From the Eye of the Storm

Last Saturday afternoon was a gloomy, rainy one and, as one would do on such afternoons, I was sitting on my friends couch watching some brainless comedy. Suddenly, we heard a siren coming from outside. I looked at her, she looked at me, and we shared a confirming glance:  this siren did not sound normal. In an adrenaline filled Google search (yes, a Google search. What would you have done?), a peak out the window, and a mass text, we realized that there was no cause for concern and we had simply overreacted to a police siren. Funny? yes. Eye opening? Definitely. This was the first time I realized that this was a situation that I was taking seriously.

Though, false alarms aside, the only reason I am feeling anxious about the rising tensions in my newly claimed home is from the sensationalized news. Walking through the streets of Seoul, South Korea, an easy 6 hour drive to North Korea, and of course the North's main target, you would have no idea that a war, let alone a nuclear war, was feasible to arise at any moment. South Koreans are going about their daily lives, making plans for tomorrow, next week, next month and next year as if nothing was happening. We haven't spoken about it to our students nor even brought up the idea of practising an evacuation plan should anything happen. People are happy, parties are still being planned and a unconcerned attitude remains throughout the flow of daily life. This, to me all seem pretty shocking. If Canada was being threatened with an imminent nuclear war, you'd think at least, our schools would plan a 'what if' scenario. A threat this huge and hardly anybody has even blinked. Why? Well frankly, nobody here takes North Korea seriously. These threats have been happening every spring, each year for the past 60 years, while basically nothing comes of them. Some think the threats are fuelled by Kim Jong un wanting to establish power within his own country. Some say he wants more money and resources for the North. We've heard it all before, and so far, these theories have been correct. I, personally, don't quite know what to think of it all, but for now, I still feel safe. North Korea's threats have become an undeniable case of the boy who cried wolf. Lets just hope this one has a happier ending.

Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?

There are some things that you don't realize how much you appreciate until you go somewhere completely foreign, and stumble upon that comforting feeling of 'home'. You may not be home at all. You may still be far, far away. This feeling came to me for the first time in my 3.5 weeks of being in Korea, on the eve of Passover, at the Chabad of Korea.

The Chabad of Korea

As I walked into a room filled with over 70 strange, smiling faces, wishing each other a 'Chag Samearch', I felt almost as comfortable as walking into my Bubby's living room. The worldliness of the evening's guests should not come as a shocker, as most Jews in Korea come from somewhere else: America, France, Israel, and so much more. We were of different ages, of different races, and all in Korea for different reasons, all brought together under one roof. All brought together solely because we are Jewish. And despite the vast differences that spanned the room, the evening was filled with such connection, as strangers sat together, singing the same songs, having memorized the verses, all knowing the same tunes. Complaining together about the length of the evening and all equally accepting of each others devotion, or non-devotion, to the religion.

As the rabbi worded quite well, It is not the matzoh that makes a seder, it is not the wine (although, that doesn't hurt), it is the people who, despite their differing lives, are brought together not just at the Chabad of Korea, but around the world to celebrate a chag samearch: a happy holiday. This 6 hour long night filled with everything from the rabbi's lengthy speech, to the overdrawn Dayenu, to the mediocre gefilte fish and the nasally whines of those around me, brought such a feeling of comfort, and reminded me that Judaism really is special, and I am really lucky to be a part of it.

Chag Samearch!

What's in an Age?

Age: We have measured ourselves in age literally, since the day we we born. Our parents based landmarks on it. We celebrated our coming of ages in many different ways, from Bar Mitzvahs, Sweet 16s, learning to drive, drinking legally, and so much more. This was a number that, up until this trip, I assumed was simply universal. Well, my friends, I thought wrong. Here in Korea, age is measured differently. I, for example jumped from the easy and simple age of 24 right into the ripe old age of 26 as quickly as a 12 hour flight (talk about a quarter-life crisis!).

Now you're probably thinking "Huh?! This doesn't make sense? The earth doesn't rotate around the sun any faster in Asia...Or at least I didn't think it did..." Well, don't worry, you are not crazy. I will explain how this age thing works.

 Firstly, everyone pops out of the womb at the age of 1. Why waste any time counting those measly months?!

Secondly, although individual birthdays are recognized, nobody actually changes age until the lunar New Year where everyone changes age at the same time.

 Make sense?

