Dead Sea Scrolls

We decided to meet up with our Redeemer friends Tanya and Melissa and go on an excursion to see the Dead Sea Scrolls which are in Seoul for an exhibition from March-June at the War Memorial Museum.
It was quite surreal to see such ancient pieces of the Bible that have been preserved so well. We saw exerpts from Isaiah and Habbakuk and some commentaries as well. They had a whole exhibit with many different artifacts from Biblical times and the eras around Jesus's life. There were coins and inscriptions from the time of herod and Pontius Pilate that helps to prove these historical figures were real. Unfortunately for you, we were not able to take any pictures as the scrolls were watched by security guards very closely. One of our old professors at Redeemer was one of the scholars that helped to translate the scrolls (this is what I was told) so we were looking for a picture of Dr. Wolters, but none were found.

Apparently the experience is so intense that you can make sure you are alright by taking your blood pressure before or after the exhibit! One little girl is very worried for her health. It never hurts to be extra cautious, right?




Outside the museum was a display of numerous war plane and tank replicas from the Korean war. Here you can see the Seoul tower in the background.

Anyways, It was pretty interesting and a great way to spend a rainy Saturday.

Calling the plumber?? electrician??

So, I'm sitting here in my room around a flurry of activity...
Let me go back a little bit. So about 2 months or so ago I noticed that the electrical outlet by my bed was leaking water every time I had a shower. It was really weird and I have no idea why water was coming out of the outlet and down the wall, but I was pretty sure it wasn't very safe or good. I asked my co-teacher to talk to my landlady and it's taken this long for someone to come. Apparently the plumber didn't believe it was really happening because The shower and outlet don't have any connection to each other.
There's quite a bit of water damage now on the wall. Take a look at the pictures.
Well, they've done their work and just left. I have no idea if they'll be back or not. Hopefully the problem is fixed! Just keeping things eventful around here I guess.

Let me Blow your mind!

A snapshot of my class this week! Hope it makes you smile...
This week I'm trying to teach my third grade (grade 9) girls the meaning of charity and giving to others or helping those less fortunate. It's part of their lesson that includes a dialogue like this:
Man: "Let me push your wheelchair."
Woman: "Oh, thanks. It's nice of you to help me."
Man: "Don't mention it. I'm glad to help you."

Interesting, eh? So anyhow, I'm trying to challenge them by encouraging them to be creative and find ways to help others using the phrase "let me" and also different ways to say thanks.

I've gotten 2 really funny responses so far. I don't think they understood the overarching idea....I tried.

Number 1:
"Let me break your glasses."
"Oh thanks. I appreciate it."
"No problem. I'm glad to help."

My Korean co-teacher started laughing so hard and called me over to this group. The girls had explained to her that one student really wanted new glasses, but her mom would not buy her a pair until the glasses she has now were broken...hence the dialogue!! What a good friend.

Number 2:
I'm walking around the class and some girls call me over..."Teacher, what does this mean?"
On the paper, "Let me blow your mind."
I just laughed. "Do you know a song with that in it?" To which they said, "yes." and we ended up singing a little bit of the song.
I explained it as something that was shocking or unbelievable. They were like, "but sexy too teacher?" "Yes, in the song it's supposed to be sexy too!" haha

Celine....finally!

The day I've been waiting for for a long time finally happened last night!!
Arguably (although not to me) the best female voice Canada/the world has shared a stadium with me and a few thousand other people!
I was so excited yesterday on our way there. The subway ride was fun. The 5 of us that left from school split into two groups to see who could get to the stadium faster by taking different subway routes. Turns out we ended up on the same subway, however, my team went through the gates first! Hooray team Transfer! (We had one transfer, Katy and Andrea (team Steady) had none. :)
It helped to keep up the energy and excitement of the day!


We had dinner outside the stadium and made a poster to go with our shirts and Canada flag...it was for her 40th birthday on March 30th!! "Bonne Fete Celine"
We had to wait for Shauna and Selena who work at hogwans and didn't get off work until about 2 hours after us - it was pretty close timing to when the concert started, so we were all a bit tense. (Shauna had to be the one to verify the tickets to be picked up because they were in her name).


