First Day in Vietnam

Yesterday we took a bus from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.  This bus ride was so much nicer than the first one we took through the Cambodian countryside on Tuesday.  This particular bus seemed to have more seat room, the attendant was much friendlier, and the road was paved the entire way.  It was still long, around 7 hours, but we spent an hour waiting at the border crossing as it was quite busy and only one person stamping passports and visas.  We had to get off the bus with all of our luggage to get our passport stamped and then walk across the border into Vietnam.  Once we crossed the border there was an instant, night/day difference between Cambodia and Vietnam.  Whereas Cambodia was very much still developing with few buildings and mostly dry countryside, Vietnam appears to be much more developed with many buildings (both homes and shops) and a countryside that seems to be more cared for.  Instead of a narrow two lane road with no dividing line like we saw through all of our driving in Cambodia, there was a four lane road and as we got closer to the city, an extra lane just for motor bikes in Vietnam.  There are motor bikes everywhere in the city.  A tour guide we had today told us that the population of Saigon is just over 8 million.  There are 4 million motor bikes and only half of a million cars in the city.  It is literally a sea of motorbikes on every road.  Crossing the road with all of those motorbikes weaving all around each other is interesting also.  We have found ourselves standing on a corner waiting for there to be a break in traffic only to realize five minutes later it's not going to happen.  We have discovered you just have to go, but once you start you better keep going because the motorbikes will already be weaving around you and if you stop or try to turn around you're probably likely to get hit!

Last night after we got settled at our hotel we walked around the Ben Than Market which is a pretty large open market right near our hotel and had some Pho for dinner.  Today we had a tour guide take us to the Cu Chi Tunnels a bit outside of the city.  These tunnels were used by the Cu Chi guerrillas during the Vietnam War as a hideout, hospital, weapons factory and pretty much anything.  It was a huge network of tunnels which were built so small that only the Vietnamese soldiers would fit in them and be able to move through them.  We were able to learn about and see how they built the tunnels to be extremely camouflaged, what they used the tunnels for, and the booby traps they set to keep the enemy out.  We also watched a short video which was our first experience of the strong anti-American propaganda that is used during any mention of the war.  It talked about some of the famous "American-killing heroes" of the tunnels and how the tunnels aided the Viet Cong against the "fiery devils."  We had the opportunity to go inside of one of the tunnels (a small section has been widened for tourists), but neither one of us opted to go too far in the pitch dark and still very, very narrow tunnel!  There's also a shooting range at the site of the tunnels (hearing the gun shots in the background the whole time created an interesting atmosphere) where you can shoot guns from the Vietnam war era, such as an M16, AK47, etc.  Eric chose to shoot the M60.  Unfortunately, it was busy and he went through the ten bullets pretty fast and I didn't have a chance to get a very good picture.  But it was all very interesting and, once again, we learned a lot.

This afternoon we went to the Revolutionary Museum and Reunification Palace.  The palace was where the president of South Vietnam lived during the war and was the site of the end of the war during the Fall of Saigon in 1975.  Today it's a museum and you can see the different rooms and learn about what each one was used for.

We have one more day to explore Ho Chi Minh City and one more day left of our vacation before our long trip home on Sunday.  The last two weeks of traveling to places we never knew we would go has been completely amazing!!  But we are also very anxious to get home to stay for the first time in over two years!!

Cambodia

We had a great time in Siem Reap earlier this week!  On Sunday we had a tour guide for the day who took us to four different temples.  We started our tour at 5 in the morning and went to Angkor Wat, the largest of the temples, for the sunrise.  Angkor Wat was built in the early 1100's.  It only took 37 years to construct and was built solely by volunteers, no slave labor.  It was originally built as a Hindu temple but was later converted to a Buddhist temple.  It's still an active Buddhist temple today and we had to make sure our shoulders and knees were covered in order to go inside.  The sunrise was very cool to see and walking through the 900 year old temple was very neat also.  It seems that UNESCO has done a nice job preserving it and adding in some supports to keep it standing.  Unfortunately, pollution from China is starting to arrive and cause some problems but hopefully they will be able to continue to preserve it just as well since it really is so amazing to visit.

We also visited Ta Prohm, another temple in the Angkor Wat complex.  It was built in the late 12th century but was abandoned in the 17th century.  Since it was abandoned for so long, nature took over and trees began to grow very close to the temple walls.  The roots of the trees have become so big that they have caused many sections of the temple to collapse.  What is left standing has been stabilized for visitors but otherwise it has been left as it was originally found a few centuries after it's abandonment.

