This past weekend a few foreign teachers and I went to a city called Chuncheon in Gangwon-Do province. There was an international mime festival held there. We went to see different performing artists, ate some dokgalbi (korean bbq chicken) and shopped at the markets. The mime festival is a big thing held every year in the city and so there were news crews there, some of whom were intervewing us and taking pictures, because we were foriegners of course. We went to go have our picture taken with some of the artists and all of a sudden everyone is taking pictures of us! Now I know what celebraties feels like!

Call Me!!

10 10 925 011 82 10 2322 1016

Explaination:
10 10 925: Saves you money
011: International Dialing Code
82: Country Code for Korea
The rest: My cell phone number

Send me Gifts!!

Melissa Browne
C/0 YBM ECC- Nam Bundang
88-1 Bundang Plaza 3F
Sunae-Dong, Bundang-GU
Seong Nam, Korea
463-825
(Tel)031-717- 0509

* Please note: The telephone number needs to be included with the address!

During the end of each month is kinder birthday at YBM ECC. There is a party for the children who had birthdays that month, with food consisting of chicken, pizza, fruit and of course cake. They also get small gifts from other children. Here is a few kids from my banana class who posed for me in the library.

Here's a group shot from Seoraksan National Park. It is close to the North Korean Boader and has the most beautiful moutains and scenery in Korea. Check out the rock in the backgound. Legend has it that if you push it with your finger, it will actually shake. I think my finger muscles were out of order that day.

Insta Post

Well I am in my apartment a couple of weeks now and I finally got internet. And so now I can stay in touch with the other side of the world and post blogs a little more frequently.

So what has been happening with me, you ask? Well teaching is going great and I like it much. In the morning, I have kindergarden, and the afternoon consists of elementary students. So the variation is nice. The kinders are cute and adorable and for 5 and 6 years old know a nice bit of English. But of course that is what they are in school for.

The teaching days for me run from 10-6, with breaks in between. But those breaks consist of lesson planning, lunch or something in between. So the day goes pretty fast. I know I said that at first it was frustrating, especially tying to pick up where the old teacher left off. But as time goes on, everything falls into place soon enough.

So enough with the teaching, more to come later on. How about the social scene?? Well we have been going out with a few of the foreign teachers and their friends getting to know a few people and exploring the city. There is so much to see and do! Even in a little corner there are so many stores and such. And restaurants are every second door that you walk into. The food is pretty good here. Kimchi (a spicey cabbage dish) is served with almost every meal. Tasty. The are certiain parts of Seoul that are known for its markets. I find it a little bit hard to bargin though. Mostly because if you walk away they don't care because some other foreigner will come and pay the price for it.

So I guess that's it for this post. I'll try to add more in the next coming days. Cheers!

The Big Blog

Hey everyone!
Although I have been in Korea for a couple of weeks now, I am just starting to get my blog up and on the go. I have written about the first few days and I will include them all in the one post. Then I will start to make additions and and add pictures later on. Feel free to browse and add comments if you wish. Enjoy!

May 1

Today was a fairly long day. It began at the St. John's airport where I said good bye to my parents and boarded the plane. I then flew to Toronto, on to Vancouver and finally Soeul. The flights were long and boring, where I slept some, read my book watched the movies, etc.

I arrived in Seoul somewhat nervous of how I would be able to get around. But it was fairly easy. Customs was a breeze, even as stern as they looked.I found my luggage no problem and then proceded to the payphone of where I had to call the school to tell them that I arrived. The payphone was quite advanced, of where you can go on the interner, play games, etc and so I took a picture. The airport has English signs and many people speak English, so it was easy to navigate. I then had to board a bus to Bundang city, of which a Korean girl who spoke English helped me.

Mr Shu picked me up at the bus station and brought me to my hotel. By this time, it was about 6pm and I was quite tired and wanted to go to sleep. But not right now! We then went to the school where I met the coordinator, Clara. She gave me the following weeks schedule, showed me around the school and we met some of the other foreign teachers.

At this time Alexis came on the scene. She just arrived and was as tired as I was. But who could stop there!? We then went to an Irish bar, near our hotel which is a favorite of the foreign teachers. Jen (Cape Breton) and Dwayne (New Zealand) have been around for a bit and are actually soon leaving, and gave great insight and tips on living in Korea, while over a few beer.

And being so jetlagged and my body is still running on 'daytime mode', I managed to steal only got two hours sleep! Tomorrow Alexis and I get to see the foreign teachers in action.

May 2

The goal of today and for the rest of the week is to shadow the other foreign teachers and observe thir teaching methods and skills. Most of my classes are kindergarden (5 and 6 years old), so half of the class is spent trying to settle them down. My afternoon classes consists of children who are a bit older (11 and 12) and so it can be a welcome change from the smaller kids.

At this point, everything seems jumbled as to what classes are what, the books for each, how much the children should know, etc. But after all, it is my first day of school. Everything should fall into place soon.

I have leaned today there there is an age of "Korean Years" When children are born, they are actually considered to be 1 year old. And so a child of 6 would actually be 5 years old by our North American standards. Age is a big concern to the Koreans. Anyone who is older gets automatic respect. So it is not unusal to go into a store and be asked "How old are you?" or "how old do you think I am?"

Happy 14th birthday Champy!!

May 4

So today was the last day of school for the week, as Friday is a holiday, Children's Day. Observing classes was fun and all, but now the crunch is on and teaching begins on Monday. I started doing some lesson planning for Monday and found it very frustrating trying to figure out where the last teacher left off, verus where they should be in the syballus.Finding books and tapes can sometimes be difficult. And to top it off, we also have to coordinate with the Korean-English teachers, who teach for half the period. Arrrrggghhhh! I know it is frustrating now, but I also know in time it will become easier.

In the evening time, we went to an all you can eat and all you can drink buffett, free of charge (Thanks YBM), as a farewell to the old teachers and welcome to the new teachers. There was so much food there, it was unimaginable! In the end, we were the only ones left, and they actually had to kick us out! Afterwords we went to the Bublin Irish bar, just across the street from our hotel. It must have been forigner night or something becuase there were a lot of forigners there, along with Koreans too. It was cool to meet with others from all over. We also went to Karoke, known in Korea as Noraebang. Now Karoke here is not like it is at home. You rent your own room and get to sing and embarss yourself in front of your friends instead of strangers. And so the night was full of good food, drinks and company!