Poly Sports Day and My Super Cute Preschoolers

On Thursday, Poly School had a sports day for the Kindergardeners and Preschoolers. The kids were all super excited and dressed in their adorable matching Poly tshirts and yellow sweatpants. It was incredibly hot out so I spend most of the time in the shade and alot of the kids did too! The kids all brought snacks galore so they spent the majority of thier morning on the benches stuffing their faces with candy, chips, and cookies. Korean kids love their junk food!

Victor is sooo cute and tiny!

Sarah is kind of a handful sometimes but cute as a button!
Sean and Victor, my little ringleaders. Those boys are connected at the hip and always ready to get into trouble. Sean is the biggest boy in my class and worlds ahead of his classmates. Victor is just tiny and sweet, but also naughty and quite the handful at times.
The yellow Poly backpacks. I love Sarah's little identification tag with her picture on it. Trying for the innocent and sweet look, eh?
Victor is a sweaty boy! Look at those cool New Balances he wears!!! Stars and stripes, baby!
Victor plays hard!

My Poly kids and I on the bus. Amy and one of the kindergardeners going to town on the candy.
Some of the kindergardeners snacking out.
Sarah caught a dragonfly!
Look at those pigtails!

David getting a big drink of water.

Hula hooping Poly kids!
One of the kindergardeners, Catherine. I think she is really cute with her curly hair.

Lindsay Teacher is team red!!!

My preschoolers on the turf.


Aram Teacher looking miserable in the heat.

Brave gulping his water.
Brave's cool Bart Simpson slip-ons.
Brave, my little bruiser. That kid is always quick to punch and hit all of the other kids. He is such a stocky little boy and always grumpy and loud. But cute too, huh?
David and Alice getting a snack.


The girls trying to catch bugs.

Alice and Sarah getting a drink. Those girls didn't even break a sweat! Ha ha!
Alice giving me a cheesy smile.
Amy in the visor going for some of Catherine's snacks.
Look at those wild pants!

Chusok Here We Come!!!!

I finally got a chance to put some photos up from Chusok. We had soooo much fun! There were about 12 of us who went, along with a baby, and 2 dogs. The ride there was pretty rough- the dogs were puking the whole way and we managed to get kind of lost. We had been driving for about 45 minutes when we passed Suji again.... Back to where we started. We arrived on Friday night pretty late and kind of just chilled out and had some snacks before bed.



Saturday was an action packed day! We first suited up to play a rousing game of paintball in some tiny wooded area. It was sooo hot and the paintball field was pretty small and lame, but we still managed to have tons of fun. I got shot in the leg and bruised a bit!



After paintball, we spent the remainder of the day on the dock chilling out and watching our crew attempt to wakeboard. I watched Grace, Jay, and David biff out and get a face full of water about a million times but I didn't mind because I was getting to be out on a boat. When it came time for Kelly to try, she got right up!!! My god, that girl is a strong one! She was super psyched and all about wakeboarding, so I am pretty happy for her athletic ability.



Later Saturday afternoon, some of us got a nice wakeboard show from one of the semi-pro wakeboarder guys who was hanging out at the dock. We took the nice wakeboard boat for a spin for that ride and blasted some crazy pumped up Korean tunes. Gotta love it!



Also, I got to go for a ride on the flying fish, this blown up raft thing that bounces on top of the water and into the air. Grace and I went together and basically screamed and laughed and squealed the entire ride. Soooo fun!!!!



Saturday night, we barbecued American food- hamburgers and hotdogs with a side of pasta salad. On Sunday, we went for a ride with the ATV's, which ended up being kind of aweful for me. The girls all went first and we followed around the Korean guide up and down hills and into the woods. My stupid ATV kept dying going up hills. It would die as I got towards the top of the hill and start rolling backwards, which was soooooo scary!!!!!!!!! After it rolled down a hill with me on it for the third time, I got off and wanted to quit because I was near tears and freaked out. Well, at least I can say I had a new experience I guess.

