Lets hear it for the kids

A glimpse into a typical day at school:

This is the main street about 2 blocks from our house. We have a short and easy walk to school which is nice. Our school, Reading Town, is on the 3rd floor of the large building on the right side of the street. The green signs say "Reading Town" in Korean.

This is the lobby of the school. The computer lab and libraries are on the left. All of the classrooms (named after US Ivy League schools...Duke, John Hopkins, Brown, Cornell, etc) are on the right

This is one of my younger classes. They are pretty great, most of the time :). They were having a hard time with vocabulary, so I made a vocab matching game which they are working on here. I decided the partners, and they were NOT happy about that :( But, I think they learned the vocab a little better!

Ella, Ann, and Sarah (Ann is one of my faves)
"Ryon the Lion" and Michelle
Tony and Michelle. I tried to tell Tony about "Tony the Tiger" because his best friend is "Ryon the Lion"...it didn't translate.

Andy and Rachel. Andy is a punk, and Rachel is a superstar student. Rachel was verrry upset to be paired with Andy, and shaking her head and saying "terrible, terrible, terrible" the entire time.

This is Brian. He is in the highest level class, and is rrreally good at english. He has his arm around the empty chair to represent Tommy, his best buddy and one of our favorite students that had just left the school that day :(.

During a writing assignment in this class, Brian looked up and me and goes, "Teacher Amy..you know that me and Brian use curse words sometimes?"

Me, "Yes Brian, and that is not a good thing.."

Brian, "Well, Teacher Amy, I am working on...how do you say?....Changing my habit."

Sarah and Julie..2 more rockstars. They are also in the highest level class and Bryan and I are constantly wow-ed by their intelligence level. They are incredibly curious students, and love learning...so we love them :) (I also had to do about 4 of these pictures, because they are middle school girls, and therefor were verrrry self conscious of their pics)

Another one of my lower-middle level classes. The girls are sweethearts, and the boys are little devils. I think the same good be said about a 3rd grade class in America.

Today and tomorrow we are giving our classes the "Monthly Tests". I have a feeling that these are pretty tough, and I hope that we have prepared them enough in the short time we have been here. Cross your fingers that they will do well!

love,

Amy

Home Sweet Home

Oh hey world! Thanks for coming by our new home! Come on in, we'll give you a tour!

Yes, this is our front door, and yes, these are the stairs/ladder you have to climb to get into our house. We are crossing our fingers for no icey weather this winter. We live on the second story of a house, so this entrance is kind of on the back of the house. We dont really know our downstairs neighbors, but we can see their backyard from our balcony and they have a really beautiful garden. I am very curious about them, so I sort of stalk them when they hang out in their backyard...creepy, I know.

This is our room from one angle. Above our bed you will find our AC unit, and a mesquito net (which we have not had to use yet). To the left of the bed is our one closet....pshyeah right. We got crafty and found other places to store/hang our clothes because clearly, this wouldn't do :).

This is our room form the other angle. Please take a moment to admire our crafty storage. Also, thank you mom and dad for not allowing me to bring all the shoes I wanted to bring. You were right- I didnt neeeeed all of them.

This is our guest room/media room/library/other closet. This is where each of you can stay when you come visit us! We were very lucky to arrive to an already well stocked bookshelf. The TV does not work, so I think we might get rid of it. One thing you cant see from this photo is the HUGE map of Texas we put above the bed. Cheesy? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.

This is our kitchen from one angle. That is the front door. The fridge is a good size. We don't have an oven, but we do have a stove top, and we have been putting that to good use. Our house came completely furnished, so we were lucky to have all of the appliances/dishes here when we arrived.

Kitchen from other angle. That sink is the sole sink in the house, hence the toothbrushes and toiletry basket. Ya do what ya gotta do.

The bathroom. Prrretty rough, not gonna lie. While it is a plus that the shower is not directly over the toilet like in most traditional Korean homes, the shower is still pretty bad. Zero water pressure and only capable of 2 temps: 32 degrees, and 150 degrees. But, what can ya do :)?. I think this bathroom is going to serve as one of those lessons to teach me to appreciate what I have at home.

