today is pepero day, south korea's equivalent of valentine's day. the only difference is it completely revolves around one kind of candy founded by lotte, a korean conglomerate. the day was made up becausae 11.11 looks like 4 pepero sticks. so you hand out these cookie sticks covered in chocolate (and sometimes almonds) to people you like. i recieved a few packages from my students. one is a cute little box with pepero inside. the outside has a pretty pink ribbon and a note from my student which reads, "thank you for teach <3 -David-" i also received a bag of two long pastries shaped like pepero.
getting chocolate is fun, but getting cute notes filled with grammatical errors is even better.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
boryeong
this weekend, kirsten, maria and i went to boryeong to see daecheon beach, which is on the coast of the yellow sea. we left early saturday morning and arrived at the beach 4 hours later. we walked along the beach and took pictures. it was really foggy out so it was hard to see the surrounding islands. we also went too late in the day to see the beach, the tide was too high. after viewing the beach, we went to a korean spa and receieved a mud treatment. boryeong is famous for their mud, which apparently is rich in minerals and used to manufactor a lot of cosmetics. after the spa, we went to a coffee shop to read before heading back to our hotel and sleeping. we woke up this morning and went to the port, which was a five minute bus ride from the beach. at the port, there are a ton of huge bins filled with water and various sea creatures. we saw king crab, blue crab, octopus, squid, every kind of fish imaginable, some eel, squid, sea cucumbers (peach colored cucumber shaped...thing) and clams. as you walk out to the actual port, there are people fishing and tourists taking pictures. suprisingly, we were the only white people at the port that weekend. koreans aren't used to seeing foreigners and will sometimes ask you to take a photograph with them. one korean family cornered maria and me and asked us if we would. we found this strange, but allowed them. kirsten turned around, saw this happening, thought we looked like we were vacationing with the family and took a picture also.
on friday, my school celebrated halloween for the kids with a day long halloween party. i thought i would keep it simple and dress up as a black cat, so i arrived to work in black leggings and a black shirt with the intention of wearing cat ears and maybe painting a nose and whiskers on my face. after one of my korean co-teachers decided to paint on a nose and whiskers, she proceeded to paint more cat-like eyes on my face...and hearts on my cheek. i have never felt more korean. when the kids came, they had 15-20 minutes in every room where all the native english speaking teachers had a different thing for them to do. there was a halloween movie, a haunted house (little kids cried), they made a treat bag, a scary story, and i got to paint the kids' faces. it was a fun day, but kind of demanding.
i also started looking at law schools and studying for the lsat. after work i'll stay later and study at the office or go to a coffee shop near my place and read my lsat book/take notes for an hour or so. i'm actually enjoying my new routine of early morning work outs, lunch at home, work, then studying.
on friday, my school celebrated halloween for the kids with a day long halloween party. i thought i would keep it simple and dress up as a black cat, so i arrived to work in black leggings and a black shirt with the intention of wearing cat ears and maybe painting a nose and whiskers on my face. after one of my korean co-teachers decided to paint on a nose and whiskers, she proceeded to paint more cat-like eyes on my face...and hearts on my cheek. i have never felt more korean. when the kids came, they had 15-20 minutes in every room where all the native english speaking teachers had a different thing for them to do. there was a halloween movie, a haunted house (little kids cried), they made a treat bag, a scary story, and i got to paint the kids' faces. it was a fun day, but kind of demanding.
i also started looking at law schools and studying for the lsat. after work i'll stay later and study at the office or go to a coffee shop near my place and read my lsat book/take notes for an hour or so. i'm actually enjoying my new routine of early morning work outs, lunch at home, work, then studying.
Monday, October 19, 2009
diet coke!!
yesterday, six of my coworkers, my directors and i went up to seoul for a workshop on teaching/learn about the company and korean culture. one guy gave us a presentation on the different types of high schools and the three major "ivy league" schools of korea that every single s.korean kid tries to get into. they have bootcamps for the kids to attend that help them prepare for (the korean version) of the act/sat test. the presenter shared some interesting facts about the camps with us. the kids wake up at 6, workout and study all day before going to bed around midnight. when they get to camp they are not allowed to bring their cell phone or ANY magazine (they specifically mentioned fashion magazines). this test determines their future for the rest of their lives. the presenter said if people don't get into a good school, they will never tell people what school they attended because they fear judgement and embarrassment. we also discussed discipline and ways to handle different classroom behaviors. one teacher asked about a student who he couldn't get to do anything. after describing the kid's behaviors to the presenter, the presenter labeled him as a "monster student" and went on to tell a story of a student an acquaintance of his once had who apparently had a student throw razor blades at him! i don't think that would ever happen at my school, especially with my kids, but i don't think i would ever want to step back into a classroom if that ever happened!
after the first half of the presentation, we were sent off to lunch. everyone felt like breakfast, so we went to this "americanized" restaurant that served all breakfast foods. kirsten, maria and i were very excited because it was our first time seeing diet coke in korea. usually, you can only find coke zero, and for some reason, that tastes awful here (basically fizzy water with the slightest taste of coke). the diet coke made my day.
