the hotel

AMAZING. We were right downtown by the water and close to everything. We had this crazy view of the beach (they messed up our check-in so we got upgraded from ‘city side’ to ‘beach side’ room). The room is pretty nice, the beds aren’t quite doubles but they’re super comfy so that makes up for it. The bathroom is pretty amazing and the shower and toilet are separate from the sink/get ready area. And it’s an actual tub, like REAL SHOWER sooo excited about that since I haven’t seen one of those in almost 4 months. There are so many extras here too. There’s a gym and pool are they look out onto the beach/boardwalk area. So basically while you’re running on the treadmill you have this amazing view. In that area there is also a whole women and men’s area. The women’s has a sauna, showers, powder room (complete with blow dryers and products), a beauty shop, a ‘sleeping room’ (yes, I’m being serious). It has reclining chairs) and a snack bar. Downstairs (the lobby area) is pretty amazing too. There are 3 restaurants and one of them has breakfast in the morning. We get free breakfast (which is $25/person if you don’t have the coupon thingy btw) and it’s probably the best hotel breakfast I’ve ever had. Huuuge buffet with anything from fruits and salads to omelettes, pancakes, cereal, baked goods and even ‘lunch like’ food (fried veggies, pasta, dumplings...) Mmm and fresh juice, soo delicious. Then when you walk out of the hotel from the beach side, there’s this staircase you can take an underground gym area (yes, another one). This one has squash courts, a mini golf course, an indoor driving range, another (smaller) gym, and a dance studio (for yoga...) with a ping pong table. Oh and there’s also a club in the hotel (although we haven’t been yet, stupid $20 cover). So plenty of things to do around here when we’re not busy exploring the city.











the other gym

















the mini golf course










spontaneous art!















one of the dining areas (aka breakfast place)












the breakfast buffet (i tried to give you an idea about how much food there is but mr. cook kept walking in front of every shot.)
















another bfast buffet shot














one side of the driving range












another dining area






trying to get a shot of our floor number
THIRTEEN!! GAH.








views from outside our room window (one to the beach and the other to the city)

the 'sleeping room'

the 'powder room'

the 'snack bar'

the pool and main workout room (with a view onto the beach)

beach side picture of l'hotel

the lobby

the room

The Reason I Am Quitting Teaching And Becoming A Professional Dancer

Korean New Years and Birthdays: In Pictures.

HAPPY KOREAN NEW YEAR!



















oh look its a life size bon bon..oh no wait. its just me

ps. a teacher at school actually wore this as her wedding dress.


















esther/a bear












Penguin class mid-bow
















the boys practicing their 'big bows'














emily and sonia



















justine in her korean outfit














a kinder birthday celebration!











all the birthday kids with their cards













lucy linda and sam with the bithday food nicely arranged

















esther and her card (one of six) that we made and spent a ridiculous amount of time on















me and a birthday girl (linda) looking not so happy

Which way to the beach

So the journey to Busan (bottom of Korea) started on Wednesday morning. We worked all day Tuesday even though it was Korean New Year and we thought afternoon classes were cancelled. In the morning with the kinder kids they got all dressed up in traditional Korean outfits and we learned how to bow and play a game called ‘Yut’. Also, when we arrived in the morning we were given dresses to put on from the Korean teachers. They were their wedding dresses actually. Mine was bright pink and too short because as I’ve heard too many times ‘you’re very tall’. So basically I looked like a candy (bon bon specifically). Justine had a nice one that was purple’y. So at least the morning was fun. We were slightly disappointed about having to teach the elementary classes since we had the whole afternoon planned to do trip stuff and instead we didn’t end up leaving the school until 7:30pm. The plan was to take the high speed train (KTX) down to Busan, but what we learned on Monday was that it has been sold out for months. The next option was the bus. Although it is not a favourite, it was the only option so we were gonna take it. Then, after Justine did some investigating into it she learned that it might be sold out as well. The plan was to just leave around 9 Wednesday morning and then hopefully catch a bus by noon. However, Ken (our director/boss) informed us on our way out Tuesday night that due to the traffic and because it is ‘high season’ (Lunar New Year), instead of taking 3-4 hours to get there it would be more like 10 because of the traffic on the highways. Devastating news. So we came up with a new plan. This involved going home, packing, doing some laundry and not sleeping. We decided to leave our place around 3:30am and then hopefully catch the first bus at 6. So we were prepping for the trip and since we were given 2 very nice bottles of red wine each and a corkscrew from the school (for the New Year ) we felt the best way to start of the vacay would be to crack one open. Then, Justin Timberlake live at Madison Square Garden came on OnStyle (one of the 5 English channels we get). So we cranked it and pretended we were there. We made it to 3:30 and our clothes had successfully dried on the floor after cooking like chickens because we turned up the heat so high. At 3:30AM, we headed out to find ourselves a cab. We would have called a cab but A) we don’t really have an address and B) we don’t speak Korean. Luckily we found one at the main street not too far away from us. After being scared for our lives due to Mr. Cabby’s (lack of ) driving skills, we made it to the station to find out the ticket windows didn’t open until 5:30 (It was 4:30). So we just chilled and waited (and hunted for the McDonalds bfast). Around 5:15 everyone was lining up to get tickets so we followed and got 2 tickets on the express bus for 7AM!! Not too shabby.
to be contiued...

