Jubaloos Adventures

Gallery: Crab feast and Face painting at the YMCA Fundraiser

jubaloo — Tue, 20 May 2008 00:29:00 GMT

Gallery: Geomundo Island off the south coast of Korea

jubaloo — Wed, 7 May 2008 01:22:00 GMT

Beautiful little gem of an island with a quaint fishing village

Gallery: My 22nd Birthday

jubaloo — Wed, 7 May 2008 00:09:00 GMT

My first birthday away from home

Gallery: Taryns Birthday Week

jubaloo — Sun, 6 Apr 2008 17:22:00 GMT

One of my closest friends in Koreas Birthday

Funny things about Korea- Not for innocent eyes

jubaloo — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:45:00 GMT

Theres one thing that makes me laugh all the time in Korea and that is the lack of good english translation on T-shirts, company slogans etc or the pure ignorance of what the words on their clothes actually mean. Here is a selection of t-shirt slogans me and my friends have seen on Korean kids and general public-

A middle school girls was wearing a shirt with "Grope" across the chest in cursive.
cartoon of a little girl sitting in front of a bowl with an arm holding a gun pointed at her: “eat more rice bitch!”
And yesterday, a t-shirt advertising "Monkey Wax - use it to wax your monkey"... could be taken either way I guess....
My friend saw a GUY cleaning up the beach wearing a t-shirt that said "It's not PMS...I'm just a bitch."
And I also saw a pregnant woman wearing "I (heart) dick
A classic from the other day -->" Spelling Dee Champoin" duh!!!
classic - I've seen "head down, ass up, thats the way I like to fuck" on a kindergarten student
"I fuck on the first date" -from a young girl paying her bills in bank
Another favorite from the subway - "I offered her my honor. She honored my offer. And all night long it was honor and offer."
-"I love my hooker" inside a big red heart, on possibly my youngest and cutest and most naive student
A pregnant woman wearing a T-shirt that said, "I'd trade my wife for a beer".

Signs

I saw a sign (I think near Hongdae) for "Dr. Kill's Internal Medicine Clinic."
My guess is that he doesn't have too many patients who speak english...

The safety warning on a pair of scissors I bought at a supermarket: "Don't stick scissors into children." Ohhhh Why do they have to ruin all my fun!

You get Kids and adults coming up to you in the street giggling and shyly saying Hello all the time, and of course you say hello back they get all excited and have a look of accomplishment on their face. Like their thinking Wow I just spoke English and then they usually walk off giggling with their friends or high as a kite- strange I know but a thing you really get used to over here.

Snowboarding.... Wooo!

jubaloo — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:43:00 GMT

So this weekend I went snowboarding to Yongpyon which is about 2 hrs north west from DOngtan, it was my first time on the slopes and considerin how clumsy I am I think I did well not to break or twist owt on the slopes. I Loved it though soo much fun although I didnt actually didnt brave it too many times facing forward down the mountain cuz i couldnt get up. So I tried snowboardin facing the mountain and goin down backwards on my toes instead of heels. I fell over less but did fall back a couple of times an smacked my head on the snow which wasnt very soft because of the weather conditions. It was pretty toasty out because it was soo sunny which made the snow turn into slush later on and when the sun went in, in the evening the slush turned into ice so it was pretty dangerous snowboardin at night. I attempted one run and there were chunks of ice trippin me up so I thought it best to quit whilst I was ahead and hadnt broken anything. So when everyone came in from the evening ski an snowboard we jus had a chilled out night in the hotel room which you can see on the photo album. Its jus one room shared by all of us which was a total of 8 and slept on the heated floor wrapped in blankets. We drank and played cards and listened to music. The next day it was too icy to ski soo we had something to eat an played bowling uuntil the bus back arrived at 5pm. It was soo much fun but its the end of the season now so cant go again til next winter...shame Id like to practice more and maybe actually go down the slopes the right way round this time lol. xx

Gallery: Snowboarding

jubaloo — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:48:00 GMT

Bumps bruises and alot of alcohol

Olympics

jubaloo — Tue, 4 Mar 2008 02:18:00 GMT

So on Saturday we had an Olympic games at our Local bar which involved a hell of alot of alcohol and some good old competative rivalry between the countries. THere were teams representin Korea, America, England (My Team) Ireland, Trinidad, 2 sets of Canada, Oz etc. Was really fun it was a kind of goodbye party for 3 people who are leaving soon. Pictures are in an albumn explaining all of the events an showin some procarious positions.

