So this week I had a slight disaster with dying my hair.

Jo and I dyed it on Tuesday night, but because I had dyed it a pretty dark brown previously, my roots took the dye more, so I ended up with slightly ginger roots! We went to the hair dressers at 9am the next morning, but unfortunately that didn't take and I still had slightly ginger roots. So I had to go back AGAIN on Thursday when finally my hair was all one colour, so one hair cut 3 dye jobs and £24 later I was all sorted!

This is also the last week of term. I went out with my adult class. (Have I said how much I love my adult class!?)

We went for a meal, some beer and then headed to a noribang!!! We had soo much fun and some funny conversations. The girls are pretty good singers and dancing and did some really good renditions of some English songs! I think this is the way to teaching English, at the noribang!

For activity day today, I just played games with the kids and we had snacks.

I am so ready for Thailand tomorrow. All packed and ready to go and so excited to see Sommer. Sommer, I met while volunteering in Guatemala, we had a reunion in June 2008 in Florida, so it has been about 18 months since we have seen each other.

I am also looking forward to some sun. It snowed again this week, and is windy and cold. I am ready for spring!!!

See you in a weeeek! :D

Crabs and Cocktails!

Went for dinner last night to a crab place. Eating in Korea is always an adventure as you are never really sure what you will get, if you ordered the right thing, if they understood your order!

You could pick your crab out

Then they brought it all prepared for you

You could also feed you child to the crabs...

After I headed downtown to some western style bars. It was wall very bizarre as there we so many GI's that it didn't feel like I was in Korea anymore!

This weekend is Lunar New Year it's a pretty big deal here and also means I get next Monday off! There seems to be the same sort of atmosphere as Chuseok with the big gift sets out in Lotte Mart. KM gave me a beautiful gift boxed one - holding 10 cans of Tuna! Which is actually more useful than the 10 tubes of toothpaste she gave me last time.

I feel like I need to mention my adult class again. We have so much and fun and random topics always seem to pop up. Last lesson we ended up talking about drag queens, speed dating and how one of them had thrown up in a taxi because she was too drunk. Bear in mind that the majority of the class is 40+ housewives!! The lessons are definitely a cultural exchange for all of us!

They also told me about a part time job as a 'Pusher man'. This is literally a man who during rush hour, is paid to push people onto the subways in Seoul!! I don't think this still happens, as they have introduced double doors now. But I couldn't believe that this job actually existed!

So I have 120 days left in Korea. I spent a while trying to figure out my new life plan, should I settle down, stay in Korea, teach some where else, apply for a PGCE, travel....the options are endless!


I was toying with the idea of do a Spanish course in Spain and trying to find a TEFL job there. I was also thinking about Italy. I thought that learning Spanish would be more useful and open up places in South America as well. I was also thinking about applying for a PGCE, however being in South Korea meant I could not attend interviews, so I would have to wait to apply until 2011. If I was in Spain it would be really easy to pop back to the UK for the interviews.


I had been applying for jobs and uploading my CV on to various teaching websites. I had some response from a job in Spain and had someone get in touch with me about a few jobs in Korea.


A friend then posted an opportunity in Joinville, Brazil starting in February ending in July. My contract doesn't end until May but sent off my CV anyway saying I would be available in July, if another position opened up.

I got a really positive response and lo and behold, looks like my next TEFL oppourtunity will be in Joinville, Santa Catrina, Brazil!



















The school has been going to 20 years and has kids from 18 months up to teenagers. I will be responsible for teaching the pre-teens and teens! What I really love about the school is that they teach English through science and art projects. They do lots of different and meaningful projects, as opposed to following a text book.


Apparently the teenagers are going to start in February a project about "The Wave", talking about autocracy.


I get my own studio (phewww! I love having my own little place, SK spoilt me!), they pay for my flights, and will also pay for me to study Portuguese at a university!

I am sooo excited about this opportunity, it combines teaching, art, and Brazil. I have always wanted to go back to Brazil and I now I get to!

Joinville is going to be completely different to Salvador. About 50% of the population is from German descent. I think this might be good that it will be totally different. I am not sure if I am just remembering Salvador and Brazil through rose tinted glasses as it was my first solo travel experience that pretty much kicked off my life. So it being a brand spanking new place means I won't compare it to Salvador, yet I will still be in Brazil!


Have a look at this video tour of Joinville here. and one here.