Looking through the laundry hanging room to the balcony. What the bathroom lacks in charm, the balcony makes up. I love it out here. Bryan does a lot of reading here, and we have enjoyed some lovely dinners on that table. I am really looking forward to the temperature cooling off a bit so that we can hang out here without sweating. *Oh, I also just realized I forgot to put up a photo of our "middle room". It does basically just that, sits in the middle of the kitchen, bed room, and guest room. It has a table, and 2 chairs. You get the idea :)

I hope you enjoyed our little tour! I love our new home, and hope you do too!

Have a nice day/night!

love,

amy

Korean Fun Fact

Fact:

It is a tradition in Korea for couples to wearing matching outfits on their 100th day anniversary. Pretty silly/awesome! Do you think I can convince Bryan to do that? I mean, I did get him to put an orange bag on his head during the game :)

love,

amy

All Dogs go to Heaven

I wanted to take a little break from our Korean world and give a shout out to my girl, Bailey. Even though I knew this day was coming (honestly, I thought it would of come years ago), it was still hard to hear the news last night that our dog, Bailey, passed on. I was able to say a big 'good-bye' before I came to Busan, but hearing the news still made me feel very far away, and sad.

Being about 15 dog-years old (about 102 human years!), Bailey really gave our family infinite happy memories to look back on. Most of you most likely met her at least once over the years, and can probably agree that she always greeted you with an energetically wagging tail, and a good ol' head in your crotch :).

So, Bailey, I wanted to thank you for your unconditional love, always being excited to see me, always following me around whenever I was home, and always licking my legs to death, making sure they were as clean as possible. We love you, and you will be dearly missed.

love,

Amy

Whats up, Beaches!

Our first weekend!

It's been a pretty long first week. Nothing negative to speak of, just a full schedule of teaching and errands. We're finally getting the hang of the classes here...our wonderful students make even the harder days easier and fun.

But enough about work, it's the weekend!

Friday night was our first night out, so we took the subway down to Gwangalli Beach (my first time on a subway!) for some strollin', eatin', and drinkin'. After walking for a while, we found a restaurant right with a patio right on the beach. The food wasn't really anything to brag about, but what they lacked in cuisine, they made up for in view. A great view of the water and the Gwangalli Bridge, as well as the perfect place for some people watching.

The boardwalk area is pretty happenin' on the weekends in Busan. After dinner we made our way down the beach amongst young korean couples and tons of expats. Until friday, we had only seen one other white dude in korea (with the exception of katie and lane). So, it was nice to get a little diversity for the weekend. I'm pretty sure the population in Korea is about 98-99% Korean...which might sound obvious, but is much MUCH different than living in America. We really take if for granted how many wonderfully different cultures we have mixing and mashing together in the states.

One thing that is really big over here is fireworks. They are totally legal, totally everywhere. I saw at least five vendors selling them on the beach. The popular ones around here are big Roman Candles. It definitely makes for an exciting atmosphere combined with drinking, anywhere and everywhere.

We only went to one bar, "Thursday Party," after dinner. It was reminiscent of maybe a mix between the Blind Pig and the Hole in the Wall. Probably not somewhere I would frequent at home, but it was really nice to get to order some Long Islands that were just $5 and listen to some music that isn't K-Pop (Korean Pop).

After a couple drinks and the first time that someone accepted a tip from me, we decided on convenience-store-bar, which is actually almost like a bar. Most of the stores on the beach put chairs and tables out front for people to sit and enjoy. The clerk even pops your beers for you.

Saturday was our first day without work, and I think we maxed out our relaxation as much as we could.

We headed through the subway to Songjeong Beach, which, from what we've been told, is one of the cleaner beaches for swimming.

I felt comfortable as soon as we got there. A place with little shack-bars, surf-board rentals, families on the beach, and even reggae music! can't be beat. This is where we found our first burger joint, called Blow Fish, that even had jalapenos, pitches, and english speaking bartenders. I don't want to sound like we're not enjoying our korean food and culture, because we are tremendously, it's just that we eat korean bbq/seafood a lot, and only hear korean spoken, so when we find a place with a hint of Texas, it's work mentioning....plus, i Love jalapenos!

After catching some much needed rays and salt water, we had a chill saturday evening in our neighborhood, Yeonje-gu. We went out for some Sam Gap Sal (Korean BBQ'd pork) with Kimchi, Bop (rice), and a couple big beers for like $10 each....not bad.

Sunday evening we met some friends in the middle of the city at a Lotte Giants baseball game.

I'd heard how crazy Koreans are about baseball, but i really had no clue how far one could take it. The stadium was packed to the brim with about 30,000 screaming fans. And pretty much all of them were decked out in their favorite player's uniform.

