Quirky Korea Part I

We have official been in Korea for a month now there are many new things we must get use to. The cultural differences are huge and small and run the gamut from just different, interesting, or hilarious to admittedly strange, weird, and also hilarious. This is home for the next year though so we need to get with the program. Here is a list of things we find funny, strange, awesome, or just plain interesting about Korea.

First, Koreans drive on the same side of the road as we do in the States and just like in any city drivers are a  bit aggressive, but at times there seem to be a lack of what we would call, "Rules of the Road." There is a light that we walk past on our way home from work that people fly through every night despite if its green or red. All taxis honk at you to offer a ride/ask for a fare. People take U-turns where ever they please. As you might imagine, pedestrian awareness in such an environment is not at the top of the list.

Also, in true Asian style, there are delivery people on scooters flying around everywhere. Rules do not apply to these scooters at all. They are allowed on the road and the sidewalk and weave in and out of cars and people with seemingly no intention of stopping for anyone. They just fly around at light speed making deliveries and being invincible.When you get deliveries in Korea they are made with real dishes and plates. When you are done you just put them outside your door and the delivery guy will come back later and pick them up (presuming no one has stolen them first). This cleared up the confusion as to why our neighbors left dirty dishes in the hall. Oh yeah,  McDonalds delivers. Now you don't even have to walk to your car, we will bring obesity to your door!

On our walk to/from work we walk through a park on a walkway/bike path. It is not a large park but a long extended one adding some pleasant atmosphere to the walking/bike path. This path extends all the way to the other side of the city and along the way there are a series of "work out stations." They aren't quite gyms but 5 to 8 exercise machines for people to use while casually walking around the city. There are no weights or electronic machines but all prison workout machines and you can always find old folks working on their abs out there. Sort of like a less cool Muscle Beach Gym.

Also, in the section we walk to work, there is a miniature golf course. And by mini golf I don't mean windmills and waterfalls but a legit golf course with shortened holes that people can play in this fairly small park. We have yet to see anyone play but the warmer months are still to come. Golf is incredibly popular but space is limited in this small country so golf courses are quite expensive. As an alternative screen golfing and driving ranges are very popular.

Also popular is wearing American sports gear. We see loads of Red Sox, Yankees, and Indian hats. Sweatshirts that say, "Boston Massachubits" (which we want desperately). They have no idea what the teams are, or possibly even where they are from, but they sure are cool to wear, sort of like pink Red Sox hats.

Also popular are noraebangs (literally: singing rooms) which are personal karaoke rooms that people can rent. There is a big screen with videos playing that hade nothing to do with the song, where it has a music video or not. Sometimes the video is just views of mountains while singing Sean Kingston. Your voice is distorted a little bit to save you some dignity as well. They have rooms for everything though: Wiibangs (Wii rooms) , PCbangs (computer rooms), jjimjillbangs (Korean spas), DVDbangs (DVD rooms where teenagers make out).

Noraebang = Ballin'

One of our favorites is the lack of garbage cans. When you have trash or recycling you just bring it outside and put the trash bag on the sidewalk. No need for a trash can at all. Food compost goes into the 1 trash can for the 90 or so apartments in our building, trash goes in bags, and recycling just goes on the sidewalk. No one seems to know what Trash Day is so we just bring it out whenever the apartment starts to smell. This naturally gives the city a nice aroma of garbage at times. Sometimes you are just enjoying a walk on a nice day with a nice breeze when you are suddenly punched in the face with the smell of hot garbage. Can't wait for summer.

Not really sure where the line between proper garbage disposal and littering is drawn.

The concludes Part 1 and Part 2 will be coming soon where we will discuss tie died dogs, toilets, and prostitution. 

Korean Mountains & American Bars

This past weekend Lindsey and I took a trip cross town to Yudalsan Park. Yudalsan (or Mt. Yudal) with our friends Keegan and Kirsten. We hadn't been to the other side of the city yet but it was awesome! It is referred to as Old Downtown since our side of the city is the "new, hip" area but Old Downtown is plenty interesting. It is a more condensed set of busy streets that you can get lost in like a maze. There are shops on every corner and streets venders everywhere. Even ladies selling puppies in a box...

There are also these really awesome arch ways over most of the streets that light up different colors at night. We will be going to see these this coming weekend.

