August 27, 2012, again (12 hrs later)

Buck list, Checked!

OMG, me and Rachele saw the Aurora Borealis last night! It was unbelievable.  It was faint, green and a long strip across the dark starry sky.  The Aurora Borealis would fade in and out, and I was not able to take pictures because the dirt road left debris that my digital camera might have been able to capture (probably not).  Buck list, Checked!

Meeting started at 9 today.  Finally saw the school, staff and my classroom! I will take pictures tomorrow and try to post ASAP.  Today was just cleaning and organizing my classroom.  Tomorrow, figure out my curriculum and teaching resources and maybe try to start on building my portfolio and developing my teaching style.  It am interested to put my experience and knowledge of educating in the past 3 years to the test.  My style of teaching will be an amalgamation of 2 years as an English Teacher (ESL), theory (the things I’ve supposively learned at University of Windsor teachers college) and placement (kinda like co-op).  Teaching natives/aboriginals will be interesting because they too are second language learners and will require a mild ESL approach (perhaps only a few).  It’s great, because I have experience and I specialize in ESL (literally I just got my AQ course in ESL part 1).  I think I will be prepare, but still, I am venturing into the unknown world.  After all, Fox Lake TRULY is the natives land/country, environment and culture that I have submerged myself.  I am the guest in their home and will learn to do what the locals do (to a certain extent) in order to enjoy my stay and trouble free.  I like it here already.  

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. J

We are a group of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. , like the show. Except we are short one person but I think someone will turn up later.  That’s how the series went anyways.  Who am I? Well we got 5 people (including me).  For the purpose of discretion and without consent, I will just use the letters of their first name.  M and A are a couple here, so ideal they are Courtney and Chandler, we have B, Phoebe. Then Rachele (her name) is Rachael (J. Anniston).  Makes sense so far? Then, who would I be? Ross or Joey? If you guess Joey because he is funny, always eating, simple-minded (not dumb!) and his love for women, then you are my friend for knowing me that well and guessing correctly. J  Here’s a cookie.

A hunting we will go!

Today Ben, who is my neighbor and the technician invited me to go for a nice ride on his ATV/Quad, with a gun.  I finally had a chance to shoot a gun today. Hooray! It was a 12 Gage Shotgun.  My first target was a can like 8 feet away.  I smoked it! Hahaha, it has wide range of shatter of course and you can’t miss with 40 mini pellets. Hehehe.  Second time around, Ben spotted some chicken and shot one. Came back, gave me the gun and told me get the sitting “duck” in the tree 15-20 feet away.  BANG! She fell off the branch like a dead chicken lol. I am soo happy.  Hopefully, more game meat to come before winter. 

Buck list, Checked!

Check out the new video of place after cleaning.

Mr. T  (Full-Time Teacher)

Aka Al-Pachino (part-time hunter)

Aka Joey (Playah)

PS - check my FB for pics please. 

Arriving to Fox Lake Alberta

Explanation for blogging absence.  I have not blogged in over a year, maybe two, due to the fact life got REALLY busy from working in S. Korea, moving to Windsor to graduate teachers college and now i have moved to Alberta and settled here as the grade 7 teacher.

Now that my life is no longer busy and I am now pursuing a new adventure again, I shall be sharing my experiences once again.  I hope you will stay posted for updates.  I try to aim once a week.

August 27, 2012

Teacher’s Blog: Mr. T’s new beginnings in Alberta

What another adventure I have gotten myself into; teaching in Northern Alberta on a Native reserve.  I will be known as Mr. T, the new grade 7 teacher at JBS Little Red River School in Fox Lake, Alberta.  This is my first Canadian teaching gig picked up right after graduation.  

What is it like? That is the questions we are all still asking ourselves as we step into the unknown environment with feelings of excitement and nervousness. 

Allow me to begin by saying its going amazing. A 4 hour Flying out of Toronto to Calgary at 8AM was smooth sailing.  Arriving at the airport to find Brianne and Rachaele chatting at Chili’s was a sign of joy and a feeling of certainty that I was prepared to venture into the unknown with friends.  From there, we flew on a mini jet (like 50 seats) to Grand Prairie and run into a suspicious ex-addict or of some sort who reminded me of Johnny Depp from Loathing in Las Vegas. We trusted he would taxi us to our bus stop.  If not, I had a defensive kill-the-taxi driver plan running through my mind as me and the girls made eye contact and telepathically sending each other the “this guys is shaddy” stare.  Anyways, I tipped him at the end for not killing us and dropping us off. 

