Erin and Justin

(content coming soon!)

See our photos in Tortonto and on the train to New York at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Canada/Toronto%20to%20NY/

and photos from New York at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Canada/New%20York/

See pictures of our time in Kimberley with Krista and Mark at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Canada/Kimberley/?start=all

See our photos of Vancouver Island at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Canada/Vancouver%20Island/?start=all

See photos of our drive at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Canada/Drive%20to%20Vancouver/?start=all

See photos from Golden at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Canada/The%20Rockies/?start=all

(content coming soon!)

Photos of Rochelle and Aeoron's wedding can be seen at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Canada/Rochelle%20and%20Aeron/?start=all

Photos of Saskatchewan - between the farm in Carlyle and the airport (and air!) in Regina, can be seen at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Canada/Saskatchewan/?start=all

(Story content coming soon!)

See photos of our overnight ferry trip from Incheon, Korea to Qingdao, China at [link coming soon!]

and photos from Beijing at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Canada/Beijing/?start=all

See photos of

TEACHING at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Teaching/?start=all

OUR TRIP TO SEOUL FOR THE LANTERN FESTIVAL at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Seoul/?start=all

BIKERIDES WE TOOK AROUND ULSAN - MOSTLY AROUND THE FARMLANDS AND MOUNTAINS RIGHT BEHIND OUR HOUSE!!! - at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Bikerides/?start=all

RANDOM GOOD TIMES HAD IN KOREA at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/GoodTimes/?start=all

SUMMER VACATION AT HAEUNDAE BEACH at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Haeundae/?start=all

and

FAREWELL TO KOREA at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Farewell/?start=all

Finally! We finally went to Japan to get our visas, so that our work in Korea is legal and recognised. We can now get alien registration cards, a bank account, and rent DVDs.

We had grand plans for our 4 days in Japan, including hotsprings and monkeys, but Justin was really sick, poor old saus, so we just stayed in Fukuoka city. This however, turned out to be great, and we REALLY like Japan. We were both surprised once we got there at how much Japanese we could remember how to speak (and read!), and we think that maybe one day we'll spend some time living there. Although we didn't get out of the city, and all cities are pretty much the same, we even found the city to be culturally rich, and we never forgot we were in Japan. Plus we saw some amazing fashion - big hair and coyboy boots, leather legwarmers, and baby wearing a tiny school uniform style outfit with gold high heels.

You can see our Fukuoka PHOTOS AT: http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Japan/?start=all

Having a role with very little responsibility, no control over who is in our classes, which or how many classes we teach, or the text book we are to use, one might think that there is no room for fun or autonomy. But the truth of the matter is, we are expected to be demonstrably non-Korean to the parents, more than we are expected to be useful to the students. This therefore, gives us loads of room to teach whatever we want, so long as the basic text is being covered. And considering that many of the texts are either way too easy or way too hard, we teach all kinds of things.

Recently we came up with a winner - getting kids to draw their dreams and then describe what is happening. This is of course, not only good speaking practise, but creates excellent souvenir pictures for us!

See some of our students' dream pictures at: http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Korean%20Dream/?start=all

Damn! We met a lovely woman (and she's Australian!) and she's just about finished her year, so she's LEAVING!

But we had an excellent night out with her for her birthday, with cake and dinner and beer and noraebang and a hip hop club, and we met some of her friends as a consequence! Jiyeong and Jiyeong (one of the Jiyeongs is featured in the photos, singing passionately, as is only expected at a noraebang).

SEE PHOTOS AT http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Alisons%20Birthday/?start=all

After 6 weeks of taking advantage of the supermarket bargains (mainly vodka), we have settled ourselves down somewhat, and become comfortable in our now-familiar jobs and cosy home and new language. Well, we can speak enough to say hello and goodbye, get around in taxis, order food - usually get vegetarian messages across (except to one particular English-speaking Korean man, who we suspect is aiming to convert) - demonstrate some politeness... but we'll learn more. ONE of us can even READ Hangul (despite not understanding it most of the time)!

We have made some friends - and almost everyone we have met, even the Korean people are very transient. It's funny that on one hand, we're quite fixed here, with a home and a job and a local community that we're becoming acquainted with, and yet we are reminded of our temporary status with each person we meet.

And now finally, our employer is sending through our applications for working visas, so shortly we will be able to head to Japan for a long weekend, and work in Korea for real! And by that I mean legally

So anyway, Yellow Dust.

Yep! Yellow dust. Neither of us had ever heard of it, but its an annual springtime phenomenon, where dust, collected in Mongolia and China from deserts and river basins, is carried on winds across Korea and Japan. This results in respiratory problems and an increase in other disease in both people and livestock. There's a news article I found if you're interested, at http://english.kbs.co.kr/news/zoom/1348045_11781.html

So we are wearing masks during our walk to work on the days when its clearer, and catching a taxi to work, on days when its bad.

See some more photos of our Korean life at http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Yellow%20Dust/?start=all

We love our apartment, we love our jobs, and we love Korea! Our life is excellent at the moment. We are LOVING it! It's pretty crazy too though...

