After plenty of issues with Weebly (and hearing that you're having issues too!) we've decided to move to Wordpress.
Our new url is: www.dawseng.wordpress.com
Please update your links and come over to our new home for a visit!
Jeff and I have accepted contracts at an international school in Mongolia (Located between China and Russia)! We’ll be teaching our subject areas – Jeff is teaching math, grades 7 to 10 (ish, we’re still not entirely sure), and I’ll most likely be teaching grade 1. One of the best things about this school is that it teaches the Ontario curriculum! When we get back to Ontario we’ll have had experience working with the curriculum and some of the textbooks – this is pretty cool (and rare)!
We’ve been working with a recruiter since February, applying to jobs and hoping to get ourselves employed by September. Our recruiter suggested that we look at jobs in the Middle East. She said that since we have such little experience that we would likely find jobs there since the international school industry is exploding. She originally suggested Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Later on she informed us that there is too much competition in those areas and that we should look to Kuwait or Qatar since we’ve only been teaching for a year, and because it’s ESL it doesn’t count towards anything! Qatar I was okay with, but Kuwait is just a bit too close to Iraq for me! So we applied, and waited. We emailed and tried to get things moving… but not much came out of that situation. If they had told us straight up that they couldn’t place us I would have been fine, we could have moved on and found our own jobs or anther recruiter. I was a bit disappointed that they seemed to have dumped us!
So, as we were dealing with the recruiter (or lack of recruiter… they were SO attentive in the beginning, but seemed to fall apart after a while…) we talked to people. It ended up that a close family friend’s daughter had just been offered a job at a school in Mongolia. My mom got some basic information from Megan (the daughter) and sent along Megan’s email address too. After a few emails back and forth with Megan we decided to apply to the same school where she had just accepted a job. We applied directly to the school. Our contact was interested in interviewing us, but wanted to make it soon – within the next 24 hours! He had already interviewed some other people who needed to know if they were being offered the job. They had received job offers from a different school and wanted to know if they from the school in Mongolia before they responded to the other job offers. (Does this make sense? It sounds confusing… sorry!)
We ended up having an interview on Tuesday night, we had contacted the school on Sunday. We spoke with the school contact (who is in Ontario) at 9pm (it was 8am for him…) He offered us jobs at the end of the interview. A day later we accepted.
So, we’re off to Mongolia. We’re excited! The only thing I’m not excited about is the fact that Ulaanbaatar (the capital city, where we’ll be living) is the capital city that records the coldest average temperatures in the world. I am going to freeze. I’m hoping there will be lots of yarn so I can knit my self warm! Mongolia will definitely be a change from Seoul. It boasts 2 million people – the whole country! Half the population lives in Ulaanbaatar. Seoul has a population of 14 million... more if you count the city suburbs. It will definitely be a change, but one that I are really looking forward to!
We just thought we'd post a quick blog. We're at the airport in Seoul (stealing an internet signal from the First Class lounge....) on our way to Canada for just over a week.
An early start time today coupled with a LONG flight home will ensure that I am thoroughly exhausted when we set foot on the ground in Canada (we get to fly into the Waterloo airport - so exciting!!) But, we're excited to be coming home for a visit. It will be great to see our friends and family and to be there for my sister's wedding.
I'm also hoping that I can strap my cross country skis on my feet and get out for an hour or two some afternoon. I'm so excited about snow!!
So, we'll see some of you very soon - our Korea peeps, well, we'll see you when we get back!
I'm out.
~Jen
Jen and I really enjoy our life here in Korea. We have a lot of great friends, we have good working environments, there's a lot to do and see around here, and we've enjoyed learning about the Korean language and culture.
One thing that Korea doesn't do quite so well yet is market itself. Its tourism industry is very much underdeveloped. There is, as I've already said, lots to see and do, but it's just not well advertised. Through a lot of word of mouth and a lot of exploring, we and our friends have all kept busy schedules here in Korea.
When we had originally thought about moving abroad and had suggested Japan as a possible destination, almost everyone we told was so excited for us and wanted to come and visit. But after a long series of events that saw us ending up in Korea, it seems as if our final destination wasn't nearly as exciting. And I guess we fell folly to the same marketing as well. We thought Japan would be a great place to be (and not having yet visited, we don't have any first hand experience to draw upon to verify or refute that), but after having spent the past 6 months here in Seoul, we can't imagine being anywhere else.
Why is it that everyone loves Japan? Why do they want so much to visit Japan? What makes it so special? A lot of people have visited the small island country and brought home many positive experiences. Indeed, that is one of the primary goals of the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) program that Jen and I had originally applied to - to learn about Japan and to spread it's culture around the world once we returned home. Japan is a known quantity. Lots of visitors and a lots of good stories that inspire others to want to visit. Importantly, Japan also has a very well developed tourist industry and makes traveling there easy.
