In the name of money, and adventure funding, I have started working at a marketing research agency. While I have a degree that would almost allow me to design the studies, I am but a cold calling survey giving annoyance. I call people from all over Australia, interrupt their dinners or children's bath times, and ask them if they would like to talk about their newspaper readership, their opinions of local roads, use of LPG gas, and most fun of all their incomes before tax.... But really I can't imagine doing this anywhere else. I have really only been yelled at once and am most often greeted with a "sorry darling" or "not right now sweetheart" (which is the best when I know im calling farmers in the outback). And a surprising number of people actually do want to talk to me, especially when I inform them it is in the name of research. Most often they want to play the guessing game of where I'm from. The winning guesses have been Canadian and Irish (?). I have come across some pretty interesting, silly and just plain illogical people....
For example:
This gentlemen displayed an extreme passion for roads
"I will stand at parliament if they decide to privatize the roads system!"
"Very well, and lastly can I just ask you how old you are?"
"I'll be 80 on Sunday"
or
"Why aren't people reasonable! It's not the roads but that there are so many cars on the road and people driving alone. We need to get back to the metro projects"
10 min later
"And how often are you a passenger on a bus?"
"Oh never! I never use public transports!"
and sometimes angry
"I'm busy at the moment but what's your number and I'll ring you back?"
"No worries just let me know what time is most convienent and I'll give you a call then"
"THAT'S RIGHT YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE CALLING YOU AT ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT AND ANNOYING YOU EITHER"
Sometimes you just gotta hang up and move on.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
playing in the land down under
Wow it has been awhile since I have even thought about writing on here but now that I am settled in Perth, and have an inexpensive internet connection, I think it is time to start sharing stories about our adventures in Australia. The whole tale seems overwhelming to tell all at once so I'll go little by little.
The first couple of days in Sydney were a whirlwind. We were disoriented from the huge time change and painfully long flight, but excited to explore the famous city. We walked and walked and walked all day until the only thing left was to crash into bed at the hostel. Oh the hostel. While Sydney was our first taste of Australia, the Jolly Swagman was our first taste of hostel life. Located in the King's Cross (which any guidebook will tell you is the center of Sydney's backpacker culture, full of cheap accommodations, camper vans for sale, lively bars and seedy gentleman's clubs), the Swagman was a culture shock of its own. The first night of our delirious jet lagged sleep was disturbed when a french man started banging on our door trying to get the attention of our German roommate. At 4am. Late night shenanigans seemed to be the norm and we soon were accustomed to hearing all the international folks coming in late as the pubs closed. We even joined sometimes.
The opera house and harbour bridge were as picture perfect as one would imagine. Both sights hit you in the face with the fact that you were in fact ACTUALLY in Australia. One afternoon, we ventured to the Sydney Aquarium and wildlife park and were introduced to all the sneaky, venomous things that could kill you. One of the sections was actually called "The Venom Zone". Sort of terrifying. Luckily though most Australians seem to still be alive and not suffering from constant spider or snake bites, so I try not to think about it. The trip to the wildlife park ended with kangaroos and koalas which almost made up for all the venom.
The first couple of days in Sydney were a whirlwind. We were disoriented from the huge time change and painfully long flight, but excited to explore the famous city. We walked and walked and walked all day until the only thing left was to crash into bed at the hostel. Oh the hostel. While Sydney was our first taste of Australia, the Jolly Swagman was our first taste of hostel life. Located in the King's Cross (which any guidebook will tell you is the center of Sydney's backpacker culture, full of cheap accommodations, camper vans for sale, lively bars and seedy gentleman's clubs), the Swagman was a culture shock of its own. The first night of our delirious jet lagged sleep was disturbed when a french man started banging on our door trying to get the attention of our German roommate. At 4am. Late night shenanigans seemed to be the norm and we soon were accustomed to hearing all the international folks coming in late as the pubs closed. We even joined sometimes.
The opera house and harbour bridge were as picture perfect as one would imagine. Both sights hit you in the face with the fact that you were in fact ACTUALLY in Australia. One afternoon, we ventured to the Sydney Aquarium and wildlife park and were introduced to all the sneaky, venomous things that could kill you. One of the sections was actually called "The Venom Zone". Sort of terrifying. Luckily though most Australians seem to still be alive and not suffering from constant spider or snake bites, so I try not to think about it. The trip to the wildlife park ended with kangaroos and koalas which almost made up for all the venom.
