I am wondering if there would be demand for a service that assists families emigrating to South Korea? I know we could have used the guidance - even a rundown of costs for travel shots, flight tickets, babysitters/nannies, purchasing household items, etc. I would be interested in using our experience to help others have a truly wonderful life in South Korea. We only returned for family reasons, otherwise we would still be there - we felt South Korea was our home.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Cool link for expats in South Korea or considering moving to South Korea.
http://southkorea.angloinfo.com/
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I am wondering if there would be demand for a service that assists families emigrating to South Korea? I know we could have used the guidance - even a rundown of costs for travel shots, flight tickets, babysitters/nannies, purchasing household items, etc. I would be interested in using our experience to help others have a truly wonderful life in South Korea. We only returned for family reasons, otherwise we would still be there - we felt South Korea was our home.
I am wondering if there would be demand for a service that assists families emigrating to South Korea? I know we could have used the guidance - even a rundown of costs for travel shots, flight tickets, babysitters/nannies, purchasing household items, etc. I would be interested in using our experience to help others have a truly wonderful life in South Korea. We only returned for family reasons, otherwise we would still be there - we felt South Korea was our home.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
진형선 : A different medium to express Hyung Sun's fascination with trains and buses.
| Iksan Station |
| Jecheon Station |
| Yeongju Station |
| Busan Station |
| Incheon International Airport |
| Train: Saemaul |
|
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Living in South Korea with Our Two Children: Jetlag, Culture Shock and Finding a Babysitter
It was 2008, the global financial meltdown, a financial crisis that was far-reaching, pervasive and devastating to many people. Jobs evaporated overnight, mortgages became precarious - everything seemed to be tanking at once.
Even before my ex-spouse and I left Canada with our two children, 3 and 11, we made several visits to the Korean Consulate in Toronto and arranged to have our various shots at a travel clinic. I had no idea how expensive this would all be! Due to the global financial situation, we had not sold our little duplex yet and were coasting on fumes until we began our two teaching positions. We were surprised that the staff at the Consulate had not processed visas for children moving to South Korea from Canada before. As a result, we were issued two temporary three month visas for the kids in October, 2008 - a decision that came back to haunt us in January of 2009.
We were frantically emptying our house into our rented storage unit and visiting the bank for last minute arrangements until very late the night before we flew out of Pearson. As a family we were feeling so much grief for our dog that had to be euthanized due to a long illness and we were, it seemed, losing everything at once - our dog, our home, our car, all of our family and friends. It almost seemed too much to bear. I was very concerned for our children and how this upheaval was affecting them.
We had sold our Volvo wagon by now (at a loss) and had rented a van to be returned after spending the night at my elderly parents' house in Milton. We had a very early morning flight and the goodbyes before leaving my parents were surreal, underscoring the feeling of profound aloneness that we were experiencing.
Emily and Owen are active, curious, sensitive, perceptive and anxious kids and we wanted to give them an experiential education - our eldest, and probably the youngest, are gifted and the hope was that we could give them something that would be with them for a lifetime, and both parents could be working. We spent a long flight with a three year old who wanted to run madly around Pearson, Vancouver and Incheon airports and ended up smashing his head on the floor when we finally arrived in South Korea. Before landing at Incheon, the flight attendants served ramen and I fed Owen spicy noodles from my chopsticks while we pretended that I was a mummy bird feeding her baby.
Our contact in Incheon was late and we spent a long time trying to call from a pay phone and connect with the driver sent to pick us up and take us to Bucheon, a suburb of Seoul. We finally met with the kindly man who was sent to transport us to our destination. The kids fell asleep in the van on the way to Bucheon and we were greeted by our co-teachers at an apartment building surrounded by many other apartment buildings in the shopping and entertainment district of Bucheon. We had a spacious apartment on the 10th floor with an amazing view of the mountains and Seoul in the distance. The scenery was so Bladerunner-esque that we were pretty excited by our new home, despite feeling too tired to think.
