South Korea and Ms. Chieva

"get ready, 'cause here i come"

2009-09-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

In Korea, babies suck their thumbs; children play in puddles; girls play hard-to-get; and everyone scratches mosquito bites... It's been reassuring to know some things are the same everywhere, or at least the same here as at home. I've found in many ways Korea's not that foreign. After all, we're all human.

i'm very observant:

-tv
There are special channels on television that teach you English, all day long, every day. They range between professors teaching college-level material and Dora-the-Explorer-esque characters teaching phonics. They love American crime shows, maybe because there's no crime in Korea. They play every crime show that you can think of from home, but the advertisements for the English shows are written by Koreans and super funny.

-kids:
Korean kids endure an unimaginable amount of schooling. We know this. (I told you before.) Knowing how much time they spend at school and how strict their parents are about so many things, one might think they would have strict bedtimes as well. Not so. The children in my neighborhood are up and kickin' it in the streets 'til just about when I go to bed, and I'm a night owl. I don't mean teenagers. I've never seen teens out that late, but little kids, between five and ten years old, outside runnin' around until 10, 11, even 12 o'clock. Craziness.

I've asked my students to calculate how many hours of sleep they get per night. It's far less than I was getting at their age, some around 6 hours a night. Little tiny kids! "Hmm," you may wonder, "maybe they're on to something. They seem fine. Maybe our kids don't need as much sleep as we think they do in the U.S." I disagree, and not just because I love to sleep. Here's why:

Part of our daily routine at school is to ask how everyone's doing in the morning. Everyone always says some variation of tired. Most common answer the past few months: "I feel exhausted and happy." (I taught them the word "exhausted," because they kept saying "very, very, very, very, very tired.") They're five years old. It's kind of funny to hear a five-year-old say they're exhausted, but not like funny-haha, like funny-weird. When they're tired at the start of a new day, it's a bit disturbing. Little kids should be full of energy in the morning, don't you think? If they are getting enough sleep, that is. Clearly, they're not. On that note, I've seen TV advertisements directed at selling coffee to children, to help them stay awake while they study, of course.

-his and hers:
I've noticed Korean husbands and wives do their socializing generally in groups of same-sex friends. Women go to cafés and restaurants with their female friends, and men with their male friends. Even when out together with other couples, they segregate themselves by gender. I saw a group of eight adults, four couples, at a restaurant. All the women sat together on one end of the table and all the men sat together at the other end. I kept staring at them. It took me a while to figure out what I found so odd about that. At home you don't often see a group of adults socializing together without their significant others. Generally, as I recall, husbands and wives hang out with other couples or you see the occasional woman or man hanging out with one other friend.

I like the Korean style in some ways. I know many couples back home who get married or even are just dating and have no other friends, particularly the men. I think it's important to keep these friendships when you're in a couple and that it can serve to strengthen your relationship if for no other reason than you each can have some time apart.

Having coffee without your spouse is one thing. Heavy drinking is quite another. I must say I've seen far more men drinking with the friends until the sun comes up than women. I wonder how the women feel about their husbands drinking all night with their buddies far into old age. I've seen grandfather-aged men in the park at 9am still drunk from the night before. I've also seen old women beat men on the street that are too drunk to stand up.

-pda:
Public displays of affection are not very common among Korean couples, at least they weren't until the last two years or so. You may see older couples holding hands now, but young Korean couples, kids in high school and college, will hang off each other and make-out in public. According to people here, this is a brand-new phenomenon. It can be cute, but then again, annoying too, just like at home. This brings me to my annoyances.

the things i won't miss:

I won't miss the whining. Korean girls must be the whiniest girls on the earth. I know women can be pretty whiny at home too, but, man, oh man... The sounds that come out of them here, it's like nails on a chalkboard. I pinch my face and cover my ears. I can't type out exactly how it sounds, but I can do a pretty good impression for ya when I get back.

I won't miss the communication difficulty one has here, especially when trying to do the simplest of tasks like finding an item in the store or looking up movie times. At first, it kind of adds to the appeal of living in a foreign country, everything is an adventure. But now it's just frustrating.

I won't miss being pushed and shoved all the time. It's maddening lately. I get so pissed trying to get off the bus. Everyone will stand up to get off at the same stop and they all shove past you as if you're not getting off there too. I feel they are particularly rude to foreigners on the bus too. I imagine them all conspiring, "Don't let the white girl off the bus." Of course, I'm sure that's not true but it sure feels like it sometimes.

I won't miss being shushed all the time, even when we're talking in normal voices. (I swear they're normal.) Koreans like quiet bus rides. Could you imagine shushing someone back home talking to their friends on a bus or subway? They act like they're on vacation or in a spa or something and need absolute peace. Ridiculous. I say, if you don't like it, drive your damn car.

I won't miss rice. I don't want to eat white rice again for a long, long time.

I won't miss my job.

the things i will miss:

-cheap everything
-cheap street food
-super cheap taxis
-Family Mart, the convenience store we hang out at next to my house
-Korean commercials, hilarious
-bowing as a greeting, a thank you, a good-bye
-walking four minutes to work
-taking clean, cheap public transportation everywhere
-being alone with your thoughts because it's impossible to listen in on anyone's conversations
-korean barbecue, delicious
-having my rent paid and a place to live
-a $4 pizza place two blocks from my house
-being able to say, "because i said so, that's why"
-constant reminders to appreciate home
-fun high-top sneakers everywhere, (i'm the proud owner of two pairs)
-my friends here

When I left, I wanted so badly to be out of the U.S... and now all I want, more than anything, is to go back. I left mostly to experience somewhere new, to be a part of something else, anything else. Despite my strong urge to flee, I wasn't completely disillusioned about leaving. I knew there was a chance I wouldn't love it, but hoped if that were the case, that it would help me appreciate home again. It has. And there is no doubt my time here has been "something else." Although I wouldn't say I loved Korea, I am not cured of my traveling itch just yet. I still want to go more places, but I'm all set with Asia for a while.

"i've ceased to be amused"

2009-08-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

july 1st - "jamie goes back to america"

I was fortunate enough to be able to bring Jamie to the airport when she left. I had no idea how difficult it would be. I got more and more homesick on the bus ride there. I just kept thinking about how much I wanted to be on that plane with her. I was so happy for her to go back home and see her family but painfully jealous. "Three more months and it'll be me," I kept thinking.

At this point, my friends start leaving one by one. That's one of the most difficult parts about living in Korea. You make friends and then they finish their contracts before you and leave you here. I commented to my friend Belinda about missing Jamie. True to her Auzzie style, she bluntly said, "Well, that's Korea for ya, man. Get used to it." Belinda's lived here three years and has had to say goodbye to many good friends. On the other hand, there's always a fresh batch of new people to meet too.

july 4th - "bungee jump. check."

It's weird over here. It didn't feel like the 4th of July at all. It was the same with Christmas, Easter, and pretty much every other Western holiday. Without the commercialism and inquiries from friends reminding you that you're supposed to have some big plan that day, the holidays kind of come and go without you noticing you missed anything.

