My halfway marker just passed. My contract is officially half over. I know now that I have fully crossed over and accepted the fact that I actually live in Korea because I have started to dream about this place. The school, my apartment, and even some of the people I have met have been in my dreams as of late. It is kind of weird, but I never thought that would happen. I have also developed a small crush on the fathers of one of my kids. It is nothing serious and he is married, so don't get any crazy ideas! He is just really nice and always tries to speak English with me when he sees me, which is rare here. People are so afraid to use the English that they have learned, like we are going to bite them if they mess up!
My favorite holiday has come and gone and I was sorely disappointed with the Koreans! They don't really celebrate Halloween at all! Not that I expected to see everyone wearing costumes, but at least a few people. I saw maybe 2 0r 3 Koreans wearing pitiful excuses for costumes. What a let down. Halloween at school, however, was awesome! The kids looked amazing in their costumes and we even got to do a little trick-or-treating. Apparently, Koreans think that there are songs that go with the Halloween holiday. I couldn't really think of any that we associate with Halloween, so the Korean teachers ended up finding some silly ones online and taught them to the kids so that we could serenade our trick-or-treating victims. The songs were rather annoying after practicing them every day leading up to the big event. Glad that is over! For pictures of the kids in their costumes, check out my facebook photos (there is a link on the left side of this blog).
I started going to a new gym very close to my house on a regular basis with Jenny. One night on my way home, I was approached by a woman with brochures. She told me about a church that was very near my house and she made it sound like the service was in English. I thought that maybe I would give it a try just to see what it was about. I met her that Saturday and had the most crazy experience of my lifetime! We went inside the church (which is just one floor of a building). There were no seats, they sit on the floor for service. They took me into this small room in the back where there was a giant TV. They had me watch several videos about their denomination, which is Church of God (not the one in the U.S). This church believes that God came back to the earth as a Korean man and that he was God the father and his wife is God the mother. Now, God the father has died, but God the mother is still alive and lives right here in Korea. They wanted me to be baptized and have not stopped bugging me since. There are several videos that you can watch about this church and what their beliefs are. I will post links right below here. See for yourself what kind of things they believe. I am not trying to make fun of this group, to each their own, but this is just so extreme! These are the videos that I watched. I could say so much more about this, but it would just be better for you to check these out if you are interested to know more! HAHA!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Mission_Society_Church_of_God
http://english.watv.org/
http://video.nate.com/clip/view?video_seq=205487396
http://www.mgoon.com/view.htm?id=2033831
http://video.nate.com/clip/view?video_seq=205487513
Jenny was forced to leave our school after our boss learned that she had started taking college courses and would be about 10 minutes late to work every day. We hired a new teacher who has yet to be anything but extremely quiet. It is like teachers come and go at these schools and no one really cares all that much. Some of those kids have had at least 10 different teachers if you count all of the ones who have worked there since I started in May. Can you imagine having 5 different teachers for the same class, in a 6 month time frame? That has got to be stressful on the kids, because I know it is super stressful on me!
Speaking of people leaving, my only American coworker will be leaving sometime at the beginning of next month as well. Our boss is not very happy about this, but what can she do really? Actually there are several really horrible things that she could do and he is actually worried that she might try some of them just to keep him there a little longer. Our boss has kind of turned into this very manipulative person who has blinders for anyone's opinions other than her own. I try to avoid her as much as possible and do the job that I was hired to do.
I have visited a couple of new places recently. One place was the Olympic park where the 1988 World Olympics was held. I took a couple of the Korean teachers to a pro basketball game in Seoul. I think they really enjoyed themselves and it was cool to see where the Olympics were once held in Korea. The other place that I visited was in Seoul as well. We went to a huge bookstore in the business district of Seoul where there was a palace and where the G20 Convention was being held. We were on the lookout for Obama! And we found candy mountain (Charlie)! HAHA! There was a parade like procession with costumes and drums.
At school, I decided to do a class pen-pal thing with my morning kids. They have writing class every Tuesday and Thursday with me, so I thought it would be a good idea for that writing to actually mean something to them. Hopefully they will remember these letters that they write to the kids in the U.S.A. forever! I am sure that if I was in the same situation, I would love to look back on my 1st grade class and remember getting letters from kids in Korea. With technology so advanced these days, we have even decided to do some video exchanges. I am actually really excited about this and the kids are as well.
I have been really sick the last week and a half. I ended up going to the doctor after my American meds ran out. It turns out that prescribed medication is sooooooo much better/stronger than the stuff that you can just buy over the counter at the pharmacy. I find this a little strange as well, seeing as how in the U.S. you can usually find something at Walgreens that will cure that common cold in no time without a prescription. This is not the case in Korea. Nonprescription meds here are weak! I am just now starting to feel better, finally!
Until next time!
C'est Moi!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Change is Good?
It is crazy to think that I have been living abroad now for a little over 5 months! Sometimes I feel like it was only yesterday when I arrived from the airport and was starting my first day at the school. Other times, it feels like I have been away from the U.S. for years! I am, however, so thankful to have this opportunity to learn the ins and outs of a totally different culture and all of the people who make it what it is.
Last time that I wrote was on Chuseok (if you don't know what that is, read my previous posting for a full explanation). It is one of the biggest drinking holidays in Korea so I decided to honor it Korean traditional style. That night, I went to a famous (famous in Korea) western bar (western meaning 'U.S.' not 'wild, wild west') called WA-Bar. They have U.S. state flags pinned to the ceiling and a huge self-serve bottle bar in the middle of the room. It was really nice to have some semblance of home! Even though there are many of the same places here that are also in the U.S. (Outback Steakhouse, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, etc.), the atmosphere and food are totally different from that which you would find in there. I guess maybe that makes me a little homesick, just wishing that I could have something normal here but I also like that things are different.
It just so happens that on the night of Chuseok, when I was at WA-Bar with my co-worker, he broke his tooth in half and needed to visit the dentist office that week. I figured that I would go at the same time and have my teeth checked as well. I scheduled my appointment for a check-up and went at the appropriate time. The dentist told me that everything looked good but if I wanted something done that particular day, they could do something called scaling. He said it would be good for me and help prevent or get rid of unwanted bacteria in my mouth. I made sure that it wasn't a million dollar procedure before I agreed. I had never heard of this procedure but it sounded important and the dentist had recommended it (he actually spoke decent English). My first warning should have been the surgical cloth that they placed over my eyes and nose with only a small hole for my mouth. The assistant took a huge hooked needle and basically scraped away the top 5 layers of my gums! It was seriously sooooooo painful! I spit up so much blood that morning and had blood crusted between my teeth that I couldn't get out for the majority of the day. My gums were sore as well. I think next time I will ask a few more questions about what the procedure actually entails. I learned my lesson. At least I have clean gums now!
I notice so many little things that I miss about home, that no one can really understand until they experience it for themselves. The whole language barrier thing makes any situation so much more complicated than it should be. At the pharmacy, try explaining that you want a bottle of Ibuprofen. Well, apparently they don't have that specific type of medicine that you could buy almost anywhere in the U.S. including crummy gas stations. The smallest bottle size of a similar drug is 1000 tablets. It is also 4 times as much as what you would pay in the U.S. When you get home with your huge bottle of overpriced pills, that you are only supposed to take one of after every meal, you realize that these pills are weak and have no effect whatsoever! Awesome! This is just one type of scenario that could be possible. Luckily, I had a Korean friend with me to translate all of this and just got a sample of this medication. If I would have purchased a whole bottle, I would have been rather perturbed.
At school, there are similar situations that just make you want to scream. Sometimes the Korean teachers forget that we can't understand Korean and they fail to tell us some things that may be fairly important. For example, that there is a field trip coming up or that we changed classes for the day, or that we got a new student in one of our classes. I realize that we are all human and that we all make mistakes, but it happens more times this way than it should! Again with the whole language barrier thing.
Last month, we said goodbye to one of our Korean teachers and hello to her replacement. I found out that I got dragged into a court case between a former teacher and my current boss. I learned that Korean mosquitoes are brutal and find sneaky ways into my apartment even when the weather is cold and they should all be dead or eggs. I woke up one morning with pink marks all over my right arm. I saw that there was a small hole in my window screen that I fixed immediately. Luckily, I haven't had any problems with those indestructible little guys since. Another thing that happened last month was that the cabbage harvest in Korea didn't go well at all. Korea relies on cabbage to make their ever-so-famous kimchi, which is served with almost every meal. Because there was so much rain over the summer months, there is now a very small supply of cabbage. Koreans name the kimchi that is made from this small supply "golden kimchi."
This month, I had a dream about my hair being short and cut a certain way, so I decided that I liked it enough to actually try it. I cut my hair the shortest it has ever been in my entire life and I actually like it! I have dropped some weight and can now fit into the "skinny" jeans that I brought with my to Korea. I decided to join a different gym, closer to my house so that I don't have to worry about showering there with all of the old women staring at me. This gym actually has several foreigners and most of the trainers speak English. There are also fewer older people; I think because the new place doesn't have a pool. Anyway, I am excited about it.
We have been on 2 more field trips since I last posted. The first was to the Anyang Childrens' Library followed by a walk to an awesome park where we ate lunch. The second was to a magic show designed especially for the kids. The magic show was so cute and I think the kids really enjoyed it. The male magician was very funny and had great facial expressions that the kids, and me, found very entertaining! There are several new pictures posted on facebook. Check them out by clicking on the link in the upper left corner of my blog, just above my photo.
Goodbye for now!
Last time that I wrote was on Chuseok (if you don't know what that is, read my previous posting for a full explanation). It is one of the biggest drinking holidays in Korea so I decided to honor it Korean traditional style. That night, I went to a famous (famous in Korea) western bar (western meaning 'U.S.' not 'wild, wild west') called WA-Bar. They have U.S. state flags pinned to the ceiling and a huge self-serve bottle bar in the middle of the room. It was really nice to have some semblance of home! Even though there are many of the same places here that are also in the U.S. (Outback Steakhouse, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, etc.), the atmosphere and food are totally different from that which you would find in there. I guess maybe that makes me a little homesick, just wishing that I could have something normal here but I also like that things are different.
It just so happens that on the night of Chuseok, when I was at WA-Bar with my co-worker, he broke his tooth in half and needed to visit the dentist office that week. I figured that I would go at the same time and have my teeth checked as well. I scheduled my appointment for a check-up and went at the appropriate time. The dentist told me that everything looked good but if I wanted something done that particular day, they could do something called scaling. He said it would be good for me and help prevent or get rid of unwanted bacteria in my mouth. I made sure that it wasn't a million dollar procedure before I agreed. I had never heard of this procedure but it sounded important and the dentist had recommended it (he actually spoke decent English). My first warning should have been the surgical cloth that they placed over my eyes and nose with only a small hole for my mouth. The assistant took a huge hooked needle and basically scraped away the top 5 layers of my gums! It was seriously sooooooo painful! I spit up so much blood that morning and had blood crusted between my teeth that I couldn't get out for the majority of the day. My gums were sore as well. I think next time I will ask a few more questions about what the procedure actually entails. I learned my lesson. At least I have clean gums now!
I notice so many little things that I miss about home, that no one can really understand until they experience it for themselves. The whole language barrier thing makes any situation so much more complicated than it should be. At the pharmacy, try explaining that you want a bottle of Ibuprofen. Well, apparently they don't have that specific type of medicine that you could buy almost anywhere in the U.S. including crummy gas stations. The smallest bottle size of a similar drug is 1000 tablets. It is also 4 times as much as what you would pay in the U.S. When you get home with your huge bottle of overpriced pills, that you are only supposed to take one of after every meal, you realize that these pills are weak and have no effect whatsoever! Awesome! This is just one type of scenario that could be possible. Luckily, I had a Korean friend with me to translate all of this and just got a sample of this medication. If I would have purchased a whole bottle, I would have been rather perturbed.
At school, there are similar situations that just make you want to scream. Sometimes the Korean teachers forget that we can't understand Korean and they fail to tell us some things that may be fairly important. For example, that there is a field trip coming up or that we changed classes for the day, or that we got a new student in one of our classes. I realize that we are all human and that we all make mistakes, but it happens more times this way than it should! Again with the whole language barrier thing.
