Tyler's Korean Adventure

“Is that how they drive in Tiananmen square b*&$#?”

tylerinkorea — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 07:22:27 +0000

I hope this email finds everyone in good health and good spirits. I am doing very well myself over here in the ROK. We just got off a week long vacation for “Korean Thanksgiving” called Chuseok so I am well rested and ready to go for my final 4 weeks. It’s absolutely unbelievable that I am now down to my last month in Korea. I am having quite a few mixed emotions about leaving on October 26th but I know I will be really happy to get back to Canadian soil and see friends and family again and share my stories from the past year with all of you. I have been a bit lazy with my blog postings over the final 6 months, I would like to apologize for those that were following. I will be putting up a whole bunch in the next 2 weeks to recap my year and things that I have seen and done.

So we’ve had the past week off school for Chuseok so myself and 8 other friends went to China for a little vacation. Only public school teachers had the full week off and the private school teachers had to teach either the Friday or Monday of last week. So I got to go to Beijing and stay for the whole 9 days, where everyone else was coming and going depending on their work schedule, but either way it was a great vacation and we got to do a lot of cool things.
I arrived on Saturday September 18th and got to the hostel in downtown Beijing with ease. The subway system is incredibly easy to get around (much nicer compared to Korea) so I became familiar with that right away. Our hostel was a quick 5 minute walk from Tiananmen square and Forbidden city, so we were in an absolutely “mint” (as the young kids say nowadays) location. We spent the first night wandering around Tiananmen square and Forbidden city and then relaxed with a nice cold Tsingtao (Chinese beer) before heading to bed. The next day we went to the temple of heaven, which is a big 273 hectare park in downtown Beijing with some of China’s most historic temples and other pieces of architecture. We spent most of the afternoon there and then in the evening we went to see a Kung-Fu show. That was my favourite part of the trip, it was a complete show with lights, dancing and staging with a story line about a young Chinese boy who wants to become a Kung Fu master and how he travels through different stages of his life to get there. It was extremely interesting and very well done. When I get home I will have pictures to show you so you can get a better idea.
The following day I went on a gorge tour which was beautiful but unfortunately it poured rain and made the day a little less than enjoyable.
On Tuesday, the second half of our group arrived so we met up with them and toured around the city for the afternoon just looking at different sites.
The following day was our biggest day of the trip. THE GREAT WALL. The hostel we were staying in organizes several different tours of things in Beijing, so we decided to do an overnight wall trek with them. There was 18 of us on the tour, so we departed at 1pm and headed on the road for a 3 bus ride to get to the wall. Once we arrived we started our hike, where we hiked for a couple hours and covered probably 3 km’s. The hike was incredibly challenging and much steeper and grueling than I had anticipated. After getting back to your starting location we were met with dinner as part of the tour and after dinner we were free for the rest of the night. In the first tower at the start of our trek we had tents and sleeping bags set up to camp out for the night. The tour guide wasn’t meeting us until 8am the next morning so we had a good 12 hours to hang out and “shoot the shit” on the wall. We had a great time just sitting around, having a couple silly waters and getting to know the other people on the tour. At some ungodly hour we finally made it into our tents to get a couple hours of sleep before waking up at 5am to catch the sunrise on the wall.
The whole 24 hours was one of the best experiences of my life. Not to many people can say they walked the great wall of China, not to mention sleep on it. I was telling Mom and Dad after I got back to Korea that it was the first time this that I really reflected on how lucky I have been this year to have all these amazing experiences.

The next day in Beijing was also a pretty cool/wild day. On thursday night we went to the night market where they serve some of the craziest foods and/or Chinese delicasies. Our eyes were opened from the moment we stepped past the entrance to the market. So here we go….these are the crazy foods I tried that night. Scorpion, Snake (which was the tastiest of them all, I would eat it every night if I could), starfish, pigeon and believe it or not………donkey PENIS!! My friend and I were asking one of the vendors what this particular meat was, as he whispered to us “donkey penis”, we thought to ourselves ‘we’re only here once’!! It was relatively tasteful but did taste a bit like ass hahahah (catch the pun?)