This Independence Day a friend of mine asked me to go bungee jumping. Strangely enough, there's one in the park five minutes from my house. I consider myself someone who would generally try anything twice, but I have never, ever had any inclination to go bungee jumping. If I died and never bungee jumped, I always thought, "That'd be just fine." I told my friend I'd go watch.

After a good amount of peer pressure, I ended up saddling up in the harness and riding the elevator to the top of the jump. Five people went before me. I won't lie, if I could have gotten out of it at that point, I would have. I was incredibly nervous. I never wanted to bungee jump because I always imagined an immense amount of whiplash and pictured parts of my body snapping in two. One girl went right before me. She hesitated. It was all over after that. You can't hesitate. I watched her struggle to jump once she looked down, and I thought to myself, "Self, don't do that, look out and run straight off the platform." I did. Well first I triple-checked with bungee-jump operator man after he attached a rope covered in duck tape to a velcro harness around my waist. "Are you sure it's ready? Am I hooked up? Do you have my weight right? Are you sure this velcro holds? Are you SURE?"
Bungee jump man: "Yes. Are you ready?"
Me: "No."
Bungee jump man: "You're beautiful."
Me: "Ok, I'm ready."
I looked out at the hills and took a running leap off. It was the scariest, most exhilarating feeling I've ever felt. I flew, starfish-formation so as not to flip. I didn't scream, just wide-eyed, open-mouthed, spread-eagle, felt myself fall almost to the water and bounce back up. The part where you hang in the balance before falling again... my chest filled up with breath and I gasped as I felt myself plummet again. Rinse, lather, repeat up to five times. I can't really describe how intense it was. I was lowered down into a raft in the lake. I was shaking from head to toe but very happy I did it and quite proud of myself. The crowd below cheered for me. For some reason I am the only one they cheered for. It was exciting moment that I'll never forget. And now I can die and say, "Yeah, I bungee-jumped, check."

july 25th - "han river cruise"

I went on a boat cruise down the Han River. It's just about the worst cruise ever, but only 6 bucks. One big long view of concrete and bridges overhead. It was unsightly, yet still fun because, ya know, boats are pretty much always fun. We also took some of our new coworkers who had been in Korea less than a week. Not the best tour of Seoul, but anyhow.

august 2nd-4th - "this vacation sucks"

For part of my vacation I went to Sokcho beach on the northeast coast of South Korea. That's right, forty kilometers from North Korea. We went there because supposedly it's a really nice place with great beaches and such. Not really. Every time a Korean has ever said, "Oh, that's a nice place to visit" we've been sorely disappointed. As far as I can tell, everywhere else in Korea that's not Seoul or a suburb of Seoul is still in post-war, pre-economic boom condition. The food is creepy. The motels are sketchy. Everything is old and dingy. People stare, more.

The beaches at Sokcho were nice-ish, but you couldn't find a serene corner just to lay back and listen to the waves. At night the beaches were crowded with people lighting dinky fireworks one after the other. I struggled to block out not only the crackle and boom of the fireworks going off beside me but also the loud-speaker announcements telling everyone to stay out of the water. No, you can't put your feet in the water after dark. Too many people drown. Actually, my friend Jen literally stumbled over a dead body on the beach last summer. It's quite common.

You may think this sounds unfair if you haven't been to Korea, but I honestly don't think it's a very beautiful country. I've been to the places that people said are the most famous for their beauty, and although some have been, overall, the country is a bit gray and unsightly. I've taken a bus south across the whole damn thing, if you recall. I've been to the mountains and the coast. I've also talked to other people who have been other places and their assessment is much the same. People don't come to Korea on vacation. There's a reason. Although Koreans refer to their country as "Han-guk," meaning "the great country" or "leader country," their name for America is "Mi-guk," translated beautiful country. I agree.

a few new things I can say in korean:

-I can count to 100, very slowly.
-I can say all the prices in Korean too, this is a little trickier than just counting.
-"What is that?"
-"I'm drunk."
-"Good job." (only slightly different from "I'm drunk.")
-another way to say "Cheers!"
-"It's not okay."
-A bunch of swear words
-"I'm American."
-"I'm sick."
-"5 minutes," "10 minutes," etc.
-"It's good."
-chopsticks
-spoon
-fork (in Korean: "pork-ah")

It feels like I've been dreaming this whole time, (maybe because I left the U.S. in the wee hours of the morning after being up all night.) I remember deliriously getting on the plane and thinking, "Am I really doing this? Am I really flying to Korea and leaving everything behind?" And here I am, still here after almost a year. It's hard to describe the feeling that all your memories for the past ten months seem vaguely imagined.

This dreamlike feeling may also be due to the fact that life here is generally unrealistic. I can see why so many people stay here for years on end. It's easy living in more ways than one, your employer pays your rent and you never really have to grow up. (For instance, you could drink every single night and still not out-drink most of the Korean men of the country.) It's kind of like living in la-la land for a whole year.

La-la land probably sounds pretty great to some of you back in the U.S., living and working in a far-from-dreamy economic recession. Despite knowing what job prospects are sure to greet me at home, I can't wait to go back. Everything here has ceased to be amusing and I'm finding life here more and more irritating these days. Ya know when you've been on vacation for a while, but then you get tired of traveling, feel like you've spent too much money on stupid shit, and just can't wait to be back in your own bed? That's the closest thing I can think of to describe how it feels to be here now, except multiply that feeling by a year.

So, I've made it through monsoon season. Yes. It rained the entire month of July. I just have the intensely humid heat of August to endure, an immense amount of schoolwork to prepare in September, and then I can come home.

(A few more pictures added to the beginning of the slide show. These are from my "rafting" trip and surprisingly quite pretty. The other new ones are clearly from the zoo field trip.)

"foot-long lenses"

2009-07-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

june 6th -"caribbean bay"

You can't just lay out in your bikini here. I asked. (I was actually told the police would ask you to go put clothes on. I kind of want to try it. Ha!) Unless you have a rooftop or a friend with a rooftop, or are willing to pay money to go to a public pool, there isn't anywhere a girl can go to get some sun. June was quite hot by my standards and I was craving a tan. Some girlfriends and I decided to go to a water park this Saturday. It's the biggest water park I've ever seen or heard about. There was a lazy river you could ride around tirelessly; no one would ever ask you to get out. There was a giant wave pool, tons of water rides, saunas, restaurants, napping huts, beer, snacks, and much, much more. It's funny, some things Koreans do so well, like packaging for instance. And some things they just get so wrong, like their use of peanut butter. They were selling peanut-buttered dried squid as a snack at the water park. *Shudders*

june 20th-21st - "white-water" rafting trip

I went on a rafting trip somewhere in the mountains southeast of Seoul. There were about 35 foreigners on our trip, among them Australians, New Zealanders, British people, a few Irish guys, a French couple, South Africans, Canadians, and Americans. We signed up for this trip quite last minute and didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into. Overall, we all had fun I think, but it rained the whole time. There was no "white-water" to speak of, maybe one or two small sections with rapids which was by far the most exciting part or the journey. We were instructed to paddle every other five minutes for 30 seconds. The rest of the time we just floated down river, which would have been acceptable if it had been sunny and were were drinking and snacking or something, but instead we were just miserable and shivering and hoping it would be over soon.

