Life as an English Teacher in Korea

So someone from home asked if they could publish a link to my blog in the Maine Education Association newsletter so that the student members could have a glimpse of what life as an English teacher in Korea is like, and it made me realize that I really haven't posted a heck of a lot about my job. I pretty much just talk about life in Korea. But yes, I do go to work 5 days a week.
Tomorrow marks the end of the first four week series that I have completed as a MoonKkang teacher. I picked up the last two weeks of the previous series in December, but I just finished my own complete series. I got a list of all my new classes for the month of February, and fortunately I was able to keep all of the same classes. I will lose a few students though because they will be leveling up to the next class. I'll also gain a few new students who have leveled into my classes. I also just finished my first round of progress reports. I have 12 different classes with an average of 12 students in each class, so that's approximately 144 progress reports. I have to grade each student in four different areas: participation, comprehension, fluency, and accuracy. Fortunately, I only have to do them every two months because I take turns with my Korean partner teacher, Young Kyung.
I also recently got an email from one of the foreign managers at MK. She only recently discovered that I have a degree in Secondary Education, thus qualifying me for a higher rate of pay. So I'll be paid the correct amount for future months, and I'll get back-pay on the last two months. Sweet deal.
I've been meaning to write about this for a while, but it keeps escaping me when I actually sit down at the computer. Koreans are crazy about rock-paper-scissors (it's rock-scissors-paper here). The kids use it to decide everything. Adults even use it to resolve issues with their kids and with other adults. I once heard my coworkers joking that President Lee Myung Bak probably uses it to settle disputes with North Korea. Rock-scissors-paper is the thing to do here.
I had a piece of coffee flavored gum today. Really bizarre.
And the big news is....(drum roll please).....I CAN NOW READ AND WRITE IN KOREAN! I sat down on Sunday and studied the Korean alphabet, and now I can actually read the signs! Unfortunately, knowing Korean is a two-fold thing: you have to be able to read the script AND know the Korean words. So even though I can read the language I don't always know the Korean word that it spells. I'm still working on building my vocabulary of Korean words, but at least I can finally read the words I do know (as well as the ones I don't).
I'm headed to Busan again this weekend...I'll write again when I come home.

Roaming Solo

This weekend was another lesson in how to live alone in the city. I didn't really do anything too exciting, but I did get some things done that I've been meaning to do for a while. Saturday I went to the Chilseong Furniture Market with Ted (one of my coworkers) because he wanted a loveseat and he knows even less Korean than I do. Believe it or not, I actually proved to be useful as a translator. I did some grocery shopping at HomePlus, had dinner at Maya (an Indian restaurant), and hopped on a bus in an attempt to head downtown. The bus that I got on was supposed to make a stop an Banwoldang, which is the subway exit closest to downtown. However, the bus route is a big circle, and I didn't realize two things: #1. The bus was making its last circuit for the night, and #2. The bus had already been at Banwoldang and was completing the rest of the loop. It wouldn't have been an issue if I hadn't hopped on the last bus; it would have made it to Banwoldang eventually. So lo and behold, I am the last one on the bus when it stops on the outskirts of the city and the guy tells me to get off and find a taxi. I start walking towards the lights of the city, trying to find a taxi, hoping I have enough cash on me to cover the ride back. Five minutes later, the bus shows up and pulls over. The guy tells me to get on...he's going to take me back into the city, thank goodness. Once there, I hop off again and find a taxi to take me downtown. I would have used the subway, but the subway stops at 11:30pm so taxis are my only option. I made it downtown, and I discovered how to navigate from the main street to the couple places I've heard about (Communes, Club Frog, etc.). But I was looking for a specific theatre in which to watch Avatar. I wanted to watch it in 3D, so I had to find the IMAX. I walked around for a while looking for it, and eventually I just gave up. Right at that very moment I found the Lotte Cinema and decided to watch Avatar there instead. I bought my ticket, and it turns out Lotte was playing it in 3D, as well. Score! I had to wait 2 hours for my movie to start though so I went to Communes (a foreigners bar) and hung out for a while. I've been told that if you sit there long enough you're bound to meet someone cool. Apparently I either didn't look approachable or I didn't sit there long enough. Oh well. I got to listen to a decent Korean cover band do a few Weezer songs. I went back to the theatre for 2:25am, was one of three people watching the movie, and left at 5:05am when the movie ended. The movie was awesome, by the way...the only issue was that there were Korean subtitles so when the characters spoke in the alien humanoid language, the subtitles were still in Korean. Fortunately most of the dialogue was in English, but I think I'll have to watch it again when I come home so I can get the full effect.
Sunday I slept until 2pm or so (didn't get to bed until 6am), and made myself some Korean pancakes for breakfast. Very tasty, but very difficult to make. I think I'll stick to having someone else make them for me. I ventured out early Sunday evening to try to find a gym. I walked around for a few hours and found nothing. I even walked around on the Kyungpook National University campus right across the street from me. I also tried to rent a movie at two different places near my house, and because they couldn't speak English and I can't speak Korean we were at an impasse and I went home empty-handed. I looked up KNU when I got home, and it turns out I did find the fitness facility on campus, it was just closed. Now I just need to figure out if they'll let me go there even though I'm not a student. Keep your fingers crossed!

