ok so a lot has happened since my last blog and i suppose i should start where all stories start...at the beginning.
school has been going by in a blur, and apart from the random rediculous things some of the litter children do, it is becoming a routine fixture in my life. the smaller children in the english school hagwon are a riot though. i have learned a lot about koreans from spending time with these tiny human-esque creatures. the funniest story i think i have about them comes from earlier this week. jenny had lost her voice and asked me to cover one of her classes for her. in this class there is a little girl named jinee, who is rather...er...affectionate towards me. everytime i see her she hugs me and buries her head into my stomach. in class, jinee immediately came up to me for what i assumed would be a typical 'jinee hug.' well, i was wrong. she wrapped her tiny little korean arms around me and buried her head into my stomach, and then she did the weirdest thing ever...she started rubbing my butt. i quickly pulled away from the hug and told her not to do that. i felt really awkward and embarrassed, and she was confused as to what she had done wrong, which confused the heck out of me. was this a type of normal behavior that i was unaccustomed to? well, apparrently it is! seriously. i told the story to one of the korean staff at the school and she informed me that it is a comforting gesture. korean parents often pat their children on the butt to comfort them, so jinee apparently was trying to comfort me. it's kind of funny, because where i come from, we call that being groped.
anyway, on to the rest of the story. i was supposed to go to sokcho this weekend with lee, but he got sick and cancelled, which was ok because by friday, i was completely worn out and ready for some destressing. i had no intention of going out until jenny called and asked me to come to dinner with everyone from work. after dinner, we all decided to head to sunny's but not until after ben and i took a much needed trip to costco for some 'pre-gaming' supplies. we spent a few hours at sunny's partaking in our normal friday night...er...escapades. after several pitchers of beer and shots of soju, one of us got it into our heads to go to a karaoke room, and so the adventure began. with half of us blitzed out of our minds, we went in search for a noraebang where we enjoyed more drinks and we able to sing off key to our hearts' content.
we finished at the noraebang around 2 in the morning and went back to my place to pick up some bedding for her guests and then we all returned to turk's for a few more drinks and hang out for the night. i ended up not really getting home until around 8 the next morning.
as soon as i got home i took a shower to wash away the smell of cigarettes and stale beer that i had aquired and tried to sit down and be productive, but it wasn't long after that i got a call from yoona asking me if i wanted to do lunch. i headed to yoona's where we decided to head to western dom to have a girly day and do some shopping. we got back around 6 and met up with turk for dinner and to decide our plans for the evening.
we were trying to figure out what to do and we were not really feeling sunny's when yoona suggested we head to la festa. it sounded like a plan, and so off we went. we walked to la festa which is about a 30 minute walk from baeksok station where we live and we went to a bar called frog and toad and had a couple margaritas and met a canadian guy named mike. i was feeling a bit tired, due to the lack of sleep from the night before and asked yoona if she would go with me to pick up a coffee. on the was down the street to get the coffee, we passed a restaurant with a group of guys eating and i noticed them looking and yoona and me. on the way back to the bar, i noticed them again and so i waved and said 'hola!' they responded excitedly in spanish and were thrilled to have us join them. we talked for a bit and found they were all from argentina. they asked if we liked tango dancing and music and when i responded that i loved it, they told me that they were the band from fever tango, the performance group that was performing that weekend in la festa! i immediately texted jenny to let her know what she was missing out on and continued to have random conversation with them all in spanish when yoona and i realized we needed to get back to turk. i invited them all to come back to the bar with us and so they did and we ended up spending the whole evening with them at the bar above.
it was a fantastic night and what was even better was the fact that emilio, the double bass player, decided that he fancied me and wanted me to come to the performance the next night. well, you had to make reservations and the tickets were almost 100,000 won (about 100 american dollars) and so i told him we wouldn't be able to. he told me not to worry and that he would call me the next day and he would get me in. at the end of the night when we all said our goodbyes, i didn't honestly expect him to come through. i got in around 3 in the morning and completely crashed.
the next day, i woke up after noon with david at my door bringing me a muffin in hopes i had a mop to borrow. jenny called me not even 5 minutes after that asking if i wanted to get lunch and catch up, so i took a shower and headed out the door. we talked for a bit and turk and yoona joined us and we were trying to figure out what to do for the evening when i got a phone call from emilio from the night before! i couldn't believe it! he told me he really wanted me to come to the show and that i had 5 tickets waiting for me at the door. so, the four of us headed back down to la festa to enjoy a night of amazing latin music and tango dancing. we got to the center where the show was being performed and walked up to the counter and informed the woman that emilio had left us tickets, and she immediately knew who we were and showed us to our seats. we sat in the 6th row, so it was actually pretty cool. i figured he would get us the generic seating tickets, but it seems like he pulled some strings and got us some pretty good seats!
afterwards, we went to dinner and emilio called me again to ask me how i liked the show. he had to do a phot shoot and go to a party for the cast after the show, but he asked me if i could meet him for dinner monday night. i told him i would love to, so apparently now i have a dinner date tomorrow night with an argentinian musician. i absolutely love how random my life has become now that i am in korea.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
I think to myself, it's a beautiful night, and I know everything is gonna be alright...