We spent the night in a pension. (In Korea, they use the definition of pension more popular in Europe, a boarding house rather than a retirement fund.) It's all the rage here. We rented several apartments in this building by the river built just for this purpose and ended up having a pretty wild multi-floored party that night.

observations:

At home, I recall that people dress for the weather, not the season. In the middle of October, if it's still 80 degrees, New Englanders wear shorts. Likewise, we keep some sweaters out for the occasional cold summer day. Koreans dress according to the date. Technically it's not Summer until July 1st. I swear I didn't see one darn Korean person wear a tank-top in June, and it was certainly hot enough. Additionally, I have heard that if you go to Dae-Cheon beach in August, you'll be hard-pressed to find a spot to lay out your towel. But September 1st? Not a soul, at least not a Korean soul. September marks the end of swimming season. However, foreigners like the beach this time of year and have been known to have their pictures taken by aghast natives, shooting with foot-long lenses. This brings me to my next observation.

The cameras people walk around with here... oh man. I can't get over it. It's absolutely preposterous. Moms and dads literally shoot their children playing at the park with a camera lens the length of my arm. I've seen it. Also a common sight: boyfriends doing on-the-spot photo shoots of their girlfriends at the waterpark, subway, curbside, you name it, and also, with gargantuan camera lenses. You think I'm exaggerating. Oh, no.

I added some more pictures to the slide show.

"119"

2009-06-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

may 30th - "119"
I met up with my friends Jessica and Belinda this weekend to catch-up. I hadn't seen Jessica since she fell in a hole at the D.J festival. I learned through the grapevine that she had been very, very ill after that and hospitalized for a full week. I felt like a terrible friend for not knowing and not visiting her in the hospital or anything. I found out she had had peritonitis, something like all your organs are inflamed and hate you. Terrible stuff. She almost died, and might have had her mother not called the U.S. embassy and fought to get doctors to do the necessary tests.

In my opinion, Korea is a seemingly modern nation, priding itself on its technological sharpness and leap to advancement since the Korean War, while in fact, it's quite stuck in the 1950s in many areas. I assert that this is the case with some aspects of Korean medical care. Allow me to site a few examples. Doctors do not question each other here, as everyone must save face. There is no option for getting a second opinion if they learn that someone has already examined you. And nurses? Jessica's Korean friend had to literally bribe nurses to take care of her. Administering drugs is the nurse's sole purpose here, excluding basic care like helping you get to the bathroom, bringing you a blanket or glass of water, etc. They expect that your family will take care of such needs. But if you have no family... yeah, you're pretty much f*cked.

Payment is their biggest concern, apparently, certainly with foreigners. The night I met up with Jessica, we ate Thai food and she started to feel a little sick. She was on antibiotics still from her hospital stay and had only been discharged a week ago. She started to feel ill and asked if she could go take a rest at Belinda's house. We brought her home but by then she had started shaking. She began to suffer the same symptoms she had been hospitalized with a week ago. We were all scared. I ran down the hill to get a taxi as we figured that would be faster and cheaper than calling an ambulance. We asked the taxi to bring us to the closest hospital. I said "Il, Il , gu" which means "119", the Korean equivalent of "911." He understood and got us to an ER within ten minutes. At the ER, they continually asked us for money. Belinda and I had money but our ATM cards don't work after 11pm. Jessica had no money after being docked pay from missing work last week and paying a million won for her hospital stay. They refused to do anything until we could give them money. We pleaded with them to "DO SOMETHING!" as Jessica lay there doubled up in pain. They asked us what we would like done. As if we knew!? After about an hour of trying to explain that she had been sick last week and asking them to contact the other hospital where they had her medical records, we requested an ambulance to transfer us there. We had to pay cash for the ambulance.

At the next hospital, they did remember her which was a relief, but they just sent over doctors and nurses to push on her stomach, asking repeatedly,"Does this hurt?" It was obvious it was causing her terrible pain. They drew blood without gloves and let the blood shoot out onto the floor. The blood pooled on the floor next to me and was mopped up hours later by a cleaning lady. I had seen some pretty terrible medical treatment as an HIV case manager back home, but this was a new level of horrific. Jess had chronic diarrhea and almost constant urination and was unable to walk at this point. I got to pull out my social work skills and advocate through the night for her care. I also had some on-the-spot CNA training, as I was basically her nurse, helping her to use the bedpan and emptying it myself many times. They gave her a saline drip, and an expensive ultrasound on her belly and sent her home at 9am with new antibiotics. I thought of canceling my health insurance as it appeared that I'd been wasting my money the last 8 months. Her insurance covered only a 1/4 of the cost of her ER stay that night. The whole experience was nightmarish.

Jessica went in the hospital again that Monday when she fainted at work, but is thankfully feeling back to normal now.

may 27th - "wet n' wild and employer-sponsored"

My employer took everyone out for galbi this Wednesday after work. There were about 25 of us, foreign and Korean teachers and our management. Unlike our other work dinners thus far, this one included many, many bottles of soju and beer. It was Esther's last week and she insisted on doing a shot of soju with everyone that would concede. I must admit I was a big encouragement.. Since it was on our boss, we kept ordering more and more soju until the restaurant owners eventually cut us off. (We had a private room, but we were gettin' pretty rowdy by this point.) Our boss, "Slick Rick," as we fondly refer to him, said, "Let's take the party back to GDA!" The story ends with everyone jumping in the school swimming pool with our work clothes on, our boss included. In the morning we found out we had dyed the pool water with color bleeding from our clothes and had left the pool littered with beer and soju bottles. I'm sure we won't be taken out to dinner again for a while, but it was one of the best times any of us have had with our coworkers and was truly great for morale.

"pee, pee, everywhere!"

2009-06-22T08:01:00.000-07:00

may 4th and 5th:

This was my first long weekend since the end of January and a long-overdue break. I now realize that I didn't appreciate the earned time off I had at my last job, or the ability to call in sick or take a "mental health day" when needed, (which was quite often.) At GDA, you can't be sick or take time off. It's just not an option. If you are sick enough to be in the hospital, they will dock your pay 1.2x the usual rate, 1.5x without a doctor's note. I haven't called in sick yet. Although, I was sick my entire long weekend. Go figure.

may 9th: "d.j. festival"

I went to the 3rd Annual Seoul World D.J festival on the Han River. It was mainly techno music, which all starts to sound the same to me after a while, but all in all, it was a great time. The crowd was groovy, I danced a lot and saw some people getting loose. It was nice to see Koreans in a different light and meet more people that are part of the music scene in Seoul.

Most memorable event at DJ fest:

I lost my camera and left a description at the lost-and-found desk with a guy named Frederick. Later that night I had gotten separated from my friend Jessica. I called her around 2am to say I wanted to go home. I found her in a dark parking lot. She had fallen into a concrete pit, suffered a large gash across her foot, and had been sitting there gushing blood for over a half-hour. I ran from the parking lot back to the festival and went to the english-speaking booth where I had earlier reported my lost camera. After a few failed attempts, I did find the paramedics. It appeared to me that the people the paramedics were busy helping were just drunk. After politely asking for help and trying to look desperate, I demanded their attention. I squawked that my friend needed help but I couldn't carry her. (I use "squawk" because I think I was literally flapping my wings up and down at this point.). Blank stares. I shouted, "These people are just drunk! Give them some water, they'll be fine. Please help me! Pee, pee, everywhere!" (because "pee" is Korean for blood). Frederick, the guy who had earlier taken my information about my camera turned around and recognized me. He asked me where my friend was and we took off running. This sweet, super-skinny Korean boy gave Jessica a piggy-back ride back to the paramedics. Awe.

