Blogging Hiatus

Hey ya'll.

If you're wondering when the hell I'm going to start blogging regularly, I'm sorry to disappoint! Actually, I have a bit of an online project on the go that's taking up a lot of my time... I'll tell you about it when it's finished ;)

Until next time...

Oh! I went to Busan this past weekend. It was lovely. I'll defs post about that as soon as I can. In the meantime: go to Busan. I love that city (it keeps me coming back...).

Suwon is so eighteenth century...

New cities are popping up all around Korea, and that's nothing new here. Imagine this happening in Canada!

"Oh, by the way, the government has decided to build a new city here... next to the old one."

It just doesn't register, right? I mean, let's not even go down the philosophical road of how exactly one builds an entire city... sure, you can build buildings- apartments, commercial areas, parks can be landscaped... but to build a city... one usually assumes that people would be the first necessity. But it's not. You're wrong. We're all wrong. Because Koreans build cities first, and then the people come. They rent buildings for their businesses, they decide to move there because it's sexier than the old city... it just works. I doubt this would have the same results in Canada.

I live in a relatively (relative in Western terms) new city. Sure, I live in Suwon. Suwon is really effing old. But I live in a new city in Suwon. I live in Yeongtong... Suwon. Are you confused? I was when it was first explained to me, as well. Yeongtong wasn't really around 20 years ago, and today it's the "coolest" place in Suwon (again, speaking relatively). It has the hippest bars and restaurants, the nicest apartment highrises, and the highest concentration of hagwons and other educational institutes, which also means lots of foreigners. Oh, and we house the majority of Samsung workers from the headquarters... which is located just down the road.

But Yeongtong can step aside- it is not the cool city it once was. People are getting bored. They need a little more pizazz. Enter new Gwanggyo City!

These cities always look cool in the blueprints, but they are pretty much the same as any "new " Korean city. In any case, I'm interested to see how this one turns out. I drive by the construction site every day on my way to work. The best thing about this new city, in my opinion, is that it might take over the area of Woncheon Amusement Park- a place I still have nightmares about.

Anyway, this new city will be located in Northern Suwon, near Ajou University and, of course, Gwanggyosan- every Suwonite's (?) Suwonian's (?) favourite hiking spot. Stay tuned...

It's Raining

And thundering... and today is my first day back at regular work hours (read: getting up at 6:30 AM instead of 9 AM). I don't like today. I don't like my students today or anybody, for that matter. I'm in a very bad mood (read: tired).

I need your help:

What's a better title for my Southeast Asia blog (coming soon to a computer near you!)?

1. Getting My Sarong On
2. Suwondering Abroad
3. Thai-ing One On
4. ???? Help Me Please ?????

Mom, Sarah, Amanda and random internet people. Help me.

Christmas Post Number One: The Decor

We were determined to have a good Christmas, and what's a good Christmas without Christmas decorations?

The girls and I went to Molly's house the Sunday before Christmas to make her place as Christmas-ey as possible before having our brunch there on Christmas morning. People have left a lot of stuff at Molly's over the last few months and we were excited to go through everyone's old Christmas decorations, put up the tree and get into the festive spirit.

Did we succeed? Yes. We made a beautiful Christmas tree. It inspired us to have a few Christmas portraits taken. These portraits were intended to be on the web before Christmas, but I lost my camera cord and had to wait for Pat to come back to Korea to put the pictures on my computer. Better late than never, they say...


Our adorable, pink and purple tree.

Rachael risked any possible health concerned and blew up this Christmas tree that we found in a random bag with lots of bugs. What did she have to say about it?

"I'd rather have Hep. A with a fully blown Christmas tree than be healthy with no tree at all".

It doesn't really make sense since we already had a tree. Oh Rachael.

When we were finished we turned off the lights and turned on the timer on my camera. Here we are admiring our work of art... Oh, this is our Slap Club Christmas portrait. Slap Club is kind of like Fight Club. Only we slap.

Then we got even MORE creative. This one is for our families and friends (especially Yeongtongians who have gone before us).

Mexican fiesta Christmas...

Pondering the true meaning of Christmas...

Annnnd, of course, awkward Korean Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is Fast Approaching...

I think I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Progress reports are finished. Two week plans are finished. Most of my Christmas shopping is finished. My kids know their Christmas songs for the concert next week. I have the turkeys ordered for our Christmas dinner at Now Bar. My visas are taken care of for China, as are all of my hostel, train and ferry reservations. And today is Friday! Awesome!

On a much sadder note, my boyfriend has left me for the green grass of Ireland for the holidays. I can't tell you how jealous I am of him. Also, I don't really remember how to go to Now Bar or out to dinner without him. This "independence" thing will take some getting used to (and hopefully I figure it out before my trip to China in eight days).

