Days 22-23: In Korea, Sometimes "Yes" means "No"

 Saturday, April 2 - Sunday, April 3, 2011

After a late night, we woke up Saturday morning to clear skies and a warm temperature; the perfect weather for the hike we had planned for today. We met up with the other seven foreign teachers, packed up some lunch and headed into Bukhansan National Park, which is only about a ten minute walk from our apartment. Bukhansan (="mountains north of the Han River") is the most visited national park in all of South Korea. It's 80km2 coverage contains dense forests, deep valleys, and interestingly-shaped cliffs composed mostly of granite. On our way up Soyosan Mountain, we had lunch on a cliff overlooking Uijungbu, explored some bunkers from the Korean War (super neat) and shook hands with a few Koreans who were quite happy to see and talk ("Hello!" or "I love you!") to a group of waegooks.  At the first peak, we stumbled upon a little tent where a little old Korean lady sold food and beverages. Naturally, some of the boys got some beer (because apparently, what else do you do at the top of a mountain?) while others drank makkoli (=a popular rice wine native to Korea) out of a bowl. With our drinks, we got a free snack platter that consisted of some beans, onions, little dried (whole) fish/underwater creature things and some dipping sauce (because you obviously can't eat dried fish without dipping sauce). The highlight of the day (at least for me) was when the little old lady picked up one of the crispy creatures and, babbling in Korean (naturally), stuck it in front of Mike's face to try to get him to eat it. Mike shook his head no, but in his slight disgust, he accidentally said "ne" (=yes) instead of saying "annio" (=no). So, the little old lady took that as a cue to shove the fish into his mouth and he had no choice but to acquiesce. He claims it "wasn't that bad" but the little fish reminded me of a capelin that's been baked in the sun (eww), plus it still had eyes (double eww). After speaking with a Korean man whose English was pretty impressive, we decided to push on to the next peak. A steep climb (in which we took only half-advantage of very loose guard rails/poles and ratty rope) and about 15 minutes later (2 minutes for one of the teachers; I swear he was bitten by some kind of radioactive mountain goat) we made it to the second peak, and were rewarded with the most spectacular views of the day. From here, we could just make out the temple that sits on the mountain's third and highest peak. As tempting as it was to carry on, we wouldn't have had enough daylight to safely make it back down the mountain. All in all, it was a pretty solid day. The sky could've been a bit clearer, but the views were still breathtaking (and very difficult to capture on camera)

View of Uijunbu, from where we ate lunch.

I had to throw this one in for Ida =)

One of many bunkers that was used during the Korean War (1950-1953)

Inside one of the bunkers (no standing room here) 

Hello bunker...didn't see you there!

Our snack at the 1st peak of Soyasan Mountain: Makkali and dried fish (yummm...?)

Dongducheon City

This flag lets you know you're in South Korea, just in case you forgot 

 

On Sunday, my body was punishing me for staying up super late Friday night (exposing my lungs to enough second-hand smoke to lose at least a year off of my life-span) and hiking on Saturday, when I probably should've just rested. Mike ventured down to the War Museum in Seoul, but my sore throat and congested everything told me to take it easy. So, I cleaned up the apartment a bit and then played some video games. I cooked dinner for the third time since being in Korea, a grilled cheese sandwich (don't judge, I was sick!), while Mike went out for galbi with a few friends.

Below are some of the photos that Mike took outside of the museum.

Chalk One Up

Round 2: Safety First!

In keeping with last point's theme of public transportation, this point has to go to Canada. While I love paying a flat rate of about $2 for a 20 minute cab ride, I do NOT appreciate my cab driver watching TV during said ride. Yep, you read that right. Watching TV. The monitors that I assumed were solely dedicated to a GPS, also function as TV screens. And most of the cab drivers don't watch informative programs (like the news) that they can just listen to while keeping their eyes on the road, but those crazy Asian game shows, that you really need to see in order to know what's going on (and even that doesn't work half the time). Being from a country where it's illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving, it's just a tad bit disconcerting when the person responsible for your life has their eyes glued to a TV (and is Korean and drives like a maniac besides). Chalk one up for Canada!

You win this round, Canada!

Days 17-21: "ET Phone Hoooooome..."

