We've moved!

I figured if we are still waiting to move into a new house then I might as well move the blog to
teachtravelplay.wordpress.com
And to my surprise the moment our blog moved we were told that we get to see our new house TODAY! Life is good.
Enjoy the new blog, it is still a work in progress as is our life here in Korea.
Much Love, Matt and Emily
http://teachtravelplay.wordpress.com/

Track 1 to "Thanksgiving Island Hopping": The YMCA

This weekend we celebrated our first Chuseok, one of the largest holidays celebrated in Korea. The three day holiday is comparable to an American thanksgiving, where families visit the tombs of their ancestors and eat traditional food associated with the festivities. Not only was the holiday appealing to our appetite but we got Friday AND Monday off of work!!! Seven of us EPIK teachers hopped on the first bus that left directly from work Thursday evening and headed to Mokpo, a port city with a ferry connection to the over three thousand islands that are sprinkled throughout the West Sea. We spent our first night in Mokpo sleeping in a traditional Korean hotel room that is nothing more than the above stated: A room. Seven of us shared the small floor space conveniently void of a bed so there were no arguments to be had over who slept where. In the morning we caught a ferry out to Haksean-do, but not before a friendly pharmacist recommended that I try one of her sea sickness elixirs, and for anyone who has traveled with me knows that if traveling by anything other than horse, I require motion sickness relief. The last thing I remember after swallowing the bottle is Matt trying to sneak onto the deck for some fresh air, getting caught and glared at by the sullen deck hand. I woke up two hours later just enough to carry my bags to the hotel and the rest of the evening is a blur of grogginess, but besides the "tiny bit of sleepy" the pharmacist warned me about the stuff works like magic!
The following day was Chuseok and typical of any culture celebrating a holiday everything for the most part was closed, we were however prepared with two boxes full of corner store goods: Rameyon noodles, wooden chopsticks, Soju, every type of sugary Korean snack food imaginable and snickers bars. We caught another boat (don't worry I was still feeling the effects from the "Dramamine" from the previous day) to Honn-do, an even smaller island near Haksean-do. The island was picture perfect, somewhere between the shabby chicness of Italy's Cinqua Terra and a surf village in central America. Off the boat were tents of fresh fish being cleaned and sold by the wives of fishermen, and a gang of elementary aged kids happily spending their holiday weekend chasing scruffy island dogs. We headed straight for the beach, most of us having spent the first month of teaching in doors for eight hours of the day. The pebble beach on Honn-do is surrounded by lush green mountains of dwarf pine and covered with large smooth pebbles mimicking over sized skipping rocks. Matt was more than excited to unveil his latest purchase: a "traditional" Korean speedo, seen in the olympic swimming pool here in Ulsan where we are living. He would of fit in with the other holidayers if it weren't for his size and abundant body hair. The other five teachers we were with went on a boat cruise around the island and Matt and I decided to fullfill our craving for some good hiking and headed up the mountain overlooking the island with views in all directions of surrounding water. Tucked into small clearings on the way up were tombs which in Korea look like large mounds of dirt covered in grass, the larger in size the more prominent the buried, these finds seems appropriate given the holiday we were celebrating and its tradition of visiting family tombs.
After we went back to Haksean-do the festivities kicked off with Soju, more soju and a giant stage set up in the middle of the town for Karaoke, in Korean "Norre-bang." There was a contest in which the winner of best norre-bang performance would win a mountain bike, and probably a few rolls of toilet paper, traditional gift or prize for anything from new baby, house warming, singing contest or equivalent. We were up against and entire group of uniformed coast guard, what appeared to be the town mayor and some very rehearsed gentlemen in suit and tie, but we got on the stage strong prepared with "The YMCA." Moments before our song even began however a belligerent man ran onto stage on began shoving all of us off, grabbing our microphones and yelling in Korean. He was restrained, sort of, and we continued our song, occasionally looking back to see him still throwing punches toward us, detained only by a few of our new Korean friends. It put a damper on our evenings to think that someone didn't want us there, until we continued the party with members of the town and all was forgotten. About an hour later Sandra and I were sitting with our backs to the corner store at a table with the rest of our group and about ten Koreans when we heard Niki say "Here's this guy again", he walked over and tipped us out of our chairs with one hand and began throwing another fit. At this point the girls we were with felt violated and scared and the testosterone of the guys in our group had risen enough to probably get us all thrown in jail. We asked some of our new friends what was going on and they kept repeating "Korean gangster" we didn't put up much of a fight, took our things and left.