For the past hour now, I have been sitting on the ledge by the window in my apartment feeling the cool early autumn night's breeze blowing through the curtain. I have been listening to the random conversations of passers-by down below and occasionally I am beginning to hear familiar sounds and recognizing words here and there. This feeling is comforting yet I sometimes wonder what these Koreans would think if they were to know there was some random American girl listening in on their conversations.
I can't believe I have already been here a month. It seems like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to friends and family and getting onto a plane headed to a strange and exotic destination where the culture and language were completely alien to me.
By now, I already have my routine just about structured and am settling in quite nicely. I can navigate myself around Ilsan pretty easily and have learned to take the busses and subway like an old pro. I don't notice that people gawk at me when I pass by and I don't flinch when the 'ajimas' slam into me in the streets. All in all, I have become acclimated to the Korean culture quite well. I haven't used my air conditioner since the first week, but then again, the humidity levels in Missouri prepared me quite well. I haven't starved to death although my diet does consist of a large amount of kimchi and rice so I have lost a bit of weight (still not quite into the skinny jeans yet). I have taken a liking to the soju and can even tolorate the crappy, stale, watery beer on a nightly basis. Last night, I even discovered a liking for a drink called macali (I have no idea how to spell it, but it sounds like broccoli) which is hard to explain. It is like a creamy beer that can be flavored several ways.
This past week, I have spent every night over at Sunny's. It sounds like a horrible idea, but it actually keeps me on task. I bring random things to work on from school like grading and I sit back and enjoy a Cass or glass of wine and chat with Sunny or one of the waitresses (usually Stella) and whoever shows up. Ben has been trying to teach me how to play pool. My skills are definitely lacking but I am very slowly progressing. This nightly event keeps me from getting too homesick considering the fact that I have never had to live on my own. I have also been finding things to get involved in while I am here. I am really looking forward to joining a yoga class and Yoona and I have our Sunday night get togethers where we have coffee and I am teaching her Spanish and we are going to start cooking dinners together afterwards. We are also talking about starting a jogging routine a couple of nights a week just to help stay in shape and also to give us another reason to hang out and chat about random nonsense. The more involved I am getting here, the more I love it here. As long as people at home send me Miracle Whip, I think I will be quite happy here for the rest of my stay.
The best feeling I have had so far in my time here I got the other night when I was walking and ran into someone I knew! I was so excited to be able to recognize people in the streets! And I notice myself doing it more often. Just tonight, while walking home from Yoona's, I ran into Stella and she introduced me to her family. It sounds stupid to get worked up about recognizing someone, but when you are in a city full of strangers, it feels good to recognize faces. It makes the city feel a little less cold and distant and helps it feel a little more like home. It's strange to be able to think of Korea as home, but in a lot of ways, I already do feel like I have made a home for myself in this remote corner of the world.
While I feel like I have carved out a place to call my own in Korea, I still long for America in a way I think only American's from small towns long for their home. Of all the things I miss, the thing I miss most is that small town feel with sprawling yards and meadows and fields in the country and woods as far as the eye can see. I miss going on random drives down old dirt roads to clear my head. I miss quiet evenings out at Knob Lick Tower, watching the sun set and the stars come out at night, feeling the cool, quiet breeze caress your face and breathing in the fresh smell of the world around you. It was so relaxing and every time I went there, I felt at peace. Here there are no dirt roads to drive on, no grassy fields, no crickets chirping, no quiet breezes rustling through the trees, no stars to see at night. What I miss the most, what I yearn for after only a month, what I can feel calling my name, is the quiet American country town that I have called home for almost my entire life. Although I am grateful for my time here and I am loving every minute of my experience, in my heart, I have discovered where my home will always be. I always knew coming to Korea would be a great adventure and I hoped to gain a lot from it, but the one thing I never expected to realize was how much I loved my country and how much I loved my home. If I get nothing else out of my time here (which I know is impossible considering I have already gained so much) it is the new found appreciation for my home in the States.
I can't believe I have already been here a month. It seems like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to friends and family and getting onto a plane headed to a strange and exotic destination where the culture and language were completely alien to me.