Last month, we said goodbye to one of our Korean teachers and hello to her replacement. I found out that I got dragged into a court case between a former teacher and my current boss. I learned that Korean mosquitoes are brutal and find sneaky ways into my apartment even when the weather is cold and they should all be dead or eggs. I woke up one morning with pink marks all over my right arm. I saw that there was a small hole in my window screen that I fixed immediately. Luckily, I haven't had any problems with those indestructible little guys since. Another thing that happened last month was that the cabbage harvest in Korea didn't go well at all. Korea relies on cabbage to make their ever-so-famous kimchi, which is served with almost every meal. Because there was so much rain over the summer months, there is now a very small supply of cabbage. Koreans name the kimchi that is made from this small supply "golden kimchi."
This month, I had a dream about my hair being short and cut a certain way, so I decided that I liked it enough to actually try it. I cut my hair the shortest it has ever been in my entire life and I actually like it! I have dropped some weight and can now fit into the "skinny" jeans that I brought with my to Korea. I decided to join a different gym, closer to my house so that I don't have to worry about showering there with all of the old women staring at me. This gym actually has several foreigners and most of the trainers speak English. There are also fewer older people; I think because the new place doesn't have a pool. Anyway, I am excited about it.
We have been on 2 more field trips since I last posted. The first was to the Anyang Childrens' Library followed by a walk to an awesome park where we ate lunch. The second was to a magic show designed especially for the kids. The magic show was so cute and I think the kids really enjoyed it. The male magician was very funny and had great facial expressions that the kids, and me, found very entertaining! There are several new pictures posted on facebook. Check them out by clicking on the link in the upper left corner of my blog, just above my photo.
Goodbye for now!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Happy Chuseok!
Happy Chuseok everyone!! Today is officially the Korean Thanksgiving holiday, where the people travel back to their childhood homes to celebrate by eating lots of traditional Korean food. It is a huge family event where gifts are exchanged and people sit around the table eating and drinking the day away. The grocery stores have been crazy busy and full of gift sets. Now, these things are huge for this holiday I guess. They can include hair care products, cooking products, alcoholic beverage sets, and I even saw one that had like 12 containers of Spam in it. I think that maybe Koreans like Spam more than Americans do. During the holiday, they wear their traditional Korean clothing which is called Hanbok. If you check out my pictures on facebook, you can see that the kids dressed up in these clothes for one day at school. It was so cute with them all running around looking so grown up! The foreigners don't really have a lot to do for this event especially because we don't really have family here. I think most probably just relax or hang out with each other. Many places are closed for this holiday, so people can't really go anywhere.
Ok back to me...
One thing that I am proud of is that I made my very own Korean style pancakes without any help. I mean I asked how to make them, but I had already pretty much figured it out and just wanted to make sure that I was correct and wasn't leaving anything out. These pancakes are not really the typical pancakes that we would think of. They are a combination of eggs, flour, milk, usually scallions, and any other vegetable that you want to throw in there. Kind of like an omelette with a bread-like taste as well. It is very hard to explain the taste but I am sure that you can imagine from the ingredients. They were very tasty for my first try and the Korean teachers at school even said that they were really good. The food here is hard to learn how to cook especially since I have no microwave and no oven. There are also not many ready-made foods here (other than Spam...lol).
I am posting some funny pictures on facebook of my room after I did the laundry. Now, this may not seem funny to you now, but when you see them and you can't really see my room at all, you might think it is funny! I waited a couple of weeks between doing laundry this last time and accumulated a rather large amount of garments to wash. I decided that while I was at it, I would go ahead and wash my blankets and sheets as well. All of it ended up being about 3 loads, which is a lot for one person, and I had to hang everything around my room to dry. I think they have dryers in Korea, but they just don't purchase or use them for some reason. So, everyone uses drying racks. I happen to be lucky and have 2, a large one and a medium sized one, which is all I have ever needed up until this last laundry day. All of the clothes pretty much fit on the racks but the blankets and sheets were another story. My place is pretty small, like maybe the size of a dorm room with a bathroom. I felt just like a kid again with all of my blankets hanging around my room. It was like when you are little and you build forts with whatever you can get your hands on; couch cushions, blankets, pillows, pretty much anything. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am somewhat of a neat freak and a little anal about my organizational tactics. I had to leave my place like that for about 3 days because the stuff would just not dry! It almost drove me crazy, especially getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and running into everything!!
At work, we got a new head teacher who is turning out to be pretty decent, but things are changing and some of the ways that we do things are being questioned. We don't find out some details until the very last minute which can be very frustrating. The kids are pretty great though! They are very smart, but don't like to do their homework all of the time. I love working at a private school because I can just tell one of the Korean teachers when a particular child doesn't do his or her homework and that teacher will call the child's parents. I never even have to deal with it really. It is quite nice not to have to hear the whining of the parents and all of the negative things that they have to say as well. When the kids are good, and they complete their homework, we reward them with something we call stickers. These are not really stickers like you would think. It is a homework notebook that has to be filled out and signed by the parents every night. When the child brings their homework and the signature, they get a signature from the teacher and that counts as one sticker. These stickers are like money and once every couple of months, we have what we call a Market Day. How many signatures they have gotten, determines how much money they will be able to spend on Market Day. They can buy things like school supplies, toys, food, etc. and we play a movie. It is basically a free day for the kids. I just had my first Market Day and things went pretty smoothly. The kids played, ate, drank, and watched Toy Story 3 in English! It was actually pretty cool except that I hadn't written Market Day into my lesson plans and therefore had to change them a little.
We also went on another field trip at school as well. I know, I know it sounds like we go on so many field trips which is absolutely true. I think we go on about 2 a month which I guess is not that bad, but there are a few parents who complain that they are paying money for their child to learn English, and we are taking them on too many non-English related field trip. My solution for the complaining parents was for them to not send their child on field trip day and they can have one day of tuition knocked off of their next month's bill. I don't think my boss much liked that idea because she just stared at me when I said it; like I was speaking a foreign language to her or something(which is mostly true)! The most recent field trip was to the Gwacheon National Science Museum. It is definitely a place that I am happy I got to check out while I am here. It is a museum with a mock rocket launch in the courtyard as well as a planetarium. There were dinosaur bones, advanced medical machines, a full sized model airplane that you can actually go inside of, and many other great things. Check my pictures for all that we saw. Here is a link to the website of the museum in English. I advise that you check it out because it is so very cool!
http://www.scientorium.go.kr/en/
Ok back to me...
One thing that I am proud of is that I made my very own Korean style pancakes without any help. I mean I asked how to make them, but I had already pretty much figured it out and just wanted to make sure that I was correct and wasn't leaving anything out. These pancakes are not really the typical pancakes that we would think of. They are a combination of eggs, flour, milk, usually scallions, and any other vegetable that you want to throw in there. Kind of like an omelette with a bread-like taste as well. It is very hard to explain the taste but I am sure that you can imagine from the ingredients. They were very tasty for my first try and the Korean teachers at school even said that they were really good. The food here is hard to learn how to cook especially since I have no microwave and no oven. There are also not many ready-made foods here (other than Spam...lol).
I am posting some funny pictures on facebook of my room after I did the laundry. Now, this may not seem funny to you now, but when you see them and you can't really see my room at all, you might think it is funny! I waited a couple of weeks between doing laundry this last time and accumulated a rather large amount of garments to wash. I decided that while I was at it, I would go ahead and wash my blankets and sheets as well. All of it ended up being about 3 loads, which is a lot for one person, and I had to hang everything around my room to dry. I think they have dryers in Korea, but they just don't purchase or use them for some reason. So, everyone uses drying racks. I happen to be lucky and have 2, a large one and a medium sized one, which is all I have ever needed up until this last laundry day. All of the clothes pretty much fit on the racks but the blankets and sheets were another story. My place is pretty small, like maybe the size of a dorm room with a bathroom. I felt just like a kid again with all of my blankets hanging around my room. It was like when you are little and you build forts with whatever you can get your hands on; couch cushions, blankets, pillows, pretty much anything. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am somewhat of a neat freak and a little anal about my organizational tactics. I had to leave my place like that for about 3 days because the stuff would just not dry! It almost drove me crazy, especially getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and running into everything!!
At work, we got a new head teacher who is turning out to be pretty decent, but things are changing and some of the ways that we do things are being questioned. We don't find out some details until the very last minute which can be very frustrating. The kids are pretty great though! They are very smart, but don't like to do their homework all of the time. I love working at a private school because I can just tell one of the Korean teachers when a particular child doesn't do his or her homework and that teacher will call the child's parents. I never even have to deal with it really. It is quite nice not to have to hear the whining of the parents and all of the negative things that they have to say as well. When the kids are good, and they complete their homework, we reward them with something we call stickers. These are not really stickers like you would think. It is a homework notebook that has to be filled out and signed by the parents every night. When the child brings their homework and the signature, they get a signature from the teacher and that counts as one sticker. These stickers are like money and once every couple of months, we have what we call a Market Day. How many signatures they have gotten, determines how much money they will be able to spend on Market Day. They can buy things like school supplies, toys, food, etc. and we play a movie. It is basically a free day for the kids. I just had my first Market Day and things went pretty smoothly. The kids played, ate, drank, and watched Toy Story 3 in English! It was actually pretty cool except that I hadn't written Market Day into my lesson plans and therefore had to change them a little.
We also went on another field trip at school as well. I know, I know it sounds like we go on so many field trips which is absolutely true. I think we go on about 2 a month which I guess is not that bad, but there are a few parents who complain that they are paying money for their child to learn English, and we are taking them on too many non-English related field trip. My solution for the complaining parents was for them to not send their child on field trip day and they can have one day of tuition knocked off of their next month's bill. I don't think my boss much liked that idea because she just stared at me when I said it; like I was speaking a foreign language to her or something(which is mostly true)! The most recent field trip was to the Gwacheon National Science Museum. It is definitely a place that I am happy I got to check out while I am here. It is a museum with a mock rocket launch in the courtyard as well as a planetarium. There were dinosaur bones, advanced medical machines, a full sized model airplane that you can actually go inside of, and many other great things. Check my pictures for all that we saw. Here is a link to the website of the museum in English. I advise that you check it out because it is so very cool!
http://www.scientorium.go.kr/en/
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Ramblings
I keep forgetting to tell the story about the ATM vestibule that I got locked in one night. So I guess now is as good a time as any. When I was on my way back from dinner with Jenny, I needed to stop and get some money from the ATM. When the vestibules are about to close, they start making this really loud siren noise. I think that you get maybe 5-10 minutes when the siren starts. I heard the one at my bank going off and made a mad dash for the door. I got inside, put my card into the machine, started to make my withdrawal, and that is when the siren stopped and spit my card back out. I was so shocked. I tried to stick my card back in multiple times but the machine wouldn't take it. That is when I heard Jenny banging on the door saying that it was locked. I went to the door and tried to get out, but it wouldn't open. She was on the outside and I was inside. I honestly was more upset that the ATM wouldn't give me my money, then I was about being locked in. Why wouldn't those stupid machines just give me the money!? Jenny was freaking out and yelling at me through the glass. Eventually, I picked up the phone at one of the stalls and there was a noise and then the door unlocked. So, if you ever get trapped in one of those things, I think you only have to pick up the phone and it will let you out. Just FYI!
I don't know what the weather back home is like right now, but I do know that I am so happy that the extreme heat is pretty much finished here in Korea for the year. Koreans tend to get a kind of heat rash in the crease of their elbows and as lucky as I am, I got it this summer a few times as well. It is actually really weird. It looks almost like ringworm and takes forever to heal fully, especially because I have to go outside at least once almost every day. When I asked why this rash only pops up in Korea (that I know of), I got several different answers. A couple of people told me that it was the ridiculously humid and hot weather here, while others said that it was the water that we use to take a shower. Some people told me that they thought that it might be a combination of the two things. The water here is generally not good to drink straight out of the sink. It is ok to use for showering and ok for brushing your teeth, just not drinking. I think that there is too much copper or something. Korean mystery #48. LOL!
