Konglish

More Konglish!

We haven't seen too much lately (our city is decent with English and when it's wrong it's usually just a misplaced letter), but these two beauties caught my eye.

This first one is a bank in downtown Gohyeon (the area of Geoje Island we live in).



Fresh Bank. Fresh Fish? In all fairness, they do have fish in their logo, but I don't think I'll be buying my fish there anytime soon. This one was fun, because I had to go in the middle of the road and stand between the lanes of traffic to get close enough for the detail. Just another day being a crazy foreigner.

This one I spied on another walk through downtown, on my way to pick up art supplies. I usually try to walk down different street, so I see new things. This place is called Tiara Hair Boutique.



A pretty standard list of services for a hair salon, but I'm dying to know what "magic" is.

A constant source of entertainment for both Neil and I are the flags of the world, which run all along the boardwalk along the harbor edge in Gohyeon. We notice a new mistake every time. This first picture we took during our first week here.



At first we just took the picture because we were proud Canadians. It wasn't until later that we realized, according to the sign, we were proud Canadians from "Northern South America".

And while waiting for my ferry to Busan two weeks ago we noticed that Brazil had moved to Eastern South Africa. Good thing we spotted that. Had we planned our trip to South America to visit Brazil we sure would have had egg on our faces.



Hope you're all doing well in Northern South America!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder? Or Just Bored?

Hey Everyone!

First and foremost - we both apologize for the lack of posts - but the reality is that if we were to tell you what we are really up to you wouldn't be too impressed. It's not that we've become "soju warriors" (the name for Koreans who are usually drunk by 8pm). The truth is that we haven't led too exciting of lives yet. Korea, for the most part, is not too different from home.

All the modern conveniences are at our fingertips. Our island has a large number of foreigners, so communication is rarely a problem and everyone living here is used to foreigners, so we're not experiencing that "we're in a freak show as the main attraction" feeling. We tend to eat in a lot, since vegetarian food is hard to come by (I have learned how to say "I'm a vegetarian" though, which is making life a little easier in the grocery store - they always want me to sample meat). And through the wonder of the Internet we are still staying current on our MUST SEE TV. All in all, life is pretty much same old same old.

We are looking forward to our vacations, when we will travel to countries where Western culture has taken less of a grip - and there are always the random moments here in Korea when we really do feel like we're on the opposite side of the world.

Some good news is that I finally have all my working papers and now both Neil and I are fully "set up" for our life here. Foreigner ID cards, bank accounts, and I will be picking up my cell phone tomorrow! It's nice to feel like we have a life here, it's been a long time coming.

To get my work visa, I visited Japan two weeks ago. It was a quick trip and I was only in Japan for a little over 24 hours. I did feel a little excitement - in my family I am the first person who has actually gone to Japan. My father never went and my sister will be going, but not until next summer. I had a feeling of, well, not really homecoming, but like I was connecting with some of my personal history.

I docked in Fukuoka, which is a 3 hour ferry ride from Busan, Korea. It is the closest Korean Embassy on foreign soil, so the ideal destination for any foreigner doing a visa run. I hopped in a cab outside the ferry terminal to my hotel. Surprisingly, at least to me, they drive on the other side of the road in Japan. You learn something new everyday, or in this case, every time you go to a foreign country!

Here's a photo of my arrival into the Fukuoka ferry terminal. A little foggy, but you can get the idea.



My hotel was right on the main street in downtown Fukuoka. It was small and clean - and I was really just looking forward to sleeping that night, since I had only had 3 hours of sleep in Busan the night before.



My first stop was the Korean embassy to drop off my visa paperwork. Up to now getting work visas for Korea has been an ordeal for both myself and Neil. There are many hoops to jump through in order to work here. So I was prepared for any scenario the embassy through at me. I had university transcripts, at least 5 photocopies of my passport, a 2 page written letter explaining why my previous visa had been cancelled and the address of the Canadian embassy, should my work visa be denied and I be stranded in Japan. I was ready for whatever they threw at me. So imagine my surprise when I walked into the embassy, went straight to the counter and was told, after handing over my application and passport, that "Thank you, your visa will be ready tomorrow at 10am". By far the easiest process for a visa I have been through yet.

Once that was done I had a lot of time to wander the city. And by that I mean go shopping. Fukuoka is really just a small business centre, so there is not too much in terms of tourist destinations. But there is shopping. Lots of shopping. The downside of Japan is that it is REALLY expensive, so I spent most of my time just looking and wishing. They take fashion to the next level. Everyone has a very distinct style and they go all the way with it. I did have some fun in one store called Loft, which is like the Japanese version of Ikea. Incredibly trendy home furnishings and supplies. I had fun in the costume section (yes - they had a costume section) where I found an extremely creepy Michael Jackson mask.





