Today marks the first time I won't be watching a live Raptors season game in years. Their home opener is tonight but being here in Korea is stopping me from watching it. Good thing the fan590 exists and I can hear the radio version online.
However, I'm pretty sure i've found a way to watch the games live... starting in about a week. Thanks to my mom and Dani for helping me out here.... fingers crossed.... I hope it works.
- Gilad
EDIT:
RAPTORS WIN! RAPTORS WIN! RAPTORS WIN!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Congratulations!
A very big congratulations goes out to our friends that got leadership positions on whatever Global trips. Dawna and I were pulling for all of you... and we're really glad to hear the good news!
- Gilad
- Gilad
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Global Youth Network Info Session Video
So for those who read our blog and don't know, Dawna and I are active members (or even family members hah) of the Global Youth Network. Check out the website for more details. Because we're both in South Korea for another 10months - 1 year, we're both suffering from heavy-duty Global withdrawal! Dawna has travelled to the Amazon (in Brazil), California and India on Global trips while I've travelled to Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay and California. The trips are focused around learning about the culture you're going to by immersing yourself in it for 30 days. You also help with community projects while you're out there.
So, because I can't physically help Global out in anyway for the next year, I thought I'd put together a video that they'll be using at future information sessions where they hope to recruit more students interested in travelling and experiencing new cultures.
Here's the video. I hope you like it. Feedback is very welcomed!
- Gilad
So, because I can't physically help Global out in anyway for the next year, I thought I'd put together a video that they'll be using at future information sessions where they hope to recruit more students interested in travelling and experiencing new cultures.
Here's the video. I hope you like it. Feedback is very welcomed!
- Gilad
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Bright Colours
So I'm naming this post 'Bright Colours' because of the crazy fireworks we saw... and the colorful packaging on the loads of candy we just got.
Dawna's parents were (super) nice to send us a care-package (which will take care of our Sour Candy cravings for years to come) in the mail. When we were flying to Korea, Dawna realized on the plane (clearly) that she had forgotten her puffer... so she asked her parents to send it to her. 30 pounds later we received the puffer. We also received 20+ packages of Swiss Chalet gravy, sauce and marinade, about 30 packages of instant soups (delicious kinds), a bag of Sweet Chili Heat Doritos (this, i'm sure, makes Dawna's month), vitamins, spices (cumin and chili powder... the best kind), clothing, cards, newspaper clippings, gifts for our kids at school and 300 sorts of sour candies.
We can't thank Ken and Gloria enough... this is amazing. THANK YOU!
Here are the pictures:
Here we are, at Busan's 3rd annual firework show. My thoughts on it? It was amazing! It lasted for nearly 45 minutes and to say the least... these fireworks were from the future. Dawna, Abbi and I gathered with what seemed like a million Koreans on a beach to watch the fireworks. Three ships were parked in the water right underneath a nicely-lit bridge... and they all shot huge amounts of fireworks. There was even a bird (not a real one) flying around shooting fireworks out of its ass.
Fireworks.
Here you can see the bridge and the ships clearly. I wish I could say I took more pictures but:
a. My camera battery died
b. When I uploaded the one video and 40+ pictures onto my computer, my computer froze midway through and deleted 90% of the pictures I took that day. These pictures clearly don't do the event justice.
Our (super-amazing-incredible) care package.
Awesome! Cards! Working with screaming kids all day makes us look tired.
The pictures says it all.
I'm sure once Dawna opens that bag, she'll get rid of it's contents in under 20 minutes.
The loads of assorted soups.
The 10+ pounds of 30 different kinds of sour candies... dominating our once-empty cupboard.
So this about sums up the greatest Wednesday we've ever had. I'm sure the next few months are going to be filled with delcious Western meals and bad stomach aches.
Oh, and I think I should also mention that when we got home with our box, Dawna thought it'd be appropriate to play music in the background. She also wanted to change into pajamas to be as comfortable as possible. This is like the best holiday ever for her.