By now, I already have my routine just about structured and am settling in quite nicely. I can navigate myself around Ilsan pretty easily and have learned to take the busses and subway like an old pro. I don't notice that people gawk at me when I pass by and I don't flinch when the 'ajimas' slam into me in the streets. All in all, I have become acclimated to the Korean culture quite well. I haven't used my air conditioner since the first week, but then again, the humidity levels in Missouri prepared me quite well. I haven't starved to death although my diet does consist of a large amount of kimchi and rice so I have lost a bit of weight (still not quite into the skinny jeans yet). I have taken a liking to the soju and can even tolorate the crappy, stale, watery beer on a nightly basis. Last night, I even discovered a liking for a drink called macali (I have no idea how to spell it, but it sounds like broccoli) which is hard to explain. It is like a creamy beer that can be flavored several ways.
This past week, I have spent every night over at Sunny's. It sounds like a horrible idea, but it actually keeps me on task. I bring random things to work on from school like grading and I sit back and enjoy a Cass or glass of wine and chat with Sunny or one of the waitresses (usually Stella) and whoever shows up. Ben has been trying to teach me how to play pool. My skills are definitely lacking but I am very slowly progressing. This nightly event keeps me from getting too homesick considering the fact that I have never had to live on my own. I have also been finding things to get involved in while I am here. I am really looking forward to joining a yoga class and Yoona and I have our Sunday night get togethers where we have coffee and I am teaching her Spanish and we are going to start cooking dinners together afterwards. We are also talking about starting a jogging routine a couple of nights a week just to help stay in shape and also to give us another reason to hang out and chat about random nonsense. The more involved I am getting here, the more I love it here. As long as people at home send me Miracle Whip, I think I will be quite happy here for the rest of my stay.
The best feeling I have had so far in my time here I got the other night when I was walking and ran into someone I knew! I was so excited to be able to recognize people in the streets! And I notice myself doing it more often. Just tonight, while walking home from Yoona's, I ran into Stella and she introduced me to her family. It sounds stupid to get worked up about recognizing someone, but when you are in a city full of strangers, it feels good to recognize faces. It makes the city feel a little less cold and distant and helps it feel a little more like home. It's strange to be able to think of Korea as home, but in a lot of ways, I already do feel like I have made a home for myself in this remote corner of the world.
While I feel like I have carved out a place to call my own in Korea, I still long for America in a way I think only American's from small towns long for their home. Of all the things I miss, the thing I miss most is that small town feel with sprawling yards and meadows and fields in the country and woods as far as the eye can see. I miss going on random drives down old dirt roads to clear my head. I miss quiet evenings out at Knob Lick Tower, watching the sun set and the stars come out at night, feeling the cool, quiet breeze caress your face and breathing in the fresh smell of the world around you. It was so relaxing and every time I went there, I felt at peace. Here there are no dirt roads to drive on, no grassy fields, no crickets chirping, no quiet breezes rustling through the trees, no stars to see at night. What I miss the most, what I yearn for after only a month, what I can feel calling my name, is the quiet American country town that I have called home for almost my entire life. Although I am grateful for my time here and I am loving every minute of my experience, in my heart, I have discovered where my home will always be. I always knew coming to Korea would be a great adventure and I hoped to gain a lot from it, but the one thing I never expected to realize was how much I loved my country and how much I loved my home. If I get nothing else out of my time here (which I know is impossible considering I have already gained so much) it is the new found appreciation for my home in the States.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
boys will be boys no matter what country you are in...
so, i have been in korea for a little more than three weeks now...and i have come to realize that no matter where you are in the world, no matter how different the country and culture may seem, people are all basically the same.
most of my free time here i have spent with jenny. she is like my rock. i am so independant in so many ways, but i have never really had to be on my own. i have always had someone around to do everything with. i used to make my roommates do simple things like go to the grocery store with me at home. i used the phrase 'we do things as a family' more times than i can recall. so jenny has taken the place of many friends back home and i don't know what i would do without her. we get on so well. at the same time, she is a bit more outgoing than me. she reminds me of me, before last fall when i sort of shut down to the outside world. she is the type of person who can meet a stranger and can go out with that person in the same night. i miss being able to do that, and i envy her greatly. i myself am more timid of these types of situations these days, never quite sure of how i will fit in and afraid of being socially awkward.
but, i have been making great improvements. i have been tryin to open myself back up to people and it is a slow process, but i think it is getting easier. just this week, i went out to sunny's with ben from work and we talked for hours. i found it is really easy for me to talk to him. i mostly just listened. i just seem entranced most of the time when he speaks to me. he has a lot of interesting perspectives. i feel more like myself when i am with him mostly because it feels like i am hanging out with one of the guys back home. i don't feel any pressure to be proper or anything. it's not like i am trying to impress him, so things are just easy and casual. it is the same way as when i am talking to turk. i guess no matter where i am in life i will always find it easier to be around guys.