We actually had a huge storm blow through a couple of days ago that woke me up several times in the middle of the night. The next day, on my walk to school, I noticed that EVERYTHING was out of place. Trees were down everywhere and the whole place was a mess. There were even bricks littering the sidewalk that had literally been ripped from the buildings. My coworkers told me that several people even had many broken windows from the storm. I think I even heard that the military base nearby lost power for almost a week because of the storm.
Anyway, I have had the idea for a few years now that I wanted to get my ears double pierced. I haven't been able to do it, because I have always had volleyball that interfered. Now that I am not playing anymore, and accessories are a big deal here, I thought that it would be the perfect time. I asked a Korean coworker to go with me just in case I had any problems that couldn't be resolved without someone who knew the language. I asked her where the best place was to go, and she took me right near my house. We started walking through the stores and came to a jewelry store fairly quickly. We went inside and asked how much it would cost for 2 piercings. They said $12 but only had gold colored earrings. If I was going to have to wear the same earrings for a couple of weeks, I wanted them to match the rest of my jewelry and be silver in color. Next shop we went into was the same deal, but the third shop brought great promise. I sat down and she prepared me for the piercings. Next thing I know, she is coming at me with the earring in her fingers trying to poke it through my skin!! I jerked away fast and screamed for Jenny to help me. I didn't want her doing it with her bare hands. There is a gun that is quick and mostly painless with very little blood. We ran out of there pretty fast and I asked Jenny if that was normal in Korea. She told me she had never heard of such a thing. She only knew of people using the gun, unless you did it at an actual piercing parlor, but those were professionals. Next we decided to try the underground. In case you don't know what that is, Korea is very well know for the underground shopping areas. In most cities, there is a whole other city, under the city, if that makes sense. Some people shop there, some people use it to get from one place to another quicker than they would above ground, while others just use it to cross a busy street. It is actually quite handy once you get the hang of the layout and you don't get lost! So, back to the story. We went underground and found a place immediately with silver earrings that I liked, and they used a gun for the actual piering. When they were finished, I asked how much and the guy told me $3! I questioned him thinking that maybe he was mistaken but Jenny confirmed that he was correct. WOW!
When we were finished there, we decided to walk around underground and shop a little. We found a little shop with cute jewelry and started to look around. I noticed that the shop keeper was kind of funny looking but couldn't tell where he was from or what his nationality was. He spoke to us and I realized he was Indian. He had his hair dyed BLEACH blonde and it was almost down to his shoulders (I guess that threw me off a little). He spoke English and Korean and told me that because I was a foreigner he would give me a discount on everything I wanted. I only got some earrings, but he threw in some free bracelets. Jenny was upset and asked if she could get the same discount but he told her that it was only a foreigner discount! LOL!!
Speaking of guys who give me free things, I have a landlord who is slightly obsessed with me. I met him one time when I accidentally left my key at school and he kept telling me how beautiful I was and kissing my hand. He speaks very little English but knows a few words and can usually communicate to me what I need to know. Two weeks ago, I locked myself out again and needed to have someone let me in. I guess he was out, because after I called him, he sent a woman with my key to let me in (I want to say that maybe it was his wife). I told her that my hot water control box wasn't even turning on and she told me that she would send someone to look at it the next day. I assumed it would be while I was at work so I was a little shocked when I got a knock on the door the next morning while I was still there. It was the landlord and by some miracle, the box had started working again overnight. He came into my apartment to check it and told me to wait here and that he would be right back. He ran downstairs and next door to a market where he bought fresh grapes and brought them to me. Later that night he saw me come home and took me down to the basement, where he has a tiny little grocery store set up and gave me all kinds of free food. I tried to pay the man but he wouldn't accept and now every time he sees me, he has little gifts for me. He even asked if I had a boyfriend and I told him yes just to keep him from thinking anything. LOL! Now I have to be careful when I leave and get home because if he sees me, it makes me very uncomfortable! UUUHHHGGGG! I hope he doesn't start wanting anything in return for his free gifts! :(
On one of my free weekends, I ventured out with a coworker to the mecca of all electronics. It is near the Yongsan station and has anything and everything you could ever imagine (except an RC converter for an old school TV, which we spent the whole day lookng for). They have new and used of any and every technological gadget that you could possibly even imagine. One thing that I thought was pretty funny was that they were having a sale on this special edition Barbie laptop. You even got a free Barbie purse with the purchase of that particular, bright pink laptop. When we were finished, we ended up going to see Expendables, which was pretty good. I loved seeing all of the old guys get together to make a movie but I thought the story line could have been a little better.
At school, our latest field trip was to the city pool. I was so excited, because usually by this time of the year I have a very nice tan from laying out. This year, that is totally not the case. I barely have any days off and I don't have any place where I can lay out. Koreans hate the sun. Well not really, but they rarely ever let it touch their skin. They even have special umbrellas that are made of some cloth like silk or something, that they use to stay out of the sunlight. Anyway, I got very burned and was not the least bit upset about it. At least I can say I got a little sun while I was here. One really weird thing about the pools here though is that a swim cap is required in order to get into the pool. I guess it is to keep all of the hair out of the water or something.
There has been a little bit of drama at school as of late and like I mentioned before, I have been a little stressed by this drama. Our boss hired a new head Korean teacher who we thought was going to be great, but ended up quitting after only three days. We hired another head teacher who has been with us this past week. She is really nice, but I don't know if she is all that qualified to be the head teacher. She is only 25 years old and the last school she taught at, she was only a grammar teacher who didn't speak any English with the kids. I guess we will see how this one plays out. I will update as soon as I know anything else about her.
That pretty much concludes my journeys for this session. I will be posting several new photos to go along with this, so be sure to check them out. You can follow the links to my photos in the upper lefthand corner of my blog page. Until next time...
I don't know what the weather back home is like right now, but I do know that I am so happy that the extreme heat is pretty much finished here in Korea for the year. Koreans tend to get a kind of heat rash in the crease of their elbows and as lucky as I am, I got it this summer a few times as well. It is actually really weird. It looks almost like ringworm and takes forever to heal fully, especially because I have to go outside at least once almost every day. When I asked why this rash only pops up in Korea (that I know of), I got several different answers. A couple of people told me that it was the ridiculously humid and hot weather here, while others said that it was the water that we use to take a shower. Some people told me that they thought that it might be a combination of the two things. The water here is generally not good to drink straight out of the sink. It is ok to use for showering and ok for brushing your teeth, just not drinking. I think that there is too much copper or something. Korean mystery #48. LOL!
We actually had a huge storm blow through a couple of days ago that woke me up several times in the middle of the night. The next day, on my walk to school, I noticed that EVERYTHING was out of place. Trees were down everywhere and the whole place was a mess. There were even bricks littering the sidewalk that had literally been ripped from the buildings. My coworkers told me that several people even had many broken windows from the storm. I think I even heard that the military base nearby lost power for almost a week because of the storm.
Anyway, I have had the idea for a few years now that I wanted to get my ears double pierced. I haven't been able to do it, because I have always had volleyball that interfered. Now that I am not playing anymore, and accessories are a big deal here, I thought that it would be the perfect time. I asked a Korean coworker to go with me just in case I had any problems that couldn't be resolved without someone who knew the language. I asked her where the best place was to go, and she took me right near my house. We started walking through the stores and came to a jewelry store fairly quickly. We went inside and asked how much it would cost for 2 piercings. They said $12 but only had gold colored earrings. If I was going to have to wear the same earrings for a couple of weeks, I wanted them to match the rest of my jewelry and be silver in color. Next shop we went into was the same deal, but the third shop brought great promise. I sat down and she prepared me for the piercings. Next thing I know, she is coming at me with the earring in her fingers trying to poke it through my skin!! I jerked away fast and screamed for Jenny to help me. I didn't want her doing it with her bare hands. There is a gun that is quick and mostly painless with very little blood. We ran out of there pretty fast and I asked Jenny if that was normal in Korea. She told me she had never heard of such a thing. She only knew of people using the gun, unless you did it at an actual piercing parlor, but those were professionals. Next we decided to try the underground. In case you don't know what that is, Korea is very well know for the underground shopping areas. In most cities, there is a whole other city, under the city, if that makes sense. Some people shop there, some people use it to get from one place to another quicker than they would above ground, while others just use it to cross a busy street. It is actually quite handy once you get the hang of the layout and you don't get lost! So, back to the story. We went underground and found a place immediately with silver earrings that I liked, and they used a gun for the actual piering. When they were finished, I asked how much and the guy told me $3! I questioned him thinking that maybe he was mistaken but Jenny confirmed that he was correct. WOW!
When we were finished there, we decided to walk around underground and shop a little. We found a little shop with cute jewelry and started to look around. I noticed that the shop keeper was kind of funny looking but couldn't tell where he was from or what his nationality was. He spoke to us and I realized he was Indian. He had his hair dyed BLEACH blonde and it was almost down to his shoulders (I guess that threw me off a little). He spoke English and Korean and told me that because I was a foreigner he would give me a discount on everything I wanted. I only got some earrings, but he threw in some free bracelets. Jenny was upset and asked if she could get the same discount but he told her that it was only a foreigner discount! LOL!!
Speaking of guys who give me free things, I have a landlord who is slightly obsessed with me. I met him one time when I accidentally left my key at school and he kept telling me how beautiful I was and kissing my hand. He speaks very little English but knows a few words and can usually communicate to me what I need to know. Two weeks ago, I locked myself out again and needed to have someone let me in. I guess he was out, because after I called him, he sent a woman with my key to let me in (I want to say that maybe it was his wife). I told her that my hot water control box wasn't even turning on and she told me that she would send someone to look at it the next day. I assumed it would be while I was at work so I was a little shocked when I got a knock on the door the next morning while I was still there. It was the landlord and by some miracle, the box had started working again overnight. He came into my apartment to check it and told me to wait here and that he would be right back. He ran downstairs and next door to a market where he bought fresh grapes and brought them to me. Later that night he saw me come home and took me down to the basement, where he has a tiny little grocery store set up and gave me all kinds of free food. I tried to pay the man but he wouldn't accept and now every time he sees me, he has little gifts for me. He even asked if I had a boyfriend and I told him yes just to keep him from thinking anything. LOL! Now I have to be careful when I leave and get home because if he sees me, it makes me very uncomfortable! UUUHHHGGGG! I hope he doesn't start wanting anything in return for his free gifts! :(
On one of my free weekends, I ventured out with a coworker to the mecca of all electronics. It is near the Yongsan station and has anything and everything you could ever imagine (except an RC converter for an old school TV, which we spent the whole day lookng for). They have new and used of any and every technological gadget that you could possibly even imagine. One thing that I thought was pretty funny was that they were having a sale on this special edition Barbie laptop. You even got a free Barbie purse with the purchase of that particular, bright pink laptop. When we were finished, we ended up going to see Expendables, which was pretty good. I loved seeing all of the old guys get together to make a movie but I thought the story line could have been a little better.
At school, our latest field trip was to the city pool. I was so excited, because usually by this time of the year I have a very nice tan from laying out. This year, that is totally not the case. I barely have any days off and I don't have any place where I can lay out. Koreans hate the sun. Well not really, but they rarely ever let it touch their skin. They even have special umbrellas that are made of some cloth like silk or something, that they use to stay out of the sunlight. Anyway, I got very burned and was not the least bit upset about it. At least I can say I got a little sun while I was here. One really weird thing about the pools here though is that a swim cap is required in order to get into the pool. I guess it is to keep all of the hair out of the water or something.
There has been a little bit of drama at school as of late and like I mentioned before, I have been a little stressed by this drama. Our boss hired a new head Korean teacher who we thought was going to be great, but ended up quitting after only three days. We hired another head teacher who has been with us this past week. She is really nice, but I don't know if she is all that qualified to be the head teacher. She is only 25 years old and the last school she taught at, she was only a grammar teacher who didn't speak any English with the kids. I guess we will see how this one plays out. I will update as soon as I know anything else about her.
