Annyong Haseyo!

I know it’s been awhile and I had a request by Mr. B-rad-ee himself to update my Korean adventures in blog form. Eat you’re your heart out B-J GAYBERT!

So all my friends took off for Boracay on Christmas day and left me basically alone. I think I’ve gone a little nutty at times! I’ve done a butt load of hiking to say the least. Today I went on a 3 hr adventure up some mountains. I was lazy and wasn’t sure how fair up I was going to go but this all changed in my head once a Korean mountain goat (some rando man) was like racing me. When I go hiking I go kinda hard and when the normal Korean goes it’s a leisure activity. So this dude pushed me. I was ahead of him for a long time until I came to a head on with a family of 50 people. I stepped aside to let the family go by then the Korean mountain goat went pass me and totally pushed his way through the family! AS IF! Anyways I was over the racing mode because my lunch almost came up. I decided that I made it that far up the mountain that I would go to the top to a peak that I’ve been to numerous times. As I approached the peak I felt my body lacking energy and water…a bonking experience, as an athlete would say. I got to the rock look out and looked out. HAHA! Then a Korean man and like 5 women joined me. They started talking to me in Korean then they realized I wasn’t one of them. They got super excited and the man wanted his women in a picture with me. After a couple photos the man continued to try speaking English to me and asked if I was Russian…SERIOUSLY why do these people think all foreign women are Russian?! I made it clear that I was Canadian – they love Canadians out here. The man also asked if I had a GIRLFRIEND over and over. Once again I made it clear that I had a boyfriend back in Canada. I’m pretty sure he was confused with his English but you never know! After all of this the women rewarded me with two mandarin oranges! This was like gold at this point because of the bonking experience and they tasted amazing. I thanked them in Korean and made my way down the mountain.

My next update will be in the New Year so have a safe, fun, and happy one! I know you all wish you were with me on the beaches in the Philippines ☺ Miss you, xo.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Korea!

So my Korean Christmas really did not feel like the holidays back in Yellowknife. The lack of snow, cold, and the fam-jam not here was the issue. In addition, the fact that Christmas not being a big holiday here in Korea also contributed to this feeling.

However, we tried our best to get into the spirit. On Christmas Eve at school we had a Christmas party slash watched a terrible Brendan Fraser film all afternoon and ate so much crapola. OH before the elementary kids came Megan and I were both Santa Clause (or as the Korean teachers told the kids, we were Santa’s Grandmother…weird) for the preschool kiddies. Our school also did Secret Santa with all the teachers. I had the director’s wife, Scully. GAWD! I had no idea if I was being funny or serious with my gift. I ended up getting her these huge leopard print slippers and chocolates. Leopard print in so in here in Korea so I she loves them but they are HUGE. Also, she might be wearing them in sympathy cause she knows one of the foreign teachers gave them to her. I got a bath gift set…too bad I don’t have a tub in my bathroom!

We got off work early on Christmas Eve, which was a present in itself! YAHOO! I met up with the girls for some dinner and we picked up some necessities for the evening’s festivities and Christmas brunch. The night lead us to having some drinks that included champagne being shot out Kaley’s apartment’s window then heading to our building’s rooftop terrace for the firework show…aka the fire cracker I got Kaley for her Birthday. It was hilarious to say the least. From here we headed to Lindsay and Jim’s party in the building next to ours. In all the night was super fun and def different from the usual Christmas Eves with the fam at church then the drive around YK looking at Christmas lights.

The next morning I woke up super ass early; not intentionally I swear! I couldn’t tell if I was still drunk or if I was just that excited to open presents…HAHA I KID! I opened a package from Chad and Cleo. My parents and Tess had sent early Christmas presents that I couldn’t wait to open…oops. The presents definitely made it feel like the holidays. Thank you so much for them! Then I proceeded to log onto Skype for my morning routine of talking to the rents and Chad. “Merry Christmas from the future!” After all the well wishes I cleaned and rearranged my pad before the girls came over for brunch. OH and I also jacked Kaley’s xmas tree to make us feel like it was xmas in my apartment. We had coffee and baileys, mimosas, fruit salad, hash browns, deviled eggs, tofu rice wraps, and French toast! Def a treat for us! Molly also graced us with her presence, which was nice, and we can all definitely say that Seoul hasn’t changed her. The girls were all leaving for Boracay that evening and I was in charge of taking care of Taylor’s cat and Kaley’s orchid.

