주말에경주 (weekend at Gyeongju)

The grammar is probably all wrong with that Korean, but I say meh. This trip was the prize for placing in the teaching contest. It was a bit of a throwback to the EPIK day trip, as it included a temple and some EPIK teachers, but that's about where the resemblance ended. We saw a temple, a cave where a stone sitting buddha was inside. The original buddha was destroyed by the Japanese (and my friends upon hearing this all replied with "of course!"). I had a hotel room to myself because I didn't really make friends with any of the other female native teachers that day, and Sunday was mostly a bust to me because the museum we went to wasn't really my thing. Artifacts and architectural history doesn't thrill me. 


The process of planning Thailand is slow. I added flights from Bangkok to the island of Phuket on my credit card. Getting online banking set up with my Korean bank has been super lame dramz. If I see my co-teacher today, I'm going to enlist his help with this... The process of signing in online is complicated to put it lightly. First I have to "issue a certificate" online- which I think means download and save to a usb. I can't get past the first step as of right now because entering my information yields a "we're sorry, but you are not registered for PC/internet banking." Bull. 

This week the school has been undergoing finals. Today's the last day and a normal schedule resumes tomorrow. Next Wednesday to Friday is a "training" trip for students. Teachers go, too. yay. And the last week before Christmas, I've been forced into singing an American Christmas carol. If I can get my other co-teacher to lend me his guitar I'm cool with it. I don't do this a cappella stuff. 


There really isn't a whole lot going on right now. A teacher lifted up his shirt the other day to reveal a sign that said "I <3 MG" (MG for MeGan), a stunt between him and another teacher. His brother suggesting (joking of course...) the 3 of us room together for the school trip because it'd be fun, to which I replied that his wife just might not approve. My heating pipes (they fill with hot water and warm the floor) breaking for a second time, forcing me to move out for a week while the entire floor is destroyed and fixed. I've been staying with John, but really, his apartment is too small to accommodate 2 people for extended periods of time. We're tripping over each other's stuff all the time, and it's just. Crowded. My pipes were first fixed Thanksgiving day in a hurried 1 day thing. So now it's new cement in the entire apartment, and I'm wondering if they're going to put everything back where, or close to where it was originally when they finish. I visited yesterday to get my passport, and I hadn't before thought about the extend to which they were uprooting all my stuff. Which was to the maximum. 


Unless they plugged in my fridge, which is sitting outside my door, all my food is gone. My stuff has been stuffed into suitcases and boxes that were around, and who the hell knows where my furniture when. And who the hell knows if I'll find everything again. I guess more has happened lately than I would've considered. 

There's been some drama about what native teachers can and can't do during winter break (the equivalent to summer). New rules were imposed as of yesterday, the school year ends Christmas Eve. After being told that we can apply for "home research"- a glorified way of saying I'm not coming into school to work, but will "work" at home instead- during a city wide "training" day (and yes, all these quotations are valid and necessary) the new notice said native teachers aren't eligible for this. Nor are we allowed to stay home even of the Korean teachers do. Native teachers are expected to work from 9-5 all through break, in addition to the English camps most schools hold, and any other additional things that principals want us to do. Many of my friends have an extra week of camps tacked on to their original 2 weeks, and aren't happy. I think a lot of it is the fact that if we were told sooner, and if this were more organized, we'd roll with it a little more. But it also feels like they're really pushing the limits with us, and continuously adding on more job requirements. 


Fortunately for me, my co-teacher didn't like this notice, so as he put it, he begged the principal and vice principal not to make me come in during break. His argument is there's no one here, no English camps at my school because many live in other cities, and thus not a lot to do during break. I think something may be arranged so I don't have to be in school, but there will be a work plan because the MOE (ministry of edu) will be doing check-ins to make sure we're doing what they want us to be doing. So if I do get to stay home, I have to stay nearby so I can make an emergency trip to the school in the event of an MOE visit. At least after 5 and weekends, I'm free to do whatever.


On a happier note: 

it's almost FRIDAY. The school year is winding down, and I'm looking forward to Christmas shopping this weekend. Because that stuff seriously needs to be in the mail next week. My feet are going to be toasty warm again this winter thanks to John and my new chocolate Uggs! (ugly, yes. Warm, a more important yes) The clothing is glorious here, and a constant tempter. :( I'm thinking about saving a chunk of money for a shopping trip in February- in addition to the cost of Thailand and money to send home as savings. Yeah. Possibly doable. 

can't win

Tickets to Thailand are booked, but I never feel convinced that the tickets actually are booked until I'm in the terminals... It's been insane trying to book flights. Prices jumped nearly $300 overnight, sites were saying different things... we finally got tickets for about $650. I had to buy 3 on my American card (even the payment was a mess- paying with our Korean debits was almost impossible), so now I'm anxious to wire money to my home account to get rid of that credit.


But. I am one MASSIVE step closer to THAILAND. Trumps all.

WASTED :(

This is why I shouldn't cook. There's still chicken in the fridge.  I keep telling John to eat it when he says he's hungry. I get, "oh, okay." And that's the end. Also, since Monday, I went out for dinner Tuesday to talk about Thailand and there was an impromptu dinner last night with someone. This afternoon, I get another message to meet someone whose only night off is Thursday. He works 4 13 hour days a week. So lame. Therefore, the beef dish that I've been really kind of looking forward to swallowing down with lettuce is sitting untouched in my fridge. I'll throw it in the freezer, but then who knows how long it'll sit there. What a waste of money, carrots, and half an onion. 


