month 2 - "mandoo, por favor"

october 19th

I saw my first rugby game!


october 22nd

This was the first day it rained since I had been here, nearly three and a half weeks. I've been told I lucked out, as many of the newer teachers had been forced to survive monsoon season (solid rain every day for over a month) upon arrival.


october 26th

I haven't seen very many cops. In fact, this was the day I saw my first police vehicle. It was in Seoul. I was walking to brunch, (YES, I found a place, the Rocky Mountain Tavern, Canadian themed bar,) and had to step off the street to let a car pass. I noticed the cop lights, and then, as it was driving by just inches from me, I couldn't help but notice the driver's partner, also in uniform, was ASLEEP! Haha! So I guess you can be a sleepy cop here and go ahead and have yourself a nap if you need one. Plus two points for law enforcement style. october 29th
My first pay day. WOOT! As long as i don't think about the exchange rate, I feel rich with multiple millions of won. Side-note, several weeks after this, they discussed that they had decided to change our pay date, effectively moving it ten days later and breaking each and every one of our contracts. I was quite happy, I can't lie, as I hoped this would mean I could be set free and get a new job. They heard all the muttering in the staff room and changed their mind. This will now be effective in March for the new school year. Wise move on their part, but I was crushed.


october 31st

On Halloween day, Jamie Teacher and I hosted the "Monster Dance" room starting at 10am. Picture two white chicks, both dressed as cats (in heels), leading the freeze dance competition amongst swarm after swarm of tiny Korean children. We had to ham it up for every single song and every single group of kids that came in, and still they would often just stare at us blankly with a "you teachers are crazy" look on their faces as you got down to our hip-hop selection. It was pretty ridiculous. And I had a sprained ankle. It was really sprained after that. Later that day, I took a nap and went out in Hongdae (club scene in Seoul) with Soo Min and Nate (friends from back home in Boston.) I had an awesome night but was told I was a wimp when I couldn't hack it anymore after 4am... The clubs were packed tighter than submarine's right up until we finally went home at 5:30 in the morning. You literally could not move.


november 1st

This was the first weekend I didn't spend entirely in Seoul, although my subway trip back from Hongdae Saturday morning took over two and a half hours. My new friends were all in Hong Kong for the world championship rugby match, New Zealand vs. Australia. Today I mastered getting home in a cab by myself and said the right thing and everything: "Jung An Town." (That's not how you spell it, I'm sure, that's just how I remember how to say it.) The cabbie brought me right home! I was so thrilled with myself. It may sound minor but these types of things are major accomplishments toward becoming self-sufficient in this country.


november 8th

I went to a wine and cheese party! Made me smile like no other. Say it with me: "Cheese please!"


november 10th

Today I finished my NEWer and hopefully more improved Christmas "play." Yes, they told me to write another one. (They then waited several weeks after this and asked me to change it for a THIRD TIME! Grrrr...)


november 11th

Parents Participation Day: This is the day I had been dreading ever since I was forewarned about a month ago. As with perhaps any private school, their main goal is to keep the parents happy as it is their money that essential funds the programs, salaries, etc. My mothers came in and observed my class (a vastly shortened and rehearsed class, mind you), along with the occasional father, uncle, or aunt. My immediate supervisor and Korean partner teacher were also in the classroom. They told me that the parents would base their decision on whether or not to enroll their child for the following school year on the class alone. There was an immense amount of pressure. I have no idea what I did, but I guess I did fine. I had a meeting with all the mothers afterwords and sat in front of them with their chairs arranged like an audience. It was incredibly intimidating. They asked questions and my supervisor translated. The director came in for part of it. After I busted out at the end of our meeting, she called up the stairs after me: "Thank you for smiling!" I guess I don't smile that much at school. HA! I was amused, but they were happy so it was a relief.