Before exploring the Old Downtown area though we hiked up Mt. Yudal. The park is on the westside (flashing westside gang sign) of the city near the ocean. Almost immediately you are provided with a view of the whole city that just gets better and better as you go. It is not a hike as much as a nature walk up stairs. As you ascend there is a stature of some General who's name I can't recall who beat up on some Japanese ships long ago and several asian gazebos designed like temples. It is about a half hour stroll to the summit where you get 360 views of the city and the water along side the craggy mountain top. As always there are plenty of other people around. 

That afternoon we did our weekly venture into the world of Korean grocery shopping (which never goes quite as we expect) and that evening we went to Moe's Bar, one of the foreigner bars here in Mokpo (the other being New York). Surprisingly on a Saturday night there were little to no foreigners in the bar but mostly Koreans everywhere, as usual. The bar is a short walk from our apartment and themed after Moe's Bar on the The Simpsons but is disappointingly nice in comparison to the Homer Simpsons trashy second home. They have nice couches with tables to sit on while they blare American music. We went with Keegan and Kirsten again and just spent the night drinking and chatting until we realized it was well past our bedtimes. 

Sunday was mostly spent relaxing around the apartment. We explored some side streets for a Korean BBQ for lunch and ended up at a slightly disappointing place. We were starving though and would have eaten anything. Dave went for a bike ride along the bike path all the way to the Old Downtown area on the other side of the city while Lindsey got her knitting fix (its never enough). Then that evening Lindsey went to the foreigners Book Club and met several other people teaching here in Mokpo. She had a really good time and it was great to meet more people in the city that we can actually communicate with. We both finally got into the foreigners group on The Book and joined a snowboarding club. So we are beginning to branch out and build social lives here. Spreading out wings if you will.

On the work front, some of Lindsey's evening classes have been canceled while the kids study for some standardized tests. Also, our lesson plans aren't detailed enough and we need to hand them in in the beginning of the day so after we spend too much time writing these detailed lesson plans we can't use them in class. Not to thrilled about that but oh well, we only have to write them for the first 6 months!

FUNNY KID QUOTE:
Dave - "Ok everyone, what do you see in the picture?" (Picture is of a white man serving 2 white kids ice cream)

Kid - pointing at the white man "I see a cracker!"


How that kid knows that term I don't know but it was easily the highlight of my day!!!

Wolchulsan National Park

This past weekend we had our first experience in the Korean mountains. We went to Wolchulsan National Park which is just an hour or so south of Mokpo with our co-worker Cody. The weather wasn't the best but the park was beautiful non the less and the hike was great fun. It was cloudy and foggy all morning so there were no spectacular views to be seen and aww and ohhh at but it was a cool feeling to be surrounded by clouds. There were temples and an amazing bridge that links 2 ridges. With the fog it looked like the bridge went to nowhere. We thought we were taking the "easy" trail but discovered rather quickly that we had taken a wrong turn for the more difficult "dangerous district." Thankful we survived to summit the mountain just as it began to rain. We managed to have a bit of a snack and enjoy our accomplishment before descending to escape the rain. It stopped pretty soon and we enjoyed our hike back down. Occasionally stopping to give our shaking legs a break. As we got closer to the parking lot the sun began to shine more and more and it turned out to be quite a nice afternoon once we finally finished. We had a great day though! Plus we got to know Cody much better which was awesome and we got to teach him American sayings such as, "slow poke," "buns of steel," "we look like bums," and "I am fat and tired." After we had conquered the mountain and the elements we enjoyed our lunch amount the yellow and red foliage. As we finished the mountains emerged from the disipating clouds and we were treated to some beautiful views. We got the best treat as the sun past behind the summit of the mountain before we left. The bus ride home was a serious struggle to stay awake which we all failed at.

The Korean hiking experience is very different because there are so many people!! There were hundreds of people on that mountain and it wasn't even great whether. Cody said if it was nice there would maybe be double. Plus, all of the people are decked out in all of their outdoor gear. Everyone is wearing the nicest and newest gear in awesome colors. Koreans very much care about their appearance and it is no different in the woods.

And there I am naked...

On Sunday night I went to my first Korean bath house, or a Jimjilbang. It was quite the experience. After our long day of hiking I was ready to go to bed at 8 o'clock until my Director texted me asking if I still wanted to go to the Jimjilbang. As you could imagine, I was very nervous about this (if you don't know why now...you will when you read further). I decided to bite the bullet and do it. How awkward could it be? So my director picked me up at 8:30. One of the first things she said to me was, "wow, you are very giddy right now," and I explained that I get giggly when I'm nervous hahaha

First of all,  I was obviously very new to this Korean tradition. I didn't know what to do or where to go. It was a hard balance of trying to follow my director and other people and see what they were doing, yet not starting and watching their every move. I pretty much mimicked my director for the 2 1/2 hours. What ever she did, I did. Where ever she went, I went. It proved to be a very good method because I did not make a fool of myself.