It was refreshing to see how excited and happy people can be if they want to. There are many instances back home, where i feel like the hipster gets the better of us, and we don't fully embrace the silly side of life.

We found our seats and popped open the cooler...yes, you can bring your own cooler to baseball games here....any food you want too!

The game started, and so did the chants. Every player has their own "song" that the ENTIRE crowd sings along with when the get up to bat. Most of the songs are korean words to well known american songs...not all of them "pop." For instance, one of the players' songs was to the tune of "Glory Glory Halleluia"....no bs.

The home team Giants played amazingly well, and we ended up winning 8-3 over a team from Seoul. One of the cheesiest things we did happened in the 8th inning. Regardless of the score, the fans here get there equivalent of a Rally-cap going in the top of the 8th.

They pass out these orange grocery bags that have writing upside-down on them...everyone blows them up and ties it off, and then hooks it over their ears so that the inflated bag is now your hat. In all honesty, it was the funniest thing I have ever seen...or done.

After the game, we headed to a bar on Haeundae Beach. Our friend got a tip from somewhere on the interweb about the players wanting to go to this bar after the game. There were about 5 people there when we showed up. Needless to say, I was more than skeptical about the reality of these "ballers" making an appearance. Well, skepticism may turn out true sometimes, but I was wrong. About 6 of the players came with the coach about 20 minutes later.

The coach gave a speech, (he's an american, and so i finally got to understand what was being said in the same room) and the players all signed autographs for the fans that made it out.

One of the players ended up talking with our friends, Ginger and Bruce, and we had a real nice time over some Red Rock, a pretty good Korean lager.

He played ball in Florida, then California, and now he's the main pitcher for the Lotte Giants! He said he's really loving it here. Amy had the idea that he might want to hang with some englishers, and so we gave him my number. I know. I'm a dork. But he was pretty chill and interesting, and we speak the same language. I think we might get some Vietnamese food at a place he really likes down at Gwangalli on thursday. Woohoo! Our first new friend in Korea, and he's a professional baseball player!

First weekend down. 51 to go!

Friday morning reflection

Hey yall!

Hooray for Friday! This past week has been a complete whirlwind, and I can't believe it has only been a week since Bryan and I lept off of American soil and landed here in Busan. I feel like my mind has been filled with enough new sites, sounds, and smells (*remind me to tell you about those smells later..) for a whole year! Katie and Lane (the teachers we replaced) really were angels in this whole transition process, and even though we only spent about 48 hours with them, they are already dearly missed.

I think that I have gotten the hang of things in the teaching world. Bryan already told you about some of it, but I think I should expand on how adorable these kids really are. In a few of my classes, the kids' feet dont even touch the ground when they are sitting in the chairs...adorable. I have already received sweet little drawings from some of the little girls of "Teacher Amy", complete with long curly hair (I wish), and big smiles. These have been hung by my desk, and I hope the collection grows throughout the year.

In some of my most advanced classes, I am AMAZED by the intelligence levels of the kids. Most of them are around 10-12 years old, and the content they are learning in English is comparable, if not more advanced, than what I was learning in my native language at that age. For example, I have 2 advanced classes using a text book called "Issues for Today". This is a book that CNN put out, with a series of non-fiction articles followed by in depth reading comprehension questions and vocab.

We are currently on a story that discusses the latest Forensic technology such as DNA testing, fingerprint testing, and laser light technology. It goes on to talk about 3 crimes in depth that these methods were used at, including murder, rape, and theft. Um...you try explaining the definitions to ANY of those words I just used in basic english.. Come. on.

I feel bad for the kids, because I know they are trying really hard, but some things just aren't going to click. Luckily, in these classes, I have the freedom of writing the vocabulary tests which are required ("require" was one of our vocab words) for each class. I was able to make the past test challenging, but easy enough for the students not to feel completely defeated. And, I am happy to report that they all scored 100%! Ha..maybe I went a little tooo easy on them :)

So, its only 11am here in Busan, but Bryan and I have already finished our first adventure for the day: The Health Exam. In order to get our Alien Registration Cards (which you need to open a bank account, get a cell phone, live), you are required to have a health exam. I think we were both somewhat intimidated by this idea, but knew that we had to get it over with. Katie had left us with the name of a hospital that had an English speaking nurse. We were able to find the hospital with out a problem, but never met this apparent "English speaking nurse" :).

