...and Milyang has gone crazy. It's festival time and, suddenly, the city is full of people and the streets are lined with a wide variety of vendors, from people selling corn on the cob and steamed crab out the back of a truck to others selling things that can't readily be identified (in fact, there was on stall selling something that Laura and I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be eaten or hung up for decoration). This usually quiet little city is now loud and boisterous, with music groups and fireworks at night, with cultural events both new and old, and with food, food, everywhere. I've walked through the thick of it a few times now, but haven't spent any real time exploring it. Luckily, it only started last night. Tomorrow, Saturday, a group of us foreigners will descend upon this seething throng of festivities and partake in all its glory.
In other news, my school has both a new director and a new Korean teacher. The director, Bryan, has, in just two short weeks, made things far more organized and easy to deal with. I feel far more comfortable bringing things up with him than I did with the owner. So, now, I'm hoping things will shape up financially there. I'm waiting on my next few pay periods to see if things have truly turned around. If, as usual, I get some of my pay on pay day and the rest a week later, then I will know that things still have a long way to go. Bryan claims that he can boost our enrollment from 20 students to 100 students in one month. We'll see. As for the Korean teacher, her name is Ellen (or Song Min-jeong). She teaches at Click school as well (the other school owned by Mr. Chang, across the street from ELC), and she's been around ELC for a month or so now but took over for Cathy this week after Cathy quit to prepare for graduate school. She's easy to work with, very friendly and the kids seem to like her. I'll miss working with Cathy, though. She was all of the above, as well.
Other than that, my past two weeks in Milyang haven't been much of anything. However, the weekends have been really good. Two weeks ago, Laura and I went to Jinju, a city about 3 times the size of Milyang and about 2 hours away by train. It's a really nice place and easily the cleanest Korean city we've seen yet. We saw some great temples, rode in some duck paddle boats (Ori boat, as the Koreans say), saw the end of a wedding between a Korean woman and a foreign man (they were wearing Korean traditional clothing, which was neat to see), enoyed the nature and the city itself and all in all had a great day. Last weekend we went to Haeundae beach in Busan and met up with Mark and Dave for some Indian food and beer on Saturday night. A good time was had by all. On the next day, Laura and I wandered about the beach. Laura got some great pictures, and yet another great day was enjoyed.
This weekend, it is definitely all about the festival. I'll be sure to update on that once it's done. The festival actually lasts a full week, but it's likely that we won't be much involved outside of the weekend.
And now, the news that is most exciting and important to me...
I got accepted to SFU. I'm quite thrilled about that. Anthropology department, here I come! The one thing tempering the excitement right now is the paper hoops they're making Laura jump through to get in. We're pretty certain she's basically been accepted, but they want her to get her past institutions to send in detailed descriptions of all her courses, presumably for transfer credit consideration, but they won't offer her admittance until those are in. It's a pain, for sure, but it's all in the works now and we'll know soon enough.
We're slowly getting things set up for our return to Canada, of which we are getting more and more excited about. We've been thinking of things we need to get here and send home, places we want to see here before we go, and all of that. As well, we've been looking into apartments and thinking about employment upon our return. It's going to be a rather busy 3 months or so, followed by another really busy month at home. It should be rather interesting. I've made my arrangements with my school to stay the extra two months, and they are starting to process the extension on my work visa. I had to sign a second contract, but they are well aware that I will be leaving after two months of it. I've put the idea in their heads as well that Laura and I would be truly happy if we could somehow end up on the same flight together. We'll see if that pans out. It would require the two schools, competitors in a tight market, to work together in setting that up. Despite that, I feel pretty confident about it.
Anyway, I think that catches us up.
Guy
Friday, April 29, 2005
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Hurray for spring!
The flowers bloom, the trees are a-blossom.
Clearly, spring is here. I was expecting it a little while ago, but it is here now and I am glad. The days are pleasantly warm, the cherry trees add colourful pink splashes on the streets and in the hills. It's as if spring is nature's way of making up for the horridness of winter.
However, with the warmer weather come the insects, although they have yet to cause a problem. In fact, the bees in the cherry trees were rather interesting to watch and listen to earlier today as Laura and wandered down by the river. There were just so many of them and they were surprisingly loud.
Speaking of loud, spring also brings along an aspect of Korea that winter caused me to forget. There's something uniquely Korean (well, maybe, I haven't been everywhere, yet) about being woken up at 7:30 am to the sound of a man in a truck bellowing about vegetables and/or politics through loud-speakers. The difference between hearing it now and hearing it when I arrived is that now I can almost guess what they're bellowing about and it no longer seems like the cool cultural experience it was at first. Now, it's just irritating.
