The new 'box' is kind of nice... (Jo)

I should start off by saying that the new place is an actual apartment and not a box.
* I will describe it later in the post.*

We packed for 3 days trying to sort through 4 years of junk that teachers had left behind and finally narrowed it down to the things that we do or actually will use. They sent us a flatbed truck and were shocked when all of our things wouldn't fit on it. The truckbed was about 6x8 feet. Now keep in mind that we have a double bed, queen sized bed, fridge(which had been growing mildew for who knows how long. When we moved in it was already taped shut, and we used the built in one in the kitchen.It took lots of bleach inside and serious scrubbing outside to look usable again), a washing machine(also a spare from the last place that we'd never used) a full sized couch and chair, plus everything you'd need for a kitchen, and our clothes. They were amazed at the amount of luggage that we had. (D'oh, why oh why did I have to go and pack so much? Who needs clean underwear anyway?)

They got us a second truck and everything was bundled up and ready to go. At the new place, we're on the 4th floor, they had an ' L truck' where you load things on a platform that is extended up to a window in your apt where you unload things and then send it down again. It took approximately 30 minutes to get everything into our new place. With an elevator it took us over 2 hours to get everything out of the first place. Lucas and I were very impressed. I personally was very scared for the man who whizzed up up the platform that rocketed it's way up and down, but he seemed unphased.

The new place is just that,new. They were still hooking up electrical outlets while we moved in. There was no phone, Internet, missing power ares and most importantly NO GAS when we moved in. We started our day at 8:30 to finish packing, the movers arrived half an hour late at 10:30, from 10:30 on we were in the cold moving boxes down to the trucks and unloading them again at the new place. We finished unloading and said goodbye to the movers at 1:30, so for 3 hours we'd already been in the cold, yesterday's high was -1, then we got to wait another 3 hours in our frigid apt. until they hooked up the gas. It had actually snowed for the first time in Pohang as we waited for the gasman to come,which he eventually did. YAY! We have heat! ...Oh, right, we have ondol heat, hot water travels through the floor to heat our apt. but the water needs to be hot first, hmmmm...I see a problem here... Ice cold water in our ice cold floor needed to be heated before we would actually feel anything. It was still very chilly when we went to bed, but at least we couldn't see our breath anymore. When we woke up, the floor, and the apartment were a comfortably warm temperature.

We're making a foray to E-mart to get food and a few cabinets as there are no closets in the rooms and not much space for food outside of the fridge, and anything else that might pop into our heads. Lucas is getting a wireless router so he can play his games anywhere he chooses, and I don't have to watch him play 'the game' for many, many hours at a time.

I'll post pictures once again as soon as Lucas debugs the memory card for the camera,

but here's a description to hold you over until then. You walk in to a small entrance way/mudroom, with 2 closets for shoes or maybe outdoor gear. The shelves are too close together for anything else(this is perhaps 4x6 feet). Then there is our second door leading to the interior of our new home. Directly in front of you is the bathroom door. To the right is one bedroom door and to the left it opens into the open concept Kitchen/living room. The bathroom has a wall shower again, so the whole floor will get wet every time we take a shower, but the bathroom is big enough that we won't have to hide to toilet paper each time, as with our first tiny box,( a lesson that we learned very quickly).

The first room is rectangular with a window and measures about 9x12 or 13 so its rather big.

The main bedroom for some reason has the apartment's only air conditioner, so I guess anyone in the other bedroom would just have to sweat it out in the summer and the door to the A/C'ed room would have to be kept open to cool the living room. A silly design in our opinion, but Koreans seem to lack planning capabilities. The kitchen layout is quite wonky too, but I digress. The two rooms have pretty much the exact same amount of space, the only real difference is that the 'main' bedroom has the air conditioner and is wider, rather than long.

There is a laundry room off to the side of the kitchen which has a door (very nice) and the water heating box (Korea doesn't have those large water heater tanks, they heat water on demand, it works rather well, but it means that you have to run your water for maybe 2 minutes before it starts getting hot) But it has enough space for the unsightly elements of a house (vacuum and laundry racks etc)

Overall, the apartment is very good, now that everything is finished and hooked up. The building managers here were very helpful yesterday when we had all the problems and they got things fixed in a matter of hours which was great. We'll find out in a month or so if we will get to go back to Adelia when the other 3 bedroom apartment opens up or if we will finish the remainder of term here, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if we do have to stay.