- Gilad
Dawna's parents were (super) nice to send us a care-package (which will take care of our Sour Candy cravings for years to come) in the mail. When we were flying to Korea, Dawna realized on the plane (clearly) that she had forgotten her puffer... so she asked her parents to send it to her. 30 pounds later we received the puffer. We also received 20+ packages of Swiss Chalet gravy, sauce and marinade, about 30 packages of instant soups (delicious kinds), a bag of Sweet Chili Heat Doritos (this, i'm sure, makes Dawna's month), vitamins, spices (cumin and chili powder... the best kind), clothing, cards, newspaper clippings, gifts for our kids at school and 300 sorts of sour candies.
We can't thank Ken and Gloria enough... this is amazing. THANK YOU!
Here are the pictures:
Here we are, at Busan's 3rd annual firework show. My thoughts on it? It was amazing! It lasted for nearly 45 minutes and to say the least... these fireworks were from the future. Dawna, Abbi and I gathered with what seemed like a million Koreans on a beach to watch the fireworks. Three ships were parked in the water right underneath a nicely-lit bridge... and they all shot huge amounts of fireworks. There was even a bird (not a real one) flying around shooting fireworks out of its ass.
Fireworks.
Here you can see the bridge and the ships clearly. I wish I could say I took more pictures but:
a. My camera battery died
b. When I uploaded the one video and 40+ pictures onto my computer, my computer froze midway through and deleted 90% of the pictures I took that day. These pictures clearly don't do the event justice.
Our (super-amazing-incredible) care package.
Awesome! Cards! Working with screaming kids all day makes us look tired.
The pictures says it all.
I'm sure once Dawna opens that bag, she'll get rid of it's contents in under 20 minutes.
The loads of assorted soups.
The 10+ pounds of 30 different kinds of sour candies... dominating our once-empty cupboard.
So this about sums up the greatest Wednesday we've ever had. I'm sure the next few months are going to be filled with delcious Western meals and bad stomach aches.
Oh, and I think I should also mention that when we got home with our box, Dawna thought it'd be appropriate to play music in the background. She also wanted to change into pajamas to be as comfortable as possible. This is like the best holiday ever for her.
- Gilad
Friday, October 19, 2007
Us Versus Octopus - The [other] Prequel
- Gilad
P.S. It's really nice talking to brothers back home. That was much needed.
Old Friends, Dried Squid and Apology Letters
That's definately a post title I never envisioned writing...
So here's Rachel, of Global Youth Network fame, with Dawna. Yea! She came to Korea to do some stuff and was nice enough to travel across the country to come and see us. We were really happy to see her and it was nice having a familiar face from back home around.
Here I am with Rachel's nephew... who works at a University about 20 minutes away from where we live. Small world!
So we went back to Long Life (the bar around the corner that serves those 2-ft tall beers). I guess the owners are starting to recognize us, so they gave us a Korean snack on the house. The treat? Peanuts and dried squid.
Mmm, squid. It's a tad fishy, but not bad at all. And it's legs (or tentacles) are a lot chewier... like jerky or something. It even comes with two dipping sauces.
And finally, here's an image of a letter I made one of three kids write in one of my classes. I don't particularily like the three girls... they're really snobby and always speaking Korean in class... which they aren't supposed to do. One day, they were really pissing me off, so I made them write an essay explaining "Why I speak so much Korean in class." In case you can't read it, here goes:
Teacher, I'm sorry.
It is very bed action. but I speak korean many.
Don't reason of why I speak so much korean
but I will don't speak korean.
teacher, this one time is pardon me.
I'm promise of don't speak korean.
Really Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Your angry? If you really
angry I'm very very sorry.
Sorry teacher ~ u
- Susan -
Kind of cute, I guess. And trust me, you'd hate that class too.
Busan (second largest city) is on tap for the weekend. We'll be checking out a tea festival (which is the new Keg Party's, apparently) and a 'spectacular' fireworks show. Pictures to come.
