Farmboy's Summer Camp!

Being with EPIK, each and evert Native English teacher will have to make/design/participate/teach a camp (of 40 hours) in both the Summer and the Winter Vacation.
What you do is up to you, most schools go the boring old fashioned route and follow the camp plans of old, using the same games and activities "Let's cook", "seasons", "animals" etc.
Here is what went down @Farmboy's school:

What do you want?

Farmboy's latest video of his kids.
The lesson title is..."What do you want?"

Who doesn't like a bit of king~fu every now and again
:)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcJnFM9fk6A

Farmboy's Summer Camp!

Being with EPIK, each and every Native English teacher will have to make/design/participate/teach a camp (of 40 hours) in both the Summer and the Winter Vacation.

What you do is up to you, most schools go the boring old fashioned route and follow the camp plans of old, using the same games and activities "Let's cook", "seasons", "animals" etc.

Here is what went down @Farmboy's school:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrcKo3iFVUU

What do you want?

Farmboy's latest video of his kids.
The lesson title is..."What do you want?"

Who doesn't like a bit of king~fu every now and again
:)

Farmboys Farm!

Most of you are probably wondering why this blog is callled "FarmBoy & CityGirl", I mean why the need for secrecy/funny made up/overused names??!! Well, the fact is, Dale is really a farm boy, having grown up on his family's dairy farm, in the small town of Creighton, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa...and I really am a city girl, having lived all my life in big cities (Johannesburg, South Africa & London, England). So I thought it was about time to introduce you to a few pictures of Farmboys 'real' farm...

This is the view from the farmhouse...

And of course, the cows!!! (well a few of them anyway, he has lots and lots!!)

The beautiful Farm House

2 of the wonderful ladies that work on the farm, Thulani and Cynthia

So there you go :) These pics were taken by Farmboys wonderful mom, Margie! We miss you!

Farmboys Surprise Shindig :)

Thursday came on the 24th June just as every other comes to pass here in SK...but this particular thurday morning was different. Why I hear you ask? BecauseThursday 24th June was Farmboy's 24th Birthday..

So 06:00 came and saw me running madly to catch the bus  across town, to reach Farmboys house in time to surprise him...not an easy feat I'll have you know, as I am not the quickest person to get ready in the morning(this doesn't just happen you know *she says winking* ), and to get to his front door  FArmboy was still asleep the ensure the full element of drowsy/sleepy eyed surprise.

So armed with my polaroid and arms full of presents I hit the streets. Here are some pics of what went down then, as well as later that evening when I managed to surprise him again (sounds of trumpets blaring) with a dinner with our friends which included the happy snapper Jenny, our friendly Brits~ Sally & Lewis, our fellow Saffa's~Claire, Jonno & Dev, our FABULOUS American buddies~ Christina, Amy & Dan, as well the ever smiley Minnie!

Heres to many more Korean bbq's, free glasses/bottles of house wine, gifts of funny photo frames and hubbly grottos!

Farmboys Surprise Shindig :)

Thursday came on the 24th June just as every other comes to pass here in SK...but this particular thurday morning was different. Why I hear you ask? BecauseThursday 24th June was Farmboy's 24th Birthday..

So 06:00 came and saw me running madly to catch the bus  across town, to reach Farmboys house in time to surprise him...not an easy feat I'll have you know, as I am not the quickest person to get ready in the morning(this doesn't just happen you know *she says winking* ), and to get to his front door  FArmboy was still asleep the ensure the full element of drowsy/sleepy eyed surprise.

So armed with my polaroid and arms full of presents I hit the streets. Here are some pics of what went down then, as well as later that evening when I managed to surprise him again (sounds of trumpets blaring) with a dinner with our friends which included the happy snapper Jenny, our friendly Brits~ Sally & Lewis, our fellow Saffa's~Claire, Jonno & Dev, our FABULOUS American buddies~ Christina, Amy & Dan, as well the ever smiley Minnie!

Heres to many more Korean bbq's, free glasses/bottles of house wine, gifts of funny photo frames and hubbly grottos!

Some crazy letters to me from my kids…

So my school has this awesome website where the kids in the school get to send me their attempts at english letters. I thought it would be funny to post one or two of them...