My co-teacher has told me to sit out all of the classes this week except 2 elementary classes because he wants to review for finals quickly. Fine, I guess. I still have the TESOL courses to finish... (vomit)


In January, I am planning to go to THAILAND. However, until my plane ticket is booked I'm not really thinking about it. Trying to budget for this trip has been difficult. Things keep changing, and all plans are extremely tentative. Saving money and taking trips abroad isn't a great combination. At least by the time I go, I'll have another paycheck, and one a week away. I'm hoping to at the very least not go backwards into the amount I've set aside. Christmas shopping also makes it hard. I have been avoiding going into department stores... and all the coupons that American stores are clogging my inbox with are 


absolute. torture. 


I think I'm going to suck it up and buy a cheap purse tonight. Also. I invested in a new phone on Tuesday. My plan is much more expensive, but it's because the phone company has me paying monthly payments towards the phone on top of the relatively cheap phone bill. I feel like it isn't so much it'll set me back too much, if much at all as long as spending habits aren't friggin ridiculous (I haven't purchased anything this month except necessary things!) The phone is Korea's version of the iPhone, but better. I justify this phone by the idea that I will probably never own a phone as nice as this again. I. am. in. love. 

some cooking babbling

I said it before, but I feel that cooking here is much more difficult than cooking at home. Efforts take about twice as long as they did in Virginia... I often find myself yearning for the kitchen I left behind at South View. The meat selection at Homeplus is pretty awful. There aren't a lot of cuts offered, there are often grey spots on pork and beef, and meat (no matter where you go) is pretty expensive. It's been expensive equipping myself with cooking supplies, too. I've been trying to cook/ make some different things here. Without an oven, I can't make turkey meatloaf- ground poultry doesn't seem to exist here anyway. I miss turkey loaf. 

Plus, my "stove" is a double hot plate. It barely fits 2 pans. It really kind of takes some of the fun away from cooking. I've made 떡 (ddeok), steamed rice cake, with cabbage and a red tomatoey-chili-y sauce. The sauce was packaged, and the ddeok was store bought. It's a dish that is pretty common at street food vendors' tents. Definitely yummier at 2 am on the streets. I made tacos with the taco seasoning sent from home. Freaking awesome. I think my proudest achievement didn't involve much cooking at all. Vietnamese spring rolls based on what John's host family served us for lunch once. She called it fusion, I guess because they incorporated Korean stuff, but it's basically just sliced vegetables, some meat if you like, and this stuff called rice paper- your wrapper. You dip it in hot water to soften it up then load up on whatever you want in it. The cool thing about this is that you can get as creative as you want or can with this dish. Plus it's pretty healthy. 

Actually, I should be proud that I pulled off Thanksgiving with no stove and 2 burners. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, broccoli, glazed carrots. Made in my little faux kitchen. Although I did have to cook some dishes the night before. Tonight, I tried 2 different dishes: fried chicken wings in a reduced garlic, soy sauce and honey mixture, and a kalbi recipe that I modified based on 2 versions. Not so hot, although they both look  impressive. The kalbi (it means rib meat, but the meat I bought wasn't that...) was kind of tasteless. It's smell was deceiving! As for the reduction mixture... I don't know how to reduce. I figure John will snack on the chicken... hopefully, and the next meal I'll get lettuce to wrap the beef in and cover up the blandness. This dish is to be conquered. 


But seriously. Can you believe that I'm cooking beef? omg, I cooked BEEF. And I didn't even think about it. 


My treasure for the day was green beans! Today was the first time I've seen them here, but they're pretty expensive. Just enough for 2 people cost almost $3. So worth it. Cauliflower is starting to show up in the stores, so I'm planning to get some and do the cheesy cauliflower like home. I have a giant head of cabbage that I didn't get to use today... now I need to figure out how to make it tasty. It is almost one of my favorite vegetables now. It's dirt cheap and PACKED with nutrients. Toss is in the family with broccoli and cauliflower. Awesome.

On a closing note, Korea as someone put it, is all about free stuff. At Homeplus, random things get taped to products as freebies. I got a cereal bowl and a fork off of 2 different cereal boxes. Giant boxes of instant coffee had tuppeware containers stuck to them, some products get doubled up. Chili paste was coming with cooking oil. STORY. An associate chased me down in Homeplus to try and convince me to buy a huge container of chili paste because it also came with a small bottle of the oil in my cart. I mean first, how did she see those things in my card. And secondly, I turned her down because the chili paste was way too much, and the oil was way too small. She probably just thinks I was clueless. 

flue week!

I never finished my 5 day course of Tamilflu. Sunday was awful. First to clarify, there apparently aren't general doctor's offices here. There are specialized doctors in their own offices, but for something general you go to the hospital. So no hospitals were open in my neighborhood on Sunday. My coteacher lives halfway across town, and he made me meet him at a hospital that was open near him. By this time, my temperature was about 102, my entire body hurt, and I had those chills in the bones that you can't do anything about. Absolutely miserable. On Motrin and Tamiflu and some mystery "cold pills," my temperature peaked at 99 on Monday, and was gone Tuesday. Nice. 


