Lucas is back in Canada

after 10 days with me, Lucas is back home. The time difference is causing him a little bit of trouble, but hopefully he'll get over it soon. I am still in Asia and loving it. I changed my plans from visiting the tea plantations in the Cameron Hiughlands, to going diving on Palau Perentian. I did 5 dives which were all great. Today I saw a 5 foot black tipped shark, which is easily the highlight of all of my dives to date, though the octopi were pretty neat too. The night safari in singapore was amazing and a must for anyone visiting Singapore in my opinion. Taiwan didn't offer much outside of electrinics, and Thailand is always nice. I actually head back to Bangkok next week to pick up a skirt I'm having tailored, and then heading off to Macau and Hong Kong, before the long flight to Vancouver. Up next for me is Cambodia, I have 7 days to get to Bangkok, so I'll play it by ear, I figure 2-3 days in Phnom Penh and then 3 in Siem Reap to see Angor Wat, but we'll see. time is really flyuing by and I can't wait to see everyone back home. It's certainly been a long time. I'm curious to see what it's like to be a student again instead of a teacher... Hopefully I'll still enjoy it, or at least know that it's only for 8 months. I'm getting very tanned right now and my Freckles have come into their own on my diving trips. If you can believe it I only paid $25 per dive, including equiptment. Thyis is a really nice inexpensive place to get certified of do fun dives and I wish that I'd planned to spend more time here, but alas my flight to Cambodia leaves tomorrow and I must be on it.

Please be patient I'll have whole albums of pictures once I'm back, but I've no way to upload them right now, because no one wants a virus, so there is no uploading/downloading. I do have loads of pictures though, almost 180 from my open water course and videos from the night safari too. I hope you all don't get sick of seeing pictures because I made sure to take lots.

All right, my boat's almost here, best wishes to everyone, Josophine

No more Korea ! ! !

We finished our year and have headed out on a South East Asia Adventure together. First up was Taiwan. We went to Taipei and spend a mere one day. We had yummy Shabu-Shabu, and bought some electronics, as all tourists are want to do. I got a memory card for the camera Lucas bought me for my birthday and he got an MP3 player that plays Nintendo games, via an emulator or some such tech thingy that is beyond me. Next we got on a plane to Singapore where we left the airport after midnight and went to a tiny hostel, which is similar to where I'll be spending the rest of my time once Lucas heads home. Singapore was great. Lucas REALLY loved it. I thought it was quite nice too, but expensive. We didn't get to the zoo, only the night market, because we wanted to see more of the area around us. The food was an eclectic mix from around Asia and we both left each stall or restaurant full and happy.

So far no food problems for us, even eating from street vendors. We did manage to see the night safari which was amazing. You go in the evening and can see all of the nocturnal animals feeding and going about their business. We saw an animal show where Lucas got to hold this giant snake. it was seriously massive, though he says smaller than Smog, which his family will understand. I got a video of it so everyone can see when we get home or at Lucas' get together in Niagara.

Next, with a 4:30 AM wake up call, we headed back to the airport and took off at 7 AM for Thailand, Phuket to be exact. This is where I plan to have the most fun. When we got here it was pouring. Funny, eh, being monsoon season and all that it might rain. But by the afternoon things had settled down and there was no more rain to be seen. When we got to the hotel, which is quite nice and absolutely out of our price range, they didn't have our confirmation, so I had to provide proof via a MasterCard statement that YES, they had taken money out of my account, so please kindly show us to the room as we are hot and tired. After about an hour things got worked out and we headed to our room in a sort of cottage I guess, with only one other room attached. We have a king sized bed, mini fridge, shower with hot water and all of the pressure you could want and 4 bottles of water each day. Plus there s a beach bag with huge towels to use at the ocean, just leave them outside at night and they will be magically replaced come morning. The best part about our place was the welcome, after our coconuts, we we greeted by a baby elephant. He's 2 and a half and very friendly . I got a kiss on my arm. which really means that he tried to snort it, but it was very cute. His little tusks are starting to poke out and I can't imagine what teething must be like for a baby elephant, knowing how much we cry when it happens to us . The little guy was just about our height and paraded to the resorts near by for guests to ogle and feed.