So, if we were in Japan, would we actually have more visitors than we have here in Korea? Incidentally, we haven't yet had anyone visit us, and I think that it will remain that way for our entire stay. It's such a far distance and costs so much that it's not an easy trip to manage. But I digress... Back to the question. More visitors in Japan than Korea? I don't know. Japan is still a costly and time consuming trip. I think that people were just more excited about Japan and made grand plans with their small talk like most people are apt to do when they are excited.
Whether or not our home makes a difference as to how many visitors we get doesn't really matter though. It's purely theoretical. We're here in Korea and not in Japan. I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that although many people wouldn't consider Korea as a top travel destination, it definitely has it's hidden gems.
Life's been good and we're both glad that we had the opportunity to live here.
Now, is anyone going to come and visit us when we're in Dubai...
Jeff and I have just returned from our week long "honeymoon"/winter vacation in Beijing, China. The week was great fun and included two Great Wall hikes, a Peking Opera, an acrobatics show, Peking duck (we're vegetarians, but we HAD to try it...), the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, a Hotong tour, a visit to a pearl (I originally typed purl!!) market, a silk market, and a trip to KFC for Jeff so he could have his egg tart.... oh yeah, our trip also included fireworks. LOTS of fireworks! When we first arrived in Beijing our tour guide told us that it was impossible to see fireworks in the city, we had to go outside Beijing in order to see a show since fireworks are illegal in the city centre - boy was he wrong!
The above video is not ours (we didn't think about taking a video until the morning after, and by then it was too late, but this video depicts exactly what we saw on February 6th - the beginning of the Spring Festival, more commonly known as Chinese (or Lunar in Korea) New Year. We watched the fireworks from our hostel window. The whole sky filled up just like this (this video was taken in Beijing 2008!)
Througout the day we periodically heard firecrackers being set off, the short ones that don't fire high into the sky, but that do make A LOT of noise. By the time midnight rolled around the fireworks were in full swing and didn't stop until at least 1:30. There were about four hours of solid fireworks that night - I'm pretty sure that most of them were set off by the general population - we certainly saw a few that were a little too close for comfort for me!!!
Walking down the street was insane too. We had to make sure that we watched where we were going since people were lighting firecrackers everywhere. It really did sound and look like a war zone. The next morning we saw the carnage of the night before - red paper and cardboard were strewn everywhere along the small streets where we stayed!
Over the next couple of days we'll try to get our pictures posted and post a few more blog entries.. there is certainly a lot to blog about!!
We are also preparing for another trip - our trip home to Canada for my sisters' wedding. We leave in a week!
So we're off to catch a 5am bus to the airport. Not sure if we'll get a chance to blog while we're away, but we'll be sure to share our stories once we return. Back in a week!!
So Jen and I just picked up our passports. We had to submit them so that we could get our visas to enter China. It's only a week away and now we're really starting to feel the excitement. Can't wait! Everything's booked - hotels, tours, flights. And now that we've got our visas, all we have left to do is change some money and then we're on our way!
Check it out. Look how awesome the visa looks. Full page and a snazzy picture of the Great Wall on it. Even more exciting is the fact that we are soon going to be on the real thing soon! I never thought that I'd actually be able to see the day where I not only would get to visit the country where my parents were born, but where I also get to walk along the Great Wall! Add into that the Terracotta Warriors, Tianamen Square, and the Forbidden City, and BAM!! it's one amazing vacation. Now, I've always preferred to take my time when I see things and to explore at my own pace, but given the amount of things we're going to see, I'll admit it and say that I'm glad we're going on this tour. K, we'll save the real rambling for when we actually go and we have stories and photos to share. Can't wait!!
-jeff
No, there is no earthquake, do not worry! It is just the title of the Carol King song that I am currently listening to - I felt it was somewhat appropriate for some reason....
As I sit here in my office thinking about what I am going to post about this time I cannot help but think about the fact that our time in Korea has almost hit the six month point. We have almost spent six months living here, working here, and exploring here. We have spent six months as a married couple. During this time I have had the opportunity to learn more about myself (I always find that this happens when I travel because I become so much more aware of my own culture when I am faced with things that do not always mesh with my own culture). Jeff and I have discussed our future (and by future I mean what we will be doing in September) and we have talked about where we will end up (when we finish traveling).
Our next adventure will take place during the week of the Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year or Tet if you are Vietnamese! - February 2nd - 9th) We are heading off to China - Beijing. A three day tour begins our adventure followed by 3 days of us staying in a hostel (very close to Tiennamen Square) and exploring the city on our own. I am very exited.
A week after we return from China we are heading home to Canada. As the 16th approaches I am getting more and more excited about going home for a short visit. I am looking forward to eating some foods that I miss and seeing friends and family. It will be an EXTREMELY busy and hectic trip, but I am excited. I am also quite excited that we get to fly into the Waterloo airport!
February is a travel month for us, it is also the month that marks our halfway point in Korea. I cannot believe that the time has passed by so quickly!!
