Packing for home

We have begun packing up all of our things for the move home.  We started last week, figuring that two weeks was ample time to prepare for this massive endeavor.  The pro of packing for back home is that it is a lot easier than packing for Korea.  There are no uncertainties of what to bring or worries if the US has anything we will need.  The biggest issue we have is only being allowed two suitcases apiece of 50lbs.  We bought a lot of souvenirs and a lot of clothes (i.e., Kelly).  We already sent an 18 pound box of books and things via ship that will take about two months to get to America.

 Kelly doing the mandatory cleaning

 Trying to figure out how to pack all the breakables into a duffle bag that will suit as a carry on

Our apt is slowly becoming more and more bare.  (This is Ben, enjoying watching us pack while watching Wedding Crashers on TV.  He's also enjoying his plunder of apartment goods we are giving away.)   The bookcase is already gone and many other things are slowly getting snagged by other co-workers who are staying in Korea.  It's sad to say goodbye to some of the things, and it is even more sad to see our apartment that we made so comfortable become less enjoyable to stay at (we only have 7 more days in this place).  I will not, however, miss those pink curtains our boss so kindly bought for us.

A bigger challenge we are having is simultaneously packing and planning for our 13 days in Cambodia and Vietnam.  As if packing our lives into suitcases for the US wasn't stressful enough, we have to worry about finding accommodations and transportation in unknown countries.  Woof.  Good fun.

SLP and iPod Touch

For Christmas I bought a new 4th generation iPod.  Among many features the ipod has, the camera has been one of my favorites.  The camera has allowed me to capture many moments in the classrooms at SLP that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to capture.  While the pictures aren't the greatest quality, there have been times that either made me chuckle or laugh hard and I had to take a picture of it.  It's only too bad I haven't been able to do this earlier in the year.

Sean has a full jump suit dedicated to the Minnesota Twins that he frequently wore in the fall months.  When I asked if he knew who the Twins were his only response was a dumbfounded look.  After explaining that Peter Teacher lives where that team is from, he got really excited.

Having the first  name of Peter and teaching kindergarten means you have many nicknames.  Peter Pan, Peter Rabbit, Peter Piper and Peter Hammers (most frequently used).  Ryan was the first one to use my gamer tag in college.  PeteMan.

Another example of Peter Hammer.  It is starting to affect the kids work, and they write my nickname in places they shouldn't.  Technically he is right, humans are animals and I do eat plants to a certain degree. I didn't tell him he was wrong but to change his answer.

Rachel couldn't understand why I was laughing at her shirt.

I took a picture of a similar SLP ad.  I just found it funny because students don't think like this.  Not my students at least.

Korean children love to wear animal hats.  They are all awesome.  I only wish that it was socially acceptable for adults to wear these in the States.

 This woman depicted above is ice fishing in high heels.  That wouldn't surprise me over here.

Every month if there is a student with a birthday, the mothers will buy heaps of birthday cakes.  Some spend upwards of 60,000 won $54.00 to spoil their kid at school.  They also spoil Peter Teacher.  This wasn't a birthday cake, however, it was a going away cake for Sally.

I think Peter Teacher was more happy about Sally leaving SLP than Sally was.

My last evening class (7:20-8:20) consists of 5 13 year old boys and 1 girl.  Nobody wants to be in that class, including Peter Teacher.  It can be hard to teach these kids because of everyone's apathy.  They never do their homework or follow the simple rule of not speaking Korean at SLP.  Several months ago I began the punishment of writing "I will not speak Korean" or "I will do my homework" several times.  The max one kid had to do was "I will do my homework at SLP" over 100 times.  It took him the entire class hour.  It still didn't' get my point across, so I am resorting to longer passages they need to write.

Longer

Longer

My frustration is getting more evident the more I have to write these down for them to copy.

Jack (forward) and Harry (back) have to write these down the most.  Jack never does his homework and I have been trying to convince my partner teacher and the afternoon manager to kick him out of school since August.  He is just too resilient.  

