Is Canada important to Korea???.....NOOOO!!!

Last week we had an International Activity Day at school. SO we learned about all the IMPORTANT countries of the world in the form of a booklet the school had made. Well I was all excited to have a fun day at school when I came into work. THEN... I looked at the book and saw NO CANADA.... I was like what the frig??? So I said to Joelle (my co-worker from Canada too) ummmm we aren't in the book... anyways we were both mad after a while. It may sound stupid, but I mean why hire people from Canada or why study a Canadian curriculum in one of my classes or about the country who dominated hockey in the Olympics and not learn about the country?? It was total and complete NQR!



So I decided that on Canada Day (this Thursday) I was going to dress in all red and white and wear my Canadian flag as a cape on my back and tell everyone "Happy Canada Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" all day long, till they are sick of it! It makes me want to be in Canada where people care about their home country.

Teo

Some of you already know...but I have a boyfriend now!!! And no... not just a boy who is my friend... haha! His Korean name is Taeseok 태 셔 (Not sure if that is totally right on the spelling) But I just use his English name which he prefers, Teo. He is 23 and is studying to become a doctor in Japan. He is on a break right now from school but is going back in September. Yes... he speaks perfect English... obvi! He is so smart, funny, and sweet!!! If he comes to Canada you can all meet my lova! (He also calls me "lova") hahah music to my ears!

This is a picture of us at the beach.

Maritimes Bound in 3 months!!!!

Hey ya'll...

I have news! I GOT INTO UNB!!!!!!! FREDDYVILLE.... I will be reunited with my engineer lovas again, which I am pumped about. But no girl friends....yet I guess!

I found out I also didn't get into Laurier which I was crushed about. UNB took o long to get back to me about my acceptance, so I figured I didn't get in. But then Mamma Russell called me and told me the news... my reaction was..."Oh...really... cool." NQR eh!

I was thinking of staying in So.Ko for another year, which would have been cool cuz 3 of my BFF's here are doing the same. Plus I am pretty much a city girl now, so I don't know how I will get along in fredericton without a subway... and I don't mean the restaurant.

It will be nice to have CANADIAN FOOD!!!!!!!!! OMG, it will be the best time ever!!

SO ya I will be living in Freddyville listening to my K-pop, trying to be the most Asian Candian girl eva! I think I will even search out Koreans at my school so I can have a K-Pop dance party with them!! I wanna still have a specific K-Pop ringtone "Chitty chitty, bang bang" - Lee Hyori .... my new fave everrrrr!!!!

seeeeee you all in 3 months! I wanna have a Canada party to welcome me home... 150 Binning St. W. ..... Listowel, Ontario.... be there or be square! The week of Aug 15-21st! holla!

Peace out!

Holla I found Subway Restaurant!!!!!

As most of you know, the Korean food doesn't sit well with my stomach. In my first month here my friend Paul showed me a sub shop equivilent to SUBWAY!!!! It is called BK Sandwiches. I pretty much lived here for a while. But at Easter time, my friend Jackie took us to a REAL Subway! And omg it was seriously the best sub I had ever had. If you know anything about me, you know I love a good veggie sandwich. Especially since I worked at COWS, (there is a subway ALWAYS near or beside COWS) so I have had my fill of subs. But seriously when I found it, I just thought I could come here every night for dinner and not be sick of this. The sweet onion sauce is like to DIE FOR! I went there for dinner last night and it was all I could think about at school.

It may sound dumb people but once you are away from stuff you like for so long, finding it in a foreign country after 8 months only makes it so much better for ya^^^

Kamsahamnida

This means THANK YOU in Korean!!!! Over the past 7 months I have received so many letters, skype calls, e-mails, cards, and packages! And I figured it was time for a BIG thank you!!

I won't lie by saying that I am the only one at my school who gets the most mail! It seems like I get something fun every month. Today my co-worker Paul said to our new western teacher Joelle (from T.O.) that I get something big every week pretty much) I kinda looked at him like yeahhh it's true!

