Mudfest!

So in Korea they have this yearly festival called mudfest. The purpose of it used to be to sell mud products for your skin by having people test them out. It has turned into a full out party! You can get painted with coloured mud, play on one of the many airbounce rides, have a mudfight, jump in the ocean and let the wave take you for a ride, there are beer tents and sculptures!!!

At first when I got there I was concerned because there didn't seem to be much mud. I was picturing a whole beach of mud with people covered from head to toe in mud and moshing on the beach. You did have to search out the mud a bit and it could be due to the torrential rains that kept coming down every so often. Regardless we found a clay mud pit or area or whatever you want to call it and got ourselves covered head to toe in dark black, clay mud! It was awesome!

One fave memory from the weekend was seeing Chase (the American I am seeing) and he was all clean and white because he had not found the good mud yet. I just jumped right up on him and gave him a big muddy hug!

The most disastrous event was slipping in a gutter. Now using the word gutter makes it seem worse than it was. It was just where the water was flowing between the sidewalk and the road. So the deal is my friend and I were separated and she was supposed to call me when she headed over to our muddy beach... this means I had my phone with me... in the mud... Well I did have it in a plastic bag but overtime a little bit of water got in the bag and at the exact moment she called me to say she arrived on the beach... MY PHONE WENT BLACK AND WOULD NOT TURN ON!!! nooooooooo. I ditched the people I was with and began wandering around looking for my friend. I could not see her anywhere and I was carrying around my clothes and broken phone so I decided (maybe partially due to the soju I had consumed) the best idea would be to run back to the hotel (since it was on the other side of the beach) ditch my stuff and then it would be easier to find Adriana... well I don't know why I thought ditching my stuff would make it easier but I had my mind set on it. So I ran back full throttle in my flip flops and bikini and when I got to the street I started walking... Now I don't know exactly how it happened... but I went to go walk on the sidewalk and in the process I set my foot down in the gutter not knowing it was slippery with algae, slipped and scratched up my knee and the whole top of my foot and smashed my elbow.  At first I laughed and the pain set in and I realized I could not stand up. Remember I was completely by myself at this point. Some guy helped me up and then two of my gfs happened to walk by, saw me and were like "Olivia???" and I started crying cause I noticed I was bleeding everywhere and I believe I said something like "I fell down" which is totally something a little child would say! Well Steph and Leslie walked me back to my hotel, put me in the tub and washed my wounds. The whole time I was bawling like a little child and could not stop. We got some bandaids and I borrowed Jenelle's phone to call Adriana and explain what happened and that I was on my way to find her! (she was using Tina's phone and T got a kick out of all the random text messages that went to and form her phone during this time period) I went back on the hunt and after wandering around for awhile Adriana saw me and jumped me and we laughed...

So I was walking around for the rest of the night with my wounds in bandaids... but any time anyone nudged my elbow I would almost cry from the pain. I got back to my hotel room around 4 am and went into the bathroom and FREAKED out! my left elbow was about three times the size of my right elbow... everything looked swollen and infected! I went into the bedroom and woke Tina up (because of course my wife was with me :)) and she went out and bought some soju to disinfect my wounds.... She even gave me her hand to squeeze when the intense burning of bacteria being killed by soju flooded through my body.  The swelling did go down... but it didn't look great on Monday so I went to the doctor. He said it was infected but not too badly. So don't worry... I am not gonna lose my foot!! It still looks nasty and I leave for Japan tomorrow. At least I can walk on it now. Monday through Wednesday was a huge struggle to walk!

So that was mudfest. It was a great time and I wish it had've lasted longer. It is still going on today. It runs for two weekends. I really wanted to go again... but due to my foot I think it is wiser to stay away from the mud!

Oh and I put my phone in a bowl of uncooked rice and magically it works again. Rice is a miracle worker!

Here's some pictures of my foot.. yummy!

Celebrity

One thing I LOVE about Korea is that everyone wants to take a picture of me or talk to me. Well not just me but any cute foreigner (and yes... I know I am cute). Everywhere we go crowds seem to gather. We were in Insadong a few weeks ago for the Lotus Latern Festival and Parade (for Buddhas birthday) and we made these lotus hats. We wore them and were standing together. We were approached by a Korean asking to take a photo. We said sure and stood in line... before we knew it everyone around us was taking picture after picture!!!  The whole day everywhere we walked everyone was taking pictures of us and pointing and smiling. It really does make you feel special when everyone pays close attention to you. During the parade instead of is watching it, they were watching us. Everyone walking by us would say oh so beautiful or giggle at our hats or give us thumbs up or give us a high five. I really felt more important than the parade lol!

In Namhae (a beach on the South end of the country) we played volleyball with a group pf male Koreans because they saw we were going to play and wanted to join us. It was soooo much fun! A bunch of them joined us later on the beach and we drank wine and interviewed each other (except they called it something else and I don't remember what that was) We basically just would stand up and tell a little bit about ourselves. Then they sang Happy Birthday to Jenelle in Korean. Afterwards we set off fireworks. I don't think I mentioned this before but you can buy fireworks at pretty much every store anytime of the year. They are everywhere!!! Later in the night I went skinny dipping in the ocean! It felt amazing!!! We went back to our hanbok style room (mats and blankets on the floor) and tried to play cards but we were all tired and fell asleep.

