The children

The children I have the pleasure of teaching at ICEV are amazing. I feel blessed and lucky to be here with them. If I can give them but an infinite part of what they give to me, then I'll be happy. Here are a few pictures of their smiling faces:-)

My 1st full-week "Job Experience" students

These are my Shakespeare students doing their Friday afternoon performance. I had a wonderful week with them and it was pure pleasure to see them "give it their all"during the performance. Iwas really proud of the week we spent together and of the end result; we were a great team:-)!!

Seconds; Une fois ne suffit pas

Ok, I went back for seconds; sometimes once just isn't enough!! I had to go back to Dr. Fish and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time around! I also fell for another pair of dazzle shoes. I see myself wearing these ones on different occasions for the next 20 years;-) Oh! And I also decided to try out those really fancy nails. They are usually acrylic nail pieces glued onto your nails but I decided to try doing it directly on my own nails. I went to home Plus and bought what I needed (about $7.00)You can see the end result; I'm quite pleased with it. It may not last as long as the acrylic nails but it's less damaging. You can also see a blue heart shaped crystal earring I'm wearing...Yes, believe it or not, I've started wearing earrings again. The stones are real crystal (not plastic) and the stems are real silver (not coated). All of this reminds me how much I prefer what is "real" rather than what is an imitation or fake...I'll have to remember that in other areas of my life... There is also a picture of the earrings that 1st got my attention. They reminded me of a pair I'd seen in Montreal that were priced at $600.00.When I'd seen them in Montreal I was going to have my papers signed to be able to come to Korea and it was "love at first sight" because they reminded me of the Universe. These ones cost me $15 instead of $600 and I love them just as much! Wearing earrings, doing my nails and slipping on dazzle shoes; I guess I'm becoming Korean from the top of my head to the tip of my toes!!!

Dr. Fish

Ok, I did it; I finally went to Dr. Fish where tiny carp nibble the dead skin off of your feet. I loved the experience and I certainly will be doing it again!! It tickled for the first few minutes but once I got used to the feeling it felt good and was extremely relaxing. I could actually feel the fish nibbling on my feet. It cost 2,000 won (about 1.80) and lasted 15 min. You need to buy a 5,000 won coffee to be able to pay for the fish treatment. I consider it simply prolonged the pleasure of being there since the place was beautiful and the cinnamon honey latté that I had was absolutely delicious. All in all, it was a great day in Myeong-Dong!

J’ai enfin réussis à me rendre chez Dr. Fish et à faire manger la peau morte sur mes pieds! J’ai adoré l’expérience et je vais sûrement le répéter. Au début ça chatouillait un peu, mais par après j’ai trouvé que c’était détendant. Je sentais vraiment les petites carpes me mordiller les pieds. Ça coûtait 2,000 won ($1.80) et durait 15 min. Il fallait aussi faire l’achat d’un café pour avoir accès au bain de pieds avec les poissons. J’ai trouvé que cette « obligation » à tout simplement prolongée le plaisir étant donné que mon Café latté à la cannelle et au miel était vraiment délicieux :-)

Pungmul Dance Festival; Festival de danse Pungmul

Here is some "catching up" information. I'll have a few of these to add since I only started my blog a month after I got here. I went to a traditional farm dance festival in Byeupong. There are no words to explain the emotions that ran through me as I watched these people dance with their hearts and with their souls; it was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Through these pictures, I hope you feel some of the pleasure I felt as I was watching them. There are also a few pictures of potrait artists who were there. Why? Because just by looking at them, you can see that they also are very intense people who's passion guides their lives.

Voici de l’information de rattrapage. Il va y en avoir de temps en temps étant donné que j’ai commencé mon blogue un mois après mon arrivé. J’ai été voir une dance traditionnelle des fermiers è Beupyong; il n’y à pas de mots pour d’écrire tout l’émotion que j’ai vécu en les regardent danser. Ils dansaient avec leurs âmes et avec leurs cœurs. J’espère qu’à travers ses photos vous allez ressentir un peu de toutes ces émotions qui m’ont parcouru le corps pendant que je les regardais danser. Il y a aussi des photos de quelques artistes qui faisaient des portraits. Pourquoi? Parce que juste à les regarder, on peu voir que c’est leurs passion qui guide leurs pas.

The information you requested

I received a comment from onaj koji jest ; I would love to answer but, although I know you are on hotmail, I do not have your e-mail address. here is the information you requested. www.sugaring.co.kr There is a phone number on the card she gave me. It's 02) 733-4448

Monday supper and coffee; Un souper et café du lundi

On Mondays we start and finish an hour later; that means we don't get back to our apartments until 6:45pm. That's a little to start preparing supper so this Monday Pam and I decided to go and eat at the restaurant. We found one that cooked dakgalbi which is our favorite Korean food. It's spicy chicken with cabbage cooked right in front of you. It was delicious!!! Here a meal costs a fraction of what it would in Quebec; for the dakgalbi, one beer and one soju (almost a korean vodka), it cost us 24.00 which means 12.00 each. Plus here you don't leave any tips. I already tried to once for excellent service and the person would not accept it!

