Home again, home again....jiggity-jig!!

AMAZING!! A whole year has come and gone since I arrived in Korea August 17th, 2005. As I write this final installment (probably), it is Saturday, August 19th. My contract ends tomorrow and I wing my way to the True North, strong and free on Monday, August 21st....leaving at 7:35 p.m. and arriving in Toronto at 7:45 p.m. the same day.....funny how that happens! :)

Much has happened since I last wrote in this BLOG, the most memorable of which was my 2 week summer vacation.....1 week in Sardegna, Italy and 1 week in the Greek island of Lefkada.

I met and got acquainted with several new friends from Italy, Greece and England with more adventures to come.

This year has truly been a highlight in my life so far. My life has been enriched by the people with whom I have come in contact over the year. I cannot say enough about the Korean people and their INCREDIBLE kindness, generosity, care and compassion for making a foreigner feel welcome in their land. They are too numerous to mention but they know who they are when I say....."I love you one and all and will miss you terribly. Please come to visit in Canada and I hope to see you again in Korea sometime."

Since returning from vacation, I hit the ground running....arriving just in time Monday morning August 7th to start teaching 2 weeks of English camp. As always the children were enthusiastic and NOISY!! (more so the second week). What do they put in these kids ricecakes....YOWZA!! We had a 'special guest' for a couple of days who added a regal touch to the camps.

Today was the last day and after school I sent 2 more boxes home (I hope they arrive safely) and then went out for lunch and a beautiful scenic drive with one of my English Town co-teachers Josephine and a neighbour lady and her son who live in my building. Josephine came to my apartment last night and virtually did all my packing for me. I would still be there Monday morning, crying, totally overwhelmed if it had not been for her. Thank you Josephine. You are a lifesaver!!

Tonight will be final laundry and clean up in the apartment. Tomorrow another co-teacher Kim, Kwang Soon will pick me up and take me into Gwangju to stay overnight so as to be able to catch the bus to the Incheon International Airport on Monday morning for a 5 hour bus ride.

Where has the year gone? Ahhhhh.....memories....a year I will never forget and will "dine out on" for years to come (to quote a very famous politician!!)

There may be one more installment....not sure. Haven't decided whether I will continue this BLOG when I return....or start another one.

Anyway, thanks for tuning in!!! Ciao, yassoo, arrivederci....Canada here I come!!

Seoul....Canada Day times 2....Suncheon

Canada Day has come and gone but I got to celebrate it twice here in Korea. June 25th was the date of the Canada Day Picnic hosted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea. It was held at a camp ground in Seoul. There were about 800 registered....mostly Canadians but we let some other nationalities in too. There were games, tug of war, posture and spine alignment checks, food , drinks and great music as well as lots of door prizes.

As well as participating in the picnic, I was able to see Janice again. We had a few hours to take the Seoul City Bus tour and Janice pointed out places of interest. We were in the middle of soccermania with World Cup in full swing. The Koreans are avid soccer fans and show their enthusiasm ENTHUSIASTICALLY. There were huge screens in various locations of the city so no one had to miss the games that were usually televised in the middle of the night. I chose to be in bed those nights!!

The second Canada Day celebration took place in Suncheon and I celebrated with some of the teachers from the Canadian Connection group. We got dressed in red and white, painted our faces....some of us even put red makeup on our eyes!! Crazy Canucks!! It was FUN and patriotic!! Who says Canadians aren't patriotic!!

Enjoy the pictures!!

Happy Canada Day....Oh, Canada my home and native land!! 

The girls in Red and White!! 

V for Victory....we've been in Korea too long!! 

Canucks unite!! 

Cute Dustin....great bartender even if he is a Yank! 

Up on the roof ....for Canada Day fireworks! 

Singin' our hearts out!! 

Interview with random school kids 

Janice and I in the midst of World Cup mania - Go Red Devils!! 

Russian entertainers - Insadong, Seoul 

What a beauty....2 months old 

Happy Canada Day - Seoul, Korea!! 

Crazy Canucks!! 

