Me at the Chicken Soup restaurant. It's very tasty. They stuff the chicken with sticy rice and ginsing and other herbs. Yum. Hence the big smile...

If the pig is smiling it means good luck and good fortune to the person who buys it. If it does not smile, the price is very cheap or no one buys it. Is it smiling???

Me at the Market Louise & Me

Louise and the Street at night

Hands up, baby hands up.

Gutting fish at the Market

Louise arrived on Thursday evening. We've been having fun, she's been entertaining me with stories from her travels in India and Nepal. She came with me to class and met my boys Donghoon and Harry. We discussed a recent news report from the U.K. that concluded men's IQ's are on average 5 points ahead of womens.
Yesterday we went to Beojun (totally misspelled it) Market where all the locals go to buy their fruits, veggies, fish and meat and pretty much everything else. It is a maze of a place, crowded with people driving motor bikes through as well. We were both camera happy, taking all kinds of pictures and I'm sure the Koreans must've thought we were geeks but I figure hey, they do the exact same thing in our country so I don't feel so bad.
Last night went to a club but it wasn't great so we left after one beer, grabbed a taxi home. Louise watched Desperate Houswives and I fell asleep durning it. Slept in for the first time in ages (until 11:30am) because it was raining, cloudy and fairly cool this morning. Was great.
It's official, next month I'm changing shifts with Gino so I'll be teaching in the mornings now.

This is the corner my school is on. Got a phone with a camera yesterday. Lots more to come...

What news to tell? Well, I received my Alien Registration Card which means I can now get a bank account and then a phone in a few weeks.

I haven't really been very social though I've had invitations -- been a hermit mostly. The heat has made me really tired and unambitious. Spent the majority of my 5 days vacation in my apartment reading and watching movies. Read Sydney Sheldon's "If Tomorrow Comes" -- what a great writer. Now I've bought "The Devil Wears Prada" and became filled with envy when I realized this is the first novel by this young writer -- on New York Times Bestseller list and made into a movie starring non other than Merly Streep. Wow. It's supposed to be funny, we'll see.

Went out one night to an irish pub last friday after work. Met some other teachers of course and we chatted for a while. The girl was really bitter, it was quite funny. She hated Busan, and Korean, her school, the culture, even her students. I couldn't help but laugh remembering how I'd felt the exact same way in China. completely fed up with everything and i just couldn't wait to go home. Well, She will get to go home to Canada soon but I told her maybe she just needs a break. That seemed to cheer her up a bit.

Finally there's a break from the heat, a typhoon is supposed to hit tonight; it's been cloudy and raining for a day and a half now and I coudn't be happier.

I went to the beach with the daughters of the woman who owns the restaurant. Actually went swimming too. It was completely packed. It was even crowded in the ocean. Still, it was nice to swim in the ocean. I tried to take a cat nap under our unbrella but people kept walking by selling things yelling: "chicken! (in Korean and then English), Popbingsu! over and over again kicking sand onto my mat as they passed.

Classes have been going markedly better. I have begun bringing in shorter and easier articles (often re-writing the news in simpler language) and creating my own questions -- thus focusing more on introducting a topic of conversation and having the remainder of the class for discussion. A few days last week I even brought nothing and said we would just chat. They seemed to like this a lot. I took Dong Il's advice on what makes a good teacher in Korea and it's not what makes a good teacher in Canada -- I realized this when he said a former teacher used to come to class drunk and talk the entire class...another former teacher would just put his head on the desk, declare that he was tired and would sleep and insturct the students to talk among themselves.

JonBenet Ramsey's killer has confessed in Thailand and it's big news here for two reasons: 1. Because I Knew the parents didn't do it based on John Douglas' anaylsis of the crime scene remember? And 2. because John Mark Karr taught here in Seoul, Korea. We discussed it in the classes.

Another of my students is an older man in his fifties a millionare a few times over, he works for an aircondition company and he asked if next year I wouldn't work for them as well; be a sales rep in Europe the USA and Canada. I thought about it but in the end it isn't me is it.

A french restaurant called Tous les Jours has opened up just around the corner from my apartment and they have great bread and buns; cream cheese and coffee. First morning i was there I met a couple of forigners from Paris though I didn't really talk to them much as they were speaking french...

Sorry to report such boring news back home but I expect next month I'll be more active and social. After I finish work and get home it's already 930pm so I just watch Friends, and then go to bed. Wake up in the morning, drink coffee, find an article to discuss, have breakfast then lunch and then go to work. Fairly uneventful. However, Gino asked if starting in September we could switch schedules meaning I will be working his day shift 7am - 1pm and he will work my afternoon shift. I don't know if the boss has approved it yet but I agreed, so we'll see.

Stole these photos from the internet but they'll have to do until I get a camera of my own which will be soon hopefully! Just so you get an idea...

Busan at Night

Free Food

I often eat at this great restaurant in the CGV center across from my apartment building. Anyway, the ladies who own the place approached my rather slyly (I have to give them credit), and hit me up for what everyone in Korea wants from Foreigners -- English Lessons for their children.

Well, not English lesson's per se but they want me to hang around their daughter every now and again so she can practice her English since all they get to do is read and write in public school. I like the owners so I agreed. The girl came with me to work out at the gym Tuesday and I, in turn have been enjoying free meals!! Yum! More than that, they treat me like family, and it's more like I eat with them which can be a tad bit uncomfortable since I don't speak a lick of Korean or them English. Makes it interesting anyway! Ji Yun has a great sense of humour and she lived two years in Hondoras working as a hairdresser. They introduced me to the famed Bulgogi, which I'd read is the most famous dish with foreigners because finally some meat! Beef to be exact. Cut into little stips and kinda stir fried. delicious. Had it three times this week! Every time I go there I don't order just smile and say hello and see what they've made today! I've scored! Had fish today for lunch. Have yet to try the "raw" fish I often hear about. Not sushi but something else. Apparently it's delicious but I've got to muster up some courage before I sink my teeth in -- literally. Also have yet to try Dog soup. Did I mention they're crazy about Dog here? For those that don't like dog there's chicken soup too.

Tomorrow I go with them to the 10 a.m. English service. A different church than the one I went to the second week I was here.

Gino told me we had a fitness room on the 26th florr of the building as well as some benches on the roof. I checked them out this afternoon. No one was in the fitness room or on the roof. The breeze was great and they have a putting green; something to do on dull days I guess.

Classes are difficult; I'm finding it hard to please the students so I'm constantly looking for new material but I think I'm getting the idea; less teaching and more like introduce a small topic with lots of questions and run with the conversation when I can. Live and learn.