The packages seem to come to me on my worst days at school, or when I am feeling extremely down, which is really great!

I always add my cards to my wall at home and my wall is filled... I will have to add some into my bedroom for my room.



I don't think anyone realizes how much all these things have helped me stay here! I was really wanted to leave my first 4 months but everyone's love and messages really helped me, as well as my group of friends here.

Every time a package is put on my desk I get really excited. Especially when I got my Christmas package. I told my parents this already, but I opened all my Christmas gift like a week early because I just couldn't wait! (Just like an unsupervised kid) haha!

My roomie/lova Elsa (from UPEI) sent me a really sweet purse that I wear out frequently, a country CD!!! and earring set (p.s Elsa I always get compliments when I wear them!) My Aunt Susan sent me a package of everything I love (sidekicks, chocolate, soup mix and even Puff's klennex (my fave kind- I even had a cold at the time so it was perfect) Some camp lovas sent me some love too, in the form of glow sticks, candy, pringles, jumping beans, stickers ect. The Chaisson fam sent me a riskay box of undies, socks, Easter chocolate, a fun made cd by Didee, sidekicks, and some KD. My parents have sent me so much medication as I seem to be sick every month here, and the meds here are a bit sketch as you are given so many pills at one time in little packets and are not told what you are taking. They sent me some Halloween/V-Day, Easter, Birthday, and Christmas packages or just the odd "i misssssss homeeeee.... can I come home nowwwww???"



Most of what has been sent to me is already gone (if it was food). But I tend to try not to eat it, because I know when it's gone it really is until I am home. So I even have my fave Christmas candy (Terry's Choc. Oranges) in my cupboard. I am really trying to stay away from the Easter candy (my fave of all year. esp the Cadbury eggs/ mini eggs) because well they are the best of the best, and seasonal! I was mailed Lindor balls at Christmas and they were gone SOOOOO fast! I couldn't help it, it was like the best thing ever.



Because Korean food doesn't agree with me sidekicks in the mail is the a turkey dinna at Christmas or Thanksgiving to me... you may laugh but I am SOOOO not kidding! If anyone really knows how I eat you know! So I have in my possession 16 packets of them now and I am only eating them every so often I have decided. Even though I would love 1 a day! hahah!





This is my "cupboard of goodness"- It makes me feel like I am at Zehrs or the SuperStore in my own home!

Thank you again. You all gave me happiness even if it was in the form of an email or skype call! It really does brighten my day. I LOVE you all so much and MISS you A LOT!!! xoxo ^^

Change

March 2nd marked the new school term. That meant everyone got new classes/kids! I am now teaching 7 yr olds (6 Canadian)Jupiter Class and 5 year olds (3/4 Canadian)Venus Class. I call the 2nd class "the baby class" cuz they pretty much are. They are learning English for the first time, so they don't know any. It's kinda funny when I am teaching them cuz they usually answer me in Korean, and I have NO CLUE what they are saying so i just shrug my shoulders and laugh or smile! When leaving the class together we have to all hold hands. Sometimes Henry runs out of class and I am literally chasing this boy down the hall... we look so dumb!

Venus Class

Henry
Brian
Jimin
Vecky

Venus class is really stressful on me because our director/receptionists son Henry is in that class. He is really bad and deliberately won't speak English for me, while the rest try. He is always running in and out of class and I don't care anymore. He can run away if he wants to. His mom told me she was sorry I had to teach him... I thought grrreaatt! Since they know he is hard to handle. His parents, uncle (who is my supervisor) and cousin of his father (who i have no idea what he does for our school) always all walk in and out of my class watching me and them, and i HATE that! I have no idea how to teach these kids and feel more pressure from them doing that! I feel like it's the hardest class to teach in the entire school. Vecky's grandmother is our school's cleaning lady (who is very sweet) so there is pressure there too!

