Cambodia through the eyes of a *fish*

One of our previous posts was about Farmboy's new toy, which he proceeded to take for a spin on our recent (and absolutely awesome!!) trip to Cambodia  :) More pics and such to come, but for the meanwhile, heres a little taste of our time there, through the eyes of his fisheye camera!

one of our many Tuk Tuk experiences :0

Koh Rong Saloem Island, aka Lazy Beach, or "Paradise!"

This little girl was walking around with a pet lizard on a string...creepy?

The boat ride to Koh Rong Saloem Island, aka Lazy Beach

Ta Prohm Temple (the one which Tomb Raider was filmed in!)

Banteay Srei Temple, one of the smallest but most beautiful ruins, about an hour out from Angkor Wat.

*Hello Hello Hello*

Here is a quick video of my Grade 1 Class at Kyochon Elementary, singing the "Hello Song". We sing this song at the beginning of each class to get the kiddies into thinking 'English'. This song works for Kindergarden, Grade 1 and 2 *Elementary* (perhaps even Grade 3) but wouldn't be suitable for older students.
Just to give you an idea for using songs in the classroom...

Enjoy :)

Stop those Sniffles!

So i guess winter is here now...thats that, no autumn, no easing into it...nothing. Its as if overnight (or rather over the course of a week) that all the cold winds and frost's got together and had a meeting over the state of us here in South Korea, and obviously they decided it was time for something a bit more on the cooler side. So that means underfloor heating and slippers on, hot chocolate in hand, and warm coffee shops to explore!

But  just in-case you do succumb to the cold (or if you want to prevent yourself from falling victim to a snotty nose) youy can pick up these yummy Vitamin C sweety things from any pharmacy here! They are inexpensive (ranging from W2000-W6000 *$2-$5*, taste good and better yet, they're good for you :) My co-teachers even give them to the kids in place of regular sweets and candy :) 

The Korean word for pharmacy is 약국,  and you'll see 약 (pronounced "yak") usually in big, red letters on neon signs everywhere you look!

And if you do get sick, going to the doctor doesn't have to be a stress, just click here for our earlier post on seeing a Doctor here in Korea :)

*Whose* Dung?

Our 5th grade elementary class has been studying possessive pronouns for the past week or so, (mine, yours, his, hers etc.), and while most people will be asking their kids "Whose pencil is this?", my co-teacher found me such a lovely story to read to mine about possessive pronouns, whoever said this stuff should be boring?!

 I now present to you....

Renewing your EPIK contract!

For those of us that started our journey into the world of ESL teaching in February this year, the time has come for us to decide whether or not to renew our contracts and stay another year.
Some people have been asked already, but for the most part, our schools will be contacted by EPIK, and an evaluation will be done on our teaching so far. If your school is happy with you, then you will be asked to renew (or even pressurised into renewing) otherwise, you will not.

This information is directly related to EPIK teachers, but I think very similar procedures follow for other recruiting companies too.

The following information has been provided to me by Dajeon's new EPIK co-ordinator, Christine Lang who can be contacted at:
chrisyang@edurang.net

Just click on the following links!

Renewing your Contract and Visa Information


And the website: http://djgets.edurang.net 'What's New?' section

What the Book!

Newly Renovated ~ bigger& better~ What the Book is an English book store (in Itaewon, Seoul) selling both new and used books, as well as travel guides and magazines.
They have very friendly staff eager to help those feeling a little lost, and they have a really great on-line ordering system...and will to deliver to your door! Click click here to visit their website for directions and online ordering :)

Farmboy's new toy...

This weekend, while waiting in anticipation for our 4D Movie at Say Department Store here in Daejeon, Farmboy and myself headed downstairs in the gorgeous Say Department to check out the cute and funky stationary section on the basement level.

And, well the only way I can describe what happened next when Farmboy saw what gadgets were displayed, is to ask you to imagine the look on a little boy's face on Christmas morning, when he see's that long awaited 'bicycle' shaped present, with the huge ribbon, parked under the tree...ok, ok, I think you get the picture.

Anyways...here is the outcome of what caught his attention:

These pictures were taken with Farmboys new Lomography FISHEYE camera. Cool hey?!

In photography, a fisheye lens is a wide-angle lens that takes in an extremely wide, hemispherical image. Originally developed for use in meteorology to study cloud formation and called "whole-sky lenses", fisheye lenses quickly became popular in general photography for their unique, distorted appearance. Wikipedia

Prices for these cameras range from W55 000 to W88 000 (thats +- $55 to $88), and they take standard film which can be found at any camera shop or Lotte Mart/HomePlus/Emart.