Love Yas and Let me know how your all doing xxxx

Gallery: Alcoholic Olympic games

jubaloo — Tue, 4 Mar 2008 01:06:00 GMT

Olympics at Now bar 7 different teams representing different countries and consuming copious amounts of Beer an Soju in the process!

Gallery: Funny Misquotes and Signs- Not for innocent eyes

jubaloo — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:22:00 GMT

The Hilarity that arises when Koreans do not have their advertising proof read by an english person

New year and other bits and bobs

jubaloo — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:19:00 GMT

Hey there. Hope you’re all doing ok at home. New Year was alright I got to explore Seoul go to a War museum and go to a Korean Folk village with my Flat mate. That was an interesting experience. There was lots of old fashioned dancing, Wish tree ceremonies (where they offer fruit, a pigs head and various other things along with prayer to please the gods into making the wishes they had tied to the tree come true. See album) there were fortune tellers, and a replica of an old village which was interesting to look around. It was sooo cold that the whole of the river running through the village was frozen over and people were skating and sledging on it. Anyway after some cultural experiences I thought it time to celebrate the New Year in style and went and partied in Seoul with some friends. I had lots of spare time on my hands so I missed a lot of people.

Anyway after a week of relaxing I got back to work. Doing activities and practicing interviews with the children to be filmed this week. Each class had to practice an interview according to which text book they were working out of and this week they have to sit in front of a camera with me and have and interview. Then they have to recite a dialogue and after that the Korean teacher says things in Korean and they have to translate it. I’m not totally sure why they’re doing it but the guy next to me sits around all day editing the ones that have already been filmed at the other schools in the Khan Chain. I think maybe it’s to put on their website for advertising or to send home for the parents to watch.

Anyway I’m not sure if anyone’s heard but one of Koreas biggest and most important Castles was burnt down last week by this mental old bloke. App he was about 75 and he poured gasoline around the castle and set it alight. It’s reported that he had tried to do it to another palace around 3 years ago but was caught and put in prison for 2 years. He was let go and successfully did it to the number one landmark in Korea. Mental little man, god knows why he’s got a thing against old buildings. Anyway he’s only been put away for 3 years now so he’ll prob come out and do it again if he survives his sentence. The repairs will cost over a million quid and this guy is only put away for 3 years no mental asylum even though he is clearly a honey nut loop!

Gallery: Seoul and NOW bar

jubaloo — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:44:00 GMT

The Sights of Seoul and few other odd ones

Korean Folk Village

jubaloo — Thu, 7 Feb 2008 21:47:00 GMT

So today it is Korean Lunar New Year and me and my Korean Flat mate went to the Folk Village in Yong-in city. It was really fun and I learnt alot about Korean Culture. We got a wristband so we could do everything. We ate some Bu-Gogi which is boiled meat and vegatables andPuchingay which is kind of a pancake/omlette with veg and seafood an loads of other little bits.It was really nice. Then we walked around the village(pictures are in an albumn)There were sooth sayer shows and traditional peasant dancers which were awsome, there was also a spirit ceremony which was a bit wierd but interesting to watch.THere was also a theme park there which I got Martin to go on. It was quite evident that Martin doesnt like fast rides cuz he looked like he was gonna hurl afterwards haha. Look at the picture albumn for more about the Village. Speak soon xxx

