Blake again...
For everyone who knows how much I loved school. I would just like to announce that I saw my degree for the first time the other day. The feeling was almost euphoric. So much time, effort and hardwork for a fancy piece of paper with a stamp and a couple signatures. Craziness! (ir)Regardless, I'm proud of it.
Glory to God
Nice brackets 'eh, Timmy
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Newbie
Hey all,
For the first time.....this is Blake!
I do realize that I've really "dropped the ball" in terms of posting and for that I do apologize. Basically the way I see it, my job on this blog is to add some comedic relief and to tell everyone about some of the hilarious things about Korea. For the time being though, consider this post as an introduction. I'm unable to post pictures because our computer doesn't seem to like loading pictures very much and nearly dies each time I try. Erin and I might have to seriously consider the possibility of a new computer, which (in my opinion) would be excellent.
Anyways, talk with ya'll soon.
Until next time...on the Adventures of Blake!.....oh..and Erin :p
For the first time.....this is Blake!
I do realize that I've really "dropped the ball" in terms of posting and for that I do apologize. Basically the way I see it, my job on this blog is to add some comedic relief and to tell everyone about some of the hilarious things about Korea. For the time being though, consider this post as an introduction. I'm unable to post pictures because our computer doesn't seem to like loading pictures very much and nearly dies each time I try. Erin and I might have to seriously consider the possibility of a new computer, which (in my opinion) would be excellent.
Anyways, talk with ya'll soon.
Until next time...on the Adventures of Blake!.....oh..and Erin :p
English Names
Korean names are extremely long and difficult for us to remember. They all sound the same to me and even though I try really hard to pronounce them correctly, I still get laughed at. Our school understands that we 'foreigners' have a really hard time so they encourage the students to come up with English names. The kids love to pick English names, but nothing stops them from changing them when they find something they like better. One of my students today was Claire for half the class and then became Alex for the second half. I also had a little boy in my class yesterday named 'Mr K.' I started laughing because I thought it was funny, but apparently no one else saw the humour. Sometimes the kids hear English names and then attempt to copy them, but parts become distorted along the way. Tonight I had a sweet little girl named 'Yulie.'
We did a few loads of laundry the past few days, but we still weren't convinced about our laundry soap. We decided that we'd be safer with powder soap so Blake went out this morning and got some.
We have a Korean friend named 'Gavin' and he's been really helpful to us as we adjust to South Korea. Gavin also works at the school, but does more of the administrative type jobs. He doesn't speak English well so we struggle to communicate, but we've noticed improvements in his language skills even in the short amount of time that we've been around him. He wants to learn English so he hangs out with us. We went out for dinner with him tonight and it was such a blessing to have someone who can mediate between us and the waitress. Though we do still love those pictures ;) We continue to improve with the chopsticks, but the waitress tonight watched us and then brought out forks. When she saw that we were jokingly offended she rushed back with wooden chopsticks because they're easier to use. We thought we were doing so good, but apparently we're still the clumsy foreigners!
We did a few loads of laundry the past few days, but we still weren't convinced about our laundry soap. We decided that we'd be safer with powder soap so Blake went out this morning and got some.
We have a Korean friend named 'Gavin' and he's been really helpful to us as we adjust to South Korea. Gavin also works at the school, but does more of the administrative type jobs. He doesn't speak English well so we struggle to communicate, but we've noticed improvements in his language skills even in the short amount of time that we've been around him. He wants to learn English so he hangs out with us. We went out for dinner with him tonight and it was such a blessing to have someone who can mediate between us and the waitress. Though we do still love those pictures ;) We continue to improve with the chopsticks, but the waitress tonight watched us and then brought out forks. When she saw that we were jokingly offended she rushed back with wooden chopsticks because they're easier to use. We thought we were doing so good, but apparently we're still the clumsy foreigners!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Teaching!
As promised from the last post....
