The Old Ballgame

Koreans love their baseball. We went to a game at Olympic Stadium, and it was complete mahem. This was just an ordinary regular season game, but the fans made it feel like game 7 of the World Series. It was a blast. Enjoy the pics.

Not too long a wait...

Hello all,



Everything in Seoul is pretty much the same. Our new classes are working out just fine, and I have actually enjoyed the change of scenery. My new classes are quite a bit less experienced so I find most of my time going over things like "Tom and Ann sat on a hat". With my old preschool classes I could have discussions and debates about the hidden meanings of more complex stories...now my stories don't have any words over three letters. Oh well, the new kids are cute, and are much better behaved than my last class.

My second new preschool class is a bit of a challenge. There are a couple of kids in the class that are complete train wrecks. One student named Steve (I taught his older sister in my old class) puts everything you give him in his mouth, another student named Helen cries at the drop of a hat, and the other named Phillip, doesn't listen to a word I say, and when he does want to answer, he doesn't raise his hand...instead he shouts at the top of his lungs..."PHILLIP...PHILLIP!" This boy will drive me to drink.



Correne kept one of her classes that she had last semester, and her new Homeroom class is pretty good. They were at SLP before, and now they are the smartest class in school. She is having some of the same problems that I had with my old class. They always talk over each other, and get really upset when they lose. So far they have responded to her really well, but sometimes the curriculum they have is too tough.



Her other class is only 5 students, but it is more like 10 if you count the demanding mothers. These kids are nowhere near the level they are being taught...but because the mothers wanted their kids to be doing the same books as the smart kids...the school had no choice. So Correne spends most of her day reading a book that is too hard, asking questions that are too hard, and writing in a Practice Book that the kids can't understand. Obviously she is frustrated.



On a more leisurely note...Correne and I have discovered the addictive time waster World of Warcraft. For those of you who d not know of what I speak. World of Warcraft or WoW as we will now call it, is an online video game set the land of fantasy (no how can you resist). It is so indepth and so much fun that we have to share the computer or it may lead to a divorce. So sometimes work isn't all bad if you have something to look forward to when you get home (uhh, other than the pleasurable company of my wife). You know what I mean.



Well, I'm afraid that's it for now. Drop us a line and let us know what is up with all of you who read this. Cheers.





Paul



PS. Here's a look out of our apartment window (the air looks cleaner than it really is)

Preschool Graduation

Well this is probably the biggest news (and headache) we've had in the past few months. Last week our kids graduated from preschool. Unfortunately all the prep work required for this fiasco was not nearly as easy as writing the previous sentence.

For the past two months we have been practicing the graduation plays with our classes. This includes songs, choreography, hand actions, gently reminding the kids that their parents don't want to stare at their bums when they talk etc. etc. I'm assuming you get my drift. On top of all that we needed to first write the plays, in some cases write the songs, teach them all of this, make props and still cover all of the curriculum. In addition to this worry we still needed to prepare for the new preschool classes that were coming TWO DAYS after grad!! Oie Oie Oie.

If I ever hear the words "Teacher have you made my bow and arrow?" again from James I might just lose it!! The kids did not understand the concept of "Teacher doesn't have time sweety!!"

Luckily for us graduation went without a hitch... well mostly.

First the youngsters went. Even though Quality class (one of my classes) was not graduating they still had to put on a play. They performed the Ant and the Cricket. They were extremely cute, but it was a disaster. Richard forgot all of his lines (he's the one on the far left) which didn't suprise me because he usually has a vacant expression on his face during class so I don't think anything ever sinks in. Doyoung had some technical difficulties with his microphone (he's the one sitting down), plus he couldn't keep a straight face when he was supposed to be dead! By the end they cut the music short because it went so long.! Totally embarrassing! I think Becca and I were more upset than the kids. They were very "whatever" about the whole thing!

Paul had two graduating classes (Diligence and Belief) and I had one (Hope). All three of their plays went great!!