- Gilad
So here's Rachel, of Global Youth Network fame, with Dawna. Yea! She came to Korea to do some stuff and was nice enough to travel across the country to come and see us. We were really happy to see her and it was nice having a familiar face from back home around.
Here I am with Rachel's nephew... who works at a University about 20 minutes away from where we live. Small world!
So we went back to Long Life (the bar around the corner that serves those 2-ft tall beers). I guess the owners are starting to recognize us, so they gave us a Korean snack on the house. The treat? Peanuts and dried squid.
Mmm, squid. It's a tad fishy, but not bad at all. And it's legs (or tentacles) are a lot chewier... like jerky or something. It even comes with two dipping sauces.
And finally, here's an image of a letter I made one of three kids write in one of my classes. I don't particularily like the three girls... they're really snobby and always speaking Korean in class... which they aren't supposed to do. One day, they were really pissing me off, so I made them write an essay explaining "Why I speak so much Korean in class." In case you can't read it, here goes:
Teacher, I'm sorry.
It is very bed action. but I speak korean many.
Don't reason of why I speak so much korean
but I will don't speak korean.
teacher, this one time is pardon me.
I'm promise of don't speak korean.
Really Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Your angry? If you really
angry I'm very very sorry.
Sorry teacher ~ u
- Susan -
Kind of cute, I guess. And trust me, you'd hate that class too.
Busan (second largest city) is on tap for the weekend. We'll be checking out a tea festival (which is the new Keg Party's, apparently) and a 'spectacular' fireworks show. Pictures to come.
- Gilad
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Anneyong Haseo, Boooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiii
Hey have you heard? Korean hip hop is the new coolest thing.
Gilad's favourite.
Dawna's favourite.
"I can really see Drew liking this" ~ Dawna
Aw ye.
- Gilad
Gilad's favourite.
Dawna's favourite.
"I can really see Drew liking this" ~ Dawna
Aw ye.
- Gilad
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Mountain Hiking
This past Sunday, the city we live in was blessed with some beautiful weather... so Dawna and I decided to take advantage of it by hiking Muhok Mountain here in Masan... here are the pictures and the stories to go along.
On the way to the trail, we came across this area that had all sorts of insects... giant spiders... flies... and this praying mantis.
So on the way to the trail, we had to walk along the sie of the highway. I'm sure there's a safer route, but cut us some slack... we're new here. Anyway, as we're walking along the road, cars kept zooming by us. One vehicle lost control about 20 feet ahead of where we were and crashed into the barricade on the side of the highway. He could've tumbled off the side of the mountain, but was lucky. We were lucky we were 20 feet behind him as well. This was taken after we walked ahead of the car.
So we're on the trail now and we decide to take a break...
A beautiful view of the city...
Another picture of Masan...
Dawna checking out the scene.
Yea, I just hiked that mountain.
A nice shot of the mountain we were on.
It took a while, but I found our apartment from up there. That's where the journey started from... and we walked the entire way. The entire journey (both ways) took six hours, but was well worth it.
- Gilad
On the way to the trail, we came across this area that had all sorts of insects... giant spiders... flies... and this praying mantis.
So on the way to the trail, we had to walk along the sie of the highway. I'm sure there's a safer route, but cut us some slack... we're new here. Anyway, as we're walking along the road, cars kept zooming by us. One vehicle lost control about 20 feet ahead of where we were and crashed into the barricade on the side of the highway. He could've tumbled off the side of the mountain, but was lucky. We were lucky we were 20 feet behind him as well. This was taken after we walked ahead of the car.
So we're on the trail now and we decide to take a break...
A beautiful view of the city...
Another picture of Masan...
Dawna checking out the scene.
Yea, I just hiked that mountain.
A nice shot of the mountain we were on.
It took a while, but I found our apartment from up there. That's where the journey started from... and we walked the entire way. The entire journey (both ways) took six hours, but was well worth it.
- Gilad
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Our Apartment Tour
Here's our apartment. Oh, and when I said "tennis court," I meant "badminton court."
- Gilad
- Gilad
Friday, October 12, 2007
Some more kindies...
