Where Are We?

This is a common phrase that Kayleigh and I often say to each other when we're in either a helpless, ridiculous or crazy situation (which I might add is quite often). It helps us release the tension and move on to find a solution or way out. As many of you know, we were blessed with a fantastic 2 week vacation during the beginning of February. We traveled to the Philippines and Malaysia for some glorious warmer weather, cheap delicious food and relax time on the beach. We had quite an adventure actually getting to Malaysia so I will tell the story as best as I can remember.

Our flight was leaving Korea at 9:30pm on Monday night. Since it takes about 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours to get to the airport, we left Gongju at 4:00pm thinking we had allowed plenty of time. We arrived at the bus terminal in Seoul with no problems and proceeded to catch an airport bus. We had never gone this particular way to get to the airport so we asked someone from an info desk where to get the bus. She then explained to us that the airport buses were no longer running and that we'd have to take a city bus. We were confused cause we had just ridden on an airport shuttle bus 2 weeks prior taking Bryon back.

She wrote down a number and said we needed to get on bus 9800 or something. So we waited for this bus and after about 20 minutes it arrived. We asked the driver if it was going to Incheon airport and he did what most bus drivers do to us, wave us on and nod even if they have no idea what we are saying. hmm...(mind you, we are carrying our luggage with us, clearly headed to the airport)

So we sat right up front and already I did not have a good feeling about this bus. My next clue was that we only had to pay 2500won instead of 14,000won like last time. There was no way this could be right. After a few minutes, I decided we should ask the bus driver again. He again nodded yes to our question. After a few more minutes, the guy sitting next to me asked if he could move my bag. I looked at him with astonishment and gratefulness. He could speak English. So I asked him very nicely, "Do you know if this bus goes to the airport?" He smiled and said, "no, I don't think so." I asked him if he could please check with the bus driver and after a few agonizing seconds, he got back to me and laughed very politely and said, "no". Well crap.

I explained to him that we needed to get to the airport and he was very kind. He discussed this with the driver and he ended up making a special stop just for us to let us off at another airport bus stop. So we again waited for the airport bus that may or may not be running. They only run every half hour and we were getting a little pressed for time. Luckily we made it to the airport with no further problems, minus me leaving my boarding pass behind while we quickly grabbed a smoothie (found it, Thank the Lord!) and were soon in the air. We left Korea layered up with long johns, sweaters, the works and then had to peel most of it off the moment we landed in the Philippines.

We had gotten some really good deals on our tickets but the downside of that was that we had from midnight to 4:00pm the following day to kill time. During this time, we also had to transfer to another airport that was located 2 hours away from Manila (where we had flown into). So here we were at 1:00am asking for the best, cheapest etc way to get from Manila to Clark Airport. We were laughed at each and every time we asked. I took that as a bad sign. Finally someone helped us by calling a bus terminal and getting the times it was leaving for Clark. We were told there was a 2am and 6am bus and thought we had a very good chance of making the 2am bus. So we hopped in a taxi and headed to the bus terminal. He tried to rip us off but I was prepared to be fiesty. I felt very proud for winning that small victory until he pulled up at the bus stop. It was in the middle of ghettoville, just outside of shadyland. It was 1:30in the morning, we were 2 white girl tourists and I did not have a good feeling.

We went through the padlocked gate via the security guard and started asking if we could buy tickets to Clark for the 2 am bus. No one would give us a straight answer and all they did was continue to ask us over and over again what time our flight left. We were not getting anywhere. Finally we managed to understand that there was no 2am bus and our best shot would be at 6. Since we had no desire to spend the next four hours there, we cabbed it back to the airport. However, they would not let us in where we had exited so we had to go to this lobby and just sit on the ground and wait. After a few miserable hours in the airport, we broke down and decided to just pay the $50 for a taxi that would take us directly there. By the grace of God, we had a very friendly taxi driver named Ronnie and he also had great taste in music so we were riding along at 4in the morning to some great 80s bands. Thank you Ronnie.

