A Korean-Style Pedicure or Fish Food?

Just last weekend some friends from church invited us to join them to go see "Doctor Fish" after church. I was incredibly skeptical as soon as I heard what "Doctor Fish" is - but, why not give it a try!

So, here it is. "Doctor Fish" sits on the 8th floor of a building in Sinchon (a busy area of Seoul). When you walk in, you take off your shoes (typical Asian custom) and step up on an elevated wooden floor. In the middle of "Doctor Fish" you find kind of a wading pool, full of little fish. Our friends had beat us there, so when we walked in they were all sitting around the pool, enjoying the fish. You can get a package deal that includes a drink (coffee, smoothie, etc), dessert, fish, and aromatherapy.

Are you getting the picture? You sit down alongside this wading pool and put your feet IN for the fish to enjoy! They surround your feet and nibble to their little heart's content! You can take a break to enjoy a snack and then go for Round 2! Afterwards, you sit at a row of wooden sinks built into the floor along the windows and enjoy an aromatherapy foot bath to complete the experience!

I must say, the first 10 minutes my feet were in the water I could not seem to unclinch my toes! It doesn't hurt, but it sure feels funny to have fish nibbling, supposedly enjoying all the dead skin off your feet!

So, anyone want to come to Seoul and enjoy "Doctor Fish" with us? It'll be our treat! :)

Anybody out there?

For most people, it's "that time of year." It's the end of the school year, time for graduation, and time for summer vacation! Unfortunately, we are not on that same schedule. For us, we are smack in the middle of the semester - looking forward to JULY when the semester comes to a close! But I'm sure that's why we aren't hearing from any of our loyal readers! :)

Here are a few videos from last month I finally got uploaded. Snickers has doubled her weight since the end of March, and even from these videos I can see some growth. She's up to 5.5 kilos now, doing very well w/the house training, and a lot of fun to have around.

Pray for us - we're praying about what to do as of August. There are some other options we are looking into here . . . we'll keep you posted.

Working for the Man

Hey folks, betcha didn't expect me to post again so soon did you? Ahaha, yokes on you, Yohan.

I wanted to show you some pics from my school so you could get a taste of where I work. Unfortunately, they recently started a bit of a renovation project at my school so there is scaffolding all around the main part of the building. My school is about a 35 minute walk from school. Last fall when we first got here, the weather was nice enough that we could walk to school. As the weather got cooler, and as we learned how to read Korean and get on buses that actually went where we wanted them to go, we stopped walking. The weather is warming up again, and I'm afraid that soon it will be too warm to walk, hahaha, so we'll keep riding the bus. (Who wants to smell like sweat at work all day?) Ok, so I'm lazy.

Anyway, my school (like all other schools in Korea) is surrounded by high-rise apartment complexes and neighborhoods. The area used to be a bit wealthier than it is now, which meant the kids were well educated. I guess the wealth is declining now, but the kids are still pretty well educated. My office is on the third floor of the building right next to the English Classroom. Actually, my office is the end of the hallway, but they built a wall to separate us from the common area. The building is four stories and our room is on the third floor all the way at the left end (if you're looking at the picture). The classroom is nothing special, except for the painting on the walls. That looks really cool.

Here are some pics of Sports Day this past weekend. I helped out with a gunney sack race where the kids would hop to a plate full of candy and grab a piece with their mouth out of a pile of milk powder.

This year, I have the opportunity to teach 29 classes each week. 20 classes for 4th-6th grade during the school day. YuJin is my co-teacher for each of those classes. 6 classes for advanced students after school. I also get to teach 3 classes every Thursday to students who are learning Korean as their second language. Those classes are the biggest blessing as well as the biggest challenge. The students in those classes range from excellent English ability to absolutely no English ability. In total, I stand in front of nearly 450 different students each week. It can be a challenge, but it can be an encouragement, too.

Apologies and Promises

Wow, I can't believe it's been more than two weeks since our last post. I have to apologize for that. It's my fault. At first, I was really good about doing this regularly, but lately (the last three months or so) I've dropped the ball big time. Why? you ask. Some friends of ours have recently noted that life just isn't as exciting right now. Maybe it's because we're just coming off of winter, or because we're looking forward to spring and summer, or maybe just because there aren't many changes in our lives right now to tell you about. Whatever the reason, I'm sorry. I'll try to do better.

Anyhow, enough of the sad stuff, let's get on with life.

As I was thinking about my Advanced Class that I teach in the afternoon, I wanted to plan a semester that encourages the students to use English in everyday language. The best way to do that is it teach them language that they'll actually use. It's going pretty well. Last week I showed them a video in class, a sitcom, which was about being cool. "Cool" to them is a weather term. So I had to explain the concept to the class that "cool" is being popular, likable, friendly, and so on. They caught on pretty fast. I was surprised. :)

This past Monday, we enjoyed Water Day, which is (aside from an opportunity to goof off outside of class) an opportunity to use English while engaging in fun activities like soaking each other to the bone for no apparent reason. They LOVED it, even though they didn't play by the rules most of the time. I was a little discouraged afterward because it seemed like they weren't understanding the words that were coming out of my mouth. As I was picking up water balloon trash and cleaning out the buckets that we used, one of the kids that pays attention the least (or so I thought) walked up to me and said "Thanks, Mr. Dyck, that was cool!"

Spring has arrived!

I loved living on the tropical island of Guam, and I think I speak for both Cory and I when I say we both miss many things about it (friends, students, his bike, my mustang) - but I am certainly enjoying the changing seasons here! Although we both froze through the late fall and winter, the spring weather is upon us and it is beautiful!

Cory and I both are finished our dental work (hallelujah) and are well on our way to totally paying off my college loans (another hallelujah)! Our school schedules are both pretty busy, and we are enjoying Snickers - who is growing like crazy! We regret that we don't get to talk to our families as much as we'd like - but we also trust they check our blog (hint, hint) and know how much we care about and miss them from over here!

Guam Friends

Within the past 3 weeks we have been so blessed to see some old friends from Guam.

To our surprise one of Jen's students, Bella, and her family came to Ilsan during Guam's Spring Break. The family is from this area and had a hand in helping us get here. They showed up at Jen's school to surprise her, and brought 2 large boxes with them packed by some of our Guam friends. It was like Christmas for her! It was wonderful to spend time with this family while they were here, and they plan to be be back during the summer break - so we should get to spend more time with them soon!

We were also refreshed to have our friend Nate come stay with us this past week. He has been in Guam for 5 years now and is moving back to Canada. On his way he stopped in Korea to see several friends and will spend some time in New Zealand before flying back to the other side of the world. We were so thankful to see him!

Snickers

I just wanted to post a few pics of our growing puppy! In two weeks she went from 1.9 to 2.7 kg! She has been a lot of fun, and a huge blessing (except for when she wakes me up early on Saturday mornings)!

A day at the park

Her favorite toy . . . the stick from the garden.

Here's a pic of her first bath - in the kitchen sink!