Teacher, What is fart?

Summer vacation for Korean public schools has led to an interesting couple of weeks at the English Villagey. Our lessons are geared towards 5th and 6th graders, but last week we welcomed 120 wild, hyper, spoiled 3rd and 4th grade children to the school. I hate to say it, but they drove us crazy and helped a good number of us to bouts of sore throats and sickness. This week has also proved interesting, with 80 gifted science students attending the school, ranging in age from 6th grade to 8th grade. I teach the 7th and 8th graders, and those are my students in the picture above. Notice the kid next to me that's a good head taller than me? I feel very short this week! Our genius, fluent, geeky students have been treated to classes such as "airplane", "supermarket", and "restaraunt"... do these classes sound a little young for their age group? They definately are.

Regardless, I think they are having a good time at the school. At a loss for new information to discuss with the kids in my "Homeroom" (free-talking) class yesterday, I decided to teach my students some slang words, which they then had to use in sentences to present to the class. They learned "NOT!", fart, fit (attractive), "my bad", phat, cake (as in "a piece of..."), minging (gross), yadda yadda yadda, and "were you born in a barn?"

Here are some of my favorites:

- This hamburger tastes terrible. Did you farted into it?

- Shawn teacher is so handsome. NOT! (grrrr....)

- That dong is minging. (They LOVE dong!)

- U.K's Tower Bridge is pretty phat, isn't it?

- Why do you put your finger to nose? Were you born in a barn?

- My friend's boyfriend is fit. But, I don't like him.

- What does the word cake mean? What a cake question! It means easy & simple.

- I was born in 1993, yadda yadda yadda, I'm in Suwon English Village now.

I think that on Thursday's Homeroom class I will spend half the lesson teaching them how to shave, and the other half on pick-up lines. I'll let you all know how it goes.

We're Being Gassed!

This truck has driven by our apartment a few times now and it makes me nervous; dizzy.

The Five Foods I Plan on Devouring Within Minutes of Returning To Canada...

According to my calculations, Melodie and I only have 48 days left in Korea!! Time goes by really fast and we already have plans for every remaining weekend which will make time go all that much faster. Dayna flew back to Canada today after a 6-month stint and I guess it's got me thinking a bit about home. We spend a lot of time daydreaming with our friends about all the wonderful foods we will dig into as soon as we get home, but with the date approaching, it's fast becoming a reality. I've decided to give some serious thought to the foods I miss the most and to post a list of such foods publicly so that my parents can commence the necessary grocery shopping ASAP. Hint, hint. Anyway, this is what I'm hungry for tonight:

10. A chinese buffet- there is a surprising number of chinese buffets around the small town I grew up in and as far as I'm concerned they're all fantastic. What I wouldn't do for a plate of sweet and sour chicken, wontons, garlic spare ribs and fried rice! There's chinese food here, but it's a lot of pork and spaghetti-like noodles in black bean sauce and that just doesn't cut it.

9.. Macaroni salad- I go through a bucket of this stuff a week at home- it goes with anything, I love it! I've tried making it myself here, but it was disappointing :(

8. Hot chicken samosas- We used to live next door to a Saturday morning market where a family sold these awesome hot and tasty samosas and I couldn't get enough of them. The market closed at noon and they were the only things that could get me out out of bed early on a lazy weekend day! We'd buy like a dozen and eat them all week.

7. Seedless green grapes- The grapes here smell like wine and they're seedy. And that's all I have to say about that.

6. Ruffles chips and Philedelphia cream cheese herb & spice dip- Mmmmm... I miss chip dip, though sometimes I make my own dip with onion soup mix and sour cream and it's pretty darn good.

5. KFC gravy- No chicken required, I would be happy to just drink a cup of the stuff.

4. Roast chicken dinner- with all the fixin's and a big pie for dessert.

3. Lays Ketchup Chips- or any flavour besides "onion", "hot" and "regular"

2. Tim Horton's coffee, large double-double - This probably comes up the most in our daydreams. We fantasize about what the cups look like now (the style changes seasonally), how much a large coffee probably costs, if there's any new doughnuts... and I'm still sad that I missed roll up the rim!

1. Arby's roast beef sandwiches with baked potato- There's an Arby's 15 minutes from the Halifax airport and I hope that I fly in during business hours.

My Favorite Food In Korea

...is pig's feet. Just kidding, although we have eaten those and they were okay (if you ignore the bits of toe). Korean food can be a bit iffy, and we've come across more than our fair share of fish heads in our soup and unidentifiable bits of hairy meat (mainly blamed on our school cafeteria) BUT there is some good stuff being served here and there are a few things I'll really miss when we go home.


My favorite food is chicken galbi (pictured above). Galbi restaraunts are really popular here- I probably pass 15 on my brief trip to work each day. Beef or pork galbi is basically just meat barbequed right at your table with about a dozen complimentary side dishes served along side. It's tasty, but I can bbq meat anytime. Chicken galbi is unique- it's cooked at your table as well, but looks more like a stir fry. Lots of chicken, rice cakes (yummy fat chewy noodles made of rice), sweet potato and some greens are mixed with the spicy galbi sauce and cooked up in front of you.