Next we went to Banteay Srei, originally built in the 10th century so is over 1000 years old today.  It's a bit different from the other two we had seen since it is made from red sandstone and has very elaborate carvings.

The last temple we visited on Sunday was Bayon which was the last temple to be built as part of the Angkor complex in the late 12th century and the only one to be built originally as a Buddhist temple.  This temple was  pretty big and also different from the others as it had the four faces of Buddha built into many of the columns.

On Monday we were on our own for exploring so we hired a tuk tuk driver for a few hours to take us to three other temples in the Angkor complex.  They were also interesting to see but after visiting seven temples in two days in 95+ degree heat, we were feeling ready to move on.  Being in Cambodia was a different experience for sure.  There were very few buildings other than hotels in Siem Reap.  Most everything else seemed to be in open air markets or just on the streets.  Hawkers were everywhere always trying to get you to buy something and not wanting to leave you alone (they were in Thailand last week too but even more in Cambodia).  The child beggers and sellers at the temples were hard to ignore after a while.  Unfortunately, you are supposed to ignore them because if you try to talk to them or buy something from one of them, you will have a hundred more kids swarming you right away.  The second day we couldn't help but give in and bought some postcards from a girl at one of the temples because we thought she was alone in that particular area.  Nope.  As soon as we handed her the dollar we had more than 10 other ones come out of nowhere trying to get us to buy more from them.

On Tuesday we took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.   It was less than 200 miles away but took us over six hours to get there through the countryside.  We think that probably more than half of the road we traveled on was not paved.  It was very dusty since it's the dry season right now.  It also seemed like we spent more time on the wrong side of the road than the right side trying to pass so many motorbikes all the time.  We're somewhat accustomed to how people drive in Asia but this bus ride was a bit interesting even for that!  But we made it!

On Wednesday we hired a tuk tuk for the morning to take us to the Choeung Ek killing fields just outside of Phnom Penh.  This is one site of several mass graves from the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.  It was very sad but also very interesting to learn about, as the genocide that took place here less than 40 years ago is not well known in the Western world.  We also visited the S21 prison (Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) which is a former high school the Khmer Rouge regime used as a prison and torture center.  Again, very sad but very interesting.  There were only 12 survivors from S21 when the regime finally ended, only three still living today.  We were actually able to meet one of them when we were there which was pretty neat.  In the afternoon we walked around the Royal Palace area where the king lives.  Unfortunately I was not dressed "correctly" (my shorts did not cover my knees) so we didn't go inside but the outside of the palace was still interesting to see.

This afternoon we arrived in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, our last stop before heading home on Sunday.  I will try to post more about Vietnam tomorrow!  And of course many more pictures will be uploaded to Shutterfly after we get home!

Destination #2: Siem Reap, Cambodia

After a wonderful week in Koh Samui, Thailand, this afternoon we arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our week on the island was so great.  We spent a lot of the time relaxing and reading by the pools or on the beautiful beach.  We spent one day on a boat tour to Angthong National Marine Park, where we went snorkeling, kayaking, swimming, and hiking amongst the small islands that make up the park.  The beauty of everything we saw was simply incredible.  Taking in so much sun and heat the first week of March was pretty cool too, though we both got a little more sun than we had planned to!

We will spend the next couple of days in Siem Reap before taking a bus south to Phnom Penh on Tuesday.  Tomorrow our day will start before the sun as we have a tour guide scheduled to pick us up from our hotel and take us to Angkor Wat for the sunrise.  We will spend all day tomorrow touring some of the temples with a guide and Monday probably touring some of the other temples on our own.  Already we have seen Cambodia is very different than any where we have been to before.  As we were having dinner outside this evening I had to constantly remind Eric that, sadly, he can't give something to every child we see since if you give to one you will immediately be bombarded by a hundred.  This will be a different kind of week for sure, but we are very excited to see and learn more about these places.

Something interesting we already learned on our way from the airport to our hotel is that there is a large Korean population living in Siem Reap and we got so excited when we saw a couple of store names written in Korean!  There is even a North Korean restaurant not far from our hotel that we hope to go to before we leave.  Eric also informed me as we got off the plane this afternoon that we are officially the farthest we will probably ever be from a McDonald's.  I don't think that really matters too much but he thinks it's a pretty interesting fact!

It feels hotter here in Cambodia than it was in Thailand.  I don't think either of us will be too sad to return the Pacific Northwest rain in about 8 days!