When we arrived at Clark airport we were exhausted yet much happier. However, it was only 6am and the airport wasn't even open yet. So after a minute or two, another angel sent by God arrived via minivan. I noticed a hotel shuttle van dropping off a couple people and since we still had until 4:00 to catch our flight, I decided to negotiate with the guy to see if he could get us a room so we could sleep for a few hours. He apologetically told me that they had no rooms available so I asked him "what about the people you just dropped off?" He told me that they had to clean the room and if we were willing to wait a half hour, we could have it. Done! So Noel took us to the hotel and after a few minutes, we crawled into a wonderful king size bed and slept for the next 5 hours. They even gave us a late checkout time so we could take showers, plus took us back to the airport. Let me just say that our attitude improved greatly at this point. :) God was really good to us for the entire trip and we got the rest and relaxation that was much needed. Winter has been long, challenging and somewhat miserable for both of us and this trip was just what we needed to face the second half of our time in Korea. I am truly grateful!

English Camp!

In Korean school systems, the end of the semester is the last day of December and begins again on March 1st. So Kayleigh and I have been on "winter break" for the past 2 months. However, this does not mean we weren't teaching and/or that Korean students do not attend classes. There is very little break time involved. For the first 3 weeks of January, I was teaching supplimentary classes to incoming freshman students and the nice part about that was that it was only for half days. Then the last week of January, our school combined Kayleigh and I to help each other out with English camp.

I never taught English camp in Japan and my school had never had English camp before but it is apparently becoming the "in" thing to do during winter and summer break. What it means is that Kayleigh and I had to plan intensive, yet fun and engaging lessons for a group of 25 girls for 8 hours a day for a straight week. This was a lot of work for us but it was also wearing on the students as well to communicate in English for such long periods of time. Despite how drained we felt at the end of each day, English camp was definitely a highlight for me. I had a great group of girls that were very motivated. I mean, they choose to be there during their winter vacation time.

Our theme for the week was dating which included internet dating, pros and cons, blind dates, first dates etc. Since I'm such an expert in this area, I thought it would be a fun topic for my high school girls. haha :) They loved it! We had other activities besides our dating theme like baking, scavenger hunts and a field trip to a cultural theme park. I felt like I had a great opportunity to really get to know the girls better and bond with them. Seeing them everyday instead of just once a week allowed for that to happen. Kayleigh enjoyed teaching girls for a change and it made the week so much more bearable to have her help everyday. At the end of the week to celebrate, Mr. Kim treated everyone to a Pizza Hut party and the girls gave us sweet notes thanking us and also little gifts to take on our trip to Malaysia. It was so much fun and very thoughtful. We felt so appreciated and that doesn't happen a lot. Hope you enjoy seeing them in action!

Ice Fishing Festival

These last two weeks were a lot of fun! Bryon came to visit us! We spent a lot of time in Seoul traveling as well as Gongju and some other surrounding cities. But the highlight was the ice fishing festival! There is an organization we like called Adventure Korea. They set up weekend trips for foreigners to various places around Korea. They take care of everything (transportation, food, lodging, activities, etc…). So, the weekend started out with a bus ride to the festival in a northern province (about 30-40mins away from North Korea). There were hundreds of people there. We started off the adventure appropriately with some ice-fishing. Within 10mins Bryon caught one! We put it in our plastic bag to eat later that night. We continued fishing and Michelle was using multiple strategies. If I can recall, loosely and with my own interpretation ;) she was wiggling her fishing line and pole to the “dance”, the “bob”, the “sway”, and some rapid fire jiggling. Unfortunately, her moves just weren’t interesting the fish. But that’s ok because soon our Adventure Korea guides (along with the paparazzi) came over to string our lines and hooks with some already caught fish for some picture and marketing purposes. My roommate, April, was the main event of the photo shoot topping it off with a kiss for the fish.