Jessica had stitches the next day, but was okay. Later that night, Frederick called saying he had found my camera. I asked him to hold on to it for me until I could pick it up. I got my camera back a few weeks later. Strangers aren't always this nice to people here, but I've found the return of lost items is standard in Korea. I wanted to share this story because it's just plain sweet, and it gave me a bit of relief that there are still people that return things to the lost-and-found and carry strangers through parking lots on their backs.

may 16th - "dance, dance competition"

My recruiter organized a mixer for his recruits and their friends in Korea, just designed for new people to get connected to other foreigners in Seoul. We went for the food and drinks. They had some cool prizes though, like a trip to Je-ju Do Island for two. There was a dance competiion for the tickets, and my friends urged me to compete. I made top five and had a "dance-off" with the other top competitors. I say I got third place. :P

"thank you for not eating me"

2009-04-26T04:27:00.000-07:00

march 28th
Months 5 and 6 were difficult ones. I thought about visiting home often and how much I would love even just a quick getaway to see my family and friends. I've heard from other people that nearing the midway point was a difficult time for them as well. I really did start to feel a bit better with the warm weather and hitting my six-month mark on March 28th. It was an awesome feeling to know I can countdown now but also difficult to fathom that I have to do what I just did for six more months. I am hoping it will go by super fast. I'm fairly certain it will.

april 12th
I had brunch at the Ritz Carlton this morning. There was a family sitting on the patio enjoying their brunch as well. The father was walking around with his little girl in his arms, four years old at the most. Being the friendly gal that I am, I say "An Yang" to the little girl and wave because she was quite cute. Like most parents would do, he tells the little girl to say hello back but she's too shy. The dad then says in perfect English, "She's scared of white people." My friend and I just laugh because what else are you gonna do? He chuckled as well and walked away grinning. It was a strange thing to say I thought, but I was mostly amused. About a half hour later he comes back with the little girl. I'm thinking he is going to apologize or something. He comes out with, "She says 'Don't eat me." I am quite surprised and laugh and rub my belly and say, "Oh, I'm full. I've already eaten a big breakfast; I can't fit in any more little kids." He responds, "Thank you. Thank you for not eating me." Okay, buddy. That's enough. The little girl never said a word but he acted as though he were translating for her the whole time. Obviously these were all his own thoughts. He's the one that's scared of white people. The whole interaction was quite hilarious to me, but on the other side, it's kind of messed up too. It's an interesting glimpse into how people can subtly, inadvertently, or even purposely pass on their xenophobia to their children.

april 18th
I went to a professional baseball game at the Sports Complex in Seoul. Here they don't have home teams and away teams, just favorites, and they all play in Seoul. The teams are owned by companies. I watched the LG Twins vs. Kia Tigers game this Saturday. I wasn't sure how Koreans would act at a baseball game. I half-expected them to be as reserved as they are in other areas of life. Nope. Everyone had clappers, and they were constantly starting chants, even the wave. It was a real riot. Tickets to the baseball game: 6,000 won (4 bucks). Beer: 3,000 won. Rooting for the team whose section you sat in at a baseball game in Seoul, South Korea: pricesless. Honestly, this was one of the cheapest and most fun things I've done in Korea yet. I plan to go a few more times this season.

april 28th
I'm officially over the hump. Five more months left. Spring, monsoon season, September ...and I'm home!

random observations:
Koreans may be the scariest drivers I've seen yet. Yes, even scarier than massholes and newyorkers. I don't think you would necessarily guess this, but it's true. They do not obey traffic laws at all. Apparently there's no such thing as a one-way street, a red light, or a crosswalk. It's actually officially acceptable for buses to run red lights as long as they blow their horns. Although no one obeys traffic laws, everyone obeys pedestrian laws. I think these are related phenomena. No one would dare cross the street until they get the green light, and even then hesitantly looking both ways, aware they could get killed by a bus at any moment. In addition, people are also a fan of the motorbike here. All the food delivery places use them and others for their businesses or whatnot as well. The problem with the motorbikes is they weave in and out of traffic constantly. People are forever slamming on their brakes to avoid a motorbike that just cut them off on the highway. They also drive on the sidewalks and in any direction they please. It's kind of crazy walking on the sidewalk and seeing a biker barely avoiding the pedestrians and coming straight at you. Believe it or not, I've only seen one accident since I've been here. But it was a terrible sight that I'll never forget: a man on a motorbike lying on the ground in front of a bus in the middle of an intersection.

Even more random: zoning laws. There's a law here that a building erected next to a pre-existing building must respect the privacy of the occupants in the first building. This means you are required by law to either keep your blinds shut at all times or build blinders on your windows so you can only look up and out, not directly across. This is totally weird to me and also a nuisance as I have the blinders on my windows.

The new slideshow is of scenery and sights in bundang and seoul so far. The prettier ones are mostly of my suburban neighborhood, and the others in the city.

"breaking up with boredom"

2009-04-13T04:36:00.000-07:00

After awhile, as with anywhere I guess, things start to feel the same here. You really have to put energy into venturing out and doing different things to avoid repeating the same stories with the same restaurants, same bars, and even the same friends. Here's two things:

"roof-topping"
I discovered a new favorite pastime. After brunch one day, some friends and I were enjoying the beautiful day. Walking around Jeongia (another part of Bundang), we meandered between high-rise apartment buildings, not unlike all the others sprawling around suburban Seoul. We were looking up, embracing the Spring weather and sunshine and noticed trees on the tops of some of the buildings. Being the type of girls that we are, we decide it would be a fun game to play to try to get up to some of the rooftop foliage. We proceeded to walk in and out of apartment buildings for the rest of the afternoon, pressing the highest number in the elevator and sneaking up to the roofs. It was incredibly beautiful on top with trees and benches, mini parks really, about twenty stories high. We coined the term "roof-topping" for our new favorite game.

"treasure hunt"
One thing that takes a bit of getting used to here is training your eyes to look up for things. Buildings here will have restaurants, nail salons, pool halls, karaoke bars (karaoke in Korea = Nor-ay Bongs) in all corners and on all floors. So walking down the street, you'd miss a whole lot just looking at the places on Level 1, as most buildings have at least 3 to as many as 7 floors packed with fun. Part of my "hood" includes Samsung Plaza where I hang out quite a bit. But for a while I was going to basically one spot over and over in the Plaza. Naturally, I started to get sick of it because you always see the same faces, drink the same beer, eat the same food, etc. I decided to start wandering these buildings a bit more. Pressing different buttons on the elevators, walking around inside to find the places that don't have signs on the outside of the building. I discovered two new bars that I love and a few more restaurants to check out too. The best part is that if you find a tucked-away place, you can be one of the first foreigners to show others. I believe I have actually singlehandedly increased the business for two of these places with the amount of friends I've brought there. And yes, I am lucky to have so many friends already but have met a lot more Koreans this way too. Finding new places in Bundang, means less trips to Seoul, cheaper cab rides home, and more of a feeling of appreciation for living outside of the city.

