Awful Exchange Rate...

One thing that's really annoying is how much LESS money we make since we've come to Korea. Dawna and I each make (before taxes and other deductions) 2.2million Won a month, which roughly came out to about $2450 Canadian back in August 2007 (when we first got here). Looking at the exchange rate today, it's somewhere near $2050. That's $400CDN less each month! It's especially frustrating when our jobs have gotten a lot harder, we have to come in earlier one day out of the week and there is much more to stress about. On top of that, we have no choice but to exchange our money each month to send it home for repayments and stuff.


Here's a graph showing the rate trend in 2007. Awful.


Another one showing the last 120 days.

My thoughts? Coming to Korea to teach English is an awesome experience if you're lucky to not end up at a Hagwon that screws you over. Not that ours is doing that, but there are lots of risks to come here. Everyone always talks about how great the money is coming here...but with the way the rate is dropping (for us, at the current rate, that's about $4800 lost if the rate were to stay at this level for an entire year and not drop) the money doesn't seem all that great anymore. With a Bachelor of Arts, you could easily find a job that paid at least $30-35,000 in Canada... which would be a whole lot more than here. However, rent here is free... and the cost of living is definitely cheaper... but in the end... do you really end up saving all that much? Times are changing... it sucks that the times so happened to change while we were here.

Now don't get me wrong. I do not regret coming here. I've had great experiences... learned a lot about myself and others in the process... got to see many parts of the world and meet some really beautiful people... I just wish I was making a stable income (or at least not lower than what I was initially making) while I was here.

- Gilad

I wish my students were this well-trained.

Lazy Sunday... so we taught the dogs some new things.


Lincoln showing off.


Deva doing it too.


And while we're at it, here are the dogs wearing their matching Puma sweaters. I'm deeply saddened to announce that yes, they do have dog clothes ... and further saddened to admit that yes, we bought it for them.


Just a little buddy...


The foxy lady showing her sweater off.


Cute.


Blue Puma.


Red Puma.


The next trick we should teach Lincoln? How to keep his teeth in his mouth.


And that's a wrap.

- Gilad

This Just In!

We're going to North Korea. Yes, NORTH Korea. Also known as the place where nobody ever goes.

We're very excited. You should be jealous... very jealous.

- Gilad

A Reason to Kill Someone

Quite a grim title for a post... I know. However, listen to this video on the LOUDEST volume you can and you'll see why.




Wouldn't you want to kill them too? This has been happening everyday this week, including Saturday (days off) as well. It sucks. Why is it happening? When am I going to reach my breaking point? They better beat it soon.

Although you might not be able to hear them at the very beginning... trust me... we can. And coincidentally, while shooting this video, they happened to wrap up whatever-in-the-world-they-were-doing-at-630-effin-a.m!!!!!!

- Gilad

We know something...

You know that everybody knows that we know that the end is soon. There are countdowns, party plans, airport arrangements and first meals being discussed. The end is near and we can feel it... but this is definitely a day I've been looking forward to for more than a few months now.

Why?

Well, take a stroll over here. Yep! That's right. It's official! They're looking for our replacements which can only mean one thing: we're almost finished! EEEE! We knew it before but now we know it even more ... we more than know it! In fact, we've never known anything more than we know this. We're almost done! And we know it.

Exciting news indeed.

- Gilad

And then there were two

So our last few weeks have been filled with visitors and adventures. Jess from my India trip was able to visit for a few days. She came from Tokyo to visit me in Korea 3 months after I came from Korea to visit her in Tokyo! It's pretty awesome that we each got to experience the others home away from home. After that my mom arrived for 3 weeks. I can't tell you how quickly that time went. The time with my mom was pretty awesome. She is such a free spirit and just loves to have fun. We had some really great experiences celebrating Buddha's birthday with one of the kindest families on the face of the planet, getting our feet pedicured by fish, eating 100 different dishes at the best buffet ever, having samgyupsal with all of our co-workers, visiting one of the most populated cities in the world (Seoul), and of course our favourite hobby: shopping..so much shopping. I will definitely miss coming home and getting the run down of everything my mom bought that day, or hearing about how the taxi driver got lost (every time), or playing scrabble with offensive words taking over the board. Gilad and I really enjoyed having the company and we wish we could have had more visitors here.

Having people to show around has really allowed us to appreciate the random beauty that you can experience in Korea. In the past month or so we have become really familiar with the history of Korea and it has given us a great appreciation for the country. There are still things here that we don't understand, or that can really frustrate us, but at least we can look at those things with a different point of view. Most of all, we have come to understand why Koreans are so proud of their country. With a history like theirs they most definitely should be.

Anyways we have been super busy for the last month or so, but now that Alex has left us, which P.S. We miss you! and Jess, and my mom...well now it is just us. So we will be updating with pictures soon! (by we I mean Gilad hah).

______Dawna________

It's a vicious circle...

Oh God... just finished teaching eight classes in six hours with no breaks in between. Nine classes in total including my 35 minute kindergarten class. I'm worn out and really tired of this redundancy.

On the bright side, we're heading to Seoul tomorrow morning with Dawna's mom and that'll make for a (very short and) nice getaway.


- Gilad

We've punched through...

It's taken us over 260 days to be able to say this:

We have less than 100 days left before we get back to Canada. Not that we hate it here... we're just VERY excited to return to our lives, friends and families back in Canada.

It feels nice to look at the countdown and see double-digits... rather than the triple we've grown accustomed to.