after our presentation, we all had plans to stay longer so we could eat at a mexican restaurant located in the largest underground mall in the world (it's called coex). we had an hour to shop before our reservation time, so we all split up. maria and i decided to look around, but we soon became very overwhelmed by ALL the people. it also was a TON of korean (fashion) style shops, which means all the clothes are not organized by size or style. although i have found a few cute dresses while i've been here, i think i have given up on trying to shop in korea. i can't stand how unsystematic it is. we ended up in a bookstore with a decently sized english section and looked around for awhile. i found a copy of pride and prejudice and zombies in the bestsellers section and immediately wanted to call ellen.
today, amber and i went to the laundry mat so i could wash my towels and bedding (i don't mind if my clothes hang to air dry, but my bedding takes too long to dry). when i got home, i realized i left my detergent there, and i needed to wash clothes at home. amber and i decided that the walk to the laundry mat was too long (she has a cold and we were late meeting maria for coffee), so we hopped in a taxi. we think the driver thought we were crazy because we had him drive straight for half a mile, stop to pick up the detergent, and make a loop around the area we were in to drive us back to basically a few blocks from where we were picked up. he laughed as we handed him 3000 won (less than $3.00), but it was totally worth it.
last week, i made a deal with one of my louder classes. i give them five hearts at the beginning of their class and they all have to work together to earn five more to all get a sticker at the end of the day. if they can't be quiet or if one kid does something bad (hits another kid--this does happen sometimes, or talks after i ask them to be quiet), they get a heart erased. if they get ten hearts every single day i see them for three weeks, i'm buying them all ice cream. so far, it's worked, but two of the kids still don't like to listen to me. i'm still thinking of ways to get to those two, hopefully i'll figure it out before i see them next.
more things i've noticed about korean culture:
-since women don't EVER smoke in public (it reflects very poorly on them), you will often find several lighers in the bathroom sitting on the back of the toilet or next to the window. about a month ago, while waiting to use the bathroom, a girl came out and asked if it was okay that she was smoking in there (not because it was smoke, but because we could have viewed it as offensive). obviously, we weren't offended and told her that it was fine (although i DO hate smoke).
-when koreans make tentative plans with you, it actually means they are solid plans and you must do it, otherwise you are rude. this means if a korean says "we should get dinner sometime soon, i was thinking maybe monday." that means, "we're getting dinner on monday, cancel all your plans." this hasn't happened to me yet. also, if an elder invites you to anything, you MUST go.
after the first half of the presentation, we were sent off to lunch. everyone felt like breakfast, so we went to this "americanized" restaurant that served all breakfast foods. kirsten, maria and i were very excited because it was our first time seeing diet coke in korea. usually, you can only find coke zero, and for some reason, that tastes awful here (basically fizzy water with the slightest taste of coke). the diet coke made my day.
after our presentation, we all had plans to stay longer so we could eat at a mexican restaurant located in the largest underground mall in the world (it's called coex). we had an hour to shop before our reservation time, so we all split up. maria and i decided to look around, but we soon became very overwhelmed by ALL the people. it also was a TON of korean (fashion) style shops, which means all the clothes are not organized by size or style. although i have found a few cute dresses while i've been here, i think i have given up on trying to shop in korea. i can't stand how unsystematic it is. we ended up in a bookstore with a decently sized english section and looked around for awhile. i found a copy of pride and prejudice and zombies in the bestsellers section and immediately wanted to call ellen.
today, amber and i went to the laundry mat so i could wash my towels and bedding (i don't mind if my clothes hang to air dry, but my bedding takes too long to dry). when i got home, i realized i left my detergent there, and i needed to wash clothes at home. amber and i decided that the walk to the laundry mat was too long (she has a cold and we were late meeting maria for coffee), so we hopped in a taxi. we think the driver thought we were crazy because we had him drive straight for half a mile, stop to pick up the detergent, and make a loop around the area we were in to drive us back to basically a few blocks from where we were picked up. he laughed as we handed him 3000 won (less than $3.00), but it was totally worth it.
last week, i made a deal with one of my louder classes. i give them five hearts at the beginning of their class and they all have to work together to earn five more to all get a sticker at the end of the day. if they can't be quiet or if one kid does something bad (hits another kid--this does happen sometimes, or talks after i ask them to be quiet), they get a heart erased. if they get ten hearts every single day i see them for three weeks, i'm buying them all ice cream. so far, it's worked, but two of the kids still don't like to listen to me. i'm still thinking of ways to get to those two, hopefully i'll figure it out before i see them next.
more things i've noticed about korean culture:
-since women don't EVER smoke in public (it reflects very poorly on them), you will often find several lighers in the bathroom sitting on the back of the toilet or next to the window. about a month ago, while waiting to use the bathroom, a girl came out and asked if it was okay that she was smoking in there (not because it was smoke, but because we could have viewed it as offensive). obviously, we weren't offended and told her that it was fine (although i DO hate smoke).