After that, we enjoyed various things around the festival such as fried/grilled foods, warming our frostbitten toes in the tents, looking at snow sculptures, and sledding on the ice with wooden boxes. There were also 4-wheeler rides on ice, ice skating, and tubing.

But among all these exciting festivities, none could compare to the bare hands fishing. Imagine, 2-4degree Celsius water outside in one of the most northern parts of Korea in a little pond filled with fish. We were instructed to strip down and put on a bright orange t-shirt and shorts. Then, we huddled together outside in the cold before lining up on the edge of this man-made pond. Once on the ledge, our feet were stinging from the snow and ice under us. There were news cameras and a band of Koreans circled around us shouting and cheering for all the shivering foreigners. Finally, they instructed and cheered one of us to dive in the start the event. The goal was to catch as many fish as you can with your hands.

I should preface this: A group of Koreans went before us to do this, they were shoving them down their t-shirts, putting them in their mouths, and catching them one after another. So many people from our group were determined to catch 3 or 4.

Ok, back to the big dive in. Some brave soul from our group went for it, dove head-first right into this arctic water! We were then all instructed to get in. Michelle and I were quite slow to get in. In fact, I am pretty sure I was the last to get in. Once I was in, my legs and feet were numb with pain. My feet and legs went rigid and it hurt! My brain was saying to me “this is not right, this is not right, you’re going to get frostbite and never be able to use your toes or legs again!” There were people taking pictures and video recording us, but there was no posed smile on our faces. I just screamed frantically into the news camera. Michelle, our friend Stephanie, and I were the first ones out. I would definitely say within 30 seconds of being in the water we headed out. We waddled, feet numb, over to the tent with a large wooden foot spa where we carefully put our feet in. At first you could only let the steam hit is because the warm feel of the water hurt your numb feet so badly, it took me about 5 minutes before I was ready to fully submerge my feet and calves.

So, you might ask, did anyone catch some fish with their bare hands!?!? The answer is no. Why? Remember the group of Koreans that went before us? Well, they caught most of the fish. There were like 5 fish left for the foreigners. We were all just splashing around, going completely numb looking for these dang fish when all along there was nothing there! To say the least, I think we got played. But on a brighter note, Bryon and the excellent fisherman he is, caught a fish with his bare hands! However, as soon as he held it up in the air to show, it slipped out of his hands back in the water never to be seen again.

It was a fun adventure! Enjoy the pics!

Love, Kayleigh

If you see me walking by and the tears are in my eyes, walk away, baby walk away!!

So while living in Gongju, random things often happen to us. We don't plan for these things, we don't try to make them happen in any way but they just do. For example we happened to come across the lighting of "the" Christmas tree in Gongju at just the right moment, got to meet the mayor once again, (luckily he remembered us from the chesnut festival) and then proceeded to be in the local Methodist Church Christmas photo of the lighting of the tree. It was hilarious!

However, one incident in particular was a little more "spicy" than we cared for. We were walking from the bus stop to my house after church and out on the street, there was a group of about 15 women churning up cabbage and making a smell we well recognize these days. It was kimchi making day in this part of the neighborhood and everyone was pitching in! I made the mistake of getting a little too close, innocently asking if I could get a picture of their mad kimchi making skills. As fast as you could say, 1, 2, 3...."say Kimchi" for the smiling shot, the woman standing closest to me shoved a giant piece of freshly made kimchi into my mouth and then in the next second, another woman nabbed Kayleigh. We smiled and said thanks and started to walk away.

About 20 feet after leaving their presense, both of us looked at each other in utter horror and started spitting it out as fast as we could. Our mouths were on fire, I couldn't feel my lips and for the next 5 minutes till we got to my house, you'd have thought we were 2 rednecks from S. Carolina (if my friend Jeff is reading this, you know I love S. Carolinans!!) spitting left and right till we could start to gain feeling in our tongues again. It was an atrocious experience and one we will not soon forget.

Lesson learned: Fresh kimchi will kill you!

Where Did December Go?