Open classes are now closed

We've been having open classes at our school for 2 weeks now, which entails having parents sit in on one class. This wasn't exactly a suprise and we were encouraged to practice with the children so that they wouldn't be flustered when the moms came.

Lucas' lesson was simplified when one student got an answer wrong , and the kids certainly had no problem answering the questions the next time. My 2 classes both managed to behave themselves although one of them had to be bribed with pizza, which they keep reminding me has not come yet.

It is somewhat disconcerting to have 12 Korean women come in to judge whether or not you are fit to teach their child. In particular because we've already been doing just that for 6 months now. My approach was to agknowledge them when they came in and at the end of the class, but nowhere in between, and I think that helped the kids stay more focused. I'm going to ask not to be in charge of 2 classes again next term, it's not usually a lot more work, but every time that there is work, I get twice as much.


The moms seemed happy and as far as I've heard there were no complaints about my classes or Lucas'. The Director seems happy and hopefully we can go back to doing what we usually do. Graduation is quickly approaching, so there might be a special class added to coach them for their final farewell. Most of them will continue to attend afternoon classes once they've moved beyond English Kindergarten, so we'll still see many of them.

This also means that there will be four new classes of toddlers to win over. We're both interested to see what 'teaching' means when the kids are 3 and cannot understand us, it should be interesting if nothing else. My bet is that Lucas scares some little thing into peeing his or her pants as he is monstrously huge compared to EVERY Korean that I've met. Plus the facial hair... I'd think it was a monster too if I was only 2 and a half feet tall.

I see kids screaming and running in fear... we'll have to wait and see how it plays out though. If you're in a betting mood, the odds are 2:1 that Lucas gets a piddler, and 3:1 that some kid won't even enter the room while he's there. My odds are no better 2:1 that I get the kid who likes to throw things, and 3:1 that if there is a new Denny, he will be in some way related to Satan.

They'll probably love Lucas. It will be interesting to see how he fits onto one of the tiny chairs. They look more like doll chairs than people chairs, and his knees will be higher than the table, (mine are, and he's got 6 inches on me...) I'll try to get a candid shot if I can. Maybe one with a pointy party hat ... great for blackmail in the future...

In particular I'm interested to see if Lucas' theory of younger kids giving more presents is true. K8 gave some great presents at the beginning, but after about the first month, they dried up, and K6 never put out...

The younger classes were giving the other teachers all kinds of things though, suckers and oragami things that they had made, candies, and notes... oodles of useless things to say 'I love you teacher!'

I'm all about the little tokens of students' appreciation. Bring on the love.

I just don't know where I'll fit all of these marvelous things in our new 'box' .

Moving again

We found out yesterday that we are moving Saturday morning. This will be into a 2 bedroom apt., though we're keeping our fingers crossed for that 3 bedroom with Jaqui, but our hopes are slowly fading. We're down to 3 weeks before the kiddies graduate and 4 weeks before she arrives, so time is passing very quickly. Packing should take the next few nights, and I've got no idea who will be helping us move. The last time we only had to move our clothes, as we were going into a furnished apt, but this time we're taking everything, so I'm interested to see what vehicle they've chosen to move all of these things. I don't see the couch fitting in any of the buses, but I've no doubt that is what we will be trying to cram it into...


I'll put up pictures if Lucas can debug our video card. I uploaded pictures in Thailand and now there is a virus on the card. Lucas' only concern about the new place is that it has the internet set up when we get there. I have far more concerns and requirements, we'll see which ones come close to being met though. It's going to be tough to downgrade. I liked being pampered, and definitely don't want to go back to something like our first 'box'.

Pray for us that we might have the luxury of a closet or A/C, or a separate shower that is not just a nozzle sticking out of the wall beside the toilet!

Jacqui's coming to Korea

Our friend from Ottawa has just been hired by our school over here and should be arriving near the end of February. We are both excited about this new addition to the staff and are happy to know that another friendly face will be coming over. It's hard to think that in 6 short weeks there will finally be someone who knows what we mean when we say, it's just different over here. "Smile and nod."