We've had two days of teaching so far and we love it! The kids are so motivated and attentive even though the material is really dry and boring. What a contrast to supply teaching back in Canada! The students all calls us 'teacher' and are super behaved in class. I guess they know that they'll get it back home if there are any problems. When the parents are paying for school then they become extremely interested in how well their child is doing. If there are any problems with any of the students, we simply write a little report on the computer and then a Korean staff member will promptly get on the phone and call the parent and report what we have said. We are never expected to deal with parents. Our kids write 3 tests in the course of 3 hours and the marks must be posted on the internet before midnight. Apparently some of the parents sit at home refreshing the computer screen waiting for the marks. We also have to do attendance on the internet within the first 1/2 hour of class because if a child is not in class then the mother will get a text message on her phone reporting that the child is not there. Crazy!
The videocameras in our rooms are watched and our head instructors do come and talk to us about our teaching. I feel so weird about it! The feedback has all been positive and they are simply trying to help us teach better, but it's still weird. We teach kids from ages 8-14 and work from 4-10pm. The material that we teach is intense and Blake and I have had to brush up on our skills in order to teach it.
As we have had a glimpse of the school experience of our students, we feel that our childhood was lazy! We feel bad for the amount of homework the kids have and how competetive the environment is. It must be so stressful!
We've had two days of teaching so far and we love it! The kids are so motivated and attentive even though the material is really dry and boring. What a contrast to supply teaching back in Canada! The students all calls us 'teacher' and are super behaved in class. I guess they know that they'll get it back home if there are any problems. When the parents are paying for school then they become extremely interested in how well their child is doing. If there are any problems with any of the students, we simply write a little report on the computer and then a Korean staff member will promptly get on the phone and call the parent and report what we have said. We are never expected to deal with parents. Our kids write 3 tests in the course of 3 hours and the marks must be posted on the internet before midnight. Apparently some of the parents sit at home refreshing the computer screen waiting for the marks. We also have to do attendance on the internet within the first 1/2 hour of class because if a child is not in class then the mother will get a text message on her phone reporting that the child is not there. Crazy!
The videocameras in our rooms are watched and our head instructors do come and talk to us about our teaching. I feel so weird about it! The feedback has all been positive and they are simply trying to help us teach better, but it's still weird. We teach kids from ages 8-14 and work from 4-10pm. The material that we teach is intense and Blake and I have had to brush up on our skills in order to teach it.
As we have had a glimpse of the school experience of our students, we feel that our childhood was lazy! We feel bad for the amount of homework the kids have and how competetive the environment is. It must be so stressful!
Taegu and our Apartment
We're in our new apartment and it's awesome! We had been told that Korean apartments can be very tiny so we weren't expecting much, but our apartment is probably even bigger than the one we had back in Peterborough. We even have a walk-in closet! We'll post some pictures once we move in a little more- stuff is still everywhere!
We've been having some adventures just trying to accomplish little errands such as buying laundry detergent. We went to the grocery store yesterday and took forever trying to figure out the difference between laundry soap and fabric softener. Blake still isn't convinced we bought the right one.
Although we have a very high-tech washing machine in our walk-in closet, we're still trying to figure out what the buttons do. I feel like Chris Salmans right now because I want everything to have pictures! The deciding factor as to what restaurant we go to is whether or not they have pictures of the food so we can point to it. We've actually enjoyed all the Korean food so far and we're starting to get the hang of chop sticks- Blake still gets laughed at by the Korean people when he tries!
We're getting used to people staring at us and random kids will run up to us and yell any English words or phrases that they know. Yesterday when we walked down the street a few kids yelled, "I love you!" Then we went to a department store and a little boy came up to me and said, 'hello.' I said responded with, 'hi, how are you?' and he said, 'bad.....i mean good' and then ran away. I think they think they're pretty smart when they try out their English on us. It's really funny.
We finally figured out our internet so we'll be able to update more frequently. I'll post about our teaching experiences in another post because this one is already getting long!
We've been having some adventures just trying to accomplish little errands such as buying laundry detergent. We went to the grocery store yesterday and took forever trying to figure out the difference between laundry soap and fabric softener. Blake still isn't convinced we bought the right one.
