quick update

It has been awhile since i have posted on here so I thought I would give a little update as to what is happening. This weekend, as you may have seen in earlier posts, we are going to move. It will be good to be able to walk to work. Plus we will be in a more central area of Seoul. But these benefits come at the expense of having real grass close by. Growing up in Canada i have taken real grass for granted. So now we will live away from grass, but closer to work.
We were supposed to have a Koinonia meeting this weekend with our church community, this means a church retreat on saturday night at our pastor's house, but unfortunately he is feeling sick and it has been canceled. So we will use that extra time to pack up.
Spring is almost here and we are excited about the flowers that are about to bloom. Below you will see a tree outside of our office window that is starting to blossom. It should look pretty. Supposedly the cherry blossom trees are really nice in April.
Anyway, things are trucking along here, not too much new.

Weekend Adventures

Two weekends ago Mark and I rented bikes and along with our friend Kwang-kue biked along the Han River in Seoul. Besides it being kind of a windy day and having to dodge many other people on the path it was a great time. It was so wonderful to be on a bike again. I think this is the longest break I have taken from biking since I first started to ride. Oh, I miss my bike! This last weekend Mark and I got up early on Saturday morning (early for a Saturday) and went to an amusement park called Lotte World. It kind of reminded me of Disneyland. As you can see it has the big fairy tale castle and also many people were wearing fake ears. Not mickey mouse ears but other mouse type ears. I don't quite understand the facination of wearing ears but whatever makes people happy.
We had so much fun trying out all of the different rides. We started with the Gyro Drop which you can kind of see on the left in the picture below (we had to pose with the castle). Pretty much you get taken up really high up this poll and then after maybe 2 or 3 seconds they drop you down. What an amazing/awful feeling!
I realized that I really love rides! I don't think I had been on a ride since I was in grade 10 so it was fun. I kind of felt like a little kid with excitment. It's weird how the fairytale land can just suck you in.

speaking of quick changes

Our new apartment has been found! I said things happen fast. It's maybe a bit smaller then our apartment now but still a good size and it's in walking distance from Connexus, 20-30 min. walk! It is also a few minutes from Heather and Joel! We move on March 30th. That's all!
I hope all our readers are doing well. :)

Quick changes

I have been noticing how things change really quickly here. One day there will be a noodle restaurant across the street and the next day it is a clothing store. I don't understand how these places pack up so quickly and then become something new.

Well, Mark and I are kind of experiencing these quick changes as well because yesterday we found out that we will be moving for the second time. If a new apartment is found soon we could be out any time. Our current landlord wants to use our apartment himself and I guess there were some miscommunications with how long we would stay so out we go. We have mixed feelings about this. We've grown to really like our area with the park close by and our little convienence store across the street. We also really like our apartment and I'm afraid that our next place will we be a little box like our last place. But we have been commuting an hour and a half a day and hopfully our new place will be closer to Connexus so that will be really nice...maybe even walking distance.

So that is the newest thing with us....

Foreigner stereotypes

As the title says, this is about some of the stereotypes some of my students have about foreigners in Korea.

Firstly: Spicy Food. I like spicy food. But somehow every time I eat food with my students they all ask, "too spicy?" I usually reply with, "No, i really like spicy food." And their response is usually one of awe and wonder. It doesn't bother me, but often its the same students that I have had for months that are always surprised, even though i have been out with them many times before and they have already asked me many times before if I like spicy food. Sometimes even in one night with two different dishes they will ask me twice if its too spicy.

Secondly: Chopsticks. Usually when I go out with my students and I pick up a set of chopsticks, some of my students are rather impressed that I can use them. They tell me, "its ok we can ask for a fork." Thats when I begin to explain that i have lived here for half a year and can use chopsticks (not in a pretentious way, although when i write it down here it sounds pretentious). Sometimes I wonder how you could live in Korea for 6 months and not know how to use chopsticks since the majority of restaurants will not have forks, but they are still surprised. I think they think that I only eat at western restaurants

Thirdly: the Subway. As mentioned earlier, we have lived here for over six months. I commute to work everyday with the bus and the subway. Sometimes after going out with students they wonder how I will get home and explain how I can use the subway to go home. Again they are shocked at the fact that I can navigate Korean subways, then they try to explain to me how i need to transfer to a different subway line and what i need to do. I am not entirely sure how they think i go home each day.

Anyway, those are some of the things that seem to happen each time I go out with my students.

community meal & a haircut

Once a month the Connexus and KAC community goes out for a meal together. This time we went to this beautiful traditonal Korean restaurant almost outside of Seoul. The food just kept coming...it was pretty tasty...although I have to say I'm not crazy about the seaweed and rice mixture...maybe it will grow on me.
Our group was about 15 and we all squished into our beloved connexus van which does not sit 15...
We all call the van "Cheap Grace." I think the van company name has the word grace in it and the vehicle was bought for a really cheap price, therefore the name Cheap Grace was born. Our first day in Korea Jae Young picked us up in this...it has seen better days...it used to be painted really colorfully...I think it needs that again.
And...I got a haircut. Heather came over on Saturday and chopped off a lot of my hair. Here she is today just touching it up a bit at work.
That is all. Have a wonderful week everyone!