Singapore...An English Oasis

After our relaxing time in Tioman, Malaysia, Danny and I spent a three  great days in Singapore. Singapore is the ONLY place in over a year that Danny and I have been that has English as their first official language and it was wonderful... and weird.  It is strange hearing others speak in English and being able to listen in on conversations.  Usually I just tune out all sound because I don't understand it ; )


Singapore is one of the most beautiful cities I have seen in Asia.  It has awesome architecture and just feels like a western oasis in the middle of Asia.  I love living in Asia but sometimes you just really need a break, so if that is you... go to Singapore.  There is great food, beautiful city scenes, the huge ferris wheel called the Singapore Flyer, an awesome night safari and lots of shopping.  Singapore is called a "fine city" not only because it is nice/fine but they love to penalize/fine people.  Everywhere you go in Singapore is beautiful and extremely clean because they give HUGE fines to anyone who breaks the rules.  A sign on the subway made it clear that you can't eat, smoke, or light things on fire in the train... and my absolute favorite was NO DURIAN! (man, that fruit stinks!) You can't even chew gum on the subway!

Singapore is probably most famous for the shopping.  Danny and I usually aren't big shoppers but when we saw the huge Crocs store, we couldn't help ourselves.  We bought 2 pairs each and got a free Crocs heart pillow out of it! (Danny thinks it is the ugliest thing ever but I am currently enjoying it at work ; )  There are malls pretty much wherever you turn in Singapore and they are some of the nicest malls I have ever seen!  At one mall you could even take romantic gondola rides around the mall.

The fanciest mall I have ever been to.

Since Singapore is a mixture of western and Asian culture, you see a little bit of the familiar and a little bit of the unfamiliar wherever you go.  For example, Danny and I were walking around a grocery store oogling at all the great food you can get in Singapore and we saw a aisle with different Pringles flavors in it.  Normal right?  Well sorta... they were Pringles but they were some CRAZY flavors.  Who knew that seaweed, shoftshell crab, and blueberry/hazelnut Pringles were popular?  Danny and I tried the blueberry and hazelnut Pringles and decided that if a blueberry muffin and a crunchy chip had a baby, that is what you would get.  They were delicious!



Mmmm...grilled shrimp Pringles ; )

Danny and I stayed in the "Little India" section of Singapore.  It was full of life, temples, and smells of curry so it made me feel like we were right in India.  People were lighting incense to different Hindu gods at every shop and we saw lots of people buying flowers for their shrines.  All the blaring "Bollywood" music mixed with the flower and curries smells wafting through the air made for a great and lively atmosphere.  I would highly suggest going to Little India.

As usual, one of my favorite parts is trying the local food and Little India didn't dissappoint.  Danny and I chose a random open-air restaurant and decided to just point to the best looking dishes to see what we would get.  I actually don't know what we ate but I think it was the best Indian food I had ever had!  Freshly fried naan bread, califlower curry, and a few other spicy dishes were exactly what we wanted.  Even though we think one of the dishes maybe had some goat in it (which Danny hates with a passion) we walked away happy and full.

If I had to describe Indian culture in two words it would definitely be loud and colorful.  All the shops and buildings are a variety of colors so it was a nice change of pace from the same ol' scenery of Korea.

Colorful buildings were all over Little India.

We walked around downtown and stumbled upon an awesome restuarant street filled with the famous "chili crab" of Singapore and a variety of other genres of food.  In Andong we basically only have Pizza Hut to give us a little variety in food so any chance to have a change, we take it. 

We have especially missed Mexican food so we were estatic to find Muchos.  Right near the river you can find Muchos serving chips, margharitas and Fajitas.  Unfortunately Mexican food is one of the most expensive foods you can buy in Asia, even though in America it is one of the cheapest, but sometimes you just gotta splurge.  It was no El Taco Rey in Colorado Springs but it made me smile and think of home.

Over all, Singapore was a great end to a great vacation! 

Paradise on Tioman Island, Malaysia...oooo, aaahhhh...

 This past summer, Danny and I went to China and practically ran around our entire vacation so our goal this past vacation was to go somewhere where we could do basically nothing... helllllOOO TIOMAN!  Tioman Island off the coast of Malaysia was a paradise just waiting for us to lay on its' beaches, eat it's good food, and sleep, oh yeah.  Danny and I took a taxi, a bus, a train, a subway, a moving sidewalk, a plane, ANOTHER plane, and a shuttle to get to our destination but it was worth it!

Berjaya Resort

The first place we stayed in was called Berjaya Resort.  We considered staying at one of the many cold shower shacks available on the island, but eventually we splurged and were won over by the 4 star resort and breakfast buffet, and oh was it worth it.  We got our own little bungalow room with a small but great view of the ocean.



