First Day

So... first day is done!

I haven't sat in one spot for this long for quite a while. I can understand my students now... how restless they must get.

I woke up at 8am. Had a shower.

8:30 we had breakfast. Fruit bowl with watermelon and dragon fruit with some yogurt on top, banana pancakes and a fried egg on the side. It's not as much as it sounds because they were really small portions. It was just perfect actually.

Then I went back to my room and read on my awesome Kindle for a while.

At 10:30 we had a one time introduction meeting where we were told when we'd be teaching and some other useful information.

Lunch was from 1pm to 2pm. We had a really nice Pad Thai dish.

Then we were split into 2 groups :(. I'm a bit sad about that because I was really curious to observe some peoples classes that now are in the other group and I won't get to watch them teach.

At 6pm, the Thai students came. It was very exciting, for me anyways. I think some of the teachers were a bit nervous.

We observed our instructor teach. It was AMAZING!! The level of teaching and interaction and style was not even comparable to anything you would be doing in Korea. Not even close!!

Around 7:30pm we got a chance to talk to the students 2 at a time. WOW! Such nice and enthusiastic and interesting people. I talked to these two girls, one name Care and the other Ning. Super cute. We hit it off right away. We were supposed to ask each other questions but it was such a nice connection that we just hit it off and started talking. Their comprehension was outstanding!!! Anyways, they asked for my name, I asked for their names. After a while of laughing and chitchatting, they asked me if I have a Thai name. After they explained to me what they were trying to say, they gave me a Thain name. It was soooo cute!!

So, my Thai name is Malai, which means Jasmine flower in Thai.

I think this is going to be an amazing teaching experience!

We finished at 8pm, after which we all rushed to go have dinner.

I was talking to this one lady, Sarah, and we had decided to go for an 1 hour walk each morning. Considering we'd been sitting all day, we decided to go for a walk in the evening as well, but only for today.

It was beautiful. I was glad to spray myself from head to toe with mosquito repellent though. I could feel them flying around all over the place.

So, now it's 10pm, I need to go take a cold shower, and go finish one of the assignments.

My first teaching practice will be on Wednesday and I'll be doing grammar.

WISH ME LUCK!!

New people

So, everyone arrived today.

There are some interesting people...

A few of them are actually teaching in Korea as well. What a small world.

From what they are saying, it sounds like they are having a better experience with their life in Korea, mind you, it might be just their way of impressing people or making their own situation sound good. Who knows.

I also know that I'm not there for the teaching anymore, while all these people, considering that we are all at a CELTA course to improve our teaching abilities, are still interested in teaching.

It's funny to listen to some of them talk. Talk too much. I'm not saying much. I just want to observe for a while.

Tomorrow the course starts. We got our binders with the outline and assignments.

We also went to TESCO. Mainly to get supplies, but I had no idea what to get. I have a notebook, and a pen. What else would I need?

I did buy 3 cans of mosquito spray. They are insane here. Doesn't help that we are right beside a lake either. So I've got to make sure to lather up.

I think maybe in 2 weeks I'll do another shopping trip, to buy some other things that I didn't decide I needed this time.

My room is nice. I've got air conditioner. It's sooooo nice to sleep in a cool room. I wonder how Abby is coping with the Korean heat.

Early

It's only 2:40pm here. It feels more like 6pm.

I'm tired but if I go to bed now I won't wake up any time soon, and then I won't be able to sleep tonight.

I don't have enough mosquito spray with me. I think I'll be OK though. I think tomorrow, when everyone arrives, we'll go into town together and buy supplies and other things we need.

I was having dinner and I got bit 3 times on my elbow. And that was just in the span of 10 minutes.

I feel odd here. I don't know what to expect. I have no expectations actually.

I feel like a fake. I'm not really a teacher, I just do it because it's a good job.

I hope I learn how to be a better teacher here. I hope they can tell me what I do wrong and how to fix it.

I hope I'll have more energy tomorrow.

I had a bee in my room. I was incredibly brave. I didn't kill it, but I slowly opened the window and shooed it out. Whoa!! I don't think I want to open the window for a while now.

Well, I think I'm going to go lay down and read a bit, maybe have a nap.

Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I want to write more. I feel I've been neglecting this blog. I need to write more, so here I am :). Writing more.

I hope my sis is having a good time in Seoul, and that she's managing OK without getting lost or frustrated.

Arrived

I finally arrived.

It's beautiful here.

The property of this place is huge, complete with a lake in the middle filled with gigantic catfish.