Henry is def the baddest, but he is super cute. Vecky can speak the most English but cries A LOT because she misses her mother, and I can't comfort her because she talks in Korean when she cries. Jimin talks exactly like a BABY, but he has wild hair and is kinda a bit fat haha, since all Koreans are like sticks, so I like him. Brian is soooo cute and parts his hair to the side some days. He also talks to me with a very serious look on his face while speaking Korean. One day he said, while my supervisor was in the room, "아러ㅏㅓ;패ㅠ햘해ㅔㅑ]ㅐㅔ ㄷㅇ ㅗ]ㅜㅊ퍄ㅜ9셔" (who knows what that means, but he spoke Korean and I asked what that meant.) Eric said, "He wants to color ALL day!" hahahaha He always points to my mole under my nose too and is probably asking, "what is this?" hhahahha! Today I witnesses Brian kiss Vecky on the LIPS!!! It was totally random because it was when we were singing a song!! I thought NQR!

Jupiter Class

Matt
Lenna
Hannah
Ellen
Kevin
Andy

Jupiter class was here last term so I knew them all then, which was kinda nice. Also when asked which teacher they wanted next term they said ME!!! So that was kinda fun! They are a good class, as Hayley taught/ disciplined them well! (I hate kids who aren't disciplined!!) They are all 7 years old.

Matt is probably my fave, he is so cute and says his name like, "MMMMMatttttt" I love it! He said I looked, "Cheerful" too one day! random but I'll take that.
Lenna is a sweetheart, she is so cute, and has a small belly, which is nice like Jimin's. haha.... but she is not fat at all.... just cute! - normal to us! She told me last week I looked like "an angel" and then said a "princess"! I love these kids, they make me feel great haha! Hannah is a skinnnny gal, who talks like a bird. She always has a new pair of shoes to show me. Her pencil case is a furry dog named, "Melody" who she keeps with her everywhere. She likes to make her teachers gifts, I love homemade things! Ellen looks like she is kinda evil like, or at least like a Japanese cartoon. She bosses everyone in the class around and then wonders why they don't sit with her sometimes. Kevin is soooo SMALL and my fave part about him is that he got A PERM! That's right, a perm! hhahaha I was dyinnn laughing when I saw him at school. He is also a Jahoba's Witness so he has to sit out for many activities we have at school. He's also a talker in class, so he doesn't have many stickers. Andy is new, he cried once in class over something so small. I sometimes think he doesn't understand anything I say, / any English! But he's a pretty cool guy!


Here are some of the gift's Hannah has given me...


In case you can't read backwards it says,

"Dear Teacher.
Thank you for Teach.
I will be a good girl.
I will be a not
running the hallway.
I will miss you!
Love Hannah

HAHAHAHHA!!!! I am pretty sure this card was meant for Monica her old Korean teacher who only does afternoons now because she was looking for someone then said here teacher!


It's a princess crown, since I am a princess!


In the afternoon, I teach a class based on North American curriculum, actually from Toronto which is kinda cool. It's a really intense program though and is costing the school A LOT of MOOOLLLAAA! So they basically told me if the class fails it will not look good for us! I'm like yeppp ok, thanks! This class is called Englo Class, the 4 students just graduated from kindergarten and I have taught them before.

Stephanie
Sean
Angela
Arnold

Stephanie and Sean were in my Harvard Class. Angela and Arnold were in Yale class, I taught them P.E. (gym class- which I dreaded) Angela is very annoying and has to have her way or she cries. Where Arnold doesn't listen and is frustrating at times. But now that they are in MY CLASS they will listen to the teacher and won't talk when I am talking. It's my goal.

I also teach HP Class which is the same HP class I taught before, with Marissa, David and James. But there are 3 new kids now!

Kevin
Ray
Jake

They are 8- years old, and I don't really know them well enough, but they seem to like me and I like them. We laugh a lot!