One night I was taking pictures with Flat Thomas (a school project for a kid from my church in Canada) and a Korean man asked if he could get a picture of Veena and I... totally out of the blue and he was super drunk.

I am a little worried about when I go home... being here might be making me a bit conceited... I might be offended if people in Canada don't constantly complement my looks and tell me how beautiful I am and ask to take a picture of me. I did not feel too much culture shock when I came here. Over time I have just accepted everything as normal and never felt this outright difference. It will be weird to go back home and not drink in the street and not be able to buy soju at any corner store for 1 dollar. I am going to miss the constant attention!

Soo... I took a little break...

Okay... I know I have not blogged in like 4 months.... Sometimes it just feels overwhelming to type out everything that happens here. I am gonna try and blog again..

So number one thing... winter in Korea was hard. I am from Ottawa so you would think that I wouldn't mind a winter and mind you it only snowed about 4 times here but for some reason winter really got me down. The weather was cold but not nearly as cold as Ottawa. When I got back from vacation I just kept getting sick. First I got an ecoli-infection, then Swine Flu, a throat infection and a sinus infection!! I had to go on two rounds of antibiotics within one month!!! It was sooo ridiculous and I actually have continued to get sick off and on up to this week. I usually feel good for about a week or two and then I get sick again... hopefully this time I won't get sick again... here's to me being healthy.

Also what made winter sucky... well I was seeing someone and that didn't work out. I have decided that chances are there is something wrong with every single male foreigner in Korea... There is just always something.

The most awesome thing that happened this winter is that Tina arrived. She got here at the end of February and has made being here just sooooo much better. She moved into the same neighborhood as me and we were spending pretty much every night together. We cook dinners together and shop and eat ice cream and everything wonderful! Having one of your closest friends move to the same foreign country you live in makes everything soo much better. It's great having someone who knows pretty much all the same people as you do and has watched you grow up live just around the corner. I say she is my wife and I am her husband... there is no doubt that I am the man in this relationship lol.

So this was all good and great... then at the beginning of April I found out that my Hogwan was closing. I was assured I would still have a job at our schools other campus and had nothing to worry about. Veena and I were in shock... but it was not that surprising seeing as we only had about 12 students at our school and even though we had lots of new students join we saw many leave. We were informed that the school would be closing at the end of May. Well I asked to stay in my apartment because I didn't want to move away to Tina. I figured I have commuted my whole life living out in West Carleton why can't I do it again? So they tell me I can stay in my apartment and Veena decides to move down to Beomgye (pronounced Bumgay... not even kidding!!) where our new school would be. They offered me a ten hour a day position and Veena an 8 hour. We asked to switch positions as I would be commuting an hour each way and did not want 12 hour days... To this we got the response that we now had the option of getting out of our contracts.. we were like wha???? They decided that they didn't want to have us down there teaching for only two months (ya two months left on the contract)... So we both freaked out because they only offered us 10/12s of our bonus and flight which are things we would be guaranteed if we finished our contracts. We were not allowed to just finish out the contract. So Veena decided to go home. I however offered to extend since I had decided I am staying here till next March. It was a hard decision because I could not stay in my apartment. I did get to stay in Seoul but I will get to that in a bit. I interviewed at Tina's school and was offered to start at the beginning of June and work until March when Tina was done but the pay is less and they don't pay into the pension and what my work was offering my as severence is less than I wanted to except so I stayed on.

So May 30th brought a lot of change to my life. I moved from my beloved little cave in Kyodae to about a 20 minute subway ride to Isu. I must admit I am really loving my new apartment. It was a bit frustrating to have to move though. I did the math and I realized that in the past 7 years I have lived in 10 different lodgings in 4 different cities... talk about a lack of stability!!! The great things about my new apartment are that it has lots of light, I was able to fit a couch in, I have oddles of wardrobe space, an awesome marketplace around the corner and my location is in the middle of al my friends... The sad thing is it takes 30 minutes instead of 3 minutes to see Tina.

On May 31st, Veena left Korea. It was a sad day. Veena got here one week after me so we have experienced everything together in Korea. We spent Christmas in Boracay, we went to sooooo many bars, we walked to and from work together everyday and our lives were majoraly intertwined. I am sad to see her go but I was happy to have her here.

The final change was starting a new job. I now work Mon, Wed, Fri 9:30-5:30 and Tue, Thur 12:30-8:30. It's a bit of a change from 11-7 every day. It takes me about an hour to get to work now but I don't have to transfer on the subway and I enjoy the reading time. My walk to work from the subway station is about 15-20 minutes and it's this beautiful pathway with trees and flowers on both sides. I really enjoy the walking. As for teaching, I teach grade 1s and 2s every single day, 2 periods each. Tuesdays and Thursdays I teach 7th and 8th graders as well. I am teaching them TOEFL and SAT prep!!! I have to do a lot of learning myself before I teach these kids. My grade 8s are working at a grade 11 level!! I am learning lots of new vocabulary words!