Friday, February 5, 2010
A Day in the Life
I just got home from a pretty wonderful Friday at school. One of the last three Fridays I will ever spend at HABA actually (huh? really? only 2.5 weeks of school left?) Being in such a good mood caused me to take way too many photos and some pretty silly videos. They represent a fairly typical day.
My day always begins with the inevitable screech of the alarm clock at 8:05 am. I shower. Eat breakfast. Check the internet. And then go back to bed for another 15 min. Around 9:05 I drag myself back up and head out into the freeeeeeezing cold and walk to HABA. When it's not raining/snowing/incredibly windy its a delightful 15 minute walk.
This morning we had what they called the "HABA Bazaar". All the kids brought a bunch of toys, books and clothing to sell on little mats to their classmates. It was soooo much fun to watch how some of them really got into selling their junk, turning into yelling, bartering, ajummas.
After the fun morning (usually a morning filled with 30-60 min classes) I head to Violet class to help serve and eat lunch with them. Most of the time I sit quietly and listen to what I assume are conversations regarding the state of the economy and South Korean politics. Other times I talk about animals and food and make silly faces. Regardless, lunch time is generally relaxing and sort of entertaining (unless it is squid or pressed fish day. Then I'm not such a happy camper) 
When 1:40 rolls around it is time for afternoon English Club classes to begin. English club ranges in age from 5 year olds to 3rd graders. All of us English teachers get to teach each group of kids at least once a week and everyday the schedule is different. On Friday's I teach "Cooking in English" to the 5 year olds. Its always sticky and usually fun. Today we made "giant sandwiches".
We put ham, cucumbers, apples, cheese, tomatoes and mayo on a giant baguette. They actually turned out delicious and a little too big for their tiny mouths. Sally : "This is veeeeery big".
After cooking its time for EC7A, a class full of incredibly bright and energetic 7 year olds. We spend most of the class doing book work but always ended playing board games or singing or dancing. Today Chris decided he wanted to sing me a song. Does anyone recognize it?
Finally, I will leave you with one last video of the 5 year old cooking class working on their recipe coloring sheets. As you can see, I have a lot of conversations with myself. And have NO idea what is really ever going on.
My day always begins with the inevitable screech of the alarm clock at 8:05 am. I shower. Eat breakfast. Check the internet. And then go back to bed for another 15 min. Around 9:05 I drag myself back up and head out into the freeeeeeezing cold and walk to HABA. When it's not raining/snowing/incredibly windy its a delightful 15 minute walk.
This morning we had what they called the "HABA Bazaar". All the kids brought a bunch of toys, books and clothing to sell on little mats to their classmates. It was soooo much fun to watch how some of them really got into selling their junk, turning into yelling, bartering, ajummas.
After the fun morning (usually a morning filled with 30-60 min classes) I head to Violet class to help serve and eat lunch with them. Most of the time I sit quietly and listen to what I assume are conversations regarding the state of the economy and South Korean politics. Other times I talk about animals and food and make silly faces. Regardless, lunch time is generally relaxing and sort of entertaining (unless it is squid or pressed fish day. Then I'm not such a happy camper) 
When 1:40 rolls around it is time for afternoon English Club classes to begin. English club ranges in age from 5 year olds to 3rd graders. All of us English teachers get to teach each group of kids at least once a week and everyday the schedule is different. On Friday's I teach "Cooking in English" to the 5 year olds. Its always sticky and usually fun. Today we made "giant sandwiches".
We put ham, cucumbers, apples, cheese, tomatoes and mayo on a giant baguette. They actually turned out delicious and a little too big for their tiny mouths. Sally : "This is veeeeery big".
After cooking its time for EC7A, a class full of incredibly bright and energetic 7 year olds. We spend most of the class doing book work but always ended playing board games or singing or dancing. Today Chris decided he wanted to sing me a song. Does anyone recognize it? Finally, I will leave you with one last video of the 5 year old cooking class working on their recipe coloring sheets. As you can see, I have a lot of conversations with myself. And have NO idea what is really ever going on.
Monday, January 11, 2010
My body, my town
Every Friday morning at Haba is spent preparing for what we call 'Presentation'. Each English teacher spends the first two hours of school with the same 6 or 7 year old class doing 'Show and Tell'. This show and tell usually consists of teaching the kids a phrase about the monthly topic and then typically a song. Oh yeah, each month we have a different theme. January's is 'My body, My town'. February is 'Friends and shopping'. A few classes are centered on these themes and your presentation is supposed to be related to the theme somehow. At 12:00 sharp Friday the 6 and 7 year olds are marched into the gym and perform, along with their teacher, what they have learned that day for everyone. It is usually very fun and always super cute to see what actually happens when the kids are standing up front with a microphone in their face.