Then we went to have another one of my favorites, a coffee milkshake - also absolutely delicious - in a quaint little café we just recently discovered...A wonderful way to end one week and begin the other:-)

Le lundi nous commençons et finissons une heure plus tard; ce qui fait que nous n’arrivons pas aux appartements avant 18 :45. C’est un peu tard pour commencer à préparer le souper. Ce lundi Pam et moi avons décidé d’aller manger au restaurant. Nous avons trouvé un restaurant qui fait du dakgalbi qui est notre plat préféré. Ce fût un vrai plaisir pour le palet! Ici un repas dans un resto coréen coûte la moitié de ce que l’on payerait pour la même chose au Québec. Le repas avec une bouteille de soju et une bière a coûté 24,000 won; l’équivalent de 23.00 canadien. Après on est allé prendre un café frappé – absolument délicieux – dans un petit café que l’on vient de découvrir…Une très belle façon de finir la fin de semaine et de commencer la nouvelle:-)

Potato Festival; Festivale de la patate

Dr. Lee invited us to a potato festival in his hometown. We were treated like royalty by the locals. The only rough part of the two day activity was sleeping on the floor in the community center. It was worth it, but I doubt that I would do it again unless I had a bed to sleep on and a pillow to put under my head.

It was my first "country-side" visit. We hiked up a small mountain and enjoyed looking at the lush beautiful plant-life over here:-) That, I'll have to do it again. There are many places where you can go hiking over here since it's the Korean's national pass-time.

*I took a picture of a Korean woman picking up the potatoes that were left in the field.

Dr. Lee nous a invités à un festival de la patate dans sa communauté. Nous avons été traités comme de la royauté. La partie le plus difficile de la fin de semaine a été de dormir sur le plancher de la salle communautaire. J’ai beaucoup aimé ma fin de semaine, mais je ne le referais pas sans être certaine d’avoir un lit et un oreiller pour la nuit.
C’était ma première expérience à la campagne depuis que je suis ici. Nous avons escaladée une petite montagne et j’ai pu voir la belle végétation sauvage ici. J’ai l’intention de répéter cette partie de l’expérience. Il y a beaucoup d’endroit pour escalader ici étant donné que c’est le passe-temps national de la Corée.
J’ai pris une photo d’une femme coréenne qui ramassait des patates dans un champ.

Eating in Korea; Manger en corée

I will be working 4 hours on Saturdays for a 12 week program. Dr. Lee, the owner of ICEV, invited those who will be on this program to the restaurant. The place where you cook your meat is at several places in the table and is directly in front of you. There are also many things to accompany what you're eating on the table. Of course we were sitting on very thin cushions on the floor.

Je vais commencer à travailler 4 heures le samedi sur un program de 12 semaines. Dr. Lee, le proprietaire de ICEV, a invité le personel qui travail sur ce programme au restaurant. L'endroit où nous faisons cuire notre viande est intégré dans la table et est situé à plusieurs endroit sur la table. Il y a aussi beaucoup de mets supplémentaire comme accompagnement. Évidement, nous sommes assissent sur des coussins très plats par terre:-)!

Tea for Two

I know we are already Monday, but time flies by so fast over here that I barely have time to look back at what just happened to realize that something new is already taking shape in front of me; that's why I need to write about Friday, Saturday and Sunday! On Friday I received my first pay check (we are payed once a month over here) and went to Bupyeong with Pam to get cell phones. Over here it's our way of keeping in touch with one another and finding out where the others are if we ever get separated from one another when we go somewhere.
I wanted a thin one so that it wouldn't be too heavy and I thought that I would be buying a used one, so that it would cost less. Well I ended up buying a new one for 80.00 plus 10.00 for a calling card. In Quebec I would have paid over 300.00 for the same thing!! My phone has an mp3 integrated in it... And I got a bonus surprise! I love the painting by Klimt called "The Kiss". When I was going through the backgrounds I could choose from in the cell phone, The Kiss was one of them! I wasn't too excited about getting a cell phone, but now that I was able to have a slim one and that I have The Kiss as my background I'm really happy to have it!
On Saturday I went to Insadong with Juliet to have tea in a traditional tea house. The tea I chose was Ohmija which means 5 tastes. When you savour the tea, the flavour distinctly changes From bitter to sweet to spicy to salty and then to sour. It is quite an exciting and savoury experience for the palet. The tea is not given, it costs 6.00 but is worth every penny.