~Jen
P.S. For some reason whenever I try to put an apostrophe in this post the website directs me to a find box. You will notice that there are no apostrophes in this blog - it was quite a feat!
Okay, I'll be the first to admit that we have been TOTALLY SLACKING on this website since the new year began. We have good excuses though... but they're still just excuses....
Since the new year began:
*We have been without internet for a week
*We have been without hot water for more than 3 days (December 31st - January 4th)
*Jeff has gotten sick and thus his normal food consumption has been drastically reduced... he is eating so little now, our food bill has been cut by at least 3/4!
*We have no hot water again - it just started this morning and we can't seem to get it back
*We have been working SUPER hard at camps and have been trying to figure out what the heck we are going to do with ourselves come September, which is quickly approaching!
My newly acquired knowledge is as follows:
*When it gets cold in Korea you are supposed to turn on your hot water and let it run all night so that the pipes don't freeze. We've been letting ours drip (it's so painful to let this happen... so bad for the environment!), but last night we were so tired that we forgot to turn on our tap, hence the frozen pipes today. We've been hoping that the heat fan that we've been blasting towards the pipes (which are hidden in our walls) is going to help, we feel really bad about telling our landlords that we have no hot water again!)
We have been busy, and the busyness is not slowing down. For the next week I have "camp", then I have classes for a week - Jeff has two more weeks of "camp". Our current camp is really just extra classes that we are teaching. I have 2 classes of kids and one class with moms - bonus - we get our afternoons off!
After camp/classes comes Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year or Tet if you're Vietnamese!) We are heading on our week long "honeymoon" to China (I'm hoping we can get another honeymoon to a warmer place booked for our next trip...). It will be cold - I don't know what the heck we were thinking!!! Our other friends are taking their holidays in Thailand, Vietnam, Bali, Hawaii... us, we're going to Beijing - it's freaking freezing there! When we get back from China we spend a week teaching and then have 2 more weeks off. We are heading to Canada for my sister's wedding! Ye Haw! (Yet another cold destination.... again, what were we thinking!!! I'm freezing in Korea, why would we choose to go somewhere cold during the Lunar New Year!!!
So we will be busy.
But, we will try to check in with you every so often. If you don't hear from us for awhile it's not because we don't like you or we're trying to avoid you (at least that's the case for most of you!!!), it's because life has suddenly made us busy.
Okay, I'm off! We'll be sure to keep you informed of our trips (I'm super excited about both of them.... looking forward to seeing the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiennamen Square, and the Terracotta Warriors in China, as well as our friends and family in Canada when we fly in for our brief and crazy visit!
~Jen
A few weeks back (October 27) we went to the DMZ (demilitarized zone). It was a really interesting trip, and even after having crossed into North Korea itself on another tour the subsequent weekend, I'd still say that it was a worthwhile trip, since we were able to visit the JSA (joint security area) and learn about some Korean history. We've got lots of pictures here. But for those of you who are too lazy (you know who you are!!!), I'll post a selection of them here.
The blue buildings are the UN negotiation rooms and they actually straddle the border between the South and the North. You can see a horizontal line just beyond the middle ROK's (Republic of Korea soldier) head. That raised concrete is the actual border between the South and North. The two ROKs on the sides are half behind the buildings for cover if the North decides to do a little target practice and I guess the guy in the middle is just out of luck and has to take one for the team.
Vanessa, Becky, myself and Jen standing next to a ROK in one of the UN negotiation rooms. We're actually in North Korea in this photo! This guy's standing guard (see the door behind us?) so that soldiers from the North don't storm the room and kidnap any tourists.
A view of check point 3 (which is no longer in use) from check point 4. This is where the Axe Murder took place in 1976 (2 US soldiers and 1 Korean national were killed) when the UN tried to cut down a poplar tree that was obstructing view between CP 3 and CP 4, where we are standing. If you look closely at the very lower left of this photo, you can see the stump to the said poplar.
Also, to the right of the CP 3 in this photo is the Bridge of No Return, where Koreans at some point had to choose on which side they wanted to reside (decision was final - no further border crossing was allowed, hence the name).
Gijeong-dong in North Korea, a propaganda village. It used to broadcast propaganda messages over a loudspeaker system telling everyone in the South how great the North was. It no longer broadcasts. Also, the village is not populated.
The flag pole is supposedly the tallest in the world at 160 meters, and the flag is so gi-normous that it's dry weight is 600 pounds!!!
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Yeah, so lots of neat stuff. Go check out the rest of the photos. We had an awesome time and if any of you ever make your way to our neighbourhood, we'll take you for a look-see. How many times in your life are you going to get to visit a demilitarized zone where there are thousands of armed soldiers all around you ready and waiting to fight? Ok, it sounds more dangerous than it really was... though, we did have to sign a waiver saying that our tour operator (USO - United States Overseas) could not guarantee our safety and that we understood that we could be killed on this tour. Hmmm....
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