To celebrate after PPC day, Jen and I went to a new restaurant in our neighborhood, "Taste Noodles." We took our shoes off as we entered and sat down to a hopefully delicious meal of hot noodles. We then realized there was no menu, or rather it was on the wall, but without pictures. This was the first time we went to a restaurant without a picture menu. We attempted to start translating things on our phones but the Agjama seemed impatient. I asked for two of whatever it was they were going to give us and hoped for the best. A minute later we were sitting in front of a big 'ol bowl of kim-chi. (If you don't know what kim-chi is, it's spicy cooked cabbage, served cold or hot, in this case cold. And honestly, it's pretty hard to get down, in my opinion.) You should have seen the look on Jen's face. Sooo disappointed! We both kind of smiled and then laughed and started translating the rest of the menu on our phone to see what we had ordered or if we should try something else. I started eating the kim-chi and suggested we have a contest to see who could eat the most. Then a few minutes later she brought over a giant bowl of green noodles with shrimp, clams, and spices. AH! Our delight was evident. We pushed the kim-chi aside and chowed down.


november 16th

My computer had crashed, (thus the lack of blogging until now).I went to Electronics Market in Yongsan in hopes of finding someone to help me fix it. I bought a brand new 80 GB hard drive for about $80 bucks, installed, ready to go in an hour. I'm thrilled. So I'm back up and running and emailing and such.


november 17th

I had dinner with Soo Min (friend from college) and his aunt and uncle's family who live pretty close to me. (I brought his aunt yellow roses because I didn't know what else to bring.) She made the most quintessential Korean meal she could when she learned I had only been in the country a few months and hadn't eaten with a Korean family yet. At times it was really awkward as Soo Min and I were speaking English and then he would translate after. They really wanted their children to speak English with me, probably to see that all their hard-earned money on TOEFL programs has paid off. The sixth grader was too shy and refused but their ninth grader spoke great English. Many families pay people just to come to their home and speak English with them, so this was a great trade I'm sure. They are Christians and asked me if I went to church and if I had found one here yet. They "mentioned" their church had services in English. It was all quite precious. I bowed profusely on the way out, but maybe not as deeply as I should have. I really adore meeting people's families. I was "tickled" as they say.


clothing:

The women here are dressed to impress almost 100% of the time. If they are out in public, they are fully done up: hair, make-up, accessories, trendy jacket, boots, designer purse, bejeweled cellphone, and on and on. The young women here are big fans of the mini-skirt or shorts with tights look. They would never show their shoulders or lower neck area in public, however. You won't ever see anyone but a foreigner wearing a tank-top here without a t-shirt underneath. I break that rule when I go out. Scandalous foreigner, I be.

I can fit in most of the clothes, fortunately, but clearly not the pants, due to height restrictions. My wardrobe will eventually largely consist of mu-mus and leggings. the other day I walked into a store, and before I had hardly had a chance to look at anything, the Ahjama said "big size-EH" and pointed to me and my friend. I looked at Jen in disbelief, "Did she just tell us she had plus sizes for us?" Jen: "Yeah, let's get out of here." I wanted to buy a pair of these trendy stirrup leggings the other day and asked the lady if they had medium or large. She knew what I was saying because I pointed to a sticker that said M/L on a pair of pantyhose. She then looked at me quizzically and said, "Plus size-eh?" I smiled and nodded, yes, plus size. Then I asked her if she thought it would fit me, the plus size. She looked me over twice and then shook her head. I had a good laugh. You have to. I was pretty sure it would have fit me but I was too embarrassed to stay at the counter any longer. I went and got myself a hot waffle on the street filled with something close to whipped cream and maple syrup. Then I bought leggings somewhere else.


safety:

I have never felt so safe in my life, really. Maybe it's a false sense of safety but it's a nice feeling. I feel safer here than in the quiet asian neighborhood I lived in in Malden (which has it's own S.W.A.T team), more than in Gloucester, and even more than back when I lived in Northern Maine. That's not to say that I don't always lock my door, but I can walk around at night and not be on alert, looking behind me every few feet. I'm not exactly sure what gives me such a feeling, especially since I've never seen such poorly lit streets in such a populated area. I trip over stuff on the sidewalk if I walk to the bus in the evening. It's very dark.


my korean etiquette:

