We've posted about most of our main Korean experiences, but not much on the day-to-day life of living out here. Today that changes! Prepare yourself for some excitement.
We have to be at school at 2:30 every day to prepare our daily lessons. Each class usually sees 3 teachers each day - a foreign teacher, a Korean teacher, and a test teacher, all of whom teach only English. No foreign teacher starts before 3:40, and I don't think any classes at all are held before that period. So we get an hour at the beginning of each day to prepare what we are going to teach the little sponges.
Each class is 35 minutes, but some are double periods extending for a full 70 minute session. It is shocking the difference you feel between them. 35 minutes is a breeze, you can improvise and easily fill that without any real planning. 70 seems like an eternity in comparison, it is pretty much essential to have some supplementary material ready or you will be stuck with a bunch of screaming kids with nothing to focus on. Things like games, crosswords, handouts....the school has a bunch of extra books that have various activities that can be used. At the end of every 70 minute stretch is a 10 minute break for students and teachers.
Once your first class rolls around, you grab board markers, a pen, a stereo (each book comes with an accompanying CD or tape), and the teaching materials (consisting of homework books, student books to do exercises in class, story books, newspapers, and any other miscellaneous activities depending on the level of the class).
Elementary level classes follow the same general pattern: take up the previously assigned homework, assign some new homework (usually about 2 pages/class), do some in-class exercises using the CD, and read a couple pages of the storybook. The upper level B (for Basic I think) classes don't use story books, but the rest follows in similar fashion.
Middle school & high school kids are J or ISP coded, and to be honest I'm not sure what differentiates them. Either way, J classes are only 1 period per week with no homework, so you pump through about 3 pages of exercises with them and that wraps it up. ISPs are more involved, and are often the toughest classes to control. They don't have homework either (from foreign teachers at least, they may get some from their Korean teacher) but they use a different book that is often times too advanced for them. The book is called TOEFL and is used for language equivalency tests, so the parents recognize the name and assume their kids are getting a good education. Even though many of them don't really take anything away from the classes, the parents are happy and it is a business after all.
The most 35-minute sessions that either of us have per day is 7 (which for Ian is 5 35-minutes and 1 70-minute), which leaves a lot of time for reading, marking journals, checking email, or chatting with fellow teachers. We have to be at the school until 9:30 every night, but each foreign teacher teaches 1 class until 10:10 every week.
The work isn't that difficult, once we got over the initial hesitations of what we should be doing it can honestly take as little as 15 minutes to prepare each day if you want it to. I must say that Kelly is more involved in her classes, starting things like show-and-tell, as well as always coming up with new handouts that her kids seem to love. We both have kids from aged 6 to 16 or so, and the class size seems to average about 15 (biggest for me is 20 I think).
Most of the kids are pretty good, though it is tough for us to know what to expect because we are coming in mid-semester. My situation is especially unusual since my predecessor Russell was fired for having another job (which caused EXTREME office tension I am told, since his wife was the Head foreign teacher and was screaming at coworkers on several occasions) and they had a substitute for a week before me. So its tough for me to tell if they are just treating me like another sub, or even if they fully understand what has happened. Even as it is, most of the kids are pretty well behaved and threatening them with lines is usually enough to shut the yappy ones up.
One of the most difficult classes I have is an ISP class made up of early high schoolers that absolutely refuses to talk. You must ask an individual student a direct question and wait a good 15 seconds before they will answer. It doesn't help that the book is boring as hell, with topics like "What formed the great causeway?" I didn't even know what a causeway was and they certainly don't care what modern day geologists think, and who can blame them?
All the teachers, foreign, Korean, and test, are really helpful and apparently its like night and day since we replaced Russ and Chantelle. There are currently 3 substitutes in there to finish out a few weeks and its mostly good times. Tina and Rodney (who goes by the alias Brad for reasons I won't get into) are from Edmonton and are doing short-term things until they head back in August. Bernard (pronounced Bur-nurd and don't you forget it!) is a British dude who has a drama background and is thus a little odd. But he comes when he's needed and leaves when he's done, so we don't see much of him. New full-timers are coming sometime in the next month, which will bring some stability to the positions that I think the school is craving.