But, the days make up for it. So far, my allergies haven't been bad, but I'm sure they'll step things up in the next week or two. I've got my pseudoephedrine to get me by. Hopefully my supplies last it out, although I'm sure I can find some at the pharmacy should they not.
Anyway, that's about all for this entry. Still haven't heard from SFU, still am staying until July, the band still only vaguely exists. I miss home, but I am finding things here increasingly pleasant. Life is good, past, present and future.
Guy
Clearly, spring is here. I was expecting it a little while ago, but it is here now and I am glad. The days are pleasantly warm, the cherry trees add colourful pink splashes on the streets and in the hills. It's as if spring is nature's way of making up for the horridness of winter.
However, with the warmer weather come the insects, although they have yet to cause a problem. In fact, the bees in the cherry trees were rather interesting to watch and listen to earlier today as Laura and wandered down by the river. There were just so many of them and they were surprisingly loud.
Speaking of loud, spring also brings along an aspect of Korea that winter caused me to forget. There's something uniquely Korean (well, maybe, I haven't been everywhere, yet) about being woken up at 7:30 am to the sound of a man in a truck bellowing about vegetables and/or politics through loud-speakers. The difference between hearing it now and hearing it when I arrived is that now I can almost guess what they're bellowing about and it no longer seems like the cool cultural experience it was at first. Now, it's just irritating.
But, the days make up for it. So far, my allergies haven't been bad, but I'm sure they'll step things up in the next week or two. I've got my pseudoephedrine to get me by. Hopefully my supplies last it out, although I'm sure I can find some at the pharmacy should they not.
Anyway, that's about all for this entry. Still haven't heard from SFU, still am staying until July, the band still only vaguely exists. I miss home, but I am finding things here increasingly pleasant. Life is good, past, present and future.
Guy
Monday, April 04, 2005
From Russia with love
The following happened last Wednesday:
I was at school, in the middle of a class, teaching a small group of small children about colours. Things were going as usual when, all of a sudden, a Caucasian woman in her early 20's walks into my classroom. I had never seen her before in my life. I said, "Hello," in a rather surprised tone of voice while thoughts such as, "Have we inexplicable hired a second foreign teacher?" and "Can things get any stranger?" went through my head. She smiled, but said nothing and walked to the front of the classroom, where I was. Once reaching me, she showed me a laminated card with a paragraph written in Korean on it. I indicated that I don't know Korean. She nodded and then explained to me, in broken English, that she is Russian and that she was traveling here and trying to save some money. Then she opened a case she was carrying with her and asked if I wanted to buy any Russian items. She had necklaces and nesting dolls among other things. I told her that I was in the middle of a class, but to wait ten minutes or so until I was finished so I could take a closer look. She nodded, and left. She must not have understood fully or perhaps she was on some sort of strict trinket selling schedule because she was gone when I finished my class. She apparently was seen in the ECC parking lot a day or two later. It was really rather odd.
Otherwise, last week was a bit of a wash. I felt a bit despondent about coming back after the holiday in Japan and really didn't enjoy teaching in the least. I'm better now. It helps that tomorrow is a Korean holiday so I get an extra day off this week. The weather is great and is supposed to stay that way so I think Laura and will have a picnic or some such thing tomorrow.
That is all.
Guy
I was at school, in the middle of a class, teaching a small group of small children about colours. Things were going as usual when, all of a sudden, a Caucasian woman in her early 20's walks into my classroom. I had never seen her before in my life. I said, "Hello," in a rather surprised tone of voice while thoughts such as, "Have we inexplicable hired a second foreign teacher?" and "Can things get any stranger?" went through my head. She smiled, but said nothing and walked to the front of the classroom, where I was. Once reaching me, she showed me a laminated card with a paragraph written in Korean on it. I indicated that I don't know Korean. She nodded and then explained to me, in broken English, that she is Russian and that she was traveling here and trying to save some money. Then she opened a case she was carrying with her and asked if I wanted to buy any Russian items. She had necklaces and nesting dolls among other things. I told her that I was in the middle of a class, but to wait ten minutes or so until I was finished so I could take a closer look. She nodded, and left. She must not have understood fully or perhaps she was on some sort of strict trinket selling schedule because she was gone when I finished my class. She apparently was seen in the ECC parking lot a day or two later. It was really rather odd.
Otherwise, last week was a bit of a wash. I felt a bit despondent about coming back after the holiday in Japan and really didn't enjoy teaching in the least. I'm better now. It helps that tomorrow is a Korean holiday so I get an extra day off this week. The weather is great and is supposed to stay that way so I think Laura and will have a picnic or some such thing tomorrow.
That is all.
Guy
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