I try to be super polite almost to a fault. Koreans are friendly-ish, but it's true that they judge you. Perhaps that is the same of all cultures and foreigners living among them. I always give my seat on the bus or subway to someone that looks over 55 or 60 or has young children. I guess I did that back home too, but even more so here. They always seem kind of surprised that a foreigner would think to do that. I like to make people smile. The younger people here don't seem to bow anymore as a greeting or goodbye. However, one of my students was asked to use "bow" in a sentence and wrote: "I bow to grandmother every morning." I think it's a quaint custom, so I use it in stores as I exit and thank the store owner, on the street when people stare, if someone holds a door open for me, etc. My friend Soo Min says that it's excessive, but they often bow first, or bow right back and smile. I think it is appreciated that I am trying to be polite. I know such little Korean that I try to do stuff like this that doesn't need translation and hope it's well-received. things i know how to say in korean: hello goodbye thankyou over here right left straight how much? one two three big brother married woman station Yeah, I need to work on this, ALOT. It's really hard. Someone will teach me how to say something and I instantly forget no matter how many times I repeat it to myself.


this brings me to my title choice:

It's natural for me to revert to my very limited Spanish vocabulary when searching for a word in Korean. I catch myself wanting to say "por favor" every time I ask for something. Part of this is that I feel so rude pointing but have little other choice. I feel it would be at least a little more polite if I point at something and then say "please." Unfortunatley there really isn't a word for please in Korean. You have to say something and then follow it with "Chuseo." There is this cart outside Samsung Plaza in Bundang that sells the best damn Mandoo. (Mandoo is dumplings filled with meat and other salty things.) I call the lady, "Mandoo Mama," and give her the biggest smile ever when I go there. You can catch me wondering back to the cart for seconds after I've shopped a little, and then for a third time for my dessert of whipped-cream-filled waffle sandwiches. Mandoo mama and Mandoo make my heart so happy.


overall:

Well, I know I've said a lot already but none of it specifically about how I'm really doing here. It's hard for me to sum it up nicely in a paragraph or even get it down to a general feeling. I have many feelings. Allow me to ramble between thoughts, please.

This month more so than before, I've become more homesick for my friends back home in Mald-y, NYC, and elsewhere. I miss my old roommates a ton, and that great apartment, but have been enjoying the evening solitude that I had lacked for so many years. I don't miss living in Boston itself all that much. I miss New York a LOT. I greatly enjoy just walking and watching here. (The people watching itself is fantastic, some of the best.) I have decided I do like being surrounded by just chatter, none of it registering. It gives you a lot more time to think and be in solitude even in one of the biggest cities in the world. I've been writing more lately.

I bought a journal whose cover reads: "I will stick to my dream and try my best to make it come true." I remind myself that leaving would defeat the point and that even though my job is much the same as I mentioned in the beginning, if not even more tiring and discouraging, I am still accomplishing my goal just by being here. There's been a lot to make up for all the job bullshit too, like having made good friends here already. I can't imagine how it would be if I hadn't found a few awesome people right away. It makes all the difference in the world.

week 3 - "Eva Teacher"

Details that may interest you, by category:


about WORK:

Kids call their teachers " First Name Teacher" at my school. No Ms., Mrs., or Mr. titles. So I am (I hope) affectionately known as "Eva Teacher."

The foreign teachers at my school are mostly Canadian, Aaa? Jen, my new Bundang friend, is Canadian. Her mother is French though, as in, from France, and her father is British. I like these new diversified people that are around me. Many have traveled a lot.

I got my first "love note" or kind words of encouragement from a student my second week. Her name is Alison. She is one of my older afternoon students. She wrapped up a letter on construction paper inside more construction paper with a construction paper heart on top and wrote: "Dear Eva, Hello! I like you. I like you better then Ben teacher. You are kind and beautiful. Shhhh. Don't tell others. It secret. xoxo. Alison." Ben teacher is the teacher I replaced, AWESOME! (Later on, my core class, the ones I spend the majority of every day with, decided as a group that they missed Ben and didn't like Eva Teacher, and told me this. Even now, every journal entry they write ends in "I miss Ben Teacher." Tough act to follow.)

Apparently I am expected to wear a costume to school for Halloween and to run a "Halloween Station" (or two) with almost 120 kids cycling through that day. (Feel free to submit costume ideas for me). In addition, I have to choose a play by Monday to have my kids perform for the holiday program this December. Oh my goodness...... Stuff like this, crafty/creative stuff, whatever you wanna call it, it really doesn't come very naturally to me. Please send strength, I can't imagine how I'm gonna pull off getting eight 6 year olds to memorize lines for a play. Believe it or not, I have the oldest children, so more is expected of my class. Greaaat.