Now that it's officially Spring, I've really been enjoying living in the suburbs more. There's something to be said for it, especially when the weather's nice. I have the most gorgeous flowering trees in my neighborhood right now. I'll have pictures up to prove it soon.

march 21st - "gang-neung, not to be confused with gwang-yang"
This was the weekend of Jamie's Birthday. Jamie is from Canada, Manitoba to be exact, and is reeeeaally into curling. Yes, curling, like shuffle shuffle the big rock across the ice... As it turns out, the world curling championship was held in Korea this year, of all places. Jamie knew this because she actually follows curling. She asked some of us if we felt like venturing a bus ride away from Seoul to find it. I decided I wanted to go to help her celebrate her birthday and because it sounded nice to get out of Seoul. After a few hours, we should have been there, but no. We noticed the trees were budding and thought that was strange as well as we didn't think we were going anywhere much further south than Seoul.

The short story is we got on the wrong bus, the most wrong bus we could have possibly taken short of going to North Korea. Instead of traveling dead east, we went south. This was about the equivalent of trying to get from Seattle to Boston and ending up in Austin, Tx, although of course on a much smaller scale. I know now how long it takes to take a bus across South Korea from north to south. It was an absolutely horrendous bus ride that ended up taking about 36 hours by the time we got back home. There was more laughing than crying on our trip, but definitely some of each. One would think we would have at least seen a lot of neat things in Korea on this bustrip, but honestly, it was all the same and quite boring and terrible. Oh well, just another story for the blog... ;)

"the jimjil-bong"

2009-03-29T01:53:00.000-07:00

february 19th-23rd - my birthday weekend - "the jimjil-bong"

My friend Marissa came to visit me, incidentally also the weekend of my birthday. Yes, she literally "flew to Korea for the weekend." We tried to fit in as much as possible and ended up having an absolutely awesome time, of course. I went to my first jimil-bong. Think Korean spa/bathhouse. We went to one of the most well-known in Seoul, near Yongsan yok (yok=station). I had heard a bit about these jimjil-bongs before trying it out this particular weekend. They are famous for a few things, especially among foreigners, that I can't really mention in my blog. Hmmmm... Needless to say, it had perked my interest far before this February venture five-months into my time here. But as it turned out, I really had no idea what I was in for.

the jimjil-bong process:
Step 1: Pay $10,000 won (7 bucks).
Step 2: Receive your new swipeable locker-key-bracelet and Dragon Hill spa oversized cotton t-shirts and shorts.
Step 3: Take off your shoes, obviously. Put them in the shoes closet.
Step 4: Find your locker number. This might be the trickiest step of all.
Step 5: Change... into your bracelet.
Step 6: Buy shampoo and other shower products at the desk to get ready to lather. (Swipeable bracelets for purchasing are very handy, but dangerous.)
Step 7: Walk downstairs to high-pressure amazing shower, then sauna hop from pool to pool of different temperatures. Some are pumped from deep underground, I hear. Remember, you are only wearing your bracelet at this point, and feeling a bit self-conscious as a foreigner amongst skinny, naked Korean women. (Children, moms, grandmothers... It's a family affair.)
Step 8: Keep jumping from pool to pool! Walk under random lone shower heads with pull cords, pull, and be shocked. Try exceptionally hot sauna rooms and jump back in the pools. Rinse, lather, repeat. Too fun.
Step 9: When you've seen all there is to see on the women-only floor, don your comfy spa clothes back at the lockers. Now it's time to explore the coed areas. All rooms include heated floors, and everyone walks around in their spa clothes, towels on their heads, with a very relaxed air about them. You can watch a magic show, or TV. You can watch people ride mechanical horses in the gym. You can bake like bread in the oven room, or freeze your nips off in the cold room. There's also an outside spa, and various other rooms that I missed. You can eat snacks, get a body scrub, or go up to the sky garden for lunch and beers outside on the roof. You can grab a pillow and take a nap on the heated floor in a room pumped full of pure oxygen. Wow.

I'm not sure if you can really picture it, but I hope you're getting that it's more like an amusement park with naked sections. I loved it, and feel like I could go back a bunch and keep discovering more rooms and pools of varying hotitude and colditude. I'm also interested in the body scrub, but I hear it's very, very rough, designed to peel off your skin basically. Anyways, it's also open 24 hours a day, so I can go back anytime.

my "did-you-know?" for this blog:

One can send a postcard from South Korea to the other side of the world for almost half the cost it would be to send a postcard down the street in the U.S. Astounding.

february 27th - graduation day and new classes:

This is the day my kindergartners graduated from their hagwon. March is the beginning of the new school year here. My main morning class had been in kindergarten for three years already at this point, so it was now time for them to begin elementary school at a Korean public school. Most of these children will return in the afternoons now after they are done school to keep up with their English lessons as well. (Some are as young as five years old and attend school for a minimum of 7 hours a day. Many of my students also went to an art school, math school, swimming class, tae kwon do lesson, music lesson, and/or also had an English tutor in their homes in the evenings.) I watched them graduate with mixed feelings, as I'm sure is natural for any teacher at the end of the school year. I was ready for a fresh start with new kids but also felt like we had just started getting comfortable with each other.

Graduation Day also means that I have new kids now. There is a drastic difference in their English abilities. My previous core class had been in English classes five hours a day, all week long, for three years since they were Western age 4. These new kids are six years old and have never had a day of English classes in their lives. It's mentally exhausting in a whole new way. I can't have a conversation with these kids like I could before. We are using a lot of charades and pointing so far. It's cute in some ways, as most of my kids can only say "May I go to the bathroom, please?", and some can barely say that. Fortunately, I've had some practice with this type of communication style with some new Korean friends and acquaintances and am becoming accustomed to communicating with a drastic language barrier.

I also switched subjects. I used to be a language arts teacher, and now I am a math/science/social studies teacher. I much prefer it to the other. It's so much more fun to teach farm animals and types of clothing than to teach phonics and grammar, and easier too, I think.