Hope class went first and I was so proud of them. They performed If a Tree Could Talk What Would It Say? (Is anyone reading this suprised that I picked that play??) Everyone remembered their lines, they were smiling, moving their hands, their songs were great (especially Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... it was a big hit) and they didn't talk with their backside to their parents. A teacher could not have asked for a better performance!

Next went Diligence class (Paul's homeroom). They also did a fantastic job. Paul's play was The Ugly Woodpecker, a spin on The Ugly Duckling. Everyone in the class has a great time doing the play, especially when they performed Hit the Road Jack! A couple of the kids forgot that their mics were on the whole time and decided to hold side conversations... but luckily it got a good laugh from the audience. Unfortunately we don't have a picture of them on stage because my kids went right before Paul's and I was occupied changing my kids into their graduation gowns.

The last play out of our kids was from Belief class (Paul's second class). They did The Nightingale and the Rose. They also did a great job! Their songs were fantastic and all the girls were excited about their big beautiful dresses. Sabrina caused some laughter because she kept speaking everyone else's lines under her breath not realising her microphone was on! Charlie (the guy in the shiney purple pants!) was supposed to be "the handsome young man", but he looked more like a matador. It was awesome!

To be honest most of the costumes were not suited to the roles they were playing but the kids were content to be wearing something fun that didn't belong to them!

Well that's graduation in a nutshell. It was a long, tiring, fun day, but we got through it and we're glad that we were apart of it.

No... We're not dead...

Okay, okay, okay... I know its been a while, but to be honest we weren't even sure anyone still read this. After some gentle nudges via email from our friends we have realised that we really are neglecting our blog! In other words... WE SUCK!

We'll do better in the future... i.e. Paul will stop writing blogs (just kidding honey I still love you).

Its safe to say that we aren't going to write anything more about our China trip. That boat has clearly sailed. If you want to know more details just drop us an email and we can gladly fill you in. Also, we did post all the pictures on our photo album so please check those out.

So what's new with us you ask? Well... not much. We do the same thing pretty much everyday, hence the lack of blog entries. The most exciting news would be preschool graduation which will be covered in its own post (which will be done right after this!)

Thank you to everyone who still reads this. We appreciate that you are still interested in our mundane quasi-Korean lives.

Christmas in China

Hey Hey to all of our friends and family,

Well, last year for Christmas we were in Thailand, and we were more than happy to continue the trend this year in China. Granted we missed friends and family, but it was pretty cool to see Beijing. China has been pretty high on my list of places to see, so I was thrilled when we got the opportunity. It is not often that it is only a two hour plane ride.

We left for the airport on Saturday (Dec. 23rd) morning at a ridiculous hour after only about three hours of sleep. Our school had its Christmas party the night before, and we made the very wise decision of going to the Casino after the party. That being said I almost wished for a longer flight so I could have slept longer on the plane.

As we were flying into Beijing, you couldn't help but notice the multicultural skyline. And by multicultural, I mean blue sky followed closely by a thick brown haze of pollution. I never thought Seoul air would smell so fresh.

We arrived in Beijing and did not do much the rest of the day. We met up with some other teachers that were flying in a little later, and then we arranged a trip to the Great Wall, and three shows...an acrobatic show, a Kung-Fu show, and an Opera. That night we took it easy because we knew every day after that was going to be an up at dawn all day adventure.

We did not expect to be so cold in China. We were watching the weather network, but we did not expect that the major source of heat for most places would be coal bricks. These bricks do not exactly heat up a big room, so most of the time at the guesthouse was spend in our jackets and gloves. Because the guesthouse was taking us to most of our trips, we often ate at the guesthouse restaurant. Good food, but man it was cold!

Day One

Our first day we took the public bus to the Forbidden City and Tienimen Square. These two landmarks are seconds away from each other, so it was very easy to spend an entire day here. Tienimen Square was a little moving. So much violence happened there and so much history that sometimes you have to stop and think of what you are walking on. The Chinese government goes to such lengths to ignore what happened there that there are no memorials, no plaques, no nothing. Even the Internet is censored...if you type Tienimen Square in Google, you will not get any results that offer any history. The Forbidden City was really nice...huge, but nice. The buildings were really nice and the architecture is amazing. I love being in a place with such history. You really feel special when you can touch something as simple as a brick that was layed down by another person so long ago. This was a good day, and we still has an acrobatic show after dinner.

