New People! Lovely.

We got some great new teachers and said goodbye to Chris, Helena, and Liz (sniffle). But seriously, the new teachers are great! We went for galbi. Here are some pics! Oh, also, I just really wanted to show you how dirty and disgusting our tables look after a meal of galbi. Really, the table becomes a disaster area. Enjoy!


Mmmmm marinated pork and bbq kimchi. My fav.

Me and Lisa met up with the newbies since they will be the people we will be spending the rest of our time in Korea with- hence, we must force ourselves to get along (although it's really not that hard).

Tracy from Ontario and Sam from Texas!

Bernard, also from Ontario, and Lisa are already BFF.

Galbi on tha grill!

Disgusting messes.

More messes.

The last angle of the mess. As my students like to say with me, THEEEEEE END.

Happy New Years!

So my New Year's was pretty low key. I mean, of course there was plenty to drink and I was spending time with friends, but we didn't go to any fancy parties or anything. Basically, we sat at the Fry Place and played asshole (the card game) the whole night- which was interesting because my friend Latif from Uzbekistan joined in our celebrations and had never even really played cards before. We had a lot of fun, and of course I called my parents in Canada as soon as the clock hit 12! It was 11 AM where they were, but still. They were at least awake. So enjoy the pictures!


Typically, in Korea if you order a dish at a bar the people serving it to you think it's for the whole table, so they bring enough chopsticks for everyone. But when we go out, we go out Western style! Latif was surprised to see that they gave him six sets of chopsticks for one piece of fish.

I really enjoyed Drew's dokbokkie that he ordered. It was amazing! Smothered in cheese and with chunks of potato... my favourite combination.... For those of you who are unaware, dokbokkie is a really popular dish in Korea, but is usually served at a street vendor or a kiosk. It's made of dok, or soft chewy rice cake, fish cake (usually; but I don't think this particular dokbokkie had any), onion, and these things are simmered for a loooong time in a spicy red pepper sauce. It's really to die for to begin with; the cheese and potato were just icing on the cake.

Charlene in the background, probably laughing at me because I'm drunk. Kerri with her freshly curled hair!

And her mini skirt. I think the Hello Kitty mittens are a nice accent, don't you?

This wouldn't be a typical Janine photoshoot without at least 12 self portraits. I'll spare you the other 11.

President and Vice President! If you've never played the game asshole, you have no idea what I'm talking about. And that's ok.

Latif was a fast learner. He's sneaky, too.

This time instead of me being president, Kerri is president and I am vice. We make an excellent administration.

I can see someone's cards....

Latif is angry because he always ends up the asshole. Kim is happy because she has her wedding extensions in.

The cute couple-ness ends as soon as the game starts. They are officially opponents!

Charlene thinks my time at the top is nearing an end (not to toot my own horn, but she was wrong, wrong, wrong!).

But we made up eventually! She is so my Korean Mom.

I hear the Philippines are overrated.

So my friends have left me in Suwon for the hot, sunny, tropical landscape of Malapascua island in the Philippines. Last minute deals are excellent, and if you know you have vacation coming up you should always, always put aside major purchases in case you get a sweet deal the last minute. In my case, the purchase was a computer, and I will never be that stupid again. Still though, it works out since one of us had to watch our pets, so I've taken the dog, Fozzie, for a few days while my friends lie on the beach. A fair trade? Well, for Christmas Fozzie ate all the cat's food and then threw it up on my bed! You do the math. I'm really not this bitter in real life, though, and can see the humour in this whole situation... seriously.

I took him for a very long walk today and we wandered around a park in Suwon several blocks down the road from my neighbourhood, near Ingyedong. I'm so flaky, I always forget to write down the name of these places I visit, but honestly, it's pretty much the only park near Ingyedong with an amphitheatre and cool statues (including a war memorial or two) everywhere. I had a lovely walk, everyone I passed either smiled at me and the crazy poodle or looked genuinely frightened. I understand completely; Fozzie may be small, but he is ferocious. Not.

Enjoy the pictures!


The park is on quite a large hill, and has a surprisingly good view of the South end of the city!

I really enjoyed the sculptures; however this particular piece confuses me. I guess a frog in a coffee mug is a regular occurence or something.

This is the amphitheatre where once my friends and I stumbled upon the finale of a free concert. As we arrived, everyone turned around and stared at us. I felt sorry for taking all the attention away from the musicians and we left; the whole time feeling the burning stares and hearing the girly giggles. I doubt I'll go to another performance in Suwon.

Fozzie didn't know where he was going, but he was on a mission to pee on anything that struck his fancy. Better outside than in my apartment, I always say!

This tree still had green leaves. It's as if we skipped winter completely and went straight onto spring (I wish).

As I said, there were beautiful statues and memorials everywhere. It makes me feel more patriotic than I ever felt in Canada, even. Well that's a lie, actually. I am a very patriotic Cape Bretoner!

This memorial monument was really grand and beautiful. I suppose the war is still fresh in the minds of many Koreans. I often see older men in wheelchairs and wonder if they were maimed or wounded during the war. Very sad when you think about it...

The proverbial game of cat and mouse, with a carelessly forgotten jacket as an accent. I like.