The final thing to remember is that the academy is a business. We are not a public school where grades really matter, we are there to keep the parents happy and try to help the kids as best as we can. The best thing we can do is make sure the kids have a good time so that the parents continue to enroll them at our academy. If anyone is looking to come over and "make a difference" for some poor, suffering soul, you've got the wrong idea. We teach the smart and/or rich kids. Which isn't so bad if you can entertain them for a while.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
Buddha's Birthday, the Korean Concert, Our first Noraebang and the Ball Game.
Well, it has been another great week in Korea!Below is the low-down of our past few, exhilarating days in Korea. It is pretty detailed, so prepare your eyes, grab a bowl of popcorn and enjoy the next seven-to-nine minutes...
Thursday was a holiday, as it was Buddha's Birthday, so we all had the day off! Leah, Andy, Ian and I decided to take advantage and hike one of our lovely nearby mountains. Unfortunately, the day started out dreary, but we headed up the mountain, prepared for our adventure. We initially climbed to a Buddhist Temple and stopped in for a visit, then proceeded to climb to the top of the mountain. For anyone who knows me relatively well, you know I am not 'the hiking type.' With all my allergies and asthma, you are more likely to find me playing tennis or any building with a wooden floor, tap shoes in hand. Regardless, Ian and I were really proud of ourselves for making it up to the top in less than a few hours time, as we aren't as experienced as Leah and Andy. Once we topped the mountain, we found a semi-comfortable area to pull out some chicken sandwiches. We had ourselves a quaint little picnic but had to make it quick as the rain started to sprinkle.
Since the rest of Thursday consisted of rainy-day activities, Leah, Andy, Ian and I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to head to the movie theater in Nowon.
(Interesting sidebar about Korea: the brand name "Lotte" is everywhere. There are Lotte grocery stores, food, name brand department stores (with Mac, Clinique, Guess- you name it), the Lotte baseball team (the Yankees of Korea... more about that later) and even Lotte Movie Theatres. So if you feel like 'fighting the man' and refusing to go to anything Lotte in Korea- good luck.)
We ended up watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End at 12:30am on Friday morning (Thursday night.) It was opening day and it was playing in 5 of the 9 theaters! We all thought it was a much better film than the sequel and and recommend it to everyone!
Since Friday was a holiday for the kids too, by the time they got to Plus Academy, they were bouncing off the walls. Needless to say, Friday felt worse than a Monday. By the time Friday night rolled around, all of the Plus teachers were relatively beat. Friday evening turned out to be a very chilled out night. Ian and I decided on staying in and drank some Soju (brewed locally), beer and champagne while striking up some fierce competitions during War and Scrabble. It was a quality evening to say the least! Definitely nice to have a quiet night, though.
That brings us to Saturday. Ian and I headed to Myeongdong (where I was pick pocketed last week) to check out the Catholic Cathedral. (Mom, Dad, Nanny: Are you proud?!) The cathedral is substantially old as it was built in the 1800's and quite beautiful. Parts of the outside are currently being restored, so Ian and I wandered into the church to see what waited before us. The church is built on the shape of a cross, so it has 4 very long hallways and these hallways are lined with Plasma screen televisions, which Ian and I thought was hysterical! There also just so happened to be a wedding taking place during our time in the church, so that was quite neat to see!
After our cathedral visitation, Ian and I quickly headed home to meet Leah, Andy and some of the Korean teachers from Plus Academy for dinner before going to a Traditional Korean Concert. The dinner was fantastic and the menu at the "Family Garden" offered an incredible variety, as the restaurant offered a fusion of Japanese, Korean and Western food. I had something that resembled a perogie pizza, (Think "Boston Pizza's Perogie Pizza, back home. Ash and Ornob, you know what I am talking about!!!) Ian got Pad Thai, Andy got the salami pizza and Leah got the duck! From there, we headed to the Nowon-Gu Art and Cultural Center to watch Korean women play their traditional instruments. The instruments are traditionally played by only women and this concert was a new age way of playing the these beautiful instruments.