-when koreans make tentative plans with you, it actually means they are solid plans and you must do it, otherwise you are rude. this means if a korean says "we should get dinner sometime soon, i was thinking maybe monday." that means, "we're getting dinner on monday, cancel all your plans." this hasn't happened to me yet. also, if an elder invites you to anything, you MUST go.
Monday, October 12, 2009
just another week
this week went well. my kids are still all really good (most of them). the ones that are a little difficult aren't even that bad. one of my smaller kids ate half an eraser the other day. the same day one of my older kids up at the middle school level cut herself by accident right after class and was bleeding all over. i grabbed the first aid kit and rushed her to the bathroom. unfortunately, there weren't band-aids, so i made her wrap it in 5 paper towels...it ended up being a small cut (which is strange, considering the amount of blood i saw), but they should never allow kids to have exact-o knives in school.
yesterday we went to a fortress located close to the city. it's surrounding a mountain and we never really figured out the purpose of it. none of the tourist sites give any information other than how long it is (4.2 km long) and how old it is (1596). it doesn't even surround the city, it just surrounds a mountain. we walked one of the trials and ended up in a small village with a ton of little restaurants, but we didn't eat there because we had plans to get together with more of the teachers in a different area of the city.
yesterday we went to a fortress located close to the city. it's surrounding a mountain and we never really figured out the purpose of it. none of the tourist sites give any information other than how long it is (4.2 km long) and how old it is (1596). it doesn't even surround the city, it just surrounds a mountain. we walked one of the trials and ended up in a small village with a ton of little restaurants, but we didn't eat there because we had plans to get together with more of the teachers in a different area of the city.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
chuseok
last thursday, another class of phonics was added to the school, so i got it. there are only two kids in the classroom (so far), but one of the kids is like five combined into one. yesterday i taught them the letter f. the most frustrating part of teaching phonics (or any of the kids, i guess) is their pronunciation. the korean language has a lot of "uhhh" and "eee" sounds in them, so the kids always add them to the end of a word. so when i was teaching them the word "fox" yesterday, they added an "uhh" to the end of it to make "foxuuuh". it's the most annoying thing to hear ever and the hardest thing to correct. i spent probably ten minutes with eight f words trying to make sure they wouldn't add anything to the end of it.
this past weekend was chuseok, a korean holiday, so we got a three day weekend!! i (along with a few other teachers) was invited to one of the korean teacher's house to celebrate. when we arrived, we helped him and his mom make songpyeon, a round rice cake with sesame and crushed red beans in the middle that you steam with pine needles. we watched his mom make the rice "dough" by adding rice powder and boiling water and mixing it together to get the right consistency. then you take a little of the rice, roll it into a ball and make it into a bowl-like shape so you can add the red beans. then you pinch the edges together so the red beans are in the center of the cake and roll it into a weird egg/ball shape with pinched ends. it's an old wives' tale that if you roll the cake perfectly, you will have beautiful babies.
when chuseok actually begins, the family sets out a table full of food on wooden platters. everything must be set in a certain order and there has to be an odd amount of food on every platter. for example, 1 fish was on a platter, 3 apples, and 15 chestnuts. they also put their spirital address for their family on the table so their ancestors know where to come. then the men (i think the women can too, but they were all preparing the meal for them after the ceremony, so they didn't participate) lit incense and poured some kind of hot alcoholic beverage in a cup, placed it next the spirital address and put chopsticks on two of the platters. they bowed (twice) and continued pouring more into the cup and moving the chopsticks around to various platters. after the ceremony, we ate a tofu soup, rice & kimchi (of course), and other foods that had been placed at the ancestors table, but only after it was all removed and put into normal serving plates.
the other day amber and i went to one of the restaurants around our apartments that serves spaghetti that is surprisingly really good. before when i have ordered this, i have just used my chopsticks to eat it, but they gave us forks. it was so strange, but the fork actually felt weird in my hand. 10 and 1/2 more months of eating food with chopsticks, but i'm actually already excited to get back to knives and forks. trying to cut food with chopsticks is difficult.
this past weekend was chuseok, a korean holiday, so we got a three day weekend!! i (along with a few other teachers) was invited to one of the korean teacher's house to celebrate. when we arrived, we helped him and his mom make songpyeon, a round rice cake with sesame and crushed red beans in the middle that you steam with pine needles. we watched his mom make the rice "dough" by adding rice powder and boiling water and mixing it together to get the right consistency. then you take a little of the rice, roll it into a ball and make it into a bowl-like shape so you can add the red beans. then you pinch the edges together so the red beans are in the center of the cake and roll it into a weird egg/ball shape with pinched ends. it's an old wives' tale that if you roll the cake perfectly, you will have beautiful babies.
when chuseok actually begins, the family sets out a table full of food on wooden platters. everything must be set in a certain order and there has to be an odd amount of food on every platter. for example, 1 fish was on a platter, 3 apples, and 15 chestnuts. they also put their spirital address for their family on the table so their ancestors know where to come. then the men (i think the women can too, but they were all preparing the meal for them after the ceremony, so they didn't participate) lit incense and poured some kind of hot alcoholic beverage in a cup, placed it next the spirital address and put chopsticks on two of the platters. they bowed (twice) and continued pouring more into the cup and moving the chopsticks around to various platters. after the ceremony, we ate a tofu soup, rice & kimchi (of course), and other foods that had been placed at the ancestors table, but only after it was all removed and put into normal serving plates.