The place next door is my favorite so far. That's where I'm getting my Open Water SCUBA Certification. Yesterday I completed 2 days worth of in class and pool lessons, and tomorrow I'm heading out in a boat for a full day of underwater adventures with my instructor Chris. He's German and I'm the only student, so we go until I run out of air. Even being in the pool and breathing under water was great, but in the Ocean it will be so much better. Chris is going to bring his underwater camera and take pictures for 30 Dollars and then burn me a CD. Since I would forget to breathe or surface too fast while taking my own pictures I feel this is a fair trade.

Our resort is on a hill and an up hill climb to most places including our room , which we constantly lose among the beautiful gardens, and then down to the sea which is about a 10 minute walk, made easy on the way down, but more difficult going back up. Right now the waves are pretty big, and you could probably surf them if you knew how. Lucas went and played much longer than me, as I had to study for my course. It's pretty tropical here and my mom would love the gardens, huge and low maintenance, people just sweep up the dead leaves, and that's it. The whole place is a mass of green and little paths run through what is basically a huge garden/forest, with cottages dotted about and each secluded from the next by more foliage. It would be nice to st on our porch, but we'd be eaten alive, the bugs love our tender white meat, though I'm trying to darken up a bit without going lobster red in the process. We'll see how well I do though.

Today we are going to rent a bike and see the main town, where we'll eat at a restaurant that offers cooking classes. If the food is good. Lucas will take a course tomorrow or Saturday, while I'm out scuba-ing it up. Hopefully he learns to make some very yummy things to show everyone when we get back. Thai food is the best I've ever had, bar none.

OK, well, that should be enough of an update for a while, so I'll stop for now. Hope everyone is doing well back home, see most of you in a few weeks.

Jo's Great News

I just got a phone call today that means I'll be staying even closer to home come September. Yes, that's right. I got into Western ! The paperwork will go through this weekend, but the position is mine and I'm so excited, and I just can't hide, I know, I know I know, I know I know I want this. It means that I can probably live at home, or even if I rent a place near home, it's very near home, we're talking less than an hour. I'll still have to go and visit the little sis so we can go shopping in the States, but I'll be calling London home, and maybe I can use some of my cousin's books, she just finished a similar program at the same school, and honestly, how many text books have you ever used after you finished a course. Thats right, maybe one, because it showed you how to reference correctly. So that's my big news. It's after 2 AM here right now, and thank goodness tomorrow is a holiday or it would be a very tough day indeed.

I hope that everyone is doing great back home and I'll see you all in 2 months!

Oh My God! It's been a while.

Well, Sorry for the lack of updates. It has been a very busy spring/early summer.

Things are winding down on our contract. We're officially at the 11 month marker today. Korea has been a good experience for the both of us, despite some ups and downs (Being robbed ranks somewhere around number 1) we've had a good time.

We are presently planning our Asia tour for when we leave Korea. I will be going to Taiwan, Singapore and off to Thailand, then home through Hong-Kong, Vancouver, and back to Toronto. Jo will be continuing on for a couple extra weeks visiting some of the more remote areas, but since I must conserve the money I will be coming home sometime around the 17-18 of July (International Date Lines can be tricky) .

It is my intention to return to Korea (Unless a lucrative job prospect arises while I'm at home) in order to save up enough money to fully pay for teachers college in the states. I found out recently that in order to go to a school in the US I need a foreign language course at the University level, which I am lacking. So the plan is to find a Distance Education one I can take to get that covered then start in the January semester. That way I will have the $ and not have to worry how I'm going to afford school.

In any event, this was just a quick update because I've been neglecting this blog seriously over the past month. Stay tuned for Lucas and Jo's Camera Safari when we buy a new Digital Camera sometime this month for Jo's birthday.

That is all.

OK Karyn, you win !

I'm posting because you won't leave me alone! So let's see, what's new over here....hmmm... Not all that much really. WE found out that we have to leave Korea by July 8th for visa purposes. I'm taking three weeks to travel around Asia before returning to Canada. Lucas is going right home to enjoy all things larger than a size M. I honestly have feet at least 3 sizes larger than any womens shoes here. My size 9 1/2 tootsies are the average size for a man here. And the worst part is that they have really cute and inexpensive shoes here. I could have easily blown a few hundred dollars here on pumps and sandals. I'll just have to see if there is anything in one of the spots on my adventure.