Judging by the expression on their faces when they FINALLY guess the word "pool," you'd think they won the olympics or something. I guess this can be mistaken for cute.
Playing some hangman with the kids. (Or would Dawna call this hangperson?)
My kindergarden'ers.
So whenever my kids speak Korean in class (or act out-of-line), I usually write their names on the board and a "-1" beside their name. If they get worse, they get a -2, and if they're absolutely horrible, they get a -3 beside their name. With a -3, they usually get some kind of small punishment... like standing in the corner of the room or something. So on this day, Daniel found Korean writing on the desk. Dave then found Korean writing on the markers. That led to this...
And in another installment of 'this-might-be-mistaken-for-cute,' here's a picture of my family's dog, Milo. He was recently de-man'd, so to speak... and has to wear this cone around his neck. I don't know if I should laugh... or feel bad for him?
- Gilad
Playing some hangman with the kids. (Or would Dawna call this hangperson?)
My kindergarden'ers.
So whenever my kids speak Korean in class (or act out-of-line), I usually write their names on the board and a "-1" beside their name. If they get worse, they get a -2, and if they're absolutely horrible, they get a -3 beside their name. With a -3, they usually get some kind of small punishment... like standing in the corner of the room or something. So on this day, Daniel found Korean writing on the desk. Dave then found Korean writing on the markers. That led to this...
And in another installment of 'this-might-be-mistaken-for-cute,' here's a picture of my family's dog, Milo. He was recently de-man'd, so to speak... and has to wear this cone around his neck. I don't know if I should laugh... or feel bad for him?
- Gilad
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The Global Youth Network
So how about... I miss the Global Youth Network big time. I would cut my left arm off to lead a trip this year to some of the countries i'm hearing Laurier is getting. UGH. Stuff like this makes me want to come home for a little while. Maybe leading will happen sometime later in the future.
And while I'm at it, I also miss The Duke of Wellington.
- Gilad
And while I'm at it, I also miss The Duke of Wellington.
- Gilad
The Last Few Weeks
So the open kindy's came and went for both Dawna and I... and we both did pretty well. Glad that's over with...
So saying that, here's another picture update. I expect to add a video tour of our apartment soon... possibly the weekend. Anywhere, here goes.
So we've added two new members to our house... two cute fish. This one goes by the name of "Andrea" (pronounced On-Dre-Uh)... or Smida Mida Mnida (we think these are Korean words).
This one goes by the name of Bargnani... or Himnida Mida Mida (again, possible Korean). So why Bargnani? Well, he's always got his mouth open.. always... just like Andrea Bargnani, of the Toronto Raptors.
See the resemblance?
A couple of Wednesdays ago, we went to Jinju to see the annual Korean lantern festival. The purpose of the festival dates back to I don't know when... but Korea was at war with Japan and Korea decided to put a bunch of lantern/boat-like things on the water... like hundreds of them. The purpose was to trick Japan into thinking that there were tons of warships on the water awaiting them... and from what we've heard, Korea won that war.
One of the lanterns.
Yet another "the most beautiful tea shop in the world" tea shop we stumbled upon.
This is where we had the, yet again, "best tea of our lives." Who knew that pointing to random Korean text on a menu could turn out so well in the end. We had something called "Song Leaf" (big time SP?) tea.
A shot of the festival at night.
More of the festival.
The busy streets.
The following Saturday, we left for Busan (or Pusan), the second largest city in South Korea... and it's only 40 minutes away from us! Beauitful, modern city for sure... we had a good time. Here's a shot of the beach. Keep in mind that it's not beach season, so it's not busy.
More beach... or as Koreans would call it... BeAChY!!!
Some of the beach ... and some of the city. The "PIFF" building you see in the background stands for 'Pusan International Film Festival.' It was actually the reason we decided to go down there... to see an international movie. The movie we got stuck with? 'Those Three.' Based in Iran, it's basically the worst-bag-of-, three-men-walking-through-a-snowy-abyss sh*t.