the other day amber and i went to one of the restaurants around our apartments that serves spaghetti that is surprisingly really good. before when i have ordered this, i have just used my chopsticks to eat it, but they gave us forks. it was so strange, but the fork actually felt weird in my hand. 10 and 1/2 more months of eating food with chopsticks, but i'm actually already excited to get back to knives and forks. trying to cut food with chopsticks is difficult.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
one month!
after work on friday, my boss had all the teachers over for dinner at her new apartment. some of my co-workers and i got her a gift. we gave fruit (which is a traditional korean gift to give to a dinner hostess) and a plant (which i think is a good housewarming gift). while we were discussing gift options, one of the korean teachers said "laundry detergent" which i first thought was really strange. apparently it's a popular housewarming gift here...
today i went shopping in sheenay with kirsten and jesseca. it was fun, although it was raining and everybody had umbrellas. i stopped by starbucks because i hadn't had it yet here, but they don't have the drink i like over here. i don't know how i will survive without berry chai's for the eleven months, this may be hard!! since they don't have the option of soy milk in s.korea, i got an americano instead. i started drinking them a few weeks ago and i finally like the taste without the creamy taste.
while shopping we also realized that koreans really do not like americans shopping at their stores. kirsten asked a lady if she could use the fitting room and the lady refused to let her. it happened to me earlier that day at a different store, but i blankly stared at the guy who wouldn't let me use it until he opened the fitting room for me. we're not quite sure why, but they didn't even seem that happy to see us in their store.
in the taxi on the way home, our driver was trying to speak english with us. this was fine, although it made for some interesting conversation. he asked us if we were from america. then he assumed we were from new york. jesseca said "georgia" but he had no idea where that was. kirsten said california (where she last worked) which he understood. i said "south dakota" and he kept saying "michael jordan" which at first confunsed us until we realized he thought i said north carolina (although i'm sure everybody knows this, considering i do, michael jordan played for unc). so i let him think i was from north carolina...he then proceeded to ask us about the song "hotel california," so i sang a few lines of it for him. he asked if ABBA sang it and i said, "no, the eagles" and he also asked "how old?". i told him around 30 years. who knows if he understood. i've noticed that many koreans will want to talk about what they know about the states. it's really weird because they will usually mention hollywood, sports, or obama.
as for teaching, it's still going very well. on friday, i received a card from one of my students that said "to erin: i love you very much" awww, so cute! my kids here are so sweet and i really do enjoy working with them. i never imagined ever singing or dancing for them, but i'm that teacher now. they think it's so funny and they tell me, "teacher, you're crazy crazy crazy, so silly!" on friday, since it was the end of the week, i let them have a "snowball fight" for a minute before class was over. they were learning different regions of the world (dry place, wet place, cold place) and they read about snowball fights in the arctic (it was in their book...) so it fit in.
after one month, i feel like i've only been here a few weeks. i'm lucky i made friends quickly and i'm at a school that takes good care of me. it's mostly been a breeze getting situated and trained in teaching, but it hasn't all been easy. although i realized this before i left, being in south korea means missing out on events at home, both happy and sad. a friend of mine from high school was killed in a car accident and i had to miss her funeral. liz was a beautiful girl with a unique and quirky personality. i was fortunate enough to have hung out with liz right before i left for korea. she was so happy and loving her life. the lord used her in great ways and you could see his love shining through her.
today i went shopping in sheenay with kirsten and jesseca. it was fun, although it was raining and everybody had umbrellas. i stopped by starbucks because i hadn't had it yet here, but they don't have the drink i like over here. i don't know how i will survive without berry chai's for the eleven months, this may be hard!! since they don't have the option of soy milk in s.korea, i got an americano instead. i started drinking them a few weeks ago and i finally like the taste without the creamy taste.
while shopping we also realized that koreans really do not like americans shopping at their stores. kirsten asked a lady if she could use the fitting room and the lady refused to let her. it happened to me earlier that day at a different store, but i blankly stared at the guy who wouldn't let me use it until he opened the fitting room for me. we're not quite sure why, but they didn't even seem that happy to see us in their store.
in the taxi on the way home, our driver was trying to speak english with us. this was fine, although it made for some interesting conversation. he asked us if we were from america. then he assumed we were from new york. jesseca said "georgia" but he had no idea where that was. kirsten said california (where she last worked) which he understood. i said "south dakota" and he kept saying "michael jordan" which at first confunsed us until we realized he thought i said north carolina (although i'm sure everybody knows this, considering i do, michael jordan played for unc). so i let him think i was from north carolina...he then proceeded to ask us about the song "hotel california," so i sang a few lines of it for him. he asked if ABBA sang it and i said, "no, the eagles" and he also asked "how old?". i told him around 30 years. who knows if he understood. i've noticed that many koreans will want to talk about what they know about the states. it's really weird because they will usually mention hollywood, sports, or obama.