The acrobatic show was really cool. I cannot believe how these guys can flip around and land on something as small has a piece of bamboo. We saw a fantastic display of strength and agility. Of course the theatre was being heated by coal bricks so I apologize if some of the pictures are blurry...I has my gloves on.

Check out some pictures in the album. We will write about day two a little later...stay tuned.

Paul

Seoul Tower

A little while ago, Correne and I visited Seoul Tower. It is a fairly large attraction in Seoul, so we figured we should check it out. It is very high above the ground because it is built on top of a mountain. There is a very large walking trail around the tower that we had the pleasure of walking because we got lost. Our plan was to take the tram up to the top of the mountain, but instead we walked for over an hour just looking for the stupid thing. After a while, we finally agreed that we were not going in the right direction. We headed back down the hill, and found the tram. We went into the park at the wrong point. If we had just walked for another two minutes we would have found the tram right away. Oh well, I could use the exercise. It all worked out. Because of our delay, we got to the top of the tower in time to see the sun set. It was reallt beautiful. The city is so huge, and so polluted. You can see everything from this vantage point, and unfortnately, that also means you are eye level with the brown haze that floats over the city.

Despite the detour, and the smog, the view was actually very nice. I have made a Seoul Tower folder in the photo album, so be sure to check it out.

I will be adding some more photos of the school from our recent field trip to the Children's museum. Stay tuned.

Cheers,
Paul

It's about time

I know, I know... that's what all of you are thinking. Well the hell have these two been? Well not much has changed. We're still in Korea and still working really really hard. As usual, I have started writing a blog with no time available, but Paul will do an entry about our trip to Seoul Tower (which was a couple of weekends ago). Until then... here is a new picture of us... we took it this morning so its nice and recent!

We will also update our photos with the Seoul Tower pics. We're already started ordering Holiday gifts so if you get a package please don't open it!

We love you all and we'll write more soon!

Trick or Treat

Well, although Korea as a whole doesn't celebrate Halloween, because we are an English school...we do. Correne and I went out on the weekend to try and find something resembling a costume. We went to the popular foreigners area known as Itaewon hoping to find something. We came upon this little shop where Correne was able to find a witches hat. She had some clothing that she brought that is a little medieval like, so the witches hat simply completed the outfit. As for me, I wore my Vietnam soccer jersy, shorts, hiked up socks, and a big red afro wig I bought from the shop. We will try and post some pictures if we can get are hands on some.

We spent the first period with our homeroom carving a pumpkin, and walking through a haunted house. It was a classic haunted house with grapes for eyeballs, spaghetti for worms, etc. The kids thought it was neat, and that's all that matters. During second period, we all got on a bus and went to COEX (the main mall in our area). There we were met by mothers and grandparents who handed out candy to the kids. These kids got so much candy in about a ten minute span, it made our night long trick or treating look pathetic. That's Korean efficiency at its best.

Some of the costumes were really cute, and the kids seemed to have a good time. Jenny, our supervisor came around to the classes during lunch and told the kids that they were not allowed to eat any candy until they got home. So here we are sitting in a class with a bunch of seven year olds with bags of candy telling them they can't eat any. Talk about cruel. All it took was me threatening to take everyone's candy away if one person had any for my class to understand.

I am a moron and forgot to bring the camera, so if I can get my hands on some of the pictures taken by other teachers, I will be sure to post them. We hope everyone else had a nice Halloween. We all know you bought enough candy for 100 kids knowing full well you would only have about 20...it's ok we all do it.

Later,

Paul

Goodbye Ho Chi Minh City!