And last but not least I have my Master A class again! Of my 10 year olds!

I don't have pictures yet of the new kids, but I will take some soon and put them up!

K-Pop has taken me by storm

My K-Pop liking probably started when a fun young gal named Car'olyn Chaisson took a facebook quiz to see, "What K-Pop singer" she was. She sent me the link since I would be here in a matter of months. One day while over at their house Car'olyn aka Didee, L and I all streamed some fun songs by the band we were the most like (which I forget now) anyways, we kinda loved it!

So here is to you Didee...THANKS GURRRL! xoxo

Once I got here, K-Pop was all I heard on the streets or at a dance club. Hayley (my co-worker) showed me a really fun song called "Abracadabra" by the Brown Eyed Girls it was my ring tone in a matter of days (or should I say in a matter of how I figured out how to find it in Korean hahah!

After that I would always ask people what some fun songs by Koreans were. I was really going with some cool ones. Luckily my lovas (Jackie, Jen, Becca) and I all LOVE it too. There is a local pub 2 subways stops away from me called "Pub 210" it's a western place owned by Koreans, and it's pretty great. We go there fridays and listen to our K-Pop. I think most foreigners there HATE us because we can request/ put on what WE want to hear, by looking it up on You Tube. We have at least 4 faves that are always going (perhaps more than once). I think the people who work there even get a kick out of us and our love for it. They know us when we come in!!

My fave Korean song is called, "Ring Ding Dong" by SHINee. It's a boy band group aged from 14-18. And these boys can dance. My goal in Korea is to learn all the dance moves to this song. It's really hard.... as I have tried. It's kinda like a workout without the gym. My lovas and I have been learning the moves. Eventually we wanna break out the entire song/dance somewhere when we know it perfectly. Monica in my Master A class LOVES SHINee too, so I sometimes show her my new moves that I have learned, she kinda loves it. She even downloaded the video to her cell to show me which boy is her fave and so I could show her mine...since I didn't know the names. I bought this tiny book in the shopping area of the band and it has a bunch of their pictures in it... it hangs from my phone hahaha! I am a true Korean!


SHINee



This is Min Ho..he's my fave in SHINee

Whenever I find a really fun song I always post the videos to my friend's facebook walls.. I'm not sure if they actually watch them though ahah! But seriously..Elsa and L if I live with ya next year get readdddyyy, that's all I will say!!!

I would LOOoOoOOoOVE to see a K-Pop concert. I saw G-Dragon (the Korean Lady Gaga, who is also in a band called Big Bang) and 2NE1 in September at this huge concert called lobal Gathering but I didn't know who they were then. SO when it gets warmer I plan on searching for some concerts!


G-Dragon



Here are some of my fave songs that everyone MUST download if they want a fun Korean time!! They are not a let down I promise!! And you can find them all on You Tube to test their funness!

Ring Ding Dong- SHINee
Abracadabra- Brown Eyed Girls
Heartbreaker- G-Dragon
Bo Peep, Bo Peep- T-ara
Oh- Girls Generation
Fire- 2NE1
Gee- Girls Generation
Genie- Girls Generation
Breath- G-Dragon
I'm a loner- CN Blue



Girl's Generation


Super Junior


T-ara


Brown Eyed Girls

Olympics in Korea

SO when the Olympics started and I was really excited! I was talking to my co-workers and was like, "We should all dress up in our countries colors someday!!!!" but no one was down for that. So on Monday, I wore red and white proudly and gave all my kids a Canadian nickel.

It was hard to catch the Olympics here since I worked all day, so I was really creeeepin the www.vancouver2010.com site....and I was always updating everyone I work with about the new medal counts especially if it's Canadian. Yet no one seemed to care. I found this weird. But maybe I was so obsessed because it was in Canada this year, but every year I am always excited and watch every sport even if I don't like it. e.g. Hockey. My co-worker Paul is from the States, and I am always sayin that we are gonna beat the US in men's/women's hockey!! hahahah He was prob annoyed at me since he didn't really care! haha



Korea obviously doesn't know our national anthem well!