So 2010, so far seems to be bringing some amazing opportunities and again I feel so thankful that I am able to do all this travel, experience new cultures all under the guise of teaching English!


This job just sort of happened and fell into place, so my luck still continues...... :D

One thing I do love about Korea is the free stuff you get. Everywhere! I bought some makeup at a shop and got a facemask, hand sanitiser, shower gel smaples, foundation samples and moisturiser free with it!

I also did lots of games on Friday with the kids, they really enjoyed them and this is a couple of students playing a kangaroo game where they have to collect pieces of sentences then, put them in the right order. The video is off my phone and the sound never seems to transfer over......

Also had an interesting lesson with my adult class where Paul asked me how to pronounce 'beach' and 'b*tch'! She also wanted to know what the meaning behind the words were as well!

I did a bit of shopping at 'Super Girl' which is a very small shop with 'large sizeee'. The lady there is really nice and has a couple of kids, who just kept wandering in and out of the changing room, while I tried things on. Koreans really have no idea of person space at all!

English names for Students

I got a new student in my adult class this week. Her name is Paul.... Yes, HER name is Paul. I wasn't sure whether she meant Paula, so asked her to repeat it a few times but it was most definitely Paul. Then I started to doubt her gender and had to confirm with my co-teacher that she was a woman. I don't really know what to do now, having had 3 lessons with her I can't really say now 'oh by the way your name is a man's name'

At the start of each term, if I get new kids, I always give them an English name, this sounds really arrogant but all English Academy's do this. It does make it easier when you have names like Ji Eun, Ji Won, Joo Young, Joon Young etc etc.

Unfortunately, if I am not there when the kids are being given their names, they can end up with some pretty strange ones.

I have a couple of best friends called Bella and Fella. A Jade who somehow became a Jada, another class that is named after the cast of Gossip Girl. Once I forget my list of names so also have a class named after all my family!

It did get a bit confusing when one of my students who I had named moved over to the other academy and was given a new name!

Other names I have heard off fellow teachers are:
Harry Potter - (at an all girls school)
Satan
Hitler
Hulk
Drunken Sheep (The reasoning behind this one was that she has curly hair, like a sheep, and goes pink in the cold and so looks drunk)
Golem
Crazy Grandfather Dinosaur,
Brother, Sister (who are in fact brother and sister),
Umbrella

There is a facebook application that works out your Korean name, as sometimes the kids do ask me what my Korean name is. Apparently it is Gi (기) meaning "brave one". Pretty easy to remember!

I think that South Korea is a pretty safe place, crime is really low, and I feel safe walking home in the dark.

This photo shows how trusting South Koreans are:

You can steal the bike just not the bike lock!

Another example was when I accidentally left my keys in my bike basket, came back an hour later and they were still there.

One of Korea's cultural nuances is that you take your shoes off when going into someone's house, some restaurants and work places. For the past 6 months, I have taken my shoes off at work and left them in the shoe rack outside work. For six months, at the end of the day, my shoes have always been there.

So imagine my surprise when on Thursday somebody had stolen my size 7 black ankle boots. I WAS NOT IMPRESSED!! For a start, it is really difficult to find shoes to fit me here as the biggest they go up to is a skinny 6 1/2.

Also it has been snowing for the past week.

So I had to walk the 15 minute walk home in snow a foot deep, in my SLIPPERS!

I hope the tiny footed Korean who stole my boots, falls over on the ice and hurts themselves!

Also, I actually got off my lazy bottom to go to the gym this week. Having been successful in going on Tuesday, I headed out at 7am on Wednesday morning to find even more snow. Seeing as I was up and trying to get back into going to the gym, I ploughed though the snow looking extremely sexy in all my layers, leg warmers, hat and scarf. I had trudged up the hill to the gym when a bus went past and covered in me in brown, slushy, dirty, wet snow.

Needless to say I went home and didn't make it to the gym that day!

So note to self always keep an eye on your shoes and only walk on wide footpaths, walking as far from the road as possible!

Let's hope the weekend it better! :D

Integrating with a new Foreign Teacher (FT) can be hard, be sure to follow these simples rules and tips for a happy and harmonious relationship!