So, when we walk into the jimjilbang we take off our shoes and place them in a little shoe locker, pay, get a "uniform" and head to the actual locker room. The locker rooms are separated by gender. This is where the naked-ness began. There were tons of women anywhere between age 5 through 70 walking around. My director and I found our lockers and we did what all the other women did. Got naked. There I am, walking around with my boss and about 50 other women, naked! Ahhhh!  So before we could do anything we had to take showers in the shower room. The room is long and on adjacent walls there are multiple showers in a row. I didn't bring my shower supplies so I had to share with my director. We picked showers that were side by side and soaped up. She then asked me if I wanted to use her scrubby face cloth and I politely declined. Then she started washing my back! I could have died! When in Rome...so after she washed mine, I washed hers. It gives me, personally, a new meaning to the phrase, "You wash my back, I'll wash yours"!

After our showers we walked to a different room with about 4-6 large hot tubs. In these hot tubs you sit and relax (still naked) with your friends and also other people you don't know. This room also has a swimming pool with cooler water and a little play poo for the little kiddies. We spend about 10 min the hot tub. From there we went to a sauna room and sat and chatted for a few minutes. She was explaining to me the different services for an extra fee that the jimjilbang provides such as massages and exfoliation stations. From the sauna we watched a woman get exfoliated (sounds dirty doesn't it? hmm.... it almost makes sense because we are all naked....what a conundrum) Anyway, at the exfoliation tables a woman takes a rough hand mitten type thing and rubs your whole body, yes, everything...front and back with her scrubbing mitten.

After our sauna session, we took another quick shower and got dressed in our uniforms that were given to us when we paid. It is a pink tee-shirt and long shorts combination (the men get blue ones). My director told me that I should put on my bra so the men won't look. I got dressed in the very tiny shorts that were just a bit too small and a very baggy shirt. We headed upstairs to the sauna floor which is co-ed. It is a big open room with 2 big water fountains, massage chairs, TV's and a bunch of mats and pillows on the floor. Also, it's decorated with a bunch of gemstone murals. It is very beautiful and peaceful. There is a separate room for eating and purchasing food too. We bought a bowl of persimmon juice (the local fruit. It's tastes similar to an apple but it looks like a tomato) and a few baked eggs (yes, baked). We sat in the common room for a bit while she explained the different sauna rooms. There were about 6 or 7 different rooms, each with a different theme and temperature for health. The first room we went into was the salt room. I can't remember what the temperature was but it was HOT! The room was decorated with various stones and flowing pictures, all very serene. There were straw mats that lined the floor. Underneath the mats were big crystals of salt. It was really cool! The salt in the room is supposed to help make your bones grow stronger. We spent a bit of time in there and we sweat like dogs! Oh my word! I could just feel the sweat dripping off of every bit of my body! It sounds gross, but it actually felt good. After what seemed like 20 hours, we went back to the common room, drank our persimmon juice (I need to find out the actual name of the drink) and headed to the next sauna room. This one was not as hot, but still boiling. I don't know what the theme of the room was but it was very beautiful. This room was filled with about 10 different gems forming pictures of mountains and a big yin yang on the ceiling. We just layed in this room, relaxed, and stretched our muscles. She taught me a trick to always face the wall when you are laying down, otherwise people can see up your shorts hahahah Once we were done in that room we went back out to the common room and went into our third and final sauna room. This one was bigger than the others and it was a whopping 72 degrees celsius (thats 162 fahrenheit for all of you friends back home) We only spent 5 min in that one, thank goodness! I could have literally died in there! We finished up our baked eggs and juice and went back downstairs to take one last shower. After our shower my director wanted to put some lotion on her face. She insisted that I shared with her and put someone my face. I use the term "some" loosely because I must have but 6 different lotions on my face! I'm not a women of beauty either so I felt like I was pampering myself. After that, she dropped me off back at my apartment.

Boy was that an experience. As weird as it sounds, I actually enjoyed it. It's not weird being naked around 50 other women if they're all naked too. The jimjilbang is a traditional Korean pastime and I want to embrace the culture around us.

When I got home I felt rather sick. I felt very nauseous. I think it was a combination of dehydration and getting used to sitting in a sauna for more than 5 min at a time. For the first half of the night I slept on our couch, just in case. In the end I felt better after a little bit of rest, and I spend my second half of the night in our bed.

