The search for Big Buddha!

O the search.. It began when I asked my Korean co-teacher June to write down in Korean Big buddha, so our taxi driver could take us there. Well somewhere in there, there was a miss communication (shocking, knowing me!...) and we ended up at Taejosan Park. It was beautiful with a pond and neat art statues every where. It had tanks and planes to remember the korean war.
Well we were told we could get to big buddha from there if we just went up that little hill someone said.. So up we went.. and up we went... and for about an hour we were going up.. And I mean strait up, bush waking, following a maybe path! We found a family doing the same thing, but the dad was carrying his child! As if.. this was the hardest mountain I had ever climbed and then to carry a baby! Well we asked him "Big buddha-e otoke gayo" which means which way to big buddha, and he pointed us on our way. Well another hour down the road now going from one peak to another, constantly looking over to see if we can see big buddha, cuz I mean, big, green, huge statue! we should see it! These men looked at us and said "no, no, go back! and then down".. so back we went, up and down the peaks to another spot where one man said go down, well we went down alright, we had ropes and trees to hold on to and we came out at a temple.. not big buddha but hey, neat enough! The hike took us 3 hours! and still no big buddha, but some amazing memories and beautiful sites!

When we finally found big Buddha, we realized we were definitely dropped off in the wrong area, we had to walk through a town, after our hike to find it.. so yes some miss communication somewhere! We found the foot of the stairs to walk up, we are certain there is 108 stairs since in the buddhist religion you must bow 108 times to buddha! So up we went, however after hiking for 3 hours those extra 108 stairs were a killer on our legs, everyone else was breezing by us.. they probably thought "O those out of shape foreigners!" But the whole days was worth it when we got to the top and saw Buddha, it was stunning! Pictures do not do it justice, it was breath taking!

One of the best days we have had so far, and it is right in our neighbourhood, Cheonen!

1 Month!

So we made it! ONE MONTH! it flew by! We have loved every minute of it!
From discovering that korean students really only listen to the korean teachers and not the foreign teachers.. great! Eating chicken hearts.. by accident! Discovering our love of hiking.. AMAZING!

We have already started travelling, we have been to Seoul and Gyeonju, on the east coast! We have hiked and got lost on Teajo mountain, we sat and prayed to the big buddha, rang a huge temple bell, eaten street food, put our feet in the Japanese Ocean and fell in love with this country!

We are beyond happy here. Our place feels like home to us now, we have made great friends and we are constantly planning our next trip!

We wish everyone back home could experience this with us! It is a beautiful country and we would love to have anyone come and visit!! :)

Hiking on our Mountain!

There is a mountain which is about a 5-minute walk away from us and we are starting to hike it every morning before Robin goes to work. This morning we took a hike and got to the top where there is a nice Korean structure. The hike has a lot of exposed roots, the rainy season was really bad this year, but they kind of make steps which can make is easier to go uphill. All along the path are workout stations where you can find young men to older ladies doing exercises. Its really quite amazing to see all the people that hike this trail and do exercises, especially those who are at least 65 years old. Here's some pictures!!

Chuseok!

Every year Korea celebrates Chuseok. It is like their thanksgiving. They get 4 days off, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and go home to visit their ancestors and pay respect to them. They wear their Hanboks, cultural gowns. They are beautiful! On Friday at school we had our own celebration with all the kinder kids! The teachers all wore hanboks, and we were all taught how to properly bow. We helped the kids make sonpiang. Its duk, with sugar, red bean and sesame seads. The kids love it!

Jason with the Dream Class!

Me and my Wisdom class! Adorable!

First Visit to Seoul - Seoul Station, Namsan Mountain & N Seoul Tower

This past Monday was a holiday for us, the holiday was Chusok, the Korean thanksgiving. We had a four day weekend, so we decided to go to Seoul. We took a train from the Cheonan train station and it took about an hour to get there. Once we arrived at the Seoul Station, we toured around the neighbourhood. We found Nandaemun market, which has several stands of clothes, shoes, purses and food. We saw the North Seoul Tower on top of Namsan Mountain and I remembered that my kids told me about it, so we walked to it. This is what it looked like:

So we walked to it and walked up all the stairs, the mountain is 262m in elevation, so it was quite a climb.  There was a nice fountain at the bottom and some nice scenery as we walked up. 

Once we got to the top, there was a lot of up there, besides the tower, there was music, lookouts, shops, a restaurant and the famous lovers lock railings. Couples bring locks with them to the base of the tower and lock two locks together. There are thousands of locks, its quite amazing!

After Namsan, we visited an area called Itaewon. This is a very foreign friendly area with lots of shopping and tons of foreign restaurants. We had our first burger in Korea and it was pretty good. The only downside is that they don't use real cheese, everything is sliced!! (Very sad..) After walking around for a while, we took the subway back to Seoul Station and took the KTX home. The KTX is more money, but it was much faster, reaching speeds of around 265 km/h. It was dark, but you could see the flash of lights in the city whizzing by. 