Chillaxin' on the Coast

This weekend I went to visit Angie in Busan again. In the subway station we heard a ruckus coming from down the corridor so we turned around to investigate. What we heard was a crowd of people gathered around a group of men doing a traditional song and dance. Check it out:
We headed down to Nampo-dong again because Angie had ordered a pair of boots in one of the underground subway shops so we did a bit of shopping while we were there. We had shabu shabu for dinner (thinly sliced beef cooked in boiling broth with veggies and noodles), and hit the hay at 10pm (both of us were running on 3 hours of sleep from the night before).
Due to our exhaustion and lack of sleep on Friday, we both slept until 1pm Sunday afternoon. She slept the entire time. I had trouble falling asleep, despite how tired I was, so I only slept for about 11 hours...which was nothing compared to Angie's 15 hours. We headed to E-Mart for groceries and saw the cutest little puppies I've ever seen. Somehow the Koreans have miniaturized breeds of dogs that are quite large back home (Australian shepherds, collies, etc.) and the puppies were tiny. I seriously considered getting a dog to keep me company and help me ward off the homesickness I've been feeling lately, but Angie informed me that apparently we're not allowed to have dogs or cats in our apartments. Oh well. It's probably best anyway since I would have to give the dog to Angie when I leave.
Sunday afternoon we went to the Haeundae Beach Aquarium. It was really quite relaxing just to watch all the exotic sea creatures floating around. Everything under the water seems to move in slow motion. The jellyfish don't have an agenda...they just glide around in aimless circles in their tank. It was a nice change of pace from being outside in the city where everything is bustling and busy. My favorite sea creature by far was the weedy sea dragon. So beautiful!
After the aquarium it was galbi for dinner, and then I was homeward bound. This time I made it home without incident. No missed trains, no snow, and no almost being late for school. Thank goodness.

Outside the City

This weekend Angie and I stayed in our respective cities and did our own thing. I made a trip to Costco (like BJ's or Sam's Club on steroids) on Saturday, but Sunday was the exciting part of my weekend. I went hiking at Mt. Palgongsan National Park with three of my coworkers, Hannah, Ted, and Hee Jeong. We were a little ways into our hike when we came across a Buddhist temple on the mountain. Someone we passed on the way up informed us that they were serving free lunch at the temple, so we stopped in for some traditional Korean fare. After a very tasty lunch we were instructed to head to the prayer room to pray three times to the Buddha inside of us. It was a little awkward at first because we weren't entirely sure how to proceed, but we figured it out, and I think our efforts were appreciated. We left the temple and proceeded up the mountain. It was a bit chilly, but the exertion was enough to keep us quite toasty. We stopped at the top of the ridge to have some hot tea and snacks, and then we went on our merry way.
Once we got to the bottom we were nowhere near a place to pick up the bus so we just had to start walking. We stuck out our thumbs hoping someone would give the four of us a lift to the bus stop, and fortunately a very kind man in a van gave us a lift to the bus stop. However, on the way down Hee Jeong spotted a traditional Korean tea shop and suggested we pop in before catching the bus back to the city. We were the only guests so we had the exclusive attention of the hostess, and she explained in detail about each of the teas we tried to Hee Jeong, who then translated for us. We tried three different types of green tea, all made with the very first leaves harvested that season. Those leaves are the smallest and have the softest taste. Apparently the temperature of the water is very important when brewing tea, especially green tea. The hotter the water, the more bitter the tea. We then tried a yummy Japanese green tea latte, made with green tea powder. It looks a little funky, but it had a very smooth, sweet taste. Next was a Chinese jasmine tea which was also quite good. The whole time we were drinking her tea the hostess was feeding us crackers and bagels with mulberry jam (excellent, by the way) and chocolate to bring out certain flavors in the tea. By the time we left I was warm, happy, and quite full. It was nice to spend some time outside of the city in the fresh, cold air, and I also got to see a bit of traditional Korean culture. Not a bad way to spend the weekend.

Beautiful Busan

This weekend I journeyed to the far off land of Busan, South Korea. Actually, it’s not that far off…it’s about an hour by train. Saturday morning I boarded the southbound train that dropped me off at Gupo Station about an hour later. I peeked out the window a bit on the way down, and the Korean countryside really isn’t anything to write home about right now (ironic, because that’s exactly what I’m doing). It’s rather barren and dead-looking. Angie was there at the station waiting to pick me up. As soon as I left the station, I saw this man in a suit standing with his eyes closed and his head pressed against a tree. Angie and I positioned ourselves so that it looked like I was taking a picture of her, and I managed to capture this tree-hugger in action. There certainly are some strange people out there.