Speed skating and figure skating are very popular here, Korea scored big in speed skating. They have one girl who is plastered on billboards everywhere here who is a figure skater, she's only 20 or 21 years old I think. So everyone was really pumped to see her skate. She won gold and it was the talk of the country!!
During the Olympic weeks I was done my one book with Stanford class so I decided to make an Olympics unit. We made a gold, silver and bronze medal. I tied ribbon around it and then wrote on the back what they won their medal in. Bobsledding was always a popular choice for them. Every morning I put the top 10 countires medal counts on the board for the kids to see. One day Korea was at the bottom and Lina was almost crying because Korea only had 3 medals. I said, "Some countires don't have any medals" she felt better then. It was so cute, she was so concerned!!!




Drawing with Stephanie!


My favorite sport to watch is the halfpipe snowboarding. I saw most of it before going to school one day so that was great!!

Hockey: Canadians here still LOVE their hockey! This Canadian pub called, Rockey Mountain Tavern held the mens Canada vs. US game at 5am so everyone could watch it live! A bunch of us Canadians went and I was exhausted and kinda like "ahhh overtime what???" But it was insane there, sooooo many people. Each side was yelling at the other. But obvi in the end we knew who would win!

Here are some pics of the night!!



Some of the boys there got really into it!



After Sidney Cowsby scored the winning goal!




It was kinda nice seeing each different country here cheer for their teams! It was weird cheering for 2 here...obviously not when they were playing against each other! It was a good night at RMT to just see all the Canadian love, where people actually cared about the Olympics and Canada!

Lunar New Year = Vacay to Busan

This past weekend was Korea's Lunar New Year (its basically our New Year holiday) but they gain a year to their life! So when I came here I was asked right away, "How old are you?" I said 24. Then they said, "Well you are really 25." I thought NQR darling I think I know how old I am haahha... but then she explained that in Korean when you are born you are 1 right away. So I delt with being a year older than I really was. BUT NOW with this new year holiday I am friggan 26!!!!! I really don't like it!

It's also really weird when Koreans ask you how old you are because if you are not the same age as them you CANNOT BE FRIENDS.... how NQR is that? So everyone I meet Korean is always how old are you, how old are you???? and now I am not sure of what age to say, so sometimes I just say I was born in 1985. Then they can figure out this mess for me! haha

Anyways, for Lunar New Year we had Monday off of school so my friends, Becca, Aly, Janna and Joanna (the last 2 are from pei, who I randomly met here) all traveled on a 5 hour bus ride down to Busan. Busan is soooo pretty and is a beach town. A place I want to MOVE to in the summa! There were so many western people I was going nuts! Even though there are tons in Seoul here too, but I never see them, so when I do see someone foreign I am always smiling and probably looking like I have never seen another one before.

We stayed at the Lotte Hotel... yep 5 BIG stars! it was pretty sweet too. We were on the 21st floor and it even had real live tigers in the hotel... or so they said, we couldn't find them! It also had a rain forest in it too (fake of course) and tons of great places to eat.



My new friend Simba



The hotel's rain forest


On Sunday we were all pretty tired, so we just turned on the TV and watched a ton of Olympics... cuz I mean there were 5 Canadians there. We were all really into it, yelling at the TV and dissing all the Americans obvi (sorry Jackie if you are reading this... my friend Jackie is American ... a cool one though!) and we were all cool with doing nothing while on this vacay and just watching that... even though it wasn't in English. Then we got over doing nothing as we were all starving, and went to a Mexican place and had the best meal eva! Later we went to a beach which really made me miss PEI. It was so nice to be near one again. After that we went to the Busan aquarium which was really cool. I've never been to one before so I was really going, especially when we saw the sharks. It was as close as I wanted to be to a shark, as they really freak me out for some reason. We had ice cream after that and went back to the hotel. We watched more Olympics and then had dinner at this English style pub at the hotel. I was pumped to see fish and chips on the menu! BUT when it came to me, I was shocked to see a few fries and 2 onion rings and 4 VERY small pieces of fish that looked like chicken fingers.... I was like nooo wayyyyy... ohh Korea and its food disappointments for me, when does it end hahah!