Look at this little cutie enjoying Canada Day too! 

Could you get any more Canadian than a tepee?? 

Sheilagh and the Ontario team vs Western Canada 

Vive Les Canadiens! - French Canadian band from Montreal 

Bethel, Bible Study and Bye bye Rachel

I've had the privilege to attend Bethel Church in Gwangju and be part of the English Worship Service since being in Korea. It is a small but enthusiastic group of Korean and Foreigner believers. The Bible tells us "where 2 or 3 are gathered there am I in the midst of them". Although the numbers are few, the worship and love for the Lord is felt every Sunday. The Korean Nationals really welcome the foreigners with open arms. Kindness and generosity are 2 of the many wonderful qualities of the Korean people and they are exemplified at this church.

I've had the honour of singing on the worship team with Shelby (Korean) and Rachel (my new buddy from Edmonton....actually Leduc, Alberta) and occasionally saying the intercessory prayer.

The group that leads this English Worship Service including another fellow Canadian..Perry Broe who is the lay minister....has a heart to reach out to the foreign community in Gwangju as well as encourage the nationals to come and listen, speak, sing and worship in English. They are doing a great job.

On the 18th of June we had a farewell service for Rachel who led worship and preached many Sundays. Rachel has an amazing voice and piano playing gift that she loves to use to worship God. I was privileged to sing with Rachel on the worship team, as a duet and even in one of the prisons in Gwangju (talked about in another installment of this BLOG). Bethel (and I) will really miss her!! (but I'm going to visit her in Leduc....after all I haven't ever been to the West Edmonton mall....one thing I HAVE to do before I die!!)

Rachel also led a Bible Study that I attended periodically. It was a small group that met at Jon and Emily's apartment in Gwangju but we always had a good time of studying various portions of the Bible. Our last time together, we each wrote down some questions that we had about our faith, the Bible, etc.....anything that was a mystery and then we tried to answer them, to one degree or another, as a group.....very enlightening.

Please enjoy the pictures....

Bethel Kyohay (Church) my 'home' church away from home 

Bible Study group 

Rachel loves to sing.....and preach at Bethel! 

Farewell lunch for Rachel....Koreans and food go together! 

Farewell to Rachel from English Worship Service at Bethel 

Deacon Yune thanks and says goodbye to Rachel 

Gwangju International Centre Field Trip

This was my first GIC trip that I went on since being in Korea and it was GREAT!! The GIC is a centre for foreign residents which is run by Koreans especially a lot of volunteers. They have weekly talks on various subjects and monthly trips such as this one trying to help foreigners learn more about Korea and just generally get acclimatized. They also provide Korean language lessons for a nominal fee.

Field trips in Korea are usually jam-packed with activities and this one was no exception. It started off with a 2 hour bus ride to the Nakan Folk Village near Suncheon (see pictures below), then another hour to drop some of us off to go biking (I opted for the more relaxed bike ride) while the braver souls drove another hour to do paintball. I decided I would forgo the frivolity of paintball because, from what I hear, people get maimed and some of this group met with bruises and welts.

This was a great way to meet new people....both foreigners and Koreans. Some of us ended the day with a great meal at Outback Steak House.

All in all a FUN day!! (This took place June 17....sorry I am so long writing about it!!)

Map of Nakan Folk Villaage - part of Gwangju Int'l Centre trip 

Just lyin' around! 

Are we having fun....or what? 

My bodyguard!! 

My new 'boyfriend' 

Rachel.....BE NICE!! 

Rachel and I on top of the world...Nakan Folk Village near Suncheon 

Peek-a-boo!! 

The whole group before we split...some for paintball....others for bike riding. 

A pretty fountain where we rode bikes. 

There really is a bird in the water!! 

The water's never too cold for kids! 

Food and friends! 

Mt. Illim....this was ALMOST my waterloo!!

One of the teacher's at my Girls' Middle School has become a really good friend. Her name is Kim, Kwang-Soon (Koreans put their family name first). She asked me to join her and her WHOLE family for a hike up Mt. Illim. I felt honoured to be included with all her family and gladly accepted the invitation.