Wow, it's been a busy month! And we're a week into January already. I can't believe how fast time is going by. We've just finished 1/3 of our contract here in Gongju. We did our very best to have all of the normal Christmas traditions throughout December even miles and miles away from home and thanks to many of our friends and family, it was a very meaningful holiday time. On the 2nd weekend in December, we spent an entire day at our friend Virginia's home baking cookies and listening to Christmas music. We were a machine for like 8 hours straight! We made enough cookies for each of us to have a small bag to take home and also to deliver to over 60 children at an orphanage that our friend volunteers at.

It was so wonderful to be inside an actual home and have kitchen space to move around in. Plus Virginia has two little boys that were a delight to play around with. They are half Canadian/half Korean and the oldest can speak both English and Korean. It's such a great gift for him to have this skill. He may not appreciate it now, but I guarantee he will in the future! Poor little baby Aidan got his first taste of kimchi the night we were there. It was not an enjoyable experience for him. But that's what older brothers are for right? To torture and aggravate the younger one?

The next day we traveled to a nearby city after church to have a Christmas party with middle school students that live in an orphange that our friend Lisa volunteers at. We had a great time with crafts, games, lots of candy, music, snacks and all of this was done with very little Korean on our part and very little English on theirs! Fun is definitely a universal language. It was a great experience and I'm very glad we got to participate.

Troubles in Turkey

I promised I'd give an update on the Thanksgiving turkey and so here goes. I have to say that I did my absolute best to cook this stubborn bird but let's just say it weren't no Butterball!

After a crazy mixup about where we could actually cook the turkey, I finally decided to use my school's oven in the cooking room. (Mind you, they never once mentioned the school had an oven the whole time I was ordering my turkey, talking about not having an oven, brainstorming ideas on where to cook it, etc) That would be too easy! But after some help from another coteacher, I got set up at about 3:30 in the afternoon on the Monday night we had our Thanksgiving celebration. I washed, coated in butter, added salt and pepper, stuffed the insides with onion, apples, celery and poured chicken broth, apple juice and water over it and put it in the oven. I was doing just about every substitution I could find to make this all work.

I sat at the computer and caught up on "The Office" (with my boyfriend Dwight Shrute) in between taking the turkey out and basting every half hour or so. The party was supposed to start at 7:00 and I knew we'd be cutting it close but I was determined that we were gonna have turkey on Thanksgiving!

After 1 and a half hours, didn't seem like we were making much headway. I had followed the directions as best as I could, converted the oven temp to celsius and didn't know what the problem was so I prayed and just keep cooking. At the 2 and a half hour point, I only had one hour left to cook, clean up the room and take the turkey in a taxi over to Kayleigh's house. Time was running out! Finally at about the 3 hour and 15 minute mark, I felt like we could be quite sure it was done. I was working without the luxury of a meat thermometer so I just went on instinct alone! It looked right, smelled right and I hoped for the best.

Well, I hadn't planned out very well how I was going to execute my next step. Phase 3, delivery! The turkey was covered in foil, but still extremely hot and I had a lot of equipment to carry as well. All the teachers were already gone for the day but luckily a few students were still milling around. I thankfully ran across a student who is in my top English class and asked her if she could call me a taxi. She was happy to but didn't have her cell phone and as luck would have it, my cell phone minutes had just run out the night before so I couldn't make outgoing calls either. She ran off and tracked down another phone, called me a cab and then helped me carry everything out to the front road near my school. I was very indebted to Lucy at this point!

I got in the cab very carefully and held onto that bird for dear life. Taxi drivers are not well known for their smooth, peaceful rides and this was no exception. As he sped off, I could feel that the turkey juices were precariously close to tipping out the sides and all over the taxi floor. I pulled the foil as close as possible and prayed for the quickest drive ever. Kayleigh happens to live at the top of a giant hill and her school has several speedbumps in the parking lot. Well, we went over the first and I knew I was in serious trouble. The juices had sloshed over the sides and I caught it with my lap, desperate to save the taxi, not knowing how I would explain to him or apologize for making his car smell like poultry. I had him pull over even before we reached her house. I was getting out of there as fast as possible.

