NGLOW Second outing - Ttonatta Farm

Kinder Schule 

NGLOWKids opened up only a few months ago, the third of it's kind, in a building that had had a daycare center/english school that had not worked out. Kinder Schule. I suppose they were using a curriculum that had been made in Germany, otherwise I can't see where the name comes from. Well yesterday I had 2 hours of break at work and I did not like not to do anything so I went in the storage room to do some cleaning up... Thing is, when NGLOW came in, they basically shoved everything the previous school had used in 2 big rooms and a storage place. Everyday I'd been searching through the piles and finding treasures to use in my classroom: either games that were really interesting to adapt to my classes or just material to make crafts and the like with my kids. I went in the small storage room yesterday and did some tidying up. Found nice craft material and put them away in categories. I threw away a lot of random broken decorations and banners of the previous school, filling up 3 100l. trash bags. I found uniforms. Like, never worn still in plastic bags. As in. Damn it, why am I not a kid right now kind of cute old style uniforms. They were not going to keep them so I was told I could take as many as I wanted. I took some for my niece. I actually don't know if she'll ever wear them and love them as much as I do, and wish I could wear them, but I'll send them to her anyways. A lovely white shirt with red threading at the collar, a gray dress with the folded skirt piece, a dark red cardigan/sweater and a pink princess looking summer dress. I think she'll like the pink dress only... whatever ha ha I will still try.

So among those treasures, I found a had to go with the uniforms. A straw hat. We were going to go on a farm the next day so everyone joked around, telling me I should just wear the hat to go, not really expecting I would.

But I did. 

People always think I am kidding.

I seldom am.

Welcome to TTonatta Farm

Our school's vice principal Eileen. Isn't she beautiful?

We were supposed to be making faces... but that picture was an in-between shots. Lovely?
I think so too....

As we got there, the weather - nice and sunny - felt colder than in Dongtan when I walked to work, since there was a lot of wind. We started off making  soft ice cream with milk. I never knew it was so easy. You just need to have a small quantity of milk in a big bowl with ice under and whip the milk until it freezes in a creamy fluffy way. It was really tasty. We tried adding strawberry and chocolate flavour.

Gosh the cows were so cute. We saw cows of all ages. New born ones, young ones, huge mommy cows and old grannies. I loves the not-yet-a-month-old ones. They were all white and clean without the dirt that sticks to their coat as they get older, with huge shiny eyes.

After the ice cream, we went to see the young calves and the kids gave them milk. I found the idea of giving milk to cows weird as we walked in the barn, but realized they were not intending for us to feed cows, but baby ones. That made more sense. As soon as we got inside, the calfs got crazy. Rolling eyes, mooing like crazy and sticking their tongues out: they knew they were getting food. I took a couple of just-at-the-right-moment pictures.

We went to have lunch on mats, sitting in the sun with the kids and eating onigiri (I write onigiri although the Korean term would be gimbab, since they were japanese style riceballs...) and fruits. That was nice to just sit there, with the good energy the kids were giving us. Like a kid lovin's battery recharge to kill all the bad vibes of the day. I love those kids.

We then went on a tractor ride (that had a trailer at the back with seats) with everyone and it was really fun, we rode on the countryside roads and the driver made us go back and forth in hills and bumps, making the ride feel like a weird roller coaster. 

The last thing we did before going back was to have the kids try milking the cows - tho really, the guy was doing the milking and the kids were basically just poking the tip. The guy was cute and I made jokes with the other foreign teacher about how he played with the cow's titties... is that childish? Yup. Should I care? Nope. Why would I write it here otherwise :3

Mogdong - First Baseball Game

2008-2011 매길대학교 다녔다. 처음엔 나 실은 매길이란 대학교가 대단한 학굔지 몰랐다. 매길대로 갈 결정한건 한국어 수업이 있기때문 이였으니까. 내 젤 지난 친구가 한국을 많이많이 좋아하는 덕분에 한국을 알게됐다.한국말를 꼭 배우고 한국 문화에대한 것들을 더 많이 알고 싶어져서 매길대를 선택한거다.

테드선배를 처음 만난건 매길대에서 였다. 그때 선배는 대학마지막한년 이였구 난 대학 일학년이였다. 새도시로 이사갔고 대학 다닐 동안 혼자 살게되서 몬트리올에 아는 사람 별로 없었다. 

수업중에 한국어 수업이 젤 좋았다. 한국말을 꼭 배우고 싶었단 이유도 있었지만, 매일수업시작하기전에 선배가Word Of The Day라는 재밌는 발표같은거 했었기때문이였단것도 사실이야. [오늘은 즐겁게 새 단어를 같이 배웁시다] 그런 발표이였다.

