It's time for Africa!

When South Africa was announced as the host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, many people predicted that it won’t happen and that the country would fail miserably. During the preparation for the event there were a lot of complications and many labour disputes such as the builders of the stadia downing tools because they wanted a pay increase, fortunately those issues were resolved and the stadia were ready in time for the World Cup.



Last year when I moved to South Korea I was a little happy that I won’t be in the country during the world cup because I knew that the streets would be busy and everything would be rather chaotic. However, as the months drew closer to the opening ceremony there was a lot of hype around the world which got me into a little FIFA frenzy. I even became a little more patriotic at that time. My knowledge on football was very limited so I began researching and learning the rules of the game.
A few weeks before the opening ceremony I became incredibly homesick. When I saw pictures of the stadia and of the streets lined with flags of the participating nations, tears welled in my eyes. I wished I could go home just to take a deep breath of the atmosphere.



A few expats and I came together in support of our country. On the opening day we all dressed in green and gold, pulled out our SA flags and celebrated an amazing moment in our country’s history. During the opening match between South Africa and Mexico we sang the national anthem together and we were filled with great emotion.
For the entire duration of the world cup I suffered from serious sleep deprivation due to the 7 hour time difference. One of the funniest or craziest memories from the world cup was when South Africa played Uruguay. My friends and I got up at 2am and went to a bar to watch the game. We showed up in our pyjamas and drank a ton of coffee to stay awake. Unfortunately SA lost the game due to poor judgement by the referee but it was certainly a morning to remember.



Whenever I called my family they would describe the atmosphere of the country to me. The only world on everyone’s lips was “soccer”. People had decorated their cars and homes with flags; green became the new black because it went with everything and the vuvuzela was the new “must have” accessory. I used to cut my lessons short so that I could enjoy football highlights with my students. It was certainly an awesome time to be South African because this world class event brought the different races closer and showed that Africa is not that dark after all.



I was always proud to be South African, but after the world cup that pride has gone ten notches higher.

When it rains, it SNOWS!

Today began like any other day; I got up as usual for school, had a shower and was deciding on what to wear. In the background I could hear the wind howling, it sounded belligerent and very scary as though it was ready to uproot trees and blow away roof tops. I was not sure about my outfit choice so I decided to peep outside to see if the weather truly permitted...

When I opened my window I was greeted by a blanket of snow. It was the most beautiful sight ever =) I forgot about how cold it was and just enjoyed the beauty of it because this was my snowfall experience. I come from a city in South Africa that is hot throughout the year so this was definately something to take note of. A few minutes later my co-teacher called to say that she will be a bit late to fetch me so I should stay in my apartment and she will call when she is close by; all the while I was praying for school to be cancelled for the the day^^

I had a quick breakfast and decided to update Facebook and Twitter and share the exciting news. Then my phone rang again...My co-teacher called to say that the principal had given us the day off because of the snow... Even though I had gotten up early, got dressed, set my hair and put on make-up it somehow didn't feel like a complete waste. I was too thrilled about the snow to think about anything else.

Around mid-day I decided to take a walk outside and take pictures of the snow. It was absolutely breath taking =)

It's days like these that make me love Korea even more!

North Korean Invasion and UFO Sighting all in one Day

On October 15th 2009, there were reports about North Korea invading South Korean seas. This sent shock waves to most of the foreigners, especially when there were air drills around Busan. I too became concerned so I looked it up on the net and found an article on Yahoo! that gave some details. That evening my friend Caroline (Cat) came over and we began chatting about the North’s raid just as we started talking we heard loud bangs that sent shivers down my spine. The sound got louder but we both figured that they are probably the sound of fireworks and that if it was really a raid we would hear sirens; so we brushed it off. At that very moment we heard sirens in my area...Coincidence?! I think not. However, the sirens belonged to an ambulance seeing as there is a hospital close to my street and the loud bangs were in fact fireworks because it was the end of the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF). Cat and I were somewhat relieved and continued chatting about arbitrary things when a blue light shone bright into my living room. We both froze in total shock and tried to come up with a suitable explanation for the light...our conclusion was that it had to be a UFO; Korea is dynamic so anything is possible. A few minutes later the light dimmed and I was able to see that it belonged to a man in the building across from mine...he was hanging up squid on the roof. Cat and I burst into laughter to after realising how silly and paranoid we were.
This is just one of the many precious moments I have been fortunate to have in SoKo.