Although we have a very high-tech washing machine in our walk-in closet, we're still trying to figure out what the buttons do. I feel like Chris Salmans right now because I want everything to have pictures! The deciding factor as to what restaurant we go to is whether or not they have pictures of the food so we can point to it. We've actually enjoyed all the Korean food so far and we're starting to get the hang of chop sticks- Blake still gets laughed at by the Korean people when he tries!We're getting used to people staring at us and random kids will run up to us and yell any English words or phrases that they know. Yesterday when we walked down the street a few kids yelled, "I love you!" Then we went to a department store and a little boy came up to me and said, 'hello.' I said responded with, 'hi, how are you?' and he said, 'bad.....i mean good' and then ran away. I think they think they're pretty smart when they try out their English on us. It's really funny.
We finally figured out our internet so we'll be able to update more frequently. I'll post about our teaching experiences in another post because this one is already getting long!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Quick Update
Hey Folks...
We've been without internet for awhile so we haven't been able to update much. We had a pretty stressful day on Saturday with tests and evaluations and presentations, but we finished and passed our training. Woohoo! That Saturday night we had to catch the bullet train to Taegu. We were so exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but it just didn't work out that way. Blake has been so excited to ride this bullet train, but was promptly disappointed to discover that you couldn't see how fast things were going by because it was night. He could only see his own reflection. We arrived in Taegu at midnight and we were met at the station by someone from CDI. He showed us to our temporary accomodations and then our Branch Manager wanted to show us the school, take us shopping and have us talk to people about the classes we were going to teach. I could hardly see straight. Korean culture doesn't value sleep like we do. It is currently Monday and we're gearing up to teach our first class. I'm very nervous because they apparently mixed up some details with my training and I haven't been trained for some of the classes I need to teach. The staff we have met seem very welcoming so far.
We've been really impressed with how high tech everything is. We have our own computers in our classrooms and all our classes are videotaped by a small camera in the corner. This is how they evaluate our teaching and it also prevents potential problems because they are able to verify and check out everything that happens in the class. While I understand it is a good tool, it does make me a little nervous that someone will be watching.
We will be moving to our new apartment soon- our branch manager said it would happen today so we're really hoping for that. It will be really nice to unpack and do some laundry.
We have lots of stories, but we'll have to save that for later. We apologize for not posting pictures yet, my trusty laptop almost has a heart attack each time I try. We'll work on it once we get a converter.
Does anyone know how to change all the blog settings into English? I've been trying to navigate from memory, but it's all in Korean!
We've been without internet for awhile so we haven't been able to update much. We had a pretty stressful day on Saturday with tests and evaluations and presentations, but we finished and passed our training. Woohoo! That Saturday night we had to catch the bullet train to Taegu. We were so exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but it just didn't work out that way. Blake has been so excited to ride this bullet train, but was promptly disappointed to discover that you couldn't see how fast things were going by because it was night. He could only see his own reflection. We arrived in Taegu at midnight and we were met at the station by someone from CDI. He showed us to our temporary accomodations and then our Branch Manager wanted to show us the school, take us shopping and have us talk to people about the classes we were going to teach. I could hardly see straight. Korean culture doesn't value sleep like we do. It is currently Monday and we're gearing up to teach our first class. I'm very nervous because they apparently mixed up some details with my training and I haven't been trained for some of the classes I need to teach. The staff we have met seem very welcoming so far.
We've been really impressed with how high tech everything is. We have our own computers in our classrooms and all our classes are videotaped by a small camera in the corner. This is how they evaluate our teaching and it also prevents potential problems because they are able to verify and check out everything that happens in the class. While I understand it is a good tool, it does make me a little nervous that someone will be watching.
We will be moving to our new apartment soon- our branch manager said it would happen today so we're really hoping for that. It will be really nice to unpack and do some laundry.
We have lots of stories, but we'll have to save that for later. We apologize for not posting pictures yet, my trusty laptop almost has a heart attack each time I try. We'll work on it once we get a converter.