선배가 야구를 사랑 하는정도 좋아해서 W.O.T.D.발표 했을때 자주 야구단어를 쓰고 인생에대한 얘기 할때 쓰자고 했다.

우리방에 테드가 2명 있었기 땜에 선배를 [승엽]이라고 부르기 시작했다.


왠지 아시죠? ㅋㅋㅋ


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Last Saturday I got a last minute invitation to a baseball game with Ted, a friend from University who graduated when I started my U2 and that I hadn't seen in ages. Heather and I met up with him on Sunday and we went to Mogdong watch a Nexen Heroes match against a new team (of whom I forgot the name... is that mean?). Heather had watched baseball in Canada, but for me, this was my first actual game. So far I only had seen parts of matches on TV of played at school of with my family in the summer when they came to visit. Since I met Ted, I always thought that if I were ever to watch baseball, I would need to go with him. Baseball is his wife/mother/lover/life. I figured that there were no better occasions to see an interesting match than going with a person who sincerely cares.

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전 야구에대해 아무것도 모르는 이유는 야구가 싫은 거라서가 아니다. 단. 야구를 좋아하는 친구가 없었단뿐.


언젠가 야구 보로가게 되면 선배같이 야구를 사랑 하는 사람이랑 갔으면 좋겠다 싶었다.
몇년이 지났는데 올해 같이 갈 기회 생기고 너무너무 좋았다.


야구는 생각했던거 보다 더 많이 재미있었다.

야구장의 분위기.

팬들이 소리 찌르는 모습.

선수가 뛰어가는 순간 꽉~ 도음이된다면 맘으로라도 같이 뛰고 싶은 느낌.

팬이 부르는 치어노래.



야구 참 좋다.

넥센 좋다.

다시 보로 가고싶다.

Picture of Sindorim station, Seoul, where I met up with Ted before transferring to another line and head to the baseball stadium - are they even called stadiums?

Ted had brought Nexen Jerseys for us to wear and, I dunno for Heather, but I really liked to wear it. It made me feel part of the team and that erased my fears of feeling out of place at a baseball game when I knew nothing much about baseball. 

I never knew baseball was so much fun to watch. There is the game. The stress building up as you hope they hit a nice one. Then there is the never-ending wait. And then, we finally see if they catch the ball in mid-air (bad) or if the players have to run for the next base. 

Then there are the people you watch the game with. Friendly people who are only too happy to have another person join their loving of the sport, and of the team. Good people make anything turn into a fun activity. 

Then there are the cheering songs. Baseball games cannot be boring because you do not simply watch: You are the game. You sing along songs to cheer the players on. You scream your delight when they score, your frustration when they miss. Then you move along with the crowd cheering and you become the match itself. Baseball is great.

Nexen won~~ woot woot. It appeared almost too easy actually. 11:2 I think? I don't know enough about baseball to know if Nexen had an amazing game or if the other team just sucked. But that felt great. Heather and I joined Ted's cheering team and we were a dozen people together cheering loudly. I didn't see any other foreign people there, save Ted, Heather and I. Not really new. I usually hang out with Asian people most of the time, and often forget that I'm the weirdo that does not physically belong there....

You will learn, if you don't know already, that Ted is actually becoming a thing in Korea. The crazy fan who sold his TV to buy a season ticket. Who uses his own money to fly around the world and watch Nexen playing. TV loves him. Please take a minute... or many ... and read his blog. And maybe watch a couple of the videos he shows in?

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

Really nice portrait of him, while I am stuffing my face in popcorn at the end of the match (Heather and I had been hungry since the start of the game, and 2 hours later we finally decided to get popcorn, and realized that the game was actually ending... so we tried to eat the rest really quick... it was bliss. But it looks awful on camera....).

There were a couple of videos I showed up in, but I can't seem to find a way to link them on this site so well wtv. We WERE standing besides a star ;) so cameras caught us in the lot :P

We went with Ted's cheering team to have dinner after the match was over (I was told that when they win, they always go out to eat, and when they lose, they just go hungry... back home). I was really hungry so I was happy to witness a victory on the part of Nexen. The weather was amazing that day, almost too hot at times. Good times.

Since I have a pretty busy schedule, I will not be able to afford going to many matches, but I hope I will get to see Nexen again. 

SamCheong-Dong (not sure about the spelling)

Anguk Station - Seoul

On Sunday Heather and I went to the hair salon of the Dragon Hill; she got a haircut and I got a little trimming, since my bangs were horrible (I had killed it a few months ago when I tried to cut it, and never took the time to get it done properly since...) and my hair was a split-end field - thanks to the horrible quality of the Hotel's shampoo, another thing that really felt like being in North America: the bad quality of shampoo in hotels...

