A Scooter Tour of Bucheon, Korea

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Quite a while ago, we gave you a tour of Jung Ang Park on our bikes. Times have changed since then, and we've moved on to bigger and better things. Now we have a scooter and can ride a lot further (with a lot less energy), and our camera doesn't suck as terribly as before! So, this time, we drove around the streets of Bucheon, Korea on our scooters and filmed the whole deal, including any important landmarks along the way. Sure, we couldn't film ALL of Bucheon, but you'll see the parts we know and are familiar with. So check out what our city looks like! Click on the picture above for our Scooter Tour of Bucheon, or check the sidebar for QuickTime format.

Bucheon's Sang Dong Market

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We're happy that we found this place, because this is what we kind of expected Korea to be like before we got here: marketplaces with bad lighting and fresh produce, fresh fish, and meat cut right in front of you, vendors yelling for your attention, and random sock stores that don't seem to fit in with the rest of the place. Instead, we're surrounded by shopping malls and megamarts - in our part of Bucheon, at least - so we like to make it down to Bucheon's Sang Dong Market every once in a while. They quite possibly make our favorite Man Du (dumplings) and Don Kat Su (shnitzel) in our entire stay in Korea - and, believe us when we say we have eaten LOTS of Man Du and Don Kat Su. We highly recommend you stop by here as well, if not as a regular customer, then at least to see a different side of Korea apart from Emart and HomePlus. It's located between Bucheon and Songnae station, on the road that connects them both, so get there if you can. Click on the picture above for the tour of Bucheon's Sang Dong Market or check the sidebar for the QuickTime version.

Taking Care of Your Cats and Dogs in Korea

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Recently, our Spudgy dislocated his knee. It was a terrible experience: he lifted his leg to pee, and - being the gimpy dog that he is - fell over in agony. He was screaming and howling, and it broke our hearts. We hopped in a taxi and went to Seoul immediately. Now, we could have gone to a vet in Bucheon in a fraction of the time it took us to get to Seoul, but we knew that Spudgy would get the best care at Mari Animal Hospital. They're located in the Hongdae area, and we've been going to them from the beginning with Spudgy. Their English is great, which makes taking care of Spudgy so much better; they can tell us exactly what we need to know in order to take care of our dog properly. As well, they have a soft spot for dogs adopted at shelters, and we strongly advocate getting your dogs through shelters rather than through the puppy mills. Anyhow, for the many of you concerned with getting or bringing your pets in Korea, or taking care of one, this video's for you. Click on the picture above for our video on Taking Care of Your Cats and Dogs in Korea, or click the sidebar for different formats. As well, click here for their Business Card. Finally, Spudgy's doing ok now. He had knee surgery and now has a metal pin in his leg. He has to be in his cage for a few weeks and is not allowed to walk! Poor guy!

Teaching in Korean Middle School: Guess Who

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Next week we're going to be giving another presentation for the Gepik Orientation, so here's a video in the spirit of helping teachers. Here's another video of a lesson we do in a Korean Middle School Class. Like the last Battleship lesson, this is a class where the teacher does minimal talking and the students practice their English instead. It was a really fun class, so we'd highly recommend you try it out in your schools. As well, it's highly customizable, so you can make the questions fit whatever level your students are at. All of the materials in this lesson, including Powerpoints and Handouts, are available to download in Mac or PC format. While you're at it, you can check the rest of our ESL Resources here for other ideas. So, click on the picture above to see the video of Teaching in a Korean Middle School Class, or click on the sidebar for different formats. Oh, and - yes - I know I look a little bedraggled in the video: this was the last class in a grueling 6 class day. I'm surprised I still had enough energy to stand on two feet.

What You Should Pack to Korea

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Planning on coming to Korea? What are you going to bring with you in your suitcase? Surely by now you've heard stories, about what Korea has or does not have, but as we discovered, a lot of those were just rumors. Since we've been in Korea for well over a year now, we can squash those rumors. After visiting Canada for summer vacation, we prepared "a what to pack" and "what not to bother packing" video. Unfortunately, the video could not cover everything, because it would be far too long, so this post will serve as the exclusive extras list of things you must pack to Korea. So click on the picture above for our video on What You Should Pack to Korea, or check the sidebar for higher quality QuickTime

Not mentioned in the video are the following:

ELECTRONICS: Simon packed his Wii and PS3, and has had no issue with them whatsoever. Nothing has fried after many hours of usage. The secret? Read your cables! If they say anywhere on them "Input: 100-240v" you're safe! You can plug in your electronics from anywhere in the world so long as you have a little plug adapter to pop on the top of it. If you don't have that cable, it's ok! You can still buy a power converter. Go to any supermarket and in the lighting section (usually), you'll find a thick, ugly, clunky metal box that will plug into your Korean outlet and let you plug in two of your North American plugs. It ain't pretty, but it works.

BOARD GAMES: If you're geeky and like board games like us, we had a hard time finding reasonably priced English games (ie: Scrabble was double the price) and the newer games (ie: Cranium, Apples to Apples) were impossible to find. Playing cards are also expensive. Pack any games you find necessary.

COMFORT FOODS: Fruit teas, chai tea, and your favorite black tea brands are impossible to find or are otherwise really, really expensive. Starbucks does offer a small selection of TAZO brand teas, though.