** I started writing this while in Vietnam and finished in Korea **

I can't believe that this week is almost over. In less then ten minutes we will be in a cab heading for the airport. Our time here was short, but good. I wish that I could have seen more and had more time to really experience the country and the city we were in. I felt rushed - get as much done in four days as you can. I would have liked a chance to sit down and relax, but when you only have four days you have to make them count.

I think both Paul and I thought that Vietnam would be like Thailand and we were definitely wrong in that opinion. I guess that's why so many people think Canadians and Americans are the same. One word - ignorance. Although the outward appearance of this country is similar to Thailand, the people, the history and the food are completely different. Although the people spoke more English, they weren't as friendly. Not to say they were mean - not at all, just detached.

The history - well we all know the history. But for the first time in my life I saw it from the perspective of the people of Vietnam. It tells a very different story then the one I remember from history class. The Vietnamese people are extremely proud of their life, their choices and their army. The war was devastating to this country and to see how well they survived it and moved past it is inspiring. The war museum was one of the best places we visited. Although the images were graphic and horrible, I think they were necessary to understand the scope of the war. Seeing people who survived Agent Orange, or looking at the face of a dead man who had just been murdered by an American Soldier are not images I will soon forget. I am glad that I went there. It made me appreciate life and the country I was visiting so much more.

DAY ONE


One our first day we did a recommended walking tour of the city. Walking around the city was INSANE! They have the worst drivers in the entire world (and they admit it). At any given time it is estimated that there are over 3 million motorbikes on the streets of HCMC every day. Red lights mean nothing and people just drive all over the place. Pedestrians do not have any rights what so ever and they simply fling themselves into traffic hoping to come out alive on the other end. It was extremely stressful. Other then the walking part, the tour itself was great.

Our first stop was the war museum (described above), where we experienced our first Vietnam rain. The sky just opened up and poured for about thirty minutes. Then it stopped completely. It was so strange, but it broke the humidity so I didn't mind too much. Our next stop of Notre Dame Cathedral which was beautiful. The architecture was amazing. It was so interesting to see a church like this smack dab in the middle of a Buddhist country. Right across the street was the post office which was constructed during the French occupation. This shows through the design and architecture of the building as well. Both building were well worth the visit.

After more walking we stumbled upon a zoo/botanical gardens. Outside of the gates there was a political protest going one. We're not sure what they were protesting, but a local stopped Eva from taking pictures so we decided not to risk it. They are very guarded when it comes to politics (for good reason!) We decided to visit the zoo and it was great. The gardens were beautiful and well maintained. I have always had mixed feelings about zoos and this one was not as nice as the ones in North America. Although their variety of wildlife was impressive, I got the distinct feeling they weren't treated as well as they should have been.

The last stop was the impossible to find Jade Emperor Pagoda. After almost seven hours of walking we were almost going to give up, when we finally stumbled upon it. The energy in the building was very cool, but it wasn't as impressive as we were lead to believe.


DAY TWO

On our second day we went on a one day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels and a Cao Dai Temple. In the morning we visited the temple which in the worlds of religions is a very new one. It is a combination of Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. We were able to witness a ceremony, which was very beautiful.

Our next stop was the Cu Chi Tunnels. They were dug out of the VC army during the war and used to travel undetected through the jungle to attack American soldiers. The energy here was so intense. In all my life I have never felt so much hostility and death. So many people died on the grounds we were walking on that it was overwhelming to think about it. The tunnels were a perfect military tactic. Unless you knew where the entrances were you would never know they existed. The VC could hide or ambush at any time. They were also able to set traps or bombs as well. Although these people were not nearly as well equiped (they fought in rubber sandals!!) they still won. Part way through the tour there was a shooting range where for $1 a bullet you could shoot a wide selection of guns - from AK47's to M16's. I've never heard a gun shot before in my life and I didn't realise how loud it was. It was disturbing how many people were eager to shoot these guns after witnessing the tunnels and the traps. Paul had no interest and neither did I. Ivan on the other hand was so excited I would have thought him a kid in a candy store. There was a family there who let their children try these guns. Strange, strange, strange. Our guide let us go through the tunnels, but they were so small and narrow that Paul and I opted out. It was a one way trip. The tunnel we 50 meters long and it was way too narrow to turn around so if you wanted to go, you had to go all the way. I would have totally freaked out, so even though I would have liked to say I went through the Cu Chi tunnels I am glad I didn't.