That pretty much concludes my journeys for this session. I will be posting several new photos to go along with this, so be sure to check them out. You can follow the links to my photos in the upper lefthand corner of my blog page. Until next time...
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
WANTED: New Korean Teacher!
As I write this entry, I am actually so much more comfortable than I have been for all of the others! I actually have a desk that I can sit at now with a great office rolly chair. No more leaning over the short table while sitting on the bright pink couch with no legs! It feels fantastic! What is really impressive though, is that I got them both (the desk and the chair) home at the same time, ALL BY MYSELF! The boxes were rather large but I was able to fit them into a taxi, which, by the way, the taxi driver did not offer to help at all (they don't get tips here), and lug them up the stairs to my apartment. I even put them together all by myself with no problems. I have to say that being the daughter of a contractor sure has its' benefits sometimes! The desk is nothing special, but at least it is so much more convenient to use my laptop now. To make that even better, I found a girl on craigslist who wanted to sell her 4 month old wireless router for cheap because she was about to leave the country. Lucky me! Now, I can move all around the apartment with the computer. I can even type this on my bed if I so choose.
I also recently purchased something else off of craigslist. The only craigslist they have here is based out of Seoul, which luckily, is pretty dang close. There are not many people who post things on there, but the ones who do, generally have the stuff people need. There are really mostly only 2 kinds of Americans/English speakers who live here; the English teachers and the military boys and girls. Pretty much anything that one person living here needs, someone else is trying to get rid of because they are leaving. The other item that I purchased off of craigslist is a dvd player. Now, I have a PS3 that I generally use for dvds, but I recently was at Costco and purchased the newest Harry Potter movie. I know, I know, I am a nerd! The box is slightly different though because part of it is in Korean, which means it was made for this country. I don't know if any of you know this, but apparently dvds are given a special code when they are made. This code only allows them to work in one specific region/area. Also, the playstation has something similar in it as well. Needless to say, the movie didn't work in the PS3, so I had to buy a dvd player that was designed for this area. Again, it was very cheap and works just great. Craigslist is seriously the best thing ever and I can't believe that there is even one in Korea!
I have gotten only a few things in the mail since I have been here, and there haven't been any problems up until this last package. I purchased some clothes from Express online and asked Hector if he would mail them to me along with a couple other odds and ends that I realized I needed. The mailing process for him was supposedly very smooth, but once that rather small box made its' way into the hands of Korea's cutsoms people, the shit hit the fan! Because there were still tags on the items and everything was brand new, they assumed that I was some kind of resale person. They thought I was going to turn around and sell this stuff to the Korean people for dirt cheap. I literally talked with a Korean UPS agent at least 12 different times. The box got into the country on July 24th, but I didn't actually get it until August 6th. They held my package for that long, almost 2 weeks!! They opened it several times and they kept telling me that I had to pay taxes on everything that was in there. They would call me almost every day, giving me a new price and every day it got higher and higher. I am not even going to tell you what I eventually ended up paying for it, but if I hadn't originally invested so much money in the clothes that were in there, I would have just left it with them! Next time I know to have whoever cut off the tags and leave nothing in small boxes or in the original store wrappings. Right around the same time however, I did get a birthday card in the mail from my aunt and uncle that was very cool. It actually said happy birthday in several languages. I thought that it was very fitting and super cute!!
Another thing that I didn't really know about Korea before I got here, is that it rains ALL OF THE TIME! Seriously! I don't think that it has gone more than 2-3 days at a time without rain. I can remember a couple of weeks back where it literally rained for like 6-9 days straight! So I decided that since I live near a large market where the people just throw their old, spoiled unsold food remnants out into the street, and sometimes I have to walk through it, that I wanted some rain boots. The rain actually makes it much worse. It smells worse and there is a muddy mess of rotten veggies in the street. This all sounds really terrible, but the city is really good about picking these up every day! The worst day is generally on Saturday or Sunday because the people throw out more to make room for new product. Anyway, I bought some really cool Crocs rain boots and am a little bummed because I haven't had a chance to wear them yet! I know, I said that it rains all of the time, but leave it to the one time that I actually want it to rain, for it to hold back!
Things at school could be better. The boss fired one of the teachers because there were several complaints from the parents. The extra workload that we all have to take is excruciating, especially on me because I am the only full-time morning kindergarten teacher there now, which means I take up all the extra slack in the schedule. I also am now the only one who has taught one of the specific classes and knows where they are in the books. It is a little stressful for me especially when everyone else is complaining even when their workload hasn't changed! I also now have to do more lesson planning a month in advance for those morning kinder kids. I have to come up with the topics, write and record the dialogue, come up with the songs, and prepare for the phonics. UGGHHHHH!!! Too much! It is taking so long to hire a new teacher and several of us are going with fewer breaks.
Ok! Enough about the downers, I have another installment of "Welcome to Korea!" For those of you who don't know, these are just odd things that happen or don't happen in Korea that you wouldn't necessarily expect.
1. Couples like to dress the same from head to foot. With all of the clothes being so multi-gendered, this is not too complicated to accomplish. It is actually rather disturbing to me to think that if I had a boyfriend here, he could and probably would wear my clothes.
2. Bus drivers are crazy! They don't like to stop at all of the stops. If they see you trying to flag them down, they may chose to stop or not. If you push the stop button on the bus, it may not stop at the one that you had anticipated. You may get off 1 or 2 stops later and have to walk. They also like to yell absurd and evil things if people are not extra fast at getting onto or off of the bus. They like to start driving as soon as you set foot on the bus whether you have found your seat or not and they are not very gentle with the breaks. They slam them as hard as possible and rather frequently!
3. At restaurants, the servers are paid a base pay and don't earn tips at all, which means they don't ever check on you to see if you need anything. You have to yell for them to come over to the table if you ever need more of anything or you got the wrong thing, etc.
4. Many people don't have a lot of furniture in their house/apartment unlike in the States. Several families don't even sleep on beds and most people are accustomed to it if they need to actually sleep on the floor. Space is limited here so there isn't really much room for extra things.
5. Vanilla doesn't exist in Korea except the syrupy kind that you would put in your coffee. I was very upset when I found this out because I wanted to make french toast. I ended up buying the syrup and using it in my mixture. It was surprisingly rather tasty.
6. There is almost ALWAYS a coffee shop within walking distance of where you are.
7. Almost all air conditioners hang on the wall or the ceiling and have remote controls.
8. Even though several things are written in English, all over Korea, including signs, restaurants, t-shirts, etc., and parents are obsessed with their children learning English, very few people can actually speak the language. I find this rather surprising seeing as how there is so much of it here!
That is all that I have time for today! Hope that you have enjoyed my compilation.
I also recently purchased something else off of craigslist. The only craigslist they have here is based out of Seoul, which luckily, is pretty dang close. There are not many people who post things on there, but the ones who do, generally have the stuff people need. There are really mostly only 2 kinds of Americans/English speakers who live here; the English teachers and the military boys and girls. Pretty much anything that one person living here needs, someone else is trying to get rid of because they are leaving. The other item that I purchased off of craigslist is a dvd player. Now, I have a PS3 that I generally use for dvds, but I recently was at Costco and purchased the newest Harry Potter movie. I know, I know, I am a nerd! The box is slightly different though because part of it is in Korean, which means it was made for this country. I don't know if any of you know this, but apparently dvds are given a special code when they are made. This code only allows them to work in one specific region/area. Also, the playstation has something similar in it as well. Needless to say, the movie didn't work in the PS3, so I had to buy a dvd player that was designed for this area. Again, it was very cheap and works just great. Craigslist is seriously the best thing ever and I can't believe that there is even one in Korea!
I have gotten only a few things in the mail since I have been here, and there haven't been any problems up until this last package. I purchased some clothes from Express online and asked Hector if he would mail them to me along with a couple other odds and ends that I realized I needed. The mailing process for him was supposedly very smooth, but once that rather small box made its' way into the hands of Korea's cutsoms people, the shit hit the fan! Because there were still tags on the items and everything was brand new, they assumed that I was some kind of resale person. They thought I was going to turn around and sell this stuff to the Korean people for dirt cheap. I literally talked with a Korean UPS agent at least 12 different times. The box got into the country on July 24th, but I didn't actually get it until August 6th. They held my package for that long, almost 2 weeks!! They opened it several times and they kept telling me that I had to pay taxes on everything that was in there. They would call me almost every day, giving me a new price and every day it got higher and higher. I am not even going to tell you what I eventually ended up paying for it, but if I hadn't originally invested so much money in the clothes that were in there, I would have just left it with them! Next time I know to have whoever cut off the tags and leave nothing in small boxes or in the original store wrappings. Right around the same time however, I did get a birthday card in the mail from my aunt and uncle that was very cool. It actually said happy birthday in several languages. I thought that it was very fitting and super cute!!
Another thing that I didn't really know about Korea before I got here, is that it rains ALL OF THE TIME! Seriously! I don't think that it has gone more than 2-3 days at a time without rain. I can remember a couple of weeks back where it literally rained for like 6-9 days straight! So I decided that since I live near a large market where the people just throw their old, spoiled unsold food remnants out into the street, and sometimes I have to walk through it, that I wanted some rain boots. The rain actually makes it much worse. It smells worse and there is a muddy mess of rotten veggies in the street. This all sounds really terrible, but the city is really good about picking these up every day! The worst day is generally on Saturday or Sunday because the people throw out more to make room for new product. Anyway, I bought some really cool Crocs rain boots and am a little bummed because I haven't had a chance to wear them yet! I know, I said that it rains all of the time, but leave it to the one time that I actually want it to rain, for it to hold back!
Things at school could be better. The boss fired one of the teachers because there were several complaints from the parents. The extra workload that we all have to take is excruciating, especially on me because I am the only full-time morning kindergarten teacher there now, which means I take up all the extra slack in the schedule. I also am now the only one who has taught one of the specific classes and knows where they are in the books. It is a little stressful for me especially when everyone else is complaining even when their workload hasn't changed! I also now have to do more lesson planning a month in advance for those morning kinder kids. I have to come up with the topics, write and record the dialogue, come up with the songs, and prepare for the phonics. UGGHHHHH!!! Too much! It is taking so long to hire a new teacher and several of us are going with fewer breaks.
Ok! Enough about the downers, I have another installment of "Welcome to Korea!" For those of you who don't know, these are just odd things that happen or don't happen in Korea that you wouldn't necessarily expect.
1. Couples like to dress the same from head to foot. With all of the clothes being so multi-gendered, this is not too complicated to accomplish. It is actually rather disturbing to me to think that if I had a boyfriend here, he could and probably would wear my clothes.
2. Bus drivers are crazy! They don't like to stop at all of the stops. If they see you trying to flag them down, they may chose to stop or not. If you push the stop button on the bus, it may not stop at the one that you had anticipated. You may get off 1 or 2 stops later and have to walk. They also like to yell absurd and evil things if people are not extra fast at getting onto or off of the bus. They like to start driving as soon as you set foot on the bus whether you have found your seat or not and they are not very gentle with the breaks. They slam them as hard as possible and rather frequently!
3. At restaurants, the servers are paid a base pay and don't earn tips at all, which means they don't ever check on you to see if you need anything. You have to yell for them to come over to the table if you ever need more of anything or you got the wrong thing, etc.
4. Many people don't have a lot of furniture in their house/apartment unlike in the States. Several families don't even sleep on beds and most people are accustomed to it if they need to actually sleep on the floor. Space is limited here so there isn't really much room for extra things.
5. Vanilla doesn't exist in Korea except the syrupy kind that you would put in your coffee. I was very upset when I found this out because I wanted to make french toast. I ended up buying the syrup and using it in my mixture. It was surprisingly rather tasty.
6. There is almost ALWAYS a coffee shop within walking distance of where you are.
7. Almost all air conditioners hang on the wall or the ceiling and have remote controls.
8. Even though several things are written in English, all over Korea, including signs, restaurants, t-shirts, etc., and parents are obsessed with their children learning English, very few people can actually speak the language. I find this rather surprising seeing as how there is so much of it here!