Haeundae Beach




The view from the left. It looked like we were in Greece or something!



Heyyyy Mom and Dad... (Dad here is a beach shot for ya hahaha)



This dog is wearing traditional Korean clothing....NQR.... his owner had a baby stroller with ANOTHER small dog in it ...and NO BABY...wearing the same outfit!!! It was realllllyyyy strange/funny!!!


The next day we came home and went to T.G.I.F's for dinna. SOOOOO GOOOD. gotta love the western chains! aka my home! It was nice to be home again but I would have loved to have stayed in luxury for a week or 4 more!

6 months...

....Seriously who took bets that I would be home sooner?? I did... Today is my 6 month anniversary here in Asian land. Yay!!!!! It really went fast. A treat to myself for lasting this long is to stay in a 5 star hotel (apparently the best of the best) with 3 other girls for the Lunar New Year this weekend in Busan. Holla!!! Gonna be ballin now! I hope I see some K-Pop stars in the hotel I would DIE^^^^

Also I got married in those 6 months!!!!!!!! This name is ㅓㅗㅇ라ㅣ어ㅓ ㅓㅏㄴ러ㅏㅣ no English name.




HAHAHAHAHAHA JUST KIDDING.... but that is something my Mom told me before I left... don't get married there... duhh Mom... I know your reading this!!! NQR... Actually there is a wedding cafe here and you can try on dresses...it was pretty cool. There was a random Korean guy there with some of his girl/guy friends, so we asked him to be in the picture with me. He looked totally freaked out to be standing by a western person ahahahha... it was hilarious though!!

Happy Lunar New Year^^^

"Sara Mommy's" kids

Well I guess it's time I talk about my kids! I am in LOVE with my kids! I work at a private school so my class sizes are very small compared to my other friends. I teach 2 kindergarten classes in the morning from 10-2 Harvard and Stanford class. Then in the afternoon I teach 1 kindgerarten class, HP class, and Master A class (grade 3).

Harvard Class- I only have 2 kids

Stephanie... She is the smartest girl at the school.
Sean.. he's a hooligan, but a sweetie!



Harvard Class

Stanford Class- This is my biggest class with 9 kids


Jane.. She is by far my fave kid in the whole school. She is always hanging on me or hugging me. Everytime I see her I smile. She also makes NQR animal nosies when I ask her questions???
Tony... Is super cute. He likes to pretend he left his books at home so I have to photocopy them for him, (even though I know they in his backpack) then at the last min he will pull them out and say... "fooled you teacher" ahahaha i love him!
Erica... Is very smart, and a cutie
Lina... Lina started calling me "Sara Mommy" I wasn't sure why since we didn't have a family unit, but I went with it. She always says good morning to me when she sees me or gives me a big smile.
James... James is always by my side to carry my books, he is the most obedient in the class
Antony... this one is not my fave! He never does his homework, but once wrote in a weekend story that he likes to "go to the public baths and see naken women" HAHAHHAA NNNNQQQRRRRRR
Mickey... I love this boy, he always gives me a hug in the morning and tells me something fun. Like he got a haircut or a hamster died "teacher hamster 1 die... i have 5 left" hahaha
Elieen... Oh Elieen what to say... she calls me "Sara gorilla monkey grandmother grandfather" ?? ya i dunno either
Amy... Amy is sooo quiet, she like has no voice



Stanford Class
Back- Lisa (my partner Korean teacher), James, Elieen, Antony
Front- Amy, Lina, Tony, Erica, Jane, Mickey




Jane- The next Korean President




Lina... She draws me as a princess A LOT!!




