Hello from Ho Chi Mihn City

Hello everyone. Dave saying hello from Vietnam via my iPod... We leave for Nha Trang at 6am... We have tons of pics. Hope everyone had a good Xmas!!

5 Month Milestone Reached / T-Minus 12 hours to NAM

We are about 12 hours until we take our train up to Seoul for the trip to Vietnam. It is finally here! We also reached the five month milestone today. We arrived in Yeosu on July 24th, and will be here until July 31st, 2009 (working at least). It is also Christmas Eve. We had to work today, which wasn't too difficult since we did mainly Christmas activities, but we took our middle school students out for a party day. We went bowling for about an hour and a half (after we were supposed to be finished for the day). Neither Megan or I minded. The kids absolutely loved bowling. Two of them had bowled a few times before, and two of them were having their first time bowling. For the first game the kids were cheering 4/5 pin throws like they were a strike. It was a lot of fun. It is also rewarding to give those kids a break from studying. They go to school all the time, and if not they are in after school hagwons. The South Korean educational system is so competitive, but it really breaks the kids spirits, sometimes.

We are packing tonight, then getting up at about 6AM to get in touch with some of the family on Christmas Eve... From there we leave at 11:30AM from the train station (two blocks from our house). We arrive in Seoul (Yeongdeungpo-gu) at about 4:30PM, then at some point we take a bus over to Incheon. I think we will stick around in Seoul for just a bit to get some western food for our Christmas dinner. The next morning we are off to Vietnam!! I will try and get online at least once or twice in Vietnam, and post on the blog... or at least email. In the mean time you can check out the weather in Nha Trang Merry Christmas Eve!!! Happy New Year!

Yeosu Christmas Party / Oyster Dinner

Modeling our X-mas sweaters.


Hello blogosphere. Dave here. I really thought I'd crank out a few more blogs in December, but we got pretty busy. We are three work days from leaving Yeosu for a week. I've been really busy working on various things outside of work. Planning, web development, etc, so this time has been flying by. We haven't even started packing for Vietnam yet, but we are only bringing one bag and one backpack between us, so we will be traveling quite light. I think that we'll buy a lot of cheap stuff in Vietnam, and maybe even a second bag if we get enough! We have to use backpacks because everyone travels by motorbike in 'Nam, so luggage does not fit that system well. By looking forward to this trip I think both Megan and I overcame the burn out we had been experiencing at the start of the month. When you talk to other teachers, everyone goes through it. You get sick of the teaching hours, the students, the often confusing (by Western standards) communication of superiors, and other random problems that come up. This vacation is really coming at the perfect time. Jeff has said that it will be like a reset switch has been hit, and you can roll through work for another few months. I am looking forward to that.


동침 Dong Chim!!

This weekend was the Yeosu (foreigner) Christmas Party. Megan and I decided to find some nice Christmas sweaters to wear. They actually turned out pretty well, but I had to cut the turtle neck off of my sweater with a scissors! The party was at the same place as the Halloween party - "Ebada". Some people in town set up a really cool deal with a local orphanage. The "cover charge" for the party was either a gift for the kids, or a donation. A lot of people were also going to the Orphanage on Christmas day to give the presents and play games with the kids, but for obvious reasons we couldn't make it. We sang some Christmas carols, and had some delicious egg nog. I never knew egg nog was so good! I provided the party music again, and I think that went pretty well... As far as satisfying the tastes of people from 5/6 countries can go.



This evening we took a short trip out to Man-sang-ri beach to have a meal of FRESH oysters. They catch them in the morning, and serve them in the evening. Jeff paid for the entire Kim family to eat out. That was really nice of him. The oysters tasted GREAT. Basically the server puts a big plate of oysters over a flame on your table, and you just take them and eat them. You wear a handsome white glove to grab the boiling hot oyster, and then pry it open (if it is still closed) with a knife and scrape it out. I had raw oysters before which were OK, but cooked are great. It also speaks volumes to how my food pallet has increased. When I first got here I don't think there would be much of a chance that I'd try a food like that. I would NEVER had considered it back at home. Nowadays I didn't even give it a second thought - because it's so good!! I think my tastes have changed just a bit from when I've left. I mean I even (sort of) like Kimchi now and Megan loves it!



Well, we have a few pictures from both the oysters and the Christmas party, so check them out. I am looking forward to warm weather, and hopefully checking out some interesting sites while we are in Nam, so expect some blogging!

Merry Christmas everyone. We miss you so much! I hope to hear from each and everyone who reads the blog!! Trust me, even a one or two sentence comment or email makes our day.

Happy Holidays - enjoy the pictures!!!

Happy Holidays!!