That is all that I have time for today! Hope that you have enjoyed my compilation.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Happy Birthday to ME!
I have experienced many new things as of late. Let me just start where I left off from the last posting. I did buy a new camera, but it wasn't the one that I had originally planned on buying. I bought the Olympus SP-800UZ with 30x zoom, one of only 3 cameras on the market right now with that much zoom power. It is awesome! I have been taking more pictures so be sure to check out my flickr! account to see all of them. Also, I got a new phone. I got the HTC Desire and, I can't believe that I am going to say this, but I think that maybe I like it better than my iphone! The phone is awesome, but it is not totally compatible with my older mac computer. I found a way around most of the complications so it shouldn't be too bad. I downloaded a program called TextPlus so that I could text people from back home in the States for free. If you are interested in texting with me for free, download this app and I will give you my number. Actually, I think it may only work if I text you first because of the whole different country thing. Anyway, I finally got my cell phone and absolutely love it (even though it took over 2 months)!
We recently went on another field trip with the morning kinder kids. We went to a place called English Village. Basically, it is a place set up for kids where they can go and experience different activities all in English. The kids go through "customs" to get into the place with a fake passport. It is stamped and then they find out where they go first. Our group went to the magic show theatre where they witnessed a magic show in English. Next, we had lunch in the cafeteria, spaghetti with meatballs, and then went to the "hospital." There, the kids were bandaged up and learned how to say different injuries in English. Finally, we headed back to the cafeteria where we had a birthday party and a kind of roller rink-dance party. There were several other groups and not enough time to do everything. They also had a costume shop, a beauty salon, a gym/playroom, an art room, a restaurant, a toy store, and many other things that I am sure that I didn't get to see. Needless to say, it was very cool and if I stay for another year after this one, I want to work there!
Recently, my boss and I were chatting and I learned that I am getting 50% insurance coverage on top of what I am already getting from the school. This means that I have 100% health insurance coverage while working for Ashley. How many people in the States do you think can say that? I bet not too many! Korea is a seriously flawed country in some ways, but it is so amazing in so many others! Did you know that Korea actually has a Costco? Well there are several actually. The closest one is only a 30 min bus ride from my house but only 12 km. I signed up for a membership along with my coworker. We put his name down as my spouse so that he could get a free card out of the deal and he wouldn't have to sign up for a totally separate account. It was actually ingenious on my part! We didn't buy much, but now we know where to go when we need stuff.
Our boss at the school, scheduled a summer vacation for the teachers and the kids. It is only 1 week but it is a much needed break from all of the craziness and drama that is a Korean hogwon! Agnes took a week vacation to Turkey to visit a friend, but before she left she took me Duty-Free shopping. Her and her sister spent so much money there it was crazy! I only got a little makeup from M.A.C. I didn't know this, but apparently at duty-free shops around the globe, the currency used is the U.S. dollar. I will get my stuff when Agnes gets back from Turkey tomorrow, which also happens to be her birthday! Happy Birthday to Agnes!
Speaking of birthdays, I just had my 26th birthday on July 26th. It was so great! I got presents from all of the teachers at school and a couple from the kids as well. I received a gorgeous bouquet, some earrings, a body wash package, a few other things, and a night out on the town with all of the teachers, courtesy of Ashley. We had school so there wasn't much that happened throughout the day other than every class singing Happy Birthday to me, which was really cute! That night after work, we started by going to a traditional 100 year old Korean house that was converted into a restaurant. It was kind of like the Korean version of a ranch/plantation/farm. It was very close to the mountains and everything was absolutely beautiful! I took pictures so check them out! We ate awesome Korean food including warm kimchi with tofu, pa-jeon (seafood pancake), chicken wings, dotori muk (acorn jelly), a couple other things that I can't recall at the moment, AND homemade makali (a weak Korean alcoholic beverage made of rice). Everything was so delicious especially the makali! Next we headed downtown to find a karaoke joint. Now if you don't know, Korean karaoke is very different from the karaoke that we know. In Korea, you rent out a small room with a table and couch-like seating area surrounding the table. There is a huge TV and books with songs. There are 2 microphones with big speakers and a remote control to type in the number of the song that you want to sing. Karaoke is only sung among friends in Korea in a smaller room. On the screen, they have the words and a video that rarely matches that song. It is also BYOB. It was really fun although I don't think they much liked my song choices. The very first song that I sang was Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio! HAHAHAHAHA!! They were pressuring me to go first and that was the first song that I came across that I knew all the words to! Later I sang "Somebody to Love," The Used's "Take It Away," "Don't Stop Believing," "Livin On a Prayer," and a couple others that I can't remember. If we would have stayed a little longer I wanted to do "Sexyback!" LOL! We had a blast and afterward Ashley paid for all of us to take taxis home.
So, now that we are on summer break, I wanted to use this time to do some things that I can't normally do in the middle of the day, like go to the post office and go to the bank. I wanted to go sign up for a Citibank account because they are International and I thought that it would be easier to convert the money back to U.S. dollars when and if I needed to. I went and signed up for the account and when the woman gave me the card, I asked why there was no visa or mastercard logo attached to the check card. She told me that foreigners can't get cards like that and that the Korean Citibank is not really related to the one in the States. She said that the only similarity is the name. I was so upset that I didn't know what to do. Jenny suggested that we go back to my original bank to see if I could get a card like that there. Here is the back story on this bank. I went and signed up for an account around the time I got my first paycheck. They gave me a check card with the Maestro logo on it. When I went online and was trying to buy some things, everywhere I looked it told me that Mastro card either wasn't accepted or it needed a special number from the card which mine didn't have. I need to be able to purchase airline tickets online to go back and forth. Ok, so we went into KB and told them my situation. The woman told Jenny that it was no problem, all I had to do was open a savings account tied to my checking account. I said ok and wanted to get started. Then the woman said that I would need 1,000,000 ₩ ($1000 U.S.) to put in a new savings account that couldn't be touched for 6 whole months. Now, I haven't been in Korea very long and I have technically only had one full paycheck since I have been here. I had enough money to do it, but I would be left with very little to live on until the next paycheck. So, I have to wait until I get paid again. Everything is so complicated here! Nothing can ever just be easy when it comes to the important stuff!
The final thing that I have to talk about is my trip to Lotte World. Jenny and I talked one day and I learned that she was going to take a couple of girls from school (students) to a place called Kidzania. She invited me to go and of course I went. At Kidzania, the kids can experience what it is like to work at a job of their choice. They have different stations and rooms where they kids can act out their career fantasies! It looks really cool, but we didn't get in because all of the tickets were sold out. Instead we went to Lotte World which is a indoor/outdoor theme park. It is Disney related, but I don't think it is officially Disney. We had so much fun with Hannah and Bella, the two students. We rode rides and took so many pictures. It really was very cool and I couldn't have asked for 2 better students to go with! We all left with cute headbands. Hannah and Bella got giant bows like Minnie Mouse would wear, Jenny got bunny ears, and I got cat ears. There were all really cute!
If you are interested in seeing any pictures, please check out my flickr! account. The link is just below. Copy and paste in your address bar.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keatonturner/sets/72157624467563326/
The photos are not uploading properly so I think that I am going to put them on facebook and you can look at them there.
We recently went on another field trip with the morning kinder kids. We went to a place called English Village. Basically, it is a place set up for kids where they can go and experience different activities all in English. The kids go through "customs" to get into the place with a fake passport. It is stamped and then they find out where they go first. Our group went to the magic show theatre where they witnessed a magic show in English. Next, we had lunch in the cafeteria, spaghetti with meatballs, and then went to the "hospital." There, the kids were bandaged up and learned how to say different injuries in English. Finally, we headed back to the cafeteria where we had a birthday party and a kind of roller rink-dance party. There were several other groups and not enough time to do everything. They also had a costume shop, a beauty salon, a gym/playroom, an art room, a restaurant, a toy store, and many other things that I am sure that I didn't get to see. Needless to say, it was very cool and if I stay for another year after this one, I want to work there!
Recently, my boss and I were chatting and I learned that I am getting 50% insurance coverage on top of what I am already getting from the school. This means that I have 100% health insurance coverage while working for Ashley. How many people in the States do you think can say that? I bet not too many! Korea is a seriously flawed country in some ways, but it is so amazing in so many others! Did you know that Korea actually has a Costco? Well there are several actually. The closest one is only a 30 min bus ride from my house but only 12 km. I signed up for a membership along with my coworker. We put his name down as my spouse so that he could get a free card out of the deal and he wouldn't have to sign up for a totally separate account. It was actually ingenious on my part! We didn't buy much, but now we know where to go when we need stuff.
Our boss at the school, scheduled a summer vacation for the teachers and the kids. It is only 1 week but it is a much needed break from all of the craziness and drama that is a Korean hogwon! Agnes took a week vacation to Turkey to visit a friend, but before she left she took me Duty-Free shopping. Her and her sister spent so much money there it was crazy! I only got a little makeup from M.A.C. I didn't know this, but apparently at duty-free shops around the globe, the currency used is the U.S. dollar. I will get my stuff when Agnes gets back from Turkey tomorrow, which also happens to be her birthday! Happy Birthday to Agnes!
Speaking of birthdays, I just had my 26th birthday on July 26th. It was so great! I got presents from all of the teachers at school and a couple from the kids as well. I received a gorgeous bouquet, some earrings, a body wash package, a few other things, and a night out on the town with all of the teachers, courtesy of Ashley. We had school so there wasn't much that happened throughout the day other than every class singing Happy Birthday to me, which was really cute! That night after work, we started by going to a traditional 100 year old Korean house that was converted into a restaurant. It was kind of like the Korean version of a ranch/plantation/farm. It was very close to the mountains and everything was absolutely beautiful! I took pictures so check them out! We ate awesome Korean food including warm kimchi with tofu, pa-jeon (seafood pancake), chicken wings, dotori muk (acorn jelly), a couple other things that I can't recall at the moment, AND homemade makali (a weak Korean alcoholic beverage made of rice). Everything was so delicious especially the makali! Next we headed downtown to find a karaoke joint. Now if you don't know, Korean karaoke is very different from the karaoke that we know. In Korea, you rent out a small room with a table and couch-like seating area surrounding the table. There is a huge TV and books with songs. There are 2 microphones with big speakers and a remote control to type in the number of the song that you want to sing. Karaoke is only sung among friends in Korea in a smaller room. On the screen, they have the words and a video that rarely matches that song. It is also BYOB. It was really fun although I don't think they much liked my song choices. The very first song that I sang was Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio! HAHAHAHAHA!! They were pressuring me to go first and that was the first song that I came across that I knew all the words to! Later I sang "Somebody to Love," The Used's "Take It Away," "Don't Stop Believing," "Livin On a Prayer," and a couple others that I can't remember. If we would have stayed a little longer I wanted to do "Sexyback!" LOL! We had a blast and afterward Ashley paid for all of us to take taxis home.
So, now that we are on summer break, I wanted to use this time to do some things that I can't normally do in the middle of the day, like go to the post office and go to the bank. I wanted to go sign up for a Citibank account because they are International and I thought that it would be easier to convert the money back to U.S. dollars when and if I needed to. I went and signed up for the account and when the woman gave me the card, I asked why there was no visa or mastercard logo attached to the check card. She told me that foreigners can't get cards like that and that the Korean Citibank is not really related to the one in the States. She said that the only similarity is the name. I was so upset that I didn't know what to do. Jenny suggested that we go back to my original bank to see if I could get a card like that there. Here is the back story on this bank. I went and signed up for an account around the time I got my first paycheck. They gave me a check card with the Maestro logo on it. When I went online and was trying to buy some things, everywhere I looked it told me that Mastro card either wasn't accepted or it needed a special number from the card which mine didn't have. I need to be able to purchase airline tickets online to go back and forth. Ok, so we went into KB and told them my situation. The woman told Jenny that it was no problem, all I had to do was open a savings account tied to my checking account. I said ok and wanted to get started. Then the woman said that I would need 1,000,000 ₩ ($1000 U.S.) to put in a new savings account that couldn't be touched for 6 whole months. Now, I haven't been in Korea very long and I have technically only had one full paycheck since I have been here. I had enough money to do it, but I would be left with very little to live on until the next paycheck. So, I have to wait until I get paid again. Everything is so complicated here! Nothing can ever just be easy when it comes to the important stuff!