I need work in my life, though. Being at home for a week was pretty dismal. Oh, and by the end of my birthday, I had received 4 cakes and got very drunk. But not as drunk as I was last weekend. Soju is dangerous. Koreans who drink with you are dangerous. A group of 10-15 of us were in this tiny bar, and a Korean college soccer club was also drinking. We made friends, ended up drinking together and I insisted that I was having a moment with this guy until he fell into a table. The night was kind of awesome. 


Today, my 2 classes were cancelled for an unknown reason. I started the online courses that my co-teacher signed me up for (thanks for that...) and had some issues with accessing some video lectures. I got to see my computer be controlled remotely. Weird thing. I survived one class. 10 e-lectures, some freshman homework and an obnoxious lecturer. Koreans with English (British) accents are disturbing. Not because of the accent, this particular woman pronounced some words in ways that gave me the urge to hurl my computer. Or chuckle. Or do both at once. My hopes that the next class would be better were dashed when the new video opened with a portly American man in a powder pink shirt... and no offense, but kind of looking like a pedophile, which made me suspicious that he's an Asiaphile. I know, I'm judgy. To survive this... This better certify me in something. 

flu

Sunday I was "diagnosed" with H1N1, and must now spend a week at home. Yesterday sucked. Really sucked. The body aches, the internal chills. Freezing, but sweating. I don't know if it's my fever really going away or the Tamiflu I'm taking, but my temperature hasn't gone above 99.5 today. fine with me.

생일

It started yesterday afternoon when my co-teacher arrived to teacher training with a cake. It was a house... and somehow they managed to demolish it in 5 minutes. At midnight when my co-teacher sent 15 text messages. The last 6 woke me up. I vaguely remember feeling freaked out and wondering who would be texting me then... and so much. The student I meet with in the mornings to go over her English diary gave me a gift; I haven't opened it yet. A teacher gave me something that has to be refrigerated. And then after lunch the teachers gave me another cake- a sweet potato cake!- (고구마)... Thursdays I have classes all morning, so I don't come down to the teacher's room until lunch. Someone left a handful of chestnuts and a sweet potato on my desk. Another teacher made these cute magnets- a happy cloud and a leaf... pictures later. too effn cute. It's been a good day, and I reeaally appreciate what everyone's done! 


I also figured out the post office... kind of... and found some cards to mail to the states (AT LAST). I have a rogue Christmas card and some stationary sets. Everything else seems to be about how "I love you" or something about being happy. hopinghopinghoping the stuff I mailed actually makes it to their destinations. 


After my school closed last week for H1N1, now all the students are getting sick. 

not to generalize

The faculty at my school blasts the heat, turns it off, and then opens the windows. It's about 40 degrees today. Apparently stingy on AC, and totally weird about heat. 

just 말해요

I'm volunteering my apartment for a Halloween pregame. I'll see how much I regret this, though it appears that maybe only 10 people will come. Much better than the 20 that showed up to someone else's place when we got our first paychecks. Monday the students should be coming back to school. I somehow managed to not get ahead in most of my work. I should've been planning for the high school classes I run. I do have a surplus of some teacher training chapters done (my opinion is that the work book SUCKS, but I finally smartened up and am trying to create games that use concepts), and I'm about halfway done with typing example essays for an English writing contest for a blind student. Thank you FML, the Frisky, and eonline for helping me be useless this week! 


And wow, do I want to burn that book. One topic is asking if students think there should be more male teachers in schools than there are and why. The general consensus is that yes, there should be more men because they can teach subjects that women can't. Like discipline. Man oh man, do I have a lot of problems with this, but I'm trying to exercise patience and understand that these are ESL students from another culture- another world sometimes- and that their real meaning in some places may be getting lost in translation. 


I still want to pull out my hair. Or theirs. First- discipline is not the best approach as it is, even if beating students is still legal here. Pleasepleaseplease ask yourself how you can manage students' behavior. Yes, this is a glorified way of saying behavior manipulation- the less you have to threat a student the better for all parties, I think. And the obvious point that gender doesn't automatically make you better at something doesn't even need to be elaborated on. 


OK, I can't get over it. I can barely type these damn essays, they just piss me off so much. 
Though this following statement, I didn't know if I felt like laughing or screaming:
"Moreover, if students are able to experience only with female students (really means teachers I think), there is a good chance for boys to get too girly."
So, with overexposure to women, boys run the risk of turning gay/effeminate. gotcha. well in that case, bring in the men! But then won't the girls turn butch?


I miss stupid places like Wal-mart and Target. I reaaaaally miss Martin's/ Giant food stores. I'm dying for a Banana Republic, and after reading an fml about someone in Old Navy- a trip there would be fab, too. Oh the places I would go. 


Last note- I've been curious about Paranormal Activity, with it's reviews of being the scariest movie in a long time. I've seen the trailer once with the sound muted. I also spoiled it for myself and read a synopsis. That said, I've scared myself awake 3 times because I started thinking about the ending in my sleep. (photo from /film)

thanks, H1N1

My school is closed through October 31st because of the flu. From what I understood, whoever made the decision was concerned about students with physical disabilities (cerebral palsy was named specifically). So the students who live in the school got shipped home, and the teachers are doomed to sit in the office for the rest of the week. ugh. I can at least take my goddamn sweet time with my workload!