My Mom and Dad, of course, felt that giving me money for Christmas just wasn't enough and sent a big box of goodies for Pat and I, which we opened last Friday at our own little Christmas celebration. We ate some steak and mashed potatoes (some of my best work yet- stay tuned for recipes), watched Muppet's Christmas Carol, and opened our gifts. Here's some photographic evidence:



My ornaments that my mom sent me last year. She's pretty good at finding kooky stuff for me.

Pat is like a kid in a candy store. He loves Christmas!

My mom puts so much thought into her gifts. We got P and J belgian chocolate. The J was delicious. I packed the P with Patrick so he could enjoy his on the plane. We also got TURTLES! My favourite holiday chocolate! Pat had never heard of turtles before but he soon became addicted. They were gone in about five minutes.

"Your Mom really went all out!"

What could it be? (The answer is: pajamas)

And an Eric Clapton biography. Thanks Mom!

I really love my parents. Can you tell? Merry Christmas!

People I've had to Say Goodbye to Over the Last Three Weeks:

Living here is hard, somtimes- I won't deny it. The worst is when the people who become your extended family members go back home while you're still in Korea for several more months. I won't lie about another thing: Christmas in Korea sucks. I want to go home. But this feeling will pass by January, hopefully. Anyways, in the meantime here is a tribute to some of our dearest friends who have gone back home recently:



Now Bar is eerily quiet without you, Grace. See you in Toronto.

Paul: your jokes about Canada aren't funny. Your accent is funny. We miss you a lot.

Lindsay: I have had to resort to being the "picture taker" now that you're gone. I really suck at it, too. Ask Michelle. We really, really miss you.

To top things off, it's progress report time again. Didn't I JUST do those not so long ago? Ughughugh.

Happy Movember!

Movember is something the guys from the touch rugby team have been working on all month. Doing what, you may ask? Well, growing some sleazy 'staches of course. Duh. Mo-vember. Don't worry, dear readers, it isn't all for nothing (like their girlfriends would be this supportive if they were growing moustaches for no reason)- they are growing 'stashes to rasie money for men's health issues! Hurrah! We all know that men don't necessarily like to go to the doctor to discuss a senstive health issue, but I am proud to say that Movember has been getting a lot of support from the expat community here in Korea and all around the world!

Here's the official website: http://www.movember.com/

And now that you know about Movember, you should, like, give them some money before November is over. This weekend. Do it for your Dads and brothers and boyfriends and husbands and friends. Anyway, even though it's a good cause I, for one, will be happy to have a clean shaven boyfriend once again on Monday. It has; however, been fun to watch our boys' progress this month.

Readers: who do you think won the 'stache contest?



What can I say. The girls are in FULL support of the guys. We went all out.

Here's Adian's...

Luke has a steady hand with a razor...

Paul, looking the creepiest he's looked in at least three months...

Pat with his handlebars (you can only really see his 'stache up close- he's just too blonde).

And, of course, Jeremy. Who can pull off facial hair because he's from South Africa. There, I said it.

Progress Reports... I hate them.

Back next week when I have normal typing time. All part and parcel of being a teacher, I suppose.

BBQ at Kyung Hee University

Kyung Hee University is well known in Korea and is located in Yeongtong- just walking distance from Now Bar, my school and most of my friend's apartments (but not mine- boourns). The majority of universities in and around Suwon are nice and are located in hip neighbourhoods, but by far, Kyung Hee has the most beautiful campus and the overall coolest "scene".

Our friend Mike is off to Japan with his girlfriend and then back to Korea for a weekend and THEN back to America, so we thought we would have a little BBQ to celebrate his time spent in Korea. I made some yummy banana bread, Grace made some yummy burgers, Lindsay made a yummy salad and Ciara made some awesome fajitas. Along with a lot of other stuff, they made for a pretty good meal. The company wasn't bad, either.


They have an ampitheatre towards the back of the campus- just kind of tucked into the mountain- with a beautiful pond and fountain in front. I admit, we are, at times, spoiled. I mean, really. Our rent is paid, we make over 2 grand a month with minimal expenses, our weekends are free, we get paid vacations and sick days... and we get to hang out in places like this in our free time. Yes, we are spoiled.

We thought the ampitheatre was the perfect spot for some cheesey photos. Here is our happy gang, minus a few who have gone back to their homelands... plus one new addition...

We tried getting a shot of us jumping off the steps, but we got ahead of ourselves... one more time?

That's better.

This is our medieval fighting scene. I got iced early on.