Does anyone know how to change all the blog settings into English? I've been trying to navigate from memory, but it's all in Korean!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Training
Training is living up to what we've been told- it is very intense. We're still having a hard time adjusting to the time change and we've got tests and presentations to plan for. We still aren't technically employed for this company until we pass the skills test which will be on Friday. We aren't accustomed to taking weighty tests under such a time pressure. Perhaps they're attempting to give us some appreciation of what our future students experience constantly. Many of these Korean kids go to 5 different English schools and have 2 different tutors on top of their regular public school hours. The classes we will teach are 3 hours each and some meet twice a week. Hours of homework are assigned and because parents are paying so much money, the kids get in a lot of trouble if they don't succeed. These kids are under so much pressure and have little time to enjoy being a kid. The view of education here is so drastically different from back home. I guess that could possibly be a contributing factor to the extremely high suicide rate amongst teenagers here.
Because we're so tired after training, we haven't done much exploring since the weekend. We've taken the subway and it seems to be pretty straightforward, yet because we're mingling with so many more people in close proximity, the staring seems so much more predominant. We're slowly learning what is acceptable and apparently flip flops absolutely do not make the cut. The driving is still crazy, yet there seems to be order in the absolute chaos.
We'll be finished training on Saturday and if we pass then we will move on to our permanent location in Taegu.
Because we're so tired after training, we haven't done much exploring since the weekend. We've taken the subway and it seems to be pretty straightforward, yet because we're mingling with so many more people in close proximity, the staring seems so much more predominant. We're slowly learning what is acceptable and apparently flip flops absolutely do not make the cut. The driving is still crazy, yet there seems to be order in the absolute chaos.
We'll be finished training on Saturday and if we pass then we will move on to our permanent location in Taegu.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
In Seoul for 24 Hours
We'll we've been here for more than 24 hours now and the majority of the time we've been catching up on sleep. I forgot to mention in the last blog about our experience with trying to find our room. When the guy at the front desk handed us our room key, it had what looked like 818 as the number. We weren't sure, but then he kept mentioning something about the 2nd floor. Because we were confused, we went to the second floor and tried all the doors and none would work. We finally found our room on the 8th floor and realized that the reference to the 2nd floor was about breakfast. Our room is absolutely fabulous with a washing machine and dryer, fridge, freezer, internet access and heated floors. There are buttons around the room and we're not sure what they're for. Blake was playing around with a few of them last night and set off some alarm and the front desk called and wanted us to shut it off, but we didn't know how.
We've been playing around with skype and it is absolutely incredible! We have been able to talk to my parents through video and call some landline phones for very cheap. The only downside is the difference in time (we are 13 hours ahead).
Today we wandered around Seoul for a while and managed to make it to Burger King by crossing the street underground. There are at least 2 Starbucks around the hotel and Dominoes and tons of Korean restaurants. We're taking our time with the Korean food. Seoul is very beautiful and there are wild roses that grow on the side of the road. We've noticed that the people here are always dressed really nice. Everyone has a cell phone and you nod instead of smiling at people.
We've met some more people who have just completed the CDI training and the word that we keep hearing is that it's intense. Apparently 6 people didn't pass and 1 was from a failed drug test. The drug test is a full medical where we go to the hospital and they take blood and everything. We've been told to bring a binder or notebook and writing supplies for training, but we're having a little difficulty trying to find these supplies. We'll have a look again tomorrow.
Anyways...we're going to try to get on the Korean time schedule by going to bed soon.
We've been playing around with skype and it is absolutely incredible! We have been able to talk to my parents through video and call some landline phones for very cheap. The only downside is the difference in time (we are 13 hours ahead).
Today we wandered around Seoul for a while and managed to make it to Burger King by crossing the street underground. There are at least 2 Starbucks around the hotel and Dominoes and tons of Korean restaurants. We're taking our time with the Korean food. Seoul is very beautiful and there are wild roses that grow on the side of the road. We've noticed that the people here are always dressed really nice. Everyone has a cell phone and you nod instead of smiling at people.