The contracts that we signed were for teaching English as a second language for two elementary schools about 15 minutes walking distance apart and about 30 minutes walking distance from our apartment building. The schools advertised for a couple and had leased the apartment for this purpose. Owen was too young to attend kindergarten at my school and Emily would begin grade six at my school in February/March at the beginning of the Korean academic year. She had begun grade 6 in September and attended until we left Guelph in October. In Guelph, we had hired a babysitter to care for Owen as we had very long hours on the road as archaeologists and upon our arrival in Bucheon, needed to find a babysitter for the final week of October and the months until Owen and Emily could begin school. A private kindergarten was our only option for Owen when he turned four in February. "Encore: Better Than Any Native Kid" school was in a nearby building and students were taught English, Korean and Chinese. I don't think that the name of the school would be considered politically correct in Canada or any country with indigenous populations! The teachers were wonderful with Owen and he has many memories of his time there.
The first night in Bucheon was shocking and although we had thought to bring a sleeping bag, our schools had not outfitted the apartment ahead of time so we did not have bedding or dishes yet. Long established ESL teacher's apartments would pass from one teacher to the next and be well stocked, but we were the first Guest English Teachers in our schools and would be given an allowance to purchase these necessities. We slept in our clothes to stay warm and the kids shared the sleeping bag. Oddly, I did not know that we should not drink the tap water and for the first 36 hours we did just that. Our first morning required finding some food and using a pay phone to call a number of prospective babysitters that I had contacted from Canada via email. The following photos are in chronological order from the moments before boarding in Canada, our first views out of our windows and the jetlagged first week after purchasing some dishes, etc.
Even before my ex-spouse and I left Canada with our two children, 3 and 11, we made several visits to the Korean Consulate in Toronto and arranged to have our various shots at a travel clinic. I had no idea how expensive this would all be! Due to the global financial situation, we had not sold our little duplex yet and were coasting on fumes until we began our two teaching positions. We were surprised that the staff at the Consulate had not processed visas for children moving to South Korea from Canada before. As a result, we were issued two temporary three month visas for the kids in October, 2008 - a decision that came back to haunt us in January of 2009.
We were frantically emptying our house into our rented storage unit and visiting the bank for last minute arrangements until very late the night before we flew out of Pearson. As a family we were feeling so much grief for our dog that had to be euthanized due to a long illness and we were, it seemed, losing everything at once - our dog, our home, our car, all of our family and friends. It almost seemed too much to bear. I was very concerned for our children and how this upheaval was affecting them.
We had sold our Volvo wagon by now (at a loss) and had rented a van to be returned after spending the night at my elderly parents' house in Milton. We had a very early morning flight and the goodbyes before leaving my parents were surreal, underscoring the feeling of profound aloneness that we were experiencing.
Emily and Owen are active, curious, sensitive, perceptive and anxious kids and we wanted to give them an experiential education - our eldest, and probably the youngest, are gifted and the hope was that we could give them something that would be with them for a lifetime, and both parents could be working. We spent a long flight with a three year old who wanted to run madly around Pearson, Vancouver and Incheon airports and ended up smashing his head on the floor when we finally arrived in South Korea. Before landing at Incheon, the flight attendants served ramen and I fed Owen spicy noodles from my chopsticks while we pretended that I was a mummy bird feeding her baby.
Our contact in Incheon was late and we spent a long time trying to call from a pay phone and connect with the driver sent to pick us up and take us to Bucheon, a suburb of Seoul. We finally met with the kindly man who was sent to transport us to our destination. The kids fell asleep in the van on the way to Bucheon and we were greeted by our co-teachers at an apartment building surrounded by many other apartment buildings in the shopping and entertainment district of Bucheon. We had a spacious apartment on the 10th floor with an amazing view of the mountains and Seoul in the distance. The scenery was so Bladerunner-esque that we were pretty excited by our new home, despite feeling too tired to think.
The contracts that we signed were for teaching English as a second language for two elementary schools about 15 minutes walking distance apart and about 30 minutes walking distance from our apartment building. The schools advertised for a couple and had leased the apartment for this purpose. Owen was too young to attend kindergarten at my school and Emily would begin grade six at my school in February/March at the beginning of the Korean academic year. She had begun grade 6 in September and attended until we left Guelph in October. In Guelph, we had hired a babysitter to care for Owen as we had very long hours on the road as archaeologists and upon our arrival in Bucheon, needed to find a babysitter for the final week of October and the months until Owen and Emily could begin school. A private kindergarten was our only option for Owen when he turned four in February. "Encore: Better Than Any Native Kid" school was in a nearby building and students were taught English, Korean and Chinese. I don't think that the name of the school would be considered politically correct in Canada or any country with indigenous populations! The teachers were wonderful with Owen and he has many memories of his time there.