So that's my core class that I have most of the morning, from 9am til 2pm, but I also switch for one period with my partner teacher who teaches my kids language arts. I teach her class of babies for an 80-minute session as well. I say babies because they really are babies! Korean age five equals about 3 and a half to four years Western age. I spend half the class chasing them down the hallways because they're little runners. I mean, they're small, barely potty-trained. Think of how large your vocabulary is at age four as well, and now they're learning another language. It's like babysitting four toddlers but also trying to teach them a second language. They're sooooooooo damn cute, but definitely a handful. (Check out my pictures of GDA kids thus far in my new slideshow.)

march 1st

There are woods behind my house. I can walk two blocks, hike up some stairs on a hill and be on a hiking trail within minutes. This Sunday, I hiked to E-Mart. E-Mart is a sort of Target but with multiple floors and ramp-like escalators for your shopping carts. It's a great place to go get some foreign food items, but no matter what you go in for, you always end up inside for hours. I was broke at the time, (big surprise), but left E-mart with a full belly from eating so many samples. They have samples of EVERYTHING. I literally tried about forty food and beverage items, including heineken and bananas, as if I had forgotten what either of these tasted like... Then I took a cab home. Best hiking trip ever.

how to make friends with taxi drivers:

Always have a treat in your back pocket, so-to-speak. For me, I have chosen the tactic of saying "Adashi, mi-guk saram gum? Ma-shee -seh-yo!" This means, "Sir, American person gum? Delicious!" (Yes, my Korean is terrible.) This generally makes them smile though. To date, I've only had one taxi driver turn me down. Most pop it in their mouth instantly and start chomping away. It really is so much better than Korean gum, much more flavorful and long-lasting. I've been able to enjoy very pleasant cab rides because of these gum offerings and left many a cabbie with a salivating smile.. It's such a silly small thing but having a buttered-up taxi driver makes all the difference, sometimes the difference of being dropped off in the right place or not. (So if you want to send me a package... *wink, wink,* please send my favorite gum! Trident citrus twist. K, thanks. :)

P.S. The exchange rate is getting a little better... Shhhh, *knocks on wood.*

"doctor fish"

2009-02-15T04:55:00.000-08:00

just for fun: did you know?

I knew you could stream radio stations online. I used to listen to my favorite, WERS, at work back home. But for some odd reason, it never dawned on me that streaming online really means "online." I can listen to the radio station I love from back home in real time HERE. I just realized that after almost five months.

BUT, I can't listen to Pandora. It's licensing doesn't allow it to work in Korea. Major bummer. If you don't know what Pandora is, Google it. You'll be glad you did.

january 24th - 27th / shanghai trip

This was Chinese New Year. In Korea, it is called "Lunar New Year," but in Korean, it is "Seollal." I had a break from work, a four-day weekend. I was actually quite broke. I bought a laptop in cash with my December pay check. This happened to be a 40-day pay-period instead of thirty. Consequently, by the end of January, I was undoubtedly in no position to be gallivanting off to other countries. However, a friend pointed out that this was the last break I would to have until May. MAY. No three-day weekends, nothing. So I decided I would go into debt a little further, thinking that I would rather have the memory of the four-day weekend I spent in Shanghai on Chinese New Year than the weekend I stayed home and saved money. (Unfortunately, or fortunately, this is generally how I always think, and thus, why I'm always broke; but I'm glad I went.)

I was in a group of eight, headed by the ever-competent, mother-like Maria. Maria arranged everything with our travel agent, researched her Shanghai Lonely Planet guide, and created a trip itinerary, (which was thrown out the window, of course). The first night, I uncharacteristically slept.

favorite memory:
Sunday morning we went to a "water town" that was touristy but not too much so. We absorbed some local culture and bought trinkets, took lots of pictures of statues and temples, architecture, and cuisine. Eventually, Jessica and I got hungry from all the walking around and curiously approached a man cooking some meat that smelled delicious. We motioned to our hungry bellies and were smiled at by the men standing near-by smoking their cigarettes contentedly. They sat us down at a plastic table with plastic stools inside a little room behind cook-man. Soon they brought us water and a delicious dish of mystery meat and green things. They brought us rice too, of course. We thought the whole-thing was just perfect at this point as we had an audience chuckling and motioning for their friends to watch us eat. "Look at the white girls eating!" I don't know what they were saying, but I'm pretty sure it was something like that. They asked us if we wanted a bottle of something on the shelf. As usual, I'm thinking, "We want whatever you got." They were trying to tell us what it was, but everyone was confused. I took a guess, "Soju?", which is a Korean alcoholic drink made from rice. There's always a moment of epiphany in foreign communication, or at least you hope for one. And this was ours. "Ahhhh! SOJU!" they declared with satisfaction. We drank a half-bottle of the stuff. It was rough, let me tell you, but you have to try everything, I always think. I motioned for the man that had offered it to us to sit down and share some. He did, and proceeded to try to strike up some Chinese small-talk. We only knew how to say "hello" and "thank you," and our "thank you" still needed work. I tried to explain to him that we were both from America but living in Korea. This was very tricky, and unsuccessful. Then I remembered my cigarettes. I pulled them out and pointed to the Korean writing on the package. "Ahhh, Hangul," he stated, and told his buddies. ("Hangul" is Korean for "Korean," and apparently also Chinese for "Korean.") I couldn't think of anything else to tell him. He brought us a plate of peanuts and candy. We ate some of that too and then got ready to leave our new friends. I guess China has more thieves than Korea, because He motioned to me to zip my purse and for Jessica to keep her wallet from falling out of her pocket. We bowed graciously, and we left.

new years eve:
Sunday night was New Years Eve. We went to a bar called Mural, hung out with some Koreans visiting there as well, some Irish girls, and a few Frenchmen. It was an eclectic night with DJs from LA spinning hip-hop, I believe. My girl Jessica and I got the bar dancing as we often do and rocked the place that night. Incidentally, Jessica and I and some of our other friends are featured in pictures on that bar's website now.

chinese new year vs. the other new year:
I have been to Times Square in New York City on New Years Eve before, so I was picturing Shanghai on Chinese New Year to be like that, only times a billion and more Asian. In actuality, it is the biggest holiday in the Chinese calendar, and a family occasion. Teenagers don't go out and rage in the streets 'til the wee hours of the morning. We were disappointed, but there were plenty of foreigners to rage with, and more fireworks than you could shake a stick at. (Do people still say that? "Shake a stick at"? Now, I'm picturing myself shaking sticks at fireworks in Shanghai...) Anyways, you couldn't drive through town that night without being startled every few seconds by an overwhelming "BOOM!" that sounded an awful lot like gunfire.

Fact: I hear that the largest single movement of people in the world occurs from Shanghai outwards on Chinese New Year. Literally, millions of people that had left to work in the city return home to their families. We went to a breakfast place that's menu read, "We apologize for our limited menu and hours during the New Year. Many of our staff have not seen their families in a year or more and have gone home to celebrate the holiday."

new years day:
We went to the Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai. Since New Years Day in the US just means a day off work, it never occurred to me that New Years is a religious holiday, but it is in this culture. The temple was absolutely swarmed with people burning incense and asking for good luck, prosperity, and health for their families in the New Year. It was definitely an intensely beautiful sight. I didn't take pictures. It was clear the people there were having a religious moment and were there to pray. I tried to remain respectfully quiet and just peeked in some of the rooms packed with people bowing to various Buddhas. It was impossible to stay with your group. It was like a subway in NYC at rush-hour, you know, except more bowing and incense, and far more beautiful.

Sunday night, Jen and Heather and I went out by ourselves in a famous area of Shanghai, that I forget the name of. By this time, we had lost most of our group at some garden we were supposed to find but never did. (Jessica was MIA at this point and had been "kidnapped" by a DJ called "Elnomo" since Sunday night.) Jen had gone out to a bar on Friday and suggested we go there again. We were the only foreigners in the bar, well, the only white foreigners. Some Bangladeshis asked us to take pictures with them, which became a typical interaction throughout the rest of the night. No one was dancing when we got there, but again, leave it to us, we livened the place up and within a half-hour had a nice little dance party going. The DJ was Chinese but from Toronto and hung out with us for a while. He was really drunk and singing into his microphone mid-conversation. There were Chinese playboy bunnies dancing on the bar. There were magicians! There were girls with syringes full of shots that walked around and pumped them into people's mouths, just for fun. There were liquid fireworks falling down behind the glass windows. AND, it was "all-you-can-drink." It was pretty insane.