The rest of our trip was pretty low key as we just spent time walking around the city, doing some souvenir/clothes shopping and laying about the hostel hanging out with the new people we had met. We met some really cool people at the hostel who were all young travelers so it was cool to hear about their stories of travelling. Its given me some great ideas

The last day we spent in China we went to the Olympic park. That was actually one of my top places I wanted to see in Beijing. Being the big sports fanatic that I am, I really enjoy visiting those types of venues. So we got to see the Bird’s nest stadium and “the cube” olympic swimming pool from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

That pretty much wraps up the trip and now I am back at school finishing up the last part of the year. I am almost done another week here in ROK, which means I am down to 15 teaching days left before returning to Canada. Its hard to believe where the year has gone.

I hope everyone is doing well and I REALLY looking forward to seeing all of you in a little over 3 weeks. Take care and talk to you soon.

The final countdown

tylerinkorea — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:52:15 +0000

As my final reflection on my one year stay in South Korea I have decided to make two lists. The first and shorter of the two will be the things that I will not miss about this country. After, to end on a happy note because I have truly enjoyed my time here will be the longer list of things that I will most definitely miss about this country.
The “I will not miss…”
- The horking. The loud, drawn from deep within the nasal cavity hoking that is done outside, in elevators and subway stations by both men and women. Gross.
- The elbow thrusting, shoulder dropping, “I will run you over with my cart” Ajummas (elderly ladies). Do not get in their way.
- The smell. My nostrils will not miss the offensive smells that sneak up out of nowhere.
- Pickles with pizza. What are you thinking? Not to mention that they are sweet pickles.
- Students slamming doors, being demanding, sprinting in the hallway. Somebody tame them!
- The lack of organization, communication and consistency within the school (classes and curriculum)

The ” I will miss…”
- No tipping! The waitress will run after you and return your change if you have left behind the equivalent of 50 cents.
- Korean socks! I always love new socks. So cheap, so cute.
- Transportation. Every day convenience as well as weekend travel on a luxury bus. You can get across the country in a lazy-boy for under 30 dollars.
- Customer service.The greetings and smiles that you get when you enter a store. These greetings range from a loud “annyonghaseo” to a small dance, in costume and a song from a microphone. I also can’t complain about the “service” which is free stuff that they give you for making a purchase.
- Korean food. You can check out my album for some pictures.
- Cheap shopping.
- Cheap taxis. The drivers may be weaving between lanes, on their cell phones, hitting their GPS or watching the craziest Korean game show on TV while they drive…but they get you there and it’s cheap!
- Feeling like a celebrity. “HELLO Tyler TEACHER!” “You so handsome. I love you.”
- No liquor rules. It’s in the convenience store, the supermarket and…juice boxes! They don’t have many public restrictions either. A beverage in the park? Okay.
- Feeling safe.

- What to do this weekend? There is always a day trip, mountain to hike, friend to visit, baseball game to watch.
- The baseball games. Bring your noise makers, your own drinks and food, admire the cheerleaders and follow along as the fan section cheers for the entire game!

- Kimchi. That’s right, I said it.

It goes without saying that the friends that I have made here will be missed dearly. The regular Canadian crew, the arts center bench posse, my co-teachers, the students, and of course my Mansu apartment crew have made my year in the ROK an unforgettable one.

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” A.A. Milne

Never to old to play in the mud

tylerinkorea — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:47:27 +0000

Boryeong Mud Festival 2010.

Last weekend we headed out of Incheon by bus and went south to Daecheon beach in Boryeong. Our goal? Get muddy at the 13th annual Mud Festival. For this event they bring in truck loads of mud that is said to be rich in minerals and great for your skin.

At the festival there were thousands of other guests dressed in bathing suits and ready with waterproof cameras to take the plunge into the mud. The options were endless when you finally made the decision to “get muddy buddy!” They had mud painting, mud sculptures, mud wrestling, mud buckets, mud prison, mud slides, mud obstacles, mud hoses and more!

The festival is held on the main strip beside the beach. The easy access to the water was useful for a quick rinse. Our friend’s band called “The Noise” took the stage on the beach and played a crowd pleasing set on Saturday afternoon.

It was a wonderful weekend. We watched fireworks, made friends enjoyed barbecue, swam, and even got in some sun bathing when the sun decided to come out on Sunday.

Boryeong Mud Festival, CHECK!