Monday, March 28 - Friday, April 1, 2011

Another busy week (I think I'm noticing a theme here...), but by the time Friday rolls around, it always feels like the week has flown by. Things were extra hectic because it was the end of the month, meaning there were tests to give and correct, report cards/evaluations to write and send out, and some prep to do for next month. On Monday, I walked home by myself for the first time and cooked our first dinner...spaghetti! Back home, I'd whip up my own sauce, but my spice cupboard here is seriously lacking (actually, it's pretty much non-existent; it consists of a salt shaker that was left by the teacher who lived in this apartment before us). So, I opted for a jar of sauce from Lotte-Mart, and let's just say that the Korean version of spaghetti sauce is quite different from back home, and my pallet did not appreciate said difference.

We really started getting ready for our "Market Play" day at school. Essentially, the kids (and their parents) will rotate between different classrooms where they'll learn about going to the bank, grocery store, restaurant, etc. After a short Powerpoint presentation containing some vocab and some Q&A, the kids will showcase their English speaking skills via a one-on-one scripted "talk" they'll go through with a teacher, where the student will pretend to be a customer at the bank or grocery store or wherever.  Oh, I forgot to mention that aside from learning the scripts, the kids have to do a song/chant, complete with actions, for each room (of which there are four). It's quite a bit for the kids to learn and remember, especially the younger kindies who have trouble asking me for an eraser, let alone if they can withdraw money from an ATM machine. Anyway, the kids are doing pretty well with the chants. Below you'll find some videos of my Beethoven class practicing their chants. NB: they're still a work in progress...

"Shopping Chant"

(I have nooo idea what possessed them to all fall down at the end; it's definitely not part of the chant lol)

"Food Chant"

"Bank Chant"

My Washington class had all three chants and most of the scripts memorized after only two days of practicing (watch out world, these little geniuses are going to be taking over one day!). They got to make pan flutes during this week's Science lesson and it made me think of Jenn, Emily and Sandra (Oh, how I miss you girls!) =( Actually, there was a whole lot of missing going on this week; I taught one of my elementary classes more about Amazing Animals, and one of the eight animals they got to learn about was a dolphin (not of the pacific-white-sided variety, but amazing none-the-less)! I made sure to bring in some photos of the Aquarium, and JEEPERS it made me miss being there sooooo freakin' much...ugh! I got all nostalgic again later during the week when we went downtown for some ice cream. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and we got a-talking about summer, and someone told a funny story about tan-lines, and I noticed I still had my Keen tan. Then I got thinking about how I wouldn't be getting one this summer, and it made me sad. Yep, NOT having a ridiculous looking, stripy-pattern on my feet made me sad. Siiiiigggghhh...

In other news, we officially became aliens on Wednesday! Turns out we didn't have any infectious diseases after all, so we got our passports back, picked up some cell phones and can be fully reconnected to the world once we get the internet hooked up! Hooraaaay! We celebrated by going for dak galbi on Friday (this may very well become a weekly tradition) and then went out with the gang for some much needed, and deserved (if I do say so myself...), beers.

Student Quotes of the Week

"My favourite food is iguana."

-Andrew (Washington Class)

Now, if one of my Beethoven kids had said this, I would've laughed and dismissed it as them simply practicing their English because they learned the letter "i" in their phonics lesson, and that "iguana starts with the letter i". Since Andrew is a fluent English speaker however, and this IS Korea, he could've honestly been telling me what his favourite meal is.

"I need to do my stork."

-One of my elementary students' answers to a fill in the blank question on the phonics portion of their test (Words with "or")

Options were "chores, stork or fork"...they clearly didn't know that "chores" is a type of work, and "stork" is a type of bird...Not to worry, I did a vocabulary review with them after, so they're good to go now. =)

Days 15-16: A Little Slice of Home

Saturday, March 26 - Sunday, March 27, 2011

We took the subway for the first time this weekend (and didn't get lost...just sayin'...). We knew we were getting close because the White People to Korean People ratio was steadily increasing. One transfer, 50 minutes and about 1000 looks/stares later, we were in Itaewon. Itaewon is a happenin' little district of Seoul that is popular among young people, tourists and foreigners, as well as military personnel, due to the close proximity of Yongsan Garrison, Korea's main U.S. Army Base. There are tons of restaurants, bars, shops, etc. to suit anyone's fancy and they often cater to foreigners. We met up with one of Mike's old co-workers who made the move to South Korea a couple of weeks before we did. He's married to a fine Korean lady (and they have the most adorable baby ever!) and he's worked in Korea before, so he was our tour guide for evening. It was great to see a familiar (and white) face, even though white faces weren't in very short supply in Itaewon. We had a couple of drinks at a sports bar/pub (mmm...Strongbow!) and then found our way to a Canadian bar, the Rocky Mountain Tavern, for a little taste of home. I don't think I've ever had a grilled chicken sandwich and french fries that were so delicious and Mike says it was the best burger he's ever had. It was no "Hoser Hut", but the cozy and friendly atmosphere were just what we needed (and the hockey paraphernalia plastered all over the walls and the RCMP-moose and beavers decorating the menu weren't to be unappreciated either!). Being surrounded by foreigners like us and hearing snippets of conversation in English was still pretty weird, even after being in Korea for only a couple of weeks (but a good weird, obviously).