Angie and I hopped on the subway, and then we had a 40 minute ride back to her neighborhood. Her friend Shannon called on our way back and asked if we wanted to go to the salon with her. Angie has been thinking of going red, so we went with her to a very posh Korean salon. They put our coats and purses in a locker, served us cocoa and cappuccinos, and set me up with a laptop and the internet while I waited for Ang and Shannon. They even had the fanciest toilet I’ve ever seen. It had a heated seat, as well as a variety of buttons that did things I didn’t dare to try.

After the salon we did a bit of shopping in an underground mall at one of the subway stops, and then set out to find something to eat. We ended up eating at a little Korean restaurant and enjoying some very tasty “Sam-gep-sal.” It’s like Korean bacon, but it’s thicker and more fatty. However, I was still quite hungry after dinner so I bought some mandu (dumplings) at a street stand, and even though they were cold they were still quite delicious.

We then headed back to Shannon’s, tried on our new stuff, and headed out to a western style bar called Star Face. A very friendly, very drunk Korean man offered us a large glass of Hite, and a very androgynous looking Korean woman insisted on buying us shots of tequila. The laid back bar turned into a little dance party, and after joining the dancing Koreans for a little bit we headed out in search of a bigger, better dance club. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find one that charged less than 15,000 won to get in, so we made an early morning pit stop at Haeundae Beach so I could touch the Yellow Sea, and then we went home and went to bed instead.

Sunday was a busy day. We didn’t get to bed until 4am so we didn’t wake up until 1pm. At that point the day was already half over so we had to get up and get out butts moving. Our first stop was Haeundae Beach so I could see it during the day. It was packed, even during the winter, and a couple of guys apparently though it was warm enough to be out playing Frisbee in their little bathing suits. Weird. It’s quite beautiful though, and it’s neat to see the city right on the edge of the beach. It’s something you don’t really see at home.



After the beach we headed to Nampo-dong, a little shopping district in Busan. We had “Gam-ja-tong” for dinner…it’s a potato soup with some weeds and huge meat-covered ox backbones in it. It comes to your table in a large steaming bowl, and then you keep it bubbling on the gas burner in the middle of your table. It looks disgusting, especially when you’re done eating because all you’re left with is the carnage. Despite the way it looks, it was actually rather delicious and quite filling. We also got little tiny dried silvery fish that Angie said tasted like fish jerky (I can’t eat that stuff), and some dried fish meat that was fried. I tried it and promptly spit it out. I simply can’t eat fish if it tastes like fish.

While we were at the restaurant there was a huge party of older Koreans at the table next to us. When they left they came over to our table and said “Ya-bu-da, mi-an-ham-nida,” which means, “beautiful, I’m sorry.” I’m assuming they were apologizing for being so loud, but that’s not the point. The point is that I understood what she said! That was probably the best part of my weekend because it gave me hope that I can actually learn the language. Go me!

Angie and I headed home around 8:30pm because we were just so tired. We watched Pride and Prejudice and hit the hay. I headed out Monday morning around 9:30am. Of course I missed the train I wanted to take by 7 minutes so I had to wait half an hour for the next one. I did fall asleep on the train, and when I woke up it was snowing. Real snow, not just the occasional flake we’ve been getting. My first thought was, “Shit. I slept through my stop. Now I’m somewhere near Seoul where it’s cold enough to get this much snow. I’m going to be late for school.” But then I looked at the time on the screen and realized that I had not actually missed my stop, it was just snowing in Daegu. I took a cab home, and it was ridiculously expensive for the actual distance we covered. They get this much snow so infrequently that no one knows how to drive in it. They all go about 10 mph, which is a huge difference from their usual pace.

But I made it home safely, and now it’s back to work for another week. We start a new curriculum this week, so hopefully the transition will go smoothly.

The Ringing of the Gong

Happy New Year, or as they say in Korean, "Say-hay-bok-mani-ba-du-say-yo" (and of course that is nowhere near the correct way to spell it, but it's phonetic at least)! A friend invited me to join him and his friends downtown for the Ringing of the Bell ceremony. Of course it was packed (probably not quite like Times Square, but pretty close), and naturally it was the coldest night we've had in a while. My friend searched all over the city for a bottle of decent champagne, so at least we welcomed the new year in style. Although, it may not have been that classy as we were drinking it out of the bottle. No fluted glasses, I'm afraid. At the ceremony there was some traditional drumming, some singing (a Korean version of "I Can Hear The Bells" from Hairspray), and some dancing little girls in matching dresses sans mittens. Then at the stroke of midnight, the ringing of the bell began. The name is a smidge deceiving, though. The bell was more like a gong. They rang the gong 31 times (once for each day in December, I believe), and that was followed by a spectacular fireworks display from the roof of the building behind us. Well done, Daegu. We lit some sparklers, and then we headed down to Communes, a popular foreigners bar. It's usually a very laid back, low key kind of place, but last night it was packed. I had a wee glass of Bailey's, chatted with some other MK teachers, met some new people, and shipped myself home and off to bed. Not a bad way to spend New Year's Eve in a foreign country, if I do say so myself. Best wishes to everyone at home for health and happiness in the new year!