at the same time i am trying to open up, i am still dealing with living on my own. it is one of the hardest things for me. just the other night, ben, turk, and i spent the evening at sunny's and when we are all going home and parting ways, it was hard for me to have to go straight and watch everyone else turn right. it is still difficult for me to go to bed at night without someone to talk to while i fall asleep. it's things like that that make me miss cory so much. i had a conversation with my mom today and she said that cory's mom and her are in a class together and mentioned that cory missed me a lot and i honestly cried. but then again, he is the one i cried the most when i said goodbye to. we have lived together for so long that it is hard being without him now. in a lot of ways he was my best friend. i mean, stephanie is my best girl, and i don't even consider her my friend. she is family...my sister more than anything. but cory was the one who i could crawl into bed with if i had a bad dream or who i would pester when i was lonely or had a bad day and he would be the one to tell me everything was gonna be ok. it is hard not to get to talk to him every day.
i spent the evening tonight with jenny and yoona, drinking sangrias and talking random crap about life in general. i believe it will become our sunday tradition from now on. we spent a large portion of the evening ranting about guys and why they are such idiots, which made me start thinking about the random idiot guys in my life.
one thing i have noticed with the guys here is that if you meet them and are nice to them, they assume you want to hook up with them, which is extremely frustrating for me. i came here with absolutely no interest or intention of finding someone. and for the most part, that is still the same. sure, i have found people attractive, but at the end of the night, i am quite content to go home alone. but the boys here think that if you pay them an ounce of attention, you must want to date them or sleep with them. it's hard for me because i naturally gravitate towards guys for friends and it is hard to explain to these guys that i don't want anything more than friendship so i end up just being annoyed with most of them. that's why i love turk and ben so much! i love that both of them can carry on a conversation with me and not think that i am in love with them and it can just be relaxed and casual and we can all just be ourselves!
and it is extremely difficult to explain to people that i am single and ok with that fact. when i explain to people that i don't have a boyfriend here and that i am not looking for one, they assume that i must have someone back home waiting for me. that in itself is a strange situation. i technically don't. but at the same time, i do. it is kind of funny. when i decided to take the job in korea, not one, not even two...but three of the most important people in my life begged me not to go. two of them went as far as to propose. it's one of those times when you think about whether or not they are asking because they truly love you or because they are just scared of losing you. obviously, i chose korea, but i told each of them if they still felt the same in a year when i came home, we would talk, knowing that within a year, they would have all but forgotten me. american boys will never change. two of them only speak to me when i message them and the other got a girlfriend right after i left. that goes to show, american boys only want what they can't have. if you give them the chance of getting it, they don't want it anymore. it's like a child and a shiny new toy.
i guess no matter where you are in life, there will always be a guy around who will lift you up, just to dissappoint you in the end. but at the same time, there will always be those guys that are your best mates that make everything better when that random guy does bring you down.
so, it's like i said before, i have realized while in korea, boys will be boys...no matter what country you are in.
most of my free time here i have spent with jenny. she is like my rock. i am so independant in so many ways, but i have never really had to be on my own. i have always had someone around to do everything with. i used to make my roommates do simple things like go to the grocery store with me at home. i used the phrase 'we do things as a family' more times than i can recall. so jenny has taken the place of many friends back home and i don't know what i would do without her. we get on so well. at the same time, she is a bit more outgoing than me. she reminds me of me, before last fall when i sort of shut down to the outside world. she is the type of person who can meet a stranger and can go out with that person in the same night. i miss being able to do that, and i envy her greatly. i myself am more timid of these types of situations these days, never quite sure of how i will fit in and afraid of being socially awkward.
but, i have been making great improvements. i have been tryin to open myself back up to people and it is a slow process, but i think it is getting easier. just this week, i went out to sunny's with ben from work and we talked for hours. i found it is really easy for me to talk to him. i mostly just listened. i just seem entranced most of the time when he speaks to me. he has a lot of interesting perspectives. i feel more like myself when i am with him mostly because it feels like i am hanging out with one of the guys back home. i don't feel any pressure to be proper or anything. it's not like i am trying to impress him, so things are just easy and casual. it is the same way as when i am talking to turk. i guess no matter where i am in life i will always find it easier to be around guys.
at the same time i am trying to open up, i am still dealing with living on my own. it is one of the hardest things for me. just the other night, ben, turk, and i spent the evening at sunny's and when we are all going home and parting ways, it was hard for me to have to go straight and watch everyone else turn right. it is still difficult for me to go to bed at night without someone to talk to while i fall asleep. it's things like that that make me miss cory so much. i had a conversation with my mom today and she said that cory's mom and her are in a class together and mentioned that cory missed me a lot and i honestly cried. but then again, he is the one i cried the most when i said goodbye to. we have lived together for so long that it is hard being without him now. in a lot of ways he was my best friend. i mean, stephanie is my best girl, and i don't even consider her my friend. she is family...my sister more than anything. but cory was the one who i could crawl into bed with if i had a bad dream or who i would pester when i was lonely or had a bad day and he would be the one to tell me everything was gonna be ok. it is hard not to get to talk to him every day.