DAY THREE

We decided to sign up for another one day tour. This one took us in the opposite direction (south) and allowed us to experience the Mekong Delta. The tour was very touristy, but for $12 I certainly won't complain. Once arriving in the small village of Ben Tre we took a boat to one of its many islands - Unicorn Island. There we got to taste honey tea made from honey farmed right there on the island. We also got to sample local fruits (which was fantastic). While we were there Paul tried Snake Wine (basically a bottle of alcohol with a big cobra in it). I still can't believe he did it!!

Next we took a row boat ride down the Mekong River, which was by far the best part of the tour. The scenery was beautiful and it was so completely relaxing. I could have stayed there all day. Next we were back on the boat and on our way to a Coconut Candy factory... yummy. We got to see how locals make the candy and of course we got to sample them. It's probably the only time in my life I will ever get to see candy made and packaged by hand. We stopped for lunch and a bike ride around the village and then we were on our way home. Instead of taking a bus back we actually took a three hour boat ride back to HCMC. Not my favorite (or Paul's favorite) part of the tour. By the end of the ride Paul was not feeling well and as it turns out this would only be the beginning.

DAY FOUR

I spent much of this day by myself. Paul stayed in the room because he was too ill. We took it easy mostly. We started the day by visiting an Old Propaganda Poster shop, which was really cool. I walked away with three posters myself. We then went back to the guesthouse to pick up Paul and go shopping at a market that was close by. Similar to Thailand this market had everything from food to luggage. The selection wasn't as nice, but we still managed to come away with a few good deals. Paul went back to the guesthouse and Ivan, Eva and I went out for Pho, a local favorite. It's basically noodle soup, but it’s what the country is known for so we had to try it. Other then being a tad oily, it was really good :)

Our last stop of the trip was Reunification Palace. It is preserved almost as it was on that day in April 1975 when the Republic of Vietnam ceased to exist (the very thing that thousands of Vietnamese and Americans died for). This building has a lot of important history so I would recommend googling it. After that we went back to the guesthouse, showered, ate, packed and that's when I started writing this entry.

I know this is probably the longest entry you have ever seen, but I did have to pack four days of information in it. I hope you enjoyed it. We will be updating the photo album eventually. Love to you all and I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Peace Out.

Good Evening Vietnam!

Hello, hello. I can't write anything long because we are waiting for Eva and Ivan so we can hunt down some dinner for the evening. I wanted to be able to say that we have updated our blog from Vietnam and now we have.

They just arrived, so I've got to go. Will write more later.

We're off

Well today is day one of our Chusok vacation. Our friends Eva and Ivan should be here soon and in less then 8 hours we will be on a plane to Vietnam. We are both really excited about this trip. Paul and I were disappointed when, due to financial reasons, we couldn't visit Vietnam and Cambodia when we were in Thailand last year. We will only be in Ho Chi Min City for four days, but we're excited none the less!

We will do our best to do a blog entry from Vietnam, but as I just mentioned we will not have a lot of time there. We will take lots of photos and we will update our photo album with a Vietnam folder.

We hope every back home has a great Thanksgiving and we will talk to you all soon.

Love

Bean and Beeps!!

Ring Ring Ring Ring....

BANANA PHONE!!!

If he wasn't such an inspiration for children I would be cursing Raffi right now!

Paul and I have had kid's songs stuck our heads for the past two days. I'm currently doing reaserach for my open classes next month (the classes when the mom's sit in and watch). Jenny has requested that I do a "skit" for quality class (the one with Gilbert in it)... yeah right. But what the boss says goes, so I will try. I think I'm going to do a "down by the bay" thing... I'll keep you posted.

I also had to find a song for the birthday party. One of my kids has a birthday in October which means my class has to perform a song at the birthday party. After listening to many kid's songs I went with "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story. It's not easy finding a song that hasn't been done in the last year or so.