Gallery: Korean Folk Village

jubaloo — Thu, 7 Feb 2008 19:15:00 GMT

Traditional buildings, food and dancers

Gallery: Traditional Korean Dress

jubaloo — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 21:28:00 GMT

Clothes from the Homever store

Nori Bong and the Road

jubaloo — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 21:26:00 GMT

Hello, Sorry No entries for a while just been a busy bee at work nothing special going on. I’ve got the next 5 days off work for lunar New Year not sure what I'm doing yet, just exploring and day trips etc I’ll let you know. I didn’t enjoy the delights of Shrove Tuesday, No pancakes here I’m afraid, they don’t celebrate Pancake Day but I did get a new years present from my box. It was kind of odd…. A huge box of Oranges and not normal sized oranges Korean oranges are huge. Other people got bottles of wine, silk purses etc. I’m happy with my oranges anyway because fruit is pretty expensive out here more expensive than alcohol anyway. So Whilst you were celebrating Shrove Tuesday I jus went out with my friends to celebrate the beginning of the New Year holiday got smashed and went to Nori Bong (Karaoke Room) Its so much fun you get your own room that has a massive TV and sound system an a book of songs an a settee and you have this big remote control. You can jus have your friends in their get drunk and sing your heart out to summer of 69 or whatever and it scores u out of 100 at the end. They have these places everywhere, They also have DVD bongs (DVD Rooms) which is the same concept u can take a film out of the library and watch it on a massive screen with a great sound system and a really comfy sofa like a bed type thing. I’ve not been to one of those yet but lots of time to do that.

Today I jus went for Galbi with some friends for lunch an Baskin Robbins ice cream afterwards yummy and Then I went to this Superstore called Homever that is kind of like a Debenhams but absolutely HUGE. It has 3 floors food court on the bottom which has everything in it. I got sum art stuff to keep in my room like acrylic paints and sketch books pens and pencils etc which will be nice to use in my spare time. On the second floor there is clothes make up handbags glasses Jewelry etc. And on the top floor there was a beauty salon for pets and they had these cute tiny little puppies that jus looked like teddy bears in glass boxes soo cute but soo cruel I jus wanted to take them away with me. One of the more grown up puppies was in a metal pen and he could see us at the window and was trying to escape poor thing it made me sad to see it there

Anyways more things to tell you about the culture. The topic is cars and the road.

First of all most of the cars on the road are of 2 makes, Kias and Hyundai’s most people have kind of 4x4 cars but there are little run around smaller cars too. The colours range from black to silver or black. They don’t really have any brightly coloured cars here. They don’t have to pay car tax the Bain of most peoples lives and most people have sat navs that are bigger than tom toms but with a flat screen. You can also watch TV on this whilst driving the car which many taxi drivers do as it isn’t illegal so I make sure I’m properly strapped in at all times when the car is moving. Another thing is that they don’t really pay much attention to the traffic lights, it’s not illegal here to run a red light they just make judgment calls and at cross roads it’s kind of a free for all, another reason to keep safely strapped in. The drivers are absolutely mental! Changing lanes unexpectedly pulling out and running red lights, also mopeds and motorbikes just drive willy nilly on the pavement and expect the pedestrians to get out of the way in a James bond fashion without their kneecaps being knocked out by the passing speeding vehicle. Also because the traffic runs red lights you have to be extra careful when you are crossing the road because even when there’s a green man on a car may pull out. I had a close call with a big Hyundai Getz when I first came here I used the green cross code like a good girl but as soon as I stepped out onto the road it came hurtling round the corner obviously not having seen me, nearly took me nose off. So I have learnt to be patient and run across the road furtively when I think it’s safe for fear of becoming road kill ha-ha. xxxxxxxx Ju

Weekend Antics and Seoul

jubaloo — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:09:00 GMT

Hello everyone sorry about leaving it longer than usual for a new entry been quite busy. Last week me and some of my friends went to our regular bar called NOW bar which is usually where all the English speaking people meet up. On of my friends went a bit over the top with the Soju and Beer and we had to crash at a friends nearby. She got up and went walk about in the middle of the night leaving her bag, phone, money and shoes in our friends flat. After 4 hours we managed to fins out where she was but was a scary couple of hours. Anyway after that bad experience I taught for the next couple of days at the school and went back to the Now bar. We got the Twister board out and had a tournament in the middle of the bar- this would never happen in an English bar so much fun. There were a couple of dirty cheaters who reduced themselves to pushing the rest of us to win but was a laugh trying. We went on to another bar up the road called Pavoks that does a fire show behind the bar. A guy twirled a baton on fire and juggled a bottle that was on fire…AMAZING!