i spent the evening tonight with jenny and yoona, drinking sangrias and talking random crap about life in general. i believe it will become our sunday tradition from now on. we spent a large portion of the evening ranting about guys and why they are such idiots, which made me start thinking about the random idiot guys in my life.
one thing i have noticed with the guys here is that if you meet them and are nice to them, they assume you want to hook up with them, which is extremely frustrating for me. i came here with absolutely no interest or intention of finding someone. and for the most part, that is still the same. sure, i have found people attractive, but at the end of the night, i am quite content to go home alone. but the boys here think that if you pay them an ounce of attention, you must want to date them or sleep with them. it's hard for me because i naturally gravitate towards guys for friends and it is hard to explain to these guys that i don't want anything more than friendship so i end up just being annoyed with most of them. that's why i love turk and ben so much! i love that both of them can carry on a conversation with me and not think that i am in love with them and it can just be relaxed and casual and we can all just be ourselves!
and it is extremely difficult to explain to people that i am single and ok with that fact. when i explain to people that i don't have a boyfriend here and that i am not looking for one, they assume that i must have someone back home waiting for me. that in itself is a strange situation. i technically don't. but at the same time, i do. it is kind of funny. when i decided to take the job in korea, not one, not even two...but three of the most important people in my life begged me not to go. two of them went as far as to propose. it's one of those times when you think about whether or not they are asking because they truly love you or because they are just scared of losing you. obviously, i chose korea, but i told each of them if they still felt the same in a year when i came home, we would talk, knowing that within a year, they would have all but forgotten me. american boys will never change. two of them only speak to me when i message them and the other got a girlfriend right after i left. that goes to show, american boys only want what they can't have. if you give them the chance of getting it, they don't want it anymore. it's like a child and a shiny new toy.
i guess no matter where you are in life, there will always be a guy around who will lift you up, just to dissappoint you in the end. but at the same time, there will always be those guys that are your best mates that make everything better when that random guy does bring you down.
so, it's like i said before, i have realized while in korea, boys will be boys...no matter what country you are in.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
apparently, i have a job here...
so, i came to korea for a job and i suppose i should explain a little about what i actually do with most of my time here. the school i work for is an international school called korea international christian school. the school is technically 3 schools in 1. there is the international school from 10 until 2:30, and then there is the esl school and the english school. the international school is grades 6-12 and has a standard american curriculum. there are after school courses available for the international students who want to take things like french or spanish or sat prep which is between 3 and 6. the esl school coincides with the international school during the day and it is basically just for students to learn english so they can take the toefl test. then there is the english school between 3 and 6 and it is basically 1st - 5th grade basic english courses with science and math. it is a christian school, so it is extremely conservative, which is a little different for me. luckily most of the other teachers are westerners and a bit more liberal, like myself. we do have to attend chapel services on mondays between 2:30 and 3:00, but it's all in korean so we don't have any idea what is going on. we mostly just sit there and look pretty and make sure the kids aren't goofing off or texting during the sermon (kids are kids anywhere).
for most of my day, i teach older students, so i am pretty much still in my element when it comes to teaching. the little kids at the end of the day are usually a lot of fun though, so i don't mind. they basically need to be there to be speaking in english so anything can be educational to them. i spend most of my time with the kids playing games and singing songs and making them repeat a lot of pronunciation.
like i said, the day school is the international school and i teach a lot of random things. i have a 6th grade reading class, a 7th grade life sciences class, an 8th grade space and earth science class, an esl grammar class, and 12th grade american history. as for why i am teaching so much science, the Lord only knows. i usually have no idea what i am talking about, so i have found that as long as i act excited about the class, the kids really like it. i personally think science is boring, but i fake it pretty well. my first day, i made the kids explain to me why i should care about science, and they had a really fun time with it. i spend most of the time in those classes breaking the concepts down into relavent things. i was teaching the scientific method to the 7th graders and my example was getting a date for friday night. so, identify the problem - daniel needs a date for friday night. do background research (eliminate bad choices) - rita has a boyfriend so he can't ask her. form a hypothesis - daniel will ask emma out on a date...i went through every step and acted it out and the kids just ate it up and had so much fun. the next day, i asked them who could tell me the steps of the scientific method and they could! they all told me they remembered because of the examples i gave them. it felt good to know that they actually learned something from me.