The first night in Bucheon was shocking and although we had thought to bring a sleeping bag, our schools had not outfitted the apartment ahead of time so we did not have bedding or dishes yet. Long established ESL teacher's apartments would pass from one teacher to the next and be well stocked, but we were the first Guest English Teachers in our schools and would be given an allowance to purchase these necessities. We slept in our clothes to stay warm and the kids shared the sleeping bag. Oddly, I did not know that we should not drink the tap water and for the first 36 hours we did just that. Our first morning required finding some food and using a pay phone to call a number of prospective babysitters that I had contacted from Canada via email. The following photos are in chronological order from the moments before boarding in Canada, our first views out of our windows and the jetlagged first week after purchasing some dishes, etc.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Free ESL Lesson Plans
With the start of the 2012 academic year in South Korea coming up in March, I thought that I would include some lessons and links for Guest English Teachers / Native English Teachers to use. My first year of teaching English (2008-9) involved an elementary school called Songnae in Bucheon and I will post some materials that I created for my after school programs in the future. My second year of teaching English (2009-10) was at the Beopseong Vocational High School and I designed lessons for curricular and after school programs. There were three grades, 1st-3rd and for each grade there were five classes. I taught first and second year students as by the third year, English was not on the curriculum. Consequently, there were ten classes that I saw twice per week and interviewed each student three times (once per term). I also wrote the exam questions pertaining to my classes and my co-teachers wrote the exam questions that related to their text book lessons. My lessons were loosely based on the text book chapters, but I was expected to create my own teaching materials, etc., as my co-teachers relied very heavily on the text content. In Bucheon and in Beopseong (also spelled Bupsung), I used Teacher’s Corner as a resource to create word searches, fill in the blanks and crossword puzzles to support my lessons and reinforce the vocabulary.
A special second year student, Hyung Sun, was a gifted artist and every class I handed my worksheets (or plain paper) and a pen or pencil for him to use. At the end of class I would shut down the data projector and say goodbye to the students and I would find a worksheet turned over on Hyung Sun's desk or on mine and lo' and behold, on the flipside would be an incredible illustration of a bus station or subway. The signs were in English and Hangul. His sister is an artist too and when I inquired about his plans after third year, his homeroom teacher assured me that he would be going to work with his sister. I was relieved to learn that. Many of my students would work for Samsung, LG, Kia and Hyundai in factory compounds on the other side of South Korea after finishing high school. Some of his artwork may be viewed below.
Make Your Own Worksheets
Teens Inspiring Teens
High School (1st and 2nd Year) Interview and Exam Questions
Hyung Sun's Artwork
Open Class Lesson Plans
A special second year student, Hyung Sun, was a gifted artist and every class I handed my worksheets (or plain paper) and a pen or pencil for him to use. At the end of class I would shut down the data projector and say goodbye to the students and I would find a worksheet turned over on Hyung Sun's desk or on mine and lo' and behold, on the flipside would be an incredible illustration of a bus station or subway. The signs were in English and Hangul. His sister is an artist too and when I inquired about his plans after third year, his homeroom teacher assured me that he would be going to work with his sister. I was relieved to learn that. Many of my students would work for Samsung, LG, Kia and Hyundai in factory compounds on the other side of South Korea after finishing high school. Some of his artwork may be viewed below.
Make Your Own Worksheets
Teens Inspiring Teens
High School (1st and 2nd Year) Interview and Exam Questions
Hyung Sun's Artwork
Open Class Lesson Plans
Friday, February 10, 2012
Top 10 Ways to Save Money
1. Label and freeze leftover food for later use: super ripe bananas, stale bread, soups, stews, pastas, sauces, meat ...
I recently made a bread and butter pudding for my parents and it was a great way to use up some bread that was a little dry and I have modified the Edna Staebler (Food that Really Schmecks) recipe by reducing the milk to include a half cup of honey (my parents' Honey Shack honey of course!) and adding extra eggs to boost its caloric value for my wee Mum. I find that I sometimes get into a food rut and make the same recipes, but sometimes by recombining ingredients, only slightly tweaking recipes can make a big difference. My modified Edna recipe improves the nutritional value:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a round casserole dish.