Goodbye Korea, Hello Koh Samui

Yesterday we officially said "see you later" to Korea and arrived in Koh Samui, Thailand late yesterday afternoon.  Koh Samui is the second largest island in Thailand and a big resort island.  Even the airport showed just how much of an island place it is with customs and baggage claim located outside.  The temperature is in the high 80s which is so different from what we   Our resort is located right on the beach and beautiful!!  Last night we tested the waters of the Gulf, which were warm but refreshing, and had a delicious Thai dinner overlooking the beach.  This morning after breakfast we are sitting by one of the pools cooling off in the water, working on a tan, and just enjoying.  No clocks or cell phones are needed and we love it :)  we could definitely get used to this island life and beautiful scenery!

The wifi isn't great but we will try to upload some pictures later if we can!

One Day More

Our last day in Korea has officially arrived and with still some things to do.  Last night we were able to sell some of our furniture so our bedroom is completely empty except for our suitcases and backpacks.  Two of our friends came over and took some things from our giveaway pile.  This morning the rest of our giveaway pile has been put out on the street where, hopefully, someone will take most of it.  We have two more boxes to take to the post office, some banking to finish, make sure everything is packed well, and then by tonight we will be officially moved out of our apartment and on our way to Incheon where we will spend the night and then catch our flight to Thailand in the morning.

It is bittersweet for sure.  We have made so many great friends and memories during the last two years that it is hard to leave that, but at the same time we are so excited to see what's next for us.  Last night we enjoyed a fun dinner with two of our friends and former coworkers and of course it was difficult to see it end, but we really can't wait to see all of our family and friends back home in just 16 more days!! 

We should have internet during our vacation these next two weeks so I will try to blog and share pictures as I can when possible.  We will be in Thailand for a week and then on to Cambodia and Vietnam during the second week.  We are so excited!!!

Last Weekend in Korea

Our last weekend in Korea is officially over.  It was a busy one as we each spent a lot of time with friends.  Eric spent Saturday with a couple of the families he has been doing private tutoring for and Sunday with some of his coworkers.  On Friday night a couple of our friends spent the night at our house so we could watch movies and spend a nice, late night together.  On Saturday morning my friend and I went to a cafe I have been wanting to go to for a while called Dr. Fish.  They have a couple fish tanks here with little tiny fish, officially called Garra rufa, in them.  When you put your bare feet in the tanks these fish start to nibble on them (they don't have teeth) and nibble away all of the dead skin on your feet.  It felt really, really weird at first, like something was crawling on my feet, but after a couple minutes it just felt like a really nice foot massage, or a fish pedicure I guess.  Our feet were definitely smoother after letting the fish nibble on them for twenty minutes!  Now my feet are nice and smooth for the beaches of Koh Samui :)  Sadly, these "fish pedicures" are banned in the US and only available in Asia...

I spent both Saturday night and Sunday night with some of my friends having dinner and enjoying one more weekend with them.  It was really hard to say goodbye so instead we just decided it will have to happen again sometime in the future!

Eric still had to work a few days this week.  Wednesday is his last day so I have still been doing some packing and organizing with my days off.  It seems like there is so much clutter and stuff still in our house now that most drawers and cupboards are empty, but I have to remember it's all going to be given away or thrown away in the next couple of days.  We feel bad throwing away things that are still usable but have figured out a way to make sure nothing goes to waste.  If we put something out in the trash area outside our building but leave it visible, almost always it will be gone the next time we look.  We always see people looking at and taking things out of trash piles outside of buildings so that is a good way to not feel like we are throwing away usable things!  We decided to book a hotel in Incheon for Friday night so that we are closer to the airport and not scrambling around very early Saturday morning trying to get last minute things done and still get to the airport on time.  So only three nights left in our little apartment...

 Dr. Fish was really fun!!

Last dalkgalbi dinner with friends... until next time!!

Second to Last Weekend

This was our second to last weekend so it was very full of seeing groups of different people as we try to spend as much time as possible with everyone.  Eric met a former student Saturday afternoon while I met a group of my friends.  Saturday evening we both met up with a group of former coworkers from last year.  We wanted to go to a meat buffet so we did, but, unfortunately, both the meat and the side dishes really weren't that great.  But it was still a good time eating together and then spending the rest of the night at someone's house hanging out together.  On Sunday we went to lunch with one of my former kindergarten students and his family which was a really nice time, but also really hard to say goodbye.

Today I started my vacation doing some sorting between suitcases, give away bags, and a box to be shipped.  It still feels like there is so much stuff to get rid of but most of the drawers and cupboards in our apartment are getting quite empty.  It's just getting rid of the big furniture items that we will need to do in these last couple weeks.