The final thing that I have to talk about is my trip to Lotte World. Jenny and I talked one day and I learned that she was going to take a couple of girls from school (students) to a place called Kidzania. She invited me to go and of course I went. At Kidzania, the kids can experience what it is like to work at a job of their choice. They have different stations and rooms where they kids can act out their career fantasies! It looks really cool, but we didn't get in because all of the tickets were sold out. Instead we went to Lotte World which is a indoor/outdoor theme park. It is Disney related, but I don't think it is officially Disney. We had so much fun with Hannah and Bella, the two students. We rode rides and took so many pictures. It really was very cool and I couldn't have asked for 2 better students to go with! We all left with cute headbands. Hannah and Bella got giant bows like Minnie Mouse would wear, Jenny got bunny ears, and I got cat ears. There were all really cute!
If you are interested in seeing any pictures, please check out my flickr! account. The link is just below. Copy and paste in your address bar.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keatonturner/sets/72157624467563326/
The photos are not uploading properly so I think that I am going to put them on facebook and you can look at them there.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
I'm an Alien!
As most of you know, I have been doing a lot of walking since I have been here. I noticed how out of shape I am and how my feet hurt almost every night. I have been asking one of the teachers to go with me to find a gym for a while now. Then, I found out that there is one in the building next to ours. They are practically attached! It would be so easy and convenient. We went to inquire about the costs and to take a look around. I learned about the locker system and that if you want to add the pool to your package that it costs extra. I found out that they offer a free shuttle service from around my house to the gym every day, you get a cool looking gym bag when you join, and they actually offer you clothes to work out in. They give you like a uniform to work out in and then you just put it in the laundry basket when you are finished. They wash them and ask you your size when you come in the next time. It is actually very weird to me. To think that you will be working out in clothes that have been worn a hundred other times by sweaty individuals. Gross!! I'll bring my own clothes, thank you! Anyway, when I asked to check out the locker rooms I got another surprise. The locker rooms are completely open as well as the shower room. In the shower room there are shower heads all along the outer wall. There are a couple jacuzzi tubs in the middle of the room and one larger tub/pool (I am not sure what this is for but there are always women in there). There is a tub with several water streams like a fountain and there are mini showers where the women get stools, sit, and bathe themselves that way. I never realized how much bonding could go on in an open showering room. The women, who love to walk around naked everywhere in the locker room and the shower room ALL OF THE TIME, sit and chat and gossip while bathing or sitting in the sauna or even while doing hair and makeup. For any of you who know me, you know that this makes me completely and totally uncomfortable, especially in a place where I am a foreigner and people already stare at me all of the time!
Needless to say, I joined the gym and have been going every day for the past week and a half. I go in the mornings so that I can just shower and get ready there before work. The other day when I was trying to ask about the shuttle bus, there was a girl who works in the actual fitness area who found another who could speak some English and asked me if I know how to workout properly. She said that she had been watching me for a few days and that all I do is run. I told her that I played volleyball all my life and had several workouts. I took several weightlifting courses in college and I worked at a gym for 2 years! I told her that I wanted to slim down a little and get my endurance up before I started lifting weights. This whole conversation occurred while I was on the treadmill and afterward I guess there was some misunderstanding about the information that they gave me about the shuttle bus, because the girl followed me into the shower just as I turned on the water. So she is standing there fully clothed and I am very naked and very aware that I am naked standing there talking to her. She just wanted to make sure that she understood me correctly. When I assured her that everything was fine, she thankfully left me, to be gawked at by all of the other naked Korean older women in the shower room at that time.
We have gone on a few field trips since I have been here, but this last one was by far my favorite. We went to a huge indoor market. First, we stopped at the fish market and then right across the street is the vegetable and fruit market. It was actually pretty cool and the kids really enjoyed it. The school had their parents send some money and a shopping list with them to school and the kids actually went shopping like they were adults. It was so cute! The other teacher took quite a few pictures, so at the end of this posting I will put up a link to them and several others. These blog sites are not very photo-friendly, so I have to post them elsewhere when I have several of them at once. I get paid on Monday again and plan to buy a very nice camera seeing as how I have been taking not-so-great pictures with my phone. Then I will take lots of pictures!
I still don't have a cell phone yet, but I am so close I can almost hear it ringing sometimes!! LOL! Last week, I went to the immigration office in Seoul with Hong Kong, my boss and visa sponsor's father. I was expecting to get my Alien ID card, be out of there, and get my cell phone all in the same day. Everyone I talked to said that I would get the ID right away, no problems. Apparently none of them knew what the heck they were talking about! When we pulled up, he made me get out early because there is a line that you have to wait in for parking. You can't go into the parking lot until someone else leaves. I went inside, got a number, filled out some paperwork, and took out my extra passport photo and my physical health form. I waited for over an hour in line and when I got to the woman she said that I was missing paperwork. I needed something else from the school. Luckily this happens frequently so they have a fax machine set up in the lobby for anyone to use. Hong Kong called Ashley and got the documents faxed. Then the lady told me to go upstairs to buy a revenue stamp and the form filing process was complete. She told me that it would be ready in 10 days!! AHHHH! The other American teacher went to the Immigration office the day after me and gets his ID 2 days earlier then me! How messed up is that!!?? So, I don't get it or a cell phone until this Thursday! Man, I feel very old-fashioned and somewhat left out. You never know how important something is until you don't have it!!
Lastly, I got a package from my mother in the mail this week. It was great! I was so excited and smiled all day! It had several toys for the kiddos in it, as well as bed sheets for me, that I have desperately needed for 2 months now, and some other odds and ends that I will definitely use! Just FYI, bed sheets here are a luxury that most people don't indulge in; they are very expensive and are sold separately. Mom was telling me that I should open a bed sheet market here and I could make a fortune. I am not sure that anyone would purchase that product seeing as how they are actually comfortable sleeping on the floor! I however, can't believe that slept without sheets for that long! It felt absolutely amazing with my new air conditioner and my awesome bed sheets to sleep in!
Here is the link to my photos. Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8088960@N03/sets/72157624467563326/
Needless to say, I joined the gym and have been going every day for the past week and a half. I go in the mornings so that I can just shower and get ready there before work. The other day when I was trying to ask about the shuttle bus, there was a girl who works in the actual fitness area who found another who could speak some English and asked me if I know how to workout properly. She said that she had been watching me for a few days and that all I do is run. I told her that I played volleyball all my life and had several workouts. I took several weightlifting courses in college and I worked at a gym for 2 years! I told her that I wanted to slim down a little and get my endurance up before I started lifting weights. This whole conversation occurred while I was on the treadmill and afterward I guess there was some misunderstanding about the information that they gave me about the shuttle bus, because the girl followed me into the shower just as I turned on the water. So she is standing there fully clothed and I am very naked and very aware that I am naked standing there talking to her. She just wanted to make sure that she understood me correctly. When I assured her that everything was fine, she thankfully left me, to be gawked at by all of the other naked Korean older women in the shower room at that time.
We have gone on a few field trips since I have been here, but this last one was by far my favorite. We went to a huge indoor market. First, we stopped at the fish market and then right across the street is the vegetable and fruit market. It was actually pretty cool and the kids really enjoyed it. The school had their parents send some money and a shopping list with them to school and the kids actually went shopping like they were adults. It was so cute! The other teacher took quite a few pictures, so at the end of this posting I will put up a link to them and several others. These blog sites are not very photo-friendly, so I have to post them elsewhere when I have several of them at once. I get paid on Monday again and plan to buy a very nice camera seeing as how I have been taking not-so-great pictures with my phone. Then I will take lots of pictures!
I still don't have a cell phone yet, but I am so close I can almost hear it ringing sometimes!! LOL! Last week, I went to the immigration office in Seoul with Hong Kong, my boss and visa sponsor's father. I was expecting to get my Alien ID card, be out of there, and get my cell phone all in the same day. Everyone I talked to said that I would get the ID right away, no problems. Apparently none of them knew what the heck they were talking about! When we pulled up, he made me get out early because there is a line that you have to wait in for parking. You can't go into the parking lot until someone else leaves. I went inside, got a number, filled out some paperwork, and took out my extra passport photo and my physical health form. I waited for over an hour in line and when I got to the woman she said that I was missing paperwork. I needed something else from the school. Luckily this happens frequently so they have a fax machine set up in the lobby for anyone to use. Hong Kong called Ashley and got the documents faxed. Then the lady told me to go upstairs to buy a revenue stamp and the form filing process was complete. She told me that it would be ready in 10 days!! AHHHH! The other American teacher went to the Immigration office the day after me and gets his ID 2 days earlier then me! How messed up is that!!?? So, I don't get it or a cell phone until this Thursday! Man, I feel very old-fashioned and somewhat left out. You never know how important something is until you don't have it!!
Lastly, I got a package from my mother in the mail this week. It was great! I was so excited and smiled all day! It had several toys for the kiddos in it, as well as bed sheets for me, that I have desperately needed for 2 months now, and some other odds and ends that I will definitely use! Just FYI, bed sheets here are a luxury that most people don't indulge in; they are very expensive and are sold separately. Mom was telling me that I should open a bed sheet market here and I could make a fortune. I am not sure that anyone would purchase that product seeing as how they are actually comfortable sleeping on the floor! I however, can't believe that slept without sheets for that long! It felt absolutely amazing with my new air conditioner and my awesome bed sheets to sleep in!
Here is the link to my photos. Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8088960@N03/sets/72157624467563326/
Saturday, June 26, 2010
You're joking, right?
Wow I feel like it has been years since I have had time to actually sit down at my computer for longer than 20 minutes at a time! Things have been moving very quickly here and there are many changes that have occurred quite recently. First of all, I opened my very own Korean bank account and got my first paycheck from the school! I was happy to find out that I am actually getting paid more than I thought I was originally going to make. Don't you just love when that happens? I DO! The actual process of opening the account was painful, however.
I went with one of the teachers to the bank so that she could translate for me. The woman who did my paperwork was very absent-minded and kept finding more and more papers for me to fill out. Actually, my co-worker was the one who was doing most of the paperwork since I can't write in Korean. All I had to do was sign on the dotted line about 10 times! The whole process was slow and took about an hour and a half but would have taken less time with a more knowledgeable and less flighty clerk. Oh well that is done and over with. Now the only problem is that I can't do any banking online because the bank's website is not compatible with my Mac! It will only operate with Internet Explorer. Now I have to open a different account. I think I am gonna go with Citibank because it is global.
I still don't have a cell phone yet, but I am one step closer to getting one. In Korea, foreigners can go about getting a cell phone one of two ways. They can pay an upfront fee of around $200-300, pay for the phone, and then pay for the service, OR they can get an ID card while they are here, that is issued by the immigration office. This card cannot be obtained without a visa sponsor, some paperwork (of course!), and a full out doctors visit/physical. When they give you the ID card, you can take it to a cell phone rep, not have to pay an upfront fee, and receive the phone for free when you sign up for a plan. Sounds much better to me!
I recently went and got my physical out of the way. When I asked what it would entail, I was told that I would have my eyes checked, my chest x-rayed, my urine tested, my blood-pressure checked, and.............................my blood drawn! For those of you who don't know, I don't do well with needles! AT ALL! It is not that I am afraid of them, it is just that my brain can't process what is happening so it shuts down, resulting in a blackout. I can actually watch the needle go in and I am fine, but once the needle comes out, my brain can't handle it. Blood doesn't bother me, cuts, scrapes, even deep wounds don't effect me really at all, but for some reason that tiny little needle has so much power over me and I don't like losing control like that! I am a control freak most of the time!