World Cup experience

tylerinkorea — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:46:28 +0000

World cup dreams for the South Korea Taeguk Warriors has ended. They were successful in advancing to the knock out round (16) but they were defeated by Uruguay 2-1. The Korean team out played Uruguay and were arguably the better team. However, it is the goals that count and Uruguay finished up by 1.

We gathered at Seoul city hall to watch the game with thousands of supporters. Watching the World Cup here in South Korea has been a wonderful experience. Koreans truly know how to support their country.

I was able to watch the games in number of different locations:
- South Korea vs. Greece – at Seoul City Plaza.
- South Korea vs. Argentina – at Munhak Stadium. In the city of Incheon they opened the stadium doors for all of the fans to watch on the big screens.
- South Korea vs. Nigeria was aired here in SK at 3:30am on a work night. The time difference did not stop the Korean supporters.

Most recently, Korea vs. Uruguay back at Seoul city hall. I became a true fan of the South Korean team. I went to every game with a crew of faithful wayguk supporters. We had a great time! The South Koreans had a good run and they have a promising future in soccer. It truly broke my heart when I saw how upset the Koreans were after the game. The were amazing supporters and they made this World Cup the most memorable one for me so far!

Daehan-minguk!
(The Korean term for South Korea)

DMZ

tylerinkorea — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:44:58 +0000

We finally did it. We made the trip to the DMZ. The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. It was a strange feeling to pass from busy Seoul into wide open land with with armed watch towers and tall fences covered in barbed wire. We learned that many families have been torn apart and are now unable to properly communicate. They had a ceremonial bell that they ring in hopes that surviving family in the north will hear it and those that have passed on will be honored in this way.

I learned a lot about North Korea. I found myself feeling sorry for people that live there and I wish there was a way to know what life is really like for them. The communist state is a one-man dictatorship, ruled by Kim Jong Il. In a country of 23 million people they currently have 1 million members in the military. They gave us the comparison that China has a population of more than 1 billion and they have under 3 million in their military. North Korea enforces universal conscription. For men a mandatory 10 years of military service and 7 years for women.

I do not consider myself educated enough on the idea of reunification to make a statement. I do hope that the current conflict settles down over time. After seeing the wishes of family members and messages hung on a fence because that is as close as they can get, it is hard to not to wish for peace and unification.

I created a photo album of the photos I was allowed to take. They have strict rules on photos and attire. I really was a different experience. North Korea is trying hard to keep the outside world – on the outside.

There’s no place like home….

tylerinkorea — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:13:31 +0000

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the Korean school system does not shy away from capital punishment. Over the past 2 days I have seen it at its worst. When I first came to Korea I saw some things that I thought would be as bad as it would get. Students would have to stand at the back the classroom with their hands in the air for 20 minutes, or kids were made to drop to the push up position and hold it for 15-20 minutes. Being flicked or slapped across the head was nothing out of the ordinary, but this week I saw things that actually made me cringe.

This week kids are studying hard and being drilled to be prepared for their semester 1 final tests. The kids are always told to do their homework, no different then home, but if they don’t then they are punished with some sort of physical force. Yesterday, my grade 6′s had a review day before their big tests and the kids were asked to have finished the chapter tests before they came into class. During the class the kids were tested on chapter 7. Some of the kids did not finish their homework before class and conveniently enough those kids did horribly on the chapter 7 test. Being 2 days away from the big test and a few kids got 2/10 or 3/10 and did not do their homework, my co-teacher flipped her lid. She kept them back after class and began to yell at them for a good 10 minutes.

As my next class was starting these 3 kids were still being punished at the back of the classroom. It was hard to keep my kids focused on what I was doing at the front, even if I was yelling at them in Korean. Then all of a sudden I hear this one kid scream so of course it caught my attention. I am standing at the front of the class and look back to see my teacher pulling their hair right around their temple area, as hard as she could. So naturally the kids scream. I thought she was done there, but then she pulled them by the hair, pulled them in close together and 2 at a time slammed their heads into each other. The sound of their heads banging together was so loud it sounded like a ‘pop’ at the front of the classroom. She finished them off by slapping them across the face. I was in such shock that I continue to teach until she left the classroom with the students. I could not believe what i was seeing. Needless, to say the class who was watching this happen certainly knew not to mess around today with Ashley Teacher. I was even a little scared to sit beside her at lunch.

