About Us

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Jenna and Emilie are two Canadian girls who, after experiencing four amazing years of university together in Victoria, BC, decided to keep the good times rolling by moving together to South Korea. We are now living in a city called Suncheon in the southern province of Jeollanamdo. Both of us teach English at public elementary schools to the cutest kids in the world, and we live in an apartment complex called 'Shedae' with about a 100 other foreigners. We hope this blog will keep us connected to friends and family at home, allowing everyone to follow the whirlwind adventures we are sure to have while living in the far east! Lots of Love, Emilie and Jenna

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Korea's the best, but....

UVic MIGHT be better! Feeling small bits of homesickness today as I discovered this video on youtube. Here's the story: Last summer, pretty much every UVic student was logging on to youtube to watch a video made by a "University of Victoria" in SPAIN. A few months later I guess our competitive nature got the best of us and we just had to show up this Spanish university who stole our name. Seeing the UVic spirit definitely makes me miss my days as a student at the best school EVER.



If you want to see, this is the first video from the summer, which inspired UVic to create their own

Monday, October 25, 2010

Seoul's got Soul!

Emilie and I are back from another GREAT weekend adventure. On Friday after school we met at the bus terminal and took a 4 hour bus ride to SEOUL! When we arrived we had to navigate the subway system to get to our hostel... We got a little lost at first, but, as usual, a group of friendly Koreans offered their help and we found the our hostel no problem. Our new Korean friends also gave us KOREAN NAMES which we have been wanting for a while and was soo cool. So, from now on, you can call me 민 영 and Emilie 슬 기 (Miin-Young and Suul-Ki)!! Every Korean name means something, so my new name is a combination of bright, pearl, and sky, and Emilie's is a combination of clever, rising sun, and eternal.

Our friend Alison, who's on exchange in Hong Kong this semester, met us at the hostel along with her three exchange friends from Denmark. Emilie, Alison, Linnea, Sørn and Sørn (who we call the Sørn's - funny what names are common in different parts of the world) and I all spent a great weekend together. It was great to see Alison and so cool to meet new friends from Denmark! Between our stories about Korea, their stories about life in Denmark, ours in Canada, and their exchange in Hong Kong, we had a lot to talk about! One of the best things about traveling and meeting people from around the world is sharing stories and comparing the similarities/differences about what life is like in different parts of the world. 



...New Danish friends!

Our first day in Seoul was spent shopping during the day and in the university district (drinking Soju!) at night. The shopping in Seoul, as we soon found out, is absolutely insane. First we went to Namdaemun market, a traditional Korean market full of little shops selling pretty much anything you can think of. Alison even got a pair of prescription glasses for only $50... we walked into the glasses shop, they took her prescription, and told us to come back in 30 minutes. So cool! As much as some things seem backwards in Korea, they definitely make some things a lot easier... like getting glasses! The market is HUGE, with so many little alleys leading you to even more stores... it would definitely have been very easy to get lost in there! Next we went to the Myeong Dong district, one of Korea's main tourist areas. In Myeong Dong we went to Forever 21 which we were all excited to find because it's one of our favourite shops at home. As if we hadn't done enough shopping already, next we went to Dongdaemun where Korea's biggest department store, Migliore, is located. Dongdaemun is Seoul's largest commercial district with both traditional and western shops to choose from. We also visited Cheonggyecheon Stream, a 5km-long stream that flows nearly 15ft. below street level. The stream runs parallel to Sejongro, one of the busiest streets in Seoul, but when you walk along the river you can barely hear the traffic above. Very cool! 


Ceonggyecheon Stream


MyeongDong Market

Even though it was Alison and the Dane's first time in Korea, ironically we chose sushi for dinner... not exactly the traditional Korean dinner we should have had, but delicious nonetheless. On our way back to the hostel, we picked up a few bottles of Soju and once we started drinking it disappeared pretty quickly. From the hostel we headed to the downtown university district with some of the people also staying at the guesthouse. We didn't really know where we were going so it ended up being a lot of walking and standing outside, but still so fun because the streets were full of people doing exactly the same thing! Eventually, though, we settled on a Music Bar and spent the rest of the night there.