I'm the first one to arrive. Everyone is supposed to arrive tomorrow. It's not a problem though. They set up my room in very little time, and I was amazed by it's size. I've got a KING sized bed. A shower, air conditioner, fan, desk, big mirror, big closet. I even have a small fridge and a TV. I'm not planning to watch any TV, but it's just nice to see one there.

There is wireless, which is nice. The plug to my computer works perfectly with these plugs here :).

I'm a bit overwhelmed. I want to walk around, but I also want to just lay down and pass out, and I also want to find a nice place and continue reading.

I was in the airport all night and between freezing and not being too comfortable with the seats, I managed to finish an entire book. I already started the next one :).

My English is not what it used to be so I want to read read READ!!!

Well, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Still waiting

I managed to find an empty bench to stretch out and sleep for a few hours.

The airports are all so cold... why???

A few more hours and I can fly out to Chiang Mai :).

Then sleeeeeeeeep!!

And maybe a foot massagee.

Taipei

So, I'm in Taipei.

On my laptop again! SO COOL!!

It's freezing. Why is it always so cold? It's the middle of an immensely hot summer and I'm wishing I had a big fuzzy sweater to snuggle into!

That's just not right!

So, a couple more hours and I'll be in Bangkok.

I'll get there at 22:40, and the next day at 8:05 is my flight to Chiang Mai. I'd probably could have taken a night bus or something, but it would have been less comfortable and probably very cold as well. They like to blast the air conditioners everywhere.

So, the flight will only take 1 hour, and it was less than 100,000won.

Aight, back on the plane we go :).

Airport

I'm in the airport waiting to fly to Thailand.

I still have about 1 hour to wait until boarding time.

This is the first time I've brought my laptop with me outside of my home. It's quite amazing. This is what it's actually intended for, not to just sit on my desk at home.

I've got free wireless, although I could do the same with my new Kindle :). That little machine is amazing as well.

I'm feeling pretty sad though. My sister and we went our separate ways today at 12:30. She went to take a bus tour of Downtown Seoul. I had to go take the subway to the bus terminal to go to the airport. Very anticlimactic. I didn't cry there. I didn't really have time. I could feel the tears coming. Thankfully the bus came she had to go and get on. But from noon until now, 4:17pm, I've felt tears trying to come through.

It was so nice to have her here. I miss that kind of caring and love and attention and sharing and closeness.

Well, Skype is always there and we can always talk.

It was just so nice to have her there, even though it was for a very short time.

Love you sis.

Sujata and Sandra last visit

This was in June, before my vacation. I went down to Gwangju, which is about 6 hours by bus from my town. I took the bus. It was a loooooooong ride. It was worth it though. I got to spend a wonderful weekend with two amazing ladies. Sujata from the States, and Sandra from Tasmania.
We had lots of wine, had a wonderful picnic, went to a local foreigner bar and met some other cool people there. And then we said goodbye.
Who knows if we’ll see each other again.

Here are some of the wonderful pictures of the wonderful memories :)

It was a very short weekend, but so worth it!

What I want

After I come back to Canada and finish teachers college, I want to take 1 or 2 years and:

- learn quilting

- learn glass blowing

- learn bushcraft

- work on a horse ranch

- plant trees

- learn to cook real well

- help build a building

- pose for a nude painting at a studio

- learn to chop wood

- learn to make a fire

- visit my friends in Germany, England, US, Australia

- make my own fishing rod and go on a fishing trip

- learn about edible mushrooms and other plants

- find a man who can be part of this

Western Food

It's the end of the month again.

As usual, I'm down to no money.

This month I'm also down to no food. No fresh food that is.

It's been some time since I was able to just buy something that I really wanted to eat. Something healthy, something delicious, something that reminded me of home, something western.

It's the end of the month again.

On Friday I'm getting paid, and I have to decide how much money I will invest on food for this month.

I have to decide how many wester/expensive things I will indulge in this month.

Will I buy some cheese? Some sour cream? Some dill pickles?

What I would really like is some pudding. Some delicious vanilla pudding. And some salami. Oh...

I would like to make healthy food a priority.

I would like not to feel sad when I look in my fridge.

I would like not to feel homesick when I think about good food.

But...

All of this is my choice.

For now, I can just close my eyes and fantasize about walking into a big grocery store in Canada with a big shopping cart, $100 in my pocket and an appetite. Walking up and down the isles, looking at all the variety of awesome things, the yogurt, the meat, the cheese, the fresh produce, the snacks, the junk on the impulse racks. The colourful boxes and packages. The sale price tags. The samples in the bakery area. The people with super full carts. The people picking through the produce for the best and least bruised. The misters spraying the veggies to stay fresh.

All those wonderful things that I used to take for granted.

I can just dream for now :).