In the morning we got back on our ferry and made our way back to the mainland, re-capping a weekend filled with fresh grilled fish, beautiful sunsets, gymnasium style sleeping, dancing into the night with Korean grandmothers, all of the warm and fuzzies that come with a life filled with travel, and the ever present reminder that we are guests here in Korea and that there are some things we will not ever understand, but every day the gap grows smaller.
Until next time, Happy Chuseok!
-Matt and Emily

planes, trains, scooters and bikes

Our first month has gone by Palle palle palle! as the Koreans would say, sometimes with a "b"others with a "p", but meaning all the same with lightning speed! It has been difficult to write for several reasons, the first being that we still do not really have a home and therefore internet is only
ocassionally available and rarely convinient. The second reason being that all of the free time we somehow thought would manifest in our lives is non-existant, probably better that way for two busy bodies, but we are teaching after school classes on top of our regular hours, playing on sports
teams, training for marathons, trying to learn Korean and accepting every invitation to sing Karaoke all night as we can muster. The third reason for not writing as frequently has been resolved after reading a very inspiring and candid/informative and rather charming blog: Salty Seattle. For myself writing about this experience so far has not come easily because the experience has not been easy,
in fact this has been, and I am speaking for both of us, the most difficult year of our lives and living in Korea is no exception. I have only been inclined to write when I feel that I can muster enough flowery descriptions of the amazing sights, tastes and events here, and there are plenty, but on other days, when all I really want is my local coffee shop, The New Yorker and my dog tied at my feet, writing about how miraculous and life changing it is to be living and working in South Korea, is harder than I thought it would be.
So I think I will have to be more candid and in doing so there will be more blogs, more stories to
share and Matt and I will have concrete evidence that we did indeed do this and that it has already changed our lives.

With that said we have been extremely mobile in the last two weeks, hopping on
trains to Seoul, hitching rides up the coast, biking through tombs in Ghyonju and mobbing around town on our new scooter! The scooter has been a fantastic purchase and inspired so many other teachers that we have a bit of a scooter gang now here in Ulsan. Matt rode one back in Bellingham and I assumed my position on the back of the bike. I had planned to be a passenger here as well but then with the after school classes and our need to at least have a few of our own extra-curricular activities, I decided to try and take the scooter out on my own. I'd like to say for the record that I did live in Italy for almost a year and have braved the traffic in Naples as well as road tripped a bit in Costa Rica and was feeling prepared to take on the Korean street laws..and then I found out there were none. The Korean drivers are completely unique to any other drivers anywhere I have seen, and at the same time completely in control, they drive on sidewalks, through parks, wiz through round a bouts and stop in the middle of the road to say hello to someone. I took the scooter to school last week, dropped Matt off and was thrilled to pull up to Okdong middle school and really impress my students with my independance and cool. I was soon reminded that out of the two of us Matt has always and will always be the cool one and my place as a passenger on the back of the bike is well deserved. After school my students flocked in a heard to watch their new English teacher pull away, I got nervous and couldn't get the bike started, the students then started chanting "boo teacher!" making things worse, so when I finally did get going, I really got going! Right into a cement wall, in front of nearly the entire student body. The scooter crashed, the fender cracked and fell to pieces and I wiggled out from under the wreage with very minor bruises and a very red face.

In Korea scooters and motorcycles are banned from the highways, so last weekend we were doing a little exploring, staying on the main city streets until suddenly the street truned into a highway! We were up to 90k trying to keep up with the traffic and searching for an exit when we
In Korea scooters and motorcycles are banned from the highways, so last weekend we were doing a little exploring, staying on the main city streets until suddenly the street turned into a highway! We were up to 90k trying to keep up with the traffic and searching for an exit when we got to a toll booth. The only way to get back to Ulsan was to lift the bike up and over a highway median and hope no one saw us. We made it back to our neighborhood and not a monent to soon as our muffler fell off as we pulled into the apartment complex.