Anyway on Saturday Night I went out for Golbi Pork (the BBQ stuff-look at photo album of Seoul) Was yummy. On Sunday I went for my first proper day trip here to the capital Seoul. I went with Mike the American from my school that has been to Seould before so he knew about how the trains worked etc. Before the Journey I got something a lot like an Oyster card that you can electronically charge with money through a machine and just swipe it in front of a machine when changing lines at a train or subway station. I can also use it when I get on a bus and if I change and use other buses within the hour I can get that journey for free. Anyway we made our way to Seoul and had a wander round the oldest road in Seoul that has an antiques market and a couple of plazas. One of the Plaza had these things called wish trees on the ground floor that Korean people would write wishes or dreams on a piece of card and tie it to one of the branches with some ribbon. Later on we went to one of the 5 palaces that are dotted around Seoul. We went to the most recommended Chengdeokgung Palace. It was soo strange because they are set on the edge of the city but there were still lots of multistory apartments and business complex dotted around the outside of these ancient grounds. Photos of the palace are in the album, with some cool facts about it. You are only allowed to go around the palace on a guided tour which I was quite happy with because I wanted to learn about the history of the palace. In the summer you can roam around freely but you have to pay extra for that. I would love to visit again in the summer as this palace has a huge ‘secret garden’ but I imagine in the summer it would be beautiful but it was just a bit creepy in the winter with the frozen ponds, bare trees and bare grounds. Have a butchers at the new photos i'm sure you’ll find some of them interesting. Anyway gotta go to work speak soon.xxxxxxxx

Oh P.S. I have and address if anyone would like it please email me ykickacow@hotmail.com if you would like to know it and I also have a mobile number if for any reason you would like to get in touch that way.

Gallery: Weekend Antics at Now bar and in Seoul

jubaloo — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:08:00 GMT

Gallery: New Flat and Surrounding area

jubaloo — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:13:00 GMT

Moving

jubaloo — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:10:00 GMT

Hey everyone.Its quite cold here today, has been snowing since very early this morning it makes things look so much prettier in the city area. Well Its been a mad weekend. I had a busy week at work so I went out on Friday with some friends to Now bar in Yonton. I finished work at around 8.20 got to the bar at around half 10. We stayed in the bar until 7am and got home around 8. I crashed out in bed and the next thing I knew was the removal men came into my room ready to move us out. So I had to jump out of bed squish everythin I owned into my 2 suitcases. I had to sit on them to make everything fit bugger anything that was breakable. So after 2 hours sleep I had to move flats. As well as the little sleep I had, Martins Sister the Director of the Company brought her daughter along who was 4 years old. Such a cute sweet little kid but I was left to entertain her whilst feel like Id been trampled on. TO say the least I spent most of the day singing head shoulders knees and toes, making silly noises, and pretending to shoot each other and falling down dead. Anyway once I was moved in to my beautiful apartment I crashed out an slept for the rest of the evening an had a lazy Sunday unpacking and sorting my spangly new room. I love it. (pictures are in gallery).

Went to a Kolbi Beef place last night with Martin and his friend from when he trained for the police force. Was really nice, its like an indoor bbq. THeres a separate bbq set on each table and the staff bring over bibibap, gimchi and various beef and pork which you can cook as rare or as well done as you want and the bbq’d taste is just yummy. They wouldn’t be allowed to have resteraunts like these in England or America because people could claim lawsuits against burning themselves etc.

Also something that’s really different over here is that the buildings have big numbers on the side of the apartment buildings so that you can spot them quite a way off. Korea doesnt really have road names round here jus number references for apartment buildings and area names like Dongtan (where I live) or Yonton, Incheon which are Suburbs of Suwon etc.

Also the drivers round here are absolutely mental. A red light doesn’t really mean much to Korean people so you have to be extra careful when crossing the road. I was close to bein knocked over in the first couple of days here because of cars careering round the corner when the green man is on and no other cars are moving. The drivers over here don’t get road rage but they use their horns an awful lot to warn other drivers that they are coming or they want to go first if there is a junction situation. Nightmare. I would hate to drive over here, wouldn’t know what I was doing, and I definitely wear seabelts at all times in a vehichle.Right it about midnight here and only about 3pm in the uk so im gonna try get sum sleep. Night Night. Speak soon.