Harry is a clown but we laugh together sometimes.

Ted is hilarious.  He is loud but funny and witty.  He gives me a hard time too.  Once we were playing hangman and it was his turn to write something on the board.  After we solved the puzzle it was "Peter Teacher.  Is he good for his wife?"  Made me laugh for some time.

Back to kindergarten.  This page they had to draw their favorite dinosaurs and name them.  Christine cleverly named her dinosaurs Monster, cutey (later I helped her change to cutie) and of course, Peter. 

Ryan drew a Stegosaurus and cleverly named him "Crazy Stego".  What made me laugh is that under "likes" Crazy Stego likes to kick Henry, Sean and Roy (the illustrators friends).

Henry drew a Pteranodon.  His name selections were my favorite.  Top was Supersaurus, middle was Peoplesaurus, and finally....Rob Peter (first name Rob, last name Peter).  Clever.

  

buzz Korea - CGV Theaters-4D

I feel as if there is one (or several) set of particular experiences here in Korea that are worth noting for both Kelly and myself (more myself).  These experiences should come to no surprise to many of you who know my interest in movies AND the movie going experience.  4D.  CGV is a Korean theater chain, similar to AMC Theaters (also my favorite) back in the States.  The theaters are very nice and offer great selections of movies in English (which isn't unique, most theaters in Korea offer movies in English, I'm just highlighting CGV).  What puts CGV above the rest, however, is their ability to show movies in 4D.

Don't mistake me, not all CGV theaters have a 4D plex in them, nor is every theater room capable of 4D.    There are only a few 4D Plexs' in Korea (and the world).  When Kelly and I wanted to go see a movie in 4D, we would need to travel into Seoul and go to the I'Park Mall in Yongsan to watch.  Now, the CGV in WesternDom out in Ilsan boasts a 4D Plex in their theater, making it even MORE possible to watch MORE movies in 4D.

What exactly is 4D?  4D, in addition to the already craved 3D offers a wide variety of other stimulus.  These stimulus include wind (highly realistic), smell, sometimes lasers, sometimes bubbles, sometimes water and above all, moving and vibrating chairs.  These added stimuli increase the movie going experience to a near maximum.  The moving chairs are by far the best feature, as the movement coincides with the story almost bringing you into the movie itself (more than 3D already does).  If the camera pans in the frame, the chairs move with the camera almost making it feel as if you ARE the camera.  If Sam Flynn is fighting Rinzler in the arena, the seats move violently, and air shoots in your face when the identity disk flies past you.  Wild stuff.  The most recent movie we watched in 4D, as the reference suggests, (and I watched it twice) was Tron.

The special effects were already stunning in this movie (along with Daft Punk) and the 4D enhanced the movie even greater, making a potential B, B+ movie into an A, A+ movie.  It was so much fun.  Tickets aren't cheap at 18,000 Won ($16.00), but it is totally worth it, especially if you are already going to pay 16,000 for 3D.  Why not pay the extra 2,000 for moving seats?

*Do note that the movie company itself did not create 4D.  CGV created the 4D and designed it to go along with the movie.*

We've seen several other movies in 4D, including Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, The Last Airbender (terrible) and Tron.  One thing we have realized was this.  Pick your battles with 4D.  Nothing will ever beat your first experience (ours was Iron Man 2).  After we saw Iron Man 2, we thought we could/should go to every movie in 4D (at least I did).  That is not true.  Some movies that are picked to be shown in 4D can be terrible (i.e., The Last Airbender/Resident Evil).  4D cannot help terrible movies.  If you want to go see a movie in 4D, make sure it has potential to be epic, like Tron or Avatar.  Moving chairs cannot compensate for a bad plot or even worse acting.