Well it's true and it's crazy. This means that, layered on top of the ridiculous expectations schools in Korea are putting on their young children to learn, these young kids are in fact 2 years younger than my Western brain thought. So, the 6 and 7 year olds that I have been teaching are actually 5 and 6? My brain is about to explode.

On top of this, age is a really important defining factor in Korea, and the term 'respecting one's elders' is an understatement. There are seats in every subway car designated for elders and this is taken extremely seriously. You could be in the most packed subway ever, hardly breathing, while that section remained empty, just in case an Ahjumma (Korean older woman) strolled on in.

This has an interesting affect in the workplace, where younger employees will not criticize an employer even if their work and ideas are horrible. A story floats around that there was once a Korean Air flight that was in trouble, and, although the younger co-pilot knew how to solve the issue, out of respect for his older pilot, didn't speak up, and the plane crashed. Now they only hire co-pilots who are older than their pilots.

This age thing isn't all weird and bad though. It also makes for very strong family bonds, creates respect for elders in one's life like your teachers (me!), and people who hold authority. It even helps limits the country's crime rate.

...But age is just a number...Right?

Of Greasy Hair, Bomb Shelters and Screaming Children

Noksapyeong Station: my nearest subway stop

My first couple of weeks have been quite a whirlwind as I've been trying to settle into this foreign land called South Korea. From new grocery store brands, to crazy traffic, to peculiar smells and so much more, the world I once lived in has been turned upside down.

My morning bus ride takes me from my comfortable neighbourhood of Kyugnidan, Itaewon, an area dense in foreigners like myself, meaning easy access to late night pizza, a weekly wing deal, and some pretty fantastic coffee, where I travel over the beautiful Hann River into Seocho. Although I realized the air quality over here was going to be much poorer than the beautifully fresh air I was taking advantage of in Canada, the clear evidence of it's effects are impossible to ignore, as smog wades like low clouds each morning, surrounding the city, and causing me some fast-acting hair grease...and we all know how I feel about hair washing. This though, is apparently at it's worse now, in the spring. C'mon summer!

Now you are probably all reading this just waiting for me to get to the juicy goods. Is it the spice factor of the kimchi you are wondering about? Oh no, maybe its how often I hear Gagnam Style? Ohh, you're probably wondering how I feel about the whole North Korea - South Korea situation? Yeah, that whole thang.... Well, despite the fact that each subway station doubles as bomb shelter, (Oh, by the way, Toronto, have you seen Seoul's subway system?! It is sparkly clean, HUGE and plays beautiful birds calls while you wait. TTC, you should be comparatively ashamed.)  and has vending machines filled with gas masks, nobody seems to be worried about it. They are all going about their everyday business, because apparently something along these lines happens every single year...so, although when I ask people about it, they say they are a little bit concerned, there is nothing even close to feeling alarmed.

I could really continue this post forever, but I'll end it by talking about my experience at my school. I work in a Montessori type school in Seocho. Seocho is a wealthy area that lies just south of my apartment. from 9:40am - 2:30pm I teach kindergarten students who are learning English for the first time. It is quite the challenge. In the afternoon from about 2:30pm - 4:30pm I teach afternoon classes. Each afternoon class is 1 hour long and these children's abilities range based on class. The school is called High/Scope Korea, and there are about 10 High/Scope schools across the world. The school's philosophy is based on much of Jean Piaget's research in childhood development and says children learn best in a social setting where children have the opportunity to choose materials, use their own ideas and choose who they want to interact with and how. Basically, it is one of the only schools in Korea that promotes individuality. The philosophy itself is great, the implementation of the philosophy I am still questioning. As I get more used to making creative, interactive and choice filled lesson plans, it is getting easier, and this second week has been easier then the first. But if you have any ideas you'd like to share, send them on over.

In the meantime, TGIF! Enjoy a weekend filled with green beer and leprechauns. Cheers!

Surprise!!

Bet you all thought I was giving up on this thing…Thought wrong! I am back…

We have a lot of catching up to do. Since we’ve last spoken Australia, and specifically Queensland, has been hit with TWO natural disasters. Firstly the floods. I was lucky enough that these floods did not have a huge affects on me and my lifestyle: I missed one day of work because we didn’t have power, and I had a chance to take some pretty amazing and shocking pictures. Others were not so lucky. The city my friend was from was one of the hardest hit. Unexpectedly, a wall of water came rushing through the town, ruining homes, washing away vehicles and the worst of all, taking lives. They actually called it an inland Tsunami.