Always ensure that the FT feels completely smothered and overwhelmed
Goods ways to achieve this are:
- go round to FTs apartment all the time without invitation.
- Enter FTs apartment without knocking
- Read and go through FTs emails
- Go through FTs rubbish
- Rummage through papers on FTs desk while FT is in the bathroom
- Telling FT that you are going out for dinner but really take them to a Korean Bible reading meeting

Make sure FT has transport
This may include driving the FT on the wrong side of the road, stopping in the middle of a motorway, driving through red lights and doing make up while driving.
If the teacher becomes a nervous wreck due to the driving, get the FT a bike. However be sure to follow the FT home on the 5 minute ride, shouting directions out of the window, stopping traffic and completely embarrass them.

Socialise with FT
Guilt FT into going out for drinks. Offer to drive home FT home while drunk and in 2 foot of snow. When FT refuses and walks the 5 minutes home. Consistently call FT every 5 minutes and wait outside their apartment. Ensure that FT catches a cold by waiting outside the apartment for at least 10 minutes while FT hides behind a lorry.

Make sure FT has lots of friends
Introduce FT to your friends and then ban FT from seeing said friends as they are a bad influence and drink too much.

Make sure that the FT knows that you are ALWAYS watching them
Good ways of doing this is to subtly ask about a new restaurant in the neighbourhood. When FT confirms its existent. Tell FT you know they already know the restaurant as you have interrogated the chef about how many times FT has been there and who with.

Insist on knowing everything about FT personal life.
Persistently ask why FT does not have a boyfriend. Insist that FT must be a lesbian if FT says that boys are too much trouble.

Value your FT
An excellent way to do this is to sleep in class while FT is teaching. Nothing shows interest like a sleeping co-worker!

Ensure that proper English is always taught.
Especially sentences like ‘Can I take a bread/milk.’ If FT disputes the grammar of these sentences then tell FT it is American grammar. If FT still disputes, then tell them it is Canadian grammar.

Detailed ‘lesson planes’
Always ensure the ‘lesson planes’ are thorough and included in-depth information such as ‘student wriing difficult thinking'

Help to increase the confidence of FT.
An excellent way to do this, is to break FTs chair to give them a complex about their weight. Be sure to break their chair at least twice but DO NOT tell them. This is much more amusing when they sit on it and fall on their arse in front of students!

Communication
Ensure that communication is great by forcing Korean lessons on FT. Have lessons at the FT apartment and turn up with lots of friends and force FT teach your friends English. When FT complains about having their house invaded and wants the lessons some where else, ask them ‘is it because your house is dirty?’

Give great advice and support to FT when they need help
Great ideas are helpful tips like ‘Hit the kids or give them crackers if they don’t answer questions’.

If FT comes to you for support because one of the students is being naughty. Be sure to just send the student back into the classroom allowing you go back to sleep.

Always be late.
A FT will always work better if they have been waiting outside in the cold for 30 minutes.

Respect FT personal space
Always invade FT personal space, this can include trying to dress them, trying to hold their hand and general shoving around.

Ensure your personal life is kept personal
Feel free to have personal conversations within the office. Especially ones that include trying bribe your professor to change your grade to a higher one to ensure you have more TOEFL points for a new job you are applying for.

Holidays
If FT questions why they have to work during their holiday time, scream and shout at FT and tell them it is their responsibility to. If FT has already booked flights, demand that they change the flights. If FT asks if they will get paid for working during their holiday accuse them a being a lazy money grabbing foreigner.

Following these tips will definitely lead to a happy FT who will absolutely re-sign to build upon the joyous relationship that has been formed!

This time last year I was in Ghana about to embark on an amazing and life changing experience. It was in Ghana that I realised I loved teaching, met amazing and inspiring people and totally changed my career path, leading me to teach English in South Korea!

After reminiscing over all my photos, a year on I decided to finally put them into an awesome montage which of course had to accompanied by my favourite hip-life song Angelina!



I have been so lucky in my life to have such amazing experiences and met so many interesting and inspiring people, resulting in many fabulous friends all over the globe!

Let's hope the luck doesn't run and see what 2010 has in store........ :D

New Year and nakedness!

New Years Eve was a pretty typical Korean affair. In that it involved a random eclectic bunch of people from various countries! I spoke to people from Columbia, Ecuador, Barbados and the usual Korean, American, Canadian!



We just headed into Bar street, had a few drinks and nearly set TLC on fir with sparklers and balloons!