We said goodbye to the RMT and pledged to return once the live music started later that night. We strolled around in search of our next destination, where we each had a Soju Kettle. The only thing I can tell you about this beverage is that it contained some Soju (and by some, I mean a LOT), your choice of Kool-Aid and it came in a 2-litre pop bottle, with the top half of the bottle cut off. I can also tell you it was pretty tasty. We headed to yet another resto-pub/bar for some more drinks and finally made our way back to the RMT. The music was just okay, so after a while, we decided to try to catch the last train home (how often do people attempt this and actually manage to catch the train? I honestly don't know, because I am never one of them...especially when said train departs Itaewon at 11:30pm). Cab rides back to Uijeongbu aren't TOO expensive, but Mike and I still hadn't gotten a paycheck and we only brought so much cash with us (naturally, we ended up spending a bit more money in Itaewon then we had anticipated). So, the taxi option was in fact just a taxi, sans option. With nothing left to do, we had a few more drinks at...somewhere...and then decided to crash at a hotel until the subways started running again in the morning. Now, Itaewon being the tourist trap it is, the hotels we ventured into were charging waaaay too much for a room, even split three ways. So, we cabbed it to a local jjimjilbang.

A jjimjilbang/jimjilbong is essentially a very large, 24 hour, public bathhouse (like in Spirited Away, minus all the crazy spirits of course), furnished with saunas, hot tubs, hot rooms, cold rooms, massage areas, snack bars/food courts and sometimes even Arcade rooms, PC bongs and noribongs (more on those later). Some bathhouses are gender-segregated, but this one was "come-one-come-all" (except for the change rooms, of course). We each got a locker key, an I.D. bracelet to keep track of the money we'd spend, and some pyjamas and were good to go. I was a little apprehensive about it all at first (not to mention super hungry and tired, my buzz was definitely gone) but it turned out to be a pretty sweet place. After changing into my pjs, I met up with the boys downstairs (this was a multi-level jimjilbong) and we visited a couple hot and cold rooms. Swimming and massages were options, but not viable ones because we were lacking swimsuits and 60 bucks, so we settled on some food instead. After a quick swipe from our bracelets, we had a delicious Korean late-night 2am snack. I noticed, not for the first time, that Koreans have no sense of time. We weren't the only ones eating, or even walking around. The place wasn't filled with the usual after-the-bar crowd like you'd find back home either (Elgin Street Diner anyone???), but with people of all ages. ALL. Little old ladies, teenagers, young couples, parents and their kids...everyone! Just relaxing and enjoying a little quiet time. By this point, I was ready for bed, or a heated-floor, which is exactly what I got. While some jimjilbongs have separate sleeping quarters, the "bedroom" here was a very large open area/foyer, with a heated floor and about a hundred people sprawled all over it. I noticed that some people had pillows and even blankets, but I had no idea where they got them, so I just found an open space and curled up to catch some z's. The boys walked around for a bit (or so I'm told) before doing the same. We woke up a few hours later, exhausted and a little stiff, but very much feeling at peace. After returning our pjs and paying the amount owed on our I.D. Bracelets (a grand total of 18, 000 won ($18), we caught the train home.

Grateful that our hard-as-rock-bed was actually a bed and not the floor, we zonked out for a few more hours. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing video games and eating pizza. Yes, that's right, pizza. I thought that would be one of the things I would miss terribly being over here in Korea, but they actually have little pizza franchises kicking around, and there just happens to be one in our little neighbourhood. The crust is a little sweet, but the cheese is amazing and the price is right at 5000 won (in case you haven't figured it out, $1 = 1,000 won, roughly) for an ENTIRE pizza. So yeah, no complaints here.

