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Life, love, and laughter in South Korea
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Archive for ‘December 2009’

십이 월

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Posted on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 by Colleen

Well I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted something. December has been a very hectic month, especially with Christmas time. A lot has happened since you last heard from me! I finally got those custom made boots I was telling you about, and I like them a lot. They are pretty comfortable, I could use a pair of Dr. Scholls though. And they are dark blue so they go with most of what I wear. Unfortunately they are just leather, so they aren't very warm, but there's enough room to double up on the socks. The temperature as consistently been below zero, so basically my entire collection of shoes that I brought from The States are no longer usable in any situation where I need to go outside.

Let's see... I got my hair cut, thank god. I needed it bad too. I went to Itaewon to get it done, since a lot of places there speak some English. They guy did I really good job too. They didn't wash my hair though, which sucked because I hadn't showered that day so I was hoping I wouldn't have to wash my hair before going out again, but I guess not. But no matter, my hair still looked good.

I started dating someone :) his name is Daniel and we met in Itaewon at one of the bars there. Actually it was the same night that I got my hair cut, so it must have been my lucky day. He is extremely nice, and very very very good looking. He is 26 and he's from South Africa, he's been in Korea for 3 years, so he still has a bit of the cute accent. The day after we met we went to the Korean War Memorial Museum together, and that was fun. And I've been down to visit him twice this month (He lives in Daegu, which is about 150 miles south) and I took the KTX train down there so it only took about an hour and 40 minutes to get there. We spent Christmas together with his friends that were down there, we went to Outback for dinner and clubbing afterward. Must say, not the typical holiday with the family. So we stayed in Daegu for the weekend, and drove up to Seoul yesterday. He's got business to take care of up here, and he's going to stay for New Years Eve. We still haven't figured out what we want to do, but I'm sure it will involve Itaewon.

I got to have my first experience with the Korean health care system. I got an infection in my toe (I guess it would be called the ring-finger of toes). I tried to deal with it myself with bandaids and Neosporin, but my supervisor saw it one day and said I had to go to the doctor. Luckily she was able to go with me. We simply walked right in, saw the doctor, had him assess my wound, dress it, and give me a antibiotic perscription, all in the span of 15 minutes. And the best part was that it was only ₩27,000. They did have to give me a shot in the ass though, which HURT. Not the exact shot, but the area around it hurt all night. I had to go back to the doctors a few more times for him to look at my toe and redress the wound and give me more medicine. Eventually though I stopped going. Megan told me that they keep you going and going and going, and I was sick of spending the money. Although it was really cheap after the first time (₩10,000) it started to add up. Plus my toe looks a lot better. And if it gets worse, I can always go back.

Dexter is doing well, he has actually started to calm down a bit. I can pet him now and he wont try to attack my hand. He still tries to tear my laundry down from the drying rack, and he kicks his litter every where RIGHT AFTER I sweep it up. And unfortuantely he learned how to jump behind the washing machine (and into the washing machine for that matter). He has a new fondness for running water, and he likes to jump in the sink when I'm washing my hands, or put his head under my just in time for me to spit my toothpaste all over him. Daniel has never been around cats, so he doesn't like Dexter too much, which is unfortunate because Dexter likes being where ever I am and I like being where Daniel is. Hopefully Daniel gets used to him though. It's almost time to get him neutered, yay!

Did you know that they have Todai here in Korea? Well they do! Tim and Nathan and I went the other weekend, it was great. There was sooo much food. Nathan and I could only polish off about three of four plates, but Tim got up to round nine I think. They had great sushi, and crab legs, and Chinese food. I even has a piece of sushi with green caviar on it. For the most part I had no idea what I was eating, but it was still delicious. And then after we were completely bloated, we went out drinking! We went to The Hill again, trying to stay up for the drag show which was at 2:30am. I met the most flamboyant gay Korean that there ever was in existence. For the most part, Koreans don't really flaunt their homosexuality because it is highly looked down upon here, but this man, whoa, he was basically breathing fire. But he was super nice, and he gave us all free shots of tequila. The drinks at his bar were expensive, but he made the SUPER strong. We went to the dance club that the drag show was at, but I couldn't make it. I got to like, 2:30am but they were starting late, and I was literally falling asleep on the dance floor, so I had to peace out and go home.

Christmas came in full swing at school. In general, Christmas isn't celebrated too much by families; they usually just go out to dinner on Christmas night, but aside from that it's more like a typical Sunday for them. They are big fans of Christmas decorations though lol. But at school, we basically went balls out for Christmas. I had my kids trae their hands on green paper and we made a Christmas tree, and we decorated the room with snow flakes, and we made Christmas ornaments for them to take home. Oh, and did I tell you? I got three more students, which makes my current count 11. It is getting EXTREMELY difficult to get eleven 5-year-old kids to all pay attention and do their work. I refuse to let the boys sit by each other, so every morning I have to tell them when they get their books "remember! Boy, girl and each table!" But they had an absolute blast with Christmas. Ha whenever they were being bad, I threatened to call Santa and tell him they weren't being good.