Yesterday was my first experience at a jjimjiibang. It is a Korean bathhouse, with saunas, hot pols, movie room, oxygen room, massage room, restaurant, sleeping room. Basically everything you would ever need. We did spend some time discussing if it would be cheaper t live at a jimjambang or pay rent somewhere!

Click here for a really good article that explains them a bit better.

I had been a bit dubious about going as you have to naaaaked! Some you are naked for the whole experience (in single sex ones) and some just while you shower, as the saunas etc are co-ed.This was was co-ed.

When we got there, we took off our shoes and put them in a locker, we then swapped that locker key for another key/tag, towels and our uniform of shorts and a t-shirt. We then went to the locker room got completely butt naked and went to the shower room.



It was a massive room with showers along one side, a sauna at the back, a couple of hot tubs, an area for scrubbing yourself and lots of naked women! I am totally self conscious about my body so it was all a bit daunting. But after showering and chatting to my friend, while a small baby boy sat in a tub near my feet, me and his sister was running around with her naked mother chasing after her, I started to get over it! We then put on our uniforms and headed to the sauna, there were 3 saunas one of 72c, 60c and 42 and then an ice room.

The outside of the saunas

We spent some time in all of them but I didn't even attempt the 72c one. We went and got some ice cream, the tag with the key, has a barcode on it. So if you buy anything, get a massage etc, they can your tag and then you pay for everything when you leave.

We sat in the 'oxygen room' eating and chatting, then headed back to the saunas. After we all then showered again. There is also a section in the shower room to totally scrub and exfoliate, I was pretty much done with the whole nakedness so I headed home, while my friends all sat in the hot tub naked with with some random Korean women! One step at a time for me!......


It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I had been groped on the thigh by an 'ajamma' (old women) while being fully clothed at a bus stop, so the thought of being naked made me wonder what else they would grab!! You do realise that actually no one does stare at you because you are a foreigner. We also learned that if you travel in a group people will come into the sauna see a group of foreigners and run away, leaving you to have the whole place to yourselves! I was also with a girl who had lots of tattoos and both her nipples pierced, so if they were going to stare at anyone, I am guessing she would be the main attraction!

Wow, this will be a long one!

Last weekend I headed up to Seoul for the first time, to properly see it, not just go to to go somewhere else. SOO much fun, I felt like I was back in New York, everyone spoke English, lots of shops I recognised, the subway was so easy, as it was in English.

I did a lot of shopping as found clothes and shoes to fit me, went to see Handel's Messiah and went out for some drinks. It felt like I was on holiday being away from the Goon!

This week the 'Christmas Parties' set in.

On Wednesday I went out for dinner with my adult class. I love my adult class, they are a bunch of housewives in their late 30's early 40's. They were very excited to be out without their husbands or children!

Some of the teachers were out in Bar street, so after I headed over to see them. This descended into random balloon animals, shots and a fire show.

I didn't end up getting home until 3am and on a school night!

Christmas Eve, again headed out to Bar Street and met up with some friends and also didn't get in until 3am!

Christmas day, I invited Jo, Elizabeth and Jimmy over and extended it to any of the other expats in the Goon. This descended into party of 15 people in my tiny studio!

We had our Christmas dinner -

Did some push ups -
Some arm wrestling, Brittany Spears games and dancing!

Then we headed to Bar street - again.

This was definitely the strangest and most nontraditional Christmas I have ever had but a good time was had by all!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas....

I got home the other day to find 1 HUUUUUUGE parcel, 2 smaller parcels and a Christmas card.

The huge parcel was off a friend who had to leave South Korea suddenly for me and Victoria who had sorted out her apartment after she left.

Victoria came round last night to open it and for our usual veggie British dinner.

Let me set the scene.....

It had started to snow in The Goon and we had the Christmas tree lights on and some Christmassy music on.

It didn't take us long to rip through the massive parcel that held Christmas crackers and lots of individual presents, containing much needed and missed items in South Korea.

Such as falafel, English Chocolate, nutroast, tampons and Irish socks. Things that South Korea either does not do or does not do well!

The gift we were most excited about though was ......

Our onesie pajamas!!!!!

We sat down to veggie toad-in-the whole and Earl Grey tea listening to 'White Christmas' feeling like Christmas had finally arrived in The Goon! The only thing that was missing was Eastenders on the TV for us to fall asleep afterwards too!