I'm getting very excited about coming home and before that about getting some sun. Hopefully I'll be a tad browner than the pasty shade of white I've been sporting for the last few years by the time I get home.

My plan thus far is to see Thailand and ultimately fly home from there. Along the way I want to visit Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, maybe one more country depending on what cheap fares are available. I'll have to visit a travel agent sometime in the next month to see what's available from Busan, so that I don't have to take the 5 hour train ride to Seoul.

I'm going to Windsor in the fall and am excited to be back in school only because it means that my career will be starting that much sooner. This year long trial has been good experience and has shown me that I've made the right career choice, so now I'm looking forward to getting on with it.

I hope this is enough for you Karyn, if you want more, you'll have to bug Lucas.

My love to everyone back home, and I'll see you in a few months! ~Jo

St. Patty's Day

We had a St. Patty's Day party at our new place and invited the Korean teachers and the new foreign teachers. I'd say it was a success, we were told to be quiet by the security guard twice, once because of our use of fireworks shooting from out our windows and the second time was because the people beneath us couldn't sleep. After the second time we settled down and the party broke up but we had all had a pretty good time. It was nice to have a social gathering with everyone from work.

On other news, we have bought one replacement computer to make up for our devastating loss of the notebooks. Instead of getting another laptop I decided to buy a desktop since I could get it for around 500$ instead of a comparable notebook at closer to 1000$. It's nice to have a computer again instead of relying on PC bangs or Jacqui's computer.

School is getting back into the swing of things. The new children are getting used to being at kindergarten and are not crying so much anymore, and the returning classes are happily working on the harder material with varying degree's of success. There are all sorts of new personalities to talk about but I'll save them for another post.

Just wanted to give a brief update about our status here, we still miss home an awful lot, but everything is going well enough in Korea.

Jacqui has arrived

New classes start tomorrow and we have a new roommate, so life is OK right now. We'll find out tomorrow if our new classes are decent , or full of little devils. So far I'm harboring strong hopes that they will be just as cute as our last group. I got three very nice parting gifts from my K8 students. A 35$ tube of Christin Dior lip stick, a 75$ perfume set by Lancome and a face powder by Ana Sui that I gave to a Korean friend because it was too strongly perfumed for me.

I also got ANOTHER honey gift set! This time it was much smaller and a little under 100$ in value. I am set for honey in the event that I renew my contract as my boss so often hints that she would like. I think about once a week we get asked if we're staying another year.

Korea seems a bit overwhelming for our new roomie, but I think once she gets her feet wet teaching the young'uns, she'll feel more at ease. So all is well over here, Lucas and I are going to a second hand computer store with a friend after work and I think that Lucas is planning on buying a computer on the spot. I could see desperation setting in as the 4 day weekend came to an end. I must admit that having a computer again does sound mighty appealing.

Spring has sprung here and the buds have stared to grow here. The weather has turned windy and wet, but it bodes well for flowers and foliage. I hope that everyone back home is doing well. We're down to 6 weeks on our teachers college response letters and I'm getting anxious to find out how our applications fared this year, especially since all of the hours put into them was lost with the notebooks.

Best wishes to all of you bogged down by snow and freezing rain, we'll see you in 5 short months, for a wedding and to catch up with friends and family. We miss you and think of you often. Best wishes for the following weeks and we'll try to post again soon.

We're having a VERY bad Korea Day.

Not much of a post to make, so I'll just get right down to it.

Today was the Graduation Ceremony for our Kindergarten classes. It's Saturday so that means we have to work even though we normally don't. Anyways we leave our apartment at 9:45, have a great time at the ceremony, then are treated to a wonderful lunch at a fancy restaurant by our boss -- He treated the entire Kids Club staff, very nice man -- judging from the menu and what everyone ordered I suspect it cost him 400$ easily. We returned home at about 4:30 to find.....

Our apartment had been robbed.

Yup.. Burglarized. They didn't break anything or really make much of a mess, but they hit us where it probably hurts the most. Both of our notebook computers were stolen. Monetary costs aside (which is quite a large aside ~2500$ or so) we lost all of our photos from the past several years, all our documents (resumes, letters, school work assignments we'd made for kids, lesson plans... everything) As well as being the only real source of western entertainment (Access to the TV shows we like from back home and movies and video games)

Of all the things in our apartment to take, they definitely took that with the greatest value, both in cash and in intrinsic worth...