Ulsan is bustling preparing for Chuseuk, the Korean Thanksgiving where families visit their ancestor's grave and prepare a weekend of large, traditional Korean meals. We have not made concrete plans for the long weekend yet, but are very excited for the break from work and to celebrate our first Korean holiday here!
Happy Fall to everyone, we are missing the start of Fall quarter at WWU and making our Halloween costume plans.
All our love, Matt and Emily

Singing rooms with the principal and smart boards

We have completed our first week of teaching here in Ulsan and learned quite a deal about the Korean culture. Matt has bonded quite well with his principal and staff, he has joined the volleyball team, is helping coach basketball and is teaching an after school class at Sinjeong middle school. My students know Matt by name even at the next middle school over as "sexy man!". On his lunch break today, to help with the commute between schools Matt bought a 125cc scooter and has been braving the crazy Korean traffic (I thought Italy traffic was nuts until now!) We have been out nearly every night this last week with Matt's staff of teachers, eating, drinking soju and singing in the norrebang (singing rooms). It is a HUGE insult if you do not sing infront of everyone in the singing room so Matt and I were a hit with "Thriller" "Like a Virgin" and "Yesterday".
I am teaching ages 14 and 15, mostly boys, class size is around 40 or more, did I mention I have no idea what I am doing?! My voice is about gone from yelling at them to stop
beating eachother up in class, but I think very slowly I am gaining their respect through youtube videos and soccer references. The swine flu is on red alert here and so we get to school around 8:15am and stand in line to get our temperature taken, then there is about five minutes of good morning head bowing and us trying to speak in whatever polite Korean we have managed to pick up, and then the first gang of students come crashing into our classroom. It is really nice each having our own classrooms, they are brand new with top of the line technology equipped with a smart board and great sound system. Lunch time is unique not so much in the chaotic atmosphere present at most
middle schools but in the force feeding of Kimchi and mandatory teeth brushing afterward. We teach from 9am until 4:30 and then Matt and I have each taken on extra after school classes which are smaller and with younger students, so those are more extra curricular and really fun.
In our free time we have been hanging out with many of the other teachers we met at our EPIK orientation
"teacher's camp". We've been going to the Spa, a soccer game, the national archery championship and we even managed to fit six of us in our tiny apartment for a sleepover. That brings us to our first home together, or as we have been calling it: "The windowless box". It's a bit smaller than we had expected but we are making it home with photos of all our friends and family from home and even a few guilty pleasure American comforts that we didn't even partake in back at home (America's next top model and dunken doughnuts). Matt and I are doing pretty well, trying to help one another with different side effects of culture shock and homesickness, both debilitating and contagious at times.
The scooter was a great purchase to help us get out of our apartment and explore our new city. Ulsan is a fantastic place with all of the life of a big city and the ecclecticism of a university town. We are living right next to the University, a giant park the swimming pool and a great shopping center with bars, restaurants and markets. This weekend we will head with some of the other EPIK teachers on the midnight train to Seoul to see what the heart beat of South Korea looks like and to visit our teahcer camp leaders Nicole and Zeno.

(Korean soccer mascots)

We will surely have an update after our visit to Seoul and until then, missing you all and we will let you know when our SKYPE is working properly.
Lots of Love, Matt and Emily

It's been a long time

Hello everyone. Sorry it has taken us so long to get back to you. We have been quite busy the last week and without consistent internet connections. We have had quite a trip so far. Right now we have just moved into our tiny studio apartment in the university area of Ulsan. But this blog will contain our highlights from teacher camp.

After our long days of travel and crazy midnight bus tour through South Korea, we finally arrived safely, soundly, and sleepily at the teacher camp in Jeunju at the university. For the most part, the camp was centered around introducing us to teaching and the Korean culture. Most of the people there had never been teachers before so many of the classes were very beneficial to us. We had classes ranging from the history of Korea to how to use powerpoints and how to discipline students. Some of the classes were much more practical to teacher travelers like us; for instance the tourism lecture was fun, as was the games class, but others were not as helpful like the how to read to kindergartners class or the how to file your taxes.

The real highlights of the camp were what happened outside of class. Our medical exam for instance seemed harmless enough, and yet turned out to be one of the most memorable events of the last two weeks. We went to an auditorium after hours of not drinking water in the scorching heat because we had to get blood drawn, take a urine test, and get an x-ray. We were shuffled from booth to booth like we were waiting to give ride tickets at a carnival as nurses checked our blood pressure, height, weight, eyes and hearing and our fellow teachers looked on. As we got closer to the blood draw booth english teachers began fainting off of the stage and were carried away into some hidden room and not seen until hours later??? Next we all waited in lines to pee in a cup. Lastly, many females had to de-robe as they went into get their chest x-ray leading to an overall bizarre feeling of the program, our selves, and the Korean's germophobia. (Several EPIK teachers were forced to wear face masks for the following week as they may have shown signs of swine flu...)