The next morning we checked out of our hostel and made one last quick trip to see Gyeongbokgung Palace, constructed in 1394 and whose names translates to "Palace of Shining Happiness." We opted not to do a guided tour but instead sat in the shade (it's almost November and we were too hot sitting in the sun!) on the grass outside the palace and just enjoyed the music/scenery. Sitting of the grass was nice and restful until I woke up this morning with huuge bug bites all over my body! My co-teacher even wanted me to go to the hospital because some of them were so big, but I talked her into letting me go to the school nurse instead... the hospital seemed a little too dramatic for a few swollen bug bites! 





After Gyeongbokgung Palace Emilie and I headed back to the bus station and Alison and the Danes continued their trip. Unfortunately we had to be back to teach for Monday morning, but they don't leave until Thursday. It was so nice to see Alison and great to meet our new Danish friends... Emilie and I really want to try and visit Hong Kong before their exchange is over in December. Hopefully we can make it happen!

It was such a great trip and I'm so happy to have been able to visit Seoul, but there's definitely much more to do/see and a few more trips before the year is over is definitely in order! We're hoping to get a group to go for my birthday weekend and for the Harry Potter movie premier (...guess who suggested that idea? =) ). We also really want to check out the DMZ (de-militarized zone) between North and South Korea next time we go. Our Korean tour book says that the DMZ is the "scariest place on earth" and yet they do guided tours and the Joint Security Area has become a huge tourist attraction... so strange! Emilie and I will post more Seoul pictures on facebook so look for them sooon!!





Love, jenna and emilie 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The parking situation is GRIM

I'll admit this video was shot after maaybe a few too many soju cocktails, but this will give you a good idea of the craziness that is the parking situation at our apartment.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Weekend Explorations

This weekend we decided that it was time to explore our own city a little bit more, so we stayed in Suncheon. On Friday night a few friends who have been here for a year already took us to some fabulous places: first, we went bowling in the University district. It cost $2.50 per person, per game, and the alley was full of hardcore Korean league bowlers! Jenna and I were quite the spectacle, bowling between our legs while surrounded by this lot. It was a lot of fun though, even if though neither of came close to winning.

Afterward, we ventured to a pool hall. This place let us bring in our own food and booze, and so we spent a few hours playing pool and drinking... you guessed it... Soju! Like bowling, neither of us were particularly proficient at billiards, and so we mostly played the role of spectator. Still a lot of fun though, and the owners of the place were great, doing shots of soju with us =)



The local pool hall

Our final stop of the night was a place called New Bar, in the new downtown district of Yeonghyang Dong. This bar was absolutely amazing. We got our own big booth on the upper level, ordered a few pitchers of beer and soju smoothies, and received UNLIMITED service!

**Service: An amazing aspect of Korean culture in which customers are given free items after purchasing anything, even if it is small. Examples include- free socks at a clothes store, free gum from taxi drivers, free bowls with a box of cereal, free food at bar... the list goes on**

The service at New Bar was far and away the best we'd yet experienced. Kimchi pizza, Ramyan noodles, creamy corn, french toast, ice cream, and more! And whenever we polished one course off, the servers would come around and fully replenish our stock! It was an amazing experience all around.



Jenna, Mike, and the many drinks and services of New Bar!

The night was completed when two of our coteachers showed up at the bar! At first they were hesitant to join a group of rowdy foreigners for drinks, but we convinced them to sit with us and we all ended up having a great time together! They stayed late with us (especially Jenna's coteacher, English name Clint Eastwood) even though they had to work the next day! (Korean teachers and students have to go to school every second Saturday - us lucky English teachers the only ones who get every Saturday and Sunday off!)