I know some of you say "hey Pete, 4D isn't new.  I've seen a 4D movie before." To which I then ask "Where?" to which the common response is "in one of those movie boxes that you see in malls or amusement parks.  I've also been to one at Disney World."  My next response is "False, this 4D is in an actual theater that seats 100+ people and shows the top movies for the public."

CGV was the first place in the world to show Avatar in 4D.  Chances are you didn't see Avatar 4D at Disney or in a 6 seater moving box in a mall.  You probably rode a roller coaster through space that ended up in the bottom of the ocean being chased by dinosaurs.  I've been on those too, and I can tell you it isn't the same thing.

If you live in Korea and haven't checked it out, do it before it's too late (i.e., before you go home).  It's a pretty fun experience.

BUZZ KOREA

KTO, aka Korea Tourism Organization launched a website called Buzz Korea.  It's a great website that links many bloggers together to share their experiences in Korea.  It's also a great to way find out about new events in Korea, as well as get ideas about great things to do that other people have done so far.  

Recently they just launched an event that promotes various blogs that they have selected.  One of my entries was picked.  Boo ya.  They recently just contacted me saying...

"The blog content that you have given permission to publish on KTO's buzz KOREA project Website, buzz-korea.com, has been selected as one of the top contents.  In order to spread knowledge about your excellent contents to more people, KTO has prepared a "Find the blogger with the best post" event.  If your content is voted as the top blog content by internet users, you would be given a generous prize.  Also, the voters that have chosen your content will also be given a wonderful prize.  Therefore, please take a look at the Event description below and we would like to ask for your active participation in having as many people take part in the voting event."

So, if you feel so inclined to vote for me, go to this website http://www.buzz-korea.com/eng/together.php?e_layer=1

and look for my blog post "Seoraksan" and vote.  You will have to register to the website (which is what they want, the purpose of the contest).  It's easy and takes only a few minutes.  

Boracay

Over one year ago we arrived in Korea 14 days before Christmas.  We were like deer in the headlights with no knowledge of Seoul or any sort of presentable plan for Christmas.  We had virtually no money and were plagued with early onset of homesickness.  What we achieved last year during Christmas vacation was basic knowledge of our home for the next 14 months.  We decided after that week that we were going to commit to something 1 year in advance...Boracay.  

   

We attribute the choice of Boracay to some co-workers of ours who had gone there the Christmas we stayed in Ilsan.  Having no former knowledge of the existence of Boracay, and a long time of mispronunciations of the island, we knew we wanted to go after seeing pictures and hearing tales.

This trip was very different from any sort of trip we did this past year.  All the other trips I have ever done, including travels in college, involved a very active itinerary.  Even as a married man, our honeymoon last October required a lot of activity.  Our trip to Tokyo and our two trips to China also involved a lot of "on-the-go" behaviors in order to ensure maximum absorption of culture, sights and good times.  Very rarely have I ever been on a vacation where we stay in the same place for 7 straight days.  We knew this going into our trip to Boracay and we were both excited and weary of this fact.  To the trip!

The day started off just right waking up at a ripe 4:45 in the morning after 5 hours of Skyping and 2 hours of sleep.  We left Incheon International Airport for a 4 hour flight to Manila.  Once arriving in Manila we had to board a domestic flight to Kalibo, which is an airport on Panay Island in the Philippines (note the map below).

There are two airports on Panay Island, Caticlan and Kalibo.  Caticlan is much, much closer to Boracay Island but our travel agent sought it necessary to book us through Kalibo.  Anyway our hotel arranged for us to be picked up at the airport and ride a 1.25 hour charter bus to the Jetty Port, where we took the 10-15 minute ferry to the island itself.  Boracay Island, as mentioned previously I'm sure of it, is only 7 km long and is composed of primarily beaches and resorts.

Kelly getting ready for the ferry...in her winter clothes 

Our ferry to Boracay Island.  We were so glad that we packed in backpacks.  Other tourists brought their rolling suitcases with them, which provided them with many obstacles and difficulties on this leg of the journey.