If you couldn't tell, it was a fantastic trip. The slide-show you've been watching is of pictures from my Shanghai trip, not pictures of Korea as many people assumed. (Korean characters look much different!)

feb 7th / "doctor fish"

It's hard for me to describe what this experience is like so that you can picture it yourself, but I'll do my best. Okay, stay with me. Picture a large cafe. Inside, you will find a serve-yourself coffee-pot, a nail salon, a spot to order waffles and ice cream, and "doctor fish." (There are also bottles of wine on display, but we found out you couldn't purchase wine there. It was really just for show. Odd.) You walk in and order a coffee or something. Anything. You have to order something if you want to purchase "doctor fish" as well. Doctor fish costs about a $1.50. You sit and drink your coffee and eat your waffles with your friends and then bring your receipt up to the doctor fish helper-man. There are two rectangular-shaped pools, about eight feet long, two feet, wide, and two feet deep. One has bigger fish than the other. Fish-helper-man motions for you to take your socks and shoes off and put your feet in another small wooden box in the floor and proceeds to wash your feet and shins off with a detachable shower head. He implies that you are ready for the fishie pool. You look down and see hundreds of fish about the size of your finger swarming around hungrily. If you hold your toes over the water, they all swarm to that area. It's freaky. Fishman sets a 15-minute timer and you oh-so-hesitantly lower your feet towards the water, cringing and shrieking a little in suspense. OH MY GOSH, this is the craziest feeling in the world! If you can stand it, you keep your feet still in the water, and let the fish do their thing. The thing they do is eat the dead skin off your legs and feets, they even get between your toes. They really nibble, or suck, or something. You can definitely feel hundreds of little fish mouths working your skin. It's one of the weirdest experiences I've ever had, hands down. It tickles like you wouldn't believe, but I wanna go back. I feel like I need to make this part of my monthly, or maybe weekly, beauty regimen. I left with a disappointing amount of dead skin still on my feet.

basically everything I can say in Korean:

please
thank you
hello
goodbye (two kinds of good-bye)
chicken
beef
water
milk
juice
cigarette
beer
"Cheers!"
Is it ok/cool?/Is it a problem?
It's ok/cool./It's no problem.
How much does it cost?
refill (re-pill)
coffee (cah-pee)
father
mother
brother
sister
together
Ma'am
Sir
teacher
tree ( I found out it's not "taree", it's "namu.")
apartment (apart)
where
Yay! (Ah-sah!)
cold
hot
one
two
three
cute
boobs
penis
sorry (two kinds of sorry)
remember (This was a really hard word to remember. It took me a month. Ah, the irony.)
sweetheart
"I'm cold."
"I don't know."
more
butterfly

current exchange rate:

Sucks. It's close to 70%. $100 USD = 153,000 KRW (Korean Won)
This means to send home 500 bucks, I need to send home almost half my Korean paycheck. This is not what I signed up for! Reminder: when I came here, the won and dollar were almost on par. In case you're still confused, the point is I'm making much less than I thought I would be!

"ready for anything"

2009-01-19T04:31:00.000-08:00

a.k.a "All-the-time Eva" continued

It's a good thing I am as I am, being All-the-time Eva and all, because working at my school you really do have to be ready for anything.

january 15th

Bright and early one morning this week, I had my first bodily-function mishap in my classroom: (not my mishap, a student's...)

Kids: "Teacher, Teacher, Ricky's tummy hurts."
Me: "He'll be fine." ( I don't even look at Ricky as I am busy doing something else. I learned my lesson there, but, in my defense, I am used to kids saying they feel sick every other second in hopes that I'll send them to the nurse. Some things are the same across cultures, huh?)

10 seconds later

Me: "Oh shit!" (on the inside). On the outside, "Ricky! .....Don't move."
Ricky: staring blank-faced, as always, with hands, sweater, pants, chair, and floor covered in some nasty seaweed breakfast throw-up.
Me: I try my best to start helping him clean up, over and over again saying, "Don't move," and holding back the urge to throw-up my own still-only-half-digested stomach of soju from the night before. Again, I say "Don't move, Ricky. I'll be right back." I go out in the hallway where one of the hall moms are supposed to be, but noone's there. I go back into class and yell, "Kids, go find help!" They were more successful than I. I smelled puke for the rest of the day. Awful.

january 19th

This morning,

Supervisor, Ricky : "Some of you might know that Wendy [director of my school] has left G.D.A. She left for personal reasons. She left on Friday, so I'm sorry she couldn't say goodbye to you."

We all know that, in fact, Wendy was asked to leave. Ricky, previously my brand-new immediate supervisor, is now instead going to be the new director of the school.

The point is that there is a substantially high turn-over rate in our school. Part of this may have been due to Wendy herself. Now that she is gone, changes will definitely occur. Noone can say for sure whether things will get better or worse from here, or worse before they get better. I'd really like to just finish my term so I can visit home, not resign with a new school. I'm crossing my fingers that we'll have job security with the new management team in place, but in reality, I have to be ready for anything.

"All-the-time Eva"

2009-01-14T01:21:00.000-08:00

december 13th

I went to Cirque de Soleil with my new mate, Belinda. Allegria had been playing for two months in Seoul, but I've been wanting to see a Cirque de Soleil performance for as long as I can remember. The last time I looked into it, I remember thinking it wasn't coming to Boston for a long time. I would have kicked myself if I hadn't made a point to catch the show before they left the city. I was more than satisfied with my decision. It was one of the most spectacular phenomena I've ever had a chance to witness, or maybe ever will. Just absolutely beautiful and remarkable. Definitely a highlight of my stay here so far.

december 19th

My children's Christmas play went off without a hitch, I guess. I really didn't have very high expectations, so they did great! It was held in a tacky wedding hall and decorated very strangely with flower petals and a lot of white, etc. Awkward venue for a children's Christmas play. The play was on a Friday. It was a very anti-climatic return to work Monday to finish the last two working days before break. Why they made us work that Monday and Tuesday AFTER the very stressful Christmas play that we'd been working on, editing, and having nightmares about for months, I have no idea. It's Korea. I tell myself that a lot.

december 23rd - january 5th

This was my much-needed holiday vacation. Many of my coworkers went to sunny Thailand to lie on the beach, or back home to the U.S. or Canada to see their families. Not me, just "chilled" in Seoul. One would think I might have been lonely or bored, but, in fact, I never got a chance to do any of the things I planned. I painted the city red with Belinda, Jessica, and Chuma (friends from outside of work) and partied with some new people too. I can't really describe this whole span of days as they were a somewhat of a whirl, but I seriously had a damn good time. These girls are totally chill, ready for anything all the time, and never give off a negative vibe, ever. I feel super lucky to have them as friends.