Merry Christmas everyone! Here are the latest pics! I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season and enjoying yourselves. I didn’t think I would miss being home as much as I have lately. I thought that with our Vietnam trip and the lack of Christmas celebration here I wouldn’t be homesick, but that’s not the case. I miss being home during this time of year, I even miss the snow (just the pretty stuff not all the storms). I miss the cookies, the songs, the feeling you get from being with family and friends. I miss the Christmas Eve parties, Christmas day food, and the Christmas Story movie marathon, haha. I’m lucky that I have Dave here to keep my spirits up. I’m also glad that at the Nareabong (singing room/Karaoke) they have Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You,” which I can’t sing but love trying. We are also very lucky for the wonderful x-mas packages sent to us, thank you to all of our families! My mom sent Dave and I a singing snoopy and another dog for our classrooms and the kids love them! The kids are so entertained by the movement and music, they think it’s the best thing in the world. Dave’s mom sent us a couple of Christmas books one being The Night Before Christmas which has wonderful illustrations. When I read the story, even to the “bad” classes, the students listened in silence while gazing at the pictures. Dave and I are really excited to take out our middle schoolers on Christmas Eve. Instead of class we are taking them bowling so that should be a lot of fun. I don’t even know if any of them have ever been bowling before. These kids definitely deserve a little fun because all they do is study. When asked “what will you do on Christmas, you have no school or Academy” the response is “study.” You can just tell how stressed and tired they are even before they talk. I can’t wait to see their reactions.

I’ll give you a little update about our Vietnam trip, but look forward to a very long blog entry about it when we get back. We are leaving on Christmas day to spend five long hours on a train to get to Seoul where we will meet up with Jeff and Hyegyong. We will most likely have a fun night in Seoul (including a western style meal!) and then hop on a plane the next morning where our destination is Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). We will spend a few days there in 80 degree weather sightseeing and shopping. Then we are off to Nha Trang to spend the remainder of our trip lying on the beach and possibly scuba diving???! Overall, our trip is ten days long. We are going to spend Christmas and New Years in Vietnam, that pretty cool! I think this trip will be relaxing and hopefully re-energizing at the same time because when we get back from Vietnam Dave and I have a full schedule at the Hagwon with winter camp. We will be working in the morning and in the evenings, and even though it will be long and tiring it will hopefully bring in some extra money for our next trip

Here are a few pictures of the snow in Yeosu (it only lasted for about 10 minutes), and some Noreabong action. I’m really starting to like this Noreabong idea, I wish there was something similar back in the states. It’s a great workout too because all I end up doing is dancing, haha. This also might seem a little random but living over here where I have to speak so literally I feel like I am losing my vocabulary or that it is just getting rusty. Sometimes when I write or say a word I haven’t used in a long time it strikes me as being incorrect. I am so used to speaking as little as possible to my students, keeping my sentences short, simple and to the point so they can understand. Back home I could use complex words without thinking about their meaning because it was natural, but over here I think about the meanings of words much more (even small words). It is a really strange sensation when you are speaking to think consciously about the words you are saying. Languages and communication can be kinda crazy sometimes, haha!

Well sorry for that random thought but I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Years. Dave and I appreciate all of your love and support. Keep up the e-mails and comments we love hearing from you. See you all next year!


Dave wishes they had this one at noraebong.

December Above Freezing? MC Mong!

Suncheon Bay...


Being (almost) born and raised in Minnesota, I know December to be a bone chilling month that is only justified by the fun events of Christmas and New Years Eve to make it worth while. I have found out that other places in the world are not like this. It is currently December in Yeosu, and it is still significantly higher then freezing. It feels like those days in March or April, when it's still technically cold, around 50F back in Minnesota, but it has been so damn cold all winter that you are walking around in shorts and a tshirt, but in December! I cannot believe it... I won't rub it in, I mean it's not that much better, and my house is just as cold, but I am able to be outside and not curse under my breath the entire time, which is nice.

We have some pictures to put up from the last few weekends (this is a link to them). These are from three different events. The first one is from the Thanksgiving party at Jeff's house. Unfortunately there are only a few stray photos from that night. The next weekend (11/29-30) Megan and I took a trip to the next town over, Suncheon (순천). We visited the "famous" tourist sight, which is Suncheon Bay (click for more info). It was about a 30 minute drive, and the first time I'd driven out of Yeosu. It was easy to find as most signs were in English, plus I figured out how to read it in Korean just in case. Saturday was quite cold and windy, so we didn't stay for long, but we got some cool pictures. We then went shopping at some of the big stores, Home Plus and E-Mart. We bought some clothes for the first time. Once in a while you can actually find a size that'll fit a Westerner, but not every time. That night we stayed in and I just did some work at home.

Sunday was the big foreigners Thanksgiving party. It is getting pretty neat now, since we have met many of the foreigners, so we can have a chat in English with some people, and catch up. The food was AMAZING. Shannon (from California / New Jersey) went to the closest big city (Gwanju) and picked it up. It tasted delicous. There was a lot of cool people there and a lot of good food.



Last night (Wednesday night) Jeff, AJ (Upscale) and I went to a concert at a local night club. This was a kind of strange Korean style club called a "booking" club. You can read more about "Booking" if you'd like, but the just of it is, guys just point to a girl they want to talk to, then the waiter drags them over. We didn't partake, because we just wanted to see the famous Korean rapper MC Mong (MC 몽). We had to wait until 12:30AM for the show to start, and it lasted about 25 minutes, but it was pretty cool. We were the only foreigners in the club, so we stood out. MC Mong also noticed this, so he said "where are you from?" To which Jeff replied "We are Americans (미국 사람 입니다). He then gave us props, and gave Jeff a fist pound, which was cool. All of the Koreans around tried to grab onto him when he did it. It is so strange being in the minority..! A famous celebrity still notices you.

The next weekend will be pretty good, and it is now only 3 weeks on the dot until we leave Yeosu to head to Ho Chi Minh City!! Pretty unbelievable. I will leave you with the MC Mong Song that was stuck in my head all day, I'm crazy (for you!)