Other side notes about the jimjilbang.....

- I bet you're wondering what me and my director talked about during this time. The memory stands out the most when we were both lying our sides, facing each other and asked me why I liked Dave and if I want to marry him. We talked about a range of topics such as health, friends, family, pets, etc. It is a bit hard to communicate with her because her English isn't the greatest, but it also not the worst. We had some good conversations and I learned a lot.

- Jimjilbangs are also a place where you can sleep for the night. It is $8 to get in and they have separate areas designated for sleeping.

- Because children are allowed in the jimjilbangs, sometimes we may see our students and their parents there! My director says when she sees them, it is the one time she gets shy. Could you imagine if I ever saw a student while I was on the first floor? I don't even want to think about it! hahahah

There are many differences between Korea and home but we love it!

Our First Full Week At School

It's official, we are teachers. We have our own classrooms, own students, we give tests and correct them. So this is what it is like to be on the other end of crazy children's antics....

E Bo Young Talking Club is very small. There are 6 classrooms, each with one large table and 10 chairs. We have small classes, anywhere between 3 and 9 students. There are a range of levels starting with Phonics (which we don't teach), A&B's (low level) all the way to Talking Master Juniors (high level). We both have Korean co-teachers who teach half of the material in the units. We teach the conversation and listening aspects of English and our co-teachers teach grammar and writing.

On Wednesdays we have weekly meetings at E Bo Young. This week's Dave and I were told that we need to make lessons plans before every class and hand them in to our Director. We also have to start listening to the students dialogue that they record in the computer lab. In the beginning of each unit they gave a cheesy dialogue they must listen and record it. We must listen to their recordings to make sure they are pronouncing the words correctly. The funny part of Wednesday's meeting was that our Director conducted 1/2 of the meeting in Korean! Dave and I just sat there not having a clue ha ha

Oh! I forgot to mention that we do not wear shoes in our school. WE WEAR SLIPPERS ALL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How awesome is that?!?!

As for whether or not we like it so far...Dave enjoys it. I, on the other hand, am not enjoying it as much as I had hoped. I am getting very frustrated with several parts of the job. First, Dave and I have 2 different schedules. We both work at E Bo Young from 1-6, teaching lessons from 2:30-6. At 6 all of the teachers get a dinner break. From here Dave has 1 more class at E Bo Young from 6:30-7:15. This is not the case for me. I have an additional break from 6:30-7:15. At 7:15 I have to go over to Easy Academy and teach 2 additional classes. I get out at 8:45 every night. Dave gets out at 7:15. I find this incredibly frustrating because I have little to no time to get anything done. On Friday's though, Dave teaches 2 classes at Easy Academy until 9:30. This is the one time a week in which I get an hour and a half to get some work done.

Another reason why I am frustrated is because Easy Academy is a totally different system, in turns, ends up being extra work for me. The classes are harder to teach because they are middle schoolers and naturally do no want to be there. Also, there is even less structure than E Bo Young so I have no way of keeping on track, or assessing how the students are doing. I just teach from the book and hope for the best. The students are placed in levels that are far beyond what they should be in. The material that I am teaching them is so over their head. The are not comprehending anything I am saying. (language barrier aside) Im finding it mentally taxing because for and hour and a half straight I talk and talk and talk but nothing is sinking in. I need goals in order to be motivated. I find it mentally draining not having standards, assessments, or even any feedback. It really gets me down. I'm sure things will get better when I get used to the system and figure a few things out. I really enjoy the kids and I think there are a lot of positives to the job too. It could always be worse!

On Friday we had to accompany our Director to the immigration office to fill out paperwork. First, on our way over, she told me that they found something wrong with my heart when they took my physical. I said "WHAT?!" and she said, "yes, your heart, there is something wrong with it," So I got worried! She then ended the conversation with, "it was a joke." Veryyyyyy funny Director! hahahahahaha I could have had a heart attack (pun very much intended)

After the joke session we got really serious, real quick....she asked me if I would like to join her in a traditional Korean bath house on Sunday. I asked her if I had to get naked and she said yes! hahahah I'm going to do it! It will be an experience.


We have decided to end every post with funny things our kids say

-They like to joke about dying. If a student is missing in class and we ask where they are, a typical response is either, "they died!" or they went to "sky town"

- We were reviewing a picture of a park with a few people walking about. When I asked a boy to explain what was happing in the picture he told me that a man is stalking the girl. I don't know where he got the word "stalker" from, or even the idea of a man stalking a woman.