When I heard of what would happen during the physical, I went and told Ashley, my visa sponsor and boss, that I would probably need someone to go with me because I would probably pass out. Her English is not that great, so the whole time I was telling her this, she was laughing and thinking that I was joking around. When I finally got through to her that this was no joke, she told me that she would accompany my for my appointment. All of the teachers got a little laugh out of this story as I told them that Ashley thought I was joking with her.
When we went to the hospital, the nurses were expecting us. Ashley had called them a couple of times to warn them in advance that I would need someplace to lie down while my blood was being drawn. We walked in, made a right turn and headed for the waiting room. There were several people in there as I did my eye tests, got weighed and measured, and had my blood-pressure checked. All of this occurred in the actual waiting room with everyone watching. Next I went into a small office with a doctor who asked me if I had had any surgeries. When I said no he did nothing more than motion me to the door to leave. I thought he was going to look in my eyes, ears, mouth, etc. but he didn't.
Next, I went to the emergency room where there were a couple of nurses waiting to draw my blood. The beds were all empty which was a little comforting. I realized that I had been holding my pee all morning and asked if I could do that real quick. They handed me a small Dixie cup and pointed out where the bathroom was. When I went into the bathroom, I opened the door to the first stall and saw something that I can barely describe. It was a toilet, I think, but it was on the floor. Basically, it was a hole in the ground with a flush button and toilet seat. I said a small prayer and opened the second stall only to find the exact same thing! Damn! I maneuvered myself over the toilet while standing and holding the cup (this is not an easy task so please don't laugh...well it was pretty funny so I guess you can laugh!). When I finished my deposit I began to look around for the toilet paper; no where to be found! Awesome! I left the stall washed my hands then saw a huge dispenser on the wall for toilet paper. Apparently you have to get the paper before you go into the stall. I just had my eyes checked, how could I not see that!!?? I am not sure how I would have done that anyway. I would have had to hold the cup, my purse and the toilet paper...it probably would have been disastrous. I slowly walked out of the bathroom holding my urine and walked down the long hall past lots of people all while still holding the cup of pee. I kind of thought there should be a more sanitary and secure way of completing this process. I could have gotten that pee from anywhere and they would never have known.
I laid down on an emergency room bed where the nurse took my blood; 3 vials full. Instead of putting each individual vial up to the injection, she just sucked it out real fast with a syringe. I think this was for my benefit. It was over in no time and I didn't actually pass out. I did feel light headed after a few minutes when I tried to stand up but other than that nothing too severe! We finished with an x-ray of my chest and a dental exam. Ashley took care of the bill even though I told her it wasn't necessary. She said that she wanted to thank me for being such a great improvement to her school. I felt very honored and a little relieved that I wouldn't be out that $80.
We also had what we call 'parent day' or 'open class' for two days in a row. This is just as it sounds. The parents can come and watch what their child does in class. We teach and they watch us teach. This may seem like nothing, but it actually a big deal and had all of the Korean teachers, especially Ashley, our boss, totally stressed out. I wasn't worried about performing in front of the parents, but all of them being stressed was stressing me out as well. If there are any people I get along with better than the kids themselves, it's parents. We had many late night teachers' meetings leading up to the big days. Ashley wanted to know what the plans were for all the classes that would be observed and we needed to correspond with each other so that our classes were somewhat related. There were several dress-rehearsals for those two days and I say dress-rehearsals because it was basically just a big show. We wanted it to look good so that the parents will keep sending their child there so that we get paid as well.
Lastly, we got a new American teacher at our school. We have been preparing for the transition now for a while and it finally happened a couple of weeks ago. He only comes on M, W, F but we ended up including him in the morning schedule on those days. It helps me out a lot because I get more breaks now.
Here are a couple of pictures that that I have taken recently.
In the background are some of the mountains near my house. I live just under this bridge.
This is in Seoul. Just a cool little sidewalk area with lots of trees around it.
An awesome little cafe in Seoul that is over priced but you can sit there all day reading and purchase nothing! There are trees growing in the cafe.
This is the Shinsegae shopping mall. It is huge! You actually come up out of the subway right into it! It has everything!
Seoul at night!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
"Welcome to Korea!"
A lot has been happening lately so I haven't been keeping up with my posts and for that I apologize, however now I want to catch you up!
This experience has been quite rocky for me. When I first arrived, I wasn't sure that I could handle it all, and now I don't know what I would do without those kids...SERIOUSLY! Now if any of you know me at all, you know that I don't really love kids, but I am naturally good with them (don't ask me how that happened).
The kids have really started opening up to me and letting me into their lives lately. The little ones give me big hugs and kisses every morning and like to hold hands whenever possible. The older ones have adjusted nicely and now know my routine. Each class is ready with their homework out when I walk in their room. They know this is the first thing that we do. I have the same schedule every M,W, F and the same for T, Th with different kids both days and each class has different kids. For the better speaking classes, we do 'Weekend Stories' on Monday and Tuesday (thank you Mr. Taylor!!).
When I got here, I thought I was only going to be teaching English. It turns out that I am not only teaching English, but for the younger kids, I am also teaching Science, Song and Dance, Math, and Arts and Crafts. For the older kids, I teach Math and Science in English plus my other English classes. Here are a few pictures of life cycles that I made my upper level students draw on the board. For the record, they love being like the teacher and getting to draw or write on the board.
I thought these were great! The dog cracks me up! Apparently an exclamation point over the dog makes it pregnant. LOL! I have never heard of that, but hey, I love it!!
At my apartment things are mostly the same. One thing that I have forgotten to mention is that out my window is an open storage area for a small grocery-like store. Every morning, like clockwork, a truck backs in and either loads or unloads things with a VERY noisy forklift. At the moment I don't have air conditioning (getting it on Tuesday) so I leave the window open all the time. I am not sure what the heck they take in and out of there but it drives me CRAZY!! Here are a couple of pictures of the view out my window. Don't get excited; it's nothing special!
During the month that I have been here I have learned so much and done so many new things. There is a saying here for the foreigners, "Welcome to Korea!" We say this when anything out of the ordinary occurs, which happens to be ALL of the time!! Now I want to share with you a list of very odd things that I have noticed since I have been here, about Korea and it's people. For those of you who are Blue Collar Comedy Tour fans, you might get a kick out of saying, Welcome to Korea," after each of these, kind of like the 'Here's your sign' and the 'You might be a redneck' jokes.
1. Korea hates my Mac! It takes so long for videos to load. I can't even watch a short, 6 minute, music video without it having to stop every couple of minutes to reload. BLAH!
2. Samsung, the electronics company, makes washing machines here. They play music for you when you turn them on and when your laundry is finished. Makes me think of an episode of "Friends," it is season one; Ross and Rachel are doing laundry and Ross makes up a laundry song (for Rachel's benefit) when it's finished. I guess you have to know your "Friends" to appreciate it.
3. Koreans generally don't drink anything with their meals. They drink before or after. I think that I would die if I followed this custom!
4. In a studio, the shower, laundry room, and bathroom are one in the same. The laundry room IS the shower, the shower IS the bathroom. There are no dividers. If you ever have a house guest, make sure you use the bathroom before they shower. Otherwise you might have to hold it for a while!
5. Before you shower or wash dishes, you have to physically turn on the hot water. When you are finished using the hot water, you have to turn it off. There is a little box control on the wall outside of the bathroom. See my previous posts for pictures of this.
6. Every house has what I call 'shower shoes' that are left in the bathroom, at all times, for anyone who enters the bathroom to use. If they are not used, your feet will most definitely get wet if anyone has taken a shower within the last 5 hours or so of you stepping in there.
7. Toilet paper has multiple uses here. They use it as napkins when eating, paper towels to clean up messes, and actual toilet uses. You can only buy toilet paper in a 24 pack or larger unless you go to a specialty store. The toilet paper is scented and has colorful designs on it for your viewing pleasure.
8. Cell phone charms are a necessity, even for men!
9. The heating system, in most homes, heats from the floor up! I can't wait until winter time seeing as how my feet will always be warm!
10. People here drive motorcycles, vespers, and any other motorized or non-motorized bike on the sidewalk if the traffic on the street gets too heavy. Sometimes, they do it even if the traffic is light. They almost always run red lights and they park on the sidewalks as well. Police here are not very concerned about writing tickets or enforcing traffic laws.
11. There is not really a designated trash day. People put their trash bags on the sidewalk when they are full and a trash truck comes and picks them up. If the truck doesn't run that day, then they sit there until the truck does come. Food, however does have a certain day and doesn't go out with the rest of the trash.
12. Punch cards are a way of life around here. I thought the USA was bad about having them...you know, buy 10, get the 11th free. I already have 5 different punch cards for different locations and services. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the doctor gave out punch cards...buy 3 visits, get your 4th free!! HAHA!
13. Koreans eat very loudly. They slurp their soup, drinks, and noodles, they talk with their mouths full and over flowing, and they don't close their mouths when they chew. It is somewhat disrespectful if you DON'T make noise when you eat because it means you are not really enjoying the food! So, pay your compliments to the chef by chomping away as noisily as you want!
14. Lastly (for now anyway), they use scissors in the kitchen. They rarely use knives and generally use scissors. They cut everything from meat and fish, to noodles and lettuce with scissors. The first time I saw this I thought it was a joke!!!
I hope that you enjoyed this little list that I have come up with. I am sure that there will be many more things that I can add very soon!! Until next time...
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
"We're not in Kansas anymore!"
Today I will officially describe most of my second week in Korea and I have several pictures to go with.
My second week of school was a little bit easier. I fell into a routine and learned the schedule a little better. I figured out when to leave my house so that I could make it to work on time. I got down the timing of the crosswalks so that I knew just when they would change to green. I started wearing tennis shoes to school and carrying a backpack so that I could change to nicer shoes when I got to school. My feet were taking a beating with all of the extra walking that I was doing in dressy shoes, even though they were flats! My walk to school is a little over a mile and obviously so is the walk home. Roundtrip, I walk about 2.5 miles to and from work. Though the walk is somewhat long, there are several advantages! Take a look!
This is one of the several amazing views along my path. This is a small creek with a walking trail along both banks. Notice the gorgeous mountain in the background. The weather here is absolutely amazing. During the day it is not that hot (I usually wear pants and am very comfortable), but the weather during the evening is the real treat. Because of all of the mountains, Korean nights are actually pretty cool. It gets down to about 40-50 degrees in the evening and overnight. I absolutely love it!
I also learned that in order to have hot water in the apartment, you have to actually turn it on! The thermostat and hot water are combined on one box to make things easier I suppose. On the left is the temperature control for water and heat and the right is a phone, right? WRONG! It is actually a speaker and doorbell system (learned that one the hard way). I am still not really sure how it works. When I got my new house phone, which wasn't this phone, I wondered what this phone was for. I picked it up a few times and said hello but there was no dial tone. I'm not sure who I said hello to, but I bet someone outside heard! LOL!
It just so happens that May 15th is Teacher's Day in Korea, which fell on a Saturday this year so the kids brought presents a few days before and after the 15th. I got many great things including Starbucks coffee, candy, cute little flowery pens, other food and even some amazing and expensive body wash that I am in love with!! The kids really were very sweet even though I was a new teacher and they barely knew me.
That same week, I was told that I would be helping in an arts and crafts class for the same little ones that I have in the morning. I assumed that meant that all I had to do was make myself present, speak English as much as possible, and help out when needed. I later learned that I am to actually teach the class but I don't have to make the lesson plan for it. So basically, I learn about what we are going to do in the class about 10 minutes before the class begins. Luckily for me, this class is only once a week and it is an arts and crafts class for 4-7 year olds, therefore it is not that complicated. That particular week we made animal masks and I took pics of the kids.
These are all the kids that I have in the mornings. There are only 12 so I have gotten to know them all pretty well. I spend the most time with these kids.
Back: Christine, Sally, Benny, Jennifer, Cleo, Tyler, Amy
Front: Danielle, Alice, B. Amy, James, Scott
Danielle, Alice, B. Amy James: the youngest and so cute!!