Right as I exited the cab, Kayleigh called me cause of course, I was running late at this point but I couldn't set the turkey down and hand the driver money and answer my phone all at the same time. So I missed her call and unloaded my stuff. I still had about a 3 or 4 minute walk to get to her house and really wanted some help to carry everything but of course, I couldn't make any phone calls. I walked with everything as far as I could, arms burning and muscles aching, until I had to set the turkey down in the grass on the side and make 2 trips. When I finally got everything into the house, I was so exhausted and smelled like turkey juices, it took some time to pep back up and get into the swing of the party.

I set a guy to work on carving and helped Kayleigh get the rest of the food on the table. We let him go at it, but despite our best efforts, the turkey was pretty chewy and there actually wasn't that much meat on it. However, everyone was very gracious and so thankful to have turkey at our Thanksgiving feast. We all got a little bit and had plenty of other goods to keep us full and satisfied. It was a great party with about 16 other foreigners and tons of food! I was thankful for many things that night but probably most of all that I never had to even think about another turkey for at least a year! I will not be volunteering for that again anytime soon!

Christmas posts are coming soon! Stay tuned!

Top and Bottom things of Korea

Top (and bottom) things about KOREA according to Kayleigh...

Things I love…
1.) Public transportation. It is amazing I can go to big city or small via bus and usually for under $10.00. But the best is the Seoul Subway. It blows my mind! I think it should be nominated for one of the seven man-made wonders of the world. Check it out at…http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/TR/TR_EN_5_1_4.jsp

2.) Reading the Korean Language. Reading the Korean language is rather easy (unlike reading Chinese, MUCH harder). Without being able to read it, life would be more difficult. I especially love that many words sound so similar to English words (only with a bunch more syllables!). For example:

Elevator à el-li-bay-ee-toe * can you hear it the similarity!?

(not the standard Romanized Korean, just my interpretation of what it sounds like, you have to study the Romanized Korean vowels to be able to read them properly).

3.) Festivals! The festivals in Korea during every season are so much fun! In January I am going to an Ice-fishing festival. They have festivals for butterflies, fruits, spices, teas, nuts, mud, lanterns, fish, film, moon, cherry blossoms, you name it….they probably have a festival for it. If they don’t you could easily make one…Just gather a bunch of people together, bring SoJu (famous alcoholic drink), some food, and make everything “themed”. Really, so much fun!

4.) People! The people are friendly and curious about foreigners. They will always welcome you to a dinner to try and get to know you better, even if you can’t understand each other. It is a very warm attitude.

5.) Hot water machines. Thank you! Restaurants, school, mini-stops, vending machines, everywhere has hot water! Thank you KOREA! I am limited to cold drinking fountains in my wonderful country (yes, to me it is now wonderful, I appreciate the USA much more!).

Things I don’t exactly love…

1.) People are really in a hurry in Korea! There is always something to do or someplace to go right that moment. You eat lunch as fast as you can, get out of the lunchroom as fast as you can, bag your groceries and pay as fast as you can (I am very slow at this, everyone in line always has to wait for me), get your bus ticket and move on as fast as you can, pretty much if you are doing something, you have to do ASAP.

2.) Appearance is REALLY important and emphasized. I can only remember seeing on one or two occasions where someone was in public and dressed ‘casually’ meaning, sweatpants and a sweatshirt (or for the women, anything not high heel). There are mirrors EVERYWHERE, and I mean that. And they are used well. Guys and Gals alike take a moment in every mirror to put a hair back into place, or just do a double take.

3.) Constant supply of fermented vegetables. In fact, I think that is the only way to eat vegetables. I do like some of them, but sometimes I just want a vegetable that hasn’t been sitting in vinegar for weeks.

Thank you Korea! The pleasant and not so pleasant.