So we spent the rest of the afternoon calling the building owners, our boss, the police, and only now (at around 8:45 as I write this post) are we done with the police reports, and other stuff. It looks as if our door lock was forced -- we have a REALLY cheap lock on the door, which I had fully intended to replace but then held off when we learned we were going to be moving back to the more secure building TOMORROW where something like this is a lot less likely to happen.. If only we had lasted one more day....

A broad daylight breaking and entering and of course we're out in the middle of no where and no one saw anything. The police sent a burglary detective with us after we filed the report with the uniformed guys -- and he did a good job asking questions and he went over the apartment and dusted likely area's for fingerprints but found nothing usable..


Well.

It's been a bad Korea day for both of us.

I have been contemplating leaving the contract and returning to Canada, where I never have been robbed.... Maybe that feeling will pass, but right now it's pretty strong.

I guess I have to buy a computer here in Korea after all....

My package arrived!

It took 2 months and 2 days, but it got here in tact. I found out this morning through very poor Korean that the package had been waiting at Adelia for 3 days already, but that they hadn't called me. This took 30 minutes to find out , but in the end, it was determined that the package had arrived and I borrowed a Korean staff member to help me ask for it.

We took a field trip to the new city hall today, which killed most of the morning, and the old apt. was just next door, so I got to open it and see the long awaited bounty for the first time right before lunch. The new city hall is actually quite nice and it was an interesting field trip all in all.

That's the bell, gotta go. Hope that everyone had a great Valentines!

A glimpse into young Korean minds

Every Monday I (Jo) correct book reports for my K8 class. They have now been at our school for 3 years and are able to express most of their ideas in English, grammatical errors not withstanding. This is the book report I just marked from one of the boys in this class. The book was about African arts and crafts.

"Africa people are strange because they is painting on the wall. I don't like Africa people because they are skin is black. I like white people Jo teacher. but I like beads."

Just a little sample for all of you to ponder back home. This is the attitude commonly held by most of the children and obviously by most of their parents. Now I don't think that Tommy would wish harm upon any African American, but he would certainly tell them that their skin is too dark and choose someone else to be friends with on that basis. It's like looking back on history. They are just a bit behind the rest of the world in common perceptions, or maybe it's just me being naive and thinking that a child back home wouldn't say the exact same thing.

It certainly doesn't help that they never see black people except on TV, where they are most commonly portrayed as drug dealers or bad guys in general. I can honestly say that I have only seen a handful of black people since arriving 7 months ago. I have seen easily over 100 white ones, and probably more, but they don't stand out as much for me, in contrast to the sea of yellow and white we work in.

Anyway, this week is a dream at work, 2 sciences, a field trip and a manners class for the graduating children, which equals a very light work load for me. Next week I imagine that there will also be a lighter workload as the children will be practicing for their graduation ceremony and once we finish our books there will be nothing new to move onto.

We are eagerly awaiting Jacqui's arrival and the gifts from home that she is bringing with her; like razor blades for Lucas and spices for me (yay chili powder!!!). It's down to only 2 weeks now and they are going to fly right by, as they always do anyway. This weekend is the lunar New Year here, so we have next Monday off, but since there is nothing really interesting to do with only 3 days, we're planning on having a very relaxing long weekend spent at home most likely.

Our new place is as Lucas said, quite nice and very functional. Not having an oven sucks, but if we end up staying the extra 5 months, we'll probably splurge, and aside from the noisy construction workers who start little before 8 every morning, weekends included, there are no problems. The landlord even put weather stripping around the door yesterday, and once the other buildings in the neighborhood go up we might even get street lights! Plus we have a rooftop that we can get to here, which will be nice come the summer, and somewhere to hang out in the sun, my plants will love their time up there in full sunlight too.

Hoping that everyone back home is having a nice Valentine's Day and enjoying the last of the snow. It sounds like it's supposed to warm up for you soon. We're already almost into the double digits everyday and just barely dipping below freezing at night right now. I'm pretty sure all chances for snow have passed and this will be remembered by us as the year without snow.

Our love to everyone back home, please keep in touch, and I promise to keep working on Lucas about the memory card.