The concert was wonderful and the women finished off with 2 Beatles songs; "Let it Be" and "O- bla-di, O-bla-da". The Korean B-Boy break dancers also made an appearance, and they were awesome to see live. (Check out the pictures, links on bottom of post.)
After Joy (one of the Korean teachers) got her CD autographed, we headed to the GS to have a few drinks. After a few hours there, Leah, Andy, Ian and I headed back to our apartment where we played some drinking games (Leah and I dominated almost every round) and decided at 3:30am to go to the Noraebang (Singing Room) that is close to our apartment. After 2 and a half hours of singing karaoke, we headed home at 6am to get some sleep before the afternoon's baseball game at Jamsil Sports Complex.
It took about an hour of bus and subway riding to get to the 2pm baseball game, but when we did it was worth it! The game was a blast, although it was so hot out, so we were all sweating like crazy! Two of the substitute teachers at our school, B-Rod and Tina met us for the game and it was a great time consisting of hating on the Lotte team, devouring Dippin' Dots (the best ice ream ever, hell yeah!) and stealing the baseball cheerleaders arm movements.
All in all, it was a great weekend!
We'll post some more brilliant info this week regarding our daily lives here in So-Ko, as well as more of our day-to-day school life.
Hope all is well, wherever you happen to be reading this from!
Cheers!
Links:
Pictures:
Cathedral and Concert: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2085880&l=c1b6d&id=187905622
and
Noreabang and Baseball Game: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2085914&l=86dab&id=187905622
Videos from the Lotus Lantern Festival:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=503774132320
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=503774162260
Videos from the Traditional Korean Concert:
Video from the Baseball Game:
Thursday, May 24, 2007
New Pictures Up!
Ian and I have added posted our most up to date pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Check 'em out!
Lotus Festival, Show and Tell in my classes, Hiking on Buddha's Birthday, and PINK beer:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2085074&l=6925b&id=187905622
Lotus Festival:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2085073&l=bd391&id=187905622
Julianne and Eric's Goodbye Party, Plus Academy, etc.: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084192&l=8367d&id=187905622
Check 'em out!
Lotus Festival, Show and Tell in my classes, Hiking on Buddha's Birthday, and PINK beer:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2085074&l=6925b&id=187905622
Lotus Festival:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2085073&l=bd391&id=187905622
Julianne and Eric's Goodbye Party, Plus Academy, etc.: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084192&l=8367d&id=187905622
Monday, May 21, 2007
Weekend #2, Lotus Lantern Festival
Glad you could all make it back. Another eventful weekend here in Junggye and around the city.
If you want a summary of the weekend, here it is: Eric and Julianne went back to Canada, Kelly was pick pocketed but is uninjured and got the money back, we drank with Matty Marois, and enjoyed the Lotus Lantern street festival in celebration of Buddha's birthday.
If you want details, prepare yourself for a reading headache.
Thursday night was a going away party for Eric & Julianne, headed back to Winnipeg on Saturday. They're good people and it sucks we only got to spend a week with them, but their experience was mixed and they are definitely pumped to head back to the Great White North. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future.
We met the teachers that will be replacing them for only the next month, Tina & Brad I think, on Friday. Seem like good Edmontonians who will help control the Canadian power in the office. Friday night was another night of drinking in front of the GS (convenience store chain) with Andy and Eric while the girls went shopping at a night market. Also my first McDonald's experience here, where Eric and I had bacon cheeseburgers, minus the burgers. Bun, cheese, ketchup and bacon. Quite the treat....
Saturday is when the fun began. Kelly and Leah went to another market during the afternoon and I was going to meet Kel and Matty Marois from Laurier at 6 for a good ol' Waterloo reunion. Joshman was out on a weekend voyage with his girlfriend so he couldn't make it. While I was on my way into the city, a distressed Kelly called me saying that she had been the victim of a pickpocket.