11/2 cups milk
2-6 eggs (depends on you and if this is intended as a nutritious snack!)
1/2 cup honey
1/2-3/4 loaf whole wheat bread
butter for the bread
marmalade for the bread
cinnamon for sprinkling
1/2 cup Thompson raisins if you have them
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Slice about 6 pieces of bread, butter them, spread marmalade and then cube. Arrange cubes with the butter and marmalade sides up in layers with the raisins and cinnamon in the casserole dish. Mix eggs, milk, honey and vanilla. Pour over the bread and allow to soak in for a few minutes before popping in the oven with a lid or tinfoil to prevent the top from getting too dark. Bake for a minimum of 25 minutes and longer if you have used up to 6 eggs - just keep checking to see that the egg has set. Mine puffs up like a souffle when it's nearly done, so you may need to remove the cover toward the end!
2. Make a grocery list and avoid impulse purchases - look at the flyers ahead of time to help plan.
3. Grocery shop on a full stomach to avoid impulse purchases - my grocery store preys on the "hunger-induced-shopping-fugue" with huuuuge bins of reduced cookies, chips, etc. at the entrance near the carts!
4. Buy generic products or sale items, whichever is less expensive.
5. Buy bulk ingredients - check the unit cost per grams to ensure your savings.
6. Take hot lunches, snacks and drinks to work/school in flasks and containers that can be re-used rather than buying lunch out.
7. Refill a good stainless water bottle with water rather than buying disposable, bottled water.
8. Make coffee by the pot at home and take to work/school in a travel mug.
9. Buy second hand clothes, boots, shoes that are well made - they will last as long as your kids fit them and outlast brand new, poorly manufactured items. Of course, socks and underwear, etc., should be brand new! Ha!
10. Use your local library to borrow books, DVD's, Cd's, journals - the list is endless - and while you are there, why not plug in your laptop and use their Internet for free...!
Happy money saving!
I recently made a bread and butter pudding for my parents and it was a great way to use up some bread that was a little dry and I have modified the Edna Staebler (Food that Really Schmecks) recipe by reducing the milk to include a half cup of honey (my parents' Honey Shack honey of course!) and adding extra eggs to boost its caloric value for my wee Mum. I find that I sometimes get into a food rut and make the same recipes, but sometimes by recombining ingredients, only slightly tweaking recipes can make a big difference. My modified Edna recipe improves the nutritional value:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a round casserole dish.
11/2 cups milk
2-6 eggs (depends on you and if this is intended as a nutritious snack!)
1/2 cup honey
1/2-3/4 loaf whole wheat bread
butter for the bread
marmalade for the bread
cinnamon for sprinkling
1/2 cup Thompson raisins if you have them
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Slice about 6 pieces of bread, butter them, spread marmalade and then cube. Arrange cubes with the butter and marmalade sides up in layers with the raisins and cinnamon in the casserole dish. Mix eggs, milk, honey and vanilla. Pour over the bread and allow to soak in for a few minutes before popping in the oven with a lid or tinfoil to prevent the top from getting too dark. Bake for a minimum of 25 minutes and longer if you have used up to 6 eggs - just keep checking to see that the egg has set. Mine puffs up like a souffle when it's nearly done, so you may need to remove the cover toward the end!
2. Make a grocery list and avoid impulse purchases - look at the flyers ahead of time to help plan.
3. Grocery shop on a full stomach to avoid impulse purchases - my grocery store preys on the "hunger-induced-shopping-fugue" with huuuuge bins of reduced cookies, chips, etc. at the entrance near the carts!
4. Buy generic products or sale items, whichever is less expensive.
5. Buy bulk ingredients - check the unit cost per grams to ensure your savings.
6. Take hot lunches, snacks and drinks to work/school in flasks and containers that can be re-used rather than buying lunch out.