Our Northern Express limo bus going to High Level turned out to be a ghetto mini bus with a small boxed trailer to put our luggage. We had others accompany us on the ride.  We befriended Joaline (forgot her name), a Dj/Dancer/Alliance Sales Rep friendly traveler who all gave us fussy pencils as a present.  There was a scary old dude in the back who cared less.  A little girl traveling on her own, a sarcastic driver and Brenda.  Brenda had overheard of our destination and inquired about our destinations purpose.  Turns out, she was well connect to our school as a safety inspection supervisor who likes to dance, drink and just gave birth.  She was very helpful, and so we will meet her again once a month.  After spending a night at High Level, we met up with the Director and other teachers for another reserve.  Wow, we were making friends left and right!

The landscape is as expected, all prairie and farms.  I thought there would be no civilization or freezing cold weather.  Turns out it was like 25 degrees C above the 57’th parallel.  It’s not completely isolated or winter desert up here as I’d imagine. If there was a big city up here, you wouldn’t know the difference in altitude.  Anyways, you need a 4 x 4 once you reach High Level and beyond, it’s all gravel terrain.  Access to Fox Lake is one way in and one way out on backgrounds with no sign.  The further north you drive, the more the landscape changed. 

We arrived at the barge, it was an amazing view of the clear blue sky and over look of Peace River (view Facebook picture).  Arriving to the other side, we met up with Moe and Alicia and caught up on our travels because they drove like 5,000 KM from Toronto to Fox Lake!!! We saw horses and dogs running wild.  It is like trailer/camp community.

We arrived and settled into a dirty housing, which we I am still spending time to clean and customize to my comfort level.  I linked a youtube video on Facebook, so please do view that.  I will upload a 2^nd video of what the place looks like after.  I will be getting a roommate in a week, but I don’t care.  To wrap up the adventure, because its 1 AM for the meeting tomorrow, Rachaele and I just saw the borealis lights!  It comes and goes, it was green but wow, I can get use to the breathtaking skies here.  Keep in touch and I will keep you posted with pictures and exciting happenings here in Northern Alberta.

Mr. T

2009.11.03

Influenza School Shut Down
Good news and bad news... my school is shutting down nov. 4th to the 9th, so no teaching for several days! yay! ... but i have to actually be at school... that sucks (bad news). Can't complain... what will i do with all this spare time? Learn korean at school...

Guitar lessons?
While i was standing infront of the urinal... singing "bedroom, bathroom, living room, dining room, kitche!, not chicken!, its a kitchen!" i remembered i said i would learn korean and the guitar once im in Korea....

2009.11.01

Its been two weeks since I blogged. Here's why:
1) Busy with work (really)
2) Been going out everyday and everyweekend
3) Preoccupied with studying Korean and Applying to teachers college
4) Lazy
Other things aswell.

Halloween Party
I went to this (crappy) university Halloween party on Thursday and it was the first time i actually went out since Canada. The place was dinky, it was smaller than my basement (at home in Canada), but damn were the girls cute. The college girls spoke fluent english... most of them were in foreign studies, even though they said they never left the country. I get what they are saying, do you? lol. Anyways, i was suppose to go to Hong Dae in Seoul for another Halloween party to meet other people, which would have been awesome... but i was way too tired to go to that... i kinda regret not going... but at the same time I didnt come to Korea to party... (thats a lie), im restraining myself from partying, I thought I left that life style back in Canada.

Korean Spa in Suwon
The reason why i was so tired was because Friday night i went out with some foreign friends, which asked me to stay and chill because she was sad. It was fun, we played drinking games and then saw Hulk Hogan (a guy in a costume) and well... the night was a disaster... i turned out babysitting... Later we went to a Jimjae bong... (spelling) which is a korean spa... it was only 9,000krw!! ($9) vs one i went to in canada for like $150. Here's what they have or what you can do for $9 entrance:
1) Free Locker (shoes and clothes seperate)
2) Private smoke room
3) the bathing room has 2 dry saunas, 1 steam sauna, 1 mini jet pool, 5 hot tubs and they are all at different temperatures, a row of tiled/granite flat hot beds... a scrub area, showers
In the next general room where everyone sleeps:
There are two huge HOT Sauana Igloos, really, at 88 degrees celcius, really. And in 2 minutes u turn into a prune. They also have a cold sauna, minus 2 degrees (other words, a fridge).

For a small and reasonable price, you can get the following paid services:
1) Access to internet
2) Foot massage chairs
3) Back massage couches
4) Hygiene stuff
5) Convenience store (inside the spa!)
6) Full body massage by maseuse?? (spelling)

Oh, and the place is open 24hrs so you can sleep there! Instead of getting ahotel or partying all night, come here for 9,000krw! Which we did. Its just hard finding a place to sleep on the floor with other people, theres couples, families and crying babies, but its so chill.