So, all in all, a pretty solid and well-rounded weekend. As strange as the jimjilbong was, it was a pretty neat experience. It'd definitely be cool to go back there with a group of people, and use the facilities as they were meant to be used, instead of just crashing on the floor until the subway starts back up.

Chalk One Up

This point has to go to Korea, for their cheap cab rides and public transportation.
Riding the bus costs less than a dollar, and if you stay within a certain time limit and/or area, a cab fare is about $2. If you're sharing with a friend, you can make it from one side of the city to the other for less than what you'd pay just to open the door of a cab in Vancouver. Chalk one up for Korea!

You win this round, Korea!

Days 10-14: Getting into the Swing of Things

Monday, March 21 - Friday, March 25, 2011

Still feeling pretty sick this week (sore throats, dry coughs and stuffy noses...oh my!) but we're starting to get the hang of things. Aside from preparing for regular lessons, there is a LOT of other stuff to do (prepare science, art and math sheets for the week; correct homework, make weekly schedules, choose weekly vocabulary/conversation homework, make and photocopy tests, write report cards, etc, etc.). I got to do a science lesson with both of Kindy classes this week (Kindy science consists of the students making some random little thing-a-ma-bob or whatsa-ma-jig that demonstrates some sort of scientific principle). And while I don't think my Beethoven class is any closer to understanding magnetism (the students are 4 and 5 years old, and know about 10 English words/phrases), they had a lot of fun sticking little magnetic leaves onto a metal pole, ultimately constructing a "Magnet Tree".

We also had a "Sports Day" with the Kindies this week, which included a relay race and limbo-type game in the auditorium, planting a seed on the school's roof, and watching a movie (pretty much the farthest away you can get from engaging in any kind of sports-related physical activity). But ending with a movie helped the kids to settle down a bit so we were actually able to get some teaching done that day. Friday was Field Trip Day for the Kindies. Mike and I were exempt from going, due to the rotating field trip schedule, which meant we got to sleep in, and then supervise the kids while they ate lunch (usually, it's the Korean teachers who are responsible for this). It was really endearing (and adorable!) to see my little Beethoven students using their Hello Kitty and Spiderman chopsticks, attached together at one end and equipped with plastic rings/finger holders to help them learn how to hold chopsticks properly, like training wheels on a bicycle. Some struggled more than others, but they all managed to eat their lunch without making too big of a mess, and without me having to provide any kind of emergency response/life-saving procedures, so yay on all of those fronts!

Not so "yay" was when my Beethoven student who looks like an Ewok (and also sounds like one when she yammers on in Korean at me) cried on THREE separate occasions during the course of a single morning. Add that with the four other students who were crying, and it brings my daily cry total up to 5, a new record (or does it count as 7...?)! It was a chain reaction of crying students, setting each other off like a fireworks display, with each firework set to go off precisely 10 seconds after the one before it...one crying student setting off the next one...and then the next one...They all settled down eventually, but I'm pretty sure we killed a small forest with the amount of tissue we went through that day.

In elementary news, my supervisor observed me teaching my gr.3 class today (Science Day!). While I don't remember learning about matter, its properties, and/or the various changes of state until GRADE 9 (as opposed to AGE 9), all of my students were pretty interested in what I was blathering on about and I got some really good feedback from my supervisor. I also discovered that in my students' reading/story book, this month's unit is titled "Amazing Animals" which I'm super excited about, obviously. I wish that I could teach science and topics like this all the time, instead of just once a week, with only one of my elementary classes...

In news unrelated to teaching, we had our best Korean meal to date: dak galbi, a succulent dish of stir-fried marinated diced chicken in a chilli pepper, red curry-like sauce, with cabbage, onions, potatoes and rice noodles. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about this. At about $10 each (including side dishes and a drink), it's a bit more expensive than what we'd normally pay for dinner here, but entirely worth it! I'm definitely gonna be making it when we get back to Canada. We also bought a flatscreen TV/computer monitor so that we can watch movies, and oh yeah, play video games. In the hopes of finding an English setting for the TV, I consulted the owner's manual. And wouldn't you know it? Instead of putting English on things that might actually be useful, (i.e. NOT on the packaging of a manual can-opener), there was absolutely no English anywhere in the book. They did, however, have about fifty different pictures about how to properly care for your newly purchased TV, some of which I will include in my next post (my camera batteries are currently being charged) because they are way too hilarious not to share with you guys.

Student Quotes of the Week

"Teacha, yesterday I buyed Lego."

"Teacha, yesterday my grandma when to church."