This weekend Jo and I went to Boryeong for the Cheonbuk Oyster Festival. We got there at the end but still enjoyed a MASSIVE bucket of oysters.

It was huge. We had our own grill to grill them on and then kept popping and spitting water. It was a pretty fun experience. And surprisingly we managed to eat our way through them all!

After we went for a coffee at Gunsan Migratory Bird Observation. They have a rotating restaurant on the 10th floor, which gives you pretty good views of Gunsan.It was at this point that I realised how small Gunsan is, how often I eat out or how famous I am!! The waiter was talking to Jo in Korean and kept looking at me.Turns out he was a waiter at Green Sky (the restaurant in the same building as my gym, that I always go to and the chef always gives me freebies.) and recognised me!

6 Months!!!

Well, this week marks my 6 months in Korea!! SIX MONTHS! I am half way through my contract!!

This time 2 years ago I was in Guatemala, this time last year, I was in Spain and about to go to Ghana! I wonder where I will be this time next year!

I never would have guessed that I would end up in South Korea, NEVER in a million years did I think I would live in Asia for a year. I have never had an interest in Asia and I now I live here!

Not much been happening this week, I broke my chair at work - extremely embarrassing but never mind.... been stalked by KM. Turns out she now goes to restaurants near my apartment and asks if I have been in!!!

Also booked tickets to Thailand for February!!!!! I am meeting a friend I met on my Guatemala program with Cross-Cultural Solutions. Really excited about seeing her again and also travelling with someone, as opposed to by myself like for the past 5 years!! It has been 5 years since I took an actual holiday with someone, instead of going to visit family or volunteer!

So considering I'm not interested in Asia, I doing pretty well at getting around it!

Football in Jeonju

I went to my first ever professional football today! It was Jeonbuk (the province I live in) against Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, a province up near Seoul.

It was pretty fun and at only £3 for a ticket a bargain! We won 3-1!

I also attempted to make my apartment a bit Christmasy and with the help of Jo and Selda decorated a tree for my apartment!

China Video!

China - it's a long one!!

Saturday 21st November

My journey started off at 4am, I went to try and find a taxi to take me to the bus station. Being 4am in the morning I knew this was going to be a difficult task.

I finally got a taxi, which then proceeded to go and pick up some really drunk Korean woman who stank of booze. I finally made it to the bus station to find it was closed, by this time was 5am and I knew there was a bus at 5.30. I wondered around for a bit and then found an open café and managed to get some help off a couple of older men in there. One of the men had ok English and helped me buy my ticket, sat with me until the bus came, declared he was my friend and when saying good bye hugged me and went in for a smooch!!!

The bus journey was about 4 hours long and I was the only one on the 50 seater bus. Made it to the airport and checked in and tried to go through immigration. Turned out I had printed the wrong thing off for my multiple entry visa back into Korea and had to go over to the immigration office to sort things out.

The flights were fine, I kept being asked if I had ordered a special meal, which I had – vegetarian, but they kept bringing me chicken, cocktail sausages and beef....
Both of them were delayed, which meant I didn’t actually get into Xi’an until about 11pm, when it should have been 8.30.

When I arrived in Shenyang, I wasn’t expecting much culture shock. I was just going from one country where I didn’t really understand anything to another!

I was a little bit nervous getting off the plane and going through immigration. There were lots of guards standing around in very smart uniforms, looking very imposing. A few people ahead of me had been sent back and they were studying the passport photos very intensely. I got through immigration fine and even got a smile off the officer and picked up my luggage.

There was quite a lot of snow when I landed which made me realize this was going to be slightly colder than Ghana!!

















Sunday 22nd November
First full day in Xi’an!
We spent the morning cycling around the city wall, it was about 6 miles and sooo much fun. Sarah and I had a tandem bike and were surprisingly good. We didn’t fall off once. We had a little trouble starting but the stopping part we had down.

The view from the wall was really interesting, we could see the Bell tower and also saw the only Buddhist temple in Xian.
It was such a beautiful way to see the city, the weather was cold and really crisp with some remnants of snow about.

In the afternoon we had orientation, which was really interesting. We skimmed the surface of some of my many questions. The answer was mainly the same though – Chinese people are obedient! I didn’t realize what I rebel I was as I was like what if you don’t agree, what if you don’t love the communist party. Jerome’s answer was but we do, we just know the reasons. The kids are pretty much brainwashed into thinking what the government want.