After our tea we looked at a few art expositions in the tea houses courtyard. We had the pleasure of seeing beautiful edible flowers made of sugar by a wonderful woman named Yooney Choi. Here you see Juliet standing beside her, and the picture of the cake with sugar flowers is one of her creations.

Dazzle Shoes; Souliers étincellents

Here the women wear very fancy, often with extremely high heels, shoes. You see these "dazzle shoe" boutiques on almost every street corner. The high heels are possibly because Korean women are not very tall. Another plausible reason could be because Korean women show a lot of leg and high heels make their legs look longer.
My first thoughts when I saw these very dressy shoes was, "Oh no! Not for me thank you." But after being here for 4 weeks, I realized that owning and "wearing" a pair (or two) of dazzle shoes was part of my Korean culture experience. So here they are; a pair of slightly comfortable high heels and extremely comfortable slip-ons. I already love them...Now what will I do when I get back home?...

Ici les femmes portent des souliers très étincellent et souvent avec des talons extrêmement hauts. On voit des boutiques remplit de ces souliers sur presque chaque coin de rue. Il est possible que les coréens portent des talons hauts parce qu’elles ne sont pas tellement grandes. Une autre raison possible est parce qu’elles montrent beaucoup leurs jambes et que ceci les fait paraître plus longues.
La première pensée que j’ai eu en voyant ces souliers était, « Oh non, ce n’est vraiment pas pour moi! » mais après les avoir vu à tout les jours pendant 4 semaines, j’ai réalisé que porter des « dazzle shoes » devait faire partie de mon expérience coréenne. Alors les voici! Une paire de soulier haut « légèrement confortable » et une paire de talon bas « extrêmement confortable ». Je les adore déjà!! Comment est-ce que je vais faire pour m’en passer à mon retour au Québec?...

Itaewon, the English Area for Foreigners

Today I went to Itaewon, the foreigner area of Seoul, with Pam. Here almost everyone who sells something speaks English. I bought two beautiful Korean masks representing a woman and a man. They'll be decorating my walls here and I'll be bringing them back home. I also bought some Soju drinking glasses, the Korean's official 90% alcohol drink, to be able to share soju with my friends. Each glass has a drawing of a Korean mask on it.

While we were waiting at a subway station, I bought a small bag of 10 Koreen walnut cakes. They are about the size of timbits. When looked in the bag I was surprised to see that each one was individually wrapped...Now this really does not come as a surprise; it simply confirms the Koreans obsession with details and perfection.

I also saw my first sqwatting toilets. I didn't "officially" try it since there was pee all around it, but I will eventually use one and when I do, I'll let you know about it...Like when I'll have my first grilled silkworm, full of nutriments and apparently crunchy, eating experience.

First Time at the Theatre; Ma première sortie au cinéma

One of the things I was thinking I would be missing while I was in Korea was going to see a movie in a theatre. Well, believe it or not, the English movies are presented IN ENGLISH with Korean subtitles! It's even better than watching a movie in Chicoutimi since they were always in French. Life is full of surprises!!!

Comfort wise? I would give the theatre a 10/10 score. The Koreans preoccupation for details is even seen here. First of all, when you buy your ticket they show you a screen on which you choose your seat. Your ticket has the number on it. Then when you enter the room, even if the lights are closed, you can easily find your place since there is a lighted number before each row. The seats are extremely comfortable with a headrest and you even have elbow space.

The only thing I found strange in relation to my own culture was when I bought my popcorn and was asked if I wanted it sweet. My spontanious answer was "No thank you!" but since I want to fully live my cultural experience while I'm here, the next time I'll say yes. That next time may even be tomorrow evening if I go to see Star Trek...in English :-)!!

Une des choses dont je pensais m’ennuyer en étant ici était de voir des films au cinéma.

J’ai eu la belle surprise d’apprendre que les salles de cinéma présentaient les films américains EN ANGLAIS avec des sous-titres coréens!! Enfin je vais pouvoir écouter les films au cinéma en anglais! La vie est pleine de surprise. La salle? 10/10 La préoccupation des coréens au petit détail est présent ici aussi. À l’achat du billet on choisit notre siège sur un écran parmi ceux qui sont libre. Il y a des numéros illuminés sur chaque rangée de siège pour nous permettre de trouver notre place même si les lumières dans la salle sont éteints. Les sièges sont très confortables avec des appuie-têtes.
Une autre chose qu’ils font que l’on ne voit pas chez nous est de nous demander si on veut du sucre sur notre pop-corn. Ma réponse immédiate et spontanée a été « Non!! » mais, étant donné que je veux vivre mon expérience coréenne au maximum, je vais dire oui la prochaine fois que je vais aller voir un film. Il se peut que ce soit demain soir ; le film Star Trek est encore ici et j’ai vraiment hâte de le voir!!