I was just searching for this clip on YouTube to show you how I felt during the process, but was unsuccessful- do you remember the scene in Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and the gang arrive at the Emerald City and the munchkins take them through an assembly line of procedures and Dorothy looks a little confused by the whole thing? Well, that was Bryan and me. Oh, and we didn't come out on the other end with shinier red slippers and styled hair. Our assembly line went a little like this:

Nurse: "askdjfbnaskdljfblaksjdf?"

Amy/Bryan: "um...Amy? Bryan? Health Check?...yes?"

Nurse: "laksjdnlakjsndfkajnvk Eye akjbvnasdkjfnasdkjfn"

Amy/Bryan: "..."

-Metal spoons were shoved over each of our eyes by the nurses and we quickly read numbers on chart

Nurse: "wevkwjebvlkbroin Blood vkjnvlakwjebnvwuen Urine avelkjnwevlakwejbv Ear awevkjawbevlkjb"

Amy/Bryan: "...?"

-raised hands when we heard beeps, stood on scales, looked at colored dots, pretended we knew what they were saying...

Then we were ushered to room 1, then room 2, then room 3, then room 4 (you get the idea)

where we had our blood taken, we had to pee in a cup, have our chest x-rayed...you name it. But, bottom line- we did it :) So, keep your fingers crossed that all of our tests come back A-OK and we can officially be Aliens!!

Tonight after work Bryan and I are going to celebrate our first Friday night by taking the subway to Gwangalli Beach for some dinner, drinks, and exploring. We also have plans to go to a baseball game tomorrow night with Ginger and Bruce :) Stay tune for stories about that!

*ha! almost forgot to tell you about the new smells in our new world. Well, let me just say, some of the smells that have entered my nose have been fuunnn-ky. They seep out of the little shops, small restaurants, side alleys, etc. It is not that they are necessarily a 'gross' smell, but the spices, oils, and food used here is so different from home, that they create much different scents than Im used to. I also think that since it is the end of summer, the heat might be enhancing the smells just a bit. I am getting use to them a little more each day, but Bryan and I hope that as the weather cools, the funky smells chill out a little bit :)

Alright world, have a wonderful night/morning/day!

love,

Amy

Back to School

It's wednesday here in Busan, and we're starting our first day of school.

The first day went really well, neither of us really had to do anything. The couple we're replacing (Katie and Lane) was there for their last day, and so Amy and I got to sit in class with the other students and learn about the difference between to, too, and two....

It was a short and sweet visit with Katie and Lane though. They left for a vacation to Tokyo yesterday, and will travel from there to Hong Kong where they'll be teaching kindergardeners.

So, yesterday was our first solo day. Before we went, I couldn't help but think about teachers I've had in the past that talked about being nervous. I never understood then, Thoughts like: "How can you be nervous?? You're an adult, and a teacher. I'm just a kid...nervous is my job."

This eventually gave me comfort. Because the kids were going to be much more nervous of a 6'3" hairy white man, than I should be of a 3'4" Korean 2nd grader...at least I hoped.

I wasn't totally correct about the intimidation factor. But there wasn't any nervousness to speak of, which made the day go extremely well. The first few classes of our days consist of mainly 1st-4th graders and the ages gradually rise in the classes throughout the day.

This is going to take away from all that tough street-cred I've been building up over the years, but I have to say it...these kids, especially the little ones, are adorable. I haven't taken any pictures of them yet, but I'm sure they would love that, and you would too. They are so very curious and giggly. I already love em. You don't get a whole lot of time to hang with elementary school kids when you're in college. But, it is very refreshing to get to work with six year olds.

The lessons went by in a flash, and were much more interesting yet easy to teach than I expected. My most advanced students got to read about Louis Braille, who was born in 1809 and adopted a system of reading used by the military for "reading in complete darkness" to a system that allows blind people to read....I might've been a little more intrigued than my sixth grade boys.

Everything about his place and these people has been great and doesn't stop getting greater.

We love you all and I'll let you know how the rest of the week goes.

-Bryan

Balcony Views By Night

(outside looking in)

We made it!!!

Hello world!