I got a block of ddeok yesterday, and I left it on my desk by accident. Fortunately, it's still good! So says my co-teacher. There was a hot air balloon in Daejeon this weekend, and I went on Saturday to see the "light show". I was expecting flashyness! fireworks! lasers! Instead it was about 8 hot air balloons lighting up in the dark to the beat of a 3 minute song. Oh, and maybe 5 minutes of fireworks. I can't say I thought it was worth the 30 minute walk from the nearest subway stop, but I did get to see the Expo bridge and its water show- and THAT was worth the trip. So some highlights:

The water jets, filling a balloon, the bridge in all my camera's blurry glory. 

I must say, I can't get over that you have to shoot fire up a turtle's butt hole.

so last week

Okay! Last week was kind of not so crazy... it felt so in the moment. Monday was a birthday outing for a teacher, out  bowling, eating, drinking until midnight. Tuesday was John's birthday- he randomly picked a cool place that served a super spicy pork thing and bibimbap. Thursday out until midnight with my co-teacher and another teacher. We saw District 9 (I got an awful headache from the camera style and being too close to the screen...), ate dinner, and then rented a room where you can play Wii, watch TV, sing karaoke, or surf the internet. And the rooms are decorated CUTE. 


Friday I went to Daegu to visit a teacher who had been in a car accident. Though he and his wife were fine, they had to stay in the hospital. From what my co-teacher explained, it's policy for people to stay there until the situation is sorted out by insurance. Or something like that. 7 of us I think went down in a school van. Before leaving Daejeon, my co-teacher and another loaded up on beer, coffee, and food. Half of the ride down we played a hot-potato style game. There was a bee hive with slits in the side, and a bear that could be ejected out of the top. Okay, so this is more Russian Roulette. You take turns sticking bees into the slits, and one slit will eject the bear. You lose. We played for money, and later they collected the amount we lost, but I have no idea where the total pot went. After visiting our fellow staff member in the hospital, we took the him and his wife out to dinner... Ok, so I was told that this place served pork. The restaurant workers brought white squares of something jiggly, definitely NOT pork. It had the consistency of fat, a dirty aftertaste, and only after I ate it were the teachers willing to tell me where exactly it came from. Pig stomach. Nice. No, no. That's not meat. That's an organ. That's a pig part. That's something that isn't commonly eaten in America. Maybe it's just my opinion/assumption, but that's something seen as dirty. You digest food with stomachs. You make poo with intestines. I don't want to be eating pig poo pipes. No thank you. I'm done. Daegu traditional dish or not, the Daegu-ins could've picked a better meal. 


Daegu is 2 hours from Daejeon, I came back at 9:30 and was told to go to Timeworld- shopping/bar area in Daejeon that's about 30 minutes metro from me... and out until 2am. And the catch was that all week I wanted a nap. Never got it. Saturday out with a massive group after Indian food, didn't get it, settled for samgyupsal- the restaurant caught on fire or something, we evacuated, still had to pay in the smoke, and later ended up at 2 different bars. Apparently I'm making up for the college partying that I never did. 


Earlier this week one of my high school classes asked for my phone number. I complied, maybe 4 of them took it. Last night, one student called about 10 times, hanging up whenever I answered. When I texted him calling him out for being to scared to talk to me, I got a reply confirming this. Then I got another call from another student who explained that he had to write the text for the chicken student. okok. After saying goodbye to that crew, another student started texting me... haha the pains of being popular! 


And this morning I went on a field trip where students learned traditional Korean etiquette. They made me make and pour tea, and there was some serious invasive assistance going on. Also, my male co-teacher got dressed in a han-bok. The scary thing was that it was a good look for him. Some girl students who previously didn't really talk to me are starting to be more outgoing now, and I appreciate that. I've got to get some planning done for the high schoolers. I seriously feel like I'm pulling out my own teeth, it's so painful sometimes. The situation is bizarre and I'm trying to accommodate everyone, but I'm struggling with reaching each student in a fair way.


My nephew's first birthday is in a few weeks, and I've been on a desperate search for something "cute and Korean looking." Fail so far. There's a toy store I'm hoping to visit today where I hope to be more fortunate. I could also use more sweaters... it's chilly these days!

the beef

Most everyone else I think has already experienced this phenomenon or has been dealing with it on a regular basis: today my co-teacher didn't show up for any classes. 


Dear Korean Teacher,
Things come up. I get that. Okay, I can deal. I improvised with NO materials to work with for the elementary students. I let the middle schoolers who weren't participating in National Exams talk, sleep, and eventually I made paper airplanes with the one student who could see. My last class figured out what was on their exam and we figured out a way to re-review everything. 


I think I did pretty well. Fairly well at least. And while I can accept the dynamic-ness that is about 98% of Korean culture (it seems), I am having trouble accepting what is to me unprofessional behavior. 


If you're not going to be in class, please tell me. I just want to know that something came up that will prevent you from coming. 


If you find out you won't be coming to any classes all day, but you can still come to the teacher's room at random moments- why not stop by and let me know? It would take like. 2 seconds. Seriously. 


Also, if possible, please give me access to the materials. I understand that it may not be possible, but I would appreciate any effort. 


Sincerely, 
Your momentarily frustrated, slightly furious but mostly bummedthatiwasprobablyuselesstothestudents, co-teacher.

nudge from home

nyanya no more Seoul, I basically said it all. 