(Kelly's Insert:) So Leah and I were shopping in this really cool shopping district called Myeong-dong. Shirts are as cheap as $2.00 and there are really funky little shops with a lot of one of a kind stuff. When I post my pictures, you will see how swamped the area was with people! It was actually insane. Anyway, Leah and I were walking from one store to the next, and I suspect that is when everything went down. I had opened my purse and reached into it to grab my phone and camera. I was lagging behind a bit, so I ran to catch up with Leah through the crowd and told her I felt strange, as though this guy that had tried talking to me in the store was following me or something. We made it to the next store, and as I wen to buy this adorable hat and shirt, I reached into my purse and my wallet was gone. After retracing our steps in the rain, over and over, I finally decided to head over to the local police station.
I was sitting beside a girl who had stolen lip gloss from a store and was quietly crying. The Korean people do not like when theft happens because they feel it reflects poorly on all citizens and their country, so they took my case very seriously. I had been sitting in the police station for about 20 minutes with Leah, when an undercover cop brought in a 45 year old woman, commanded her to get to her knees, handcuffed her and dumped our her purse in front of us all. Two girls had come in behind her, and it turned out that they had caught her pickpocketing them and got the police.
After spending about an hour and a half in the local police office, we were put in a cab with other girls who had been pick pocketed and taken to another police office. We had no idea where were were going because no one could speak English! This police office was where they had the criminal.
The long of the short was, they found my money but the woman had thrown my wallet in the trash and the police had looked for it after she described where she threw it and could not find it. They knew it was my money because I had Canadian, America and Korean Won in wallet. The police officers made it my decision whether or not I wanted this woman to be tortured and I obviously said no, but I told them to please let her know how terrible what she did was. I knew the Korean Police didn't take things like this lightly, and the fact she had to be sitting out in the open the entire time with all the people she stole from was just the beginning of the shame and humiliation. I had to finger print papers in order to get my money back that day, because finger printing is as powerful as a signature in Korea. Leah and I ended up being in Korean Police Stations for approximately 5 hours total that day.
Thank goodness I did not have my passport in my wallet, however I am sad to report to my Stephen Thomas crew that the wonderful wallet they bought me is gone, and to my sister Shane that the Hilary Duff ID Card she got me in NY is gone as well (along with my license, Health card, credit cards, etc.) Ah well! It is a story and I think my experience made us all aware that even though we think somewhere is safe, anything can happen and we should always be careful. I am just so grateful for how the Korean police treated us and that everything turned out okay. (Kelly Insert Over)
She eventually came out and met with me, Marois, and Cyrus the Virus (or Sober Steve depending on your mood) a coworker of Matty's from Idaho. Good times around, from what I remember, but it was definitely the most drunk I've been in the fortnight we've been here.
Sunday was a much more peaceful day, yet no less entertaining. Buddha's birthday is coming up on Thursday, so the Lotus Lantern festival was this weekend. Andy, Leah, Kelly and I hit a street festival outside Jogyesa Temple where the evening's parade would end. There were little tents set up on each side of the street celebrating the Buddhist culture. Monks from all over Asia had tents set up and were more than happy to give out literature on their way of life. We also got a 3-part series on Korean culture and history, so we can become more educated on the land. Free stuff wasn't limited to books however, as piggy banks, lanterns, pork with rice, and hugs were all received throughout the day. Those peace-loving Buddhists and their hippy agenda, giving out free hugs. Far out man!! We ate a traditional Korean dinner, hit the batting cages, then watched the parade. Gotta soak in all that culture, and Koreans love their baseball.
If you want details on the Festival itself, check out:http://english.tour2korea.com/03Sightseeing/TravelSpot/travelspot_read.asp?oid=3577&kosm=m3_8
Pictures from Thursday through Saturday can be viewed at the following link:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084192&l=8367d&id=187905622
Pictures of the parade should be up soon, but it will take me a while to sort through the multitude that were taken. Now go rest your eyes.
If you want a summary of the weekend, here it is: Eric and Julianne went back to Canada, Kelly was pick pocketed but is uninjured and got the money back, we drank with Matty Marois, and enjoyed the Lotus Lantern street festival in celebration of Buddha's birthday.
If you want details, prepare yourself for a reading headache.
Thursday night was a going away party for Eric & Julianne, headed back to Winnipeg on Saturday. They're good people and it sucks we only got to spend a week with them, but their experience was mixed and they are definitely pumped to head back to the Great White North. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future.