Christine, Sally, Benny
Sally, Benny, Jennifer B. Amy & James: 2 younger ones
The kids get to pick the English names that they want when they start school here. They are only referred to as those names that they picked. The younger class includes, B. Amy, Sally, James and Tyler. The second Amy we call Bootee Amy. I am not sure what that means or even how to spell it. That is how it sounds when they pronounce it though. Her name was Grace originally but made a fit when she heard that name and wanted it, so they changed it.
With kids, coffee is necessary, especially with the young ones. At school we use these packets of coffee. In the kitchen there is a water dispenser that dispenses hot and cold water. We just fill a cup with water, pour in the packet of coffee and stir. It even tastes great! Now, I don't know if we have these in the states, but they are seriously a lifesaver. There have been several days where I needed just a small little boost and these little guys do the trick. They are even made by a company that I am sure most of you have heard of.
Now at my apartment, there were a few things that I wasn't exactly satisfied with. I did a little complaining that week, about the huge windows in my apartment. Now, I know that they are awesome, but I don't have to be at school until 9:30 in the morning which means I get up at 8:30 after the sun has already been up for a few hours. This makes sleeping in past sunrise slightly complicated with huge windows and no curtains. I suggested that I needed curtains and was even willing to buy them. I just wanted to know where I could get some. The school director told me that she would take care of it. Well, if you haven't read my previous blog, then you need to at least look at the pictures of my apartment. The curtains that she got for me are completely sheer and do absolutely nothing for keeping the sun out!! Oh well, now I just cover my eyes with an extra shirt or something.
That week was also Buddha's birthday, so we got Friday off. I used that day as an opportunity to sanitize and sterilize my apartment, since the previous teacher hadn't really been all that much of a cleaner. I went and explored the market area near my house and learned that there are wonderful eatery and shops less than 5 blocks away. I also learned that there is a Starbucks practically out my back door AND the coffee drinks are written in English, so they understand when you say them in English!!! That was the best part of the whole 'discovering a Starbucks near my house experience!'
I have discovered that Skype is a very amazing tool that everyone should definitely use if they plan to travel abroad or live abroad. It is 100% free and lets you talk with and actually see, live, the person who you are talking to. There are not really words to describe how awesome Skype is. I strongly recommend it for those of you who do not have it!
On a little side note, I have not been paid by Skype, Maxwell House, or Starbucks to endorse their products even though it may seem that I have and probably should be!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Oh how time flies!
My first couple of days in Korea were a blur. Everything happened so fast and I was trying to keep up. I found out that my apartment would be getting a little face lift the first week I was here. The director of the school (also my visa sponsor), was getting me a TV, phone, cable, Internet, and a few other pieces of furniture to put in my apartment, so that it wouldn't be so bare anymore. She told me that she would get me a bigger refrigerator and a microwave at a later date. At that time, the things that I had were sufficient. I was eating Korean ramen noodles almost every night because I wasn't accustomed to cooking Korean style. You will rarely find a house or apartment with an oven in it here. As most of you know, we Americans love using the oven!! I guess that I am gonna have to get a toaster oven while I am here.
These are pictures of my apartment as it is now and not when I first got here.
I went shopping a couple of times that first week for supplies and groceries. The first time was with Agnes at E-Mart which is a huge supermarket with clothing, electronics, etc here in Korea; similar to our Walmart or Target, only with a lot more groceries. I had exchanged some money at the airport when I first got here, but only enough to get by for maybe a week. The second time I went to E-Mart was by myself. I was a little scared because if I needed something and couldn't tell what it was then I was just S.O.L. In quite a few other countries, at least the ones that I have been to, you can almost always find someone who speaks a little English; in Korea, however, this is not the case! I had made a list of things that I thought I needed and was trying to stay on budget. When I realized that I was gonna need more money, I did some sign language with one of the promoters and figured out that the ATM was on 2nd floor. I left my cart nearby, which was full to the brim, and went to get some more cash out. Apparently you have to find an international ATM in order to get money out from overseas. I just figured that E-Mart would have one being such a huge store where a few foreigners shop. I was wrong. The ATM spit out my card and a nasty note that I couldn't read because it was in the Korean characters. I ran out of there so fast that I left the cart there with one of my work folders in it. Needless to say, I didn't go back there for about a week hoping that they wouldn't recognize me as the girl who left a big cart of crap for them to put back on the shelves in all 5 levels of that huge mart!
That first weekend, Agnes, told me that she wanted to accommodate me as best as possible. Make me feel at home and take me out with her when she went shopping and so on. It just so happens that she was going to the city on Saturday for some shopping and some relaxation time in a nail salon. Now for those of you who don't know me very well, those are 2 things that are very high up on my list of things that I LOVE!! We would also be meeting her American friend and I would have someone to talk to more extensively, relate to a little better. I let her know that I needed some more money out of my account and she told me that there were plenty of Global ATMs where we were going.
Agnes called me the night before our big adventure and told me to get on the bus and meet her at a certain station about 30 min away. She gave me the bus number and told me where I could find a bus stop. My first experience on the bus was a little scary especially by myself. I couldn't understand the stops that the bus speaker was saying so I had to watch every bus stop to see the word written in English letters. I really thought that I had missed it so many times but finally we came to the right stop and I got off the bus. I was supposed to meet Agnes at a certain time and when she wasn't there at that time nor 20 minutes after that time, I thought that I had gotten off at the wrong stop or that there was somewhere else that I needed to be standing. Finally she pulled up, and apologized for being late 25 minutes after the agreed upon time. We parked and got on the subway (another first for me in Korea).
We got off at the appropriate station and I noticed that it was like an underground shopping center, right there in the subway station. Crazy! We got some Starbucks (which is a really big deal here; these people love their coffee) and headed to the nail salon. I got sparkles and little pink stars on my nails, which I love and they last a month. They put on the decorations and then a layer of this clear hard plastic stuff, but you can't even tell. It just looks like clear nail polish. It's awesome! After nails, we went and had lunch at this little market area where it is all outdoors and there are only about 8 stools per counter top restaurant and all of the restaurants are crammed together in this tiny little stretch of area. There are maybe 30 little restaurants in a 50 foot area.
This is where I learned about the pushing and shoving of Korea. Koreans don't stop no matter what. They could be walking in a straight line and if you are in the way of that line, they will plow you over. They like to push in big crowds and they don't care much for waiting. They run red lights quite frequently, so even if there is a green walk sign, you should still be very careful and continuously look both ways. The car horn on each car gets used at least 4 times a day (*This is an exaggeration and is in no way a proven fact. It is simply an evaluation made by a witness to it all; an outsider).
We ate at the little outdoor counter top restaurant, which was famous for it's homemade noodles. It was delicious and extremely cheap. I couldn't finish all the food that we got for around $5. Then we did some shopping at the stores and the street vendor's shops and finished our day back at the underground mall in the subway station. Agnes' friend had to leave so we took the bus back to Anyang, the city that I live and work in. It wasn't until we got on the bus to head home, that I learned that we had been in Seoul all day, the countries capital, and by far largest city!! HA HA!
She suggested we ride the bus, so that I could see the landscape, all the way back to her car. Plus the subway would be too full at that time. She told me that there was a little coffee shop near her house that was having a kind of karaoke night. It was an invite only party though. I agreed after she told me that there would be at least one other English speaker there and that some of the Koreans would be able to speak a little English. We drove to the coffee shop and I realized that this was going to be a very small gathering in a very small coffee shop.
I was introduced to everyone and they tried to make me feel more at home by speaking some English. They brought out this special rice alcohol that Koreans like to drink and is very cheap. Most of the people there were over the age of 40 and were musicians of some sort. Some were singers while others played the guitar, and there were even a couple of accordion players. There were only about 12-15 people there and they were all close friends. They all took their turns singing and playing their instruments. It was actually a whole lot of fun even though I didn't understand most of what they were saying. A couple of them got drunk after a while and were acting very goofy. They kept doing cheers' like every 5 minutes or less.
I was still a little jet-lagged at this time and when I asked if we could leave because I didn't want to fall asleep on them, Agnes told me that it was too late for me to go back to my house so I would have to stay with her at her older sister's house. We got to the house and got cleaned up. When I asked where I would be sleeping, she showed me a spot on the floor where a couple of blankets had been placed. Now, if any of you know me very well at all, you know that I can't sleep in vehicles, or on the couch, or anywhere else that is not a bed...especially the floor!! I had a rough night and didn't sleep much but the fun day made up for that. When she took me back home, I slept most of the day.
That was my first week in Korea!
Monday, May 24, 2010
♪I'm a big kid now!♪
To continue with my story...I guess that I will just pick up where I left off.
That morning, I woke up at my apartment in Korea, I picked out the clothes for my first day of work at the school, also known as a hagwon here in Korea, and was patiently waiting when my director, Ashley, came to pick me up. We rode to school and she told me to try to remember the way that we were going because I would have to walk to school starting later in the week. The only problem was that there are so many one way streets by my apartment, that she kept telling me not to remember the way that we were driving, but to remember the way that she was pointing out. Yeah, I know...confusing!!
We got to school and she introduced me to the head teacher, Agnes, which is not her real given name, but her English name for school and teaching purposes. Actually, the only people who do not call her by this name are her family. I thought that was interesting, but sorry, I am rambling. There were 2 other teachers, all of them Korean, Jenny, who generally works with the older kids, and Belle, who doesn't speak English and works with the younger kids after the older kids get to our school. I was given a schedule with the previous teacher's name on it and was told that the printer was broken at the moment, so my name wouldn't be on the schedule until the printer was fixed. I was told that I was to shadow Agnes the first and second day to get the hang of things. In the morning, the schedule goes a little something like this...
M-F, 1st class: grades 1&2 (they are 7-8 years old); 2nd class: kindergarten (5-6 years old)
Then depending on the day, there is P.E., or Chinese, or Math class, or Arts and Crafts after the first two, all with the same kids. There are 12 altogether in the 2 classes. We eat lunch after that and then the bigger kids arrive from their other schools. When the bigger kids get to the school, we have 40 minute classes M, W, F, from 2:30-6:55PM and T, Th, from 2:30-5:30PM.
(FYI)As a little side note, Koreans take education very seriously. They go to school all year round. Sometimes they go from one school in the morning, to another in the afternoon, to a final school at night. Several kids even have school on Saturdays! Parents like to be very involved with their child's education and English is very important because it is a global language of money.
Back to the story...That morning, I followed Agnes around for the 2 classes in the morning with the little ones. We sang songs that she had made dances to go with including, "Under the Sea," from The Little Mermaid. We learned simple words and even started to put them into sentences. I knew that those 2 classes would be difficult because the kids spoke very little English and after shadowing the first couple of days, I would have those 2 classes alone.
We ate a delicious traditional Korean lunch, which I found out was prepared by our very own school chef. After lunch the director came to me and told me that I would be doing the afternoon classes with the big kids all by myself since there was no one else to teach them. I stumbled through the first day of lessons. The kids were very helpful at showing me where we were at in the books. Luckily for me, most classes had a student book and a work book, so I could follow along and throw in a bit of teaching if they didn't understand something. Most of the classes were already in the middle of a unit and didn't require much teaching. Their English was much better than the little ones. Plus, most of the books have Cd's that go with them and all I had to do was just pop it into the player and it would do the rest. I guarantee that the first couple of days were so boring for those poor kids, they had to be, because they were for me!! I felt a little bit useless until I got the hang of things!
That day, Ashley told me that I wouldn't be getting a TV or Internet for another 2 days. She told me that her father, the owner of the school, would take me around the market that is by my house and show me different places that I could shop and/or eat. I thought that I would be able to stop and grab a few things while walking through the market but Hong Kong, Ashley's dad (Hey, I don't know...that is what he told me to call him because his actual name is too complicated for us silly Americans!), was grabbing me by the arm and basically dragging me through the market. (I had fun retelling this story the next day to all of the teachers at school and listening to them make fun of Hong Kong dragging me through the market.)
That night I was absolutely exhausted mentally and physically and still very much jet-lagged!! I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow at 9:00PM and woke at 4AM. I was getting a little better about my sleeping transition.
That is all for today! Until next time...
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