On Sunday, I somehow got convinced it was a good idea to try my hand at wakeboarding. Everyone else in our group was like "Boy, I am nervous, I sure hope I can do this." And then they totally got up on the wakeboard the second or third try. I, on the other hand, got a face full of water like ten times in a row. I was miserable, felt as if my arms had been pulled out of their sockets, and like my spine had been pulled apart from my hips. Everyone kept cheering me on so I eventually got up but man it was hard work! My forearms hurt soo badly the next two days that I couldn't even open up a soda can or bust open my ramen package. Pathetic, huh?

Sunday night we barbecued our Korean meal on the deck near the water and had a rousing bout of karaoke right there on the riverside. I know I am a terrible singer but somehow when I am drinking, I think it will be alright. Its all in good fun I suppose, but I think Clarence might have videotaped some of our performances. How horrifying!

The ride on Monday was aweful. The roads are bumpy and incredibly curvy and then traffic is stop and go. More like step on the gas and slam on the breaks. And I was hung over and sitting in the back of the van. Geeeee, didn't I feel cool when we had to pull over so I could get sick in a gas station bathroom? Lesson learned- I don't bounce back like I used to in the good ol' days.

All in all, Chusok was pretty damn amazing. We spent about $240 bucks each and it got us tons of activities for the weekend, all the food we could eat, drinks, our stay at the pension, and our way to and from our destination. Gotta love how cheap travel is here!!!!

Hanging out and eating snacks late Friday evening when we arrived at our pension.

Snacks galore and cheese balls!

The paint ballfield. Not too great but hey, it was a fun time.
Target practice?
The paintball field again.
Hanging out in the pension. Everyone looks tired!!!
Lindsay counting to ten.


Kelly is a really not so great hammock that grazed the ground.

Grace and her dogs at the boat docks.
Homemade kimbap. Thanks Grace and Sydney!
The pension- ours is the one with all of the laundry hanging from it.
Some scraggly but cute mutt that was hanging out there on the docks all weekend. There were three of them and I felt sooo bad for them being chained up all weekend long with no food or water and a foot long chain.



Look at that perfect sky!

I love the mountains sooo much! Very beautiful, don't you think?
Lindsay on the deck.
Katie hanging out in the sun.
Brad showing off his paintball welt. Ouch!!!!


Kata Marine pool. Kind of cute looking!

A random wakeboarder being pulled behind a boat.
The view off of the deck.
The mountains and scenery here were just amazing!
Typical vactation picture, right?

Guess who cooked her own Korean BBQ?!

That's right! I cooked my very own Korean meal, which was completely delicious and yum. I am proud that I made something besides ramen or pre-made mandu. My Korean BBQ consisted of: lettuce leaves, kimchi, sauted garlic, spicy bean paste, and pan-cooked pork. Eating BBQ is soo fun cause you get to put all of the ingredients onto the lettuce leaf then roll it up and shove the whole thing in your mouth at once!!!! I be we all look like chipmunks when we eat this dish!

Guess who has been in Korea for a month now?!?!

That's right, I have been in Korea for a month now and I have to say it has been a pretty great month. I am only now starting to get a bit homesick for the first time and I am not sure if you would even call it homesick, but in general, I am missing the company of other Americans, strangely enough. I know each individual is different and I am certainly a bit of an oddity amongst anyone period, but I have found that there are some strange differences between the Canadians I have met in contrast to Americans, And those differences are something that I can't quite put my finger on.

I think some of the Canadians I have met sometimes come off as looking for my flaws as an American. Yes, I am dumb enough that I couldn't even name a single Canadian provience, but that is not to say that I am completely self-centered. Blame part of that on my public education, which even I know wasn't the greatest. And seriously, since I have never known one Canadian up until about a month ago, how would I honestly know much about Canada unless I went out of my way to do my own research? There isn't that much public exposure of Canada in the U.S. The U.S. owns most of the media so therefore, all of the news you hear is U.S. news. Most of the TV shows that people watch are U.S. based. Hence why people around the world know tons of information about the U.S.