An example of the dynamic-ness that is Korea's essence, I was invited by John's co-teacher to go hiking on Saturday. Somehow, the fact that we are surrounded by mountains and that typically, hikers like to hike to their summits eluded me when I said yes. I don't know what I was thinking... actually I do. I pictured a park. Like an American park with a gravel "trail" and me walking leisurely while enjoying some nice pre-autumn weather. I was absolutely dumb. 

We met John's co-teacher and husband at 10. We were on the trail by 10:30. We finished at 4. 

I hiked Old Rag in July, and that was the longest trail I'd ever done. About 9 miles, 1.5 dedicated to rock scrambling, about 4 to knee breaking downhill trekking. That was hard. 


Saturday brought back images of Old Rag. I have no idea how long the trail was. They pointed to one summit, and I thought that was endgame, and we'd head down. I believe they even said that we'd go that far, and that they showed us something further and said it was TOO far. But, um. No. 20-30 minutes after leaving the summit, we reached another lookout area, and the husband pointed to something much higher than we were and said we were going there. 


It's just that something this long and intense, I would've appreciated a heads up so I could've dressed more appropriately and also prepared! Stupidstupid me has no hiking pants- I wore jeans and a new shirt- and might I mention that Koreans take hiking seriously! Well, I think it's more that they take their hiking gear seriously. The hats, the pants, shoes, shirts, jackets, the sticks that look like ski poles. Oh, and the backpacks, and the neck towels, too. Everything specially designed for hiking. Seriously. 

It was definitely fun, and the view was worth it- the views are ALWAYS worth it. And I would probably do that trail again, except that it was an hour and a half down and it was kind of a scary trip down... and my knees don't like going down for that long. 


Sunday some friends and I found a place in Daejeon where you can rent different things on wheels- bikes, adult tricycles, mini motorbikes, big wheels, kid car things that I can't remember the name of... and ride around on a giant lot. I mean. FUN. There were so many little kids in those little electric cars, some were remote controlled so their parents would drive them around. Something like that I'd love to take my future kids to. 

John's co-teacher said that teachers can apply to move to a new school after 2 years and then have to move after 5. The basic reason is that the school system wants teachers to rotate, I guess to keep things fresh. When I told my co-teacher that I found this strange, he said that he thinks it's good because otherwise work would become boring. 


This fact has been bothering me since I was told about it, and I don't know why it bothers me so much. It really just makes me kind of sad. I guess maybe I like to make attachments, and if I knew I had to move every so many years, what's the point of letting yourself love some place? And then my school in particular, the teachers with vision impairments can stay forever if they want. I wonder how they feel with teachers moving through... but then I have no idea how long teachers tend to stay in American schools so maybe it isn't all that different. I think the fact that you aren't allowed to stay if you love a school is what gets to me the most. 


A friend from home has recently had something absolutely horrific happen and I'd rather be there with her right now. 

psychedelic s(e)oul... pt 1

Being as this has taken me a week to write... a paragraph here and there... and also that photos seem to make things very complicated. I'll eventually finish talking about Seoul.

This weekend being a Korean holiday that foreigners don't celebrate (obviously), some friends and I thought it would be a good time to visit Seoul. For the most part, it was a good opportunity. In some cases, the closing of certain places (like the Chipotle/Qdoba ripoffs!) not so much. But omg, there's so much to see there! And thanks to our personal slave driver -- just kidding, Sam. Lots of love to you!--  


Our group of 4 arrived Thursday afternoon via the "slow train." Really, just the normal train. KTX will get us to Seoul in less than an hour. The normal train takes about 2. I mean. That's my drive from my hometown in VA to my university. There was a bookstore that had Korean language workbooks, and I should've gotten some that day because it was closed when we came back... I pine for those. 


We searched for an underground game store for my nerdy boyfriend- he found a PS2 slim, and was able to get it modded by the seller. That's so not done in America. So now he can play games from most any country, bypassing region codes. Oh, and he can bypass region codes on DVDs, so I (we) can watch movies on my giant TV, and I can be fully justified in not ever subscribing to cable here. 


Daejeon has some, too but we found Indian restaurants in Seoul and it was EXCITING and DELICIOUS. Aside from Korean-ized fast food and Korean-ized pizza, I hadn't had any food that wasn't Korean or something resembling Korea's style since leaving home. Granted the first Indian place we went to (we ate Indian the second night, too) was owned and run by Koreans, but it was a great change from kimchikimchikimchi. 


Thursday and Friday compiled a long list of fails.  A store called Roundup, fail. Chipotle/Qdoba rip-off, fail. Random temple, fail. We weren't going to get in for free. Malls at D...onsa...dong?- fail.  Our general conclusion about Chuseok: it sucks! j/k really, but it was frustrating that so much was closed for SO LONG (days!) However, Seoul Tower made(saved) Friday. I saw my first sunset, all of Seoul, and the city lights turn on. 

The windows had locations around the world and their distances- so we could see which direction and how far someplace like North Korea was. Or home. Seeing "Washington" printed on a window panel was beautiful. 


Our original plans for Saturday were scrapped when someone heard that Itewan(sp) may not have anything going on afterall (this is the "foreigner" place... like America Town. ATown...) Somewhere else was a temple, a palace, and the "Blue House"- Korea's apparent equivalent to the White House. It has another name that starts with a c... Koreans don't seem to know "Blue House."