Found this one online. This is the same beach, but during peak season.
The streets of Busan at night... pretty nice!
So yea, there's a worthwhile update. We have some exciting stuff coming up, so yea, more updates... we (or I, Gilad) promise.
- Gilad
P.S.
This kid has the biggest head I've ever seen. I had to take a picture of him... he's pretty cute... in that "I'm so ugly, I'm cute" way.
So saying that, here's another picture update. I expect to add a video tour of our apartment soon... possibly the weekend. Anywhere, here goes.
So we've added two new members to our house... two cute fish. This one goes by the name of "Andrea" (pronounced On-Dre-Uh)... or Smida Mida Mnida (we think these are Korean words).
This one goes by the name of Bargnani... or Himnida Mida Mida (again, possible Korean). So why Bargnani? Well, he's always got his mouth open.. always... just like Andrea Bargnani, of the Toronto Raptors.
See the resemblance?
A couple of Wednesdays ago, we went to Jinju to see the annual Korean lantern festival. The purpose of the festival dates back to I don't know when... but Korea was at war with Japan and Korea decided to put a bunch of lantern/boat-like things on the water... like hundreds of them. The purpose was to trick Japan into thinking that there were tons of warships on the water awaiting them... and from what we've heard, Korea won that war.
One of the lanterns.
Yet another "the most beautiful tea shop in the world" tea shop we stumbled upon.
This is where we had the, yet again, "best tea of our lives." Who knew that pointing to random Korean text on a menu could turn out so well in the end. We had something called "Song Leaf" (big time SP?) tea.
A shot of the festival at night.
More of the festival.
The busy streets.
The following Saturday, we left for Busan (or Pusan), the second largest city in South Korea... and it's only 40 minutes away from us! Beauitful, modern city for sure... we had a good time. Here's a shot of the beach. Keep in mind that it's not beach season, so it's not busy.
More beach... or as Koreans would call it... BeAChY!!!
Some of the beach ... and some of the city. The "PIFF" building you see in the background stands for 'Pusan International Film Festival.' It was actually the reason we decided to go down there... to see an international movie. The movie we got stuck with? 'Those Three.' Based in Iran, it's basically the worst-bag-of-, three-men-walking-through-a-snowy-abyss sh*t.
Found this one online. This is the same beach, but during peak season.
The streets of Busan at night... pretty nice!
So yea, there's a worthwhile update. We have some exciting stuff coming up, so yea, more updates... we (or I, Gilad) promise.
- Gilad
P.S.
This kid has the biggest head I've ever seen. I had to take a picture of him... he's pretty cute... in that "I'm so ugly, I'm cute" way.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
A tad nervous
So in just under three hours, I'm holding my open Kindy class. If you haven't read, it's where the kindergarden's moms (and sometimes dads) sit in on the 35 minute classroom I'm holding. I also recently found out that my boss, Mrs. Lee, sits in on the whole class as well. It's a little nerve-wracking. I need to make sure the class lasts 35 minutes long. I need to make Mrs. Lee's school look good to the parents... you know... have to make sure ECC looks good in the whole process. I also need to ensure that no kid comes out of this looking stupid or not as smart as the next child... definately wouldn't want one of the parents to feel as if their child looks stupid in front of the other parents. So what am I doing? I have a ton of flashcards... I've lamenated some stuff... I have the kids reading poems/songs, etc. The bad thing is... if the kids act hyper or out of line, I can't do anything to stop them. Usually I can yell at them or something to have them stop... but I can't do anything today. I'm really hoping the kids don't get overly-nervous with their parents in the room and shutdown completely... that would make me look bad. So yea, i'm a little nervous about the whole experience and I really hope the whole thing goes by really quickly.
- Gilad
- Gilad
Friday, October 5, 2007
Still here...
Hey everyone,
Sorry for the lack of updates as of late. It's been busy around here with testing time/report card time/watching Lost time. I counted today... I have 109 report cards to do (I've done 101 of them so far) and I've marked 218 tests (2 tests per student). That's quite a lot..! On top of that, Dawna and I have become quite addicted with the show, Lost. We watched all of Season 1 in about 5 days.