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In other news, while in Busan today, we visited a seafood (but so much more than seafood) buffet restaurant. It was sickening how much delicious food was there and how much of it we ate. It was the greatest buffet we've ever seen. King crab (over five different kinds), all sorts of sushi, all sorts of meat dishes including duck, beef roast, chicken, smoked salmon... even escargot! Salads, pizzas, pies, cakes and ice creams up the ying yang. It was incredible. And after I was all done, I had realized something Earth-shattering: I ate ten different kinds of animal there: chicken, beef, pork, duck, snail, crab, prawns, tuna, halibut and salmon. If fish eggs counted, I'd be up to eleven!

That's something to be proud of.


- Gilad

It's Official.

So we're heading to Thailand in July. We'll be there for five full days (Wednesday-Sunday) and will be leaving early Monday morning.

Dawna and I plan on going to a quiet city where we can live in a hut or something on the beach for five days... and just read and relax. After some research, we discovered Ko Chang and it sounds perfect. Huts... beaches... peace and quiet. We're excited, to say the least.

For those who've been to Thailand and have better suggestions, feel free to reply and let us know. We're very open to hearing suggestions.

- Gilad

State of the Vacation

The Philippines looks like it's not happening anymore. It saddens me because I've always had an interest to go there. But in all honesty, my interests and reality aren't matching up here. I've always wanted to visit the Philippines and explore the country... the ins and outs... meet the people and experience the culture. One of my best friends from a few years back was this guy called Epher... a Filipino guy who would always talk fondly about his country. As a result, I grew a love for it and wanted to one day go there. However, with only six days of travel time at the end of July, I feel like I can't do everything I'd want to do in that country. That, and the tickets there are expensive for that time of the year. Most importantly, Dawna and I would be nearing the end of our contracts in Korea and will be looking to celebrate by just relaxing on a beach under some sun. It would be unfair to use my trip to the Philippines for those kinds of means when there's so much more I'd like to do. So it looks like our trip to the Philippines is not happening.

Rather, it looks like we'll be traveling to Thailand instead. With some help from our boss, we found some decent tickets to Bangkok. Thailand has also intrigued me in the past and I know they have nice beaches... and it'll be warm... and cheap... so why not? Cheap + Beautiful Beaches + Great Food = the kind of trip I'll want to be taking in July. I'm saddened but very excited as well. I've also realized that this is my first real vacation ever... so I'll be looking to make the most of it.

And hopefully, sometime later in life, I'll be able to make a more extended trip to the Philippines.

- Gilad

And life goes on...

So we've accepted that we won't be getting that day off and are adopting the whole "and so it goes" attitude. Moving on.

We've been pretty lucky to have some visitors over the last week. Dawna's friend, Jess, whom she traveled to India with and who was in Korea on vacation (from teaching English in Tokyo), paid us a visit. Not that we did anything out of the ordinary... we more or less showed her our little town, our favorite Makgullee bar, Busan and other things. I must say that it was nice to have somebody around who was so interested in how things work here... made me appreciate the things I've grown so accustomed to.

Also, Dawna's mom is here visiting for about three weeks. She found a bargain deal to come here and it's nice having her around as well. We've showed her the PNU area of Busan which is a great shopping area, took her out to a Turkish restaurant, and showed her bits of a little shopping area in Masan called Chang Dong. We plan on going to Seoul in a couple weeks and enjoying the sights there. Like I said, it's nice having guests who are intrigued and excited to see the things around us.

On a sadder note, Alex, a good friend of mine (and now Dawna's) from University came up to work at our Hagwon for the last 5 and a bit months. She's leaving next Tuesday which gives her a week left. It's crazy to think that she's been here for that long already. I remember the staff meeting we had right before she came where co-workers where inquiring with me as to what Alex was like. I've gotta say that the second half of our year in Korea has been going by faster than the first half. We're a few weeks away from being able to say that we've lived in Korea for nine months (or 75% of our contract... but who's counting?) In any case, we'll miss Alex and after she leaves, our small list of friends will shrink even more.

Work is still work. It's still a grind... working to enjoy the weekends. I'm on break right now and was taking a look at the lesson I have to teach in my next class... and I get frustrated as I've taught this lesson like three other times to other classes. It's tough to stay motivated with class material when you've already taught it inside and out. I wish I had a little more freedom to go outside of these books... or just ditch the work in the books and use the main ideas instead.

So how long have we been here? Well, I've gone from shaving my head to having long hair again. We've seen three foreign teachers wrap up their contracts, two Korean teachers finish theirs... we've experienced every one of the four seasons. Nine months... can't believe it! That's like doing nine consecutive Global trips... and I thought those were long.

Speaking of Global, this is the time of the year when all our close friends are heading out on their respective trips. It's so strange to see how a lot of people we know are so involved in Global these days. I remember two years ago, when I first joined Global... it was tiny... nobody I knew was interested or aware of the organization and now it's just exploded. I'm very envious of all my friends and their month-long journeys... and Bryson... Drew... Sasha... Matt... everyone else... I'll be thinking and praying for you a lot over the next few weeks... and I know you'll all do great jobs. To the Global staff... Dave, Sharon, Tim, Beth, Theresa (is she still working there) and any of the other volunteers... you guys rock.

Lastly, I want to mention YWAM Modesto. We were fortunate enough to travel to Modesto, California, last year in February for ten days. While there, we helped the staff of YWAM with their work which is pretty basic in nature: to help the local homeless community and build relationships through different means. I just wanted to mention how much Dawna and I miss the staff and mission there... and how we're itching... VERY BADLY... to return. We don't know when, we don't know how... but we know we'll be back helping out and strengthening relationships sometime in the future. God bless you guys.

So that's where I stand now. Thanks to anyone who still finds the time and interest to keep up with our journey here. Dawna and I really appreciate it... and we want our friends and family across the globe to know that we really miss them.

- Gilad