We met the teachers that will be replacing them for only the next month, Tina & Brad I think, on Friday. Seem like good Edmontonians who will help control the Canadian power in the office. Friday night was another night of drinking in front of the GS (convenience store chain) with Andy and Eric while the girls went shopping at a night market. Also my first McDonald's experience here, where Eric and I had bacon cheeseburgers, minus the burgers. Bun, cheese, ketchup and bacon. Quite the treat....
Saturday is when the fun began. Kelly and Leah went to another market during the afternoon and I was going to meet Kel and Matty Marois from Laurier at 6 for a good ol' Waterloo reunion. Joshman was out on a weekend voyage with his girlfriend so he couldn't make it. While I was on my way into the city, a distressed Kelly called me saying that she had been the victim of a pickpocket.
(Kelly's Insert:) So Leah and I were shopping in this really cool shopping district called Myeong-dong. Shirts are as cheap as $2.00 and there are really funky little shops with a lot of one of a kind stuff. When I post my pictures, you will see how swamped the area was with people! It was actually insane. Anyway, Leah and I were walking from one store to the next, and I suspect that is when everything went down. I had opened my purse and reached into it to grab my phone and camera. I was lagging behind a bit, so I ran to catch up with Leah through the crowd and told her I felt strange, as though this guy that had tried talking to me in the store was following me or something. We made it to the next store, and as I wen to buy this adorable hat and shirt, I reached into my purse and my wallet was gone. After retracing our steps in the rain, over and over, I finally decided to head over to the local police station.
I was sitting beside a girl who had stolen lip gloss from a store and was quietly crying. The Korean people do not like when theft happens because they feel it reflects poorly on all citizens and their country, so they took my case very seriously. I had been sitting in the police station for about 20 minutes with Leah, when an undercover cop brought in a 45 year old woman, commanded her to get to her knees, handcuffed her and dumped our her purse in front of us all. Two girls had come in behind her, and it turned out that they had caught her pickpocketing them and got the police.
After spending about an hour and a half in the local police office, we were put in a cab with other girls who had been pick pocketed and taken to another police office. We had no idea where were were going because no one could speak English! This police office was where they had the criminal.
The long of the short was, they found my money but the woman had thrown my wallet in the trash and the police had looked for it after she described where she threw it and could not find it. They knew it was my money because I had Canadian, America and Korean Won in wallet. The police officers made it my decision whether or not I wanted this woman to be tortured and I obviously said no, but I told them to please let her know how terrible what she did was. I knew the Korean Police didn't take things like this lightly, and the fact she had to be sitting out in the open the entire time with all the people she stole from was just the beginning of the shame and humiliation. I had to finger print papers in order to get my money back that day, because finger printing is as powerful as a signature in Korea. Leah and I ended up being in Korean Police Stations for approximately 5 hours total that day.
Thank goodness I did not have my passport in my wallet, however I am sad to report to my Stephen Thomas crew that the wonderful wallet they bought me is gone, and to my sister Shane that the Hilary Duff ID Card she got me in NY is gone as well (along with my license, Health card, credit cards, etc.) Ah well! It is a story and I think my experience made us all aware that even though we think somewhere is safe, anything can happen and we should always be careful. I am just so grateful for how the Korean police treated us and that everything turned out okay. (Kelly Insert Over)
She eventually came out and met with me, Marois, and Cyrus the Virus (or Sober Steve depending on your mood) a coworker of Matty's from Idaho. Good times around, from what I remember, but it was definitely the most drunk I've been in the fortnight we've been here.
Sunday was a much more peaceful day, yet no less entertaining. Buddha's birthday is coming up on Thursday, so the Lotus Lantern festival was this weekend. Andy, Leah, Kelly and I hit a street festival outside Jogyesa Temple where the evening's parade would end. There were little tents set up on each side of the street celebrating the Buddhist culture. Monks from all over Asia had tents set up and were more than happy to give out literature on their way of life. We also got a 3-part series on Korean culture and history, so we can become more educated on the land. Free stuff wasn't limited to books however, as piggy banks, lanterns, pork with rice, and hugs were all received throughout the day. Those peace-loving Buddhists and their hippy agenda, giving out free hugs. Far out man!! We ate a traditional Korean dinner, hit the batting cages, then watched the parade. Gotta soak in all that culture, and Koreans love their baseball.