Suncheon exploration continued on Sunday, when a group of us finally made the trek to Suncheon Bay. This is a famous place in Korea, and is indeed an internationally renowned wetland! We walked along the boardwalk through the mashy wetland, and hiked up one of the surrounding mountains! It was a foggy day, but the views were beautiful nonetheless. Koreans love to explore the outdoors at this time of year, and the place was PACKED!




Waygooks at the Bay

After our nature wanderings, we came across the Festival of Reeds, which is on for two weeks every October and takes place at the Bay. There we feasted on 전, or 'jo-hn', which is essentially vegetables in a crepe/pancake like batter, fried and served with yummy sauce. We were also offered 막걸리, Korean rice wine, from a group of older festival-goers. By the end of the day we were exhausted but very happy to have finally experienced this area of our city! Next up: the Suncheon Temples!



Suncheon Bay at Sunset

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Best of EnGrish

As many of you may know, "engrish" is the commonly used term to describe the very commendable yet hilarious attempts Koreans make at speaking/writing english. "Engrish" gets its name because there is no "L" sound in the Korean language and often the "R" sound is used in its place. We hear/see engrish everyday, and it hasn't ceased to make me smile or even laugh out loud whenever I encounter it. Besides the most common "engrish" phrase,  (teacher) "How are you?" (student) "I'm pine!" (regardless of whether they are fine or not), I've started to compile a collection of funny engrish signs for everyone at home to enjoy.


Bakeries have recently risen in popularity here in Asia ,
but I'm sure this one is especially popular..

Ahh, got to love a happy family that's been nicely sauteed!

Well FIRST, I would argue that crap is not clean..

ahh, human water, the best kind!

Just so cute!

I really hope "hunt" was not meant to be used as a verb in this situation

and, finally...

Monday, October 4, 2010

The Daily Grind: Korean Style



Hi everyone! So it seems like all of our posts are about weekend trips and holidays we've had, but I'm sure you're wondering what we're up to in our everyday lives now that we're back to work and finally all settled. Em and I truly are "9 to 5-ers" now and are loving the routine after night jobs and years of crazy studying hours at school.

For the most part the job gets easier each day, but the kids are starting to get used to us and don't feel as much of a need to behave like they did when we were still the mysterious new foreign teacher. They can be absolutely crazy sometimes!! Also, the vastly different english levels are becoming more and more apparent. It's hard to keep everyone focused and interested when, in a class of 36, you might have some kids who don't understand a word you're saying, and others who are bored because it's too easy. Do you remember the boy I was talking about in the first blog post, the one who is trilingual? The other day he was finished copying the dialogue in his book way before the other kids. So, I told him to do it in handwriting, which he did very quickly again. Then, I told him to do it in French... it took him a while longer, but indeed he did that too!! So amazing!


After work we usually meet for dinner each day with a group of friends, and either explore Suncheon to find a new restaurant to eat at, or go to one of our favourites. We've made many great friends here, but there are 4 in particular - Glen, Liz, Corina and Catherine - who we spend most of our time with. After dinner we might walk around downtown, go shopping, watch a movie, or go for a run.

We both just signed up for the Suncheon Marathon (although we're only doing the 10k) on November 13th. There is a beautiful lake right across the street from our apartment that we like to run around. The lake is about 2km around, so it makes it easy to figure out distances/times.


We also just attended our first Korean language class tonight. Our teacher, Rob, is from Ontario but has been in Korea for 7 years and has a Korean wife, etc... needless to say he is fluent in Korean but is able to teach us the ins and outs of the language in english... perfect combination! We meet twice a week for 1.5 hrs, and the course is 6 weeks. We've heard great things about Rob's teaching so hopefully we'll come out of these classes with a good understanding of reading, speaking, and writing. 


...But, for now, annyeonghi gyeseyo!! (good-bye: said by the person who is leaving. literal meaning, "stay in peace.")