City Noises...

I’m really enjoying the experience of living in a city, but at times I find myself missing how quiet and clean it is at home. For example, I am often awoken by dogs barking, cats howling, and this lovely ruckus:

Weekend Gallivanting

Angie and I spent yet another wonderful weekend in Daegu…we went to a Christmas party, bonded with some Koreans over a game of Ra (or “La” as they call it), went to a bar with a bunch of English guys and gals, and on Sunday we gave my room a makeover. And after Angie left I went to Nanta (a Korean version of Stomp, but with kitchen appliances and utensils) with another MoonKkang teacher in the area. Not a bad weekend.

The Christmas party consisted of about 70 MK teachers, lots of pitchers of Hite, several tables of American holiday food (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, etc.), and a crazy game of Bad Santa (Chinese Auction or Yankee Swap for those at home). At one point in the game I had a bottle of Bailey’s, but it was stolen from me…twice…and I ended up with a bottle of South African shiraz. Still not bad. Angie and I shared a pitcher of soju mixed with cranberry juice. Angie likes to say that soju tastes like rubbing alcohol if you drink it straight, but when mixed with juice it’s quite pleasant. A few hours into the party we were both feeling a little sleepy and homesick so we went home and cried in each other’s arms. No, I’m kidding about that part, but we did have a bit of an emotional moment. It’s tougher than I thought it would be to be away from home for the holidays (but it was wonderful to see the Bourret’s on the 26th…you made my day!).

Saturday was a day of gallivanting and exploration.
We putzed around my neighborhood, did a little shopping, and later met up with a friend who introduced us to his Korean friends. We traveled to the University district on the other side of Daegu to meet up with Mike (Angie’s coworker from Busan) and his friends Sun Mi, Minnie, Moon, Myung Go, Dice, and Sun Mi’s boyfriend (whose name I’ve forgotten). We played a couple intense games of Ra (Koreans are VERY competitive), and then the Korean girls had to go because of their curfew (most Korean girls live with their parents until they get married, and most Korean girls have a curfew when they live with their parents) so we headed downtown to meet some of Mike’s British friends. The people were friendly, but the cigarette smoke was a bit too much to handle so Angie and I headed home after staying for the appropriate amount of time. And I successfully navigated us back to my place in a taxi (the drivers generally only speak Korean). San-gyeok dong, day-do shi jong, ga juseyo. It means, “Please take me to the San-gyeok neighborhood near the Dae Do market.” Over the course of the weekend I also learned the words for right, left, straight, beautiful, go away, come here, and see you next time. Not too shabby, eh?

Sunday we slept in late, decorated my room a bit with some decals I got at E-Mart, and then Angie had to go home to Busan.
I met up with a friend to see Nanta, a Korean musical performance that’s quite a bit like Stomp back home. The difference is that this particular performance is done entirely with kitchen utensils and appliances. The storyline is about 3 chefs that have to prepare 6 wedding feasts in one hour, and they have to do it with the manager’s nephew screwing around in the kitchen. Quite amusing. There is very little conversation, but the music and dancing was wonderful, and there was also a comedic element to some of the performance. Overall, it was well worth seeing.

And next weekend I head down to Busan to see Angie’s city, and of course I’ll be sure to let everyone know how it goes.

Christmas adventures

I went to the MK Christmas party yesterday, and these are pictures I took on the way there. The first is at Chilseong Market, the second is a bunny on a leash at the market, the third is the view from the middle of the river, and the fourth is the only Christmas tree I've seen...and it was in the subway.

Christmas in Korea

I'm not going to lie, I'm not really in the Christmas spirit this year. There is no snow, nothing is decorated (i.e. no trees and no lights), and my family and friends are thousands of miles away; it feels like any other day, except that I don't have to teach tonight. It's really weird to "hear" (via Facebook) everyone back home talking about Christmas. Christmas just isn't big here so it's hard to feel festive and get excited about a holiday that's barely noticed. Oh well. The big holidays here are Chuseok (like Thanksgiving) and Children's Day. The women dread Chuseok because they have to slave away all day, and the men love it because they get to do nothing (again, like Thanksgiving). Children's Day is in May, and the kids get the day off from school and people give them little gifts. So yeah, Merry Christmas to everyone back home...I really miss you and wish I was there to spend the holidays with you.

Some little tidbits about Koreans:
They go to the beach to sit under an umbrella...they DO NOT want to get a tan, even though their skin would tan quite easily, because they want to look white. They think white skin in beautiful, so the whiter the better.
Similarly, they think black people are funny/odd/strange/dirty. They can't believe that the Americans chose a black man to be their president. They have the "Why on earth would they do that?" kind of attitude about it.
There is no sound for "z" in the Korean alphabet, so Koreans use "j" for English words that start with "z." So the age old joke among ESL teachers here is about the Jews. If you ask kids if they want to go to the zoo, or if they like the zoo, they say, "No Teacher, I hate joos (Jews), they are dirty!" Kind of funny.
I saw man in his 50's riding a bicycle while wearing a business suit. Kind of an interesting little spectacle.