If you want details on the Festival itself, check out:http://english.tour2korea.com/03Sightseeing/TravelSpot/travelspot_read.asp?oid=3577&kosm=m3_8
Pictures from Thursday through Saturday can be viewed at the following link:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084192&l=8367d&id=187905622
Pictures of the parade should be up soon, but it will take me a while to sort through the multitude that were taken. Now go rest your eyes.
Monday, May 14, 2007
1st Korean Weekend
It definitely didn't take long for us to experience a seemingly normal night out in Seoul. Friday was a night of galbi (Korean BBQ where they bring you raw meat and you cook it yourself on the in-table grill) and drinks.
We kicked the night off with a soju toast to teachers leaving (Julianne and Eric going back to Winnipeg), teachers coming (Kelly and I), teachers staying (Andy and Leah from Minneapolis at our school, Mark and Julia from St. Catherine's at another branch in Girem), and friends visiting (Julia's mother Ginny and her friend Carol). For those who've heard of the fabled soju, it really isn't the instant death it's cracked up to be. It's only 20% and tastes like watered down vodka and can be mixed with Sprite (called cider around here), although apparently it leaves you with a wicked hangover. Its main attraction is that it's available everywhere and is only 1000 won/bottle, probably between mickey & 26er. 1000 won is approx. $1USD.
After the delicious meal, which cost only 9000won/person for food & drinks (soju and beer), we went to HaBar and drank a little more while playing blackjack and poker. I went down in a blaze of futility. We headed back to the Hotel Noblesse around 4:00 and had our last run-in with our lion-riding beauty.
Saturday saw us move in to our new apartment, which was left in good shape by our outgoing teachers from Swift Current, Saskatchewan. They wisely described themselves as Regina-ers. The move went smoothly, our Internet and cell phones were left running which was nice.
Saturday night we headed to the foreigners district in Itaewon. Leah, Andy, Kel and I had mixed experiences with what I think was Vietnamese food (Kelly's was expensive and resembled a mix of bland cold cuts from Sobey's deli and resembling cartilage) and wine before we headed to an Irish pub for drinks and darts. Met some cool people from across North America, and in a story too long to type a dude from Washington State willingly took a dart in the wrist. And I mentioned we were in a filthy Irish pub with glass from a broken window left on the floor all night until they swept at close. The guy was lucky that an infection didn't immediately take over his arm.
For whatever reason this bar closed, unlike most of the others in the city, so we went to Polly's lounge for some dancing at 3:30. After a few more drinks and chats with some interesting people (including a rare black dude from South Africa who tells me, quite believably, that he can't get a fair shake) we realized it was 5AM and we might as well wait until the trains start running again Sunday morning at 6 rather than take a cab back. Like I said, the bars don't close and there's no way to know what time it is unless you look outside and it is bright, as it was in this case.
So we partied for a while longer, went for some breakfast, then arrived home around 830. Andy and I had a soccer game to play at 11 so we decided not to sleep or else there was a 0% chance we would go. Watched some Seinfeld, walked around a bit, then met Eric at 1045 and headed to the field to meet the Korean staff that would make up the game. I fully expected soccer to be a skill like bike-riding, where once learned it was always generally possessed. I found out it was like Canadian history, where everything can be forgotten in a real hurry and I was starting from scratch. I was AWFUL. Not sure if it was the fatigue or general crappiness, but I couldn't make a play if a dart in the wrist depended on it. As a kicker, a sprint of even 20m left me feeling as if death were a realistic possibility. Just an terrible time all around.
Now is Monday afternoon and we've got our first set of classes this afternoon. Heading to school early so we can get our lesson plans down and figure out how the hell we will entertain a bunch of rowdy 6-year-olds for 35 minutes. Maybe I'll hand out pennies and tell them they are now riche (add an E sound on the end of every English word if you want it to be understood).