As we begin to say goodbye to everyone we have become friends with over the last two years, we realize just how difficult that can be.  It feels so much more final than saying goodbye to our family and friends when we left home two years ago.  We always knew we would go back, but this is more difficult as there's no telling when we will see any of these friends again.  But at the same time, knowing all these people from so many different places around the world could possibly create some other exciting traveling opportunities in the future!

Last Day of Work

Yesterday was unofficially my last day of work in Korea.  Technically my contract goes until the last day of this month but yesterday was the last day I had to go to work and now I get to enjoy my two weeks of vacation time!  In some ways I was excited to see this year of work come to an end.  I spent SO many hours desk-warming during this past year (and especially this last week) and sometimes I thought I just might go crazy.  I'm excited to see the desk-warming come to an end and I'm excited about the possibilities and hopefully the chance to have  a "real" teaching job in the near future.  (I'm also excited that I don't have to go to any "work" for over a month now!!)  At the same time, leaving the school for the last time made me realize even more that this chapter really is coming to an end.  We will spend these next two weeks continuing to make memories with good friends in the place we have come to love, and at the same time know that a new, exciting adventure is waiting for us very soon!

Lunar New Year Weekend

The three day Lunar New Year holiday started on Thursday this week so we had a nice four day weekend!  The best part about the Lunar New Year in Seoul is that almost everyone leaves because it's a very important traditional holiday in Korea.  Everyone travels to their hometown in the countryside so Seoul was literally almost like a ghost town for the last few days.  We spent Thursday with two of our friends hanging out at our house and then going to Itaewon, the popular foreigner area of Seoul, for dinner.  Just about everything is closed during the holiday but we thought Itaewon would be a good choice for dinner since foreigners all had the day off and probably spent it there so things would be open.  Well it was true that most restaurants were open, but there weren't many people there.  We had dinner and then, since it wasn't busy, stayed at the restaurant for another couple of hours playing Apples to Apples (the Korean waiters and waitresses were all quite intrigued).  As we were walking the streets later that night it just felt rather eerie being out with only a handful of other people on streets that are normally so packed it's hard to walk, especially at that time of night.  But we enjoyed having the subway car to ourselves on the way home. 

On Friday Eric went to the PC bang to play computer games and I went to Gangnam with two friends again.  We saw Frozen, which was simply wonderful and a nice surprise that you can find an animated movie not dubbed over in Korean.  Of course we chose seats that were right smack in the middle of the theater and had a few times where we were the only ones laughing loudly and hysterically...  Gangnam is another area that I really hate to go to very often because of how insanely busy it always is, anytime of day.  However, on Friday it was great!!  After the movie we went shopping and had most of the stores all to ourselves.  We also went to a dog cafe.  Cat cafes are quite popular here, I went to one a while back, but dog cafes are a bit harder to find.  We ordered our drinks and then just sat at a table and the little dogs would often come over and try to jump in our laps (they were too little though so we had to help them).  I was hoping they would have some bigger dogs to play with, but they were just little ones.  Most of them were quite cute and fluffy though.  Of course they were all wearing clothes, one was even wearing a hanbok (traditional Korean clothes) for the holiday!

Saturday evening I had dinner with a group of friends at a Vietnamese restaurant.  Saturday also marked the one month mark for us.  We are officially down to less than one month, four weeks, that we have left in Korea.  Being able to spend three days with friends was the best way to spend the long weekend, especially since our weekends are becoming more limited all the time.  Tomorrow I go back to my regular schedule at work for two weeks before it's my last day.  Eric has three weeks and a couple days left at his many jobs.  January seems to have evaporated, I can only guess February will do the same.

 Dog Cafe

 A Vietnamese feast

 

This is what the subway looked like all weekend... It was weird!

More Packing and Selling

We had a busy week this past week as Eric continued to work his long days, adding yet another job (proofreading and editing professional English papers) to his long list of jobs, and I spent my afternoons, packing and mailing boxes and selling some things on Craigslist.  We were able to get two boxes in the mail this week going surface mail which will take about 60 days to get home, but is about 3 times cheaper than airmail.  I sold a few more of our small gadgets this week and today we were so happy to have someone come and agree to buy our refrigerator!  We still have the small fridge that came with our apartment so today we plugged that one in for the first time in almost a year hoping it would still work (it did) and moved everything from one fridge to the other.  We got the big one defrosted and cleaned up and it is scheduled to be moved out tomorrow evening.  We are very happy about that because it was the one big thing we knew we had to get rid of and Eric has been very adamant since the day he and a friend carried it up to the fifth floor that he would NOT be moving it back down from the fifth floor when we moved out!  After I take one more box to the post office this week we won't really have any more packing or cleaning out to do until right before we leave.  We will keep adding things to Craigslist and having our friends take away some other stuff not worth selling but other than that things on the moving end will start to slow down a lot.