We had a huge Christmas party for them on Christmas eve. First we had a monthly performance (to which my kids did surprisingly well!) then after that they got to have lunch and sing Christmas songs. Then we took the classes down two at a time and the kids got to see Santa (two of the teachers dressed up) and they got a present. Joe walked up to Santa, really apprehensive, and when Santa went to hand him his present, he grabbed it and tried to run away hahah. Earlier in the week their moms had come in with presents, so that's what Santa gave them. Most of the kids got presents that were almost as big as them! And the hard part was making sure they didn't open their presents before they went home. So that afternoon was rough, making sure they didn't touch their presents, and then I had to make sure they had all their Christmas decorations in the right backpacks, then get them ready to go, then give them their presents again. It was hectic to say the least.



Becky and Joe

John and Sally


Alyssa and Alice


Elliot and Julie


Thomas and Lily


Daniel



Japan (Part II: The trip)

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Posted on Monday, December 7, 2009 by Colleen

So I flew into Fukuoka, which is in southern Japan. I had to get up at 4am in order to catch the bus that would take me to the airport because my flight was super early. And of course, since it's me, the taxi drive took me to the wrong stop, so I waited in the cold for 30 minutes before I was able to ask someone in broken Korean if I was at the right spot.

Fukuoka is kind of an old city, there are a lot of temples and shrines, so after making my way to the Korean Consulate, I did my touristy business. Let me tell you, Japan is EXPENSIVE. And unfortuantely for me, when I was spending money, I was thinking in Won. Basically US$1 = JP Yen 100 = KR Won 1,200. The cheapest meal I could find was 850 Yen. And souvenirs, I probably spent 4,000 Yen on. The subway alone was 290 Yen for a 20 minutes ride from the airport. I unfortuantely didn't get to eat sushi in Japan (bummer, i know) but I did by authentic Japanese sake for one lucky family member! Hope that stuff keeps, because I have no idea when I can send it back.

Aside from being expensive, there were a lot of places to see. I didn't really know the etiquette for temples and shrines though, so I felt awkward walking in them, not sure if I should be there, or what I should be doing. I walked A LOT while I was there. And I also found out that my shoes that I brought, leak through the bottom. Great. But ya, I walked almost everywhere. There was a bus, basically a tourist bus, that took me in a huge circle around Fukuoka, so I didn't have to walk between the far points.

I would write more, but it's been a long day, so I'm tried. You can check out all my pictures here though: Japan Pictures it's better then just posting a few pics.



Japan (Part I: Reasons For)

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by Colleen

So this past week I went to Japan to do a visa run. You may be asking yourself "Colleen, I thought you already had a Visa, isn't that why you drove 3 hours to Seatle??" Why yes, I would say, I did have a visa. However, that visa was a different school. Basically at the last minute (the day before I was supposed to leave) the school that I was employed with (EG) told me they didn't need me. So my director set me up with LCI (my current school) who flew me over two days after my interview.

"But Colleen" you ask, "you've been there over two months, why are you just now getting a visa? Is it some sort of governmental process that takes a while?" No, it is not. It takes two days. The reason why it's taken so long to get my new visa is because the director of EG is a (WARNING, EXPLETIVE COMING) cunt. All she had to do was sign a release letter saying I no longer worked for her, and fax it to Immigration. Instead, she spent 2 months avoid my calls and the calls from my recruiter. Then she would switch back a forth deciding if she wanted me (all the while I couldn't mention that I in fact have a job because it is illegal to have a job with a place if you don't have a visa for it).

So after two months, I finally had to go down there myself, it was a 2 hour subway trip down there, and bitch was legit crazy. I spent all day running between Immigration, the school, and my recruiters place. She finally got me alone, and straight up lied to my face, saying that she couldn't release my visa, and that I had to work for her for three months. I repeatedly told her I couldn't, and that I made an obligation to another school, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. Needless to say, I was pissed off. And worried because there was the chance that I could get deported. And of course Immigration couldn't do anything about it, they had to have the fax. So after one wasted day of getting no where, I had to go back again a few days later, because I was going to file a claim with the Labor Board. But alas, since i never actually worked for EG, I couldn't do it. So my recruiters (Joanne and her husband Troy) and I went down there and Troy (thank god for him) stood his ground and demanded that she send the fax. I mean, by now, Troy had been sealing with them for two months, and he hated the director because she was a crazy bitch, so he was angry when we arrived. After finally talking to a guy who turned out to be the directors husband, they sent the fax. But not before he claimed that i had threatened his wife and demanded an apology. Serious, bitch was crazy. She was like "why didn't you work here, why did you not come at the last minute?" YOU WERE THE ONE WHO DIDN'T WANT ME, CRAZY BITCH!

I know it doesn't seem like that intense, because I am leaving quiet a bit of the frustrating parts out, but seriously, it was frustrating beyond belief. I actually cried was. Woman was messing with my life, threatening me with deportation! Anyway, they finally sent the fax and my visa was released. In Korea, if you want to obtain a new visa, you have to actually leave the country to do it. I'm sure it's a precaution to make sure that people who fucked up in while in Korea would be required to leave and not allowed to enter again. So that is why I had to go to Japan.

All I can say is that I have the most amazing recruiter. She helped me through all of this bullshit, all while being 7 months pregnant. So if you ever want to come to Korea, I have the greatest person in the world to help you!



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