We came to Tioman in the official "rainy season" but we were optimistic and hopeful that it wouldn't rain the whole time we were there.  Our first day, however, we confronted with a crazy downpour but it didn't dampen our spirits.  We decided to try to be adventurous and take a walk to a "cute little town with lots of stores in it, which is about a 45 minute walk away," said the hotel concierge.  However, 2 hours later, and after a welcome ride in the back of a truck, we finally arrived at the little town to find everything deserted and no "cute" town to be found.  We were not discouraged though, we just learned that Tioman is just a little bit bigger than we expected... and that you can't trust a hotel concierge ; )  Luckily, after that day the weather got better and better and our optimism and prayers for good weather were realized.

Like I said before, our plan for this vacation was to just relax... suntan, eat, snorkel, and a whole lotta nothing.  Like usual, on vacation, the eating part is one of my favorites and boy did we eat!  At the Berjaya resort we got to enjoy an AMAZING breakfast buffet every morning full of fried eggs, pastries, fresh fruit and coffee!  Since Malaysia is mostly Muslim and they don't eat pork, the only thing we missed out on was bacon and sausage : (  Breakfast in Korea is full of kimchi, rice, and tofu soup so western style breakfast was a great change... and probably made us gain about 10 lbs. each.

One particularly clear day we decided to venture out and explore the island a bit more.  We found a place that rented scooters for about $5 and after getting used to the scooter and getting used to driving on the left side of the road for the first time, we were OFF!  We rode around town and then parked our bike for a little while to walk around another little Tioman town called ABC.

I love it when you go on a simple walk and realize that you are definitely in paradise when you are seeing scenes like these...

One highlight of this vacation was definitely being able to spend time in the ocean swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving.  Because of the rough weather, the waters were a little choppy, but it didn't dampen our spirits!  Danny and I both agreed that we have never seen as many fish then in Tioman and we even got a few nibbles on our body when the fish got especially excited about us feeding them bread.

Tioman is full of animals in and out of the water.  We got to see all kinds of animals while we were snorkeling.  We saw tons of clown fish, some turtles, parrot fish, sting rays, blowfish, and I even got to see a 6 ft. shark while we were scuba diving!  While walking around the island, you can easily see monkeys digging through the trash, huge lizards walking around and more cats than you can ever imagine.  We probably saw hundreds of stray cats all over the island, but I "adopted" one I called Milo who liked to hang out at our hotel dinning room.  (I think if you are allergic to cats Tioman might be a place to avoid: )

After spending 6 days at the Berjaya Resort, we moved down the island to another resort called Paya Beach Resort.  Unfortunately the only reason I would recommend this resort would be that there is great snorkeling just off the beach, but other than that, it was quite disappointing.  There was not much food available at the resort because they said it was the "rainy season" but we did manage to survive painfully eating ice cream sundaes and french fries for some of our meals.  (Ok, who am I kidding, I love ice cream and fries!)  The rest of our 5 days were again filled with relaxing and LOTS of games of Rummicub.  Of course I have to mention that I, Katy, came out victorious in those games ; )

Tioman was an amazing place to visit and it was just what the doctor ordered.  After 11 days, needless to say we were officially relaxed and finally ready to move on to our next destination...Singapore.  Here are a few more pictures of some of the highlights of our time but stay tuned for tales from the only English speaking country we've been in for over a year...Singapore!  

One rainy day activity that took about 3 hours.

Paya Beach Town.

I married a cool man, that's all I have to say.

Our attempt at fishing!

New Job, New Year!

Danny and I in front of the Andong English Village.

Well it's been a while since the last post due to a lot of changes.  Danny and I have officially been in our new job for about 3 weeks and it's going great!  We are now working at Andong National University at the English Village, which is basically an English camp for kids. (It's funny we leave one camp job for another... is God trying to tell us something?) The first week of teaching was a "learning process" (that is just a nice way to say that all my lessons bombed) but now we are getting the hang of teaching elementary kids.     So I will get into more of what we actually do in the future but I just wanted to show you a little bit of our new job.  We work with 5 other Westerners so that is a big change for us... Danny and I are constantly saying that it is weird that we actually TALK at work (being that we are now not the only English speaking people in our school anymore).

Danny and Chris modeling their khaki pants.

We work with one American woman, Sue, one Austrailian guy, Gareth, one Irish guy, Cathal, and one English guy, Chris.  Needless to say it is an international office.  I'm hoping that all the kids coming to the English Village will walk away with a mixed American/British/Irish/Austrailian accent... that would be awesome ; ) It seems we are already fitting in as Danny is already dressing like one of our coworkers, Chris.

Apparently the guys aren't camera shy.

I'm sure that there will be a fill of poop jokes and farting going on since I will now be working with 4 men (especially because of Danny ; ) but hopefully it will be a fun filled year!  Stay tuned for a long overdue update of our Malaysia/Singapore vacation.