as for teaching, it's still going very well. on friday, i received a card from one of my students that said "to erin: i love you very much" awww, so cute! my kids here are so sweet and i really do enjoy working with them. i never imagined ever singing or dancing for them, but i'm that teacher now. they think it's so funny and they tell me, "teacher, you're crazy crazy crazy, so silly!" on friday, since it was the end of the week, i let them have a "snowball fight" for a minute before class was over. they were learning different regions of the world (dry place, wet place, cold place) and they read about snowball fights in the arctic (it was in their book...) so it fit in.
after one month, i feel like i've only been here a few weeks. i'm lucky i made friends quickly and i'm at a school that takes good care of me. it's mostly been a breeze getting situated and trained in teaching, but it hasn't all been easy. although i realized this before i left, being in south korea means missing out on events at home, both happy and sad. a friend of mine from high school was killed in a car accident and i had to miss her funeral. liz was a beautiful girl with a unique and quirky personality. i was fortunate enough to have hung out with liz right before i left for korea. she was so happy and loving her life. the lord used her in great ways and you could see his love shining through her.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
almost friday!!
i love thursday and friday because it means it's almost saturday and sunday!! today i will teach only three classes and they all go by pretty fast because i have good kids. yesterday, i had my kindergarten age again and they couldn't stop wiggling, standing, and talking. i bribed them with candy and that got them back to work for awhile. the class is 80 minutes long and it's hard to keep little guys entertained that long. although there's less of a language barrier in the states, i have a new respect for elementary school teachers. i imagine it's just as hard as teaching mouthy kids in middle school or high school. even though my kids have a hard time sitting quietly (it's not even that much, my 2nd graders are very well behaved) i really enjoy them and i hope next semester when we switch classes i can stay at the level i'm at. it's fun to ask them what they're doing for their weekend or asking them on monday what they did. they never do anything fun. they go to violin and piano lessons (which i enjoyed doing, but on the weekend?!) and one girl told me she went to the library. but some of the boys say video games.
i've started to cook here! usually i make some buckwheat noodles with stirfry veggies in sesame oil (omega-6 fatty acid!). i put carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, and green peppers in with a little red chili paste that koreans put on eeeverything. i also add one egg and tofu for more protein. hopefully i'll learn more variety soon before i get sick of this. it's hard going to the grocery store and not always knowing if what you have is for sure what you went in to get.
i'm starting to recognize kpop everywhere i go!! some of it actually isn't that bad, but i would much rather be listening to music on the radio from the states. they are still really into boy bands and one of the teachers told them that boy bands were popular 10 years ago in america. i guess they get kind of offended when you tell them that because they don't believe that anything can be better than their kpop. here's a link of a really popular song right now. kpop and a boy band: this is a train wreck.
i've started to cook here! usually i make some buckwheat noodles with stirfry veggies in sesame oil (omega-6 fatty acid!). i put carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, and green peppers in with a little red chili paste that koreans put on eeeverything. i also add one egg and tofu for more protein. hopefully i'll learn more variety soon before i get sick of this. it's hard going to the grocery store and not always knowing if what you have is for sure what you went in to get.
i'm starting to recognize kpop everywhere i go!! some of it actually isn't that bad, but i would much rather be listening to music on the radio from the states. they are still really into boy bands and one of the teachers told them that boy bands were popular 10 years ago in america. i guess they get kind of offended when you tell them that because they don't believe that anything can be better than their kpop. here's a link of a really popular song right now. kpop and a boy band: this is a train wreck.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
this week went by really fast. i had a lot of fun on thursday and friday at school. it was a review day for my older kids, so i made them play jeopardy. they were really excited and it was really hard to keep the noise down. i gave choco-pies (a soft wafer/marshmallow cookie dipped in chocolate that the kids love) to the winning team. after the game, i had to make them get back to work.
i finally found some food here that i like!! it's a korean dish called bulgogi (thin slices of prime rib beef, usually marinated). amber, kirsten and i went to a restaurant where all the tables have grills in the center, you order your meat and you grill it yourself. you wrap the meat in lettuce, sliced onions, and garlic. i add a little kimchi in it, too. while we were at the restaurant, a monk randomly showed up and started singing at the restaurant.
today i went on a hike with kirsten and kyle. the trail was really cool, and along the trail, there are mounds (where people are buried) and gravestones. it was kind of strange, but after awhile i stopped noticing them. although the trail was fun and had beautiful sites (every once in awhile you could catch a glimpse of the mountains and sannumdong--the area i live in), we got to a part of the trail where you could hear a ton of dogs barking coming from a dog farm. eventually you could see the building where all the dogs were. it was so sad :(
today, kirsten and i were walking back to my apartment and we saw an almost fully lit cigarette fly down in our direction from one of the apartments we were passing. we looked back and nobody was in their windows. we think it was probably intentional. a lot of koreans are very racist and dislike foreigners living in their country. it's sad that sometimes people will go out of their way (even in the smallest way possible) to express hatred toward others. on a much brighter note, for every one person who is unfriendly, there are so many more who are helpful and eager to meet americans. a lot of the time, people will say hi as you walk by, most small children will stare, and if you are in a coffee shop and start talking to them, their parents will be happy they get to practice their english. a few nights ago i was getting coffee with a few of the teachers and three small children were so excited to see white people and ran over to us to speak (the little) english they knew. their mothers smiled and said bye to us when we left.