*Click here for a link to the Gmarket site where you can buy them online :)
*Click here for a link to Amazon*

Thank you for *Chuseok*

Most of us here in South Korea are aware that there are holidays coming up next week, and some of us might even know the name of those holidays, or even what the holiday is for. So here's a little summary...

Next week is Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving. 

Chuseok is also known as 한가위, (“Hangawi,”) which translates to “Harvest Moon Festival” and is one of the biggest festivals of the year.  It  is a three-day holiday here in Korea, and this year falls on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of September. It is traditionlly a time for families to travel back to their  home towns to pay their respects to their ancestorsand share a feast of Korean traditional food.

So what does this mean for us Non-Koreans here? Well...we also get the 3 days off (plus, if your very lucky, a  bonus day off on Friday 24th). So that means a nice long holiday for some. 

And guess where Farmboy, myself and our other South African friends Claire and Jono are doing for the harvest celebrations?? We are jetting off to Cambodia!! We can barely contain our excitement, 9 days full of sun sea and sand...this is what Teaching in Korea is all about isn't it? Getting to travel to exotic locations and explore the East :)

So for us here, we wish all of our Korean friends a very happy Chuseok!

Piranha *4D*

Today was just your average rainy Saturday here in Dajeon, South Korea...that is...until we headed to Say Department Store to check out Dajeon's first 4D Movie House! And we were not disappointed!

Yes, the movie was cheesy, and probably the worst story line imaginable,

After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area's new razor-toothed residents

But the effects were OUT OF THIS WORLD! From piranha fins smacking your legs, to hard pelting from the back of the chair; as the Piranha's bit chunks out of the under dressed Spring Break part goers. To being blasted with sea spray, the effects even went as far as spraying soft puffs of sun scream as the camera panned  over Lake Victoria. All in all, an unforgettable experience, worth every cent of the W18 000 ticket price :)

Say Department is located a few minutes walk from the SeoDaejeon subway Stop and the following busse's stop there:
# 1, 33, 119, 201, 202, 311, 314, 513, 612, 613, 618, 701

Braai by the Bridge

The weather here in Daejeon for the past 2 months has been *unbearably* hot, with temperatures reaching above 30C, coupled with at least 70% humidity led to most of us here not daring to leave the comfort of our air conditioned apartments. Luckily for us, it seems Summer is drawing to a close and Autumn is fast approaching (*sigh of relied*) which I'm sure will be short lived as the icy cold Winter is sure to hit soon.

But to make the most of the cooler, gorgeous weather...we decided to have a 'braai' down by Gapcheon river here in Daejeon, and not just anywhere, but under a bridge :) *For those non-South Africans out there, click here for a more thorough description of what this strange sounding word means*

So enough with the waffling...I now present...Braai by the Bridge :)

the boys getting the braai area prepped

Fellow South African Teacher Devon, getting his chow ready!

pretty

The braai in full swing!

It's till summer, so cooling off in the river has become a favourite past time. Jono and Farmboy...

You've seen our braai...no here's our fridge!

Us girls preferred the "Im just here to relax" approach...This is me and another awesome Saffa~ Claire

All of us South African Teachers for a group pic! Me, Claire, Devon, Farmboy, Jono.

Braai by the Bridge

The weather here in Daejeon for the past 2 months has been *unbearably* hot, with temperatures reaching above 30C, coupled with at least 70% humidity led to most of us here not daring to leave the comfort of our air conditioned apartments. Luckily for us, it seems Summer is drawing to a close and Autumn is fast approaching (*sigh of relied*) which I'm sure will be short lived as the icy cold Winter is sure to hit soon.

But to make the most of the cooler, gorgeous weather...we decided to have a 'braai' down by Gapcheon river here in Daejeon, and not just anywhere, but under a bridge :) *For those non-South Africans out there, click here for a more thorough description of what this strange sounding word means*

So enough with the waffling...I now present...Braai by the Bridge :)

the boys getting the braai area prepped

Fellow South African Teacher Devon, getting his chow ready!

pretty 

The braai in full swing!

It's till summer, so cooling off in the river has become a favourite past time. Jono and Farmboy...

You've seen our braai...no here's our fridge!

Us girls preferred the "Im just here to relax" approach...This is me and another awesome Saffa~ Claire

All of us South African Teachers for a group pic! Me, Claire, Devon, Farmboy, Jono.