You take a bit of the chicken stir fry and plop it on a leaf of lettuce, wrap it up and eat it like a fajita. Most of you who know me won't be surprised to find out that I usually skip the lettuce leaf and just eat the galbi itself. Either way, it's awesome. Plus Mel found a cocoon on one of her lettuce leaves once, and you know I'm not having that. Most restaraunts include a few side dishes as well, in the picture above you can see the coleslaw with pink dressing and vinigary seaweed soup which went untouched but was appreciated.

For only 7,000 won this is a filling meal and there's a chicken galbi place within a few minutes of our officetel that we frequent. I'm going to try and smuggle home some galbi sauce to cook it for my family, though I'm worried about the availibility of rice cakes in Aylesford. Mmmm, Dad you're going to love this!

Ketchup Face

Tomato Bank, Tomato Fondue, Tomato ade, Tomato Gallery, Tomato popsicles, and now.... enjoy the cleansing power of tomato on your face.

Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Why?

Bahama, Bahama Mama

Boney M was really fun! The tickets that Crazy Lady gave us had all the details (location, time...) written in Korean, but with a little help from our co-workers the concert turned out to be held at the park right across from our officetel. So, after a grueling 2 minute walk Mel, Hannah, Shanda and myself plopped ourselves on the park grass and waited for the fun to begin. There were about 500 people there and the crowd was mostly middle aged. We only saw one or two other foreigners so for once it felt like we were at a real advantage in Korea as we could actually understand everything the band said.

Well, they didn't have to say much- the crowd loved them! And why not? Those old korean ladies (lovely ajummas) can tear it up when it comes to dancing! Now, my knowledge of the Boney M discography was basically learned the night before from the group's Myspace, but they did not disappoint. It felt like we were in time warp back to the 70's. The group played for about an hour and a half, and they sang all my faves from the Myspace page. The guy in the band hardly sang a note, but he was a wicked dancer and did a lot of backflips for a guy likely in his 50's.

At the end of the concert all the children in the audience were brought onstage and we had a little "We Are The World" moment. It was a fantastically randomly perfect night, and while some of us (my lucky brother) were at a White Stripes concert in Canada at the same time, I can't imagine anywhere I'd rather be than grooving in a park to Boney freakin' M.

Update: According to Wikipedia, the original members of Boney M had a legal ruling in the 90's that each member has the right to perform concerts under the name "Boney M". So, the band we saw only included one original member (the lead chick in red) ! Now, this doesn't make the concert any less awesome but now I kinda want to start a movement to get the original Boney's back together... time to bury the hatchet guys!

More Than Meets The Eye

We watched the Transformers movie tonight at our local CGV. I've really enjoyed watching movies at korean movie theaters because the cinemas are so nice. You can choose where you want to sit, the tickets are cheap (7,000 won), the snacks are cheap (popcorn and large soda 5,000 won), and the rooms are really clean. As well, the armrest between the chairs can be lifted so that two people can sit together more comfortably if they want. But enough about that, this post is about the Transformers. The movie was super cheesy but it was fun and educational. Without further ado, here is what I learned from the Transformers movie:

1. Robots can pee

2. There were Transformers on Mars in the '60s.

3. Transformers have ethnicities: Jazz is a "black" Transformer.

4. The Hoover Dam was only built to hide Megatron

5. Tranformers think parents aren't cool.

6. The good robots (Autobots) have blue eyes and the bad robots (Deceptacons) have red eyes.

7. Robots can pee.

Lotte World... Season 2

Lotte World, at Jamsil Station in Seoul is the largest indoor theme park in the world! Mel and I went there last year, but it's been closed for repairs for the last 7 or 8 months. Why? Too many deaths, in fact, Koreans have nicknamed the park "Death World"!! Meh, we had fun. The park has been rebranded as "Lotte World Season 2" although all of the rides are the same as they were in Season 1. As far as admission prices go, Lotte World is retty affordable as it only costs 34,000 for a full day at the park.

The indoor section, first floor (there are 4 floors)

The outdoor section is also really large, with a lot of thrill rides to try. The above ride, the Gyro Swing, swings riders while also rotating. At the steepest angle you are staring straight down at the ground, with a flimsy korean seatbelt keeping you from falling out.


Although the lines were soo soo soo long we were able to go on the Gyro Drop (above) twice. It was similar to the Tower of Terror at Disney World, except when you get alllll the way to the top the ride starts trembling like it's broken! Ahhhhh!!!!!

Lotte World employs a shocking number of flamboyant Russians to perform in parades and skits around the park.