The Korean education system is unbelievable, and probably not very healthy, and something we will certainly be researching. Education - and everything! - is very competitive, and so the poor kids are always studying. Not just studying, but seriously studying, like in-class type studying. They go to school, public school, in the daytime (like kids anywhere do), then in the evening they either go to language schools, or to another private academy to do extra tutorials on maths, science, social studies, or they go to both! Some of them are at school 7 days per week! We found out from some of our older students (16 year olds) that they start their school day (at their public highschool) at 8am, have 2 classes with a 10min break in between, then have lunch at 12noon, then back to class at 1pm, have 3 classes with 10min breaks in between, have dinner from 7-8, then another class from 8-10. THEN the poor buggers get on a bus and head the the academy (next door to us) and have a class from 10:30-1am, then get a bus home, sleep and get up again for school a few hours later. They get 3-6hrs sleep per night, and they're still friendly and beautiful, but they tell me they're tired when I ask (and only when I ask). They have classes with us on Saturdays from 2-4pm, and at the academy next door to us from 5-8pm, and on Sunday they only have the 2-4 class with us. We got to meet these kids, as this week and last week has been spring vacation from highschool... so they had the time to come to more English classes than just the weekend!

Unlike the poor Korean students, we have a cruisy life and an easy job. We have all morning to our selves - from when we get up, until 2pm when we leave to walk to work - to chill out, go shopping, sleep in, do Tae Kwon Do (well, that's certainly the plan for the near-future, anyway!), cook, read, watch movies... We walk to work, so we get exercise - at least 1x 50min of walking per day, and half the time we walk home as well. Our work day is 7 or 8 (the eighth is overtime!) 35-min classes per day, and the kids are mostly excellent, even the brats from hell are generally excellent and really funny. They all have English names too - some with names like Jean, Peter, David, Max, Christie, etc; some with misspelt names like Charls, Poul, and Adme (Adam); and then we have the winner names like Joji Bushi, and BBQ! Awesome.

Our apartment is beautiful and rent free! The general cost of living is relatively low, but it varies, ie a cab ride from our house to work costs about $3, a very small block of cheese costs $8, a 700ml bottle of vodka from the supermarket costs $4, and a watermelon costs $25!

There are loads and loads of tall apartment buildings, all identical and numbered. There are crops grown by the highways, next to canals, next to the airport, within a gap in the industrial area, by the trainlines... No land really goes to waste.

Getting around and communicating is easy enough. Lots of people speak English, and are keeen to practice their speaking skills, and people who say they don't speak any English, often have enough English to be able to say (in English!) that they don't speak it. Our workmates are friendly, and we have gone out for meals and drinks and movies with them! The Korean teachers' english skills vary, but there's certainly enough for us to feel connected. We have another native English speaker that we work with too, and there is (seemingly - we haven't really gone out much yet) quite a foreigner population in Ulsan.

Where we live (and apparently Korea in general!) is very safe. People have their stores with TVs on display out the front of the stores, andd then at closing time they tie the TVs to the table, maybe cover them with a blanket, and go home. No one steals the TVs. And lots of the stores, and all the bigger ones, are open 24 hours, so there are always lots of people about. Our boss assures us that it is safe for us to walk around Ulsan late at night, alone. We walk home from work, often leaving town at around 10pm and getting home around 11, through the city, then industrial areas, then farming fields... the kind of dark and secluded route that we would never dream of taking in Sydney!

ALSO there's a job going where we work if anyone is interested..!!? Free flights, free and really nice accommodation, great pay, cruisy and fun job, friendly workmates - come on! Come over!! Email us, or leave a comment on this page , if you're interested or want to know more. All you need is to be a native english speaker and have a bachelors degree (in anything)!

See some photos of our Korean life at: http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Living%20in%20Korea/?start=all

So a week after our first phonecalls looking into it, we commenced our new positions, teaching english to elementary and middle school kids (6-14 year olds) in the evenings, in Ulsan, South Korea!

Who would have thought?

Our flight here was paid for, our 2 bedroom apartment is beautiful and fully furnished, and our contracts end on the 16th of August, so that we can get to Canada in time for Rochelle and Aeron's wedding!

Love it.

See our photos at: http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/Korea/Korean%20Move/?start=all

Yesterday we sent 43 emails and posted our CVs and photos on 4 websites to get work teaching English, just to see if we can get EXACTLY what we're after - a short contract, to finish before 16th August so that we can go to Canada for Rochelle and Aeron's wedding, and then get back to the UK with enough time for Erin to get in a whole year of work before her visa expires.

Anyway, last night we received phone calls from Korea and Taiwan (in the middle of the night, poor Rhys and Nina!) and this morning we were woken up with a phone call from Korea... followed by another 2! Each of them wanting to offer us a short contract, so now we just have to look at which looks the best!

But that's not all we saw when we woke up - outside was the heaviest snow that Kent has seen in years and years!! So after spending a couple of hours replying to emails and sorting through offers as more came through, we went out into the snow to play!

See our photos at: http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q164/erinfearn/England/Snow/?start=all