Tony "the tiger"

Some of these kids fight with others for me... seriously Jane is the best fighter in class.. she will push some kids if she doesn't get to hold my hand or sit on my knee, she HAS to be touching me... Lina too. In the classroom they fight over who sits beside me. Lina/Jane/ Mickey always fight... they will say, "you sat by her last time, my time... teeeeeaaaaachhhhherrrrr my time" hahahah

I like the morning better than the afternoon because I am Sara Mommy in the morning. hahaha... I am seriously going to steal, Jane, Lina and Tony to come home with me. I love them!

My afternoons are chill...

HP Class... 3 kids... this is my only class that aren't the best at English, but they know they are NOT allowed to speak Korean.


David... David is so cute, if someone in the class doesn't understand I let him tell them in Korean. He also hides in the same spot EVERYDAY before class thinking I don't know where he is hahaha
Marissa... I made this girl cry on my 1st day alone... yup! hahah But she is fine, just needs more help than others... I don't think she actually knows my name, I am just "teaaachhhha"
James... James is really smart, but he's a hooligan like Tony


Master A Class... I have 5 kids... Its my oldest class, 10yrs old. They are prefect.

Andy... He is wild, but will do anything for stickers.. I am pretty sure he got a perm hahha, but I don't wanna ask him, cuz he is a crier
Charles... has a Canada sweater so he's cool.. he is the smartest, really chill.. calls me Sara Jane
Eliza... She is really cool this girl has the same phone as me, so we always talk phones and stuff on break!
Sohpie... is really quiet, but sweet
Monica...is extremely smart, she is so much fun, we both have a love for the Korean boy bands!

Those are my kids! My morning ones graduate Feb 25th, and I am dreading that day, because I have to say bye, unless some enroll for afternoon. If my Stanford class doesn't I don't know what I will do!! :( :(

Christmas in So. Ko.

A few weeks before Christmas my friend Jackie introduced me to her friend Becca (who is from Barrie, Ontario), then a bit later Jackie and I ran into Jen (a fellow UPEier, from Charlottetown)... we all became fast BFF's.

A few days before Christmas, I went for a walk and thought... this doesn't feel like Christmas at all. There is no snow or decorations NQR!!! A few days later Jackie, Becca and I went on a ski/snowboarding trip to this place called High 1 from Dec 25-27. We took a bus which had TONS of other really cool Canadians. By this point I had only met a few Canadians and really wondered if there were any fun ones out there!



High 1 Ski Resort




Moi in my rented everything (coat/pants included)

It was really nice to go snowboarding again. And of course NQRness was around me... Koreans like to dress alike especially if they are dating. I mean they have matching snowboarding outfits and stuff... and these outfits are usually BRIGHT!!! I kinda loved it! Also young kids and older ones (our age people) wear these hats with animals faces on them and they are super warm, yet they are NQr. I wouldn't be caught dead with one of these guys on my head, even if it was a blizzard and -40 out! ...well who am I kidding I am totally gonna come back to Canada decked out in Korean attire!



This guy was the life operator (I loved his outfit), everytime we went up he was always waving at us or saying "beautiful"