I thought we'd get lunch with Stormy and the others, but we just ended up parting ways so Heather and I, not feeling like this was really a cool way to end the weekend (we had afterall paid for a hotel so we'd be in Seoul and that was more expensive than taking a cab back home so we basically decided to stay around). The hairdresser was a nice girl, who told us that we should def get to Samcheongdong if we wanted to have a nice coffee and chill out in a nice new neighbourhood. That is what we did. Both of us took a cab to the nearest subway station and went to Anguk station. 

Heather thought that it might be cool to hangout with two of her new friends from Seoul, so she contacted them, and it happens that they were close by where we were so we met up and walked around. I was wearing heels and holding a super big and heavy bag so her friend was kind enough to carry it around for me <3 I love Korea. 

Flowers are starting to bloom!!! 

 On a street corner, in the middle of nowhere, were standing 3 people, dressed like cool western looking clothes, unmoving. They are probably the coolest human statues I saw. They were "waiting for Godot" Heather's friend told us that it came from a play he had read. I will need to read that play, but meanwhile, here is a picture of two of the three human-statues.

I went trigger crazy all day: the weather was super nice and the place was really beautiful, filled with old and new buildings all with a little something special. Nice stores - mostly closed, sadly, since it was Sunday - coffee and tea shops and restaurants.

I did get a couple of pictures of me though :3 since I always regret when I take only pictures of other people...

Such a Nice Day...

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Me, Beomsik and Heather 

Heather and me: so cool...

Me, Hyeongjoong and Heather

Stalking Heather - jealous of the fact she was getting all the attention... XD

We got into a store (with clothes around $600CAD with 60% off...) and while
it was out of the question to buy anything, we still took a nice picture with the
cool animals they had in the display window eh eh h....

 I love how so many super old-looking buildings were just sitting nicely beside super modern-looking ones. This place was filled with little treasures...

Hello Kitty Café.... oui Marie, je vais y aller un moment donné et te chek-in dedans...

 1차 (il-cha) : First Round

In Korea there is the concept of "rounds" when you go out with friends, usually used for drinking alcohol, a bit like bar-hopping. I love this idea, it's always more interesting to change atmosphere when going out, and it makes sure it's not going to get boring...

...that one, though is just a bad pun, using the word "cha" to mean "tea",  a word with the same sound...

 The place we went to was really a nice place in the middle of nowhere, in a traditional style Korean house. They unfortunately did not have a very traditional menu: tea was just normal tea and herbal teas, they had coffee and fresh juice, but while everything was good, there was nothing traditional.

We later on went for dinner - dalkgalbi in a Korean food chain called Yooganae (the actual il-cha), and to karaoke (2-cha), where there was a weird sitting room that looked like a church alcove...

King Game

When I was in Montreal I used to play King-Game - not the one with the card deck where you do things according to the card you pick, such as, "2: you, 3: me, 4: (touch the) floor, 5: guys (drink) etc...- but the... is it even an Asian game? anyways. another kind. In that game you have a card for each person in which there is one king. If you are 4, for example, you'll have the as, two, three and the King. The King makes the rules each time, and must be really precise. Example: number 2, gives a 3 minutes back massage to number 1; Number 1 has to drink everytime he/she says "yes". Stuff like that. The king doesn't know who is what number.

 I used to play that game often when I was in university. The best number of people to play that game is 6: 3 guys and 3 girls. It usually sucks when some of the players are in couple, because they can't do as many silly things. If you refuse to do the action, the you have a penalty, such as drinking this or that amount of alcohol (what usually happens all the time for people in couple). However, I added a rule: you cannot refuse to do the action twice in a row. Otherwise people overdrink for the stupidest reasons and it's not fun anymore.

Anyways.

We played a bit when I was in Sanbon with the coworkers, but sometimes we didn't have cards, so we just used a pack of cigarettes and wrote K, 1,2,3 and the like. I thought that had been a quite clever idea at the time...

Then yesterday I found that... (actually Heather did)

That is basically the King Game, with cigarettes. So I realized that my friend was not so clever to have thought of the cigarettes idea, since the game was actually played with cigarettes to start with, in Korea. Oh well. that pack of cigarettes it so funny!

3-Cha was in a Kimchi-jjigae place (Kimchi stew) where we had a couple of soju bombs (soju poured into a glass, with soft drink and beer, then you take some tissue that you hold over the glass while you hit it strongly on the table. Result: same thing as when you hit the bottom of a beer on another one - if you don't drink it at once, you get it all on you...

Mind you, mixing beer soft drinks and soju makes it taste amazing and it is actually easier to drink in one go - and that comes from me, who were never much of a chugger...

4-Cha was in a weird place.

It was a bar and it was full but we didn't really hear that much noise, because the whole place was basically tons of small 2-10 places rooms all with a TV, a table, utensils and window sliding doors, so you were basically only with your people, chilling without the rest of the bar being bothered by your laughing.