Jeju Island

Jeju is often referred to as the Hawaii of Korea – but what’s all this snow?? On Tuesday evening I took the bus from the ferry terminal to JejuCity and the snow on the pine trees lining the narrow, winding mountain road reminded me of back home. In JejuCity, I met Min Hui, an English teacher who studied TESOL at Selkirk Collegeseveral years back. Shana had recommended I contact her and she invited me to stay at her house that night :)

Jeju is also famous for three things: women, wind, and rocks. And sure enough, on my first day, I went for a drive with three women, through the blustering wind to visit rocks :) Min Hui and two friends took me to eat boribap (like bibimbap, but with barley). Then we had tea in a self-serve coffee shop where the owner comes a few times during the day to brew coffee and refill supplies. We watched the waves crash against the rocky shore as the wind hurl snowflakes against the island. Before I caught the bus to Seoguipo to meet my farm stay family, we visited the dragon rock and the temple where the three founding fathers of Jeju are said to have emerged from three holes in a meadow there.

Lunar New Year

Apparently it’s just my luck to end up sitting next to nice people on the bus :) On the bus from Gwangju I met James, a 27-year-old Taekwando instructor who is going abroad for the first time to teach Taekwando in Abu Dhabi for a year! I was on my way to Yeosu to visit Nikki and he was on his way there to visit his girlfriend. The next day he sent me a text message to wish me a happy new year and it turned out that he was at his family’s house in the next town over from Hadong, where I was spending the weekend with Jungeui, who I had met on the bus in November! In the end, I got a ride with James and his family back to Gwangju today where I took a shuttle bus to the ferry to go to Jeju :)
This weekend has been like cultural immersion. Korean people are very family oriented and the collective ideal extends to their friends, and their foreign friends are no exception. On new years morning after setting the table for Jungeui's family's ancestors, we visited the graves of four ancestors. We hiked up to each grave with her dad, uncles, great uncle, and cousins where we left an offering of food and soju and bowed twice. Over the weekend we visited several of her friends’ and relatives’ houses where sat on the heated living room floors and were offered fruit, drinks, deep fried seafood, Korean pancakes, and sweet rice cakes. It would have be rude to refuse, so I learned to eat as little as possible at each place, but to try one of each thing to be polite. Still, I was full for two days straight! Grandparents give children money and I was included whenever Jungeui received money. I also got to give some money to her friend’s 2-year-old daughter :)

 

The Best Memories

As the kids wrote their journals and made presentations about their best moments at English Camp, I thought I would share some of mine:
- The Korean Program Assistants' dance routine at the open ceremony
- Watching my students improve at making presentations
- Being proud of them as they sang their song in the idol competition
- The students' reaction when I showed them a video of me firefighting
- Showing them the "I am Canadian" commercial
- Playing card games with them, especially when Mom joined in by Skype
- Sharing banana bread, hot chocolate, TimTams, oreos, and peanut butter

Things Kids Say

Just a sample of the comments my 13-year-old students have made in the past two weeks:

- "Teacher, your singing, good!"

- "Teacher, I like your hair color."

- "Teacher, your legs like Beyonce."     -  -  -    What??

Unwillingly Studious

Korean children get just over a month "off" in the winter and the summer, but rather than just enjoying their youth or learning life skills while having fun at summer camp, so many of them are sent to language camps, like this one where they study from 9:00am to 10:00pm 6 days-a-week for three weeks straight with hour or so breaks for lunch, dinner, and afternoon camp activities, such as sports, game show quizzes, or the singing competition we had today. Koreans are notoriously studious, but the majority of them are not willingly so. It is a challenge to teach students who don't want to be here. And I don't blame them. I'm trying to keep it as fun and interesting as possible without getting too soft :)

Winter English Camp

I'm teaching at a 3-week Winter English Camp in Naju. So far is has been cold, not only outside, but in the buildings too! Meanwhile, the hours are long, especially for the students and Program Assistants, but I think it is a good experience for us all.

J'enseign l'anglais dans un Winter English Camp de 3 semaines à Naju. Jusqu'à date c'est très froid, non seulement dehors, mais aussi dans les immeubles. En même temps, les heures sont longues, en particulier pour les étudiants et les assistants de programme, mais je crois que c'est une bonne experience pour nous tous.

Estoy enseñando inglés en un Winter English Camp de 3 semanas a Naju. Hasta ahora, ha hecho frío, no solo afuera pero tambien en los edificios. Mientras tanto, las horas son largas, especialmente para los estudiantes y los asistentes, pero creo que es una buena experiencia para todos.