Things are pretty good with us. I'm still sick, so I'm going to head to the doctor's today for more drugs. I just can't seem to kick this cough and since we're leaving for Vietnam in less then five days I really want to get rid of it.

That's about it from us. We will try and write before we leave for Vietnam! And if you've never listened to Raffi's Banana Phone song, you've got to... it's fantastic!! (insert sarcasim here)

....

Click here to listen to Banana Phone (scroll down...)
http://www.amazon.com/Bananaphone-Raffi/dp/B0000003HW

One Day Weekend

Well, we went to work on Saturday to be judges for the SLP Speech Contest. This contest is a huge deal for the kids, the parents, and most of all the school. It is essentially a showcase of talent, and a representation of how well the students are being taught at SLP. The winners of this contest go to the big contest competeting against other schools. The auditorium was full of parents watching their kids perform. Overall, I would say that it went very well.

It was fun being a judge. We got to ask each student a question to see how their conversation skills have developed...you know like "what is your favourite season?" or "what was the socialist movement that defined realism in the late 18th century?" You know easy stuff like that.

It is a lot of pressure for a seven year old to get up on stage, speak into the microphone, and then answer four questions from judges. It seemed to go really well, and the school was pleased. We did get paid to judge...which was nice, but I probably would have gone anyway to see some of my students perform.

After a while it did get pretty exhausting. If I hear the story of the Little Red Hen one more time, I am going to snap.

Other than that, everything is pretty much status quo around here. Hockey for me is a real nice treat. Next week we have a BBQ and a tournement. Should be fun. I am getting back into much better shape, and I can already feel a difference on the ice.

We are having a good time. Everything here is pretty good. Sometimes the language barrier can be frustrating, but it is part of the experience. I was explaining to John that the barrier is different from when you are on vacation. When you are on vacation, you have trouble explaining where you want to go to the taxi driver, here you have trouble everywhere...the bank, the post office, the phone company, the gas company...whole new ballgame. But once you manage to commuincate and solve your problem...there is a bit of a rush, and a sense of accomplishment. It's funny, in a country so concerned with learning English, it sometimes seems hard to find.

Two more weeks until we are off to Vietnam. It will be nice to travel again. We are going with Ivan (from Ireland) and Eva (from America), and we should have a great time. We will be sure to set up a Vietnam folder on our photo album so you can see what we saw.

Let us know how you guys are doing too.

Paul

SLP Speech Contest

This is a prelude to what will be a longer and more detailed blog. Our apologies for not writing sooner. Sometimes its hard to think of things to write when you do the same thing everyday :) Not much is new. We leave for Vietnam in about two weeks and we are both very excited. It should be a great trip - if it stops raining there!

As for the title of the blog. Today is the 6th Annual SLP Speech Contest. A VERY big deal for the student and an even BIGGER DEAL for the parents. We've been preparing the kids for the speeches for the last month and today is the big day. There has already been a prelimiary round to narrow it down to today's contestants. Today we will be picking five students from each age category to go to SLP headquarters to compete. Paul and I have signed up for judges. It is a longer day then we expected (10:40am-5pm), but apparently they are paying us for it (since it is Saturday). We will write more about the outcome later.

Talk to you soon.

P.S. Please drop us an email if you want to set up a voice/video chat on MSN.

Crikey

The world of environmentalism and animal rights has suffered a great loss today. Paul and I were in the teacher's room today when we found out about the death of Steve Irwin (more commonly known as The Crocodile Hunter).

I always thought it was ironic that he was nicknamed the Crocodile Hunter, since what he chose to do with his life was so very opposite of that title. Although most people knew about him through his television show and his risk-taking type lifestyle, both Paul and I were always more interested in his efforts to save the planet... in his own way.

I'm sure that those efforts will continue to live on in his memory. His wife is also extremely active in the environmentalism front.

Times like this always make me think of one of my favourite quotes.

"You can't change the world, but you can make a dent."

I imagine he made quite a dent.