I thought their punishment was done their until after class I walked out into the hallway to see these 3 kids walking the length of our hallways (approx. 50m) in the squat position holding a chair above their heads. Finally they had to come after school and write lines for quite some time and redo the chapter tests until they had each one perfect.

Dare I say, I think from now on they will have their homework done for everyclass and perhaps consider studying a bit harder.

Half way there…

tylerinkorea — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 06:07:25 +0000

I apologize for not writing in quite a while. Things are pretty busy at school these days and then with the nice weather now here, my nights and weekends are always pretty packed. When the new school year started in March I was asked to teach some after school programs so I don’t have as much time to sit around as I once did. It keeps me pretty busy, the weeks go by much faster and of course, the extra pay is always nice!

I am now officially over halfway through my contract. It’s hard to believe that I have been here for 7 months already. I feel like I have done so much, however, there is still a lot on my ‘to do’ list before october rolls around.

Six weeks ago I was invited to go on a 3-day field grip with the grade 6 classes from our school. We travelled to a place called Gyeongju that was about 5 hours south east of Incheon. It is an area known for its historical sites and is referred to by Koreans as the outdoor museum. The entire town is full of history and a ton of different things to see and do. It was great trip, and getting 3 days off school is always a bonus. We spent the three days visiting temples, King’s tombs, Buddhist sites and many different nature sites in the area. I had a great time with the kids and the teachers and became a lot closer with all the grade 6 teachers who I spend most of my time with at the school. There were 240 kids on the field trip spread over 8 buses with only 10 chaperons. We only had one discipline issue over the entire trip, other then that the kids were extremely well behaved. It was a bit overwhelming at first trying to keep head counts straight but it was very well organized and everything went off without a hitch.

Back in April, three of my coteachers and I took off on a whim for a weekend in Japan. It was one of my most favorite weekends away so far this year and I was very impressed with Japan. We left on Saturday morning at 1am and rolled into Tokyo at around 4am. We got out of the airport where a bus was waiting to take us to our first destination and some to our hotel to drop things off. Our first stop of the day (at 5am keep in mind) was the fish market that is very famous in Tokyo. It is known mostly for their incredible large sized tuna and their sushi in the area. The hustle and bustle that was going on at 5 am in the area was unbelievable. We were able to watch a live Tuna auction where they were selling Tuna’s, easily over 150 pounds. It was quite something. We then carried on from there and saw many other sights around Tokyo like temples, sulfur springs, took a few gondola rides, went on a few nature walks among other things. We tried our hand at some sushi which was amazing as well as a few other Japanese dishes. We managed to figure out our way around the Tokyo subway system. If you have a chance, google it, it is incomprehensible at first glance!

We finally arrived back at our hotel room at 2am Sunday morning after touring the city for almost 24 hours straight. It was a hell of a day but seeing as we were only there for the weekend there was so much to see in so little time. We were up again at 830 the next morning, getting right back at it. We took it a bit easier but still did a lot. We saw the King’s palace which was in a really nice area of town so we spent some time just strolling around that particular area. Later that night we had a reservation at this traditional Japanese spa. You dressed in a Yukada, which basically looks like a housecoat, and you can go in spas, hot pools and have massages and a whole bunch of different things. We spent a few hours there before flying out at 330 am Monday morning. The bus picked us up there and took us to the airport at 2am. We caught our flight home and arrived at the Incehon (Seoul) airport at 8:10am and had to start teaching at 8:40. We busted our butts back to the school in my teacher’s car and crawled into school at 8:45am. Needless to say it was an extremely long day. It was a whirlwind of a weekend but I am so glad I did it. Japan is a very expensive country but I would go back in a heart beat.

Since then nothing much is new, the weather is starting to get much nicer which makes for some enjoyable weekends. Two weekends ago we had a long weekend, so about 200 foreigners congregated on this Island about an hour just off the coast of Incheon. We had a beautiful day on Friday and enjoyed the beach and some beach games with a couple cold ones! Then the rest of the weekend it poured rain non stop but we still managed to make some fun of the weekend.

Over the past 2 weeks we have said goodbye to two really close friends here in Korea. I never thought it would be as hard as it has been to say good bye to someone that you have only known for 6-7 months. The last two weekends were pretty emotional, and I think it’s because everyone is in the some boat when they come to Korea. Everyone is away from their family and friends so we rely on each other more than anyone, making relationships develop faster then they might back home. But at the same time, there are so many memories and pictures to take home now.