-Dave was teaching likes and dislikes in his class and he asked a student something he doesn't like and his response was "I don't like beer"

-One student told me that I looked like her aunt. I asked her where her aunt was from and she said Korea. I asked her if she was from Korea and if she is Asian. She said yes. Hmm....I usually get "you look like someone I know" but this is a first....an Asian look alike!

- I asked a girl in my class to explain a word to me and she told me in Korean. I said to her, "I don't speak Korean!" and her response was "I don't speak English!!!!!" haha


P.S. we are looking into a vacation for the winter. Our options: China, Japan or Hong Kong. Any suggestions?

Ends Up We Have to Work Here...

After our relaxing weekend came to a close Monday rolled around and we had to start work! Surprisingly, we weren't feeling very nervous at all. Our first day was a test day. The classes run for month long terms and we had to give the end of the month Speaking Tests. Our predecessors, Luke and Kristy, told us that this would be a crazy, stressful day but it was ridiculously easy! The kids come in, you give them the test, and one by one you bring them into the hallway and ask them the same 5 questions over and over again until its time for the next class. We wish everyday was test day!

One question we asked was, "What is wrong with me?" and then we had to act like we have a headache. Dave asked one student and his answer was, "Teacher is American" hahahahaha

We did have to actually teach one class at the end of the day. Our Director owns 2 different academies: E. bo-youngs Talking Club and EASY Academy. We primarily work at the Talking Club but in the evening we have to walk 2 buildings down and teach 1 or 2 classes a night. The kids at Talking Club and very young and more fun to work with because they are full of energy and are willing to participate in class and the activities. The EASY academy kids on the other hand are 14ish and it is like talking to a brick wall! There is a newspaper class that we both teach and the whole class is the kids reading from a teen newspaper. When you ask them what the article is about or what words mean or say anything they just stare at you and it is a bit frustrating.

So our first day was pretty easy but on Tuesday we had to teach classes all day. Our day began with going to the hospital with our Director. We had to get physicals in order to get our Foreigner IDs. The government needs to make sure we are healthy and not crackheads. We had to get x-rays for the physical and the doctor wanted Lindsey to take her bra off because of the wires. His way of communicating this was to cup his hands around his imaginary big boobs and bounce them up and down hahaha
We can't really do anything (like open a bank account) until we have those IDs and they will take around a month to get! Plus it cost us each 80,000 won (around $75USD) so that was a surprise but hopefully they will come soon.

Then our Director took us out for a delicious lunch. We can't remember what it is called but you get loads of veggies and thinly sliced meat and boil it in water to make a broth. After you have eaten all of the veggies and meat you then add noodles and a dumpling to the broth to make a soup and even after that you add rice and spices to make the last dish. Director also gave us a crash course in Korean manners. For example, the youngest person should always pass out the chopsticks and pour everyones water and set the table, you cannot start eating until the eldest has taken their first bite, and when handing something to or receiving something from an elder you must use 2 hands. Conversation at times was a little hard but it was delicious and a good time despite having to sit on the floor which we fear will never, ever, ever become comfortable. Our legs fall asleep and Dave isn't flexible enough to cross his legs under the table.  

Once we arrived to school 45 minutes late (aka you have 30 minutes before class starts). We had to look over over our new schedules, see what classes we had, and get ready for the 5 classes that we have in a row. When we went to find the teaching books for the classes we had we were told that the school may not have them aka they don't have them! There is very little direction given to us and it is presumed that we pretty much know everything or that Luke and Kristy trained us on everything in the 1 and a half days before they left. So for the majority of our classes we just had to use the kids books and make up the lessons as we went along. Some books have enough material but some literally have 1 page with 4 lines of dialogue on it and we are suppose to make a 40 minute lesson out of this! We end up playing a lot of games. The kids are helpful too. They know what they usually do and can help coach us through when we have a blank spot. We need to build up an arsenal of games and activities to do with the kids. We can make some up and wing it a bit but we need a solid base of activities we know work. We ask the Korean teachers lots of questions and they are generally really helpful but at the same time do not seem to notice the same level of disorganization that we do.

Some classes flew by and some dragged. Some classes had awesome kids and some were quite and boring but it isn't anything we aren't use to. Kids are kids, the only difference is these ones don't speak English very well. After the first couple weeks we will have a much better handle on things and will feel a lot better about it. Like all things it is a learning process.

Until next time....