There are also two roller coasters, a flume (90 minute wait- Good thing we'd just bought our Dong headbands to distract us!), a carousel, a rafting ride, 3D movie, and lots of carnival-type rides. Of course there were also lots of friendly park attendants to make us feel comfortable with their "Korean wave". They wave you off on every ride and sometimes (like in the above video), they continue to wave for the complete duration of the ride! The girl in the video had been waving like that for a good minute straight before I took out my camera. Tell me she won't have carpel tunnel in a few years !


If you're feeling like taking in a bit of history during the day you can always drop by the Folk Museum. Wait a minute... does that say "Fork Museum"? That's my kind of place!

All in all we had a fantastic day and we got to go on all the best rides. The only downside was when Shaun and I were thrown in jail and Mel and Shanda had to bail us out :(

Check back soon for an exciting Boney M update!

Boney M in Suwon

Do you have an old friend that you've known for so long that you can't even remember the first time you met? What did you say that first time? Wouldn't it be funny to look back? Well, we've made one particular friend in Korea and I can easily say that I remember every time that I've met her!

A few months ago, our friend Hannah had just moved to Korea when she told us about this lady who lived in our building who pressured her into visiting her apartment. She modeled her hanboks (korean traditional gowns) and sang to her. It all sounded very awkward and we were glad not to have shared the experience! Well, the following weekend a group of us arrived home after a day in Seoul and she ambushed us at the door. She had rented out an office on the first floor of our apartment building where she had set up a table, some food and a kareoke machine. The room looked as though she'd been living there for days, but she assured us it was an "open event" and sat us all down. She offered us tomatoes, showed us very random photos, and sang us some kareoke songs. Although this all sounds very kind, it was very obvious that she is an extremely eccentric woman...

Since all of our co-workers live in the same apartment building we spend 3 or 4 nights a week chatting outside, where there are some tables set up. It never fails that the crazy lady will show up. She tries on our horse head masks, takes our pictures, helps herself to our drinks or snacks and says "delicious" or "wow" (her two favorite englishy words). One evening, Melodie and Hannah (her favorites) were physically drug up to her apartment and served egg and kimchi. We found out through pantomime that she is a wedding singer at a convention wedding hall a few buildings away, which explains the love of singing and frequent appearances. Every now and then she visits to show us the left over flowers she's nabbed from the reception, or the wedding gifts she's claimed that had been left behind. We often look forward to her visits because she livens up any dull night. We call her "Crazy Lady", and we mean it in the kindest way.

A few nights ago, Mel, Shanda and I were sitting outside and she sat down for a little bit, looking at some photos I'd had printed. Before she left she passed us 4 pieces of paper, which -not to sound mean- I assumed was some random trash she was offering us (she's given us empty shopping bags as gifts before). She was actually offering us tickets to a Boney M concert in Suwon. Now, I only know Boney M from their christmas CD, but how hilariously random is that? We're going to a Boney M concert in Asia? What? Aaaand... Crazy Lady is opening for them! The tickets were worth 30,000 won ($33 Canadian) and I would've easily paid that just to watch her perform. I can't wait! The big show is tomorrow night, and it's seriously going to be the best night of my life. We'll be sure to post pictures. This post has been a long time coming- thank you Crazy Lady- you're the best!

Enjoy some Boney M, y'all!

Ddong Update!!

Dong headbands purchased at Lotte World this weekend (post about our day to follow)

Close Up


And what's up with this poster for a musical called "The Golden Dong"? I really wish I'd seen that one!

Why is smiling poo so popular in Korea????? Any ideas? Do you think dong is awesome too?

There's a whole lot of "dong" at the English Village

In Korea, "dong" (poop) is very popular. It is popular in children's drawings, language, and animations. Adults have gone so far as to put on a musical production entitled, "The Golden Dong"at the prestigious performing arts centre. Apparently the plot is that the characters need to find the magical dong. Maybe it's like Charlie looking for the golden ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'm not sure. Lately, I have been trying to perfect my "dong" sketch, though I think I still need some practice.

I could ask a student for help though, because they draw dong all over their work and on any white board that is handed to them (The student who drew the dong pic above also made her dominos dong-shaped in class) You have to make sure the dong appears to be continuous and hot and steamy. A finished dong needs to look coiled, like a refreshing soft served ice cream. Trust me, if you eat Korean food you are more than likely aware of "hot and steamy" dong. I hope you enjoyed this informative tidbit of Korean humour!

How We Spent Our Canada Day in Korea

- We drank a fresh pot of Tim Hortons coffee, pleasantly shipped to us from home!



- We played a round of Manitoba Farmers, a fun card game with a Canadian name but little connection to Manitoba or farming.


-We watched not one, but two episodes of the new season of Canadian Idol- and stuck-in-the-70s Cape Bretoner Tyler Mullendore was a notable standout.


- We listened to Hayden, Corb Lund and Hawksley Workman, some of Canada's finest.


- Painted our faces a proud red and white. When I went to the store downstairs, the shopkeeper asked me why my face was painted so I told him it was Canada's birthday. He said "Happy Birthday".

Happy Canada Day everyone to at home-Let us know how you spent your holiday!