Brisbane, the city I was living in, luckily got much more of a warning about the floods. Fairly gradually, the river broke its banks, and as the water level rose, and those who happened to in low lying areas were hit hard. Full on homes and business were underwater and people were boating through what once were streets. The water level rose almost 5 meters higher then usually is. Imagine if the canal suddenly rose 5 meters?! … Ya, crazy! And just as the water had gradually rose, it also gradually subsided. This meant that some people could not return to their homes for over a week, and what they did return to was not a pretty site. As the water was also full of sewage and filth, people’s homes were filthy and destroyed. There was a lot of cleaning up to do!

About a month after the floods, things were starting to finally look up. The rains had stopped and the weather was beautiful. Things were going back into their regular ways, electricity was being fixed, homes were being cleaned and redone. Life was looking good. Then came Cyclone Yasi.

Cyclone Yasi was meant to hit everywhere in Queensland that had not been effected by the floods…Just in case they thought they were going to get off free. Homes and hospitals were evacuated and people were living in safe evacuation centers, waiting for what was expected to be the biggest cyclone to ever hit Australia. It;s worse damage was expected to hit Cairns. All of Australia was nervous. We were all going to bed that night, not knowing what was going to left of North Queensland. Thankfully, the next morning was a relief. The cyclone went from what expected to be a level 5, only ended up being a level 2, causing much less damage than expected. It also hit the hardest in a town called Tully, not in Cairns. As Tully is much smaller then Cairns, this is definitely good news!

Poor, poor Queenslanders. It has been quite a crazy year…and its only February!!

As for me, although no natural disaster personal stories to report, a ton has happened. For a month I lived in a really wicked house in Brisbane with an Australian roommate named Bianca and her super cute dog Boss. It was an amazing house, and Bianca was a super fun roommate. We were a 10 minute walk from my work, and a 2 minute walk to everything else. We had always kept our windows open which meant we had geckos EVERYWHERE! At first, it was really weird to find geckos all over the place…but once I got used to them they were actually really cool. And they make really crazy noises! Youtube it.  My favorite day in this place was Australia day, where Bianca got a blow up pool and invited a bunch of her friends over, so we had a BBQ and sat in the pool all day long Listening to Triple J (a local radio station)’s top 100 songs of the year. This, apparently is true Australian way to celebrate their Birthday! Cool.

There was a job opening at the Peterpans in Surfers Paradise, so about 2 weeks ago, I moved here! I figured, if I am in Australia I may as well live by the beach!! The job is going great. I spend most of my days working alone, which means I have a lot of autonomy and responsibility. It is really cool! I spent a week and a half living on my friend Lindsay’s couch. It was really fun staying there and hanging out all the time. It was a slice of home brought down under. Just yesterday I moved into the GREATEST apartment ever. It is super new, nice, clean and modern. I am living with an Australian girl from work named Eloise who is super cool. Best of all, out my bedroom window, I have a great view of the beach and out my front door I can literally roll to the bars. How much better can it get?!

The Real Australia

First of all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!

Sorry again for such a late post, but here is my story from my Christmas adventure:

My fabulous friend Phil: an Englishman I met when I was in Newcastle, has spent this past 7 weeks working on a farm doing program called WWOOFing (willing workers on organic farms) where he works for a few hours a day for his accommodation and food. The family he is wwoofing with graciously invited me to come spend Christmas with them and their friends! So Friday afternoon, after my first full work week, I made my way to their friend’s home right outside Nimbin. When I finally arrived, after a 5 hour bus ride to Lismore and a 40 minute drive to their home, I knew this weekend was going to be a cool experience; The family lived in a cute, cottage-like home right in the middle of the rainforest. The family was not the only creatures inhabiting their land, they where sharing it with two diamond pythons who live on the roof, some wallabies (kind of like mini kangaroos) who hang around, and, in true Australian style, some of the worlds most poisonous spiders.

Phil, Josh (one of the kids of the family Phil works for who is really cool!) and I stayed in a cabin that was not attached to house, but was a muddy up hill walk to get too. Because of the torrential rain that was happening all weekend, the walk was pretty much a slip and slide. I was lucky to have borrowed a pair of gumboots (New Zealand word for rain boots!). The weekend was filled with delicious food, great company and some fun adventures.

On my second day there, we drove into the town of Nimbin; known as the Amsterdam of Australia (if you catch my drift…). The town is only a couple blocks long, smack in the middle of nowhere. It is surrounded by mountains and fields, and filled with dread locks and hippies. Our drive there was quite an journey. The car’s battery was perma-dead, and had been that way for quite a while…Issue? Not for these practical people! Solution: We had to push the car down a hill, work some magic to spark the ignition and VOILA! Battery. Ya…I was pretty impressed.