Overall, it was a great day, we saw a lot, but still need to go back and do more adventuring!!

Downtown Cheonen

This past weekend, Jason and I wanted to explore downtown! Friday night, was Emily's birthday, she is also another kinder teacher like myself. A bunch of us took taxis downtown to dolce and then to NV. You can't walk down a street without finding a bar, and there is no closing time! You can be out as late as well whenever, the bar tenders leave when you do! However, we did not stay out that late, but we did get to have our first taste of the downtown night life, as well as our first street meat!

The next day Jason and I wanted to venture to the mall downtown, Shinseigai. We were told to take the 12 bus. Well we were too excited and got off at an outdoor market. When I say outdoor market, I literally mean fish sitting in a tank outside for anyone to grab. Fish, lobster, crabs as big as my head! We figured we would walk to the mall, well 30 minutes later, we finally made it. We were so proud of ourselves, we made it through the streets of downtown Cheonan, without a map I might add! The mall was huge! The way it is designed is that you go to a floor for what you are looking for. So I wanted to check out the clothes, well floor 4 is all ladies clothes. Very convenient I might add! This is where the movie theatre is as well, and they do play English movies! The food was amazing! Seafood every where and cheap! We found one place at the mall where everything is served on a conveyor belt, and you choose a plate depending on the colour which tells you the price! This is one of the great dishes we tried!

That night we partied on the rooftop of some of our friends apartment! IT was tons of fun, we met a bunch of other foreigners from all over the world! It was a great way to end our adventurous day! Topping it of with a Cass beer, only a dollar a bottle.. check out the size of them.. Let me tell you.. One is enough!

Some of our friends from SLP!

Welcome to my kinder classes!

Every morning, I am lucky enough to teach the most adorable group of kids.. ha, sometimes.. some days its like they all planned together to not do anything I say, or do the complete opposite, I don't know how they can be so smart at 4 years old.
My first class is called Wisdom, there is 4 of them in the class. In Korea they are 5 years old, but in Canada they are only 4. In Korea you are 1, when you are born, so I forgive them most of the time when they want to run and run and be silly, because really they are only 4!

My next class is called Dream. They are 6 years old (5 in Canada terms). There is 7 of them, and they give me the run for my money! Hilarious though. I showed them a picture of my mom, dad and Tyler and they said "No Robin Teacher, he isn't your brother, Jay teacher is." They call Jason, Jay teacher and thought since we came together we are brother and sister! So, sorry Ty, they don't think you exist.. I tried! They love Jason though, he came in for lunch on a Friday and they were so excited, every day they ask if he is coming. I don't feel the love! But actually, they do love me!

Exploring Cheonan

So on our first weekend, we decided to explore the city a bit, although we are in the hotel still, the area is fairly close to the school. One thing that really stands out so far is the crazy drivers and the guys on scooters that don't pay attention to the lights. Running a red light is a common occurrence! The people are very friendly, more so than expected. The neighbourhood is supposed to be really safe and very little crime. We have had a couple of experiences with korean food, its really interesting, they really love having tons of side dishes. Our first night we went out for dinner and the beef was cooked right in the middle of the table in front of us, the meat was called galbi.

Last night the whole staff was taken out for dinner, it was a Farewell/Welcome party for those who are new and those who are leaving. It was fun, all the newbies had to introduce themselves and sing a song, Robin and I were supposed to sing "There was a great big moose" together, but we found out we couldn't sing it as a duo, so she stole the song and I ended up doing twinkle twinkle little star in a jazzy poetic way. both performances were spectacular, as I'm sure you can imagine. Afterwords we went to a nori-bang and had our own karaoke room. It was a lot of fun, the staff here are great.

Here's a couple of photos from our adventure so far!

Us at the Airport with our welcome sign

 Part of Cheonan

 View from a pedestrian overpass

 Mountains in the background

In front of our hotel

Korean Food!

Bi Bim Bop - rice with salads and and a mixture of stuff all mixed together. You can also get bok im bop, which is the same just with kimchi.

kim bop - seaweed around rice with salads and vegetables inside it - kind of like sushi but without the fish

Shaboo Shaboo _ its a delicious meal, first its a broth that you cook at your table, it is full of spinach, mushrooms and potatoes. Once it is cooked, you add the meat. Once it is cooked you can eat some. You can add noodles to it, and then drink it like a soup. Once you are done they fry up an egg with rice and vegetables! Delicious!

Galbie - candy meat, Jenny calls it that. Which I totally agree with. You cook the beef in front of you and then eat it with lettuce, rice, kimchi, noodles, garlic and pumpkin. Your choice of what you eat it with!

Galbi

Mandoo - kind of like tortolini, but with pork spinach and garlic inside of it!