BUT like any other Korean idea of time, the concert was late in starting!! So we had lots of time for pre-pictures and enjoying the gawking of surrounding Korean fans. I don't know if they really knew any of her songs other than "Power of Love" and "my Heart will go on" but I think we amused them at least.
It was an older crowd for sure and none of them wanted to dance or stand, so I'm sure we were a little annoying at some points. But I paid enough money for my ticket, so I was gonna have fun! :)

The concert was really incredible. Her voice is just as clear and strong as any of her recorded material. She left me in awe, as with most of the audience I think.
It's hard to say more because it won't do it justice, and many of you might not even care!! haha

I'm back

A special thank you to my friend shana who made a guest appearance post to my blog.
That was fun. Maybe I can return the favour some day.
I am starting to get the hang of teaching again. It's really tiring though.
The girls are all so excited to see me again and it's hard to be smiley and happy all the time around them! But they are quick to notice if you're not. This semester I have the oldest grade (grade 9) once a week, which is a little stressful. Last year I had the youngest ones and it was much easier because I could teach them anything, now I have curriculum guidelines and textbook material to follow more closely. Yuck.
Example of grade 9 dialogue:
"Hodong missed his appointment again."
"Really?"
"Yes. It really makes me mad." (repeat this dialogue up to 10 times with different tables of girls and repeating after me and repeating after a recording)
Then I have to talk with them about things that make them mad... not necessarily the most important of things to be learning of the language! haha. Especially since some of them say, "English!"

We have a new principal and Vice principal this year and the other teachers are really stressed with extra workloads given to them, so that is tough on the moods of many of the teachers. Hopefully things will lighten up once they are here for a month or so.

The great thing about this time of year is that strawberries are in season - in Korean greenhouses anyway...and there's been plenty juicy sweet berries to enjoy!!

This weekend was a really fun break with decorating t-shirts for the concert tomorrow on friday night at Shana's. On Saturday we went to the Dongnaemun market area. We saw the gate there too.


We met up with Maria and Nate and maria's mother and a friend of hers that came to visit. We had lunch together at an Indian restaurant. Definitely cleared the nasal passageways!! It was really tasty though!
We are all in a little lighter of moods now because of the weather, it's allowing us to get excited about venturing out of our apartments and into new areas of Korea and plans for other countries too possibly.
I also got my hairs cut this weekend! It's a bit shorter than I've had for awhile, but it's nice and light and not too difficult to maintain! :) Oh, and I'm really bad at taking self pictures. Gonna have to get tips from shana! Have a good week everyone!


STAY TUNED for more than you're probably gonna want to see and hear about the Celine Dion concert tomorrow NIGHT!!! YEAH!!!

SOMEONE has to do it!

Wow...Almost 2 weeks since the last post! And here you think Karen is doing her duty and writing a blog...but she isn't... This is Shana writing to YOU, Karen's readers! Aren't you just lucky! Don't worry, Karen is alive and well! She's just too busy skyping with her friends and being a teacher to her wonderful students and it's preventing her from blogging!

So I thought I would be a nice friend and update all of you who are probably clicking on Karen's Travels in your "My Favorites" 13 times a day to see if she's posted YET!

During the last few weeks, Karen has been having LOTS of fun! Mostly because she has great friends to hang out with (me, Shana, being one of them!) So, here are a few things that have kept her "OH SO" occupied during the last 2 weeks!

1. The weekend after her last post, Karen had spent a weekend with her friends Nick and Mel! They stayed over for the weekend where her friends were great hosts!! They had lots of fun shopping and merry-making and relaxed together!

2. The new school year has also started for Karen! She got the new 7th graders, which, well, basically know NO english since they come from our elementary schools where they don't really learn much! Karen enjoys her girl students and even made a new friend today with a student who 'wanted to talk' to improve her english! Now THAT's what I call a dedicated teacher! Pat on the back for Karen teacher!

3. Karen also enjoyed a relaxing night out in our dong holding a Korean baby (making her envy ALL of Korean mothers out there) and watching the movie 'Juno' which made her shed QUITE a few tears! I heard her sniffling from all the way across the theater! (well, we were only separated by a few people, but still!)

4. THEN, as if that wasn't exciting enough! Karen had a great night out with the girls with a night of Noraebang where all Celine Dion songs were sung! This was of course, in preparation for the Celine Dion concert coming up in less than a week!!

5. Saturday, Karen enjoyed some fun old times with her friend Katy in Yongsan! Spring had finally arrived and they enjoyed some time out in the sunshine! Later on, their AWESOME friend Shana, (that's me!) treated them to a homemade stir fry, cheese and crackers and wine!! It was quite the tasty treat for all of them since they don't get to eat real cheese so often!

6. Today, Karen is sporting a sore back... In her words "My back feels like it's going to fall off my body!" I blame Korean beds... They've been horrible on all of our bodies! She accompanied Katy and I as we went off to meet Julia, a new foreigner in Korea! This was the highlight of Karen's day since she was able to dine at her favorite restaurant, the Chinese place she is so fond of!

So that is all for Karen's update! I know there has been many more adventures she could have told you about and in much more detail, but as I said earlier, she is VERY busy... I on the other hand, OBVIOUSLY have too much time on my hands! :S

So long!