I did go grocery shopping finally so I have some of the basics. I was a little bummed that I had to pay almost six bucks for a jar of peanut butter, but PB is a necessity in Jaime Land. I almost bought some stuff to make my apartment look a little more like someone actually lives here. Day 2 & 3 of teaching were more enjoyable than the first day because the material was far more interesting and I'm getting to know my kids a little better. And I successfully navigated my way to Daegu Station to pick Angie up when she got off the train last night. It was about half an hour walking briskly from my place to the station and about 40 minutes at a more leisurely pace.

So yes, Ang is up for the long weekend, and we'll be heading to the MoonKkang Christmas party this evening. The rest of the weekend is up in the air, but we'll probably do a bit of exploring in my neighborhood and around downtown Daegu. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas...I'll be missing you!!!

Official Beginning

Today was the day I officially settled in to life in SK. I moved from my temporary apartment to my permanent residence in San-gyeok dong (dong means something similar to neighborhood). My apartment is a bit smaller, but it's warmer and more cozy. My bed is also a smidge softer, but still not enough to be comfortable. I'm working on getting some kind of foam to put over the mattress. I'll post pics of the new apartment soon. This also means I have a new neighborhood to explore. I'll tackle that task within the next few days or so, hopefully. Somehow I have to find a place to do some grocery shopping, too. I've just been getting odds and ends to tide me over, but now that I'm in my new place I need to eat real food.

I did order take out today from a restaurant near my school. It was challenging because the menu was in Korean, and there were no pictures. I just ordered bulgogi because I tasted it once before and knew that I liked it. The woman tried to talk to me while I was sitting there waiting for my food, and fortunately Kyung Tae taught me how to say "I don't understand" last night. She was persistent though, and all I was able to do was smile, shake my head, and repeat. I can't wait to take Korean lessons so I can stop feeling like such a lazy foreigner.

School wasn't too bad, all things considered. Most classes seemed to respond well to me. I showed them pictures of my family and friends, and every single class, no exceptions, oooh-ed and aaah-ed over how "handsome" my brother is. And not just the girls, either. It was quite amusing. One girl said my dad looks friendly. Every single class picked out the one Asian student on my "American" softball team and called me out on it. "Teacher, Korean?" "No, she is Chinese." "Oh, but not American..." Anyway, I had one class with only four students, and they're middle school age so they're a bit less interested in participating. That class was a bit painful, but we managed. My last class today was all girls except for one poor boy who somehow got stuck in that class. They were a lot of fun because they were very interested in engaging me and each other. It was a nice way to end the evening. Tomorrow is a shorter day, thank goodness. Only one day and I'm already pooped.

Address Correction

In my address for sending mail, it's "Sam-bu-vill 305ho", not 303. And it should be 305 in the Korean part too.

Address

So here are my addresses...I think if you click on the picture it will open up a bit bigger, and then you should just be able to print it out and slap on the appropriate address. The Korean script doesn't seem to be able to make it through my email (it comes out as little arrows) so we'll try this instead. And if you want the mail to make it here in less than 3 months, definitely make sure you use the Korean script.

More Pictures...

First picture: The "menu" at Italy & Italy in the foreign section of downtown. It's a checklist...kind of cool.
Second picture: The amphitheater in Downtown Daegu.
Third picture: Our meal at the Korean barbeque restaurant...all the side dishes are complimentary. Oh, and tax is included in the price (everywhere, not just restaurants), and you don't tip! If you do leave a tip, they chase you down the street to give the money back.
Fourth picture: My Korean Frosted Flakes.
Fifth picture: Me in the middle of Downtown Daegu. Very cold me.

Bits and Pieces

It snowed here on Sunday! Nothing accumulated, and you could barely call them flurries, but it snowed. And here are some pictures: The first is "prolly" the most hilarious thing I have seen since being in Korea; The second are my beautiful new chopsticks and rice spoon from Angie!; The third is the view from my bathroom window. Beautiful, isn't it?; The fourth is my bathroom...notice the shower head attached to the sink. Yes, my entire bathroom gets wet when I shower; The fifth is me in the Paris Baguette Cafe...I believe I am Skyping with Paul.
Oh, also, I know I posted my address for sending packages (if you're crazy enough to pay the through-the-roof shipping), but if you just use the English address I provided it can take as long as four months to get to me. Apparently it just sits in the post office somewhere until someone who can read English takes the time to figure out where it should go. I will have my Korean partner write the address in Korean, and I will post it here so you can write both the English and Korean address and then it takes less than a week to get here (for the same price, no less). Just a heads up.

Angie comes to visit!