Not to much planned for the next little while, I have booked a flight to China for September and I am planning on going to Vietnam for my two weeks of holidays in August.

School is still going very well and I absolutely love my placement. I look forward to coming to school in the morning and my kids and teachers are so easy to get along with, it has certainly made the year really enjoyable compared to some horror stories I’ve heard from other schools.

I hope everyone back home is doing well. I apologize again for my tardiness and I will keep on top of my blog again as the summer rolls again.

Take care!

Off to school, my lunch packed right and my shoes tied tight!

tylerinkorea — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:56:29 +0000

Well, a new school year is under way here in Incheon South Korea. Last week was our official first week of school, however the kids don’t have English classes for the first week. So today was my first day teaching again since December 23rd and believe me it feels great. The past couple months have gone by pretty slow and it has made for long days in the school without any kids. I’m pretty sure that I know of every website on the internet at this point. Although there comes a lot of work with a new school year, it will certainly make the days go by faster and it is much more exciting (and keeps you on your toes) teaching the little gaphers.

My schedule hasn’t changed much from last year which is nice, except that I have to teach grade 3′s now. They replaced my teacher’s conversation class with two extra classes of grade 3′s. It means less work for me, because the co-teacher prepares the lessons, and the students are much more exciting and motivated then the teachers. Apart from that my schedule remains the same, which is nice for me, I don’t accept change very well. I should also mention that basically all the teachers in the English department have changed over. So I now have 5 new English co-teachers, which is certainly an adjustment after becoming quite comfortable with the last group of teachers. In Korea teachers are moved to a different school every four years, so for my main co-teacher it was time to move on which is a shame because she was great to me, I will miss her. Also, teachers are never guaranteed the same job from year to year. For example, my grade 5 teacher who i worked with last year is no longer teaching English and is now a home room and vice versa for my new grade 5 teacher. So if there is one thing I have learned pretty quickly, don’t get too comfortable.

Before my co-teacher left the school at the end of February she came to me and asked if I would be willing to teach some after school classes. It wasn’t until the coordinators came to my office last week to meet with me that I realized my school had recommended me to an outside YMCA English program. So I will be taking on an after school program for the YMCA at my school for 1 hour a day for 5 days a week. I am quite excited to take on this new project, and the extra pay won’t hurt either!! Before they have even seen me teach they asked if I would consider extending my contract come October because they want to keep these classes going until at least December (the end of the school year). I told them I would have to see how I was feeling closer to October, but it’s certainly nice knowing that I will have that possibility.

I have done a couple more things around the Incheon/Seoul area since I last wrote. We have had a few holidays over the month of February so I took the opportunity to see a few things around the area. First, I visited a couple palaces in Seoul where we took guided tours and learned a little bit of the history which was quite interesting. Second, I visited the Seoul Museum of Art where we toured an Andy Warhol Exhibition. I am not normally into visual arts but I was quite intrigued and fascianted by his work. Next, I visited this coffee shop with Nilan, Katie and her mom called Dr. Fish. You order a coffee, tea etc. like any normal cafe but they also have this little bath of water at one spot in the cafe that is full of these little fish. So you grab your coffee, take off your shoes and put your feet into this bath of fish and the fish nibble at your toes and feet, cleaning off the dead skin from your feet. It was quite an experience to say the least.

Two weekends ago I had a one game tryout for a soccer team in Seoul. This is a saturday soccer league that is quite competitive, similar to the highest level I played in Canada during university, so it’s pretty good soccer. They gave me a one game tryout to see if I would fit in with their team. After I scored the only goal in a 1-0 win, they said to me after the game “I guess we have to keep you now don’t we?” So every Saturday I travel to Seoul to play for this team in a mixed league of foriegners and Koreans. It is great just to be playing again and get some exercise in the nice weather.

All of our snow is gone now, and has been for a while, and we can feel the spring weather coming. For the past 2 weeks the majority of our days have been between 12-16 degrees with the sun shining, it’s been glorious. So I think its safe to say that the nice weather is right around the corner.

That’s all for now, until next time.