Hello Dale!
My name is Won Seok.
I heard you had backache.
That's too bad.
I hope you get well soon!
I think you're very popular bacause when you go to ground, many people crowd to(for?) you.
Qestion.
How do you think about Korea?

Its alot of fun trying spot which kids wrote which letters, you must understand their names do very little bell ringing.

Dear Dale,Hi, I'm a KoreaTeacherYou remember We ?gave you on the playground every day to teach the Korean language.But on Tuesday, June 8 to come out on a business trip I tried to call you for letting us no what's not.

Give us more accurate numbers, please. ........At this point, so bye-bye

(That was from my un-official 3rd grade Korean language teacher)

Hello, teacher. My name is Yun Ji Lee in 6-1 class. I have some question to you.Answer to me please~
1. How did you know Korea?
2. What is your favorite sports?
3. How many time are you visits Korea?
4. Do you like singing?
*How are you?
I like your class very much~! It is very fun.
Teacher, please answer me~! I want your answer~!

Good bye, teacher~! See you later!

(A little stalker sounding but kind of cute).

Hello mt lovely Dale.
Your my best teacher.
I love oy Dale bey~~~.

ps. I love you~~

Roxy you have nothing to worry about this kid is in the 4th grade and could even be a boy. No threat I promise.

One of the
little punks keeps sending me this edited pic of himself.

Farmboys old Studio Apartment in Daejeon

No amount of google searching and forum scanning will ever give you a real depiction of the kind of place you are gonna be living in when you get to this jungle of wireless internet and stupidly small cups of nasty coffee. So I thought I might aswell add to the variety by posting what my home looks like. From what I gather I think this is generally what most of the 2010 teachers got, with an extra free bar of soap here (Citygirl) or a 40inch HD plasma screen there (Dan), being the only difference. I'll post more about my actual area soon but this will give you a rough idea of the place where the decision that effect the world are made.... drum roll..... trumpets.... Citygirls triangle..... I give you my "Studio".

Here is the Basic layout of the place...
I have a nice bit of kitchen with a two plate gas stove. My bathroom is a shower, toilet and sink all in one. That means you have to hide eveything when you shower so i doesnt get wet including loo paper!

My home is divided into three sections by big sliding doors and these are really cool. Allows for alot of light and manages to trick me into feeling like Im not in a small space.

All in all, not a bad place to live.

The place I call home.

No amount of google searching and forum scanning will ever give you a real depiction of the kind of place you are gonna be living in when you get to this jungle of wireless internet and stupidly small cups of nasty coffee. So I thought I might aswell add to the variety by posting what my home looks like. From what I gather I think this is generally what most of the 2010 teachers got, with an extra free bar of soap here (Citygirl) or a 40inch HD plasma screen there (Dan), being the only difference. I'll post more about my actual area soon but this will give you a rough idea of the place where the decision that effect the world are made.... drum roll..... trumpets.... Citygirls triangle..... I give you my "Studio".

Manifestation...

So the inevitable has finally occurred and the inner South African can no longer be suppressed by Kimchi and lesson planning. And there has been a mass manifestation of ZA's in the shape of crazy braai's and awkwardly sweet and inappropriately placed dance moves all over the city of Daejeon. I have heard rumors of braais happening on rooftops all over the place and I predict that this is only the beginning. As can be expected due to there potent awesomeness these events have drawn the interest of various other people from outside South Africa and it will lead to this ceremonial style of meat cooking spreading further afield to other nations. If one was to be highly optimistic at this point then we could possibly hypothesize that in the not to distant future we could see the traditional braai displacing its ugly cousin, BBQ, from its adorned pedestal in other nations and we will be one step closer to world peace and a wholesale racial reconciliation.

I consider myself a scientist, not the greatest but still notable, and with this reputation comes my duty to provide clear empirical evidence on which to base my above pontifications. Ladies and gentlemen I give you case 1: Gummi Bear.

Manifestation...

So the inevitable has finally occurred and the inner South African can no longer be suppressed by Kimchi and lesson planning. And there has been a mass manifestation of ZA's in the shape of crazy braai's and awkwardly sweet and inappropriately placed dance moves all over the city of Daejeon. I have heard rumors of braais happening on rooftops all over the place and I predict that this is only the beginning. As can be expected due to there potent awesomeness these events have drawn the interest of various other people from outside South Africa and it will lead to this ceremonial style of meat cooking spreading further afield to other nations. If one was to be highly optimistic at this point then we could possibly hypothesize that in the not to distant future we could see the traditional braai displacing its ugly cousin, BBQ, from its adorned pedestal in other nations and we will be one step closer to world peace and a wholesale racial reconciliation.