Temple was awesome with it's canopy of lanterns. Palace was beautiful, enormous, and still unfinished. While walking, I got the rundown of Asian history around the time of WWII. It's interesting learning a bit about what was going on on the other side of the world while the west had its own serious drama happening. Japan demolished many of the temples and palaces when it invaded Korea, so most historical sites are reconstructed. How amazing would it have been to see the original structures. (Random note, at Seoul Tower there was a COLDSTONE CREAMERY. How absolutely random. 

 

the great divide

Some differences between American and Korean schools:
1. Dress code. It's casual here. As in, teachers can wear t-shirts and jeans to school. For the most part, American teachers are expected to be in things not made of denim or casual khaki material. Except maybe on Friday, but even then you still have to wear a non-t-shirt top. 
2. Physical contact. Students can be all huggy here- not like couples huggy because that's really weird, but friends upon friends. Friends have seen students get beaten, but the roughest I've seen at my school is a teacher play-strangling a student. And that's still shocking to me. We would SO be fired and sued in the states. 
3. Topics of conversation. My teacher made me tell students what the English term for nose picking is. And then he had them write it down. Today, he had them write down penthouse. I should probably stop talking in class. Also, it's acceptable to talk about alcohol and getting drunk with students. Not about them really getting drunk, but joking that they do. It's going to  be rough re-adjusting to schools at home if I go back to them. 
4. Where the teachers go. There's a "teachers' room" where all the teachers have a desk. In my school, there's one room for the entire faculty. I've heard that others are broken up by grade level. I like this system. I think it can help prevent teacher cliques. 
5. Time between class. 10 minutes. wtf.
6. The bell system. It's not a bell. It's a song that announces the beginning of class, and another to signal the conclusion. 


This weekend was a friend's birthday... but I'll come to that later. First, last Friday was a mass exodus to a teacher's apartment for charades and pictionary. Quite interesting. And crowded. But it was good to see some people who I don't see often that night. 


Then came Saturday. Okay, so the first weekend in Daejeon after being dumped in the city (you know the Futurama scene were a truckload of pandas is emptied into the streets?) some of us met to get dinner. 1 person had a preference that we sit at tables with chairs, so we ended up at one of the first ones we encountered. We didn't know how to order, the servers couldn't help- and while we were all floundering, this Korean guy comes up and offers to help. In English. So to thank him for helping us, we tried inviting him out which turned into him inviting us out and taking us to this DELICIOUS place that served what he called "lamb steaks." It was lamb on metal skewers in some sauce (that was of course, spicy), and it came with 3 different spices to dip it. The spices smelled amazing and strangely comforting. The guy made us to to a bar next door to wait for him while he had some sort of business meeting... then we eventually ended up somewhere else in the city because someone wanted to meet other friends. The night ended with everyone going in different directions, and on the walk to the subway I saw an Indian restaurant. I'm so going. 


This week is short thanks to the Korean holiday, Chuseok. They call it the Korean Thanksgiving. From what I understand, they celebrate the harvest and also honor their ancestors. Tomorrow is the last day of school for the week, and then Thursday I leave for Seoul! 


Yesterday a student's family members gave boxes of fruit to some of her teachers. I walked home with a 7.5 kg box of what I think would be called the Asian pear... it's huge. It's yummy. It was heavy. I would've liked to share some of it with teachers once I realized what it was, but I don't know if it's considered polite to open something in front of others. What I did do though was buy 50,000 worth of fruit and candy for the faculty to bring this morning. They seemed to appreciate the gesture. 


You can find Chupa Chups here (something my Spanish teacher introduced me to in high school), so I bought a tin for the teachers and a tin to share with students. My middle schoolers understood I wanted to share... my elementary kids not so much. After trying and failing to explain that I was sharing, they deducted that it was candy and I wanted them to eat it. Good enough. I found a good website that explains the construction of Korean, so I'm looking forward to start piecing together sentences. 


Something that makes me happy: one class has girls who are excited- or are good at pretending to be excited to see me, and I was thinking the boys hated me because I made them participate. But now those boys are starting to say hi first when they see me, and the shyest one is starting to stop me in the halls to try and say something. CUTE. Seriously, I need to step up my game in Korean. 

In the PC BangsBANGBANGpewpew- May I have your name? 이름이

I'm optimistic about teacher training now that I have gotten to actually use the books. My co-teacher approached me this morning and we hashed out how we'd like to utilize the materials, and basically we share the same ideas for how to be prodcutive instructors to the teachers. It's never the people I get upset with, it's the differences in culture and the language barrier that is sometimes the hardest to deal with. But we always seem to get over any hitches (hopefully there's no grudge being harbored for something), and I certainly hope that we continue this trend.

After consistently forgetting the papers that have students' photos and names, I finally brought one to a class and I consulted with students on how to pronounce names. It will be a long. long. time before I know everyone's names by heart. So many sound the same- one student was asking what my favorite Korean name was, and I said just that. They're hard to pronounce with the subtle differences of this vowel or that vowel, and I wonder if English names are difficult to remember for Koreans. The whole damn school new my name in 2 seconds, but I'm just 1 person. Some of the teachers have taken on English names, and they say I should call them by that, but I don't think they understand that it's important to me and other English teachers I know that we learn their names.