Vacationing in the Philippines

tylerinkorea — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:49:16 +0000

It has been a while since I have last updated, so there are a few new things to tell you about. I had mentioned in my last post that the kids were on winter vacation, or year end vacation as it is in Korea, which is still the case. Their school system is set up quite differently, as they are off from the last week of December until the middle of February when they come in again for two weeks of school, and then have two more weeks off before starting a new school year in March. It makes no sense to me but I don’t bother trying to understand a lot of what goes on around here, I just go with the flow.

So during the winter vacation/break is when we (foreign teachers) are allowed to take our vacation days. So as I had previously mentioned, I took off for the Philippines for 10 days with a group of friends. The trip was absolutely amazing. We flew into Manila around midnight on Friday January 8th where we had to wait for our connecting flight at 6:30 am which would then take us to Kalibo. From Kalibo we took a taxi to the northern tip of the Philippines where we caught a boat across to the island of Boracay. We finally arrived on the Island around 9am, everyone was a bit tired, but at the same time we kind of overlooked that as we were so excited to be in warm weather and the beautiful sunshine. When we arrived on the island, everyone swarms you wanting to help and asking you if you want a taxi ride. Fortunately, one of the first guys who approached us seemed pretty decent and turned out to be a great help. We hadn’t booked accomodation before arriving so that was the first order of business. This gentleman took us in a taxi towards the beach and showed us some affordable (actually, the cheapest) accomodation which was right on the beach. Now, when I say taxi, I mean a little scooter/dirt bike with a make-shift side car on the side. It was an interesting start to our adventure as we had 6 people with luggage spread out over two bikes, but we had to balance everything evenly on the bikes so that they didn’t tip over. Quite an experience to start the trip.

The island is quite small, 7km long by 1km wide, so it didn’t take us long to find a place to stay. This guy took us to the ‘hot spot’ of Boracay and there were plenty of different places to chose from. We ended up settling with the first place we looked at as it was cheap and by this point we had been up all night and just wanted to get settled. We ended up renting a 6 person loft right on the beach, so we couldn’t have been any happier. We literally dropped off our bags and headed straight for the beach. We spent all of the first day lying on the beach and took a little walk down the beach to familiarize ourselves with our surroundings. The perimeter of the beach was extremely nice, very touristy and well maintained. However when you got off the beach area and to the center of the island where the locals lived, that was more of what I expected from the Philippines. It was very run down and obviously a very poor country, so we saw some pretty unfortunate living conditions and it really made you thankful we live in Canada. Or Korea!

After spending our first day lying on the beach we got showered and rested and headed out for some dinner, and to eventually check out the nightlife on the island. To our surpise, everynight, all the restaurants prepare buffets for dinner time and move everything on to the beach. So for dinner, everynight we chose a different buffet and enjoyed amazing meals with great service around a candle lit table on the beach. It was incredible, I could eat like that every night.

On the third day we decided to change it up from the beach, so we took a boat around the island and did some island hopping to the other small islands in the area. We got to do some snorkeling and we also visited some caves which were pretty cool. That trip took up most of the afternoon, so we returned back to our loft and went for dinner along the beach again. We didn’t do to much else while we were on the island, it was usually the same routine day in, day out.

Towards the end of the week we had heard about this bar called Coco Mango’s that we were told we should check out. The bar has this challenge called the “Still standing after 15″ challenge, which is pretty self explanitory. They serve you up 15 shots for each person, there were some pretty disgusting shots, and you drink them until they are gone. There is no time limit, but if you complete the challenge you get a T-Shirt and your name is engraved on a gold plaque and gets mounted on the wall. This challenege started in the late 1980′s and anyone who has ever completed it has there name on the wall, all the walls of the bar are covered in these gold plaques. Also, they have a running tally of the number of people from each country who have ever completed the challenge, needless to say we chalked up 6 more for the good guys.

It was hard to say good bye to the beautiful beaches and sunshine of Boracay but for the last two days of our trip we flew to Manila before flying back to Korea on Sunday. We flew into Manila sometime in the middle of the afternoon, and again, still had to find a place to stay. We knew Manila was going to be a pretty poverished city but we were more then shocked when we arrived. We ended up finding a decent place to stay, we rented the penthouse in a small hotel, it was basically the only place (according to our budget) that could house six of us. But on the way to the hotel we encountered many people begging for food and money, even extremely young girls (15 years old I would guess) carrying around young infants, clearly homeless and looking for help. It was a pretty sad sight and a real eye opener that’s for sure.