Funny side-note: My friend from home, Nate, introduced me to a coworker of his over the holidays. His friend, who looked like a quintessential nerd, seriously introduced himself as "Nighttime Matt." I laughed of course, but his friends piped in that they had nick-named him that as he is a totally different person at night. To which, of course, I had to reply, "Oh, is that so? Well, I'm all-the-time Eva. Nice to meet you." I have since then been known as "All-the-time Eva." I think it suits me.

Belinda knows everybody. Just during the eight days and nights I spent in Seoul over Christmas break, I met a Korean pop star from the nineties, a fashion designer, a shoe designer, and a Tire King. Oh, AND the female world champion boxer, Young Mi. She's petite, cute-as-a-button, and no older than 18. Yes, she really is the reigning female champion. It was awesome to meet her.

current thoughts:

I have been dealing with a constant conundrum of whether or not to look for a new job. This is my thought process: March is the start of a new school year here. According to my contract, I'd have to give two months notice. But March would mean I would have only been at my school for five months, and staying short of seven months means I'll have to pay back the flight of my plane ticket. Following those thoughts, I immediately think to myself, well if I can stick it out two more months to save $800-1000 then surely I could stay five more months, finish my contract, and collect the much more sizable bonus coming to me at the end of my term. So there you have it, I guess I have kinda/sorta made up my mind in that regard. I can always leave for a while afterwards and then come back and take a new job if I really want to. That's tempting. The living really is large here. At least if you're living eva-style, it sure is. I have enough contacts and fun friends to be comfortable here for a long time. With the economy in the U.S. and elsewhere not looking particularly inviting these days, to say the least, it definitely makes it easier to stay.

january 11th

I have a friend who's a mapmaker for the U.S. government. He has access to the base. This doesn't sound that cool, but you can't even imagine how clutch it is to have a friend with base access in Korea. I'd have to say, the security is pretty tight. You can't walk on base without someone with base access having their fingerprint scanned and signing you on. It's like little America, but almost in a creepy way. There's mad white people, first of all, but the white kids really trip you out. You see other foreigners here all the time, but always adults. On base there are small white people! It's so strange after being inundated with Korean kids all week long. Not only do they have mad white kids, but they have every kind of American comfort you could want. Goya drinks, spaghetti sauce, spices, American cigarettes, Swiffer wet wipes... you get the idea. There is a massive grocery store, dry cleaner, home goods, post office, university and elementary school, two hotels, and many restaurants and fast-food places. It's like la-la land when you enter. The base is huge and spans several miles. If you were in the army, you really would never have to leave base. That's America for you. "Yeah, we're gonna set up a base in your country. But don't worry, we don't need anything, we'll bring our own shit!" Even if you are signed onto base by a friend, you are not allowed in the grocery store. I made a list for my friend. Guess what was on it: cheddar cheese, cream cheese, Cheeze-Its, and Grapenuts cereal. (One of these things is not like the other...) : )

january 13th

I have a new supervisor, although the previous one was pretty new herself and had been there less time than me. (The Korean staff are hard to keep, mainly because they can leave. Three of them announced they were leaving a few days ago, three of the coolest too!) Supervisor Ricky announced today that many children had not come back after Christmas break, and that this was "very serious." He said we needed to love our children more, pay more attention to them, and that ultimately this was our fault. Although the world economy has taken a drastic downturn, the Korean Won has fallen dramatically, and many Hagwons (private kindergartens) are experiencing decline in their enrollment, loss of students is the teachers' fault. Clearly, this did not sit well with us. To top it off, he threatened, or rather, promised that we would not have paycheck security after March. I am rethinking my above-stated position of "sticking it out" at G.D.A.

"modern indulgences: coffee and cellphones"

2009-01-04T03:54:00.000-08:00

december 7th

First day of real snow. I found myself this morning wandering down the main drag in Itaewon. Around 9:30am I asked the cab to stop, "Yogio," (meaning, "over here). I sighted a Dunkin' Donuts and delightedly pranced in. The Dunkin' Donuts here are more like Starbucks, in the sense that they have a cafe atmosphere and are more chill hang-out spots then drive-through necessities. In the U.S. you rarely see people having social occasions in D&Ds, and those that do are, I dare say, a bit down-and-out or somehow not part of the 9-5 working world. Here, very nicely dressed people have evening chit-chat at dunkin-d's, absorb the English and foreigners also in company, and seem particularly happy with themselves for choosing to be there at that moment. This particular Dunkin' Donuts had a bakery, I mean full-on exquisitely decorated cakes and pastries... nothing like our bottom-of-the-barrel, bagels-and-donuts-only bakery we'd see back in the states. A coffee at D&D's here costs about $2.75 USD, so comparatively priced to back home. They had bagels with real cream cheese. Needless to say, I was just as happy with my choice as the other Koreans seemed to be conversing near by.

This is also the first day I really started calling people back home. I just found out that it only costs me about .12 won / minute to call back home, about $.09 USD. I talked to my old roommates back home who were just getting started on their Saturday evening antics and was greeted by a speakerphone rush of screams as they happen to be with a few of my other friends as well. It was a great surprise for all parties, I believe.

There's something to be said for this invention called the telephone. It's marvelous in some ways, makes you feel like you're just next door, when in fact, in this case, on the other side of the world with a difference of fifteen or so time zones. I was overjoyed to hear my friends familiar voices and also to hear how much they miss me and wish for me to come home. However, although endearing and precious, it actually makes it worse in some ways. Talking to people makes me more homesick. The first month here I was totally fine and missed people vaguely but not like now. The second month is much tougher. Going on my third month soon, and with Christmas approaching, it's getting more difficult to not think of everyone back home, what they're doing, and what great times I'm missing with them.

"Both... at the same time." This is one of my new catch phrases, or not so new. On the one hand, I feel like I'm starting to feel very settled and comfortable here. I have a bit more routine and know how to get around a lot better, have some cool friends here, can say a few things in Korean, etc. But I'm also just beginning to want to go home. Both, at the same time...

new words/phrases i've learned in korean:

It's ok/it's cool/no problem = con chan eh oh
cute = ky-ah-woh
I'm sorry = Mienahamnida or Mi-en-eh-oh or jay-sung-hom-ni-da
cigarette = tam-bay
cheers = com-bay

In an effort to expand my Korean, I asked my students to name words that were the same in English and Korean. I'm not positive these are all right, but here's the list we made:

words that are the same or similar in english and korean (according to my eight-year-old students):

DVD
pizza
elevator
taxi
escalator
CD
television
banana
tomato
cider
cola
cracker
cheese (cheegeh)
Canada
France
air con (air conditioner)
board
alphabet
kangaroo
ice cream
cocoa (cacoa)
chicken
camera
block
tube
Rudolph
tree (taree)
pickle
jump (jumpah)
cherry
lemon
cereal
guitar
chocolate
steak
Halloween
Christmas
yogurt (yogurt-eh)
oven
kiwi
schedule
cheetah
pen
hot-pak
Santa
marker
hairstyle
cup
cube
building
apartment
drum
hamburger
ham
manicure
McDonald's

month 2 - "mandoo, por favor"

2008-11-25T03:13:00.000-08:00

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"

2008-10-17T07:05:00.000-07:00

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"

2008-10-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

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"

2008-10-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

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"

2008-10-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

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."