Pandorum
Also, i recently watch the movie "Pandorum". Loved it! Why? because it made me thinking, I wasnt only watching the movie, but the story aswell (close analysis of the movie). The whole time, and i've done this numerous times before, was thinking the possibilities of the end of mankind and his struggle for survival against time, space, resource and himself. Let me explain what mean in depth here. Pandorum, as they said in the movie was a pyschological break down and paranoia of a fear caused by long term space travel and trauma.

***Just for thought, dont read unless you take interest in philosophy and my rambles.

Alone in the Universe
I believe that we are alone in the universe. You can argue with me, but let me point out some interesting points. The alignment of our solar system is unique, rather to say its perfect. Why? Because if the Earth was any closer to the sun, we would all die and not exist. If we were further away, we would be absorbed by the gravitational pull of other planets and become a cold planet because the slight distance of the orbiting planets from the sun makes a drastic change in ... everything! Also... the moons, of not just our planet, but Saturn and Jupiter are important, (lets not get scientific here, i dont have my text book, but they are a shield that protected Earth from numerous bombardment from meteors and possibly small astroids. Do you not see the craters on the Moon? Remember how the dinosaurs died?) The point is... to find another liveable planet in another solar system, in this galaxy is near impossible... but possible... just not identifiable or reachable, because time and space is too vast. Time and space is infinite, to travel from 1 end of our galaxy (our solar system in in a galaxy which has millions, maybe millions of other stars, planets and solar systems combined) would be impossible, for the fact that we dont have enough resources to sustain long distance travel. The concept of travelling at light speed is ... unlreastic. Anything travelling at the speed of light breaks down and turns into particles... therefore and living creature , well inanimate objects aswell, would lose its original form from travelling at light speed. The particles would disperse and... you would die. Plus, we dont have the technology to transport anything at lightspeed from one point to another, how do you stop travelling at light speed? Get my point? We have yet the knowledge and resource to be successful in space travel. We can't even be efficient and organize in our own establishment of the transportation system, the system is diabolical... you ever get stuck in an LA (california) traffic? Planes crash, petroleum is now considered limited, no immediate and available energy or resource equaling the output of oil is easily and abundantly accessible cheaply to replace. How many more years left do we have before we use up all the resources? That was the issue in the movie "Pandorum". Earths population was 125+ billion in the year 2200+ and resource was scarce. Hence they built a ship, a Noah's arc, in hopes to survive on a new found Planet called Tanus to continue human life. Eventually, Earth blew up.

Suppose life does exist on a planet, in a solar system in our Galaxy (not the billions of other glaxies), they would have to be a highly advance civilization, we are not, to contact or even travel in order for us to encounter each other. And yet, what happens if we do contact each other... we become aggressive. Have u not see the movies? We are not very welcoming, we are afraid of what we do not understand. Anyways, its better that was are alone in the universe, we will F up every chance we get to be better in life.

Factors that will destroy life for mankind:
The Sun dying
Time runs out for everything
Resources are limited on Earth, in our solar system
Space - we are stuck and the possibility of space travel is foolish, we might not even have enough resource to travel to the end of our solar system and back, yet the thought of going to another solarsystem light years away (you cant travel at light speed). It's a wild goose chase to think of travelling anywhere. Stay at home!
Extraterrestials (i dont think they can reach us unless they can teleport lol)
Human error (we are flawed and we make mistakes and you get the point) we use up all our resources, we kill each other because of differences, and we press the nuke button out of stupidity. We kill ourselves basically.
Pyscological - we are mentally unstable... anybody can break down if the were pushed to the edge, experienced trauma (hence Pandorum )
The unknown - blackhole, rubberband theory (others),

Now im just rambling. End thought. I believe we are alone in the universe, do you? I have to go shopping for a winter jacket now... and clean the apartment. bye!

11.10.2009 Thanks Giving Dinner

Hi, has it been awhile? I've been busy.