This Thursday is the first day of the three day Lunar New Year holiday so we both only have to work three days this week and then get a four day weekend.  The Lunar New Year (Seollal in Korean) is one of the two biggest holidays in Korea (the other being Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving).  Just like with Chuseok, everyone travels to their home town, the country is full of heavy traffic jams and Seoul is like a ghost town.  Someone told me that usually it takes them about three hours to get to their parent's hometown near the southern part of Korea, but this week when they travel there it will take about ten hours.  That's how many important the holiday is!  We don't have much planned other than having some friends over to hang out and maybe play some poker and watch movies.  We're not counting the days until we leave but every time Saturday comes around we know how many weeks we have left here and it's not many so we must enjoy every day we can!

Packing and Shopping

This last week I spent some time during my afternoons starting the packing process.  Anything big and heavy (like our video game systems and souvenirs) and clothes we can live without for the next couple months are starting to get packed.  We plan to send the majority of our stuff home via surface mail which can take as long as 60-90 days (the Pacific Ocean is really big).  So anything we can live without here, on vacation, and for a short time after we get back home is going to be sent out very soon.  We've also started to list some things on Craigslist in hopes of selling anything we don't plan to keep, but also don't want to just throw away. We've had a little luck with some of the smaller things, but so far no luck with anything big (which is the stuff we care most about selling!).

On Saturday, Eric and I went to a popular spot for souvenir shopping as we were in search of a couple things we want to take home with us.  After doing our shopping, I went to meet some friends and then Eric and I met up with two of our other friends for dinner.  It was a busy Saturday but nice to spend it with a variety of friends!

I have a week and a half left of teaching English camp (I really enjoy these short days!!!  I'm not sure I'll be ready to go back to full days in February!).  Last week I did an Angry Birds theme with my 4th grade group which they absolutely loved.  Instead of focusing on intense English instruction, I planned different crafts and activities for them centered around the theme which allowed them to be creative and have fun.  I realized they don't get to spend a whole lot of time being creative in their regular classes (and English camp is free so I don't have to please any paying parents!) so I let them be creative and they still got some English practice in as well.  I'm doing the same theme with a group of 5th graders this week and a couple days next week so hopefully they will find it just as enjoyable!

7 Weeks

Our January has been rather low key so far, though the reality that we will actually be leaving Korea so soon is starting to really sink in: 7 weeks.  We decided the two things we really need to do during the next two months are eating our favorite Korean foods and taking one last trip to some of our favorite places around Seoul.  Last weekend we went to one of our favorite parks and walked along the river and yesterday, after eating at one of our favorite restaurants, we went walking along the river near our first apartment.  We spent a whole lot of time walking along that path during the seven months we lived there but haven't really been back since we moved.

Eric went back to work the day after New Year's and I have finished two weeks of English camp during the winter vacation at my school.  The first week I taught 1st and 2nd grade and last week I taught 3rd grade.  I will say that I felt probably the most encouraged I have the whole time I've been working at the public school this last week.  After spending a week with 1st/2nd graders who couldn't understand a single thing I said all week, teaching 3rd graders, who I've been teaching all year, seemed to be a breeze!  They were able to understand SO much more than the younger kids and I realized that maybe they had actually learned something from me this year after all (even if most of it was just the listening and comprehension piece!)!  I'm enjoying the break from the regular schedule and especially my afternoons off.  I've been filling my time with some errands and organizing around the house, as well as some actual meal planning and cooking for our dinners!  It took me nearly two years to figure this out by I realized last week that going to the grocery store in the middle of the day is so nice!! Normally I try to avoid needing a cart and try to run in and out as fast I can in order to try and avoid getting run over and bumped into by as few people as possible.  Going shopping on a weekday afternoon is more like going shopping the day before Thanksgiving back home, which I will gladly take any day now!

Last week I dropped off our passports and tourist visa applications at the Vietnam embassy so that we will have those in hand when we travel there in March.  We have all but one of our hotels for our vacation booked now and just need to reserve our bus tickets from Cambodia to Vietnam and apply for our Cambodia tourist visas before it looks like we will be all set for that adventure!  We were able to get a couple small things sold on Craigslist this weekend and are hopeful that the bigger items we have to sell will be sold just as easily.  Tomorrow I will be going to the post office to pick up some boxes and the packing will officially begin in the next week or so...