Amy and Bryan have officially made the leap, and all is well :)

As most of you know, the actual 30 hours of travel to arrive here was what I have been most nervous about, and I am proud to say that I made it through (with only 1 small little breakdown during hour 15) :)! The flight from LA to Seoul (13 hours...painful), was on Asiana Airlines, complete with chic and modern 'Asiana' style. The flight attendants were all beautiful Asian women wearing beautiful outfits (they had about 3 outfit changes each), serving beautiful food in beautiful little red dishes.

I think our first taste of what this next year was going to consist of is when the flight attendant offered us out breakfast choices: American omlet, or spicy octopus. We quickly chose the omlet, although Bryan has probably mentioned 5 times since then that he wished he would have chosen the more exotic choice. I, on the other hand, was completely content with my decision.

We arrived in the Busan airport at about 9 in the morning, and our recruiter's boss picked us up. He then took us to Ginger's, our recruiter, house. She lives with her Canadian husband Bruce in a pretty apartment with a nice view of the mountains. We managed to talk with them for a little bit, but our jetlag kicked in pretty strong, and we each slept for the remaining 5 hours of the afternoon.

Once we were alive again, Bruce and Ginger took the two of us to a verrry authentic Korean BBQ restaurant down the street. Bryan and I were the only foreigners there, and there was zero English on the menu. Thank goodness for Ginger and Bruce!

We all had to remove our shoes once we walked into the restaurant, and we were seated on the floor around a low table that had a mini grill in the middle. The waitress came over quickly and placed a pot of hot coals under the grill, and brought a whole cart of side dishes which filled almost every inch of the table. The side dishes consisted of lettuce leaves, about 3 different types of Kimchi (traditional Korean spicy pickled cabbage), red bean paste, whole garlic cloves, radishes, and many many more.

The waitress then brought us a plate of raw pork which looked like really really think slices of bacon. Ginger put all of this on the grill, and cut it up with special scissors once it had cooked for awhile. When the meat was ready to eat, we each took pieces of it with our chopsticks* (*more on that obstacle later), and dipped it/added it to the various sides before eating it. The pork was so so delicious! After we finished that plate, Ginger ordered a second plate of marinated pork ribs, which we then grilled, and ate in the same way.

The whole dinner was a completely new experience for both of us, and while at times a little overwhelming, it was a wonderful glimpse into the culture that we will be immersed in over the next year.

*So, about the chopsticks. I had joked with some before coming here that this new exotic food might be a great diet if I didn't like the new flavors, but heres the thing: the flavors and food were wonderful, if I could only get the food into my mouth. I am AWFUL at using chopsticks. The chopsticks at the restaurant last night were metal, which we were told were the hardest to use, so hopefully last night was a rare thing...but still, it was super tough. Bryan and I already discussed getting a whole lot of chopsticks for our apartment so that I could practice on my own with peas, rice, air...you name it :) I hope to be the next 'Chopstick Master' when this is all said and done.

We are going to our apartment in a few hours and I am so so so excited to see it :). We will post more later, but until then- Anyong Haseo! (goodbye, hello, goodnight, good morning!)

love,

Amy

Peace Out

I know that it should've happened already. I probably should've realized it a while ago. We're moving across the world tonight!! Everything is packed and ready. Except for my state of mind. I keep telling myself that this is happening, but I think my subconscious is waiting to really freak me out when we take off from LAX later tonight...and there's no going back. Not that I want to at all. I think it has to do with that fact that we've been preparing and talking...and talking some more, about this move for months now, which has put an invisible veil over the magnitude and reality of it all. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic.

Either way, it's gonna sink in very soon, and I couldn't be more ready.

We love and miss all of you very much!

Keep in touch. Our next post will be from far far away.

Countdown

We are now down to about eight days left in America the beautiful.

The past week, Amy and I have been kickin' it pretty hardcore with some of my family in Ohio. The company and weather have been equally amazing. I think Busan, is at about the same latitude as northern Ohio/(or san fran). So this has been a nice warm-up for what awaits us in korea.

We've been fishing almost everyday. The relaxation level here is astronomical. Fish, eat, swim, eat, read, drink, tubin', eat, more fish...and more drink.

We just got our plane tickets a couple days ago...we're heading out from Houston on the 12th, through LA, then a 13 hour flight to Seoul, and a hop-skip-n-a-jump to Busan. We get there in the morning on Sat, but leave thursday... Somehow, Friday the 13th is never going to exist for us?

Our only forms of real communication once we get there will be the internet, since phone calls are outrageous.

So! Get Skype yo!

Peace

Our next post should be from far far away