Jesse is victorious. That jerk.

I love this photo, even though I look stupid. Just focus on Paul in the background- as Grace put it, "it looks just like he's coming in for a landing after a nice flight around the ampitheatre"... I am totes in agreement.

As it grew dark we put the ampitheatre to good use and practised our improv skills. It was maybe the dorkiest and most fun idea we've ever had.

Three quarters of my improv team. We rocked the ampitheatre.

I don't know why Blogger won't let me upload any pictures today.


Enough about me, how have you all been?

I've Got Nothin'

So in honour of the upcoming St Patrick's Day celebrations (and because I've left my camera, sans battery power, on my desk at work for the last week and didn't take any new pictures) I thought I would revisit my past St Patrick's Day's spent in Canada, surrounded by familiar faces- friends and coworkers, as well as the odd family member- and thus be able to compare and contrast my Canadian St Pat's to my first Korean St. Pat's experience. In case you couldn't tell, I take the day quasi-seriously and look forward to it every March (and promptly forget about it afterwards until the next March comes around).

So while I'm not 100% sure I want anyone to see these pictures I will nonetheless take the plunge for old time's sake. Maybe I'm missing my friends just the tiniest bit?

This was a depressing St Pat's for me, hence the bottle of merlot and the sombre expression. It fell on the same day as the biggest hockey game (and the only one I've ever cared about) of the year- at least for my old university house and our rival house. We lost. So sad. But the afterparties are good regardless.

This one was fun. Our neighbours in the apartment downstairs had a big kegger and let us drink from it for free. What a guy. I'll never forget you, Rob... Roy...?

This is how every St Pat's started at university. At 11 AM, at the Library Pub, usually with Jesse (who takes St Pat's more seriously than his schooling). This is the only time of year that I can drink guinness, too.

My friend Shell, clearly amused by my cowboy hat (where did it even come from?). Oh yeah, and my arm was broken at this point, too. I fell down an icy hill.

There you have it. I wonder if this year will be any different... what do YOU think? I'm especially interested in hearing from Amanda Smallwood. And sure, others can answer it if they so choose. Stay tuned.

OH before I forget, follow this link. It's really funny. I didn't know I wrote like a boy... how disquieting.

http://jezebel.com/365400/doesnt-anyone-write-like-a-fucking-chick-anymore?mail2=true

Bye Char and Enda...

I'll miss you two crazy lovebirds.

Korean Commercials: How Indie Artists Make Money

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but commercials in Korea play really excellent music. Actually, I have to add (sheepishly) that sometimes they even play artists I've forgotten about but never stopped loving, so I rush to the nearest computer to upload their songs to my MP3 player (no iPods for me, I'm clearly living in the dark ages). It doesn't seem that any Koreans actually listen to these artists; they're, for the most part, happily stuck in their world of Korean pop music. I don't really blame them, either. Korean pop is catchy. However, one cannot live on K-Pop alone, and for this reason I'm really happy the commercials play such great tunes. I have compiled a list of the most recent artists heard in the background of a Korean commercial:


1. Last night I was in bed with the TV on for some background noise, when all of a sudden I hear the unmistably mournful voice of Cat Power. She's from England, and although I wasn't a huge fan of her previous stuff, her last album The Greatest was really impressive and enjoyable (mostly due to the fact that I think she went on antidepressants). Anyway, I'm not even sure what was being advertised since the TV was on in the next room, but I know for sure it was a commercial for something. Nicely done! Oh, the song played was the "The Greatest" (same name as the album).

2. Peter, Bjorn and John: So, there's this new show being advertised. I think it's kind of a big deal in North America right now, but I've never heard of it. Gossip Girl? Anyway, it is being advertised on OnStyle (one of the (mainly) English channels in Korea) and "Young Folks" is constantly playing in the background. It's awesome! Keeps me whistling all day. These guys are based in Stockholm. I think they're dreamy, and their music is pretty awesome, so I'm always happy to hear the Gossip Girl commercial.

3. Possibly the most random song of all, there is a commerical for something electronic and futuristic, and in the background "Les Os" by The Unicorns! If you haven't heard of The Unicorns, that's because they're a really random band from Montreal. In fact, I only ever heard of them by accident through my friend Zack. They were an awesome band, but they only put out one album and then broke up. But that one album is pretty stellar! Very rock-ish and electronic, which amusing lyrics ("We're The Unicorns/We're more than horses/We're The Unicorns and we're people, too"). When I saw that commercial I pretty much jumped out of my seat.