We are still having a rather mild winter compared to last year.  It got pretty cold the last couple days, especially with the bitter wind chill, but after what most of the U.S. went through last week I guess we can't complain too much.  In 7 weeks we will be in the tropics.

Happy 2014!

Our New Year's Eve and Day were pretty low key but nice for the two of us.  Since Eric is on vacation this week and I leave work at noon now we hung out at home together for most of the day on New Year's Eve.  We enjoyed a yummy crockpot meal and an evening walk before settling in for the night.  We didn't even feel much like watching a movie so we ended up having a Boy Meets World marathon and reminiscing about this last year while we waited for midnight.  Shortly before midnight we turned on the Korean news and watched the live coverage of the countdown (and hundreds of thousands of people) outside one of the palaces near City Hall.  It was a quiet way to ring in the new year but also one we will definitely remember.  It was the first time we have spent Christmas and New Year's in Korea.  It was also the first year we counted down in Korean!   We spent New Year's Day at home as well.  We even watched the ball drop in NYC on live TV this afternoon and we got our favorite Chinese/Korean fusion take out for dinner.

2013 brought us many joys, as well as some challenges in a year that seems to have flown by.  It was a year that we spent living in Korea, learning and growing together, and making countless memories; a year we will definitely never, ever forget.
2014 already promises to bring us many new adventures and likely some challenges as well, as we will be leaving behind this chapter we have created in Korea and beginning a new chapter at home in just two short months.  We cannot wait to see what all it will bring as we begin this exciting new year.

Winter Vacation time

We had a pretty lazy weekend around home for the most part this weekend.  We both agree that it doesn't really seem like Christmas should have come and gone already so we have opted to leave what few decorations we have up for a bit longer and we may have even watched a Christmas movie or two this weekend.

Eric has a week of vacation time now that he plans to spend some of doing nothing at home and the rest playing computer games at the PC bang (computer room).  Friday was the unofficial last day of the semester for me.  The students will come back for two weeks of regular classes in February but I'm not sure those will really count for much.  On Monday I will start teaching English camp in the mornings.  I'll have two classes for 80 minutes each and then be allowed to leave work at noon everyday.  So other than the fact I still have to get up early everyday, it's almost like a break for me too.  I'll take my remaining ten days of vacation time during the last two weeks of February when it is the spring vacation between school years.  I have no idea what I will do with all those free hours in the afternoon that I don't have to spend desk warming for a change, but I'm sure I'll find something.  In the coming weeks I know I will need to start going through stuff for us to figure out what can be thrown away, given away, sold or sent home.  But that sounds like a very big project I'm not ready to think much about quite yet!

Right now we don't have any plans for New Years Eve this week so it may likely be a quiet evening in.  Last year we missed New Years since we were on a plane and crossed the International Date Line after New Years had already begun on this side of the world.  I think pretty much every other year in recent history we've watched the ball drop in Times Square on TV but that won't really be an option this year since we'll be one of the first time zones in the world to ring in 2014!

Christmas in Korea!

Merry Christmas from Korea!!  We have had a wonderful Christmas here in Korea.  Although it would have been great to be spending it at home with our families, our time in Korea in coming to an end and being able to spend Christmas here was very special.  The decorations were small and Christmas season activities were limited, but our Christmas Eve and Christmas day together were wonderful.  After work on Christmas Eve we went to dinner and then to see The Hobbit before coming home to eat our Christmas cake.  (Eating Christmas cake is one of the few things a lot of people do on Christmas here, but since we don’t like Korean cake I made one at home for us instead.)  On Christmas morning we wanted to have McDonald’s breakfast since that is something we have done each Christmas we’ve been married.  However, being in Korea meant we could order it online and have it delivered to us, so, of course, we took advantage of that option this year and ate it in bed!  We spent time opening our presents and watching some Christmas shows before a couple of our friends came over to hang out and watch Christmas movies.  We all watched movies and ate tons of food into the evening.

This was the third Christmas we have had together since getting married and each one has been very different, something we have realized is such a fun tradition to have.  During our first Christmas we were living with Eric’s dad, who let us go cut down our own tree to use as our first Christmas tree (though after the abnormally large tree we brought home I don’t think he would make that mistake again).  We also spent Christmas Eve with both of our families and Christmas day with both of our families, now known as our four Christmases.  A few days before Christmas last year we flew over 5000 miles so that we could spend it at home with our families whom we hadn’t seen in nearly ten months.  This Christmas we spent in Korea, just the two of us for the most part, and it was a really great, almost-ending to our wonderful experience here.  Next year will definitely be different once again and we are excited to see what it will bring! 

