Annyong haseyo? (Hello, how are you?)

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HEY HEY HEY...

So we know its been a little while since the last posting and we apologize for that and hopefully you've hung with us!! We have been a bit busy tying up some loose ends and exploring around our area and the neighboring city, Busan. But here we go...

So Danielle managed to get her bags back in one piece, they arrived 2 days ago at my school unharmed (but have probably seen more of the world than we have). So now the mission is to see if there is any compensation for our missed flights and inconvenience of lost luggage, we figure there is no harm in trying.
We finally headed to Busan with our Korean co-teachers and got our quarantine health checks done (talk about wild)... in about 15min time we were rushed around a medical center in Busan getting our heart rates and blood pressure taken, urine samples, blood samples, height and weight, eye and ear exams, chest x-rays and who knows what else. Of course the urine sample was the most interesting part. They give you a cup with no lid and send you down the hall (of course not wanting to spill your golden goods all over the floor on the way back you stand there asking for a lid 20-30 times before you realize you are not getting one). So you wander down the hall to a washroom off the side of the office and to your behold you find a hole in the floor where you are supposed to the deed (for a visual reference think of a small urinal 6 - 8 inches in diameter placed on its back side with the bottom facing away from you). Yup, thats right... the boys trusted their aim (imagine how well that goes when some know that a 16inch hole in a giant toilet is hardly successful for many) and the ladies hovered off the floor (of course they were separate washrooms, but according to Danielle it was the same kind of toilet). After all is said and done and you have you fear you will have to carry this cup all the way back to the office with no spills you find a small oven like door in the bathroom that appears to be built to detonate small nuclear weapons, in here you place your sample, and behold on the other side is the same technician that you spoke to in the office. So all and all the rest of it was a decent experience, they way they do the health check is so quick and efficient that I would totally urge Canada to do some research.



Although everything is working out great for us, we have run into a few snags over the last few days. Yesterday, Danielle and I headed out by ourselves on the subway for the first time back into Busan to pick up our health checks and make our way to the immigration office to finally get our Alien Registration Cards. Busan is one giant city, however we made our way... stood in line anxious to finally get our status only to find out that we can come back and pick it up in 15 days. Why does this suck so much you ask.... WELL, without the ID card, we are unable to sign up for anything including our salary, bank account, cell phone account, internet account (currently we are "borrowing" the unsecured signal from somewhere in the area but it is very weak and sometimes we have no internet at all), and any other account that would be necessary to do what we would like to do, so that kind of brings us to a stand still for a few weeks.
On the other hand, we stopped for our first successful restaurant dining experience. We ate a little place that had some pictures of meat and we thought we should go for it. Being as clueless as we are, we had to ask the waiter to instruct us on how to eat our meal. It cost about $20 (20000Won) and we sat at a table with a small hibatchi grill and BBQ'd some duck, ribs, pork, onions, garlic, other things we can't name. Of course we chose to select chop sticks as our cutlery (even though the waiter witnessed us struggling through the entire meal and offered a fork about 5 times, finally he gave Danielle a pair of wooden chop sticks in which they probably give to children in hopes of making the task easier, it did not!) So all in all, our meal was delicious... our bill was brought to our table about half way through and that was that! However, being the kind people we are and knowing that tips are not expected, we figured leaving a few dollars for the ever so helpful waiter would be a good idea. WRONG... 30sec after we leave the manager has run out the doors catching us on the street letting us know that we had left too much cash for the price of the bill. After a few min of coaxing him to believe it was alright and we appreciated the meal, he left with a slight hint of dissatisfaction but thankful none the less. After all that we jumped on the subway and headed home.

TODAY... well today Danielle has her first teaching day. All shined up and ready to go at 8:25am she headed off to school accompanied by the butterflies in her stomach.. so much like you guys, we'll all have to wait and see how it goes... I'm lucky, I don't start until Monday.