I might also add that I am a terrible example of a typical American. I hate football and pretty much all other competitive sports, I don't shop at Abercrombie and Finch, I think the military sucks, and most of my social and political views are in the minority. Come to think of it, I felt alone and isolated for the most part back in the states, so I am not sure what I am bitching about.

Back home, it is not like it even mattered if people understood me. In terms of being in Korea, however, it is important to me. But I guess in the grand of scheme of things the only concrete difference between Canadians and Americans I have REALLY found is this:

Foreign Teacher's Operating Manual

I randomly found this today and thought it was pretty hilarious.




Foreign Teacher Operating Instructions

These are my fantasy instructions for dealing with native English teachers like myself. Tact is very important in Korea, so while I tried to bring these things up gently when necessary, I couldn't hand out a booklet of operating instructions. It was so tempting though, that I'm posting them here for your enjoyment instead. This is meant to be funny, and not an indictment of Korean teachers: most of the teachers I worked with were very accommodating. For the few that need all of this advice, though:

Congratulations! You are now the lucky handler of a genuine Native English Teacher, specially imported from one of the Six Major English Speaking Nations. Please follow these instructions carefully in order to assure optimum performance.

1. Remember that your foreign teacher is a human being, and not actually an English practice robot. Generally, when you speak to her, she will assume that you are attempting to have a conversation, and as such, upon being asked for the fifteenth time whether she knows what kimchi is, will assume that you think she is stupid, and possibly give you a public telling-off. If you feel you need practice with the phrase "Have you tried kimchi?," please attend her free conversation class.

2. Similarly, please respect your native teacher's need for rest periods between classes. Though you may wish to spend your ten-minute break learning English, she probably wants a cup of coffee. Improper recharging of the product's caffeine cells will lead to substandard performance. Again, should you desire English instruction, please attend the conversation class as above.

3. Your foreign teacher likely speaks a strange dialect of English such as American or British, which is somewhat different from the standard Bizzaro Korean Practice English. Please do not attempt to correct your teacher's English; these models cannot be serviced by consumers and this may void your warranty. Additionally, repeatedly requesting and discarding proofreading advice will deplete your unit's job satisfaction quotient and lead to decreased performance.

4. Be aware that the natural programming of your native teacher is fundamentally incompatible with the Born and Raised in Korea framework. Your unit should be equipped with a Cultural Sensitivity extension which will replace some, but not all of this functionality. Failure to act exactly like a native Korean in all situations should not be regarded as a defect.

5. Native English Teachers are a natural product, and as such, each unit is subject to variations. Thus, even though the other foreigner you know hates fish, it's not safe to assume that every white person ever is a staunch antipescatarian.

6. Be aware the foreign teachers have a tendency to develop a social life outside of school. This is an inherent quality of the product and is not modifiable. Thus, your teacher is likely to decline invitations to staff dinners given five minutes before the actual event. She's not trying to dis you; she's busy.

7. Also be aware that Native English Teachers generally expect factual input over pleasant input. If you do not know when she will be paid for extra classes, for example, say so. Do not be tempted to input data estimated from out of your ass. Serious errors will occur if your product can not depend on the factual accuracy of your input.

8. Units not equipped with a Public Performances module do not want to sing karaoke on the bus. Leave them alone.

Proper handling will help ensure top performance from your Native English Teacher. Please keep these instructions in a safe place and refer to them as necessary.



Taken from http://kitty.zaccari.us/site/

This site is also incredibly useful if you want to know the calories in pretty much any Korean food, which I am sure you are dying to know about, right? Hey, I figure if I am here and going to be back to joining the gym again, I had damn well better know every calorie that goes into my mouth. Some of the innocent looking rice and soup dishes are the worst calorie-wise! Ahhhh! I am not sure how the skinny-minnies here stay that way cause Korean food is good, cheap, and everywhere you look. Ah, the torture of it all!