The Mighty Tornado

In South Africa we are fortunate that we do not experience any natural disasters which makes our country all the more lovable. Korea is very low key when it comes to natural disasters as well; I know this because I did some research on the topic while preparing to move here. However, over the long weekend I was scooped off the ground by a mighty tornado. I had a first class ticket into a whirl wind of terror. My friends Brett and Megan were with me as the tornado swung us from one end to the next as it grew in momentum. It was the most frightening experience of my life. I could remember seeing my life flash in front of my eyes and then everything went black; that blackness was actually my sunglasses flying over my head and falling into a nearby bush. My lungs received a good work out as well as I screamed in terror...at one point though I realised that there was no point in screaming, this monster will eventually calm down and if we’re fortunate we will return to safety. About 10 minutes later the raging wind subsided and our feet touched the ground. My insides felt as though they were turned upside down, I could not stand straight for at least one hour and I felt like a zombie. My sweet friends comforted me and nursed me back to health; Megan went as far as feeding me Coke so that I would get some energy. We then promised ourselves that the Tornado is one ride we will never go on again at any amusement park.

Lost in Translation

I've been in Korea for close to 4 weeks now, at first it was really difficult for me to adjust to my new surroundings but thanks to the awesome friends I've made through EPIK and facebook, every minute spent here has been one to take note of.

I have met some really wacky people and when I say wacky, I mean it in the nicest of ways :)

During our first week in Busan, some friends and I went out to dinner, after walking around aimlessly, we finally decided on a nice place to dine; it was a Korean BBQ place. The food was devine.
After supper, we were walking out and a middle age woman handed my friend Bee an ice cream while mumbling something in Korean...
he then said, "come on guys, get yourselves some ice cream. its free!"
We were excited but nervous to take some. The woman then hit Bee on the arm and said something else in Korean,
Bee's response was, "she's just saying that how can I eat first and not offer the girls."
The lady then handed a cone to my friend Kira; at this point we all became really excited and was looking forward to eating the ice cream. However, that excitement was short lived, the woman then walked over to Kira and grabbed the cone from her and walked away... we were left speechless; we then realised that she hit Bee because he had eaten her ice cream.

It turns out that the lady was just a customer there and we had mistaken her for a manger.

LOL... This story always leaves me in stitches =)

The Sweetest Ice-Cream

Since I arrived in South Korea I had been confined to payphones because my cell phone did not work here and I could only purchase a phone once I had my Alien Registration Card (ARC). Fortunately, when I moved into my apart I had a landline, which helped out a lot with making plans with friends; however, my plans had to be arranged 2 hours in advance so that I would not miss the train. It was as though I had returned to the stone ages by not having a mobile phone.

Monday the 7th of September marked my legal existence in SK, I picked up my ARC which was my licence to do just about anything a normal citizen of a country would do. My first plan was to get a cell phone and return to the land of the living where the sun never seizes to shine. I visited a few stores in my area with the help of my two favourite expats (Brett & Jon) who gave me great advice. A week passed and I was still phone-less; but, that was about to change.

Although I had cash to sustain me till the end of the month, I wanted to be wise and keep it for essential day-to-day things which meant that my phone purchase had to be on hold. However, at the start of last week my co-teacher informed me that a settlement had been paid into my bank account; this was music to my ears because it meant that I was able to get a phone before pay-day.

On Monday the 14th of September I found the sweetest Ice-cream. Its pink and perfect... my purchase of it was delayed by a day and my use of it was further delayed... eventually on Wednesday (16/09/09) LG replaced the phone... I waited in the store for 30 minutes while a new Ice-cream was delivered especially for me =) So now I am happy to report that I have returned to the land of the living and that I am the proud owner of a LG Ice-cream.

New Bee

Monday, 31/08/2009 was the start of my teaching career at Yeongnam Middle School. The day had a slow start, I didn't have to teach on Monday but was briefed on what was expected of me, I also got to meet the Principal and Vice Principal and say a little welcome speech to all members of staff.

Tuesday, was when all the fun began... when I say fun, I actually mean pain. It felt like an up hill battle; walking up to school was literally an up hill climb which I survived, it was the classes that followed that induced all the pain.

I prepared a powerpoint presentation which to me looked pretty good, unfortuantely it was not enough to keep Middle school boys entertained. I felt awful about it and felt useless as a teacher, so sat up that night and reworked the entire presention. I changed my approach as well. So by Wednesday afternoon I was a step closer to being a pro ^_^

Now its Friday afternoon and I have successfully managed to teach twenty different classes the same lesson. I had some really good classes, some bad and a lot of funny moments. I look forward to the weeks ahead.