Im soo happy. I met my old highschool friend Janice in Korea!! it has been nearly 7 years since we met!!! frigging LONG TIME. It was really good to see and hang out with her, miss her already lol. So she and her friend visited me in Suwon with Liz to attend Hwaseong Fortress Festival, it was fun! In comparison, its almost like Octoberfest (different theme). They had a huge parade, blocked off roads, lots of people, lots of vendors, it was great!. It was like Canadian Thanks giving here in Korea this weekend. Well, we literally made its Thanks Giving Dinner last night at Tom and Clairs place (other foreign friends also from Canada who i met here in Suwon). We had roast chicken (we bought), pasta, salade, and Pumpkin PIE!!!! ( Claire Slaved 8hrs for). After dinner, we chated and went to the park to play LAVA MONSTER on the jungle gym!!! it was fun, the people were looking at us but i think cuz they wanted to play too. Dont get touch by the monster on the ground, he can jump and touch and you're it. Then we play tag... then we were told to be quiet because it is exam week for Kyunghe Uni Students lol. Then we chillled at 7/ Eleven... Overall. Another good weekend.

Moped/Scooter
I saw this awesome 1 year old moped. Can fit 2 people, black, orange and white, a big moped with only 50cc (no license or insurance required) for only 800k KRW!!! (yeah only 800 lol). There was a junky looking one for 400K KRW... which i logically should get because im only here for a year.... yeah i should only stay for a year though i would love a 2nd year. But, logically i should not buy it now. How would i ride it? I need to buy a helmet, find parking at the apartment, and its winter (so i wont be able to ride it) and i know from experience that distant travels of more than 20km anywhere is very uncomfotable on a bike (versus a vehicle). The moped would just be for fun and convenience that would cost me 400-800k KRW. I should save my money. Dammit.

Application to Teachers College
So... being logical and rational, i did the right thing, i stuck to the plan (which got me here in Korea anyways) to apply to teachers college after one year of TESL in Korea. The rule and backup plan to a failed application acceptance is to stay and work in korea for a 2nd year. What would i do in canada if i didnt go back to school? Bum around looking for a lousy job... no thanks. So im hoping not to get accepted so i can stay... hahaha a part of me honestly wishes that... but this way, i am sticking to the plan, with a back up plan... its all about planning, research and dilegence.... whatever. haha.

Health.
I have mentioned, Koreans are very aware and concerned with their health and longevity here. They're very concerned with their appearance too. Nothing wrong withthat. The old are very strong, as are the young and it makes me re-evaluate my own health and longevity... which is pretty crappy. Im not obese, but i could use the exercise and cardio and rehab (from my accident). I like walking and talking the bus to school and places, i like going hiking on mountains, i like exercising every morning and night. I feel better. Trying to lose the weight. I joined a pack with Clair and Jess to lose a certain amount of weight by the end of this month. My goal is to lose 5lbs ( 1lb a week is good too). I think i look ok, but more running, crunches/planks and cutting back on calories wouldnt be a bad idea to slim the lil pouch belly i have hehehe. Anybody else interested? In comments, put your name, age, current weight and weight lost goal.

I will post more pictures and vids... but not just yet, busy. Bye.

07.10.2009

Staying in Korea
I cant stop thinking whether to stay for a 2nd year or not, versus going home after 1 year to go to teachers college. I havent applied, just started, but i really dont want to go back to school already. I know im 25, going on 26 in March and i just spent 6 years in school, and obtaining a Bachelors in Education Degree would benefit my salary. If i go back to Canada... i will never find a job this good again. In my current working position here in Korea, its an easy job with average pay, but overall its an easy and relaxing life. What guy wouldnt like my job? It's good pay, an easy teaching job, less hours, pretty co-workers, dont pay rent, cheap and good food, freedom, get treated like a star, kids are adorable... i mean staying for 1 year is sort of a waste, 2 years is just right. It would be dumb of me to give up something this good for someone else to pick up... the thought of that sucks. I wanna hold on to this great opportunity that I planned and chased after for 3 years now. I'm finally doing what i said and wanted to do, and to give it up so easily after obtaining it for only 1 year seems a waste. However, that was the plan ( but I knew to be afraid of liking Korea too much and staying for a year prior to going) and sticking to the plan has gotten me this far. Now... what do i do? In so far, i have met and heard from other people's desire and reasoning to TESL overseas in Korea ( or elsewhere) to get away from a mundane routine life at home. They need change, not doing anything, etc... just looking for something better... and once you have it, do you give it up? I should apply anyways and figure it out 8 months later... that would be the rational thing but most undesirable right now lol. so sad...