7. Refill a good stainless water bottle with water rather than buying disposable, bottled water.
8. Make coffee by the pot at home and take to work/school in a travel mug.
9. Buy second hand clothes, boots, shoes that are well made - they will last as long as your kids fit them and outlast brand new, poorly manufactured items. Of course, socks and underwear, etc., should be brand new! Ha!
10. Use your local library to borrow books, DVD's, Cd's, journals - the list is endless - and while you are there, why not plug in your laptop and use their Internet for free...!
Happy money saving!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Squeezing the nickel: ways to save money; and my views on thriving local economies and employer loyalty
With so many jobs becoming part-time, casual, temporary, no benefits, etc., it is important to save money on daily expenses. When my family returned to Canada after working in Korea for two years, we moved into a small apartment and emptied our storage unit. In Korea we lived in small apartments and found that we didn't miss the extra space that our house had in Guelph - not too much at least! We actually enjoyed not having so much "stuff". Now that a house worth of furniture and bric-a-brac are back with us, it seems so unnecesary - yet, I do enjoy a homey, cluttered feel too. Somewhere in the middle would be fine.
Some of the ways that we save money are also tied into our views about sustainability, our carbon footprint and just not being rampant consumers. We buy our clothes and many other things at Value Village where everything is second hand and the money from your purchases is donated to a good cause. When we outgrow clothing or are clearing out closets, we donate our items to Value Village. We even asked our daughter's birthday party guests to buy second hand gifts one year. Only one friend embraced this idea and gave a sweater and a stuffed animal if I recall correctly. We were thrilled and perhaps our family members are not as enthused as we are, but we give second hand books for gifts. What I find so incredible is how inexpensive some high quality, sturdy brands are when purchased second hand - Oshkosh, American Eagle, Point Zero, North Face, Mountain Equipment Co-op, etc., and they last as long as my kids fit them - and dropped back in the great used clothing machine cycle when donated to Value Village.
Anywho, I am going to write about ways to save money and include economical recipes as much as I can. I am currently enjoying a library book, "The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists of the GREAT LAKES" by Ted McClelland. By the way, libraries sell off their old stock on a regular basis for very little money- including music, movies, comics, journals, magazines, hardbound and paperback books. The book that I have borrowed, The Third Coast, is very interesting to me as a Great Lakes dweller and lover, but also as an observer of the demise of local economies. McClelland refers to the skeletal remains of steel mills and other 19th century manufacturing dependent on the water of the Great Lakes on his journey clockwise from Chicago, keeping the water on his right through Ontario and back to the U.S. again. It's a great slice of life and poignant commentary on the morphing of Great Lakes, and in many ways North American, culture as a necessary adaptation to changing times.
Today's Toronto Star headlines were rife with the looming debt-default in Greece, the growing unrest in London Ontario in response to Caterpillar's ill treatment of its workers, the TTC Chair and Toronto City Councillors petitioning the Mayor to invoke light rail transit rather than his subway scheme right on the heels of a council led coup to defeat the Mayor's program cuts - the people are organizing themselves to rally against "the man". At least, one hopes this is the case.
Back to saving money. Between social analysis gigs I work in heritage - a vulnerable sector that is prey to institutions with the bottom line as their prime objective. My recent stint covering a maternity leave at a museum was amputated due some glitch with the Employment Insurance benefits of the person on mat leave, hence her early return to work, hence my job evaporating into thin air! I am still on-call in case of a staffing shortage as an employee of the Region of Waterloo and will continue to work in archaeology as soon as we are back in the field, yet... This problem is bigger than my field's employment instability, it's a reflection of employers across the board using the excuse of a troubled economy to slash and burn full time, permanent-with-benefits positions to create a holey patchwork of part-time, casual, temporary positions without one whit of commitment on the part of the employer. Employment can be a healthy, mutually beneficial contract with loyalty on the part of the worker and employer. Thriving local economies meant that businesses like Biltmore Hats (since 1950 at their Morris Street location, but a business since prior to 1919) employed local Guelph workers at a living wage for more than 30 years to make hats like Stetsons, which enabled the workers to buy homes, become involved in the the community and the schools, support local businesses and so on. Biltmore was bought by an American company in 2010 and moved to Texas in January, 2012.