Check out some of our pictures on facebook: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082644&l=48dcb&id=187905622
and our apartment:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082651&l=e34e6&id=187905622
We kicked the night off with a soju toast to teachers leaving (Julianne and Eric going back to Winnipeg), teachers coming (Kelly and I), teachers staying (Andy and Leah from Minneapolis at our school, Mark and Julia from St. Catherine's at another branch in Girem), and friends visiting (Julia's mother Ginny and her friend Carol). For those who've heard of the fabled soju, it really isn't the instant death it's cracked up to be. It's only 20% and tastes like watered down vodka and can be mixed with Sprite (called cider around here), although apparently it leaves you with a wicked hangover. Its main attraction is that it's available everywhere and is only 1000 won/bottle, probably between mickey & 26er. 1000 won is approx. $1USD.
After the delicious meal, which cost only 9000won/person for food & drinks (soju and beer), we went to HaBar and drank a little more while playing blackjack and poker. I went down in a blaze of futility. We headed back to the Hotel Noblesse around 4:00 and had our last run-in with our lion-riding beauty.
Saturday saw us move in to our new apartment, which was left in good shape by our outgoing teachers from Swift Current, Saskatchewan. They wisely described themselves as Regina-ers. The move went smoothly, our Internet and cell phones were left running which was nice.
Saturday night we headed to the foreigners district in Itaewon. Leah, Andy, Kel and I had mixed experiences with what I think was Vietnamese food (Kelly's was expensive and resembled a mix of bland cold cuts from Sobey's deli and resembling cartilage) and wine before we headed to an Irish pub for drinks and darts. Met some cool people from across North America, and in a story too long to type a dude from Washington State willingly took a dart in the wrist. And I mentioned we were in a filthy Irish pub with glass from a broken window left on the floor all night until they swept at close. The guy was lucky that an infection didn't immediately take over his arm.
For whatever reason this bar closed, unlike most of the others in the city, so we went to Polly's lounge for some dancing at 3:30. After a few more drinks and chats with some interesting people (including a rare black dude from South Africa who tells me, quite believably, that he can't get a fair shake) we realized it was 5AM and we might as well wait until the trains start running again Sunday morning at 6 rather than take a cab back. Like I said, the bars don't close and there's no way to know what time it is unless you look outside and it is bright, as it was in this case.
So we partied for a while longer, went for some breakfast, then arrived home around 830. Andy and I had a soccer game to play at 11 so we decided not to sleep or else there was a 0% chance we would go. Watched some Seinfeld, walked around a bit, then met Eric at 1045 and headed to the field to meet the Korean staff that would make up the game. I fully expected soccer to be a skill like bike-riding, where once learned it was always generally possessed. I found out it was like Canadian history, where everything can be forgotten in a real hurry and I was starting from scratch. I was AWFUL. Not sure if it was the fatigue or general crappiness, but I couldn't make a play if a dart in the wrist depended on it. As a kicker, a sprint of even 20m left me feeling as if death were a realistic possibility. Just an terrible time all around.
Now is Monday afternoon and we've got our first set of classes this afternoon. Heading to school early so we can get our lesson plans down and figure out how the hell we will entertain a bunch of rowdy 6-year-olds for 35 minutes. Maybe I'll hand out pennies and tell them they are now riche (add an E sound on the end of every English word if you want it to be understood).
Check out some of our pictures on facebook: http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082644&l=48dcb&id=187905622
and our apartment:
http://wluca.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082651&l=e34e6&id=187905622
Friday, May 11, 2007
A Few Days In...
Integrating ourselves into the Korean Society...
We have only been here less than three days and have already had some amusing experiences! Since the Asian equivalent of Michael J. Fox picked us up at the airport, there are sure to be good times coming up! There is another couple here who are awesome and have been showing us the ropes and their contract is not up for another 5 months, and they are extending it a month, Leah and Andy.