I am not the only tall white girl at my school, but I pretty sure I'm the most gigantic, especially when I wear heels to school.

I signed up for school lunch. It's hit or miss. The bony fish, I really, really can't do that. It's awful. but there will be other random things like a hard-boiled egg without the hard-boiled egg white. It looks funny but tastes normal. Always soup. Always with rice. Always. There is a sign in our faculty room that says "Teachers, please make sure your students eat their rice. Rice is a big part of Korean culture. Mothers feel we do not take care of their children when they do not eat their rice."


about HOME:

Showering: They have hot water "on demand" here. So when I want hot water, I press the red button on the wall. Then I wait... so I can wash my face, hands, take a shower, do dishes, etc. I imagine it's probably an energy saver because it makes it pretty hard to waste hot water, seeing as you have no choice but to be intentional in its use. That's the up-side. The down side, besides having to plan ahead, is that the hot water also runs under your floor and acts as the heating system, so every time you want hot water, inadvertently this also is like turning on the heat, I'm pretty sure that will be annoying to have the heat on every time I shower in the summer. BUT, it's nice not to have cold floors in the winter... My head will be cold instead, being that it's such a lofty distance from the heating source.

For those who were asking, I live alone. And I found out I have one of the "bigger" apartments.

I live on a hill, about a five minute walk from my school, on the second floor of an apartment building. I think there's one or two more floors above me. Most families in this area live in very large apartment buildings, some as many as 20 plus floors, pretty near to my house.


about korea in GENERAL:

Picture a 24 hour convenience store, just like back home. Now picture it selling booze 24 hours a day/everyday. And guess what? There are plastic tables and chairs outside that you can sit at. You can drink 'round the clock right outside on the street by the convenience store and keep running back in for bevs and snacks. SO weird, but I like it!

There is no such thing as tipping here. In fact, it would be considered rude to do so most places. But the other night I had a delicious galbi (spelling?) meal. This is a traditional Korean style meal where they cook things in a skillet over a gas flame only a foot off the floor. You take your shoes off upon entering the restaurant and sit down next to these low tables that anyone of moderate size could just barely squeeze their thighs under. (Ok, moderate exaggeration.) The nice Ahjama (spelling? means married woman) kept coming over and flipping over our meat, etc. Point being, she was both cook and waitress, and a damn good one. Still, no tip. I felt bad! Best damn meat I ever had though, incredibly tasty.

Street food rocks; they got us totally beat. I can get a bowl full of fried dumplings full of meat and other mystery stuff for 2,000 won which is essentially $1.80 or something and they're really delicious and filling. Kiwi is always ripe and scrumptious, about 6 for $2 bucks; but a single apple can run you as much as $4.00.

You bag your own groceries, and you bag your own things at Wal-Mart-ish places and stuff too. Trust me, you look like an idiot at first waiting for them to do it. Wal-Mart is called "E-Mart" here, but waaaay awesomer with elevators and multiple floors of fun crap.

As far as my favorite foods from back home go, there is no cheese, at least not as we know it. Even in the foreign market, I cannot find real cheese, like a block of cheddar or mozzarella, This is one of my biggest issues with Korea, thus far... Yogurt is pretty cheap and super delicious. They don't have as many low-fat things so the Yoplait here (apple, kiwi, orange, and fun flavors like that) is really thick and creamy so I'm happy. No, I haven't found Cheez-its. Also an issue, no brunch. :(


I should have some pictures soon.

october 3rd-5th - "my first weekend in korea"

I lucked out. Friday was a holiday here so we had a three day weekend. Thursday night some girls invited me out. I got all ready to go with them, waited a long time and then finally called. They said they had decided not to go. I found out later they did and just didn't tell me. Tricky making friends...

Friday night I had someone show me how to take the subway into Seoul from Bundang. I went into Seoul that night for my very first time and all by myself. I was so proud of myself for figuring out where to change subway lines. I met up with my old friend Soo Min from college. We hung out at a hookah bar in Gangnam called the Rainbow Room and had a lot of fun catching up on the last 3 and 1/2 years since we'd seen each other.