my favorite class to teach is the 12th grade american history class though. i love the content obviously, and i know it really well, so i don't have to prep that much for class. i teach it a lot like a college class where we just have a lot of discussion and the kids take notes, but the kids all really like it because i explain it in a really basic way and we discuss everything together, it isn't just me lecturing all day. i spend most of the time asking them questions and making them work it out through discussion. i gave them a pop quiz on friday and they were ready to have a nervous breakdown. if there is one thing about asians it is that they take school very seriously and stress a lot about grades. i told them to just relax and to think about what we had discussed during the week and they would do fine. when they had finished the quiz, we discussed what was on it and they were all amazed that they knew the material i had quizzed them on. one of the students, john, made a comment that all week it just felt like we talked and had conversations all hour. he was shocked to find out that what he felt like was this really relaxed conversation was him really learning the main points of the first chapter in the book! i graded the quizzes during my planning period and found that all the students did extremely well, so i was ecstatic!
there really isn't anything more pleasing than knowing your teaching is effective. i just kept thinking, 'wow, they really learned something!' i was on cloud nine friday after grading those quizzes. hopefully the rest of the year will be as rewarding!
one thing that i really am not a fan of is the fact that there is no technology whatsoever in the classrooms. i get a dry erase board and some markers and that's it. but, it think i am becoming a better teacher for it. it requires me to know the material. i can't rely on a power point or a video to entertain the kids. i am the entertainment and so far, i have been putting on a pretty good show. at the end of the day, i am utterly exhausted, but at the same time i am extremely satisfied. i know it sounds rediculous, but it's true. i absolutely love my job and wouldn't trade it for the world!
other than my job, there are a few things i wouldn't mind giving up here in korea. i'm not the biggest fan of the food. i can dig the bbq, but i miss american food more than anything. it's not that the food is bad. there is just only so much rice and kimchee a girl can eat, you know? so on my facebook, i started compiling a list of all the random stuff i can't get here in hopes that my friends and family back home (yah, that's you guys - the readers) can randomly send me so i don't starve to death...
another thing i could do without is the freaking electricity difference. they run on direct current here rather than alternating current like in the states, so appliances are a pain. i have to plug my stuff into a converter and then into a plug. the problem there is that i have to remember to flip the switch on the converter to the right setting or else i will fry whatever i am using. and, of course, being the retard that i am, i forgot to flip the converter switch before plugging in my chi hair straightener (steph, don't tell chelle, she would probably kill me for commiting such a horrendous crime!). i literally cried for like 20 minutes over that. so, thanks to stupid direct current, i blew up my 150 dollar hair straightener that has been like my child for the last 3 years. and now, for the next year, i am going to have rediculously wavy, frizzy, bad hair.
the most rediculous thing i could do without in korea is what is simply called "the squatter." it's pretty self explanitory if you think about it. i encountered it for the first time at the hospital when i had to go for my health check so i could apply for my alien registration card. so, the nurse gave me my cup and pointed to the bathroom to do my thing. when i went into the stall, the look on my face can only be described as completely puzzled. apparently western style toilets are not very common in most public places, with the exception of western public places like starbucks and mcdonalds. i hadn't really had to use a public restroom since i have been in korea so this was my first encounter. needless to say, it wasn't an encounter in which i was too thrilled about getting acquainted with. 'the squatter' is basically a porcelain bowl in the floor with normal toilet functions that you have to hover or 'squat' over to do your...er...business. so here i am in this stall in 3 inch heals and dress slacks thinking to myself...'how the hell do i do this without peeing on myself?' i seriously contemplated the physics of what i needed to accomplish for at least a minute. i'm pretty sure it was fairly rediculous. the entire time i was balancing and i was utterly terrified that i was going to fall over resulting in the most rediculous scenario possible. after all was said and done, and i made my peace the 'the squatter' i decided that we would never really be able to be friends. i figure 'the squatter' and i will be like those people who met once at a party and it was really awkward and we never hit it off so we just decided to try to avoid one another.
so, i will leave you all with the most rediculous mental image possible - 'the squatter.' enjoy! i know i will probably be laughing at it for years to come.
for most of my day, i teach older students, so i am pretty much still in my element when it comes to teaching. the little kids at the end of the day are usually a lot of fun though, so i don't mind. they basically need to be there to be speaking in english so anything can be educational to them. i spend most of my time with the kids playing games and singing songs and making them repeat a lot of pronunciation.
like i said, the day school is the international school and i teach a lot of random things. i have a 6th grade reading class, a 7th grade life sciences class, an 8th grade space and earth science class, an esl grammar class, and 12th grade american history. as for why i am teaching so much science, the Lord only knows. i usually have no idea what i am talking about, so i have found that as long as i act excited about the class, the kids really like it. i personally think science is boring, but i fake it pretty well. my first day, i made the kids explain to me why i should care about science, and they had a really fun time with it. i spend most of the time in those classes breaking the concepts down into relavent things. i was teaching the scientific method to the 7th graders and my example was getting a date for friday night. so, identify the problem - daniel needs a date for friday night. do background research (eliminate bad choices) - rita has a boyfriend so he can't ask her. form a hypothesis - daniel will ask emma out on a date...i went through every step and acted it out and the kids just ate it up and had so much fun. the next day, i asked them who could tell me the steps of the scientific method and they could! they all told me they remembered because of the examples i gave them. it felt good to know that they actually learned something from me.