January: In Review.

So drama plays are in full swing at school. After Christmas break, we reviewed the books for the first week and then started the plays. The drama festival is Feb23 so we've been practicing like crazy all month. Two of the classes (Rabbit and Pooh) are doing Snow White and Penguin class is doing Cinderella. It seems to be going pretty well. Since kids here don't really read, they kinda just memorize things, their reeally good at learning lines quickly. We're just working on teaching them the actions now which has been the most challenging since they don't seem to always understand what we're saying. We've gotten the korean teachers to help us a few times and next week they're gonna help some more. They also have to say speeches so they've been practicing those as well. The highest class (Rabbit) have to do speeches on why they want to be King or Queen so those were pretty fun to help them make. The other kids just kinda have basic ones like my name is, im __ yrs old, my fav colour....Koala class (the youngest) aren't doing a play because it would be too difficult for them (and for us to teach them) and also 2 of the kids from that class are being dwarves in SW so they're just doing easy speeches and then the chicken dance! We're also teaching all the classes the macarana and 'soulja boy' (not sure if you 'older' people have heard of it, but its a hiphop type song that has a dance to go along with it and it will be hiiilarious to see these kids do)..They are doing soo many things. On top of the stuff that Justine and I are doingn with them, they're doing stuff with the Korean teachers too. Like yoga and a sign language song, some korean songs and dances, more speeches in korean..so they definitely expect a lot from these kids. I'm excited to see how it all turns out though, they ordered costumes and stuff for the plays (and for the dances) so it should be VERY cute. I think they made a video of it last year so I'll make sure to send one once its finished. The reason for the festival is because a lot of the (kinder) kids are leaving/graduating so its kind of like their end of year thing. After the festival, theres a graduation ceremony and awards and stuff so it should be a fun day/night! It's gonna be sad to see (most of them) them go though since the older ones are the ones we got pretty close to. Last week was the end of the month testing and since we're doing story books now with elementary kids, we got to go into the playroom and they presented in front of some of the other classes..the way the stories work are there is a story part of the book and then 4 acts. they have to memorize the 4 acts and then everyone in the class gets a part and they present it and get marked on how well they know it and their actions and speaking skills..it went pretty well this month and we're doing it again this month so im sure it will be even better. i have puss in boots, alice in wonderland, and two others i cant remember hahha.
Next week is a short week which is pretty fantastic. Tomorrow (Monday) is a full day and then Tuesday is Korean New Years so the kinder kids are doing some sort of traditional ceremony and they wear these dresses and stuff so we have that in the morning and then no afternoons classes (we hope. since we found this out from some students that translated the newsletter for us and not our boss). So there's the ceremony and then rehearsal for the plays and then home time (hopefully). anddd we have the rest of the week off because its Lunar New Year! WoooT! So on Wednesday we're heading to the bottom of Korean to a place called Busan. We're visiting some friends down there and going to explore a new city since we haven't really left the Seoul area since we've been here. It's supposed to be warmer there so hopefully its at least warmer than it is here. Not that it's reeally that cold here it would just be nice to have some hot weather.