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends!  We miss you all and are thinking about you on this blessed Christmas day!

Isaiah 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.  And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

The Nutcracker Ballet and Christmas Baking

On Saturday Eric and I went to see The Nutcracker Ballet.  We enjoyed it and were excited to be able to see a Christmas show in Seoul.  Christmas is very anticlimatic in Korea so we have been having to search for ways to feel Christmasy but I think we've done a pretty good job!  We decided to get all dressed up and then went to one of our favorite restaurants afterwards.  I also got into my Christmas baking this weekend.  I tried three new recipes from Pinterest- lemon crinkle cookies, fudge, and snickerdoodle bars, that we are going to give away to coworkers and friends this week.  I'm also making a small two-layer cake (both from scratch obviously) for just the two of us to enjoy on Christmas Eve so I made one chocolate and one vanilla cake layer this weekend as well.  Tomorrow after work I will whip up the frosting and decide how exactly we plan to store it once it's assembled since I haven't quite figured that out yet! 

This coming week my co-teacher and I decided to take it easy at work since it's the last week before the month long winter vacation and the students are so ready for it.  We decided we will show the movie Elf with Korean subtitles.  Well I showed the first 40 minutes of it to my last class on Friday and it did not go over well at all.  I thought that one would be the best of the Christmas movie options to show considering how our versions of humor are drastically different, but I forgot to take into account that the kids have no concept of Santa Claus or Elves or any of that.  So it wasn't quite as funny as I had hoped for but I'm hoping maybe some of the other classes will get into it a little more maybe.

Only 3 days till Christmas!!! :)

 All dressed up next to our little tree before the show

Outside the theater

Wednesday Night Thoughts: English Education in Korea

Some thoughts and questions on English education in Korea, based solely on my own opinions, observations, and wonderings…

Lately I have been finding myself feeling rather frustrated with the English education system in Korea.  Working at a public school for the last nine and a half months has taught me a bit about the government funded English education system here.  During this time I have also begun to feel like my job is increasingly pointless and useless.  

For comparison purposes, when I was working at a private academy (hagwon) last year, we had an English only rule.  During class time all of the students, kindergarten through middle school, were allowed to speak only English.  Even the Korean teachers only spoke English (with the exception of some higher level grammar classes).  As a result, the students were basically forced to just “figure it out” in a sense.  Their grammar wasn’t usually ever perfect but they were forced to try to tell me things in English and have a conversation with me.  So many of them did have conversations with me because they simply kept trying and trying, practicing and practicing their English every day.  Several of my kindergartners were able to go from not knowing a single word in English to speaking in full sentences and reading and writing more than just phonetic words in one year’s time.  

Then I found out what it was like in a public school.  There are no expectations for them to speak English whatsoever, thus they don’t even have a reason to try.  I am the only native English teacher (NET) at my school but I only teach third and fourth grade, the first two years of English education in public school.  I have a Korean co-teacher with me at all times who may speak a sentence or two of English during the 40 minute class period.  Everything I say in English is translated into Korean almost immediately after I say it.  This, of course, means the students have no need to listen to what I am saying in English because they will hear it in a language they understand in five seconds.  So my question is, what is really the purpose of my job as a “native English teacher?”  Yes, I have the students listen and repeat the key language we are learning over and over and practice with games and activities, but overall they are not at all motivated to learn from me when they have someone else who will speak in a language they don't have to think to understand.  Not to mention when they hear it and say it for less than 80 minutes a week it doesn’t take long for it to be gone from their minds for good.

The government is in the process of drastically reducing and, I think, eliminating just about all of the NET jobs and replacing them with all Korean English teachers.  For the 2014 school year the budget for NET funding will be cut by 50%.  The official budget will be released this Friday to know exactly which schools will still have their NETs funded by either City Hall or the Government Provincial Office of Education and which won’t.  I realize that NETs are very expensive to fund and there are plenty of Korean teachers out there who can speak English well enough to teach it.  But unless something changes, I don’t see this increasing the country’s English ability at all.  At my school, two out of the three English teachers can have only a very simple conversation with me.  Their “English” classes are conducted all in Korean.  Even my classes are conducted mostly in Korean since the only thing the students learn from me is pronunciation of the two or three key sentences from each lesson, which as I said before, they will quickly forget.  