I was also happy to see that, not only Obama has made a cultural impact in Japan, but also Michelle, although apparently her catchphrase is "I HEART Obama". And she kind of looks like a troll doll.



My other surprising discovery is that Fukuoka had very little English. Nearly all the stores and restaurants carried menus in only Japanese, which meant my options for food were whittled down to cup of noodles from the convenience store near my hotel. And in all the stores I went into no one spoke English to me. They all spoke in Japanese, and when I responded in English they just smiled and nodded. But it isn't a big city. I expect there is much more English in bigger cities like Osaka and Tokyo.

The next day I happily picked up my visa, spent some more time sightseeing and headed back to Korea. It was a whirlwind trip, but I look forward to seeing more of Japan and having more to share with you.

Leading a Horse to Water...

Hello Internet World!

So this is Neil and my first post. Miko has done all the posts thus far but I figured I should get one in every once in a while. You'll be able to tell the difference because mine will probably be much more of a ramble and Miko's will be clear and concise. I told a bunch of people to check out the blog so I figured this was as good a time as any to post something. Also, Miko is in Japan getting her work Visa finally so I'm home alone and looking for something to do. Let's start!

Yesterday I found some great comics on Facebook that must be drawn by a guy teaching in Korea. They are spot on about life in Korea so if you really want to know what it's like over here then check them out. The link is posted on my page. I'll include a few of them below.

So teaching overseas is not new to me since I taught in China for a year. Because of this I assumed I'd be set and this would be a cake walk. Not so much. One, Korea is very different from China. Two, in China I taught first year College and now I'm teaching mostly Kindergarten so far. This obviously provides different experiences. Third, in China I had to create my own curriculum and here it is mostly provided for me. Both of these have there ups and downs so it's a toss up. Ultimately I just keep trying my best and try not to care too much. That's what I keep telling myself. Like the title of this post says, I'll keep leading the little horses to water but it's up to them if they're going to drink.

One great thing about this time around is that I'm learning as much as my students sometimes. A secret of Neil is that I've never really understood things like verbs, nouns, adverbs and adjectives. Don't even get me started with Present Perfect Tense, Infinitives and such. I never really needed to know the difference because I already speak the language and I know how to form sentences. I even made it through a year in China without really knowing. Obviously this has changed though because you gotta know what you're talking about when you teach. I'm smart now! I still never use "their" though. I just like "there" so much more.

My charades skills have also improved once again. I acted a lot of stuff out in China so it came back to me quite easily. This also brings us to our first comic that I mentioned earlier.


Hehehe They're so funny...but more so if you're here I assume.

One of the things that my kindergarten students do that makes me laugh is when they whisper to each other. I assume this is because they are trying to keep a secret. We all know how well most Kindergarten kids are at whispering though so it's not difficult to hear. The thing that makes it great is that they generally whisper to each IN KOREAN. They don't want me to listen in on something that I won't understand a word of. Silly Kindergarten students.

Now it brings us to our second cartoon. Excited? This is something I somewhat experienced in China but more so in Korea. The students will have layers of clothes on and a big winter coat and then they complain about being hot. Meanwhile I'm standing at the front of the class standing under the heater because I forgot a sweater. "Hot, teacher." Silly students.


This next cartoon is spot on as well. This situation has happened to me many times. At least 5 times a week. Bottom line - I'm a freak to my students. My arm hair is fascinating to them. Students of all ages have randomly either stroked my arm hair or pulled my arm hair during class. A friend of mine here even had a student lick his arm hair which luckily hasn't happened to me...yet. They enjoy the facial hair as well and want to touch it but that's not as easy since I'm usually standing and my head is luckily out of reach. Silly freakish teacher.


Lastly, I just want to mention how it weirds me out how the english speaking Jehovah's Witnesses seem to keep finding me. They've found me twice so far and I expect this to continue. I'm gonna have a large collection of The Watchtower newsletters in no time. Last time I just kept walking and said I already got a newsletter downtown. Seemed to work...for now. Apparently there are lots of Mormons as well but I haven't been approached by them yet. We've found a Mormon church and seen Missionaries on the street but that's about it.


Anyways, I'll stop rambling for now. Thanks for checking out our blog and feel free to post comments if you're so inclined.