my favorite class to teach is the 12th grade american history class though. i love the content obviously, and i know it really well, so i don't have to prep that much for class. i teach it a lot like a college class where we just have a lot of discussion and the kids take notes, but the kids all really like it because i explain it in a really basic way and we discuss everything together, it isn't just me lecturing all day. i spend most of the time asking them questions and making them work it out through discussion. i gave them a pop quiz on friday and they were ready to have a nervous breakdown. if there is one thing about asians it is that they take school very seriously and stress a lot about grades. i told them to just relax and to think about what we had discussed during the week and they would do fine. when they had finished the quiz, we discussed what was on it and they were all amazed that they knew the material i had quizzed them on. one of the students, john, made a comment that all week it just felt like we talked and had conversations all hour. he was shocked to find out that what he felt like was this really relaxed conversation was him really learning the main points of the first chapter in the book! i graded the quizzes during my planning period and found that all the students did extremely well, so i was ecstatic!
there really isn't anything more pleasing than knowing your teaching is effective. i just kept thinking, 'wow, they really learned something!' i was on cloud nine friday after grading those quizzes. hopefully the rest of the year will be as rewarding!
one thing that i really am not a fan of is the fact that there is no technology whatsoever in the classrooms. i get a dry erase board and some markers and that's it. but, it think i am becoming a better teacher for it. it requires me to know the material. i can't rely on a power point or a video to entertain the kids. i am the entertainment and so far, i have been putting on a pretty good show. at the end of the day, i am utterly exhausted, but at the same time i am extremely satisfied. i know it sounds rediculous, but it's true. i absolutely love my job and wouldn't trade it for the world!
other than my job, there are a few things i wouldn't mind giving up here in korea. i'm not the biggest fan of the food. i can dig the bbq, but i miss american food more than anything. it's not that the food is bad. there is just only so much rice and kimchee a girl can eat, you know? so on my facebook, i started compiling a list of all the random stuff i can't get here in hopes that my friends and family back home (yah, that's you guys - the readers) can randomly send me so i don't starve to death...
another thing i could do without is the freaking electricity difference. they run on direct current here rather than alternating current like in the states, so appliances are a pain. i have to plug my stuff into a converter and then into a plug. the problem there is that i have to remember to flip the switch on the converter to the right setting or else i will fry whatever i am using. and, of course, being the retard that i am, i forgot to flip the converter switch before plugging in my chi hair straightener (steph, don't tell chelle, she would probably kill me for commiting such a horrendous crime!). i literally cried for like 20 minutes over that. so, thanks to stupid direct current, i blew up my 150 dollar hair straightener that has been like my child for the last 3 years. and now, for the next year, i am going to have rediculously wavy, frizzy, bad hair.
the most rediculous thing i could do without in korea is what is simply called "the squatter." it's pretty self explanitory if you think about it. i encountered it for the first time at the hospital when i had to go for my health check so i could apply for my alien registration card. so, the nurse gave me my cup and pointed to the bathroom to do my thing. when i went into the stall, the look on my face can only be described as completely puzzled. apparently western style toilets are not very common in most public places, with the exception of western public places like starbucks and mcdonalds. i hadn't really had to use a public restroom since i have been in korea so this was my first encounter. needless to say, it wasn't an encounter in which i was too thrilled about getting acquainted with. 'the squatter' is basically a porcelain bowl in the floor with normal toilet functions that you have to hover or 'squat' over to do your...er...business. so here i am in this stall in 3 inch heals and dress slacks thinking to myself...'how the hell do i do this without peeing on myself?' i seriously contemplated the physics of what i needed to accomplish for at least a minute. i'm pretty sure it was fairly rediculous. the entire time i was balancing and i was utterly terrified that i was going to fall over resulting in the most rediculous scenario possible. after all was said and done, and i made my peace the 'the squatter' i decided that we would never really be able to be friends. i figure 'the squatter' and i will be like those people who met once at a party and it was really awkward and we never hit it off so we just decided to try to avoid one another.
so, i will leave you all with the most rediculous mental image possible - 'the squatter.' enjoy! i know i will probably be laughing at it for years to come.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
the perils of public transportation...
ok, so in korea, especially in cities like seoul, public transportation -whether it is a bus, a taxi, or the subway - is the most convenient form of getting places. as you all know, this isn't really common where i am from. it is more common for people to drive their tractor to town that to take a taxi. thus, i am not all that familiar with the...er...*joys* of things such as riding on a subway. so, i would like to spend a few moments sharing the grand experiences i have had so far journeying on the metro in seoul.