The rest of the Christmas consisted of lazing around then going to an Indian restaurant with Stephanie for dinner. Twas a nice day! I had to work on the Friday and only two more days of class till I’m off to Boracay to hit the white sand beaches and meet up with my posse. Should be a nice break of hot weather, exploring, drinks, and relaxing on the beaches. Be jealous!

Hair Asianized

I’ve had some funny encounters with Koreans while I’ve been here because they think I’m Korea and it doesn’t help that I embraced a Korean haircut with bangs. (This was a spur-of-the-moment decision plus all haircuts are a set $10 rate. The lady told me God loves me then hacked my locks…I’m over it.) Anyways back to my story! By far the funniest/creepiest encounter was by a foreigner, who we like to call Creepy Dan. This went down a couple weeks ago at Korean lessons. This 65-year-old grease ball bee lined it towards me as we were waiting for the elevator and got right up in my face and proceeded to say “OH! You’re not Korean are you!?” I let him know that I get that a lot and no I’m not. While in the elevator he continued to stare and I made it super awkward by being my awkward self. My friends got a kick out of it. This was not the end of the Creepy Dan experience! During our 15 minute break at lessons he snagged me in one of those hard to leave talking sessions. I learned so much about Creepy Dan. He’s been in Korea for 12 years, knows 5 languages, he’s from the States, he’s a chemistry Major, and the list goes on. Once again my friends got a kick out of my “Koreaness” and Creepy Dan and tried their best not to save me from the situation! GAWD! However, Taylor pulled the “Sarah the cake is really good! You should go get some” card, which I’m grateful for and I bolted!

Hilarious Korea

Here are some pictures of day-to-day Korea.

Popcorn anyone?

They love to drink.

Hooked on FONICS.

Hey all!

Sorry for the lack of bloggage these past few weeks. My only excuse is laziness and lack of interesting things to write about. That makes no sense though because I’m in Korea and day-to-day I encounter hilarious things. However, some of these hilarious things seem to be normal now! AH.

Since the DMZ tour I’ve been kick’n it in Busan. I still can’t get over how its DECEMBER! Time is flying by quickly. I’ve started Korean lessons every Saturday mornings for two hours. It’s a super great deal - $3/mth with a one on one Korean teacher. I really need to make more of an effort to learn this language…The book is beside my bed and I glance at it but most of the time it remains unopened. YAR. Ok, starting now my New Years resolution will start. I’ll make myself do some every night. The language is difficult and I do really admire my students for being able to speak Korean, English and some of them are learning Chinese. If only my brain was still a sponge!



Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of going on a field trip with my kinders and coworkers to a factory. This was not just your ordinary STOCKING/LEGGING, SOCK, YOGHURT, AND TOFU factory. It was some sort of religious based cult factory. YUP! It was super eerie and there were pictures of their religious leader everywhere who looked like a Korean version of Eugene Levy. The Koreans who lived in this compound never leave and they ride bikes around, eat at designated times with the same sex (they made an exception for us BUT Patrick Teacher was served his food and us ladies had to get our own lunch), and they played weird music in the streets. We got to test of the yoghurt and quiet frankly we thought we were going to be drugged and have to spend the rest of our lives in the Zion-land factory. While we walked through the factory we watched the people doing mind-numbing jobs and I was told numerous times not to take pictures…OOPS. From here we had some lunch. After this we had a photo shoot as we do on all field trips then jumped on the bus back to ILS to teach for the rest of the day. Def an experience but common it was free! And in the situation my school is in, they’ll take anything! Haha, I joke…


Last week I started up a new exercise regime. I’ve joined hot yoga! Its amazing and us foreigners in Hwamyeong have invaded the classes by the bunches. It’s an hour-long workout and the first half is seriously yoga on steroids. It’s more of an aerobic based with a yoga mix. The second half is slower and all yoga based. Needless to say you sweat buckets and bend, stretch, and move in ways you didn’t think your body could move. I absolutely love it and I can’t wait to get the sound track to the workout! Hopefully I’ll get more rhythm to my body’s movements…Haha

Other than these new things to my life experiences here in Korea I haven’t been up to much…Hiking is done all the time and teaching has become a breeze. I’ve officially been here for 3 months! CRAZY. On December 30th I’m heading off to Boracay, Philippines for my winter vacay for a week! BE JEALOUS!

Check this vid out. Wraps up some of the things in a teacher in Korea's life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBfy_HVoSM

Keep it reals ☺