On Christmas day we got our snowboarding/ski gear and went for lunch at this Korean spot.... maybe I should point this out now... I DO NOT LIKE KOREAN FOOD.... if you know me, you know how picky I am.... I wonder some days why I am still alive here^^! (that's a Korean exclamation mark) ^^^^^ well the food looked/smelled NQR so a bunch of us went to the GS 25 (Beckers/ 7 11/ Needs type of store) for lunch... ahhh so my Christmas lunch was juice, pringles, and some pastry crap. Yummmm... Then we went snowboarding and were treated to a dinner by our snowboarding company people. It was bbq pork, but it wasn't cooked really... soooo Christmas dinna for me was my most fave thing... CHIPS! hahahhha... I still laugh at how funny my meals were that day! I missed my Mom's food!!!! We went to a karaoke and went home. The next day we went snowboarding all day! We came home the next day and it was snowing... WELL, it was a light snow, and it was as if Koreans had NEVER seen snow before. They had cars stopped in the middle of the road, they were pushing cars. We were like OMG really??? It was sooo weird. So our bus ride was supposed to be 3 hours, and it took 7 hours!!!! Gross! I was so hungry, mostly because I barely ate anything that weekend, that we went to a Western spot after we got off the bus, that I ordered a ton of food and it was SOOOO GOOOD!!!!




Christmas Dinna




This was the "fun" group on the trip!!

It was a differet type of Christmas, but it was a good one. I was really shocked at how I wasn't homesick at all. Thank you for all the Christmas cards/ presents I got in the mail. The cards are all displayed on my wall^^

First Asian Summa

August 12th, 2009 was the day I left everything that seemed normal and began my NQR journey!.... I packed my 2 small suitcases and sadly left a TON of fun stuff at home.

My parents dropped me off at the Toronto airport and waited with me until I left. Once on the plane I put my ear phones in and started listening to my Korean mix I made for my ipod. I sat beside a Korean man who DID NOT look happy to be sitting beside a Western gal... I smiled... he looked away and I thought well, only 18 hours to go! Looking around I saw that these rannnndom girls were wearing these masks... and not the fun African kind.... like sick masks, and that was my first NQR moment of the trip.

Everyone Asian on the plane sat so still and slept and didn't move... and I mean really DIDN'T MOVE unless to go to the bathroom. I was like geeeze, as I was continually moving around and was uncomfortable.

The 18 hours went by slowly, and finally we arrived in Toyko, Japan where I had a 2 hour wait until I would fly to Korea. I couldn't figure out how to call home to the fam to say "Heeeeyyyyy I'm in Japan, jealous???" So I made a few collect calls, hoping they wouldn't mind. After that I was sooooooo HOT since it felt like a sauna so I went to change into shorts and a tank top. WELLLLL... did I get some looks, it was as if Japanese people had never seen shorts/ a tank top before... I was like OMG!! They all had jeans or something on, but it was seriously so hot I didn't care!

Anywho, I finally got to Korea and was picked up by a random taxi driver, who brought me to my school. I was met by some work peeps and they took me to my hotel (where I stayed for 3 days). By the time I got to So.Ko. it was really late at night, so I went right to bed, and was told I had to be at school the next day by 9am.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... the first month of school I literally worked and came home to bed. Jet leg was killa!

--------------------------------------

If anyone doesn't know, I work at a cute little school called Wonderland (which makes me think of Toronto ...but its not THAT fun haha) I teach 7 and 10 year olds. All my children are amazing and beyond cute. My fave class calls me "Sara Mommy," and I won't lie I kinda LOVE it! At playtime my fave class "Stanford Class" come into theteachers room and play with me-- sometimes with my hair, they sit on my knee (sometimes 2 at a time) or hug me... they really make me feel loved! I also work with 2 other foreigners, Paul- from the US, and Hayley- from England... we have 4 other Korean teachers who are all really great, and speak English very well!

I live right across from my school which is great, and the subway is extremely close too! My place is the biggest that I have seen compared to other teachers... not hatin that!

In September/October I was really sick and went to 4 doctors. They all said different things so finally I went to one I liked, he said I had bronccitis, which seemed about right. By the end of all that I was r\pretty homesick and wanted to go home to Canada. Also at this time I was working on my Education applications for UNB (freddyville)and Laurier, so I was kinda stressing/sick.

Even in October it was super hot here, and i thought omg when will it cool down?? But soon enough it did. And just like that it was freezing here (or so I thought)



The city at night




Long Stairs... I take the escalator