it's definitely hard getting used to being stared at a lot. koreans just aren't used to seeing many white people. the same day we were at the coffee shop, a korean girl got out her phone and took a picture of me as i walked by to order a drink. she wasn't even nonchalant about it. very strange...
more things i've noticed about korea:
-all the american teachers have noticed about their culture: men wear purses! they aren't even man purses (bigger, messenger type bags), they're handbags!! i saw one in a grocery store the other day carrying a coach purse! we have also seen men in high heeled boots. not cowboy type boots, but boots with a bigger heel.
-if you give your kids an assignment to do on their own that will be reviewed later in class, when they are finished they will yell, "FINISHED!!" they are sooooo competitive with each other and they need to be verbal about it. i've tried asking them to let others finish, but they don't seem to care.
i finally found some food here that i like!! it's a korean dish called bulgogi (thin slices of prime rib beef, usually marinated). amber, kirsten and i went to a restaurant where all the tables have grills in the center, you order your meat and you grill it yourself. you wrap the meat in lettuce, sliced onions, and garlic. i add a little kimchi in it, too. while we were at the restaurant, a monk randomly showed up and started singing at the restaurant.
today i went on a hike with kirsten and kyle. the trail was really cool, and along the trail, there are mounds (where people are buried) and gravestones. it was kind of strange, but after awhile i stopped noticing them. although the trail was fun and had beautiful sites (every once in awhile you could catch a glimpse of the mountains and sannumdong--the area i live in), we got to a part of the trail where you could hear a ton of dogs barking coming from a dog farm. eventually you could see the building where all the dogs were. it was so sad :(
today, kirsten and i were walking back to my apartment and we saw an almost fully lit cigarette fly down in our direction from one of the apartments we were passing. we looked back and nobody was in their windows. we think it was probably intentional. a lot of koreans are very racist and dislike foreigners living in their country. it's sad that sometimes people will go out of their way (even in the smallest way possible) to express hatred toward others. on a much brighter note, for every one person who is unfriendly, there are so many more who are helpful and eager to meet americans. a lot of the time, people will say hi as you walk by, most small children will stare, and if you are in a coffee shop and start talking to them, their parents will be happy they get to practice their english. a few nights ago i was getting coffee with a few of the teachers and three small children were so excited to see white people and ran over to us to speak (the little) english they knew. their mothers smiled and said bye to us when we left.
it's definitely hard getting used to being stared at a lot. koreans just aren't used to seeing many white people. the same day we were at the coffee shop, a korean girl got out her phone and took a picture of me as i walked by to order a drink. she wasn't even nonchalant about it. very strange...
more things i've noticed about korea:
-all the american teachers have noticed about their culture: men wear purses! they aren't even man purses (bigger, messenger type bags), they're handbags!! i saw one in a grocery store the other day carrying a coach purse! we have also seen men in high heeled boots. not cowboy type boots, but boots with a bigger heel.
-if you give your kids an assignment to do on their own that will be reviewed later in class, when they are finished they will yell, "FINISHED
Sunday, September 6, 2009
choongday
this weekend, we went downtown to go to the bars in choongday (another part of cheongju). these bars are like U.S. bars on steroids--koreans love their bright lights. it almost looks like a carnival/circus lights. a little strange, but somewhat normal if you block them out. they also have the strangest games on the street you can play. koreans love their arcade games and you will find them frequently playing outside bars. you can also pay 500 won (almost 50 cents in the states) to try and win a baby bunny!
although i think the food here is fine, i haven't found anything i really like. last night was the first time since i've been here that i was completely satisfied with what i ate. i went to an indian restaurant and i had some spinach/herb chicken dish with naan (bread). hopefully i'll find some korean food here that is tasty (soon!). right now i've been eating a lot of tofu (i'm so lucky i like it). i've been trying to find food online that have less sodium in it. the amount in the dishes here is ridiculous, although you can't even taste it in the food. but, no luck so far.
i still need to take pictures of my neighborhood. there's a park right up the street from me and yesterday there were a ton of little kids and their parents out playing. it was nice to see them there, the playground is very quiet during the week since all the kids are studying.
school is still going well. i taught my first kindergarten class--i learned i have eyes in the back of my head. that was the hardest class to control because they know so little english. amber, one of the teachers here, has taught the korean kids for a year and gave me some korean phrases to use on them. during one of my breaks she came into the office we all share for a minute and told me to come look at her classroom. there was a small child sitting underneath the table and wouldn't come out. she said it was like that all day. i also learned that one of my little girls in my 1st-2nd grade class is 4 (5 in korea). i'm assuming that my kindergartners are around that age and maybe even a little older.
today i plan on going on a hike with a few of the teachers. there's this mountain really close to my apartment that has a good trail. at my school, you can look out the stair windows and see the mountains--they are so beautiful! i can't wait to view them from the trails. i also plan to finally get around to e-mailing people other than my dad and jane. the time just flies by here!
a few more things about korea and their culture:
-there is this thing they believe in called fan death. same with air conditioners. they believe if you have a fan on in a room where the windows are closed, you could die. the fans they sell here have about a 3 hour limit before they automatically shut off. i keep my conditioner on at night with the windows closed and nothing bad has happened to me yet...