We took a fun trip on Sunday to the Hanok traditional village. We toured the ancient style homes and made tratitional Korean fans. We participated in the traditional Bibimbap event that Jeunju is famous for and since it was my Birthday in August I got to stip the giant pan. The buildings in the area were beautifully built and are now some of the only village buildings left after the destruction of the Korean War and Japanese invasions. It is very touristy, but very beautiful to visit.

We had some huge buffet meals at the opening and closing ceremonies of the camp. Korean, Japaneses, and Chinese food line the walls of the building where we watched traditional dances and music being played. We ate a lot of food over the week because it was all free, and most of it was very good. I even participated in the talent show at the end of the night, singing a song about our week at camp in front of the other 600 hundred students.

Mostly, the camp was a good opportunity for us to meet each other before going to our new homes. Emily and I made a good group of friends in Ulsan before we left. We met hundreds of people at the camp and got many good ideas for our teaching lessons. We are now able to bounce ideas off of each other in our areas, and we will have friends to stay with and visit throughout South Korea while we stay.

Stay tuned for our next blog highlighting our first week in Ulsan.
We will update our photos on the blog when we get the chance (STILL no internet @ our "apartment")

Love you and miss you all, Matt & Emily

Annyeonghaseyo!

After a brief visit to San Francisco and two days on planes and buses we have made it to South Korea just at the tail end of the rainy season, boasting weather neither of us have ever experienced before. Matt and I left Bellingham Sunday morning, shortly after my mom found my passport and diploma in a box in the garage (THANK YOU!) and about an hour after Matt had gotten off the dance floor and realized all of his clothes were packed already in my Mom's car. Needless to say our send off was well lived, and vaguely remembered.
Airports have never suited Matt or I: too many details to remember, irritants such as cramped quarters, pushy people and muggy air quality, and now to add to the list of why airports are no fun is BAGGAGE RULES. Matt and my bags were not only too many, but they were each 15-20lbs overweight. Anyone else would have probably paid the extra cash to get them checked or managed to carry on an extra bag, but being stubborn and cheap we decided to unpack everything we now own and start auctioning things off in the SEA-TAC customs. First went my wig collection, then Matt's American flag shorts, flip-flops, nail Polish, ties, a few sacred books and then toiletries. As we were pulling things out of our bags we began criticizing one another for the packing choices the other had made. For instance Matt was surprised to see that I had bought packs of hamburger shaped erasers to bring to the Korean children we will be teaching, similarly to my feeling confused when I saw Matt pull out a scrapbook that I had made him a year ago and a 3lb cookbook. We collaboratively shaved off 28lbs through our combined efforts of giving things away and Matt wearing two pairs of pants, three t-shirts and a pair of extra shoes in his pockets onto the plane.

We spent two days in San Francisco with our Bellingham friends Elisa and Daniel, next to the beach, visiting the SF MOMO, and at Daniel's climbing gym. The pacific coastal breeze is held tight in our memory and hearts as we grow accustomed now to a very new climate with 90 percent humidity and sudden bursts of torrential downpour, where praying mantis come out to fly through our dorm and the air weighs down our skin with a thick and pungent scent of everything foreign to us now.

After arriving in the Incheon airport Matt and I spent two hours moving through customs, baggage claim and finally boarded a bus that would take us and other teachers on the four our trip to Jeonju University. At 2am the bus was silent and asleep, Matt and his amazing ability to sleep anywhere on my shoulder and I wide eyed awake watching the small Korean man swerve into oncoming traffic, slapping his bare feet against the floor (On the beach in San Fran) and dash board in rythm with the

Mamma Mia soundtrack and singing out the only words he knew: "Mamma mamma mamma". We will be at "Teacher Camp" for the next ten days, held at Jeonju University in South Korea learning basic Korean, how to teach english to our students and acclimating to the culture. We have spent only one very sleepless night here, but so far are really enjoying hearing travel stories from the 500 teachers here for training and making wonderful connections for the upcoming year. We will write again as soon as we get some sleep, until then, annyeonghi jumuseyo!

-Matt and Emily

Ten days and counting...

As Matt and I make final preparations for our year teaching English in South Korea, we would like to take a moment to remind all of you that we will always be within reach via email, facebook, and our blog: http://www.teachtravelplay.blogspot.com/, or you can just fly over and visit us! We will be living in Ulsan, a town outside of the larger Coastal port city Busan.

As we continue to update our blog with our year's adventure we would love to hear details of your lives back home and wherever this year may take you! You have all been such an important part of our travel plans leading up to this trip and we are so glad to have the Pacific Northwest to eventually come home to. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Until next time, and in case we don't see you, Good afternoon, Good evening and Good night!