There is also a saying about do not be the first bird to put your head up in a flock, as you will get shot. Basically any sort of individualism or creativeness is not encouraged in China. It is so difficult for me to get my head around this!

Monday 23d November

In the morning we headed to Xing Quing Palace park.

It seems like all the elderly population gathers here in the morning for tai chi, sword dancing, singing, and badminton. It is a huge social event and is very important as most people live in apartments here and do not get the opportunity to socialize with their neighbors.

One thing that has struck me, is the smog/mist/fog. As it is so cold it lingers and makes Xi’an seem pretty depressing. The amount of pollution is here is tremendous with all the trees at the side of the road being covered a layer of grey grime. I can really feel it in my lungs sometimes.

We also had a mandarin lesson. The characters here are so complex and really makes me appreciate Hangeul!! Originally some of the characters were pictograms with the character representing the thing it was trying to depict, gradually they got more complicated – even though now they use simplified Chinese. There are still over 1,000 characters!!! There are also 5 tones which can completely change the meaning of the word. For example ‘ma’ depending on the tone it can mean mother, spicy, horse, when you are scolding someone or used to make a sentence into a question!! Not much difference at all!

In the afternoon it was our first time at placement!
We worked with about 13 kids to help them practice Snow White.

The school is government run and has about 2,000 students in total. Each class has about 60 students in!!!! The students have different teachers for each subject and move around from class to class. It is pretty open and as a result is FREEEZING! It doesn’t seem very welcoming in that it is quite grey and not many posters/pictures everywhere. But the kids seem very well treated.

After rehearsal we spent a few hours with the teachers helping them with questions they had about English. They had questions about how to teach phonics and also how to write the alphabet. Because Chinese characters are so complex with many strokes they were worried about what was correct. Adding a line here or there in Chinese can completely change the meaning. We explained that it was just different styles and all of them were right.

In the evening we had a performance by some local music students. They played the Er Hu and Pi Pa. It was pretty amazing and really difficult!!

Tuesday 23rd November
In the morning we went to Shaanxi History museum. Xi’an had been around for 13 dynasties, so the history of Xi’an is pretty much the history of China. There was a lot to take in but it was extremely interesting.

In the afternoon we practiced the play with the kids again and then helped grade 3 and 4 practice their speeches for the speech competition. The level of English is pretty good.
When you walk into the school you feel a bit like a celebrity. All the kids stare at you in fascination and shout hello, what is your name. When we arrive it is break time, so there are hundreds of kids running around shouting and waving at you. They are so cute!

In the evening we had a lecture about traditional Chinese medicine, which includes things like cupping, acupuncture, massage, herbal medicine, moxibustion and massage. All of these are available and patients can choose whether to have traditional treatments or ‘western’ treatments. There is no bias on what can be chosen. Typically older people will go for more traditionally methods and the younger people for western.

After the lecture we headed to Trust Mart to buy some chocolate, where Nicole nearly got arrested for stealing chocolate! They had security tags on the bars of chocolate and it had not been deactivated. It caused a bit a scene but we managed to get away!

Wednesday 25th November

In the morning we had a lecture on the history of China and the one child policy.
The one child policy or ‘Family Planning policy’ fascinates me. It was established in 1979 and was to encourage later marriages and late births. (By late they mean aged 23-25!) It was supposed to promote less but healthier children and to slow down the population growth.

Again, at placement we practiced the play and helped some students with their speeches.
We actually had the contest for the younger ones, they were really good. We had to mark then on appearance, their introduction, the text/story they read and then how well they answered some questions we asked them. Some of them got total stage fright and it was so awful to watch. But they were really good.

In the evening we had a calligraphy lecture, which was really interesting to learn about the history of the Chinese characters. The characters originally started off as pictograms, so that the words would look like what there were trying to say. We had fun guessing what certain characters were not too much success though!

Thursday 26th November
In the morning we headed over to the Terracotta warriors. It was about an hour drive (with no traffic!) from the home-base.

The warriors were pretty impressive, there are over 2,000 of them and each one is different, different clothes, facial expressions, hair etc. The detail on them is amazing. The mausoleum was started when the Emperor was 13 years old and he died when he was 50. I find it slightly morbid that they start preparing his mausoleum before he is even dead, but after seeing the amount of work that went into it, it is understandable!