We plan on being excellent guides and providing all of the helpful advice that we weren't given when we got here. I remember how scaryit was not knowing where anything was, or how it worked. Lucas and I both want to make that period as short as possible for our friend, and the other teachers who will be coming at the same time.

Jacqui, welcome to the group, we'll see you soon!

more pictures

Our glorious beach
Some really big aloe, and Jo looking drunk as she stares into the sun
Jo in the ocean
Lucas on the lookout rock which has the best view in Lamai

Just in case you hadn't been jealous enough already. I'll post the tailor pics this weekend.

The Pics are up

Alright, well, I (Jo) have put up several pictures from Thailand. I will be adding more tonight. I can only add 5 per post, so it takes a while. The elepahnts are up, and our resort. I haven't taken pics of us in the new clothes, so they'll probably take another week until I can convince Lucas to model for me. My clothes are getting dry cleaned to remove the tailors chalk and should be done on Friday, so I'll try to post by Sunday.


I'm really looking forward to going back to Thailand at the end of our contract unless I can find somewhere else that is just too good to pass up.

Please keep your comments coming, I love to know that people are reading this and check it compulsively to see if any new comments are up.

toodles for now, Jo

We're baaaaack!

Well, the vacation is now officially over. As I type this I am sitting in our apartment back in Pohang, in the cold weather, feeling sad.

The trip home was almost uneventful, but there were a few things that I enjoyed about it. First as we were leaving Thailand, there was a torrential downpour of rain. So much rain that several roads to the airport were under at least 6 inches of water -- Thailand was as sad to see us go as we were to leave it. Once we got to the little aiport (By the way, the Picture post will happen but we're both tired now so we'll do it later) we found out that instead of the cool little turbo prop plane that we flew into Koh Samui on we were going to fly in a sweet little Boeing 717. Yeah, a 717 -- awesome. This means that the only Boeing jets I've never flown on is the origional 707 and the newest 777. Chances are I'll eventually get to ride a 777 but I may be out of luck for the 707. Okay, so I'm a bit of a plane nerd...

The transfer in Bangkok to our Korean flight went smoothly except for the fact that Bangkoks brand new international airport (Opened this past September) has a few kinks that needs to be worked out, some of the signs direction people where to go are hard to see or are outright missing, but we got to our transfer check in with plenty of time to spare. Both Jo and myself slept most of the 6 hour flight back to Korea and after a series of busses (though we found a new and better route to get to Busan's airport from Pohang) we arrived home and safe.

Our trip was wonderful.

Grand Rock Resort was an excellent place to stay, it was on one of the nicer beaches, but it was also not smack in the middle of everything, so if you didn't want to deal with loud bars it was no problem -- but for the times when you did, it was merely a 5 minute walk down the beach, or a short scooter ride (Rented a scooter for 220 Baht a day or about 7$ plus gas -- cheap).

Thai Food was better then any other asian food I've had in my life. I think Jo agrees. It's going to be hard to go back to consuming the crap on a plate that is Korean food after eating such wonderful fare.

On the last day I went to Samui Shooting sport with Jo and got to shoot an honest to goodness AK-47 -- Jo took a few shots as well -- We also shot this BEAST of a revolver, honestly looking down the barrel it had to be close to half an inch in diameter, it had a name but not one I recognized. Even in my massive hands this gun looked huge. That was an interesting thing to try. I kept my target sheets so I can admire my mediocre marksmanship. Though I did hit pretty well with the rifle from 100 feet, and the pistol from 20.

We bought lots of nice clothes from several different tailors. That was definitely an interesting experience. Getting measured, going for fittings, having maximum control over the entire production was neat. I reccomend it to anyone going to Thailand.

We also saw a honest to goodness Thai Ladyboy Cabaret show. They danced and lipsynced and put on an entertaining 45 minute show.. It was free and had decent priced beer. It was a bit strange having all these guys acting, dressing, and LOOKING like women but not in a creepy eww way, just in a wow.. Thats not a girl, thats a dude! kind of way.

Jo already talked about the Elephant ride, that was sweet, I named our Elephant "Miss Stompy McCrush'n'smush" as she obviously was an elephant that would have no problem squashing anything that got in her way, buildings, cars, people, other elephants poo.. you name it, she'd step on it. The elephant in front of us had this star shaped brand or tattoo (its hard to tell) on its hip.. I called her Tramp Stamp, which is a common name for those tattoos that women (and Thai Ladyboys) get on their lower backs, in recognition of this elephants fondness for the body art.