Discovering more Korean Food
I just realize the Koreans will eat anything here, so do I so, thats why we get along :). For example, yesterdays lunch consist of kimchi made of veggies with pork and octopus.... yeah we never eat octopus with pork.. thats weired. Just now (literally) i was drinking milk with vinegar.... how gross it was , yak! (it was Ji-Sook and Vanessa) but its the same as Yokult (carbonated yogurt) they said, no its not. They eat dog (I have and will again if its available), and they eat rice cake for everything, desert, doboki ( rice cakes with hot sauce, usually served with liver, heart, lungs and esophagus ), in their soup, for breakfast and desert. This is only for some meals. They have sausage too! But its filled with noodles, not meat, so sad... ( i was like wth.... i miss Octoberfest sausage ... ). Don't get Korea wrong, they do have delicious food here like Kalbi, thats it, bulgogi haha... (Korean food in Canada is better i think, more meat) Meat here is really expensive, so the portions are small and their are no buffets, unless you go to Itaewon where u can get Indian Food Buffet. There is a pho restaurant in town, i should check that out today because i miss Pho and curious as to how it taste and if its made by real viet people. Maybe i can speak viet to someone, there are a few viet people here . Mostly women, from foreign-arranged marriages. Dying to speak viet to someone, as i was to speak English.

Home sick?
No not yet, it may sound like it but in so far im perfectly fine. I did have a dream that was half canadian and half korean. I mean to say... it was about my family in canada doing something in korea and i forget... but i suppose my dream is reminiscing life in Canada and Korea, like im torn between two countries. Which is normal for everyone, a friend here said he had the same type of dream. I haven't gotten ill yet, the food is good, i sleep well ( i was late today because i slept in!) and girls are pretty all around the world so not just Canada. This is home... but for how long?

28.09.2009

Changes
Theres more change, i have more work now to keep me busy, which is good. We got another female teacher, it's cool cuz im really out numbered by teachers. This new teacher speaks good English and it will be fun talking to her. And yes, she is cute. HAHA, gonna get in trouble. It's good because the original 4-1 class room with like 41 kids is finally split into two classes. Now im just waiting for them to split the grade 6-1 class cuz they are the worse. They give me the biggest headache but its ok, i had fun today playing 'Simon says' because today's lesson was about body parts and action. I finally got a curriculum from the Kindergarten teacher, dont know how she was teaching without one. She then said it was a headache making it up, she only did a curriculum for like 6 weeks and get most her stuff online... im like i have to do grade 1-6 lady, and i get a headache everyday, but its my job. She is lucky she is cute or else i'd bite her head off lol. Overall, constant changes are hard to adapt to but they can make you happy, hopefully.

My cell phone is awesome!
Did I tell you? I got my cell phone and im discovering how cool it is... let me brag, i mean list all its options: I got two cameras, one extra for self portraits, you can video call, FM radio, brain teaser games, golf etc... eng/kor dictionary with vocab and abbrev, subway map, unit convertor, world clock, stop watch, IrDA (wth is that???), avatar/font/background/signature/etc settings for text messaging, special sound and light effects, muvee and phot studio, and so much more. ANd i got this phone for like free (still cost me 50k for activation and sim card). Good deal right? (some kid is playing Maple Story beside me, damn i miss it but it took 3 years of my life, i was level 91 when i retired)

The 1/4 life crisis and supersition is over
My cousin told me that every 12 years is the worse year of your life. It happened around 12 years old and again around 24 (23-25). Alot of bad things happened to me prior to my graduation, moving to a new home, and completing my 2nd goal (which is to TESL in Korea). Bad relationships, family issues, personal-self evaluation, car accidents, financial disasters... all but the past. Things have been picking up and looking good. Im really happy that its over. But its true... every 12 years you face a terrible unlucky phase in your life which may make or break you for your 30's. I can finally live without worrying about the typical issues many face in their 1/4 life crisis (you can read about it if u search).

Visitor
WOW... i get lots of comments and interest from people who want to come to Korea now, hahaha my advertising skills are still sharp. It really turned out to be a good year to go to Korea, it just seems like everything has fallen in place, i get lucky with everything, alot of people are doing the same thing or just visiting in Korea this year, im happy. There are so many things i wanna show my sister because i know she will love it. Everything here is cute lol. I havent seen a whole lot of Korea, but in so far i love it and im sure anybody would too.

ChuSeok
Chuseok is a holiday here in Korea, its like thanks giving where everyone goes to there home town to spend time with family and do traditional stuff. That means, after last week i only worked 2 days and went to orientation, i work 3 days this week and get another 3 plus weekends... back on Tuesday, then work half day wednesday and get to go to Everland (like Wonderland) with the female teachers, who specifically said i would be the only male, shush! its a secret lol. hahaha... i love me job. Sucks for those who work in Canada ... im gonna get mine aren't I???? ahahahahaha im gonna enjoy this while i still can... ahahahahahaha. good night!