A trip to the zoo

Sung Hyun has us signed up for this website called Couple Canada; a network for Korean and Canadian couples, all of which are Western men with Korean women..........and then of course there's US!!!

Some of us met up on the weekend for a day trip to the zoo. Fun times with some new faces!!!!



And this is when I learned how truly adorable fusion babies really are........this little boy melted my heart. He was well behaved and completely adorable!!!!! Makes me almost WANT one.........don't worry mom it won't happen anytime soon.

Bye Friend

My dear friend Amanda is packing her bags and heading to America......sniff sniff. She's been a great friend and I will miss her dearly.........

...........Amanda likes to call this one 외국 사랑

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I helped her pack the other day. Basically I sat on the couch and tried to encourage her. I also bought some things from her (yah right like I need any more stuff in my small apt.)

Sung Hyun came to pick me up (I'm so lucky) since she doesn't live in Seoul. Amanda gave him some of her cinnamon BIG RED gum because he had never tried it before.

And the verdict is............

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (hehe)

A Glimpse of Shanghai

I definately have conflicting feelings about Shanghai -- when I first got there it was so open and free and the air appeared to be so clean, with clear blue skies. Can't you tell by the picture below.

But then when I was walking through the more confined and crowded areas I could definately smell and taste the polluted air. And at the end of each day my throat usually hurt ;(

I could definately tell that I was out of Seoul. It felt so different. The sideways appeared to be larger and there were less cars on the street due to the rule that Chinese citizens need to BID for their license (and then pay a lot of money if they want to obtain it). All the others who don't make the bid scoot around on old school bicycles. It was so cool to see that there was even a bike and scooter lane. In Seoul scooters and motercyclists weave in and out of traffic.

Here's some of the architecture that I found to be so fascinating. This building is where I stayed the first night. Brittney and I originally booked a hotel for the 3 nights and the other couple (Jennifer and Jason) stayed with a friend (Megan) that they knew. It turned out that our online hotel reservation was for a different part of China. Megan was kind enough to let us crash at her place the first night because of the hotel mishap. I'm very thankful for her warm hospitality.
I didn't take the bus anywhere because I was certain I would end up in the wrong spot. As you can see there is NO English on these signs

And how about these outfits. They sure make a statement ;)

Calling all trades people

This post is intended for my family and anyone who is able to offer any advice to help us out. Currently we are looking into immigration options to Canada under the 'skilled workers' category for Sung Hyun(I'm sure this doesn't mean much to you). I'm not exactly sure what my boyfriends does so he invited me to his work and if I had to guess it would be a combination of both sheet metal work (mostly cutting and bending) and welding (arc welding, TIG welding, stainless steel, iron). He doesn't have any schooling in these trades (no journeyman) BUT he does have OVER 8 years experience.

Here are some pictures of what I saw today:

T.I.G WELDING (Tungsten Inert Gas)

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METAL BENDING

bending

bending machine

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METAL CUTTING

cutting

more cutting

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MAKING A CIRCLE

Bending metal to make a circle

More TIG welding -- making a circle

small sample

big size

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AIR PLASMA CUTTING

Air plasma cutter

cutting a hole with air plasma

end result

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ARC WELDING

Arc welding

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So is there anyone there in Canada (Saskatchewan) that knows what this job title is???? Or does anyone have any sort of connect with one of these trades and could offer any sort of advice on what to do (like should he go to school here in Korea to get some sort of certificate.....etc....)!!!!

Anything would help; thanks in advance!!!!

Amy's comment about foreigners couldn't have come at a better time:

My main reason why I don't necessarily like hanging out with foreigners is that
too often I run into foreigners here who really don't care to learn the
language, experience the culture, taste the foods, or accept their customs.

At first I was so excited about working at a public school with other foreign teachers. Well after my most recent trip to Shanghai, I am once again reminded of WHY I chose not to hangout with foreigners. Hence the reason I haven't posted anything about my trip. More on that later..........

Shanghai

Here is the bunt during the day:

......Nice

ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

I'M SICK....................

.................But don't feel too sorry for me!!!!!!!!!!!

..............Because I'm going to Shanghai for the long weekend!!!!!!!!!!

And I'm gonna see this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simply the best!!!!!!

I've got a wonderful boyfriend!!!!!!!!!

Remember that earring problem I was dealing with a couple weeks back. Well Sung Hyun decided to make me a spinnable 4-tier earring holder to display my mass collection. Only thing is that I haven't filled it all up, which means I've got some more earring shopping to do!!!!!!!!

Day at the park

It was such a beautiful day at the park on Monday that Sung Hyun and I decided to meet up with some friends for a day of sun.