Estou ensinando inglês num Winter English Camp de 3 semanas em Naju. Até agora, faiz frío, não só fora mas tambem nos predios. Ao mesmo tempo, as horas são longas, especialmente para os estudantes e os asistentes, mas acho que é boa experiença para todos.

3週間の間になじゅ市のWinter English Campで英語を教えています。今までずっと寒いです。外だけじゃなくて、建物にも寒いです。それから、時間は特に学生やプログラムのアシスタントのために、長いですが、私はそれがいい経験だと思う。

3 주 동안 나주시의Winter English Camp에서 영어를 가르치고 있습니다. 지금까지 춥습니다. 외부뿐만 아니라, 건물도 춥습니다. 그리고, 시간은 특히 학생과 프로그램 보조을 위해, 오래지만, 나는 그것이 좋은 경험이라고 생각한다.

Winter Wonderland

These past 10 days have been packed with visiting family and friends in Kelowna, Summerland, Nelson, Victoria, and Vancouver :)
Here is a sampling of some good times!

Christmas Suprise... Canada!

I'm in Canada :) Even though the Korean consulate in Vancouver couldn't guarantee to process my visa in such a short space of time, I found a cheap flight and booked it three weeks ago... but only told my sister and some friends in Korea! It has been such a fun challenge to keep the secret! I had to avoid any Facebook spoilers and skillfully post misleading comments without ever lying.
I was, in fact in Japan on Dec.20th, but I was not in Fukuoka for the visa run, I was in Tokyo transferring to a flight to North America. Later that day (or earlier, actually), I arrived in Vancouver, dropped off my visa application successfully and managed to buy a Greyhound bus ticket that afternoon (with cash so that my mom would not see strange charges on my credit card or bank card). Seven hours later, in Kelowna, my uncle (who I had called the week before) picked me up and I stayed at his place.

I first surprised my Gram who, in the dim light, thought my uncle had showed up with friend until she realized it was me. Then when my uncle and I returned to my Gram's house after a day of skiing, my aunt was there. She simply said "hello" without looking up from the newspaper then when she did look up could barely believe her eyes. My six-year-old cousin ran over to give me a big hug and I got to meet my nine-day-old cousin :) After a quick tea I drove to Summerland where my aunt and grandma were waiting for me to appear on Skype from Korea. When my aunt answered the door, I said "Sorry I'm late!" - she nearly collapsed! The picture she took of my grandma and me is shaky from the shock.

The next day, I drove the five hours with my sister and Gram to Nelson to suprise my parents. I got out of the car before arriving at our house and as my sister and Gram distracted my mom by taking the dog for a walk, I snuck into the house and sat under the Christmas tree with a bow on my head. My sister told my mom there was something she should see in the living room and at first she thought I was my sister and then it registered! Later, I surprised my dad when he came home from work.

Lastly, I stopped by my best friend's house not even an hour after she had arrived home from university. Her mom answered the door and said "It's Kim" and Lisa said to her dad, "It's not Kim - Kim's in Korea." Of course she couldn't believe her eyes when I came up the stairs. Then today we went to our friend's house and she said, "Oh, hi Kim!" as if it was unexpected, but nothing unusual and then a few seconds later said "wait..." and it hit her that I wasn't supposed to be there.
No one had any idea I was coming :) It is so much fun to surprise people and it is great to be home for Christmas!

BUFS 여러분 감사합니다

I would like to thank all the staff, the teachers, and my fellow students that have made these past four months at Busan University of Foreign Studies a truely amazing experience.


Firstly, thank you to my room mates for your patience and support.

한국어 수업 선생님들 하고 반 친구들 에게 감사합니다.








Gracias, Ivan, por compartir tantos momentos conmigo. Y a Olivia por tu sonrisa y apoyo.








Obrigada, Profesor Juliano e as amigas de Português. Tudo de bom para vocês!

Merci, Jeong Ah et Yanghee. Bonne chance avec tout!









日本語学科のみなさん、ありがとうございました。いい勉強になりました！








I have learned so much and made many great friends. I look forward to the next three months in Korea, teaching English in Naju, volunteering on Jeju, and travelling with my sister. I hope to see you all again!