my first time taking the metro was a little confusing. people explained it to me, but it was like they were trying to explain it in korean or something...oh, wait...anyway, the first time i road the metro, i got the pleasure of learning how all the drunk old men in the country apparently will always be on the same train as you. first, they stare...then they wave - i think to check to make sure you are alive and not an illusion - then...they love to come up and invade every tiny inch of personal space you can claim on the metro and speak gibberish which is apparently their best attempt at english, bless their hearts. and, no matter how hard you try to convey the fact that you don't understand, after about ten minutes of smiling and nodding politely, they continue to insist on carrying on a conversation with you. my favorite part about this is that they don't really understand the western concept of personal space. my first time on the metro, this crazy old drunk guy was trying to talk to me and he actually started feeling my hair. needless to say, i was very creeped out...
the most important lesson i learned about public transportation i learned today during a trip into seoul. i got an urge to get some english books and so i learned about a huge bookstore with a wide selection of books in english. the place is called kyobo and it is in gwanghwamun. so, jenny, turk, and i set out on our weekend excursion to find this place. we got to gwanghwamun and decided it would be best to stop at a foreign tourist information kiosk where they explained to us that the bookstore was underground (btw, that is really common here) in the basement of the large building with the flowers painted across it. we then found the place easily and we all happily purchased these children's workbooks on learning hongul so we can work on our korean. it is kind of humorous if you think about it. i am a 24 year old working on a workbook that is basically meant for a 5 year old. how much dorkier can i get, right? anyway, i also purchased a copy of le petite prince and another french book for my french class to translate.
after we had all made our purchases, we decided to go to youngsan, where there is a huge mall (i-mall) and electronics store. as we headed into the subway, we realized the train was about to leave so jenny, turk, and i rush towards the closing doors rather than wait for the next train to arrive...bad move in retrospect! jenny and turk made it through the doors, but the moment i pop in, the doors close on me and i got stuck! it was rediculous! jenny and turk frantically try pulling me through and after a few seconds i was free...or so i thought! my bag was caught in the door! after a few seconds of pulling, turk jerked my bag free, but by this time everyone in the car is staring at me and jenny and i are laughing hysterically at the fact that the subway tried to eat me! in my head, the scene looked even more rediculous because i pictured the doors painted with teeth and the windows painted with eyes so it really did look like the train monster was eating me - insert *nom nom* noises here...
so, what did we learn? always wait for the next train...otherwise, you the subway will eat you. seriously.
my first time taking the metro was a little confusing. people explained it to me, but it was like they were trying to explain it in korean or something...oh, wait...anyway, the first time i road the metro, i got the pleasure of learning how all the drunk old men in the country apparently will always be on the same train as you. first, they stare...then they wave - i think to check to make sure you are alive and not an illusion - then...they love to come up and invade every tiny inch of personal space you can claim on the metro and speak gibberish which is apparently their best attempt at english, bless their hearts. and, no matter how hard you try to convey the fact that you don't understand, after about ten minutes of smiling and nodding politely, they continue to insist on carrying on a conversation with you. my favorite part about this is that they don't really understand the western concept of personal space. my first time on the metro, this crazy old drunk guy was trying to talk to me and he actually started feeling my hair. needless to say, i was very creeped out...
the most important lesson i learned about public transportation i learned today during a trip into seoul. i got an urge to get some english books and so i learned about a huge bookstore with a wide selection of books in english. the place is called kyobo and it is in gwanghwamun. so, jenny, turk, and i set out on our weekend excursion to find this place. we got to gwanghwamun and decided it would be best to stop at a foreign tourist information kiosk where they explained to us that the bookstore was underground (btw, that is really common here) in the basement of the large building with the flowers painted across it. we then found the place easily and we all happily purchased these children's workbooks on learning hongul so we can work on our korean. it is kind of humorous if you think about it. i am a 24 year old working on a workbook that is basically meant for a 5 year old. how much dorkier can i get, right? anyway, i also purchased a copy of le petite prince and another french book for my french class to translate.
after we had all made our purchases, we decided to go to youngsan, where there is a huge mall (i-mall) and electronics store. as we headed into the subway, we realized the train was about to leave so jenny, turk, and i rush towards the closing doors rather than wait for the next train to arrive...bad move in retrospect! jenny and turk made it through the doors, but the moment i pop in, the doors close on me and i got stuck! it was rediculous! jenny and turk frantically try pulling me through and after a few seconds i was free...or so i thought! my bag was caught in the door! after a few seconds of pulling, turk jerked my bag free, but by this time everyone in the car is staring at me and jenny and i are laughing hysterically at the fact that the subway tried to eat me! in my head, the scene looked even more rediculous because i pictured the doors painted with teeth and the windows painted with eyes so it really did look like the train monster was eating me - insert *nom nom* noises here...
so, what did we learn? always wait for the next train...otherwise, you the subway will eat you. seriously.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