The weather was great. Not a drop of rain fell except when we were sleeping and as we were getting into a taxi to take us to the airport to go home. It was hot, and sunny, probably in the 27-33 degree range for the entire week, and rarely humid.

Thailand is one of those places that everyone should visit at some point. I am glad that we got the chance and can honestly say that should another opportunity arise, it is pretty likely that we would take it.

That's enough for now, its time for me to take a nap..

Only 2 more days in Paradise

These are pictures of the new room...




There are only 2 days left for us and hopefully Lucas gets better soon. He's got some kind of infection in his throat and it hurts when he swallows. He also kept me up all night coughing and wheezing, which might be why I want him to get better so fast. The swelling has gone down now and it's only the rawness that seems to be bothering him, so by the time we get back to Korea he should be ready to talk for hours on end and tell the kiddies all about our trip.

I need to take a lot of pictures as we haven't been good little shutter bugs and usually leave the camera locked up so no one will steal it, but I do feel very secure here and will take it around with me today.

Our 'resort' seems to be undergoing some kind of renovation and the upstairs kitchen has been moved down to the beach. I'm not sure if it's up and running today, but they moved EVERYTHING yesterday, even the kitchen sink ; )

To compensate the lack of kitchen yesterday, and a temporary lack of running water, we've been upgraded to an airconditioned room beside the pool, with a king size bed , instead of the double.

It has HOT water, A/C, a TV, DVD player... We're feeling pretty good. Lucas will probably spend the day resting and trying to heal his throat, so it will be nice for him to be comfy. I of course will be out shopping.

I'm having 2 dress shirts made at one tailor, 2 pairs of dress pants and a suit jacket made at another tailor, and a corduroy skirt and shirt made at a third tailors. I figure at least one of them will do a good job.

The place I'm getting my skirt at also made Lucas' suit, which looks very nice on him, quite slimming and I'm excited to see what they can do for me. I'll try to get him to pose for a picture, but we'll see, he's not a picture kind of guy most of the time.

I will show off all of my purchases and give the name of the best tailor of the three for anyone who happens to come to Samui in the future, which I would highly recommend, maybe not when we did, but a few weeks earlier or later, so the prices would be lower, not that 25$ per night is expensive, but it's even less when it's not peak season.

I must say the Grand Rock Resort has treated us well and we are very happy with our choice. I'll post more in a few days time. Hope that you are all doing well and not too, too jealous, although, you have every right to be!

Jo got to drive an elephant !

Yes, you read correctly. I got to 'drive' the elephant. The handler got down to take a couple of pictures for us and he let me go about 100 feet, even up a big hill. This one moved when you prodded its ears, but somewhere after 100 feet we weren't understanding each other, and instead of going over a steep edge into a river below, I gave back the reins. It was certainly a neat ride and we saw a mother monkey with her very new born baby hanging on under her stomach. All in all, a nice adventure.

Rick, we tried to get you a bracelet , but there weren't any.If you look closely you can see a baby monkey holding on underneath.

New Years with a bang !

Well, I know that I've certainly never been so close to fireworks before, not even when dad used to set them off in the yard. There were explosions all along the beach and we easily had the most spectacular view from the huge rocks at our resort. Every resort let off their own display up and down the beach making it a feast for the eyes and ears. No doubt there will be lots of burnt bits to clean up today.

The weather is beautiful and warm, almost too hot, but not quite. The water is perfect, but the beach will shred your tootsies. The last typhoon from Vietnam brought really coarse coral sand up on the beach and I'll never need a pedicure again, because my feet are slowly being rubbed off.

I got a thai massage yesterday while Lucas sampled some local cuisine. The 1 hour treatmnet cost 6$ and left me feeling very well streched and limber. Our resort is nice and the bungalow has everything that it said, no hot water, but a cold shower is welcome after the sun, and for 25$ a night, you can't really ask too much. We're about 100 steps from the beach and nestled in amongst tropical gardens. There is a nice modern pool to cool off in when you don't want to play in the waves or deal with the sand. The staff are very friendly and I even got to use some french.

We'll have pictures when we get back and probably make one more post before we leave.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!