I am enjoying my new job and I work with 14 other teachers who are all American. I am the only Canadian at my entire Hogwan!

Well this has been a pretty big update and I will write more soon... I actually will this time!

I Did It

Six months in Korea as of today!

I can't even believe that I have been here that long. I mean a school year is only 8 months... I can't wait for winter to be over. I always found it hard back home but here it is cold and no car and I am away from all my close friends and family.

I am super excited because Tina is moving here at the end of February!!! She is working at a school in my neighborhood and will be living just around the corner from me! Looks like I have to move to Korea to get my best friend to live close by lol...

Yay!

My package finally arrived today!

Christmas, New Years and Boracay!

So this is the first Christmas in my 24 years of life that I did not spend with my family... well in person. It was definitely weird and I feel like Christmas did not really happen this year.

Some friends and I cooked up a storm on Christmas Eve. I provided the roasted chickens (turkeys are way tooo expensive here!) and we had all pulled names and brought a secret santa present. We opened the gifts one by one and it was a lot of fun! It kind of felt like a family dinner and we were all missing home so it was nice to be together.

My Christmas morning I called my parents and brother so it was their Christmas Eve. I had them open presents and my Uncle Peter, Aunt Maureen, Zach and Phoebe were there too! We talked for about 3 hours and my mom also showed me some presents she had purchased for me. Kitchen stuff for when I return home... whenever that will be...

My German friend Sarah arrived on Dec 23rd and the two of us flew to Manilla in the evening on Dec 25th.

Waiting at Incheon to board the plane... almost forgot my purse here!!!

We arrived in Manilla at 12:30 am Dec 26th with our friends Maggie and Kiren and proceeded to hang out in the airport until our flight at 7:20 am... Sarah and I had a nap and I set my alarm. It went off and the boarding was called so we went and got on the bus that drove us to the plane... as we get out of the plane they call our names and inform us we are an hour early for our flight and we will be on the next plane!!! Oops forgot to change the time on my clock from Seoul time!!!

Our plane from Manilla to Kalibo.

We finally got on the right flight and arrived in Kalibo. We knew we had to find someone to drive us to the Jetty Port Ferry near Caticlan. We essentially just had to trust that the Philippinos who were guiding us to a van were not lying to us or ripping us off and we tucked into the van for a two hour drive. We arrive at the ferry in our sweaters and jeans with the sun beating down on us. We had different flights from Maggie and Kiren but we all met up again at the ferry and started through that ordeal... we had to buy three tickets... one for the ferry, one for the terminal fee and one for the environmental fee... Why can't one ticket encompass all???? So we get on the "ferry" or small boat rather and head over to Boracay.

On the other side we meet someone from our hotel and hop into a tuk-tuk and head to our hotel.

Us on our way to the hotel.

This is what the tuk-tuks look like... a motorcycle with an attachment!

Finally around 10:30 am Dec 26 we arrive and are on the beach!!!!

This was just after finishing our first meal!

There were 9 of us in total staying at our familly "villa" at Orchid's resort. Veena (my coworker), James (Veena's Korean boy), Sarah (my friend from Germany I met in September in Korea), Maggie and Kiren (two American girls who work in our neighborhood and work with my coworker Jon's fiance), Deanna, Maria and Keisha (3 Canadian cousins, two live in my neighborhood and 1 was visiting) and myself.

This is all of us at our New Years Eve dinner. Going around the table in a circle starting on the left is Sarah, Deanna, Maria, Keisha, James, Veena, Kiren, Me and Maggie

I spent most of my days lying in the sun and dancing and partying at night. We spent a day snorkeling... a day riding motorbikes... a day on our own boat where our guide cooked all the food we brought with us!!! Seriously it was the most amazing week of my life... I think it may even beat out those summers at camp I loved so much.

This is our trip on our private boat.

New Years was probably the best one I have ever had in my life. It was funny because no one had on watches or was carrying cells so we didn't really know when midnight was... then the fireworks went off and we were like Happy New Years!!! then about 5 minutes later there was a countdown!! lol oh well... we celebrated it twice in five minutes.. There were tons and tons of fire works. It really was awesome!

Veena and I watching the fireworks.

So now I am back in Korea... The moment I got off the plane I was pushed around and I remember how rude and pushy Koreans are... Going away has made me realize how much of an awful place Korea truly is. Philippinos are amazingly wonderful and friendly people... they may try to rip you off here and there but its not like they have a lot of money so why not let them rip me off?? I arrived in Korea Saturday Jan 2... woke up for work on Monday and... there was snow... everywhere... I was not happy!

I thought that this would be my first winter without having to trudge in the snow... I do love snow but a one year break would not be so bad. They have not had snow like this in Korea since they started recording their weather in 1937... what are the odds?? Maybe Canada misses me!

I heart you Boracay!!!

These are the links for the full albums of my trip. The pictures are in order from arrival if you go through 1 first.

1. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2303350&id=81005275&l=33e13f05e1

2. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2303385&id=81005275&l=f347edfa54