Merry Christmas!

I hope all of you have a great holiday and a happy new year!

Bringin' Back the 80's

Kim decided that we needed a weekend to unwind. What better way than to dress up in funny costumes and drink alot of alcohol. Thus, the 80's party was born. We lugged the forementioned alcohol and eyeshadow across the city to Kim's mom's spacious 15th floor apartment (it even has a bathtub - a luxury not seen in our measly bachelor suites). Her mom is out of the country so the place was ours!

Anyway, the 80's were in full swing and the costumes were awesome. We got some strange looks on the street when we went to pick up other people at the subway. To see the pictures check out my facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77065&l=f1db4&id=798630540

Rira & Tak's Wedding

My friend and former co-worker got married today. Her new husband's family is from a small town in the south-western corner of the country called Buan. I'm fairly certain I was the only foreigner to have ventured into Buan in quite some time, judging by the stares and not whispered exclamations of 'Oh! Waegooki!' Waegook means foreigner.

Anyway, seeing as though the wedding was Sunday morning and it takes 4 hours to get to Buan we decided to make a road-trip out of it and go Saturday night. Boarding the bus even the driver was confused as to why we would want to go to Buan. Kimberly had to explain it was for a wedding, then he let us on. The ride there was uneventful. Naps were had, books were read. We had planned on finding a hotel and hanging out in the thriving metropolis of Buan, but then Tak called and said he and Rira were meeting friends in a town 40 minutes away, and if we wanted to go he had another friend coming through who could pick us up. Sure, we thought. It was quite funny when our ride showed up and Tak forgot to mention we were foreigners speaking sketchy Korean. He told us later that when he saw us on the corner he was praying it was other people he was picking up.

In Buan we got a room....in a love motel! Love motels are cheap basic motels located all over the country which function as meeting places for dating couples living at home and men cheating on their wives. Classy.

Then we went for dinner and drinks with Rira, Tak and 7 of his elementary school friends. None of them spoke English so there was a lot of awkward silence....until the beer started flowing. We ending up going to Noraebang after and then drinking whisky at the motel. Come 5am it was time for bed, only to get up a few hours later to primp for the wedding. Some of the guys were looking quite rough. One still had pillow lines on his face!

The wedding was held in a lime green wedding hall. Rira looked beautiful in both her white dress and hanbok. The ceremony was short and sweet, followed by picture taking and then lunch. The buffet was delicious, a lot of people were really curious about what white people eat, so my plate was analyzed by almost everyone who walked by. I hope they were impressed by the pile of kimchi on my plate! Tak and Rira left for the airport wearing their couple clothes. Its Korean tradition that newlyweds dress alike during the honeymoon. It was all over within 2 hours and we were headed home!

...That's when the real fun began. Actually, not fun. It was a long, loud, awkward 4 hours. Rira and Tak had organized a bus for their family coming from Seoul so we joined them coming back. Now, since Korean weddings don't have receptions I guess the party was on the bus. The soju was flowing and the music was pumping. There were microphones so the drunk people could wail to the already loud songs. Perhaps if I had been drinking it would have been fun. Right now I'm just glad to be off that bus and in my quiet apartment. Of course, I'd rather be in Guam on the beach like Rira and Tak!

Facebook Album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68581&l=b8f2a&id=798630540

Happy Halloween!

Once again GKI hosted a halloween bash for the parents....oops, children. Everyone got dressed up per theme and we played games and had a fashion show and parade. My class's theme was scary monsters. I had some witches, ghosts, vampires, Shrek and an interesting 'gold bat'.

After school we went out for a staff dinner to say goodbye to Thomas and Leslie, who are now on a vacation and joining the real world again in America. Also, we were welcoming two new teachers taking their place.

To top off the evening we all drank too much and went singing...at the Luxury Noraebang. Meaning its slightly nicer than your run of the mill singing room. Thursday was a long day at school. Next time we'll rethink the drinking way too much.

To see more pics check out my facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=65906&l=1b313&id=798630540

The Great Ontario Road Trip

I spent the last week in Ontario, visiting my bestest friend, Dawn. It was my first time to Ontario, so it was a busy sightseeing week... and it was fantastic!! We had so much fun touring Toronto and Niagra Falls, then we headed north to Sudbury and hilarity ensued.

In Toronto we walked around downtown and ate in cool restaurants, we even went to a show at The Second City called 'Facebook of Revelations', which ended with a song containing the line "Jesus has added you as a friend. Will you accept the request?" So funny.

We went to Casa Loma and were surprised to see the castle all Hollywood-ed up. ET Canada had rented it every night that week for celebrity parties because the Toronto Film Festival was going on. We had fun posing on the red carpet and pretended to be much more important than we are.

We also went to the CN Tower and ate lunch at the cafe overlooking the city. I had a really hard time stepping onto the glass floor, I only did it long enough to get one picture of my shoes over the city, then I jumped back.

Another day we drove to Niagra Falls. I think TV has ruined me. I was expecting it to be huge and incredible, so it was quite underwhelming. We did the 'Journey Behind the Falls', also a let-down. In hind-sight we should have done the Maid of the Mist, but we though going behind the falls sounded cooler. We put on yellow ponchos and walked down a concret hallway with 2 windows/sewer grates where you could see a wall of water. Thats it. There was one lookout area where you were standing right at the base of the falls, so that was ok... and wet.

While in the Niagra area that infamous commercial jingle from our childhoods kept playing over and over in our heads so we headed to MarineLand. Turns out its more 'Land' than 'Marine'. But, visiting an amusement park on a weekday in September is a great idea. We didn't wait in a single line and we could go on most rides as many times as we wanted. For dinner we drove into Niagra-On-The-Lake and ate and bought fudge. Mmmm... fudge.

The next day we got back in the car and headed north. Sudbury is about 4 hours from Toronto so we took a little side trip to Parry Sound. We played around taking pictures and being stared at by all the old people who had just got off a ferry. In Sudbury we visited the World's Largest Nickel, went down in a mine, went to the best science center ever and attended Dawn's baseball banquet. Fun. At the science center I held a snake and rode a Segway. Cool. And I got to visit with an old friend from Grande Cache and her family who I hadn't seen in years. It was hard to leave, but I'm back in Calgary to relax and enjoy my last 10 days in Canada before I ship out again.

To see more pictures from the adventure you can click the link to my facebook albums:

Part 1:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53786&l=04e6a&id=798630540

Part 2:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53792&l=2d527&id=798630540