Now, while these quotes aren't really anything special, they represent just a fraction of the random facts and tid-bits that the kids spurt out to us on a regular basis, sometimes even during the middle of a lesson. I try to think back to what it was like to be six years old, and I guess seeing my grandma or buying Lego WOULD be the highlight of my life at the time and I'd feel the need to tell anyone who would listen...Or maybe I just really wanted my teacher to get to know me. Whatever the reason, the students are using their English skills to communicate with us, despite how frustrating working through a language barrier can be, and it's pretty cool that they think we're worth it =)

Since I can't show you any pics of my TV manual, I thought I'd finish up with some even better ones:

Meet some of the kids from my Beethoven class!

FYI: I did NOT ask him to pose like this! This is what most Korean children do as soon as they see a camera!

Oh man, I love these kids!

Days 8-9: Very Amoozing!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

"Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh!" What felt like the longest week ever also went by in a blur. We slept in pretty hard on Saturday and then spent the afternoon giving the apartment a good, solid cleaning. We then went downtown with a couple of the other teachers for some Vietnamese food. Our window booth looked out onto a busy intersection, and I was reminded once again that we were actually in Korea. The chicken fried rice was delicious, and the plum iced tea was something to write home about (or mention in a blog).

After dinner, we went to Amusing World (pronounced "Amoozing World" by Koreans, which is quite amusing in itself). Essentially, it's a huge floor in a high-rise building with a bunch of different rooms equipped with various amoozing things to do: video games, movie rooms (DVD-bong), PC-bong, arcade games, pool tables, darts, comic books, a food court, etc. The four of us played some Mariokart Wii (it was a lot of fun, but I think I still prefer Super Mariokart for the SNES...it's a classic!) and then we played some pool. Now, there is no alcohol allowed on the premises of Amoozing World and while this makes it seem somewhat less amoozing, it's quite understandable because children and teenagers make up the place's core demographic. Normally when we play pool, it's always at a pub/bar, we're maybe catching a hockey game, and we've most certainly had a couple of drinks. After playing for a few minutes stone-cold sober, it became clear that mine and Mike's long-standing theory about our pool-playing skills still holds here in Korea. They can best be described graphically, as seen below: 

Of course, at some point during the course of a regular evening, you come to realize that you're very close to plummeting down the negative part of the slope, and should probably stop playing before you embarrass yourself (obviously, that doesn't always happen).But it's not very often that we start off playing like a bunch of newbs. Suffice to say, we only played two games before we succumbed to the fact that the upward slope was just taking waaaay too long to climb sans beer. Instead, we opted for some coffee and some freshly popped caramel popcorn that had been assaulting our nasal receptors since we first walked into Amoozing World. It was super delicious, and of course, scrawled across the bag it came in was some Konglish (for a complete list of the Konglish I've stumbled upon, click here):

"Popped Corn. Watch the Movie into Your Happy Dreams."

Once you spend any amount of time in Korea, as long as you stop to read things every now and then, you become aware of an underlying theme in their Konglish: they are very into happy dreaming and loving. Which, I suppose, isn't a terrible message to be sharing with the world, but still...hi-freakin'-larious.

Day 9: Happiness Always

Sunday, March 20, 2011

We ventured downtown by ourselves today. The walk along the river is quite nice, and I know it will get even nicer once Spring gets underway. We visited another PC-bong and had some lunch at "The Burger". I'm not a big fan of fast-food places, unless their mascot is a fiery little red-head with braids (combo #6 and hold the mayo please!), but Mike and I were both craving something with a little back-home flavour. The meal was actually pretty good, and afterwards, it didn't feel like my stomach was rotting, so that was a plus! Our apartment came equipped with most of what we needed, but what we didn't already have, we picked up at Daiso, a dollar store chain that is probably kept in business thanks to foreign teachers (seriously, you can buy anything and everything there!). Once we were back in the Dong-Makgol, we had some bibimbap for dinner (one of my favorite entrees of rice and various sautéed vegetables...the wikipedia photo doesn't do it justice) and spent the rest of the night taking it easy because we were both feeling pretty sick, thanks to whatever Korean bug was currently leading the assault against our foreign immune systems.

Konglish of the day:

"Your life is filled with love and happiness. Happiness always."

This was printed on the packaging that our new can-opener was zip-tied to. Yep. My life is now complete, filled with both love and happiness, because I can now open the can of peaches we bought at Lotte-Mart.