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!?? Actually it was a great day and her family are warm and friendly even though very little English was spoken and my Korean certainly isn't up to scratch. HOWEVER, this hike was a MARATHON!! About 2.5 - 3 hours later we reached the top of this mountain that was covered in azaleas. Beautiful sight but man, were my knees screaming!! The sad part was.....what goes up, must come down. Poor Kwong Soon she felt so bad that she had suggested this hike and I was really in pain. I tried to assure her that it was OK....all the while, I just wanted someone to shoot me and put me out of my misery. The way down was even worse because coming down a very steep precipice is harder on bad knees...at least on my bad knees. Try to picture this.....a beautiful azalea covered mountain, surrounded by gurgling brooks, rocks, a narrow path......AND thousands of Koreans, walking sticks flailing, pushing and shoving up and down this path.....AND ME.....the ONLY foreigner. In hindsight, it was pretty funny but at the time, I WAS NOT AMUSED!! Anyway, on the way down we found a road that was a more gentle descent which was somewhat easier on the old 'pins'.

Just a note.....Kwang Soon's family members weren't exactly thrilled with the length and difficulty of the hike either. All in all though, we had a GREAT day!!

Enjoy the pictures.

Mt. Illim and the azaleas....this mountain about killed me!! 

Masses of humanity going up and down a very small path 

Some of the scenery up Mt. Illim 

Kwang Soon....what a cutie!! 

At the Green Tea Plantation 

The kids, Kwang Soon's sister-in-law and me 

The Ladies Come to Yeonggwang

I had been telling some of my Canadian teacher friends that they really should experience rural Korea and come to visit me in Yeonggwang.....so a few of them took the plunge.

Carol, Vanessa and Crystal were the first brave souls to arrive. This frolicking event took place several weekends ago. Friday night we went out for some dinner and drinks, then went bowling (haven't bowled in YEARS....what a HOOT!!), then went to a Nora-bong (karaoke room) that was even more of a HOOT! Good thing we have 'day jobs'!! We threw caution to the wind and sang with abandon. Good thing the walls are soundproof. Since we didn't get started until about 9:30 p.m., it made for a very late night. On our way home, we sat on a trailer for one of the political candidates and had our picture taken since it was right around national election day (May 31st). We got some strange looks from the locals but....we didn't care. We were having FUN!!

Saturday we had bacon, eggs, toast, coffee, tea, and juice. I even cooked....unheard of but I managed to not burn anything or poison anyone so that's a plus!!

Our company swelled to 5 when Laurien joined us. Our agenda for Saturday was to go to a local beach. We headed to the bus terminal only to find that the next bus was not for another hour and a half so we piled into a taxi (very crowded back seat....normally the taxi drivers won't take 5 people but this guy was accommodating and I don't think he wanted to argue with 5 waygook (foreigner) females. Twenty minutes or so later we arrived at the beach.....a little disappointing but since the tide was out we were able to walk out quite a distance and sit on the rocks. After about an hour or so, a Korean man came to tell us we needed to come back in because the tide was coming back in. He was right....we got wet getting back onto dry land. Oh well, another adventure.

The same taxi driver came back to pick us up and dropped us off at my favourite pizza place and so our hunger was satisfied. Then we headed back to my place for manicures, pedicures, massages, etc. This proved to be the highlight of the weekend...with a lot of laughing, talking and general fooling around. Unfortunately, I missed a lot of the frivolity because......you guessed it.....I fell asleep!! WHAT is the matter with me??

Sunday was very low key and everyone but Laurien left around 11:30 for their respective homes. Laurien stayed on for a few more hours and we had some time to catch up.

All in all...a very FUN weekend. Yeonggwang will never be the same!!

Enjoy the pictures......some could not be shown to protect the guilty!!

Crazy Canucks at Gemami Beach...not swimming weather YET!! 

Carol fancies herself as a hairdresser! 

Laurien and Crystal getting ready for pedicures