I consider myself a scientist, not the greatest but still notable, and with this reputation comes my duty to provide clear empirical evidence on which to base my above pontifications. Ladies and gentlemen I give you case 1: Gummi Bear.

Busan chill time.

Hi you might not remember me as its been ages since my odd mutterings were seen on this glorious little bloggedy.

Well this past weekend Citygirl and I glided on down to Busan and had a look at what was up for grabs down on that side. To say the least it was great. The adventure started off with a sleepy taxi ride at 6 in the morning to Daejeon station. The sleepyness was soon replaced with hunger, this was deftly settled by some incredible little french toast, cheese and bacon snackaroos that my princess apparently whipped up at about four that morning! Can I hear a "Good job!". Anyways we got to Busan pretty early and found our cute little backpackers with its Christian little bunkbeds and its heavinly air-conditioning. Once we had found our roommates Huke and Lolly we jumped on the subway and headed for Haeundae beach. Well we knew that we were in the right place because my keen sense of smell picked up on the sea air and my dul left ear was forced to hear the yacking of three score other "westerners" A-CHEW-mericans...

I could feel my very soul being drawn to the ocean and once I had pushed my way past three buggers tossing a football and one white (T)- string wearing korean guy I was in that sea like spice on Kimchi. And man it was great, flipping cold but really great. We spent most of the day there chilling in the sand looking at all the odd combinations of people, children, clothing and pink dyed pets. Its a really nice beach but it was pretty crowded and google images indicates that it only gets crazier as summer moves along.

We also went to a cool little spot called Fuzzy Navel and chilled there and had something to drink. We then went and had sun downers on the beach and had some good laughs with all sorts of interesting people. The nest day we woke up to Huke swiping at mosquitoes with blood stained hands, Lolly snoring away in the corner and the annoying sound of drizzle on the window. But we decided to go to Gukje market and also go and watch the new Robin Hood movie, both of which were pretty great. Really enjoyed the street food we had for lunch, it took some effort to get Citygirl involved but eventually she admitted to liking it.

Basically the rest of the weekend consisted of rain, rain and more rain. We had some good laughs at H & L when their umbrella kept inverting due to the 200knot gail force winds. But somehow the thought of Toblerone and a warm bed at Blue Backpackers made it all bearable. Something which is worth extra attention is our visit to the Shinsige Department store. This is the place where I (Farmboy) went ice-skating for the first time ever and also mananged to purchase some good looking english books. Really cool place and I especially liked the human lung chandelier at the front entrance.

Anyway thats pretty much what the weekend was about. And after almost missing our train home, making a child cry on the train, discussing our future bookshelf and arguing with a thief of a taxi driver, we were home safe and sound.

Ah another great weekend in this fascinating place. So glad I have Citygirl here to make it exciting.

Busan chill time.

Hi you might not remember me as its been ages since my odd mutterings were seen on this glorious little bloggedy.

Well this past weekend Citygirl and I glided on down to Busan and had a look at what was up for grabs down on that side. To say the least it was great. The adventure started off with a sleepy taxi ride at 6 in the morning to Daejeon station. The sleepyness was soon replaced with hunger, this was deftly settled by some incredible little french toast, cheese and bacon snackaroos that my princess apparently whipped up at about four that morning! Can I hear a "Good job!". Anyways we got to Busan pretty early and found our cute little backpackers with its Christian little bunkbeds and its heavinly air-conditioning. Once we had found our roommates Huke and Lolly we jumped on the subway and headed for Haeundae beach. Well we knew that we were in the right place because my keen sense of smell picked up on the sea air and my dul left ear was forced to hear the yacking of three score other "westerners" A-CHEW-mericans... 

                                                                                                                                                      I could feel my very soul being drawn to the ocean and once I had pushed my way past three buggers tossing a football and one white (T)- string wearing korean guy I was in that sea like spice on Kimchi. And man it was great, flipping cold but really great. We spent most of the day there chilling in the sand looking at all the odd combinations of people, children, clothing and pink dyed pets. Its a really nice beach but it was pretty crowded and google images indicates that it only gets crazier as summer moves along.