We've met some more people who have just completed the CDI training and the word that we keep hearing is that it's intense. Apparently 6 people didn't pass and 1 was from a failed drug test. The drug test is a full medical where we go to the hospital and they take blood and everything. We've been told to bring a binder or notebook and writing supplies for training, but we're having a little difficulty trying to find these supplies. We'll have a look again tomorrow.
Anyways...we're going to try to get on the Korean time schedule by going to bed soon.
Friday, May 18, 2007
We're Here!
Just wanted to let everyone know we're finally here. We had such a long and tiring flight, but we made it without too many complications. It has been very evident that God has been bringing people into our path who can help us out. We had a snag at Toronto airport when my ticket went through, but Blake's was apparently locked up by South Korea and because their work day hadn't started we didn't have access to it. Toronto finally gave Blake a paper ticket in order to get to Dallas where we were to catch our connecting flight with one hour to spare. This meant that we had to figure out the ticket situation in Dallas and possibly go through customs again within a very short amount of time. We were a little concerned that we wouldn't have enough time and as we sat in the Toronto airport talking about it, this guy sat down relatively close to us. Blake being the friendly guy that he is decided to strike up a conversation with him and we discovered that he was actually a pilot in Toronto and was going to Dallas for a personal trip. He seemed to really like Blake and was also a little concerned about our situation. Although we didn't sit with him on the plane, he figured out where we needed to go in Dallas and explained exactly what we needed to do to get there in time. What a blessing to have a pilot looking out for us! Our 14 hour flight to Korea went fairly well aside from the crying babies and our inability to sleep. When we got off our flight we hadn't had sleep in more than 24 hours aside from a bit of dozing on the plane. Getting through customs and immigration without being able to understand signs or the people directing us was pretty crazy. We then had to catch a shuttle bus to another location and then we had to get in a taxi to take us to our actual hotel. We were told to just make the taxi driver call our employer and he would then explain how to get to the right location. It was a little insane and the driving here is absolutely nuts! We were so exhausted and hungry when we got here and found a Burger King across the street, but we were too afraid to cross because of the maniac drivers. Perhaps we'll get more confident when we're not sleep deprived and can see straight. Our hotel room is beautiful and almost better than our 'western' standards and we'll be here the entire week. We met some guys in the room next to us who have just finished the training week for CDI and have been helping us out and giving us tips. That about sums up where we're at now. Thanks for all your prayers and notes of encouragement!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Off We Go!
Well, it hardly feels that we've been back from our trip and we're off again. We've had some intense last few days packing and trying to say goodbyes and there were some that we still didn't have a chance to talk to. We're sorry! I hate goodbyes! Anyways, we're off to Blake's parents for the night and then they are driving us to the airport around 5am. We'll have a 20 hour flight with a one hour stop.
Thanks so much for all the love and support these past few weeks. We will try to update as we have the opportunity, but we know nothing beyond this point.
Thanks so much for all the love and support these past few weeks. We will try to update as we have the opportunity, but we know nothing beyond this point.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Home Safe
We had an absolutely fantastic trip! For our first vacation we have set the standards very high! Although my Spanish speaking abilities are far from fluent, I was thrilled at the amount that came back to me from my Spanish course at T
rent. You would have been so proud Shauna! Blake even picked up a bit and we had fun trying to communicate with the staff who spoke no English. The beach was so beautiful with white sand and no sharp shells or rocks and the weather was incredible almost the entire time we were there. Blake experienced his first horseback ride and we went snorkeling in the middle of the ocean and fed and swam with tropical fish. While we lived in absolute luxury and were treated like royalty, it was quite the contrast to the reality of the people who actually live in the Dominican. Many of those who work at the resort work for 2 weeks straight to receive $150. Their families usually live 3-8 hours away and yet they are so happy to have the work. Those who speak English have the front line jobs where they are given tips by vacationers, but those who have little education work in the background and have little opportunity for extra money. During our sketchy bus ride (safety first- haha) from
the airport to the resort we had the opportunity to see some of the living accomodations of those who live there and it was pretty heart wrenching. We live in such a wealthy country! We are incredibly blessed and have so many opportunities. During our trip Blake and I were discussing how some of the people vacationing with us still didn't seem happy. We were right in the middle of what the world would deem 'paradise,' yet they still walked around with frowns on and didn't seem satisfied. It was a simple reminder to us that happiness cannot ultimately be found in trips or money or anything else. Finding, knowing and loving Jesus is the only way for true satisfaction, meaning and purpose in this life. Let's keep this in the forefront of our minds!