Funny Tales from the Man Formerly Known as "Danielle Teacher"

We know it's been a while since we last posted.  Sorry, Katy and I have been busy moving across town to a new apartment and a new job, which officially begins tomorrow.

As we were eating dinner together this evening we were reminiscing of the many experiences from this past year of teaching and as I recalled this particular memory I couldn't help but laugh again.
So I thought I would share it with you...

A few months ago as I was teaching a lesson to a class of freshman, I had just finished presenting the main points of the day and had given them a dialog to practice.  In this particular class of rambunctious boys whenever I gave them some sort of self-guided work I knew that I would need to keep a close eye on them to keep them on task.  I was feeling a little goofy that day though and had been joking around with a couple of students in the front row, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that some boys were passing a white bottle of lotion around to each other and doing weird things like dipping their pens in it and wiping it on each others arms.  So, I confronted the ring leader holding the bottle.  (A cool kid, who usually found himself a little too cool to pay attention in my class.)  I told him that I was going to take the bottle and tried to convey to him that he could get it back from me after class.  Just before he begrudgingly handed it over to me he poured one last ridiculous amount into his hand and then realized he had taken too much.  He tried to pawn some off on his friends, who didn't want anymore to do with it and then finally offered it to me.

I know that it probably wasn't the most professional thing for a teacher to do to a student,
but I told him that I could use some lotion, but it smelled really bad...and just as I had planned as the kid put his hands up to his nose to smell it, I hit his hands up into his face, which smeared lotion across his nose and mouth and even sent some up into his nostrils.  Without saying a word the student ran out of the classroom toward the bathroom.

Obviously this sent the whole class into pretty loud laughter.  As our laughter started to subside another student from the group said "Danielle Teacher, not lotion...Glue!"  It made me feel bad, but also made me nearly cry with laughter as the student slowly came back, a look of displeasure and defeat on his face.
Needless to say, I called him "Glue-Face" for the rest of the year.

Korean TV at it's Finest!

Danny and I have the extreme pleasure of being able to watch Korean television (just kidding).  One thing that we have come to loathe and love at the same time is Korean commercials.  They have a way of being catchy and ridiculous all at the same time.  Here is an example of Danny's favorite commercial for now trying to help us "improve our flow" in the bathroom.  Watch and learn what we get to see everyday...

I especially like how overjoyed the older man is now that he can pee like the best of them.  Now you know if you ever have this problem, Korea is the place with the solutions!  

Here's another favorite commercial selling a scandalously named cell phone...

And a compilation of a few more that get stuck in our head....

Actually when we were on vacation and we could watch English TV, sadly that was one of the highlights of our time away.  It's funny how a simple English commercial can make you feel at home.  Just another day in Korea! ; )

Toast Sandwiches... Mmmmashisoyo!

Well it is a big day... today, February 15, marks the day that Danny and I have been out of the country for 1 whole year!  It really is crazy to me that it has been a year since we have been in the great land of freedom, Mrka (America as Danny would spell it).  One year ago Danny and I were walking around Seoul feeling overwhelmed with a look of excitement and fear on our faces thinking, "Why did we decide to move to Korea again?"  Here is a picture of us one year ago...

Yes, a lot has happened in a year here in Korea, and yes, we are both better looking that we were then ; ) I can't wait to see what is going to happen in this next year in Krazy Korea so stay tuned.

On this historic date, I want to get on to sharing some more about this land that we live in and one of our favorite parts of Korea... the food.  More specifically, we are going to talk about toast sandwiches.

Danny and I have done our best to discover the delicious food that Korea has to offer but we have found that one of our favorites is one of the simplest foods, toast sandwiches. We have even named our beta fish, Mr. Isaac Toast, after one of Korea's most famous sandwich franchises.  Basically, toast sandwiches are fried egg, almost "breakfast", sandwiches, but once you try them you will see they are so much more.  These pictures were taken at our favorite toast place in Andong where we have gotten to know the "sandwich artists".

First you fry the eggs in the shape of a square... very important.

Then you must toast the bread to that perfect golden, crispy color.

Then the magic of topping the eggs begins.

You can get a variety of toasts from pizza toast to dalkalbi toast to bacon toast to bulgogi toast to the simple but delicious ham toast.

The sauce that tops your toast is key to giving you that perfect flavor... here we have sweet, spicy, and pizza sauce. 

All of these elements come together for a delicious and cheap meal.  Danny and I can usually get 3 or 4 toast sandwiches and a fresh kiwi, strawberry, or pineapple juice for about $9.  I keep telling Danny that our own "Doerksen Toast" place is just what we need to make our millions.  And there you have Toast sandwiches... they are definitely "mashisoyo" (delicious)!