I had to sleep in Seoul because a cab would be too expensive to take back and the public transportation stopped running at midnight-ish. That morning I had no trouble taking the subway back to Bundang, but the problem is my apartment is a 45 minute walk from the subway so it behooves one to take a bus. I got on the wrong bus. Spent hours lost and eventually in tears and called Jen multiple times for help. She very graciously came to my rescue, quite literally. I was supposed to go into work at this point, to prep myself. No one told me to, it was just to my benefit, but Jen asked, "wanna go to Itaewon?" I didn't know what was there but it sounded more fun to me...

Jen and I went shopping in Itaewon. We had an eventful shopping trip and then went to her friend Liz's apartment to get ready to go out that night to celebrate Jen's 22nd birthday. Liz has a dual command post with the Army/Navy in Seoul and a kick-ass apartment with three dogs, one a golden retriever puppy and one roommate, also a teacher. (I found out later that 99% of the foreign people here are either teachers or in the miliary. No exaggeration.) All the girls that I met that night had formed a rugby team in Seoul. Jen, me, and rugby chicks had a really awesome night dancing until the wee hours of the morning at an Irish pub called "Wolfhound." And you know what, I didn't miss home one bit.

So, at this point:

I am not homesick, per se. But I miss my friends back home, for sure. I like it here in general. I don't feel any real sense of "culture shock", I don't think. My neighborhood and school building are really clean and aesthetically-pleasing. I like Jen and everyone I've met has been pretty nice. I don't mind the children themselves. I don't mind my apartment. I guess I would say I could see myself staying with ease if it weren't for my job. I really very strongly dislike my job. I'm seriously trying to figure out how to break my contract.

september 30th-october 2nd - "work week one"

I road in Mister Park's car to work that morning. He tried to make small talk but I mostly stared out the window. I wasn't sure if I should be paying attention to how to get there or not. Shortly there after I was lead to the "faculty room" where I quickly jumped at the chance to check my facespaces and gmail and let some people know I had arrived safely. There was a girl in the room, Liz, who introduced herself. She was another foreign teacher. She then told me she was working and asked me to be quiet.

Over the next hour or so I met fifteen or so other teachers, probably about ten foreign: American, Canadian, British, and South African. One teacher, Lizelle, from South Africa, came up to me while I was still gmailing and said, "When you get a minute, come talk to me and I can let you know what you'll be teaching today." I almost choked. I looked at her dumbfoundedly. You've got to be kidding me. Remember, I got off the plane less than 8 hours previous. She proceeded to give me multiple packets of papers, all equally confusing to my delirious mind. "Ben Teacher" (whom I replaced) wrote the lesson plans for the following month. You would think that would be awesome, but they're really overwhelmingly detailed and they're so many of them!

During the second class that day, I ran out of the class room and threw up. I cried at least once every day that school week. Everyone kept saying, you just need to get on Korean time and equally unhelpful stuff like that. I had no problem being on Korean time as I missed almost three nights of sleep! I ate a total of one meal, two bowls of soup, and a granola bar in the first 5 days I was there. So I was basically a starving, sleep-deprived, deer-in-headlights the whole first week.

I spent two nights at the Hotel Regency and was then moved into my flat. I miss the Hotel Regency. Nothing says "Welcome to Korea" better than a nice hotel and a jacuzzi with detachable shower head. Can't say I have anything quite like that now. Remember how I joked: I wonder if they have detachable shower heads in Korea? Well, it turns out that's ALL they have! What I should have asked is if they have showers... That would be "no." Well, I'm sure some people do, but most don't. I spray the entire damn bathroom down with water when I shower. It's tricky to remember to leave your towel outside of the room before you enter, takes some getting used to. Also, I'm not allowed to wear shoes in my apartment, according to the school. It "hurts the flooring." Very delicate floors if you ask me. My apartment is not so bad really. It has one main room with single bed, tv, dresser, wardrobe, desk, old stuffed pleather chair, a small table with two chairs, and separate tiny kitchen and bathroom. I have a washing machine which I'm pumped about. It's nice not to have to go to the laundry mat like I've been doing. No one uses dryers here, just giant drying racks. You'll see them outside of peoples apartments too

.

Misc. Details from my first week:

I have cable, a few channels are US, in English, so have been watching House, Law and Order, CSI, Heroes quite a bit.

Women do not smoke on the street here, only men. A teacher told me she got hit over the head by some old woman (agama?) the other day for doing just that in public.