COOKING FOOD: Dried spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, oregeno, and basil are available in speciality import sections but crazy expensive, and Martina was unable to find liquid vanilla extract anywhere.

COSMETICS: If your skin tone isn't similar to a Korean person's skin tone, it can be hard to find pressed power or liquid foundation to match your skin, so come prepared. If you wear contacts and can only use a specific brand of solution, pack a few bottles to be safe.

GIFTS: It's nice to bring your new employer a gift to thank them for hiring you. If you're at a public school, get a small gift for your Principal, Vice Principal, and the co-teacher who will be taking care of you when you first arrive. We suggest a product that is only availble in your country. For example, a specific food (we brought organic maple syrup), hand cream/soap (Bath and Body Works is not available in Korea yet, and it's sought after) or even alchohol (rum, ice wine, or rum filled candy).

Feel free to contact us or leave a comment about anything you're worried about Korea not having. We might not know all of the answers, mind you, but we might be able to tell you if you should pack it or not.

Martina's Jeju Trip: Day 3

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And here is day 3 of Martina's Trip to Jeju Island. In it, you'll finally start to see what makes Jeju Island so famous: it's utterly overwhelming beauty. Sure, the first two days showed you a lot of the fun stuff of the island, but now you'll see the waterfalls and coastlines that put the first two days to shame. As well, you'll see a traditional folk Museum and, for some reason, an orange display. Yes. A display of Jeju's Oranges. They're great, sure, but good enough to have their own display? Who knows. What we do know is that you'll surely want to visit Jeju after seeing this video. So click on the picture above to see Martina's Trip to Jeju Island, Day 3, or check the sidebar for the high quality QuickTime version.

Martina's Jeju Trip: Day 2

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Here's Day 2 of Martina's Trip to Jeju Island. The day started off with a hike up a mountain (is it just us, or do all Public School trips involve climbing a mountain of some sort?) on a very cold day, then led into a trip to the Teddy Bear Museum. Yes. There is a Museum just for teddy bears. You'd be surprised how many different kinds of teddy bears you could find there! Afterwards, they went to a Buddhist temple and, finally, went to Seogwipo Stadium, which held the Fifa 2002 World Cup and - more importantly - is where the scene is from in Boys Before Flowers when the four boys play soccer. After all was said and done, they went on this mysterious road that - if you turned off the engine of your car - would pull it uphill! Anyhow, click on the picture above to see all the fun of Martina's Trip to Jeju Island, Day 2.

On a side note, we just got back from an almost-three-week vacation in Canada. We documented a few things, and plan on making some movies that will especially be useful to those of you coming to live in Korea anytime soon. So stay tuned! And - FINALLY - the Eatyourkimchi feed on iTunes is finally 100% functional! You can now watch every last one of our videos on your iPod! Huzzah!

Martina's Trip to Jeju Island

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If you haven't been to Jeju Island, you're missing out on your Korean experience. Jeju is a tiny island located at the most southern point of Korea. It is known as the Hawaii of Korea, and it lives up to the name with palm trees, volcanic rocks, and gorgeous beaches. It is a totally different world, and you don't even think you're in Korea anymore...except for all the Korean people. Anyhow, Martina was lucky enough to go on a trip to Jeju Island with the entire second year grade of her school. They had only three jam-packed days of non-stop action in an attempt to see and do as much as they could. Of course, she documented the whole trip. Too bad she had to leave Simon and Spudgy at home! They got to enjoy some male bonding while she frolicked with her girls! Click on the picture above to see Martina's Trip to Jeju Island, or check out the sidebar for different formats.

Korean Monsoon Season

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Last year we posted some pictures about Korean Monsoon Season. We think that we gave off the impression, though, that rainy season is all cute and sweet, with nice umbrellas and cute outfits and all. So we decided to post a video about the horrors of monsoon season. We waited for an especially nasty storm to hit Bucheon, then went outside to brave the storm and record some crazy footage. You'll never believe how bold some people are! Sure, you'd go out in the rain with an umbrella, but would you go grocery shopping on a bike with an umbrella in one hand through a monsoon?! Didn't think so! So here it is, Korea's Monsoon Season in all it's horror. Click on the picture above for the video, or check the sidebar for other formats.

Korean Street Food Wonderfulness!

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Yes, we're in the habit of redoing old movies. Call it nostalgia, call it laziness: frankly, we just look at our old movies and cringe. So we updated our old Street Food video to be a bit more comprehensive. Also, look at how we've changed in a year! Now you can watch us order Korean street food without merely grunting and pointing our fingers! We'll show you how to order, what to order, and how much it costs. If you're in Bucheon as well, make sure you go to the lady between Hyundai Department Store and The Mall. Her food is, hands down, the best we've had in Bucheon. So click on the picture above for our Korean Street Food video, or view it in different formats in the sidebar.

A bit of an apology as well: we haven't posted in nearly a month because we were actually making videos every week. Remember the Battle for Bucheon at Rhythm and Booze (if not, look down three posts). Every week we've been judging the contests, but - what's more relevant - we've also been making videos of every battle. We'll post the whole collection as soon as we're done with the finals video. As well, we spent a week at a Gepik workshop, either giving speeches about classroom management or helping with other things. Thanks to those of you who have contacted us from the workshop. Finally, we did a podcast over at SeoulPodcast.com, so you can hear us talk about Korea, teaching, Western Food, what's in our fridge, and other stuff from us that you wouldn't hear otherwise.