Belated updates and announcements

Hey everyone, sorry we haven't updated in so long. We've been back from Jeju Island (where we spent our luxurious 3-day vacation) for a few weeks now, but things have been hectic. The short summery: Jeju was beautiful (though much colder and snowier than we had expected), our school is reorganizing and rearranging everything and not keeping us up to date at all, Jay's computer is having a to-the-death duel with a virus, Costco arrived in Korea and brought good cheese with it, and it's finally warming up in Ilsan. 

Ta-da. Also, as some of you already know, we got engaged in Jeju. So there is something to be very excited about (along with the cheese and the new warmer weather, of course). For those who want the details, we've told the story so many times that my fingers cannot take typing it out, so forgive us if we simply copy the explanation from an e-mail:

Jay wanted to propose on Halla-san, the big volcano that is the center of Jeju island. We looked on a map and found the easiest trail. It said park rangers wanted people to start by 10:00 to reach the summit. We figured hey, it may be too snowy to get all the way to the top, but we'll start out and see how it works. And the trailhead looked like it wasn't too far away. Besides, it's "Korea's Hawaii" - how cold can it really get? 

So we got in a taxi and said to head to that area of the freeway (since we didn't know how the buses worked yet). We should have guessed something was wrong given the incredulous response (Korean): "Yeongshil course please" "Yeongshil course?" "yes" "Mt. Halla?!" "yes..." but he said okay and off we were. We went down the road for a while and then started to see snow on the sides of the road and thought "oh, we must be close". No dice. The taxi continued for another 20-30 minutes, gaining altitude, until we finally saw roadsigns for our course, at which point most of the cars were pulling over to put snowchains on their cars... but not taximan, he drove up the hill anyway. 

We arrive at the trailhead, which is covered in snow, and there are a bunch of cars/trucks with chains, and koreans dressed for skiing, and then we get out of our taxi wearing basically city clothes plus hiking boots (in my case). We felt like such jackasses. And after assessing for a few minutes, it was obvious that we were absolutely not summiting. In fact, we were not even going to try that course. but we felt like idiots already and the taxi ride cost $15 so we figured let's just explore and find another way down. So we walked around to a different path, which led to a pretty temple, for about 30 minutes, made snow angels, then turned around, snuck past the parking lot in case someone recognized us as the idiots who'd just arrived, and walked down the road. There was a bus-stop, so we got on the next bus down the mountain.

We had a full day still, as it was just after 10 or so, so we took another bus to the eastern side of the island: a port town called Seongsanpo. We walked around the coast and up a hike/hill ("Sunrise peak"). On the way, while I was busy taking pictures, he snagged a pretty flower from the side of the trail and hid it in my hood so i wouldn't see it. At the top, we made our way to a side area where there were fewer people, he had me turn around so he could grab the flower, and when i turned back he was on a knee, flower outstretched, and asked me to marry him. I said yes.

Funny things to note, in a situation that really could only happen with us:
1. It was a national park, so technically that flower was illegal to pick.
2. Since I'm not only his girlfriend (fiancé!), but also his very good friend/confidant, to whom did he confess his failed plan re: Halla-san? Me. When did he do it? While we were muttering about the embarrassing situation about the taxi. 

On the Halla mountain: 

Us: "My god we feel like jackasses" 

Jay: "Yeah, and I was going to propose at the top too, but now we can't go AND we feel like idiots, so that's a bad idea." 

Me: "...Jay?" 

Jay: "Yes?" 

Me: "You know, I like how you tell me stuff, but really, that's something you wanna hold back until you make an actual, successful proposal. You know, surprise factor?" 

Jay hangs his head in shame.

So there you have it. We're both very excited, but we aren't planning to get married for a couple years - we still have to finish our contracts, make a glorious trek through Latin America, and maybe teach for a year in Jeju.

Ah, and for those who like to see pictures, here are our rings.

My ring, which we bought after returning to Ilsan:

And Jay's ring, which I made. He didn't like any of the rings in the stores, and also vetoed any and all man-necklaces or watches (the later mainly because he only likes plastic, digital watches, and he already has two of those). So this is what we came up with. It's not as shiny, but it is sentimental and it doesn't interfere with his guitar playing (we must keep our priorities straight ^_^). 

In other news, Jay recently finished his teaching schedule at the Kindergarten, which culminated in an... interesting presentation by all the young kids. To see the videos (and the videos from Jeju), please go here. They are organized in reverse chronological order and our favorites are parts 11 and 12: "Dancing Queen" as performed by 5- to 7-year old Korean children in identical outfits and choreography. I think you will enjoy it too. And you have to love the little call to arms at the end. 

Additionally, links to Jeju photos can be found in the right-hand bar right over there --------> (and up a bit)

And now it's time for us to crash. Thank goodness for weekends and Super Metroid (although the latter might be related to the current death throes of Jay's computer).

Jay's first comic!

We're hoping that this will be the first of many, but here's a short comic that Jay wrote... It illustrates (haha, a pun) our situation  here quite well.

Flu season and Hagwon prioritiesIlsan, South Korea

It’s cold. It’s very, very cold. Below freezing temperatures, an exhausting work schedule (I - Jessie - had an extra two classes daily because it’s winter “vacation” and that’s what they do here), and a general bout of sicknesses among our children culminate in... the flu.

By “the flu”, I of course mean crippling fatigue, fever, nausea, dizziness, coughing, and misery. All of which is contagious, as Jay was hit with all of these symptoms a mere two days after I first collapsed into my pillow after work on Friday. Come Monday morning, however, I was up at 9 to teach her intensive classes. Sure, it took all my willpower to move my feet down the street to work, and sure, I may have been dizzy, coughing, and very contagious, but the class must go on. Jay and I taught. Without interruption. We simply donned lovely white masks for the first few days to try to prevent our coworkers and 80+ kids from getting sick. Why did we work through it? Was it loyalty to the company? Hell no. Dedication to our students? I don’t think so. Masochism? Possibly a remnant It’s-in-your-mind-so-push-through-it mentality in my case, courtesy of Pio Swimming, but no.

We went to school and worked because we had no real choice in the matter. Our school (and all other Hagwons for that matter) operate under the general idea that you should load up your teachers’ schedules to make them as full as possible, and never expect any sick days. So, if one person is deathly ill, the manager will grudgingly come in and take over his/her classes (after dragging the poor, probably dying teacher to the hospital to make sure he/she is really miserable). If two are sick, as in our case, there’s not a lot they can do short of passing the classes on to other (already overworked) teachers. We realized this and considered that, given the fact that we could technically walk to the hospital, we probably would not be seen as sufficiently sick to warrant such a hassle, so we told the bile to stay put and went to class.

A week later, we’re both feeling much better, but it’s frustrating to have to teach all day when you can barely stand up. Knowing that a system exists (substitute teachers), but that Hagwons don’t like to think in realistic terms simply drives home the fact that we cannot do this for very long. Even extending our contract for a short time may be implausible without many vacations or (any) sick days. We’ll see how we feel in a few months.

Other than that, things are going well. We are enjoying our classes, exploring more of Korea, and enjoying the little free time we have for our own pursuits (Jay is practicing the bass guitar; I’m trying to learn Korean) and exploring Korean cuisine.