So for now, I think I will end it there... I will write a blog about this so called "Active Yangsan" either today or this weekend. I have posted a few pics up from our trip to Busan yesterday and some night life pics in Yangsan so please take a peak.

Peace out for now homies.. .. we miss and love you guys!

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Photos

Screen Golf
We assume this is an indoor golf place... its about a block away from us. We have yet to indulge

Photo 1
A building near our house. There are a few restaurants and some convenience stores... everything goes up!

Photo 2
just some downtown pics

Photo 2
we figure this is a bar..???

Photo 3
some restaurants

Photo 3
Yangsan tower from afar

Photo 4
Another view of yangsan tower... the colours are spectacular up close

Photo 8
a different colour

Traffic
Yup... we have yet to find any logic in traffic laws... everyone does as they please... motorcycles on sidewalks and all cars get the right of way.. LOOK OUT

Water Park
The entrance to the water park a few blocks from home

More water park
The water falls at the entrance of the park change through various colours

Photo 9
The main walk way to the big show...

Photo 10
The darkness helps show the colours of the tower, it changes periodically

The big show
The water show that goes to the beat of music (mostly english songs) I'll post a video as well

Sports complex
The is a soccer stadium across from the medical center

Photo 2
Beside the stadium there are a bunch of smaller venues.

Comments

[mike dano]

Bulgogi/Bimimbap
We have yet to try either of those dishes, but I asked my co-teacher a good restaurant where we can find them..I am anxious to try them because I think we will really like it! It's so hard to tell what a restaurant serves when nothing is in English! The pictures of cows or pigs helps a bit, haha, but it seems we'll have to keep searching! I'll keep ya posted!

[Dawn and Jeff]

How did it go?
Hey Danielle, how did your 1st day go? You guys are so brave to be trying out the restaurants - I would be scared to death of what I was eating!! I can't believe the mountain you climbed - looks beautiful! Keep us posted!

[Catherine]

And the fun begins! Woohoo! Sites are GORGEOUS!! And Danielle, you get to use a stick in class?! K guys, you have YET to describe what the air smells like! ;) I'm trying to live vicariously through you here, sheesh! j/k LOL (err... but seriously... i would be most thrilled if you could update me with all 5 senses. you can email it if it seems too lame to blog. i'm weird, i know. :p)

[Andrew Jacobs]

AND YOU THINK YOUR EXAM WAS WILD...
So i recently loved to Yangsan from Cape town South Africa to tutor English at a well known talking club, and the pictures you have posted are what i walk passed daily!...im living right opposite Yangsan University hospital(the huge orange light with the double ii's at the top)...getting to the point so i recall in Middle school we did Physical ed but nothing could prepare m for my med exam lol. i went to the same hospital you did opposite the soccer stadium and did the hieght,eye and x-ray(with my boxers still on may i add) lol so after this 15 mins of bieng a lab rat im given an ear-bud so naturally i think they want maybe ear-wax are to rub it in my mouth for DNA (too much CSI) but not even the years of P.e could prepare mw for this hold your breath what i too least expected... this device had to be inserted into my rectum for shit (At this point iwas ready to re-board and fly 25 hours back home)...so i too wandered down the hall-way with shit on an earbud...disgusting! A beer much needed after that, i simply thought maybe these people know us foreigners come there and they should see what they can come up with to lol... but the cherry on the cake is yet to come...im sitting at the blood pressure machine and the director looks at me and due to the language barrier just has a constant smile..but she comes around and asks me blatently "so you don't have AIDs right?" LOL was my response i mean yes i am South African but gees lady that was harsh...for more info on things to do and great escapes in Iteawon Seoul and strip joints 30 mins from Yangsan in Busan drop me a mail [e-mail]

[Lauren]

Hi-
Hello! I live in your apartment now! It was weird to see the pictures but you took some good ones so now I can be lazy and not post them myself :-) They have all talked about you and said you are traveling now. Hope you had a good trip. Thanks for your blog, it has given me some good ideas about where to go down here ( I taught in Seoul the last time around)