Where are those loyal workers going to pick up a living when they are (hopefully) so near retirement? I have a pocket watch that was given to my grandfather in 1947 when he was recognized for 25 years of service. Given today's economy, that seems so alien and incredible that he wasn't downsized or transferred or laid off or declared redundant. I am sure everyone has stories like this and I hope that we can turn the tide of outsourcing for cheap labour, commuter culture (forced by expensive housing to live in the burbs) and get back to thriving communities and local economies.
Some of the ways that we save money are also tied into our views about sustainability, our carbon footprint and just not being rampant consumers. We buy our clothes and many other things at Value Village where everything is second hand and the money from your purchases is donated to a good cause. When we outgrow clothing or are clearing out closets, we donate our items to Value Village. We even asked our daughter's birthday party guests to buy second hand gifts one year. Only one friend embraced this idea and gave a sweater and a stuffed animal if I recall correctly. We were thrilled and perhaps our family members are not as enthused as we are, but we give second hand books for gifts. What I find so incredible is how inexpensive some high quality, sturdy brands are when purchased second hand - Oshkosh, American Eagle, Point Zero, North Face, Mountain Equipment Co-op, etc., and they last as long as my kids fit them - and dropped back in the great used clothing machine cycle when donated to Value Village.
Anywho, I am going to write about ways to save money and include economical recipes as much as I can. I am currently enjoying a library book, "The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists of the GREAT LAKES" by Ted McClelland. By the way, libraries sell off their old stock on a regular basis for very little money- including music, movies, comics, journals, magazines, hardbound and paperback books. The book that I have borrowed, The Third Coast, is very interesting to me as a Great Lakes dweller and lover, but also as an observer of the demise of local economies. McClelland refers to the skeletal remains of steel mills and other 19th century manufacturing dependent on the water of the Great Lakes on his journey clockwise from Chicago, keeping the water on his right through Ontario and back to the U.S. again. It's a great slice of life and poignant commentary on the morphing of Great Lakes, and in many ways North American, culture as a necessary adaptation to changing times.
Today's Toronto Star headlines were rife with the looming debt-default in Greece, the growing unrest in London Ontario in response to Caterpillar's ill treatment of its workers, the TTC Chair and Toronto City Councillors petitioning the Mayor to invoke light rail transit rather than his subway scheme right on the heels of a council led coup to defeat the Mayor's program cuts - the people are organizing themselves to rally against "the man". At least, one hopes this is the case.
Back to saving money. Between social analysis gigs I work in heritage - a vulnerable sector that is prey to institutions with the bottom line as their prime objective. My recent stint covering a maternity leave at a museum was amputated due some glitch with the Employment Insurance benefits of the person on mat leave, hence her early return to work, hence my job evaporating into thin air! I am still on-call in case of a staffing shortage as an employee of the Region of Waterloo and will continue to work in archaeology as soon as we are back in the field, yet... This problem is bigger than my field's employment instability, it's a reflection of employers across the board using the excuse of a troubled economy to slash and burn full time, permanent-with-benefits positions to create a holey patchwork of part-time, casual, temporary positions without one whit of commitment on the part of the employer. Employment can be a healthy, mutually beneficial contract with loyalty on the part of the worker and employer. Thriving local economies meant that businesses like Biltmore Hats (since 1950 at their Morris Street location, but a business since prior to 1919) employed local Guelph workers at a living wage for more than 30 years to make hats like Stetsons, which enabled the workers to buy homes, become involved in the the community and the schools, support local businesses and so on. Biltmore was bought by an American company in 2010 and moved to Texas in January, 2012.
Where are those loyal workers going to pick up a living when they are (hopefully) so near retirement? I have a pocket watch that was given to my grandfather in 1947 when he was recognized for 25 years of service. Given today's economy, that seems so alien and incredible that he wasn't downsized or transferred or laid off or declared redundant. I am sure everyone has stories like this and I hope that we can turn the tide of outsourcing for cheap labour, commuter culture (forced by expensive housing to live in the burbs) and get back to thriving communities and local economies.
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