And what cute couple like us wouldn't rent couple bikes if they had the chance..............ahhhhh how cute........ㅋㅋㅋ

What a beautiful day it was............check out the clear sky people......did you hear me??? CLEAR SKY PEOPLE!!!!

I brought along my volley/ soccer ball and we had fun tossing that around for awhile. But the most entertainment came when we watched this crazy tree game. Sung Hyun said he would always play this when he was young

LOOK LIKE FUN ?????

Family!!!!!

After my sports day I showered up and hopped in the car to head out of town with Sung Hyun to meet up with his family. I always get nervous at these kind of meetings because my Korean is not so great and they speak to me full force as if I'm a Korean. Sung Hyun has to translate EVERYTHING and I get nervous if he's not at my side every.single.second!!!!!!

Well this time I did much better and just spoke what I could when I could and didn't worry about what they thought of me.

But I still had MAJOR CULTURE SHOCK. Even though I have been in Korea for over 2 years and am dating a Korean I still have times when I think WOW THIS IS SOOO WEIRD. Well let's just say I felt that way a lot this weekend!!!

I have been eating this more often ever since I tried it in the Hongdae park with Chelsey. It's called 떡볶이 and consists of rice cakes in a spicy red sauce. It'll leave your lips-a-burnin'

And what was supposed to be a two hour drive turned into a SEVEN HOUR BUMPER TO BUMPER NOT SO FUN DRIVE. I was happy to arrive (even thought it was past 11 p.m.) and the family even waited for us before we ate. We drove up to a big feast of SAMGYUPSAL (again) and a whole whack of Korean side dishes.

And Sung Hyun's mom certainly wasn't afraid to smack my bum once again, repeatedly; which she has been doing everytime I meet her. CULTURE SHOCK #1.

I was forced to drink a couple shots of SOJU, but when someone (who is older than you) offers you a drink you can't say 'no'. CULTURE SHOCK #2

I crashed shortly after we got there because I was so tired. The kids stayed up till past two running and screaming in and out of the house. There were 14 people in total and they let me have the bed (yay!!!!) because the heater was up to 27 degrees Celsius and I was sweating before I even went to bed. Most of the adults stayed up till past 2 drinking and playing GO-STOP (a Korean card game). They kept the door open to the bedroom and the kids were running out and in of the room we were sleeping in. I was waiting for one of the adults to tell the kids to shut the door and be quiet so that we could sleep, but that didn't happen. CULTURE SHOCK #3

Sung Hyun's mom asked me for money. I understood her Korean and she said "can you give me some money please!!!". How the hell do you answer that question? That was CULTURE SHOCK moment #4!!!! Hummmm don't know what that was all about.......any Koreans out there to explain this one to me (since I am not even married to Sung Hyun and this is only the 4th time I have met her).

This is a picture of Sung Hyun and two of his sisters on the left and his mom (eating) behind him.

The next day we had a big breakfast feast -- rice and side dishes once again. I was eating faster than I normally would because I know Koreans are typically fast eaters but it wasn't fast enough because I was only half finished my rice when they were all finished. Sung Hyun's sister said in question form "is this food NOT delicious". To which I replied "yes it's delicious, but I just eat slow". CULTURE SHOCK #5. I would have been happy to stop eating right then and there but I hadn't finished my rice and it's rude to leave without finishing ALL OF YOUR RICE.

Then I did ALL THE DISHES (man why is there such a need for all those small side dish plates). I must have been standing over that sink for 30 minutes and when I finished one of his sisters told Sung Hyun that they will have to wash them again because I didn't do a good enough job.

WHAT!!!!

CULTURE SHOCK #6. I filled the sink up with soap and water, scrubbed them and then rinsed them under the tap to remove the soap..........which is exactly what I do at my house. And when I see Sung Hyun scrub them with soap (and only soap) and then set them all to the side, then scrub them again with ONLY water I laugh at him. Well I guess that's the Korean way to wash dishes. BUT NOBODY STOPPED ME TO TELL ME I DID THEM WRONG OR SHOWED ME HOW TO DO THEM........ahhhhhh so frustrating!!

The next day we went fishing. Here's a pic of his brother watching TV. Although several members of Sung Hyun's family smoke (but only the men because women DON'T smoke in Korea, it's bad) I found it weird that Sung Hyun wouldn't smoke with them. They all stood 20 feet apart from each other because they are not the same age -- but they are the same family?!?!?! CULTURE SHOCK #7

It certainly was a interesting experience and I wish my camera battery didn't die so I could have shared more pictures with you. I guess it will have to wait till the next time we are together!!!!!