Angie made the trip up from Busan for the weekend! She got here Friday night around midnight (10am on Friday morning for all of you at home), and she stayed until our Monday morning.
When she got here Friday night we went to a Korean restaurant and had pork galbi (Korean barbeque). There were a zillion little side dishes that come with the meal, and it was cooked on our table, Japanese hibachi style. I also had my first kimchi…this particular version was quite spicy. But yeah, the galbi was delicious! And I practiced the fine art of eating with chopsticks. Not easy, but I’m getting better. Angie bought me a beautiful set of chopsticks and a rice spoon as a “welcome to Korea” gift so I can practice and look like an idiot in the privacy of my own home.
Saturday we spent the day in Downtown Daegu. Angie showed me how to navigate the subway (pretty easy, only two lines), and we met up with a girl from the States that we met via Facebook. She showed us around downtown and then we all went to dinner at Italy & Italy in the “foreign section” of downtown (it was almost all foreigners in this particular restaurant). Downtown Daegu is a HUGE spiderweb of little streets, some narrow enough that two people can’t walk side by side. It’s packed full of little shops, huge department stores, and tiny street carts. It was quite chilly at night, but all of the Korean women were dressed to the nines…stiletto heels in cobblestone-esque streets, little dresses with tights, and generally no hat or mittens. They all looked fabulous, but it was very obvious that they were freezing and sore. Before we even got to the downtown area we stopped at a shoe store in the subway mall. The store clerk greeted us in English (which took me by surprise), and proceeded to lift our pant legs to reveal our Dansko clogs. He simply shook his head as if to say, “Those are the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen…no wonder you’re shopping for shoes.” Hey, at least we were comfortable and warm.
We also saw a man downtown laying down on his belly on a skateboard, pulling himself along with his hands. He was pushing a bucket in front of him, and he had something like an oversized rubber pant leg on his only leg. It was very sad, and everyone seemed to just ignore him and walk by. It made me wonder where his family is or why no one is taking care of him. Angie said that Koreans are very proud and hesitate to admit to weakness in themselves or their family. It brings them shame. So in the school setting, parents would never admit that their child had a learning disability (so it means lots of kids in the classroom struggle because they receive no accommodation), but we’re thinking it may transfer to illness as well. Very sad.
Sunday we set out on a quest for E-Mart, the Korean Walmart, to find a hairdryer and blanket for me. It took us a while to find one, and it took us almost as long to get there because we were misdirected by some well-intentioned Korean man in The North Face who barely spoke English. As it turns out, it was much closer to my apartment than we thought, and we needlessly took the subway and then a taxi to get to it. We could have walked there (we did walk back though). This particular E-Mart has 3 floors and a basement, and I found both my items on floor 2. After E-Mart we walked home and then met up with some friends at Hof-N-Joy, which is also where the MK Christmas party is on Friday. We made it an early night because we were both so tired; we came home, snuggled up with my new blanket, made it through 15 minutes of Moulin Rouge, and fell asleep. A lovely end to a busy weekend. She'll be back in four days for the Christmas party :)

On Walk-about

An update from when I “went for a wander,” as my new British friends would say:
I walked around for a couple hours in the SuSong district and around Bummeo Junction. There is a HUGE four way intersection just down the street from my apartment. To give you an idea of just how big it is, I’d say that each direction has about eight lanes of traffic flowing into/out of this intersection. So I traveled to the intersection and then walked for about a mile in every direction. I was actually looking for something (a place to buy a hairdryer and shampoo), but I either walked right buy it or there isn’t one near me (probably the first of the two). I did find a FoodMart, though so I bought some bananas, water, toilet paper (I wasn’t given any…I’ve been using the tissues I brought with me. Thank goodness I remembered them.), and a little treat for my brother that we’ve been unable to find back home.
I came back to my apartment for a little while (my shoulders were aching from carrying my laptop around the city), and then I ventured out in the other direction. I found a little market about a mile or so from my apartment where I was able to buy some shampoo and conditioner. I’m also hunting for a little blanket that I can wrap myself up in when I don’t want to be in my bed. All I have is a big comforter. So I saw a shop that sells beautiful bed linens and decided it might be worth a shot. I had to remove my shoes at the door, and of course the woman did not speak English. We struggled for a few minutes before she whipped out the paper. Of course I can’t write the Korean words, and she can’t read English so that wasn’t very helpful. I was able to remember the phrase for “How much?” so I asked that. She wrote down a number that was waaaay out of my price range. I excused myself from the shop in the most polite way I could, but I have a feeling we both left that interaction embarassed and confused. So yes, I lied. To those of you whom I told that Koreans speak both Korean and English, I lied. Korean children speak both; Korean adults do not. Or rather, most Korean adults either do not speak English, speak very little English, or know how to speak English but refuse to out of fear of embarrassment because they think their English isn’t good enough. The number of Korean adults who speak English and will use it with a foreigner is very small indeed. Unless of course they happen to be English teachers, and then it’s a non-issue. Regardless, I will have to learn Korean. So I continued to a hardware store where I finally found outlet adapters/voltage converters! Walmart, Best Buy, and Radio Shack all wanted to charge me anywhere from $25-$35 for five converters. Here I bought four for 2,000 won, or about .50 cents a piece. That is just absurd. Also, I went in a couple other shops to look around, and Korean sales clerks literally come stand right next to you while you shop. They want to be available if you need anything. I appreciate that, but I absolutely hate a hovering sales clerk back home. It makes me feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately, telling the clerk that I am just looking doesn’t make them back off here. Oh well.
I noticed that nearly everyone drives either a Hyundai or a Kia. Small Korean children stare at me, due to the fact that they probably haven’t seen many blonde-haired, blue-eyed people in their lifetime. When I had my vision test at the hospital the nurse said “Blue eyes…beautiful!” Of course everyone here has brown eyes so blue is unusual. Possibly the best part of Korea so far…the bars do not close at 1am. They close when you leave. It is not uncommon to stay at the bar until 5am. “Ddong” is the word for poop, but we never say it at school…we always spell it out. My students call me “Jaime Teacher,” and we (the teachers) bow when we greet or say goodbye to our Korean Manager at school. It’s also very bad form to write a child’s name (or anyone’s name, for that matter) in red ink. It is symbolic of death. To avoid making the mistake, I think I’m just not going to own a red pen, pencil, or whiteboard marker. Problem solved.
Also, I don’t have my apartment address yet, but I do have my school address. If you want to send a package (if you don’t mind paying the exorbitent shipping fees), send it to my school address:
Jaime Dorion
MoonKkang Academy
Daegu
ChimSan-Dong 293-4
Daewoo Building 2nd 3rd Floor
702-050
South Korea
(Mom, the phone # at school is 053-710-2223 and I believe the country code is 82. Always call my cell first, but if it’s an emergency you can call the school.)
If you want to send me regular mail, I’ll post my address as soon as I know it.
I'll write again soon, miss you all!