I am sick already.

I have one friend, Jen. Who likes me!

The teachers are in various buildings around the school area, all within quick walking distance, two of the female South African teachers are in my building and one married dude.

I teach IK (Intensive Kindergarten, very accurately named) in the AM, two different classes, and two different ones in the afternoon too, along with a "Returning class." Returning class, meaning kids that went there for Kindergarten that now attend Korean school and come back in the afternoon to stay up on their English.

Kindergarten in Korea is three years of schooling before 1st grade, ages 5-8 about. But when a Koren child says they are five they are really only 4 or younger in Western age. I have mostly third year student classes who are very proficient in their English, in my opinion. The returnees in the afternoon I am supposed to teach grammar, writing, debate, and science to! I had no idea I would be teaching anything but strictly English before I came here. I also have an afternoon kindergarten class that are first year students. One of the kid's names is Elvis, well, that's the English name his parents gave him. He literally ran out of class my second time with him. I felt pretty silly running around the school calling "Elvis, come back here! ELVIS!"

If kids make "really bad choices", we send them down to the Korean teachers because they can be more strict speaking to them in Korean and threatening to call their parents which they can actually do. The Korean teachers are "partner teachers" and basically act as spies as far as I can tell. They are paid to teach grammar rules, like punctuation, in Korean and a few other classes, but then also to observe the foreign teachers' classes and call home to the parents to report, aka "tattletale." Awesome.

All in all, it was a pretty terrible start.

september 28th-29th - "day one"

Estimated time of arrival in Tokyo was 4:20pm local time. Then a bit of a layover, and the completion of my journey with the final 3hr flight from Tokyo to Seoul, it would seem like a bunny-hop after the 13 hour flight I was just on. Mid-flight the pilot updated us that we had 5,0000 more km to go.

Attempting to let my gangly limbs unfold under the empty seat (miracle) next from me , I tried not to think too much about what I was really doing at the moment, you know, leaving my life as I knew it and flying across the world. It made me too nervous. I also tried not to wonder if anyone would really be there to pick me up at the airport. I didn't have a number to call, an address, or any information of use if that were to happen. Yikes... I crossed my fingers and breathed deeply, zoning out to airplane movie number three.

Someone did pick me up at the airport, an older gentleman holding a sign that said my whole name spelled out, (no easy task even for close friends of mine.) I had no idea who this guy was, and he didn't introduce himself as being from anywhere in particular. Typically I guess that would make me a little nervous, but what other option did I have? It turned out that the guy was a cabbie. I hopped in the van and fell asleep, leaving my life and destination up to the cabbie. I tried to ask him several times where we were going, like to my apartment or school or..? But he just said "no English." Should probably get used to hearing that...

An hour or so later we arrived in Bundang where we were met by Mr. Park (There are many mister Parks in my life now, hard to keep them straight.) Mr. Park in this case was a cute young man with expensive glasses, accompanied by buddy in bulky scarf. He said he was from GDA, (my school), thank god. He checked me into the Hotel Regency in Bundang and off-handedly mentioned he would pick me up at 7:30 the next morning as I had an 8:00 meeting... "Welcome to Korea!" they grinned as they left. I sensed a touch of facetiousness. Is this how you welcome people? With early am meetings? This was Monday night in Korea, so about noontime where you all are on the east coast in the U.S. That means at this point I had missed, not one, but two nights of sleep and was expected to go to the school early that next morning.

I could have probably gone to bed at this point but that seemed anti-climatic after such a long journey. I wanted to see something! ANYTHING! I left my hotel room that night and walked around a couple blocks. I was right near Samsung plaza and the night was lit up with Korean characters and brightly colored signs, some saying things in English that I recognized like "Outback steakhouse" and "Live Bar." Live Bar? Hmmm. I found a Mart of sorts and purchased cigarettes and Soju in hopes of calming my jitters before bed. I recognized the artful-looking green bottle as my friend had brought me back one from Korea before. However, I had forgotten that we took shots of this and did not drink it casually like a beer. Back at my hotel room I felt a sense of accomplishment with my first purchases in Korea, then gagged as I sipped on the bottle. It goes down easier after you get past the neck. I requested a wake-up call from the lobby and got some great sleep for the next five or six hours before my "meeting."