In the afternoon it was the 5th an 6th grades speech competition. Some of them were really good, others were so nervous and forgot their speech it was awful to watch. To stand up in front of a group of people and do a speech is bad enough, but to have to do it in a foreign language – I’m glad I didn’t have too!

The Snow White performance went really well, I was so proud of the kids! I t was pretty sad to leave them even after only working with them for 4 days.


In the evening we had English Corner, where students from the local area come and practice their English with the volunteers. It was pretty interesting to hear some of the questions that they had.

Friday 27th November
We had the morning free to go and do some shopping. We headed down to Muslim Quarter and shopped – a lot! We somehow managed to get lost and ended up in the meat and slaughtering section – not very pleasant to see sheep being dragged down the street to their death.

In the afternoon we went to a foster home, it is run by a South African lady in 2 apartments. There are about 50 children in total ranging from babies up to about 2/3 years old. They all have disabilities some of them have heart conditions and have been abandoned. Other ‘disabilities’ include a cleft pallet. I was shocked to learn that children were abandoned because they had facial disfigurements. People cannot afford the surgery, so they abandon them. They were so adorable and it was great to get some cuddles in off them all!

In the evening we all headed out for dinner. We had hot pot where we all our own individual pots and we cooked fish, potatoes, spinach and lots of other delicious food!
After Nicole, Makayla and I headed to Karaoke! It was super swanky place with some one to carry your beer from the shop to your room, open your beer, escort you to the bathroom! The doors had small circular windows a man walked past, happened to glance in and saw a bunch of foreigners and kept trying to come in to have his photo taken with us. We ended up having a body guard out side the door to stop them from coming back!

Saturday November 28th
Last day - L Nicole, Eva and Johanna left at 6.30, so just Sarah and I were left in the morning. We had a wander round and went to get a massage. For one hour it was 5 pounds 50! Not bad, it was pretty intense but for 5 pounds you can’t complain!

I also went and got my hair cut, £1.50 later I was pretty much scalped. He didn't understand the term 'I want to keep as much length as possible'!

Then 3 planes, 2 taxis, a bus and 24 hours later I was back in The Goon.

China thoughts......

This week I have been a bit of a domestic goddess, making Birthday cakes, scones, cleaning, laundry and sewing on buttons.

On Wednesday there was the Leonid Meteor Jo and I got up super early to watch it in the freezing cold and saw....... nothing.

This is what we should have seen:



So, 2 days until China! I am so excited. I am looking forward to travelling again and experiencing a new culture. As I previously mentioned I have never had an interest in China but I have been reading up on some things. I actually have about 4 pages of questions to ask and talk to the staff about when I get there. I am not sure whether I am maturing and appreciating different cultures more but China has really intrigued me.

The biggest thing that interests me is the one child policy. Obviously I do not know the ins and outs but the title is pretty obvious! What I found interesting is that if a couple has 'a girl or or has a physical disability, mental illness or mental retardation' they can apply to have a second child. This leads to a lot of female infanticides. I am really interested in talking to the staff about what they think of this and getting actual real peoples opinions rather than information from the media.

Another thing is that Facebook is blocked in China. Shock horror for a TEFL teacher who spends at least several hours on it a day. (Yes teachers in Korea have a lot of down... err preparation time). Twitter, Youtube and many other. See here for a list.

It amazes me that hotmail and gmail have also been blocked at some point. In a world where freedom of speech is a human right and that a government can be publicly so controlling, is a little scary.

I have also been reading about the death penalty and 'black jails' and the fact that there is a generation of people that do not know about the Tianamen Square protests because all the information is blocked in China.

Obviously I do not know everything and am only summarising some the articles that I have quickly scanned,. Some of this information could well be wrong but it definitely has got me thinking of questions to ask people and really wanting to learn more.

I do not want to focus on the negative as I have also read about the rich and interesting culture it has, how it is one of the worlds earliest civilisations, the beautiful calligraphy they do, the Beijing Opera and much more.

I am definitely excited and intrigued to learn more! That is another thing I love about Cross-Cultural Solutions, I can just turn up at the airport and know there will be someone there to pick me up. I don't have to worry about all the logistics, I can really focus on volunteering, immersing myself in the culture and pestering the staff with my questions!

On Wednesday it was Pepero Day. A bit like Valentines day for Koreans where they give each other this snack that are sticks, that look like 11/11 hence why they are given on 11/11! I got 2 packets, one off a student and one off my co-worker.