A Bath

Sometimes you just want to soak! Natural hot springs are not common in Korea, but you can find little bath houses everywhere which may have small sauna rooms and like onsens in Japan, are divided between male and female due to the lack of swimwear. The traditional Korean saunas (Jimjilbangs) provide everyone with loose-fitting shirts and shorts to wear into the igloo-shaped hot rooms and resting areas that are often open 24-hours. They usually have female and male bath houses as well. So to clarify some Korean bath vocabularly:
Oncheon = Hot springs/ Onsen
Jimjilbang = Sauna/ Sauna
Sauna = Bath house/ Ofuro
Lacking bath tubs of our own, Kayla and I were both craving a good soak, so we ventured to a place called Ocheonjang (literally hot spring place) that has public foot baths in the street! I was trying to find one of the biggest hot springs in Korea, but apparently I didn't follow directions well and we ended up at the smallest, most crowded bath house I've ever been to. It's quite the experience being in a steamy area filled with naked women and children soaking in hot tubs and scrubbing each other down at the shower stalls. And this place also had a powerful, caramel-herby smell to it that I think came from the steam rooms. But it was still nice to soak!

통도사 - Tongdosa Temple

토요일에 한국어 선생님과 친구들과 통도사에 갔어요. 아름답은 통도사에서 걷고 한국식당에서 맛있은 비빔밥을 먹었어요. 많이 재미 있었어요!

On Saturday, I went to Tongdosa Temple with my Korean teacher and some friends. After walking around the beautiful temple, we had delicious bibimbap at a Korean restaurant. It was lots of fun!

Swing Spirit!

The night started with a graduation party...

La nuit a commencé avec un bal des finissants...

La noche comenzó con una fiesta de graduación...

A noite começou com uma festa de formatura...
昨日の夜は卒業パーティーで始まって。。。

And when a minor fire caused an evacuation...

Et quand une incindie a causé une évacuation...

Y cuando un incendio causó una evacuación...

E quando um incêndio causou uma evacuação...

そして、火事が避難を引き起こしたときに...

We continued the party in the streets!

Nous avons continué la fête dans la rue!

Continuamos la fiesta en la calle!

A gente continuou a festa na rua!
道でパーティーを続けました！

Complications and small details...

I've been saying that I would love a career in immigrant services so I guess I'm gaining first hand experience in how complicated, time-consuming, frustrating, and stressful these processes can be. And I'm only trying to get a 3-week work permit!
A month or so ago, I saw an ad for English teachers an very well-paid winter break English camp and realized that it was at BUFS! But they only wanted to hire school teachers from other countries who are on their summer holidays.
It inspired me to look into it further and I found several camp jobs listed around Korea, including a lucrative 2-week one on Jeju Island that was interested in hiring me! At the university they said I just needed a permission letter to work there! But when the camp contacted immigration, it turned out I would also need a criminal record check and a copy of my degree apostilled by the Korean Consulate in Vancouver.
I was going to give up when told it would take 12 weeks to get a CRC, but the Jeju recruiter said I didn't need the finger print one and that it should only take a week. Well, that turned out to be true, but meanwhile it took me a week just to request it after complications with emailing and faxing documents back and forth with the RCMP in Nelson.
Finally last week, my mom's friend was able to gather all the required documents for me since my parents were out of the country and sent my CRC and degree to the consulate. It seemed they would arrive here in Korea the week before the camp started (on Dec. 25), which was worry-some because when I called immigration I was told it would take 2 weeks to process a work permit. But the Jeju recruiter said maybe (always maybe) I could get permission during or after the camp.

Meanwhile, I had been looking into several camps and this Friday, I received a contract from a 3-week, well-paid camp in Naju, Jeollanamdo that starts on Jan. 2, allowing me more time to get the documents :)

So I made another call to immigration to ask again what documents I needed for the application and, apparently, we all missed a minor detail (yes, that's sarcastic) - the fact that although my student visa is valid until the end of March, the scholarship period was cut short and I finish studying Dec. 22 then I have to leave the country within 30 days after the last day of classes or I will have over-stayed my visa... sinking feeling...
Reassessment: I wondered if I could go home to Canada for a couple days, but when I called the Korean Consulate, the visa officer said that she couldn't guarantee that she could process my visa (I need a short-term emplyment visa to work at the camp) in the amount of time I would have, especially because it's busy during the holiday season and they are closed for 2 days during that time.
So there's the infamous "visa run" to Fukuoka, Japan once I've finished classes. Normally I would be excited for a couple-days trip to Japan if it wasn't so expensive and I didn't already have plans to go there for two weeks in March. Meanwhile my passport is running out of pages and is still valid for two more years...
Well, that's the story. Hopefully it will all work out and I will be working at the camp in Naju starting in the new year - experiencing, for a few weeks, what it is like to be an English teacher in Korea!