Days 2 & 3

I want to tell this little story first because I find it amusing:
On my first day at ChimSan, I met my coworkers, and the very first thing they asked me was if I had my own company. I had my name monogrammed on my LLBean shoulder bag, and my British, Korean, and Canadian coworkers had never seen such a thing. They thought it meant I must have my own brand that I named after myself. Cute, eh?

And unfortunately I did not get to try soju. We went to an American bar, of all places, because although it was my first night in Korea, it was Anto's last night. Anto is the name of the teacher I am replacing. I did have some Korean beer, though. It's called Hite, and it tastes a lot like Budweiser and that ilk. I met a whole bunch of other MK teachers from various branches in Daegu (there are 18 branches in my city). I got to know my Korean partner teacher, Young Kyung, who is very sweet and very attracted to tall, blonde men. When I told her my boyfriend was nearly six inches taller than Mac (the tallest teacher in our office), she was swooning.

I've been informed by several people that there is virtually no crime here. Any crime that does exist is mostly generated by Westerners and between Westerners (bar fights, etc.). I've heard of countless incidents of purses, phones, wallets, etc. being left in some public place and being returned to the owner with nothing missing. Pretty cool.

So I finally ventured out of my apartment today and found a little bakery and coffee shop with free wifi. This coffee shop I'm in has no employees that speak English so when I asked for internet they just stared at me. I tried to think of a word that sounds the same in Korean and English, and computer/computah was the only one that worked. They knew what I wanted, and led me over to their laptop. Of course, everything was in Korean, but I was able to ascertain that they had wireless internet here so I whipped out my lappy and found an unsecured network. Ta da! Free internet. Unfortunately, I will have to find a new location when I move to the ChimSan district on Tuesday (I'm temporarily living in the SuSong district). But at least there is a market right up the street from my new apartment so I won't have to walk 20 minutes in the freezing cold with my groceries.

Alrighty, I'm off to do more adventuring, but I'll be sure to post when I have more to share. Love from the Far East <3

Day 1

Greetings from SK! I made it here safely and without incident (or not much of one anyway...I'll explain). The trip was long and exhausting, but pretty much everything went off without a hitch.
The plane ride was about as good as one could expect 18 hours on a plane to be. I spent the entire ride cramped between two people, unable to sleep. But on the bright side, I did watch three movies which I had been meaning to see but simply hadn't found the time to sit down and watch. Also, I had my first Korean meal. I had the choice between American style beef and Korean style beef for lunch on the plane, so I decided to be brave and go with the Korean style beef. It was called Bibimbap. It's basically a beef and rice dish with seaweed, mushrooms, cucumbers, hot red pepper paste, and sesame oil. I was tempted to eat the dish in my traditional "picky Jaime" style, but the kid next to me went out of his way to show me how it was supposed to be eaten (all mixed together) so I gave it a shot. Not bad, actually.