So hopefully you've seen the pictures I posted Friday and you noticed there was a Costco trip. I was pretty much ectatic to hear that there was a Costco here. The first week of Jan, we ventured out to pick up a 'few things'. It turned into a four hour adventure and I was soo happy since they had some things that we can't find anywhere else here. Like for example, cheese. Can you imagine your life without cheddar cheese? Because I can't. I didn't appreciate/eat enough of it before I left Canada not knowing that I would be without it for 3months. Thank God they had huuge blocks of it there (it's pretty much gone now though, good thing we're heading back in a couple weeks). Also found a DVD player there ..they have them at the stores here but the cheapest is like $70. which is ridiculous considering you can get them for $30 at home. It's weird how some things here are soo much cheaper and then random things are wayy more expensive.
Anyway, that was the Costco trip. One weekend we headed back to Dongdamun for a lil shop shop and I found myself a pair of glasses. You will not believe the price I got them for (unless my mom told you already). $60!!! The frames were 20 and then the lenses were 60 since my prescription is so high. But these were the thinnest, scratch proof lenses and if I got the $60 ones he would give me everything for 60. This also included my eye exam since I obviously lost the paper with my prescription on it. And it took a total of ....10minutes! I waited there while this machine cut the lenses and he put everything together (I'll post of pics of them at a later time). So basically, I'm gonna be coming home with about 10 pairs of glasses because they are one of my new favourite accessories (along with purses and headbands of course). Another example of something super cheap here that's crazy expensive in Canada.

On Sunday 'mornings' we've started the tradition of going to Itaewan to get some breakfast at the Canadian bar since it is the only place we've discovered so far that serves actual breakfast. A couple weekends ago it was the football playoffs (we obviously had no clue) and the place was jam-packed when we got there so we shared a table with these people from the states. The guy happened to be the GM of Samsung (major major company here in Korea, along with LG) Engineering. He was super nice and actually paid for our breakfast. Definitely a good person to know so we planned on keeping in touch when he gave us his card. We were there again last weekend and he was there too so we said hi and then went to eat (it wasn't packed since i guess the playoffs were over? haha and yes i know the superbowl is tonight). He was just there reading at the bar so we didnt really want to disturb him but then the waitress came over to tell us that he had paid for our meal, again! Soo nice and obviously not necessary at all. so from now on he is referrred to as the 'NYC connection' since he could potentially hook us up with jobs there! hahah dont laugh, i dream big. We saw him there again today so as long as we keep up the connection (he's here until sept.) im still gonna think theres chance for potential jobs. The reason for todays trip there was not only for breakfast but because they were playing a hockey game! Toronto versus Ottawa to be exact! So obviously we were both super stoked to see that. Turns out, at 2pm nothing came on so I asked the waitress and apprently they couldnt get a signal so no game :(. slightly devastating but luckily i cheated (won't do it again though, maybe i jinxed it) and checked the final score before i left the house so i knew who won..yaaa toronto!
Besides shopping, Costco and breakfast, the weekends in January have been filled with mostly Monkey beach on Sat nights. I posted some pictures of it so as you can see it filled with glow stick glasses. Lots of fun! Last weekened we were there and there was a suprise fire show on the stage! We have some friends in that area (the rodeo area) so we usually just meet up with them and there.
Oh. Also at the beginning of the month I got a gym membership. The gym is on the path toward work and home and so i can go after work which is fanstastic. This is not any regular gym, its Korean-style hahah. First of all, you get uniforms to wear. Fluorescent green tshirts and black shorts. Not the most attractive outfit but it makes it easier than bringing your own. They also have flatscreens on every treadmill and there’s a ton of them so theres never not one available. There’s an upstairs and downstairs. Upstairs has the all the weight equipment and the rock climbing wall and sauna. Downstairs has the cardio machines, the changeroom and the massage chairs (!!!)...that’s right, massage chairs with a remote that you can change the settings with..and there’s a leg massager too! Im not sure how I'm going to be able to deal with 'regular' gyms when I go home. I'll take some pictures and post them!
that's all for now, i must straighten my newly blond (again) hair!
love and miss you
meg
xoxo



ps. last friday was the birthday party for the Jan/Feb kinder birthday kids so I'll post some pictures of that in the next couple days

January Pictures

Ice festival in Seoul!















Found some glow stick glasses :)

















My new desk (in the teachers room). Look how much space I have :S...if only that shelf would move so i could fit my head in my space.
















Gangsta!












Ice festival mastcot





















extensions!
















Monkey beach!














Tasty snack of dried octopus leg. mmmm













Typical street in Seoul

















Cool building.. also my bank.































Check out the piano!










Costco in Korea!













This ones for you Grandma and Grandpa :)

Woodbridge vino (in Costco, haha)











Busy, busy Costco



















Canadian Maple Syrup! (check out the price though, almost $30!!!)

...mom, add it to the list please :)











uh oh...Costco = trouble
(we found a 'few' things)