We really only had one day to travel around Manila so we got up relatively early and set out on foot Saturday morning. Nilan was our tour guide for the day, as he had done the most research before our vacation, so he took us around the city to the main historical sites that he had read about. It was a good day of sightseeing, lots of historical sites and buildings and we even crashed a Philipino wedding. Because one of the toutrist buildings was a church, people were allowed to wander through the church as the wedding was taking place. It was a bit awkward at first but a cool experience. Also on our adventure we ran into some cocks (roosters) tied up to posts on the side of the street. Keeping in mind that cockfighting is huge in the Philippines, we started asking the locals about their birds. They told us that their one bird was 3-0 and had won them 50,000 pesos ($1,200) and the other bird was 5-0 and won them 100,000. So they offered to show us a fight right in the middle of the street, so we said sure! Now, for real cock fights the birds have razor sharp blades tied to their feet and they normally fight to the death. Obviously they didn’t want there birds dying, so the birds didn’t have their ‘claws’ on, if you will, but it was an experience none the less.

That was about the extent of our stay in Manila. All in all we had an amazing trip and by far one of the best trips of my life, for sure. There were some stories that had to be left behind, but hopefully I have captured enough of the trip. All of our flights were right on time, if not early, and we had very good service from the airlines. Some of us are already planning for our next trip back, who knows what will happen!

Bye for now.

Off to the Philippines

tylerinkorea — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:27:37 +0000

In just over 24 hours I will be getting ready to board the plane, on my way to the Philippines. Me and 5 other friends are going to a small island off the North end of the Philippines called Boracay for 10 days. We will spend our time relaxing on the beach and we plan to look into some water sports and other things such as kitesurfing, jet-skiing, snorkeling, possibly renting a boat and windsurfing. We don’t have accomodation yet but we are looking into renting an eight person cabin, which is nice and cheap, and spending the 7 days bunking together. The island is quite small, 7km long by 1km wide, so I don’t think there will be a lot of tourist things to do but instead we will enjoy our time off as we have deserved it (or at least I like to think we have).

We will spend 7 days in Boracay and then fly back to Manila for the last two days. We are flying in and out of Manila from Korea, with connecting flights to Boracay, so we thought it might be nice to tour around Manila for a couple days while we are in the country. Nilan, my close friend from home, loves to do the planning and the research for our trips so he has the intinerary, or things we might want to see so I just pack my bags and follow along. So I don’t know exactly what we are planning on doing, but I’m sure it will be great.

I started to feel my first bit of homesickness after the family left at the end of December. Hearing of all my friends back home getting together for New Years and being home for the holidays made it a bit tough, but I think this vacation has come at a perfect time. I had a great time with the family while they were here. It was great for me too, because I got to see some sights that I haven’t been to yet and crossed a lot of tourist attractions off my Korean checklist. It was definately a different Christmas over here, but I’m glad I had the gang here to celebrate with me. I think they were about ready to go home by the end of the trip, the spicey food, the ignorant people and the exhaustion of travelling caught up with them but I know they enjoyed the experience. The last night they were here we went to ‘Noraebang’ which is a karaoke room, which are everywhere in this country. It wasn’t quite what any of them were expecting but they seemed to have a great time. Most people just stay for an hour, as its a per hour rate, however we stayed for almost 2 hours as we were having such a blast. And they didn’t even charge us for the extra hour, sometimes you get great perks about being a foreigner in this country. I wish we could say the same for foreigners visiting Canada.

There have been no kids in the school since Dec 23rd, so the school days have been pretty long and boring. I am still required to be here, according to my contract, so for the past 2 weeks I have been teaching teacher’s classes in the morning and then doing nothing all afternoon. It has been mostly just my two co-teachers that show up for the classes, which are supposed to run from 9-11, and they show up at 10:30 and only want to work for 1/2 an hour, which is absolutely fine by me. After I return from vacation I have to run a week and a half of English camps for grades 4-6, so I have been using my afternoons to prepare for those. Then, on February 2nd school is back in session. I am actually looking forward to having the kids back, they make the days more interesting and gives me more work to do which make the days go by quicker.

Well that is all for now, I will update the blog again when I return from the Philippines and hopefully I can get some pictures up of the trip and some of my time in Korea so far.

Happy New Year!