Mandoo

Dwoigee Galbi - Pork galbi, marinated and is delicious.

Duk Galbi - Chicken galbi, with duk, red pepper sauce, cabbage, potatoes and carrots. Definatly my favorite, and we have learned how to make it at home!

Duk Galbi

Pork Bone Soup - This is a fav of Jays'. It is a bone of pork with the meet on it, brewing in a broth. I usually like the brothe!








Ramen - Korea's version of Mr. Noodle. However less salty, still not great for you, you can get it everywhere! There are rows of it in the grocery stores! When I make it I usually put my own vegetables and crack an egg in it.

Kimchi Gigae - Kimchi soup really. Em LOVES it! I am not much of a fan, it has huge pieces of tofu in it and kimchi. Usually the broth is spicy.

Bulgogi - Beef eaither spicy of not. It is thinly shaved beef, cooked with vegetables. You eat over rice. Very yummy.

Jupjae - Stir fried vegetables over glass noodles. Quite oily. Also has sesame seeds!

Duk - It is eaten all the time. It is rice pasta, but very very thick. Kids eat it plain, I only like it when it is in something.

We are here!

We made it!

After our flight to JFK  (which was not pleasant at all) then from there to Korea (14 hours - which I slept most of the way!) to being picked up at the airport, yes with someone holding a sign which said "welcome to Korea Robin and Jason" then a 2 hour bus ride to Cheonen where we are working, then taken out for dinner, we have made it!

As soon as we got to our hotel, which, is actually called a "Love Motel" - Koreans do not move in with their boyfriend/girlfriend until they are married, so they are living at home until they are 27,28 etc. So to do their business, they rent a room at a Love Motel! EVERYTHING is provided, from shampoo, soap, cologne, toothpaste, perfume and sometimes condoms! I was told that our boss probably called before and told them not to have them their so he wouldn't be embarrassed! Hilarious! Anyways, we were taken out for dinner by Jenny and Josh, whose apartment we will be taking over and Jessi! REally great time, we had Korean BBQ! you make it all right in front of you! 

So we were given chop sticks.. and well they were really difficult to use, so I guess the waitress noticed how poorly I was using them, and brought me over a fork.. and laughed!

After dinner, Josh and Jenny walked us back to our Love motel and to the emart, much like a walmart but always open! 

Back at our hotel room, Jason figured we need to get some electronics going, since we will be staying here for 9 days. As soon as he plugged his adapter in and then his computer, big spark goes, a fizzle sound and ALL the power goes out! Greta First night in Korea, no one we know is with us, we don't have a phone, so Jason goes down and talks/mimes to the front desk. However he isn't going to tell them he caused it.. so they try everything in our room (in the complete darkness) and after 30 minutes give up and give us this beautiful room down the hall! Did we ever feel embarrassed, however they feel bad so they start hauling all of our stuff out of the room (in the dark) to our new room. I didn't care where they put anything I was so tired I went to bed. We set our alarms and off to sleep.

Well.. didn't Jason set the alarm for 8:30 pm, and I wanted to wake up for 8:30 am since I was getting picked up at 9:30. So, I didn't wake up until 9:20! Of course I would, first day, why not be late! Through myself together and got out the door, at 9:30 exactly! 

What a day, I met all 5 of my classes I will be teaching Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I met parents, co-workers, the bank people, the hotel people, my head is spinning. One lady stopped me on the street and kept moving her hands up and down over my dress I had on (which was completely respectful here) not knowing what she was saying, and she wouldn't let me leave, I kept bowing and saying "thank you". Jenny said that if she was smiling it was probably a good thing, which she was, but who knows!

I am back from my day of teaching, full of information, and ready to take on the next day! and hopefully wake up in time for tomorrow!

WE HAVE OUR FLIGHT!

So it is official, we leave MONDAY AUGUST 22!
We will be flying out of Toronto at 6:25 am Monday morning... to New York.
From there we will wait in New York (can I already smell shopping...) and leave at 1:00 pm and arrive in Incheon at 4:10 pm. It is only a 14 hour flight from New York to Incheon. However in Canadian time we will be arriving at 3:10 am..

I don't know if internet will be set up when we get there, once we do you will all know we arrived!

HERE WE GOO!!

Robinism!

So many of you may know, I say funny things at unexpected times. I find they make sense, but usually they do not in the context we are talking about! I figured since I am going to be teaching English to Kindergarteners,  I may have a few "Robinisms" as my family calls them!


I'll continuously update this page to let you know what "Robinisms" I have said.


1. foopla: As meant to be Faux Pas. Said to my dad when I was playing cards and made a mistake "that was such a foopla!"

Count Down Begins!

As of now we do not have our tickets... BUT the count down is starting! We have estmated that we will be leaving August 22. Our visas are in processing so it is still a waiting game! I'll feel much better once I have those tickets in my hand!