For most of the time that I have been at Haba, I've spent these mornings with schwarz class. This is a very interesting class because it is full of 6 rambunctious boys (who most the time think that they are honestly transformers) and one very sweet girl. While I have a hard time always controlling them and keeping them from harming one another, we also spend a lot of time laughing and having fun. This past Friday we talked about our body parts and how many of each part we have.
For presentation they talked about whatever body part they wanted ( a lot of "I have one head", "I have two arms", and "I have one mouth"), and we all sang the song "I have two arms". I was very proud of their performance. The following video is them practicing the song before we headed out to meet the rest of the school. You can see that most of the kids are doing great but in the right corner Optimus Prime (Antonio) and Megatron (Roy) being a little feisty.
Oh, we also had a 'Sorry, Sorry' dance party.
They dug it.
For most of the time that I have been at Haba, I've spent these mornings with schwarz class. This is a very interesting class because it is full of 6 rambunctious boys (who most the time think that they are honestly transformers) and one very sweet girl. While I have a hard time always controlling them and keeping them from harming one another, we also spend a lot of time laughing and having fun. This past Friday we talked about our body parts and how many of each part we have.
For presentation they talked about whatever body part they wanted ( a lot of "I have one head", "I have two arms", and "I have one mouth"), and we all sang the song "I have two arms". I was very proud of their performance. The following video is them practicing the song before we headed out to meet the rest of the school. You can see that most of the kids are doing great but in the right corner Optimus Prime (Antonio) and Megatron (Roy) being a little feisty. Oh, we also had a 'Sorry, Sorry' dance party.
They dug it.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Paris
Spending the better part of my winter break in Paris was a very interesting experience. Not only was it my first time in Europe, it was my first time traveling alone (our winter breaks only overlapped for Christmas eve and Christmas, so David and I had 1.5 days in Paris together), as well as the first time I had left Asia for the past 7ish months.
My introduction to the 'city of light' was stepping out of the Metro station in Montmartre at 11 pm Christmas eve night to be faced with an overwhelming amount of diversity, grit and no idea where I was. After walking around for awhile, David thankfully found me and led us towards our cute Parisian apartment that I had rented off of craigslist. From there the trip was only to get better.
Christmas day was spent exploring the quintessential Parisian sights, accompanied by a lot of "wows", "are we really here?", giggling, eating and of course "kiss me under the eiffel tower"s. I'm not going to lie that when David left the next day I felt apprehensive about my ability to explore this new and seemingly overwhelming city on my own.
But to my surprise I spent the next three days walking for hours, taking a million pictures and thoroughly enjoying the sights and sounds of this famous city. I even went down into the catacombs alone which was creepy but very very cool. 
I really had a wonderful time and am so thankful that working in Korea has allowed me not only to pay off debt and save money, but has also given me the freedom, and confidence, to step out into other places in the world. I learned that yes I can be a confident, independent traveller, but enjoy having a buddy there to share the experience with much more. 
Once I landed in an icy cold Korea, I was quite happy to hop on the familiar airport bus in Incheon and have it drop me off in front of the grocery store where I have bought food for the last 7 months and walk down the friendly (and clean!) street to my semi-warm apartment. It oddly felt like coming home.
My introduction to the 'city of light' was stepping out of the Metro station in Montmartre at 11 pm Christmas eve night to be faced with an overwhelming amount of diversity, grit and no idea where I was. After walking around for awhile, David thankfully found me and led us towards our cute Parisian apartment that I had rented off of craigslist. From there the trip was only to get better.
Christmas day was spent exploring the quintessential Parisian sights, accompanied by a lot of "wows", "are we really here?", giggling, eating and of course "kiss me under the eiffel tower"s. I'm not going to lie that when David left the next day I felt apprehensive about my ability to explore this new and seemingly overwhelming city on my own.
But to my surprise I spent the next three days walking for hours, taking a million pictures and thoroughly enjoying the sights and sounds of this famous city. I even went down into the catacombs alone which was creepy but very very cool. 
I really had a wonderful time and am so thankful that working in Korea has allowed me not only to pay off debt and save money, but has also given me the freedom, and confidence, to step out into other places in the world. I learned that yes I can be a confident, independent traveller, but enjoy having a buddy there to share the experience with much more. 
Once I landed in an icy cold Korea, I was quite happy to hop on the familiar airport bus in Incheon and have it drop me off in front of the grocery store where I have bought food for the last 7 months and walk down the friendly (and clean!) street to my semi-warm apartment. It oddly felt like coming home.
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