-the other day i was correcting homework with a red pen and wrote their name with it. i had to go over every single name with white out because koreans believe writing names in red pen is cursing death on that person. i knew that they believed this, but it slipped through my mind.
although i think the food here is fine, i haven't found anything i really like. last night was the first time since i've been here that i was completely satisfied with what i ate. i went to an indian restaurant and i had some spinach/herb chicken dish with naan (bread). hopefully i'll find some korean food here that is tasty (soon!). right now i've been eating a lot of tofu (i'm so lucky i like it). i've been trying to find food online that have less sodium in it. the amount in the dishes here is ridiculous, although you can't even taste it in the food. but, no luck so far.
i still need to take pictures of my neighborhood. there's a park right up the street from me and yesterday there were a ton of little kids and their parents out playing. it was nice to see them there, the playground is very quiet during the week since all the kids are studying.
school is still going well. i taught my first kindergarten class--i learned i have eyes in the back of my head. that was the hardest class to control because they know so little english. amber, one of the teachers here, has taught the korean kids for a year and gave me some korean phrases to use on them. during one of my breaks she came into the office we all share for a minute and told me to come look at her classroom. there was a small child sitting underneath the table and wouldn't come out. she said it was like that all day. i also learned that one of my little girls in my 1st-2nd grade class is 4 (5 in korea). i'm assuming that my kindergartners are around that age and maybe even a little older.
today i plan on going on a hike with a few of the teachers. there's this mountain really close to my apartment that has a good trail. at my school, you can look out the stair windows and see the mountains--they are so beautiful! i can't wait to view them from the trails. i also plan to finally get around to e-mailing people other than my dad and jane. the time just flies by here!
a few more things about korea and their culture:
-there is this thing they believe in called fan death. same with air conditioners. they believe if you have a fan on in a room where the windows are closed, you could die. the fans they sell here have about a 3 hour limit before they automatically shut off. i keep my conditioner on at night with the windows closed and nothing bad has happened to me yet...
-the other day i was correcting homework with a red pen and wrote their name with it. i had to go over every single name with white out because koreans believe writing names in red pen is cursing death on that person. i knew that they believed this, but it slipped through my mind.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
incheon
this weekend i went to incheon with some of the teachers to go to the beach. incheon is a major seaport on the west coast and is very close to seoul.the beach we visited was on an island, so obviously a ferry was needed to transport us. as we were walking onto the ferry, the first thing we noticed were the jellyfish in the water that were swimming up near the top. this kind of alarmed me because i didn't want to be swimming in the ocean with jellyfish that swam so close to shore. there was actually no need to be concerned--the tide was so low, we decided to explore the beach instead of swimming. there were a ton of washed up dead jellyfish on the beach that were perfectly placed so you could touch them but not get stung. they felt like hard jello jigglers. we also found this sand that was filmy on the top, but it was like walking on a water bed. there were also slugs, snails, and occasionally a sea cucumber. i'm not exactly sure how to describe them, but they're basically an orange, bumpy version of a slug, but bigger. apparently they are really tasty and even considered a delicacy in korea...
we ate dinner at this seafood place where you order your food and they start the grill up right at your table. they bring out this deep pan with fire in it and a grill to put the food on. when the shellfish pop open they're ready to eat. i actually didn't eat the shellfish (my stomach still rejects even thinking about it after getting the flu the day after eating seafood) so i had bibinbop. bibinbop is basically vegetables, rice, chili paste, seaweed and a fried egg (they put fried egg on everything). it's actually really good (and fun to say). you can get it basically anyw
here you go.that night we stayed in bungalows, which fit two to three people. it's just an open room with a soft (not soft enough) floor with some pillows and blankets. basically, it was like camping, except the bathrooms suprisingly were better than the ones at campgrounds in the united states (although i barely know what those are like, i'm not the camping type).
today i had my first classes with my little kids. i was told some of them may not have english names and we get to name them if they don't. so the cutest little girl in one of my classes didn't have an english name. my original plan was to name them after popular american television show characters (like from the oc, grey's anatomy, gossip girl), but this girl liked none of those names. so i decided to start listing off my friend's names, starting with kate. she chose that one right away. smart girl.
so far, they have been good students and very well behaved. they're kind of shy since i'm their new teacher, but i was told that won't last long. at the beginning of class when i introduced myself, i asked them all where they thought i was from. with the exception of one guess, they all thought i was from canada. the other guess thought i was from france.