When we finally arrived to the island we had to ride on a tricycle, which was a little three wheeled apparatus attached to a motorcycle to cart us around the island.  Our first impressions were not what we had in our mind of Boracay, but those thoughts would soon be thwarted.

Our hotel from the 25th-29th.  We stayed at a place called Erus Suites.  It was a nice place but wasn't exactly in the greatest location.  We were, however, happy with our room and the service was great.

That Christmas evening we spent walking along the beach.  We were not prepared for what the beach had in store for us that evening, but it was really fun.  There were dozens of barbeque buffets feet from the shore, resorts opening their doors to wondrous buffets that rival Robin Williams and The Lost Boys.

There were Christmas lights in Palm Trees and fake snowmen on the beach.  There was Christmas music being played from restaurants and bars as well as children singing carols.  We were hardly able to swallow the fact we were celebrating Christmas in a tropical paradise.

Many locals specialize in making ridiculously large and detailed sandcastles.  This one clearly was on New Years Eve, but we also had one from Christmas day.

That evening we were pretty tired from the long day of travel.  So after an incredible Christmas special buffet at Regency Resort, we went and got a full-body, 1 hour massage in D'Mall, the touristy shopping area.  The two of us spent a combined 600 Php total on the massage for one hour ($14).

The next morning (and ensuing 6 days) we tackled the White Beach.  Prepare yourselves.

Boats abound the White Beach, offering limitless services for the tourist.

The White Beach had such crystal clear waters, it looked like pool water.

Clear.

We were also able to enjoy the sunset just about every night.  

On either day two or three we took a special trip to the north side of the island called "Puka Beach".  This part of the island held no particular form of importance.  There were supposedly a lot of shells (all to which have been picked up by now), a lot of waves and hardly any people.  We took a tricycle ride to the beach (15 minutes and 150 Php) and spent the greater portion of the morning and afternoon there.

Behold Puka.

Kelly zombied out on the beach.

One thing about Boracay (that's either its blessing or its curse) is that there are a lot of locals who offer their services for water sport activities.  There are tons of things that you can do if you have the cash to burn, which is what most people have if they go to a place like Boracay.  Services include sailing, parasailing, jet skiing, scuba diving, snorkeling, tubing, banaboat, etc.  The list never seems to end NOR does the amount of Filipino men who want you to pay them to take you.  We were able to use that to our advantage, however, and utilize those services for a few different occasions. 

The first of which was parasailing.  I had told Kelly prior to our arrival in Boracay that I'd like to do one of the following.  1.) scuba dive 2.) snorkel 3.) parasail

We finally were able to choose option 3.  One thing that is great about so many people wanting to charge you to go out on the boat is that they constantly undercut their competitors.  The first guy we talked to about parasailing wanted to charge us 1,500 Php/person ($68 total).  We went to another guy and he wanted to charge us 3,500 Php/person  ($158/person).  We told him that was an outlandish price and the "other" guy was going to charge a whole 2,000 pesos less per person!  Realizing his folly, June (the guy who was overcharging) sought this auspicious moment to drop the price and charge us 1,300/person.  We took that deal and made a reservation.

June and I.  Thumbs up for parasailing.  Way up.

Here is a video of our parasailing adventures.

On December 29th, 2010 the year of our Lord, we moved from Erus Suites and transferred to Tonglen Beach Resort where we would meet Winnie and Joel for the duration of our time in Boracay.

With Winnie and Joel we were able to tackle the White Beach more furiously.  We were also able to go sunset sailing which was incredibly relaxing for only 1,000 Php for the 4 of us.

Kel on New Year's Eve

Winnie and Joel

We made a sand fish.

We ate Tostitos chips and salsa on the beach New Year's Eve whilst waiting for the fireworks.

I got another massage on the beach.

At OLE Spanish/Mexican/stomach problems restaurant.  It was a good place the first time, but I got sick the second time.

They got it right.