We also went to a cool little spot called Fuzzy Navel and chilled there and had something to drink. We then went and had sun downers on the beach and had some good laughs with all sorts of interesting people. The nest day we woke up to Huke swiping at mosquitoes with blood stained hands, Lolly snoring away in the corner and the annoying sound of drizzle on the window. But we decided to go to Gukje market and also go and watch the new Robin Hood movie, both of which were pretty great. Really enjoyed the street food we had for lunch, it took some effort to get Citygirl involved but eventually she admitted to liking it.

Basically the rest of the weekend consisted of rain, rain and more rain. We had some good laughs at H & L when their umbrella kept inverting due to the 200knot gail force winds. But somehow the thought of Toblerone and a warm bed at Blue Backpackers made it all bearable. Something which is worth extra attention is our visit to the Shinsige Department store. This is the place where I (Farmboy) went ice-skating for the first time ever and also mananged to purchase some good looking english books. Really cool place and I especially liked the human lung chandelier at the front entrance.

Anyway thats pretty much what the weekend was about. And after almost missing our train home, making a child cry on the train, discussing our future bookshelf and arguing with a thief of a taxi driver, we were home safe and sound.

Ah another great weekend in this fascinating place. So glad I have Citygirl here to make it exciting.

This is happy…

Yesterday was Saturday and I got to lie in bed till about 11am and then got up and went on an adventure around the city, it was great and full of lots of interesting sights and the spring weather made it a really great day. I am thoroughly enjoying the coffee shops and quiet places all throughout this place and its creates a very comfy atmosphere.

On the flip side of comfy I got to find the biggest climbing wall I have seen is a long time and I spent alot of time on it yesterday. Its within view of some awesome mountains and its all outdoors so it feels great spending time there.

I have had some time on my hands this weekend, as my precious angel girl has been away in the UK at her dads wedding. So I have put this little thing together as an experiment and also try something different on the blog. I hope you like it, and I hope I can make a few more.

This is happy...

Yesterday was Saturday and I got to lie in bed till about 11am and then got up and went on an adventure around the city, it was great and full of lots of interesting sights and the spring weather made it a really great day. I am thoroughly enjoying the coffee shops and quiet places all throughout this place and its creates a very comfy atmosphere.

On the flip side of comfy I got to find the biggest climbing wall I have seen is a long time and I spent alot of time on it yesterday. Its within view of some awesome mountains and its all outdoors so it feels great spending time there.

I have had some time on my hands this weekend, as my precious angel girl has been away in the UK at her dads wedding. So I have put this little thing together as an experiment and also try something different on the blog. I hope you like it, and I hope I can make a few more.

FarmBoy makes his entrance…

Ok well, CityGirl has pretty much said it all and so Im gonna try keep it simple and short. I have been in Korea for almost two months now and these are some of the things that I have been doing with my awesome co-pilot Citygirl. Ill start with the fresh stuff and work backwards as its gets a little fuzzy past the one month point.

I recently signed up for a local gym and Im really happy about this. Its a cool gym and the Koreans seem to buy every piece of Verimark Gym equipment out there. Any way Roxls and I went and worked out last night and it was great. On the weekend we all went on a massive hike in the mountains, it was really great to get out, breathe fresh air, see the blossoming trees, get some exercise and hear the birds whistiling in the trees (addmittedly intermingled with the high-pitched distress call of the lesser tanned South African Chick). But overall I was pretty darn impressed with everyones stamina. We had a mock graduation serimony for Roxy and Johno and this involved a pizza box grad cap, two black curtains for robes, a hybridized version of a proud ulilating mother and a supportive girlfriend(freakish I tell you) and one times awkward impression of Julius Malema as the honoured guest speaker.

You see now my memory starts to blur.... But over all in Korea I have: eaten a plate of chicken feet, eaten meat that I cant identify, discovered the awesome and cheap spa and sauna culture here and had an amazing time with my girlfriend walking the streets looking for restuarants with photos of food for us to choose from (we cant read the menus). All in all this place is great. The kids are really awesome and I even appreciate the ones that make me sign the lids of their lunch boxes and the mentally slower kids who try and see how many of my arm hairs they can bite out at once.

I think thats all for now, and plus the vice principle has come in for some headnodding small talk, oh joy.