This week was an interesting one work wise. I went for dinner with one of my adult students, which caused more trouble that it should have because of.... yes.. you guessed it KM!

I was doing L blends with my phonics class - black, sleep etc. The l and r have the same character in Korean, which caused a few mispronunciations. I was getting the students to repeat the words after me. Me - black, my student - Black. Me - clap, my students - crap. Me no no cLLLap. My students - crrrrap! They couldn't understand why I was laughing.

Then with my Kindergarten doing sh blends. Shake was one of the words. One of the kids recognised the word and proceeded to tell me to 'Shake my bon bon' which of course made me laugh, so she proceeded to tell me again, and again, and again!

Last week one of the kindergartners came in with a 'little black book' I often have deep and meaningful conversations with my kids where they just stare at me blankly or laugh at me while I talk at them. I was talking to her about her little black book and asking if she had many men in there and if she had been on any hot dates recently. One of the other students recognised the word 'man' and replied 'oh superman superman!' So apparently one of my kindergarten students is dating superman!

It always surprises me how some of my kids know no English but mention homework or something they do not like and I receive the response 'oh my god! Oh my god!'

One of my students came to talk to me at my desk and I got a huge whiff of alcoholic, not wanting to judge my 11 year old student for drinking at 4 in the afternoon or accuse of her of being an alcoholic, I carried on talking to her. Then she pulled something out of her pocket and said 'Jocelyn teacher'. It was hand sanitiser and proceeded to squirt it all over my hands! Turns out she wasn't a wino just another paranoid swine flu fearing Korean!

Yesterday, I went on base for 'Save your Bacon'. It is basically a scavenger hunt, that involves finding different locations, where there are drinking games and lots of pork products. At the end everyone ends up at the Delta Bar where there is huge roasted pig. Even being vegetarian I had fun and especially enjoyed the veggie BLT's! We had a poker game, the price is right, golfing, 80's quiz, beer tasting and dancing to the Birdie song.

I also got a proper look on base and saw what the dorms were like and the food court. The dorms were very much like halls of residence, lots of little studios but with a small kitchen, rather than a shared kitchen, like I had at good old Storthes Hall in Hudds! Some of them were one bedroom apartments. The food court had a Burger King, Starbucks, Baskin Robbins, Pizza etc etc. You have to pay for everything in American dollars. It is such a little bubble of America. I met one GI in bar street in Naundong. He was leaving in a week and this was his first time on Bar street. Some of the guys never really leave the base and have no clue about what Korea is like!!

One more week until China!

CCS China!

It has been just over a year since I left NYC and Cross-Cultural Solutions. I cannot believe it has been a year, or what has happened in that year. Since leaving I have been to Spain, Ghana, moved to Asia and changed career paths!!

Out of all the CCS programs I was never very interested in China or Thailand and had no interest in Asia what so ever! So what do I do... I move to Asia for a year!

I am really excited to visit China. A - to see another part of Asia, I think that South Korea is very erm.. unique.. and it will be interesting to see another part and compare. B- it is nearly 6 months that I will have been here, that is the longest I have been in one spot and not travelled outside the country/state for a LOOOOOONG time. Getting 'cabin fever' slightly so looking forward to travelling.

I also received my placement today! I will be volunteering at a school!

The school was established in 1957. It is located in western part of Xi’an and covers an area of 8,000 square meters. Presently, it accommodates around 2,200 students who are divided into 36 different classes according to their ages.

The content of the volunteer work at School is composed of 3 sections:
l Rehearsal of a short stage play
l Coach the students for an English Recitation Contest
l Judge in the English Recitation Contest

Volunteers help students rehearse the play Monday through Wednesday and the play will be acted on Thursday. The Recitation contest will be on Wednesday and Thursday.

Approximately 30 students from Grade 3 to Grade 6 will take part in the English Recitation Contest. And the volunteers will be divided into 3 groups to help different students with their pronunciation, grammar, and presentation skills if possible. The students can choose either a text from their book, or one of their favorite stories to be the content of their speech. Each student is expected to finish their speech in no more than 4 minutes and it should last no less than 2 minutes.

So on my week off from teaching English, I will be ... teaching English! It is going to be pretty interesting to see the differences between teaching here and in China. For the first time I actually feel qualified for my placement! I remember when I got my placement for Ghana, I was so nervous about teaching!