If the country is serious about having their people continue to be competitive in the global world they need to drastically step up their public English education.  I don’t see how it’s at all possible for a student to be successful in English with only a public school education.  Right now it seems to involve spending thousands of dollars on a private academy for most students to become successful in reading and writing and maybe speaking.  The huge push for native English speakers to come teach English in Korea has been going on for a good fifteen years or so but from what I’ve seen, it hasn’t done nearly as much as one would think, in my opinion.  Maybe it’s that people aren’t confident enough to use the skills they really do have.  Maybe it’s because not everyone can afford to send their child to a private academy from age three through high school.  Maybe it’s because the curriculum used in public schools is totally useless or because such little English is actually spoken in English class in these public schools.  Whatever the reason, will getting rid of the native English speakers and replacing them with Korean teachers who may or may not speak English well make a difference?  I guess in time we will find out.

First Snow and a Christmas Display

This week we had our first snowfall of the winter.  Actually the first three snowfalls of winter.  We woke up Wednesday morning to find a dusting of snow, most of which was gone by the end of the day.  Thursday it snowed heavily during our work day but we came to realize that there was much more snow at the places we work in than near our home in Seoul.  The place where Eric works, Hopyeong, Namyangju, especially got a lot of snow on Thursday.  All of the snow and slush from Thursday quickly turned to ice that night as it was very, very cold on Friday.  Then on Saturday we got another dusting of snow at our house and there is still a lot of ice on the sidewalks and back alleys so we have learned to be very careful while walking, and also a little ice skating too.

On Saturday evening we went to the Seoul Hilton hotel to see their large Christmas tree and and village display they have set up in their lobby.  The tree was huge and very beautiful!  It was a real tree, not just strings of lights strung together to look like a tree like we saw at Seoul Plaza last year.  They had a little village with several trains running through it and a display of Santa dolls from around the world.  There was also a Santa you could take a picture with but trust me, he was NOT Santa!  After we saw the display we decided to try a Vietnamese restaurant we had never been to before for some Pho and Gui Cuon.  It was very delicious and we are really beginning to realize how much we will miss all the different Asian foods we have come to love when we leave Korea.  We will definitely be busy exploring new restaurants and Asian food markets when we get back! 

On Sunday one of Eric's coworkers got married very close to our house and after the wedding two of his coworkers came over to our house for dinner and to visit for a while.

Tomorrow it's back to work but Eric only has a week and two days left before he gets a week of vacation and I only have two full weeks (minus Christmas day) before I get to work shorter days teaching English camp for the month of January.

Christmas Movie Weekend

This weekend was filled with Christmas movies!  We seem to be the only ones among our friends who have just about all the Christmas movies out there so we have been inviting them over to watch with us.  On Saturday one of my friends came over and we watched The Grinch before meeting up with some other friends later in the afternoon, and on Sunday two of our other friends came over for dinner and we watched Elf and The Santa Clause.  I love Christmas movies :) There are still many more to watch too!
 
While everyone back home was getting frigid temperatures, snow, and ice, last week, we continued to have pretty mild weather.  Today it felt just like home, rainy, cloudy and around 40 degrees.  Will we be lucky enough to avoid the bitter cold and all the snow and ice we walked in for so long last year??  One can hope!  Though I certainly wouldn't mind a little dusting of snow on Christmas...
 
After our Thanksgiving party last weekend we got out the few Christmas decorations we bought last year.  It's not much but it makes home feel a bit more festive anyway, especially with only the Christmas lights on and a Christmas movie on the TV!

 Our sad and pathetic, yet better than nothing, tree

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving and having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with several of our friends tonight!!  As we were preparing by cleaning and setting up the food, we were quite concerned about whether or not our house would be big enough or if we would have enough food.  Fortunately, everything seemed to work out perfectly!  The dinner we ordered from a foreign market in Seoul came with a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, and cheesecake (we opted for that over the pumpkin pie).  We also had rolls and I baked peanut butter cream cheese brownies and apple pie bars for some extra dessert.  Our friends brought drinks, sweet potato pie and a lot of fried chicken.  We had Americans and Koreans, adults and kids, and way more than enough food!  It was just like a real Thanksgiving with some great friends!!  Everything in our meal came precooked so we just used our oven, microwave, and crockpot to reheat everything back up.  We were worried at first when we saw the small size of the turkey but once Eric started carving it we realized we had A LOT of turkey meat.  Everything was delicious and the company was great too.  We are so thankful we had the opportunity to celebrate the holiday with some of our friends and continue to add to our memories of our time here!

 Our prepackaged dinner in a box

 It only took him over an hour to carve that little bird.  He said no bone would be uncarved and he was right!!

Our dinner table

Dessert: the most important part of any holiday dinner