Anyways, we got back from Nimbin right on time for a glorious Christmas dinner spread: Roast lamb, many different salads, potatoes, bread, tons of beer and wine…YUM!! We spend the night with the family: the adults where friendly, warm and hospitable and their kids where so outgoing and adorable. I really felt like part of the family and it was great to be in a home again for a bit.

That Sunday night, I headed back to Brisbane, to my real world (if you can really call this the real world…). So far, work has been going really well and starting on Saturday my training will be over and I will be a travel agent! Woohoo!! So, if YOU are looking to book anything throughout Australia, you know who to call…

my vacation from my vacation

It has been so long since I have sent you all some love from down under, and I know you are probably all missing me, so don’t worry… this one is extra long…

In Brisbane, the day after I went to the Ashes, I decided that before I start having too much fun to look for work, I should look for a job. I woke up early in the morning, printed myself 30 resumes and handed them out everywhere: retail stores, cafes, restaurants and travel agencies. What a success it was!! By the next afternoon I had received a call back from 3 places, 2 coffee shops and as a TRAVEL AGENT at a backpacker’s travel agency called Peterpans. So, needless to say, I chose Peterpans. I could not have wished for a better opportunity: I will be training in Brisbane but working in Surfer’s Paradise, and trip packages to backpackers! Pretty much a dream of a job! The training is not going to start until the 20^th of December, so Peterpans put me on a trip to Rainbow beach to go for a 3 day camping trip to Fraser Island, all expenses paid for! This is one of the most popular trips that the company sells, so they figured it would be beneficial give me a hands learning experiencing of what I will be selling. Yeah Baby!!

Before heading up to Rainbow beach, I had a few days to waste, so I spend them at the Nomads resort hostel in Noosa Head. Another beautiful place! The hostel had a really nice, tropical pool, which we played in on a rainy day. It had it’s own bar which was a pretty popular place for both backpackers and locals, and it was only a quick walk to the beach, the shops, and a nice national park. PS. I have recently grown accustomed to doing everything barefoot and I absolutely love it! For the past 3 weeks, no matter where I am going, whether it be the 20 min walk to the beach or going grocery shopping, I do it all shoe-free. You all should try it, who knew freedom of the feet could feel so good!

Anyways… I stayed in a fun-filled 16 bed dorm with a group of Australian girls who where taking a vacation from their home in Melbourne, a group of Americans who working for the hostel, an Israeli who I made latkes with for Hannukah. Our door was always open and we all had tons of fun for the 4 days I was there.

Next, I headed up to Rainbow beach: a crappy little town whose sole reason for its existence is due to its proximity to Fraser Island. Although it does have a really beautiful beach, I guess most of Australia’s east coast does, so this place hardly gets much recognition. When I first arrived I was as sick as a dog, so the two nights I spend here I was in bed by 9pm. I couldn’t have planned a better place to get sick because the hostel is really calm as everyone prepares to wake up early for their Fraser Island Adventures.

Finally, Monday morning I woke up at 6 am, sore throat-free (wahoo!) and headed off to Fraser Island. The only means of getting around on this Island is by 4WD and if you were 21 or older and had a license to drive a manual you where able to drive. Of course, my sub-par driving skills prevented me from being able to drive, but I sat in the front most of the time, so it was almost like I was driving and I still felt bad-ass. This Island is the world’s largest sand island. It is a world heritage site, and with reason! It is such a beautiful place. In the three days we where these, we visited 3 fresh water lakes, each which seemed to had magically appeared in the middle of nowhere… like a mirage. One of them, Lake Mackenzie was maybe one of the nicest lakes I had ever seen. The water was so blue and clear! It was amazing. I spend 2 nights and 3 days camping on this Island and it was tons of fun. I was in a group of 10 others, known as group Hawesome. We cooked, cleaned, camped and partied together. It really was an amazing experience.

I am now in Mooloolaba (ya, I know, crazy name!), where there is a torrential downpour and a thunder storm louder then I have ever heard in my life. The metal roof right next door to my hostel got hit by lightening. Eep! It was the loudest and scariest thing ever. I came here in hopes to take up 4 more days of surfing before I head inland to Brisbane to train for my NEW JOB! 

Love and miss you all!