We are so thankful to God for the opportunity to have such a beautiful, relaxing vacation and have the opportunity to prepare for the next few steps we are taking. For those who have facebook, I have posted more of the pictures there.
rent. You would have been so proud Shauna! Blake even picked up a bit and we had fun trying to communicate with the staff who spoke no English. The beach was so beautiful with white sand and no sharp shells or rocks and the weather was incredible almost the entire time we were there. Blake experienced his first horseback ride and we went snorkeling in the middle of the ocean and fed and swam with tropical fish. While we lived in absolute luxury and were treated like royalty, it was quite the contrast to the reality of the people who actually live in the Dominican. Many of those who work at the resort work for 2 weeks straight to receive $150. Their families usually live 3-8 hours away and yet they are so happy to have the work. Those who speak English have the front line jobs where they are given tips by vacationers, but those who have little education work in the background and have little opportunity for extra money. During our sketchy bus ride (safety first- haha) from
the airport to the resort we had the opportunity to see some of the living accomodations of those who live there and it was pretty heart wrenching. We live in such a wealthy country! We are incredibly blessed and have so many opportunities. During our trip Blake and I were discussing how some of the people vacationing with us still didn't seem happy. We were right in the middle of what the world would deem 'paradise,' yet they still walked around with frowns on and didn't seem satisfied. It was a simple reminder to us that happiness cannot ultimately be found in trips or money or anything else. Finding, knowing and loving Jesus is the only way for true satisfaction, meaning and purpose in this life. Let's keep this in the forefront of our minds!
We are so thankful to God for the opportunity to have such a beautiful, relaxing vacation and have the opportunity to prepare for the next few steps we are taking. For those who have facebook, I have posted more of the pictures there.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Open House
Hey All!
If you're interested in coming for a little party this coming Saturday, my parents (that is Erin's parents) have opened their home after 7pm. All are welcome. Hope to see you there!
If you're interested in coming for a little party this coming Saturday, my parents (that is Erin's parents) have opened their home after 7pm. All are welcome. Hope to see you there!
Saturday, May 5, 2007
We Made It!
We're finally in the Dominican! The whole process of getting here was a little tiring, but we're finally here. We are treated like royalty because we're the 'club card members.' They met us off the van with champaign and cool towels when we first arrived. We keep giggling because I think they think we're some important wealthy people, but we've got a little secret. ;) We met another Christian couple down here and we're been having a blast with them. We spent the afternoon in the ocean with them on boogie boards...so much fun! The weather is beautiful and warm, although it did storm a little this afternoon. We're about to go for Mexican food tonight. Hope all is well at home!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
We're Off!
It's Thursday night and Blake and I are heading up to Toronto in a few minutes. I just checked the weather forecast for the week and there are rainclouds with lightning bolts. Guess we can't complain with it being entirely free! ;) I'm a little nervous as this is my first 'grown up' trip. Blake seems confident with the situation, but then again he's always confident. :)
Our adventure in Korea is fastly approaching and we're feeling the crunch to wrap everything up and say our goodbyes. Our plane tickets have been purchased for Thursday May 17. My parents and Jenn Webb are planning a little open house on Saturday May 12 so that we have a chance to say some goodbyes. Details haven't been worked out yet, but talk to my mum if you're interested in coming! Have a great week!
Our adventure in Korea is fastly approaching and we're feeling the crunch to wrap everything up and say our goodbyes. Our plane tickets have been purchased for Thursday May 17. My parents and Jenn Webb are planning a little open house on Saturday May 12 so that we have a chance to say some goodbyes. Details haven't been worked out yet, but talk to my mum if you're interested in coming! Have a great week!
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