4. Kings of Convenience- A great Canadian band, mostly playing acoustic and really, really melodic (not to mention, beautiful) songs. They're voices are soft and their lyrics are really simplistic. I just love them. Their song "Homesick" is played on what I believe to be a car commerical. I think. Anyway, this is an example of one of the bands I had forgotten about since moving to Korea. I am forever indebted to the company that put out this commercial.

5. Ok, this may not be a new, up and coming band. They're, in fact, really really old. I just grew up listening to them because they're one of my Dad's favourite bands and when "Mr. Blue Sky" started playing on a commercial one day I freaked out. Major flashback! The band is of course ELO (Electric Light Orchestra), and they don't really do anything anymore but seriously, they were pretty awesome during their prime.

Has anyone else discovered any awesome music while commercial cruising?

Happy Lunar New Year!

My friend Tristan came to Suwon last Saturday, so of course I took him to the fortress. And to Now Bar. Oh, and I took him to a Norabang place at about 3 AM. We had a blast! Here's Tristan relaxing on one of the watchtowers with my wonderful city in the background:



I would show you the videos I took from Norabang, but they incriminate me way too much. So yeah, I don't have much to post about today except for the fact that it's Lunar New Years which means I get the rest of the week off! Yessss. I'm going to the south coast of Korea for a few days and staying in Busan, the second largest city in Korea. I'm sure there will be much photographic evidence to document my vacation. Until then... Happy New Year! Again!

A Tribute to (one of) my Favourite Gay Cowboys

Dear Heath: So far I have heard: you committed suicide in Mary Kate Olsen's apartment, you had pneumonia and they reacted badly to sleeping pills, you overdosed accidentally, you had perscription and non-prescription sleeping pills in your system and they reacted badly, you overdosed on purpose, your father is a mining engineer, your father is a racecar driver, plus countless other stories that I am not quite sure about.

One thing is for certain: I was totally digging your tired, strung out look that you had going on recently. Indeed, I feel kinda guilty about digging it because it foreshadowed your imminent death and I thought it was an "on purpose" kind of tired. Maybe that's why I'm dedicating an entire post to you on a strictly-South Korea-related blog. Either way, you were one of the hottest and most talented Australian men ever to make it to the big screen. I liked the way you tried to keep it real, and I know that, somewhere, off in the distance, you'll keep it real for the rest of eternity. The teeney bopper inside me screams "I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, HEATH", but the cooler, more subdued me says "you will be greatly missed in Hollywood... probably... well, at least until the next person dies."

Sex, Drugs, and Norabang

We're pretty much famous.

Merry Christmas, from our Family to Yours:

Chillin and Illin

Wow, it's been awhile since I last posted- I'm sorry!

I've actually been flat on my back with the flu and laryngitis this week. I'd post some pictures, but they wouldn't be pretty- I haven't showered in awhile. Anyways, I finally feel like I'm on the mend and I'll be able to make it to school for the kids' Christmas Concert on Monday! They are all so cute, we've been having practices and they are so enthusiastic. Very sweet.

I thought since I had my first experience being really sick in Korea I'd give you all a run down on what hospitals and doctors are like here. On Thursday my neck was sore and my throat was killing me. The pediatrician in my neighbourhood didn't examine me or anything, he just looked at my throat and said "common cold". He gave me a prescription for three days- they only give you three day prescriptions here which sucks if you're ill for more than three days. Anyway, I thought nothing of it and went to bed.

The next morning I could barely get up- my whole body was just in so much pain, and my throat was so sore I couldn't even talk. I lasted about an hour at work before going home to bed. The next morning I felt even worse and decided it was time to go to the hospital. In Suwon, we have a great hospital that has a clinic especially for foreigners- all of the doctors speak English, and it makes for a less stressful visit for sure, since when you're sick and so far from home all you want to do is leave Korea (I won't lie! I was worried that I had meningitis or something, but I'm neurotic like that). Anyways, I didn't have an appointment so I wasn't sure if I would get seen... but they took one look at me at the foreigner's clinic and said if I waited I would eventually get to see a doctor. Fine by me, since I spent the whole time sleeping anyway. First they sent me to the community health section, where I waited for half an hour before spending 30 seconds with the doctor who then sent me to the ear, throat, and nose specialist, where I waited another half hour before seeing the doctor. He took one look at me and said "laryngitis"... literally two minutes later he had written me a prescription and had me on my way. Again, I was super worried because he didn't even examine me, but there was no reason to be. He was totally right.

Time for another nap. I've never gotten winded typing before!

Gimme a Head With Hair

Kim got the extensions she's wearing for her wedding shipped in today, but we wouldn't let her put them away until we had a little fun first.


Wrong colour, right length! I want my hair to grow, stat.



For Enda? Right colour, but so, so wrong in every other way.