The conveniences of a key...

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April 10, 2009
Well, here we are again! The weather is getting amazingly warmer, we only have two and a half more months of school - life is good! Today we are on our way to the airport to pick up my (Amy’s) sister who is coming to visit for 2 weeks! We are going to pack those 2 weeks with as much as you can see/do in Seoul, South Korea, so stay tuned for the next blog!
A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to one of our co-workers baby’s first birthday. It was actually incredibly interesting as Korea celebrates babies so differently! I think after the baby is born, they don’t leave the house for something like the first 100 days, so that the baby doesn’t get sick. Then, in increments throughout the year (I don’t know the numbers, like 100 days, 150 days, 200 days... etc) the baby goes for their special photo shoots. Finally, at one year of age, they throw this incredibly huge birthday party. The funny thing is the party actually reminded me a lot of a wedding reception! There was a table set up with all the ‘photo shoots’ from throughout the year, there were draws for prizes, there were ‘goodie bags’ to take home, there was a full steak meal (which the mother and father of the baby paid for ), and there was even a slide show of the baby’s life so far! It was crazy! The parents and baby were even dressed to the nines, the mom had gotten her hair done and the baby was wearing a little suit. I don’t even want to think about how much that party must have cost the parents... All I can say is I’m glad we don’t do parties like that at home - we wouldn’t be able to afford kids!
Mike and I were able to venture out to Insadong that weekend also. Insadong is a place in Seoul that has more traditional arts and paintings and such. We will definitely be shopping there before we go home! It was great though, there are so many colourful, silk products and rice paper and souvenirs, it’s almost overwhelming.
The weekend after, I went to a ‘Foreigners Flee Market’ with the girls from work. I have no idea why it was called the ‘Foreigners Flee Market’ but it was like a thrift heaven! There was piles and piles of purses and sunglasses and pretty much any trinket you could want. Some stuff was used, some was new... I think. It was really neat to see - definitely a do over!
Every once in a while we have to laugh at how things are done in Korea. As spring is coming, more and more construction is happening. First of all, you know those people who stand at construction sites with the reflective vest and hold the signs for you to watch out for construction? Well, Korea has those... only they’re not people... they’re mannequins. It’s this plastic guy with an arm that waves a reflective stick to warn you there’s construction. I’ve got to get a pic of that before we leave! The absolute best part about Korean construction is they do it with absolutely no interruptions in their normal life. For example, the other day, when I was walking my students to their buses across the street, our street in front of the school was being paved. Well, the construction was happening full bore on the street, but the street was not closed. No, instead, cars just drove around the machine. On any given day you could walk down the street and there might be a guy welding on the side of the road, no safety whatsoever. Or, you should see their lifts for plywood! It’s a crane ladder looking thing that lifts plywood up flights on apartment buildings. They don’t shut streets down or strap down the plywood, people just walk right underneath the crane/ladder thing. I guess there are so many people that live here, that they just can’t afford to shut down streets or sidewalks to do construction. Still weird though.
Well, it’s story time. First a story about Mike. The day that I went to the foreigner’s flee market, Mike was planning on staying home and getting some stuff done around the house. He was actually supposed to clean the house while I was gone. So in Korea, we don’t really use keys to get into the doors of apartments, they are all key codes. There is a key for emergencies, but I usually have it. So I left for the day and Mike decided to order McDonalds. He needed something to drink, so he (in his t-shirt, sweats and slip on shoes - in pretty cold weather) ran down to the bottom of the building to grab a drink. He comes back up to our door and opens the keypad to enter our code and - - - blanks. He couldn’t remember the code! The keypad is funny because it only lets you try a code 3 times and then it kicks you out for 10 minutes. So, Mike is standing outside of our door, trying different codes he thinks it is, and taking 10 minute breaks in between. In between he tried to run up a few floors and down a few floors to other teachers houses, but no one was home. You see the thing was, he just needed to call me to get the code... but you guessed it! The phone was on the table inside the house. So meanwhile, he’s standing outside the door waiting for the 10 minutes to pass so he can try again, and he hears our doorbell going on inside the house. It’s the McDonalds guy standing at the bottom of the building, wanting to get in. He can’t go down to meet the guy cause how does he know it’s Mike’s McDonalds, but he can’t let the guy in from outside our apartment... Finally the McDonalds guy gets in somehow and brings Mike his meal - luckily he had his wallet! That could have been disastrous! Unfortunately our neighbours were moving in next door, so there were moving guys putting together furniture in the hallways so Mike decided to bring his lunch elsewhere. He decided - sure, it looks nice out, I’ll take my lunch and eat it out on the bench outside. He sits down, and quickly realized that it was definitely not t-shirt weather. So here’s this white guy, sitting on a park bench with a t-shirt on, shivering from the cold, and eating his McDonalds. I would’ve paid to see it. He takes one bite of his McDonalds and by this time it’s ice cold. He threw it in the garbage and went back to the code. Finally he decided he would take the subway to E-mart (like Wal-mart). He needed a suit, so he wasted some time picking out a suit. Okay, to most this wouldn’t be funny, but it’s like Wal-mart remember. So it’s like going to Wal-mart and buying your outfit for a wedding... you just don’t do it! But, it turns out the suit is actually pretty nice, and he got to waste a bit of time in a warm place. He got home and finally our friend was home for Mike to borrow his phone. He was able to call me and I gave him the code. He finally got home after being locked out for 5 hours! Oh I couldn’t help but laugh at him after I got home.
I am doing a survivor theme in my classroom to encourage the kids to help each other more and work as a team. My first group won and I decided to give them popsicles as a treat. So, I went to the store, bought 7 popsicles of the same kind and brought them to school. At recess, I got the kids to stay in, and proudly brought out the popsicles. I was expecting excited grins, but instead I got hesitation... and ... “um, Mrs. C? I don’t like that kind...” It turns out I bought my kids the red bean popsicle. The really healthy one that tasted like nasty. I guess that’s what you get for not being able to read the package. My kids were real sports though, they tried to eat a bit before I tried it myself and quickly got them to throw it in the garbage it was so gross. It actually had whole beans in it! Yuck. It was funny, I have this one ‘absent minded professor’ like kid, and he’s just in his own little world, eating the whole thing, going on about how much he likes them. Well at least I made someone happy! One of the kids drew me a picture of a good popsicle to get for the next day. It’s amazing what kind of help you can get from grocery store workers when you have a picture.
The grade 3 teacher that we work with was pregnant and finished work on March 31. She wasn’t due until April 25th, but on April 1st her water broke and she had a C-section. Poor lady on had a day off of work and her baby was born April 2nd. We got to go visit her and the baby. The mom is Korean- Canadian and the dad is Korean, so the baby was the cutest little 5 pound, eight ounce Korean girl you’ve ever seen!
We finally got our contracts for next year this past week, so we’ll keep you posted on the results. Well, I guess that’s about it for now. Hope you are all loving life to the fullest and finding time to relax with family and friends. We miss you all very much and can’t wait to see you again.

Until next time.

Mike and Amy

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