Christie in Korea

I'm Home! Travel pictures coming soon....

Leaving Korea...

Tonight is my last night in Korea. It's been a very memorable and life changing experience living here the past 15 months. I will miss many things about Korea, especially the close friendships, and of course, the food. I'm leaving for the airport in three hours, I should get some sleep. See you back in Canada at the end of the month!

Rainbow Stairs at Yongsan

On Saturday night we met up with Cara and Geoff for dinner. We found this great staircase at Yongsan and had some fun playing around and taking pictures.

I Got Married at Nanta Theatre... but not really

This past Saturday Kenton and I went to the Theatre to see the precussion musical Nanta. They use pots, pans, plates, and knives as musical instruments. Our seats were close to the front, so I was picked along with another foreigner to go up on stage during the performance! They put a hat and Korean style bib on each of us, and we had to sample some soup. At the end, they played the wedding song, had us link arms, and threw rice on us... so.... apparently I got married! Kenton wasn't too happy.... just teasin.

Goodbye Dinners.... for me :(

The staff at work surprised me with a dinner at school on my last day.

Dinner with friends to say goodbye

Saying Goodbye to my Kids :(

My Kindergarten 7 year olds

One of my Grade 1 classes

My Grade 6's. The boys keep wanting to be tall like their teacher.

Last week was a pretty emotional week saying goodbye to all my students. I thought it would be the hardest to say goodbye to the young ones, but then I had some of my grade 3 boys really impress me with some very kind words of appreciation before they went out the door. They stopped, thanked me, and said "goodbye teacher, you are very good and very nice teacher, thank you."

Korean New Year's

House we stayed at in the country

Traditional New Year's breakfast

Kimmy, her cousin, Kenton, and I playing a traditional Korean game called Yutnori

A couple weeks ago Kenton and I went to our Korean friend Kimmy's uncles place in the country for Korean New Year's. We ate traditional meals of rice, vegetables, fish, kimchi, soups, and lots of fresh fruit in between. We also played some traditional games which were a lot of fun, but got pretty competitive! :-)

Introducing My New Nephew, Baby Brayden!

Born February 12th, 8lbs. 15oz. Notice the socks! Go Leafs Go!

My niece Kayley with her new baby brother.

Grandma and Brayden

I would like to introduce my beautiful new baby nephew Brayden! After some serious complications with both the baby and my sister, they are recovering well, and have returned home from the hospital. Thank you for your prayers. I can't wait to meet him!

Katie's Birthday!

Kenton, me, Jillian, Robin, Katie

Saturday night we celebrated our friend Katie's birthday with a nice Thai dinner, then stopped at T.G.I's for a birthday drink!

A Great Saturday Night!

Kevin my Korean father

New teacher Brian and Kenton

Robin, Christie, Jillian

Last night we took our new teacher Brian out to our local Pub, then took him for his first noraebang experience. My "Korean father" Kevin wanted a final picture before I leave to go back to Canada.

Goodbye Dinner for Matt

My boss Miss Lee in the purple.

Jillian, Robin, Matt, Shawn

Last Friday we said goodbye to a very close friend and co-worker Matt. We have been working together for 12 months, and I consider him to be one of my closest friends in Korea. We had a full staff dinner after work at our usual Kalbi restaurant. Two weeks from now, the goodbye dinner will be for me... I can't believe it! We also welcomed a new foreign staff Brian from Washington State.

Dinner at Sophia's

Matt, Sophia, me

Our close friend Sophia from work invited Matt and I over for dinner last week. The three of us have worked together for 12 months, and have become great friends.

Matt's Final Weekend in Korea

Jillian, me, Robin

Robin, Shawn, Matt

Matt, Christie, Crystal (Matt's girlfriend)

Some friends and co-workers spent our last Saturday night with our good friend Matt from work. I have worked with and sat next to Matt for the past 12 months, and will miss him dearly.

War Memorial of Korea

Last Saturday afternoon Jillian, Robin and I toured the War Memorial here in Seoul. Many displays of war relics, weapons, planes and tanks. It's pretty incredible how far South Korea has come in just 50 years since North Korea invaded. N. Korea invaded and controlled the entire peninsula except for the small south east tip, Busan.

Christmas in Australia with my Brother!

I arrived in Australia on Christmas Eve Day, for my 10 day vacation with my brother! Kevin met me at the airport, and I was surprised how overwhelming everything was. I have not left Asia in 13 months, so seeing all the "foreigners", all the height and blonde hair, hearing English but with accents, and then the anticipation of seeing my brother. Once past this, I was ready for our adventure to begin!