Yesterday, a teacher handed me about a foot of 떡(ddeok), a type of rice cake. It was plain, warm, and it looked like a giant fat worm. And they wanted me to chow down. This was about 1 minute before class. I love ddeok, don't get me wrong- but stuff like this, and the sweet potato the vice principle gave me a couple weeks ago... it's so random! :)  I had to throw most of the ddeok away since I couldn't eat it, and by the end of class it was funky and cold. It's steamed or something, so it's initially sticky, but when it cools you get that kind of pudding skin. Nasty.

Looks like mozarella cheese sticks, right?

Oh yes and genius me! jk, but seriously I suggested that I differentiate some of the teaching materials for students, and my teacher gave me the OK! I'm so excited, but I just welcomed a fair amount of extra work. I've noticed that when we do reading exercises, classes seem to be split from those who have strong listening comprehension skills and those who really struggle. The reading selections are already pretty tough for the students, and I'm doubting how much they can auditorily decipher. Some students have a lot of trouble spelling, and 1 student that I've seen makes writing mistakes that people with a learning disability might make. So I get to remake materials so they're more accessible to lower level students. HAPPY.

My hour at the PC Bang is about up. Quality date with my boyfriend... Then it's off to Homeplus to buy myself the lamb bathmat as a computer seat. It's cute! It's pink!

see you tomorrow, bye, bye forever! bye bye!

I will always count myself fortunate for the students I have here. Some of the other English teachers I know are starting to experience behavior problems- the shiny new foreigner isn't that shiny now, or the behaviors are popping up for various reasons. Behavior management here is definitely different than what American schools are shifting to. Where I learned in the states to "manage" and "redirect" in positive ways, fellow English teachers have already seen the crap get beaten out of some of their students. 

My school hallway. To the right is the teachers' room. Way down to the right takes to to staircases to classrooms, and also out a door to a walkway that connects to the second building, where the English classroom is. 

I'm incredibly and infinitely thankful that it seems that the kids at my school don't exhibit these -or any- behavior problems. To boast, my students are sweet, if painfully timid sometimes- but I'm trying to string some kind of connection between our language barriers to make them less wary. I'm glad that the Korean word here and there excites them. (but how long will that last?) They've also been very generous- the random little gifts here and there stay with me. They'll be good memories to put in my box of "warm fuzzies" as a psych professor called it. Like today, 2 girls came in with grapes (concord grapes which I feel are too much work to bother eating, but so delicious!) to share with everyone. 

Today's flare up of anger and frustration: I was adapting the material from those books I was given for teacher training when I was told to just start from the beginning and type out each chapter for the teachers who have visual impairments. I had skipped the first few chapters because they were basic, and I felt that everyone who's coming already has this knowledge. But "Koreans like to go straight through books." I was feeling "come on. Trust me. I know what I'm doing. I have your best interests in mind- seriously!", but moving forward I'm just going to do what I'm asked to do. 


As for the 2 classes I'm now leading, the older group is much lower than the other one. Monday I used the same topic in both classes: music. For the more advanced class I moved on to talking about likes and dislikes, and the other one I stepped backwards and showed them different ways to say hi, bye, and how to ask how others' day, week, and weekend was. I need to learn how to say "easy" in Korean. 

The more advanced class actually has a gaping rift between ability levels. The girls pretty much show up the boys every time. So since I can't rely on any visuals (vision impairments, you see), I'm using a lot of "repeat after me", and "what's ---- in Korean?". But you know, this is all good practice for them anyway. 


I've got to stop posting twice a day.

billsbillsbills and hemorrhaging bank accounts

My first utility bill came in the mail yesterday: 36,000W for water, electricity, and I think the cleaning of something. I also have gas, internet, and my cell phone to pay. I was planning to allot 30,000W for my phone since we pay for each text and every 10 seconds of outgoing calls, but I think I overestimated because we don't have to pay for incoming text messages :D So for 6,000W I can send 300 texts. Not bad (the base monthly fee is 13,000). 


I'm actually looking forward to sitting down and budgeting different things, but I'm notoriously bad at recording what I spend. I always estimated at home and generally was pretty accurate. Maybe it's all the extra 0's here, but doing the same has been hard. Of course, I'm also not used to having cash. And the fact that it looks like play money makes me not quite register that this is in fact real money that I'm spending. 


My list of upcoming purchases is growing- a hand vacuum (spending 2 hours windexing my floors isn't something I want to do again), a (dry) mop- I'm bummed that Swiffer doesn't exist here, an electronic Korean-English dictionary, a new phone. meh. More stuff to fill the space in my apartment...


I searched for places in Daejeon to take Korean language classes, and based on what I found I determined it was a fail. Most of the times were during the work day, and many schedules were from a few years ago. If I had a good textbook or some workbooks, I could study on my own. Still looking.


Some teachers got me a stack of English resources for teacher training. I'm trying to adapt the material to something more immediately useful... like you see a foreigner in a store and you want to help. Here's some language to communicate!


Today I was trying to converse with some middle school students before class. I asked what "cute" is in Korean. They threw a bunch of words at me. After figuring out what cute was- I really don't know if I ever said it right, the people here typically laugh when I say something in Korean- I called all the boys cute. They SO swooned. Or laughed at me, I couldn't tell. 