This old couple was so cute. They gave me a big smile and an "anneyoseo!" and said something about Fozzie. Gad love them.

More war memorial monuments. Really well done, in my basic opinion. I'm no art critic!

It took some getting used to, seeing these Buddhist symbols all over Korea. I didn't realize that this is where the Nazi's got the idea for their swastika. In Buddhism, it symbolizes good fortune and as I hit my five-month mark in Korea, it no longer has a bad meaning for me- not that I would ever have it tattooed to my body or anything, but the symbol itself is not a symbol of hatred or facism and many people in the world don't know that. I sure didn't!

Taboo Korean graffiti. No doubt the work of some no good teenager! I love it.

Maybe I'm going too far with this, but the Korean obsession with all things White even goes back to Jesus! I'm sure Jesus would have loved Korean children too, so why not paint a picture with Korean kids in it? Maybe more would convert...?

This is the jjimjilbang I sometimes frequent! Yeah, it's awkward being naked in front of a gazillion staring Korean women, but you get used to anything. I love the saunas, and the mineral baths are to die for, and it costs less than 10 bucks for 24 hours (if you want to stay 24 hours... it's entirely up to you). You can also get the traditional Korean "scrubdown" which is too invasive for my liking, or you can get a vigourous massage by the women who work there.

Ah, the Centreble. The only place I know of where I can use my Canadian bank card. And the name is to die for! Only a Korean could have come up with such a great combination of English names for potential shopping buildings.

My Korean Kristmas

Morning attire: sarongs and socks (thanks Mom and Dad and Matt and Margret)

Evening attire: Merry Christmas Janine...

Love, Janine.

There was turkey at Now Bar!

And Mrs. C (the bar owner) was looking festive and cheerful! Gad love her.

Fozzie and Ker at Christmas morning brunch.

Drew's little Christmas Tree. Too cute.

My parents sent 2 lbs. of my favourite Fair Trade coffee and I made cafe mochas for everyone!

Fozzie is so noncholant.

And he looks like he hates me in this picture.

My presents, sent from home with loving care.

And of course, my mother filled my stocking and sent that too.

Somi had too much catnip.

Ha Jin tore my apartment apart

First thing Christmas morning! Dishevelled kitty and dishevelled Janine.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, from our Family to Yours:

My Sweet New Song

As I previously posted, I recently found a guitar outside to be picked up by the garbage collectors. Koreans will throw out anything. Of course I took it home with me, cleaned it, and am now in the midst of trying to pry the bridge clips out so I can put new strings on it. Anyways, I don't quite have it up and running yet. I DO; however, have a song all ready for when I have it strung (stringed?). This is how it goes so far (think of the tune "These are a few of my Favourite Things" from The Sound of Music- and NO making fun of my bad Korean spelling!):

Ou hwey ja, Cha hey ja, chikchin-yo and yogi-yo
Are words that I say to tell cab drivers where to go
Maekju is beer and water is mul
These are the words that I know in Hangul...

Chingu is friend and kimchi is... kimchi
The taste is quite strong and it might make you flinch-ey
Soju is soju and honey is ggul,
These are the words that I know in Hangul!

That's all I have so far. Feel free to add a verse of your own!!

In other news, my camera has been... stolen. That is the real reason for the infrequent posts and lack of recent pictures. I was just ashamed of the fact that I let my precious camera slip between my fingers like that. Also, it's a little embarassing because whoever the theif is, he or she is now in possession of pictures and videos of me and my drunk friends acting like idiots. Oh well. When I get paid next month that will be my first purchase. For now I'm going to steal photos from my friends. It's very frustrating because the theives, I am sure, are not Korean but are fellow foreigners and I've had the most trouble with foriengers, not Koreans. It just plain sucks.

But I shouldn't be sad, it's my last day of school before Christmas vacation! I got little gifts for my kids and we're playing games all day, and then I get ten days of absolute and undisturbed freedom! Nice.

Until next time.

And the winner is...

Lee Myung Bak! Called it.

Now, I should tell all of you that although I did not necessarily want this Conversative to win the presidency, he DID come up with a sizable majority of the votes at around 48%! This is impressive, and it is also the largest majority won in the 20 year democratic history of Korea, so maybe I shouldn't gripe too much. Also, since the campaigns of all of the candidates were based more around bashing their opponents than promoting a platform (sound familiar CANADA?), he hasn't lied a lot so not much will be expected from him, aside of course to continue to be "at war" with North Korea.

Oh, and I saw him the day before the election! Kerri and I went to Paldalmun Market after school, which is a neat market near Hwaseong Fortress, and we went to see what the commotion was about up the street. There were all these storm troopers (?) holding hands and forming a barricade in the street, and in the middle of the street there were a lot of handsome men in business suits, and THEN a campaign bus bearing our new president came slowly down the road. Of course, being white, Ker and I stuck out like sore thumbs and he gave us a big smile and wave, being the savvy politician he is (also the fact that I was standing on something and waving crazily and smiling like an idiot might have made him notice us... it went to my head, just like the time I asked Paul Martin to hug me).

Well Korea, there ya go. Don't come crying to me when corruption occurs... and it will, mark my words!

PS: I'm sorry and I'm really going to work on being less of a cynic.