Incheon International Airport in Seoul was probably the most difficult to navigate simply because even though most of the signs are in displayed in Hangul AND English, not all of them are. I had to ask several people where on earth I was supposed to go to catch a domestic flight to Daegu. Upon finally arriving in Daegu I went to pick up my bags (here's the small incident I mentioned before), and lo and behold, they were not there. I was informed that my bags were still in Seoul because I was supposed to pick them up and recheck them after I passed through customs. Apparently I was misinformed back in Portland, ME. I specifically asked if I had to pick up my bags in Seoul, but the woman told me that they were going to my final destination in Daegu. However, what she didn't know is that they don't transfer bags from international to domestic flights. You have to pick them up yourself. Anyway, the guy who picked me up spoke to the baggage lady and arranged to have them dropped off at the MoonKkang office the following day. So now I have my bags.

I was then driven to the MK office so I could use the internet because my phone doesn't work over here. I met several people on the Reinforcement Team that I've been working with via email. Then I was driven to my temporary apartment (I move into my permanent housing next week...we're currently waiting for the guy I'm replacing to move out). My guide purchased some bedding and some food supplies for me beforehand so he handed them over, showed me around, and left me to get settled.

I was seriously stressed last night because I had no way of setting an alarm, and I was positive that I was going to sleep for at least a full day without someone or something to wake me up. My phone can't find service in Korea so it has no idea what time it is so it couldn't possibly wake me up at the right time. My iPod, although it's now set to the right time, doesn't have an alarm feature. My alarm clock was in my checked bag, which I didn't have last night. So after spending 15 minutes trying to figure out a way to set an alarm, I gave up and went to bed. Fortunately, I did not sleep for a full day. In fact, I didn't even sleep as long as I would have on a normal day at home. I suspect the bed had something to do with it. It's as hard as that green couch at Pepere and Doris's house, for those of you who are familiar with it. Perhaps even harder. It's like sleeping on the floor with only a blanket underneath you. In fact, I almost considered moving into the living room and sleeping on the floor because the floors in the living room (and kitchen) are heated. That's awesome, by the way. I had cold feet last night and couldn't sleep so I went out to the couch and sat with my feet on the floor for a couple minutes and voila, warm feet!

I haven't seen much of the city up close yet, but I drove through quite a bit of it. As far as I can tell, it looks like an Asian Manhattan. It's big and city-like, but all the signs are in Korean script with little English subtitles. My temporary apartment is a 5 minute walk from the "Fifth Avenue" of Daegu. Shopping central. Fortunately, I'm not yet brave (or stupid) enough to venture out of my apartment by myself so that will have to wait.

Today involved a trip to the hospital (which looked more like a spa) to be run through a myriad of tests. Blood test, vision and hearing test, chest x-ray, urine sample, height, weight, and chest size (not sure why this is important, but oh well), and a blood pressure test. And I had to remove my shoes and put on little slippers before entering the hospital. Pretty neat.

Then I was transported to my branch (the MoonKkang school in the ChimSan district of Daegu). I met my coworkers (two Canadians, two Brits, and 4 Koreans) and oberved 6 classes. The kids are adorable, and I can tell this is going to be a lot of fun and a bit of a breeze. Apparently, with a bachelor's degree in education, I am officially the most qualified teacher here. None of the other teachers are trained in education.

Also, I learned that as of January 1st, 2010, I will be 24 in Korea. In Korea, you are one when you're born, and you turn a year older on the first of the year. So that makes me 24 in just a few weeks. Pretty cool, eh?

Tonight the other teachers and I are going out for dinner and soju (Korean beer) so I'll get to see a bit more of the city. I'll update again when I have time. Miss you all!

It's Official!

I was waiting to have more specific details before I posted again, and I can finally tell everyone exactly when I'll be heading out: December 14th! 

Here's a quick summary of what I had to go through to get to this point after I signed a contract:

After I signed the contract I had to wait a week or so for the Korean Immigration Office to process my paperwork and assign me a visa code. Then I had to make a trip down to the Korean Consulate General in Newton, MA to actually get a work visa stamped in my passport. The reason I had to go in person is because they require first-timers to go through an interview before they give out a visa. That was quite a day, mostly because I was mistakenly informed that the Consulate was in Boston, not Newton. But I did finally get to the Consulate for my interview. A few days later I got my passport back, complete with Korean work visa. Then the travel agency that MoonKkang uses had been trying to book me a flight for the past three weeks or so. Apparently it's difficult to get flights to Korea in mid-December. Now I finally know that I'll be heading out on the morning of December 14th. I leave Portland at 6:50am and have a short layover in Atlanta. I leave Atlanta at 11:55am and arrive in Seoul at 6ish pm, Korean time. Then I fly to Daegu and arrive around 8:15pm, Korean time. So it'll be a long day, but at least I have a definite itinerary this time. 

In the meantime, Angie got her visa code a few weeks after me, conducted her interview, got her flights, and headed to Korea the day before Thanksgiving. She was a bit lonely at first, but I have been in touch with her and she's loving it! She said the kids are wonderful, the people are very friendly, and she's thoroughly enjoying life in the city.

I'll be sure to update once I'm there, but according to Angie I won't have internet at my apartment for three weeks or so because it takes the government some time to recognize that my presence in their country is legitimate. I will have internet access at school, though, so I should be able to check in periodically. Wish me luck!