And the awkward moment of the day was one of the boys saying some awesome English in response to an assessment question: 
"What do you want?"
"I want Megan's cell phone number!"
I said maybe later, I have to finish assessing the other students, and he kind of rolled around the floor for a while muttering "oooooh nooo." I don't think it's against policy as my teacher mentioned he got texts from students, but it's weird to me. Email, ok. Phone? kind of sketch.


I did get the genius idea though to start a penpal system between students who are interested. I was thinking that I could practice Korean on them and they could respond in English. First, I need access to a language resource so I could communicate somewhat intelligibly. 


Next time I'll talk more about the students. I should. They're awesome. But all the students/campers I've ever had have been awesome. 

on the topic of good eats

Okay, so the most frustrating thing about being in Korea (at the moment at least) is that I can't cook here! I prided myself back at home for cooking. And this year I branched out a lot! I started using onions and garlic, I toyed with cooking Indian food (omg ADDICTED and it's totally better at restaurants), I added pork to the brief list of meats I would eat- chicken and ground turkey... so exciting... I freakin love produce sections in food stores. When Martin's opened up in Harrisonburg, it was heaven. I don't know the bottles and sauces here. The most common vegetables are really just edible water bottles. I've also been clued in that I need to weigh and price loose produce before going to the check out, but I don't know where to do that or how, so I'm avoiding anything that isn't prepackaged and priced. Yeah, I'm pathetic. 


I miss tacos. And tikka masala. 


In a moment of stupid lameness last night, I was proud of myself for assembling rice, mini weenies and mixing them together with chili sauce... into something like a sad man's bibimbap. And then John showed up with food that his host mom cooked, and I was totally schooled. Though I also included sliced plum and pickled radish. And  frozen dumplings (만두!) <-- spelling... seriously schooled.

That feeling of accomplishment after cooking an awesome meal is part of what I miss. Here, so many sides are pre-made, you can get away with just doing something to some kind of meat and tossing it in with the pickled this, pickled that, and fermented whatever. I would LOVE  to learn how to make some of the stuff I've had at restaurants, but right now sauces are terribly unknown territory. 

dalkgobi (닭고기)- the deliciousness that exists

the hot mess that I pull off

I also like having control over what goes into my food, though at home that was mainly because the restaurants are unhealthy. Here is the first time in a long time that I haven't been mentally calculating everything that I'm eating, but that's partly because I can't read the nutrition facts and because I really have no idea how healthy or unhealthy the food is. I need more vegetables in my life and less rice. I hate potatoes, but man would I love one. With some butter (margarine actually, I think real butter smells weird).


Add cooking to the list of things I want to accomplish here. I'm addicted to ramen lately. I think it's because it's about 98% salt. I need to stop eating it.


Also, I'm starting to consider looking into buying a guitar. I could use something to work on while I'm in the apartment.

beginnings

I could and possibly should write about the entire first month of being in Korea, but in all probability, I shouldn't... and that's a good enough reason to justify my desire not to.

I feel that I'm slipping into a good routine at work. I still mix up the middle school classes, I only know a handful of the students' names, but I'm pretty comfortable with the work. Last Friday, my second co-teacher asked me 20 minutes before leaving if I would take over his classes on Monday. Great! (seriously) It's funny that even just a few weeks of not being in charge, I already feel rusty at leading the students in a lesson. Plus, teaching here I hesitate to call actual teaching. I don't mean to be insulting to the school... it's probably a matter of adjusting to a school culture of auditory teaching and letting go of hands on/ active learning activities. I'll have to stay fresh with those by vicariously living through the teaching experiences of other teachers here.

We were warned many times about culture shock and its stages; a theory similar to that of grieving- and I really braced myself for the moment when my "honeymoon" stage ended and the bomb of shock would go off. But I don't know if I was ever in the honeymoon phase. Maybe because from all the warnings, I've been moving with caution. That's not to say I still didn't experience any culture shock, but I feel that it was more just the shock and horror of being torn away so suddenly from the people I knew. Now that day feels like a year ago, but I think the most isolating factor for me was that I don't think the faculty really understood what it felt like to be alone here in a new country. If the positions were switched, I don't think I would immediately consider those feelings. But YAY, that part is over!

Just over a month ago, I was on a plane, leaving home... Again, that feels like forever- yet I also feel like I haven't done anything here yet. My fear is that I'll somehow let my time slip away, and it'll be time for me to leave and I will have done and seen so little.

A darker note, I'm thankful for the people who came to Daejeon. They mostly all seem like a good crowd. My skeptical- well, cynical- mindset is still holding that caution sign up against everyone. Maybe it's my bad karma (considering what someone from home explained how she thought karma worked, it comes back to you in different ways) to not make friends easily, and have it be even harder to keep them (cue in you to think something may be seriously wrong with me- go ahead. think it). I might be too cautious, which would make me miss the window of making the connections. But I'm still torn I think between feeling that the risk is worth it and preserving my pride (and in turn remaining the loner). My good karma- should it exist-, I recently thought that it comes in the form of jobs. I've had great professional experiences, and I seem to always get the job I want. The trade off? Suck.

I love my faculty, I love the school, and the students are super cute. It's comforting to come here, and I'm grateful that everyone has been so welcoming. Now to learn everyone's names... and more Korean.