Friday, August 28, 2009
new in town!
so i arrived to seoul with no time delays or any traveling problems. i went through customs around 4:40 am and proceeded to find the shuttle bus i needed to board. before i left i had heard that not many koreans know much english, but i was suprised that every korean i spoke with on my trip knew english well enough to give me general directions.
when i arrived to cheongju the director of the school was there to pick me up. he showed me where my apartment was (it wasn't ready to move into yet) and took me to get breakfast at dunkin donuts. at first i thought it was going to be really gross, but they actually have really good bagels that remind me of bagel boy. i guess it's where all the native english speaking teachers hang out since it's about a block away from the school, so i ran into the head teacher right away. he also went to nebraska and recognized me by my tshirt.
i started school the first full day i was here and actually had my first lesson. so i was basically thrown into it, but i think it was better this way because i wouldn't have had anything else to do while the other teachers were in class. my students were all really cute and kind of shy, but i was told that won't last long. they call you "teacher" here and when they want something, they'll start saying "teacher, teacher, teacher!" sometimes they'll call you your name and add teacher to it, so i guess that makes me "erin teacher". i teach two middle school classes at the older school, and about four 1st grade language arts classes, and one 2nd grade science lab/math class. i'm not too excited about the science/math class. the school with the younger kids is an accelerated program which uses other studies to help them learn english. usually they will have done the lesson in their korean class a few months before we teach it to them in english. that way, they comprehend what they're learning making it easier for them to learn the english.
i lucked out on my apartment--i was given a huge wardrobe, table, tv, another set of drawers, and a (yay) mattress pad! even though my bed/mattress is western style, they are still really hard, but the mattress pad makes it a ton better. they also gave me a set of sheets which were hanging to dry in my laundry room when i came. the room kind of smells musty, so i'm trying to figure out how to fix that...
the weather here is very humid. it's so uncomfortable walking around in the mid afternoon. as soon as i get ready and walk out the door, my hair already starts to curl. even though there really is no point in straightening it at this point, i still do it every day. by last night, my hair was all curly.
a few things i've picked up on since i've been here:
-the cross walks are really weird. only one side of the square has a walking sign at once, which means you wait a loooong time, unless you just walk on the red. only americans walk on the red.
-the kids at the school through their toilet paper in the garbage instead of flushing it down the toilet...even though the area they live in and where the school is located has very good sewer pipes. this may somehow relate back to how they traditionally used to do it, i don't know, but i think it's really gross.
-when you're waiting for an elevator, koreans wait right at the door and try to get on right away. it's not just the kids, the adults do it too. it's like they forget that there are people riding on it and then they get all flustered when they have to back up to let others off of it before they get on.
i'm going to start take pictures soon. so more to come soon!
when i arrived to cheongju the director of the school was there to pick me up. he showed me where my apartment was (it wasn't ready to move into yet) and took me to get breakfast at dunkin donuts. at first i thought it was going to be really gross, but they actually have really good bagels that remind me of bagel boy. i guess it's where all the native english speaking teachers hang out since it's about a block away from the school, so i ran into the head teacher right away. he also went to nebraska and recognized me by my tshirt.
i started school the first full day i was here and actually had my first lesson. so i was basically thrown into it, but i think it was better this way because i wouldn't have had anything else to do while the other teachers were in class. my students were all really cute and kind of shy, but i was told that won't last long. they call you "teacher" here and when they want something, they'll start saying "teacher, teacher, teacher!" sometimes they'll call you your name and add teacher to it, so i guess that makes me "erin teacher". i teach two middle school classes at the older school, and about four 1st grade language arts classes, and one 2nd grade science lab/math class. i'm not too excited about the science/math class. the school with the younger kids is an accelerated program which uses other studies to help them learn english. usually they will have done the lesson in their korean class a few months before we teach it to them in english. that way, they comprehend what they're learning making it easier for them to learn the english.
i lucked out on my apartment--i was given a huge wardrobe, table, tv, another set of drawers, and a (yay) mattress pad! even though my bed/mattress is western style, they are still really hard, but the mattress pad makes it a ton better. they also gave me a set of sheets which were hanging to dry in my laundry room when i came. the room kind of smells musty, so i'm trying to figure out how to fix that...
the weather here is very humid. it's so uncomfortable walking around in the mid afternoon. as soon as i get ready and walk out the door, my hair already starts to curl. even though there really is no point in straightening it at this point, i still do it every day. by last night, my hair was all curly.
a few things i've picked up on since i've been here:
-the cross walks are really weird. only one side of the square has a walking sign at once, which means you wait a loooong time, unless you just walk on the red. only americans walk on the red.
-the kids at the school through their toilet paper in the garbage instead of flushing it down the toilet...even though the area they live in and where the school is located has very good sewer pipes. this may somehow relate back to how they traditionally used to do it, i don't know, but i think it's really gross.
-when you're waiting for an elevator, koreans wait right at the door and try to get on right away. it's not just the kids, the adults do it too. it's like they forget that there are people riding on it and then they get all flustered when they have to back up to let others off of it before they get on.
i'm going to start take pictures soon. so more to come soon!
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