Two nights ago Ian and I went to the Outback Steakhouse for some familiar cuisine. One thing we noticed about every restaurant here, was that every place has too much staff. At the Outback, a girl was literally stationed behind our table, pacing the entire time, in case anyone "needed" anything. The food was actual pretty good, and we had a nice bottle of wine to wash it down with. At one point, I got up to use the washroom. When I got in there, a toilet with several buttons and a heated seat stared up at me. Upon exiting the stall, I turned back on my heel and decided to press one of the buttons on the side of the toilet to see what it would too. So I stood there, pressed a button and a mini bidet (bē-dā') emerged and started gushing out water right at me I started laughing and freaking out at how ridiculous the situation was and got out of the way of the water, while it continued to shoot out at the the stall door as I was vigorously tried to figure out which button would make it stop. By the time I stopped it, the entire stall was flooded and I was pretty wet. I went back to my seat and all Ian could do was shake his head and laugh. Needless to say, after dinner, he checked out the high-tech toilets as well.
Our school is called Plus Academy. It's two floors of a tall building, and is renovated and modern inside. We work with 7 other foreign teachers right now, but most of their contracts are up soon, and Ian and I are replacing two of them, so the only ones we will be hanging around with out of the crew that's there for the long term is Leah and Andy, who have helped us since before we even arrived!
Apparently the "big thing" in Korea is to hang out in front of "GS 25's" and drink on their 'patio.' Sounds normal, until you realize that GS 25 is a parallel to 7-11. Can you imagine sitting in front of 7-11 and drinking with all your friends? You buy the beer inside the store, and then come outside and drink it. Pretty basic, yet hilarious. So that's what we did last night with Leah and Andy. We met a lot of foreigners just sitting in front of the GS because where we will be living (as of tomorrow) and where our school is, it is a major Hagwon district, so there are tons for foreign teachers. We met some other Canadian last night, some from Vancouver.
Tonight, we are going out with new friends for Korean BBQ in another town and to a "singing room"--- Should be interesting!
We have only been here less than three days and have already had some amusing experiences! Since the Asian equivalent of Michael J. Fox picked us up at the airport, there are sure to be good times coming up! There is another couple here who are awesome and have been showing us the ropes and their contract is not up for another 5 months, and they are extending it a month, Leah and Andy.
Two nights ago Ian and I went to the Outback Steakhouse for some familiar cuisine. One thing we noticed about every restaurant here, was that every place has too much staff. At the Outback, a girl was literally stationed behind our table, pacing the entire time, in case anyone "needed" anything. The food was actual pretty good, and we had a nice bottle of wine to wash it down with. At one point, I got up to use the washroom. When I got in there, a toilet with several buttons and a heated seat stared up at me. Upon exiting the stall, I turned back on my heel and decided to press one of the buttons on the side of the toilet to see what it would too. So I stood there, pressed a button and a mini bidet (bē-dā') emerged and started gushing out water right at me I started laughing and freaking out at how ridiculous the situation was and got out of the way of the water, while it continued to shoot out at the the stall door as I was vigorously tried to figure out which button would make it stop. By the time I stopped it, the entire stall was flooded and I was pretty wet. I went back to my seat and all Ian could do was shake his head and laugh. Needless to say, after dinner, he checked out the high-tech toilets as well.
Our school is called Plus Academy. It's two floors of a tall building, and is renovated and modern inside. We work with 7 other foreign teachers right now, but most of their contracts are up soon, and Ian and I are replacing two of them, so the only ones we will be hanging around with out of the crew that's there for the long term is Leah and Andy, who have helped us since before we even arrived!
Apparently the "big thing" in Korea is to hang out in front of "GS 25's" and drink on their 'patio.' Sounds normal, until you realize that GS 25 is a parallel to 7-11. Can you imagine sitting in front of 7-11 and drinking with all your friends? You buy the beer inside the store, and then come outside and drink it. Pretty basic, yet hilarious. So that's what we did last night with Leah and Andy. We met a lot of foreigners just sitting in front of the GS because where we will be living (as of tomorrow) and where our school is, it is a major Hagwon district, so there are tons for foreign teachers. We met some other Canadian last night, some from Vancouver.
Tonight, we are going out with new friends for Korean BBQ in another town and to a "singing room"--- Should be interesting!
Well, that's it for now... more adventures coming soon... we are so anxious to get into our apartment and start teaching!
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