We had a day off on Wednesday -- we went to a Lantern festival in a city called Jinju... it's about an hour and a half away from our city of Masan. It was pretty beautiful and we had a good, but short time there.
We're heading off to Busan (second largest city in South Korea) tomorrow... it's about an hour by bus from here and we're pretty excited. We've heard about the beaches and the city there and once we get back, I'll post up some more pictures and stuff.
Oh, Dawna and I also got two new additions to our household... their kinda like Goldfish... but bigger... and much cuter. Again, I'll post up pictures of them in the near future.
Ah, and next week we have something called "Open Kindy Class." Each student brings in their mom and dad to sit in for the class... and the director of the school sits in as well. This translates to me having 8 students + 16 parents + 1 boss... all watching me at the same time. I have to somehow make sure all 8 kids don't act crazy... I have to make sure I don't make any kids look stupid (i.e. asking them a question they have no idea what the answer is... their parents would be embarassed)... and I have to show my boss that I'm able to somehow do all this without any kinds of problems. For some reason, I'm not worried though... but still not looking foward to it.
We also got a nice package in the mail from Dawna's friend, Kelsey... she mailed us a nice slideshow of Dawna's trip to India, along with Sour Candy. That sour candy did not last very long as we devoured it... but yea, it was awesome. Thanks, Kelsey. If anyone feels like they're in a giving mood, mail us more sour candies!
Thanks to the readers who keep checking in... sorry for the lack of updates. More pictures / stories / videos are coming up. And OH WOW... I checked our Clustrmap which shows our visitors from around the world and I'm quite impressed with the diversity of the readers here...
Oh, and next week, I'll get to try two new things to eat... pictures will follow that as well.
And if you can, reply!! Hah, I want to hear from some of you!
- Gilad
Sorry for the lack of updates as of late. It's been busy around here with testing time/report card time/watching Lost time. I counted today... I have 109 report cards to do (I've done 101 of them so far) and I've marked 218 tests (2 tests per student). That's quite a lot..! On top of that, Dawna and I have become quite addicted with the show, Lost. We watched all of Season 1 in about 5 days.
We had a day off on Wednesday -- we went to a Lantern festival in a city called Jinju... it's about an hour and a half away from our city of Masan. It was pretty beautiful and we had a good, but short time there.
We're heading off to Busan (second largest city in South Korea) tomorrow... it's about an hour by bus from here and we're pretty excited. We've heard about the beaches and the city there and once we get back, I'll post up some more pictures and stuff.
Oh, Dawna and I also got two new additions to our household... their kinda like Goldfish... but bigger... and much cuter. Again, I'll post up pictures of them in the near future.
Ah, and next week we have something called "Open Kindy Class." Each student brings in their mom and dad to sit in for the class... and the director of the school sits in as well. This translates to me having 8 students + 16 parents + 1 boss... all watching me at the same time. I have to somehow make sure all 8 kids don't act crazy... I have to make sure I don't make any kids look stupid (i.e. asking them a question they have no idea what the answer is... their parents would be embarassed)... and I have to show my boss that I'm able to somehow do all this without any kinds of problems. For some reason, I'm not worried though... but still not looking foward to it.
We also got a nice package in the mail from Dawna's friend, Kelsey... she mailed us a nice slideshow of Dawna's trip to India, along with Sour Candy. That sour candy did not last very long as we devoured it... but yea, it was awesome. Thanks, Kelsey. If anyone feels like they're in a giving mood, mail us more sour candies!
Thanks to the readers who keep checking in... sorry for the lack of updates. More pictures / stories / videos are coming up. And OH WOW... I checked our Clustrmap which shows our visitors from around the world and I'm quite impressed with the diversity of the readers here...
Oh, and next week, I'll get to try two new things to eat... pictures will follow that as well.
And if you can, reply!! Hah, I want to hear from some of you!
- Gilad
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