Life without air conditioning has been an up and down battle thus far. The lack of AC is not a Korean trend. Quite the contrary, it is just I who lacks powered climate control. In fact, I have been in one other apartment in this complex/area and their apt. was incredibly heated. However, two blankets and being fully clothed has kept me pretty snuggly. The problem isn't sleeping; it's waking up that kills me. It is so hard to get up and out of bed in the morning. Leaving my safe haven calls into question whether I realllly need a shower (don't fret everyone, I usually drag myself outta bed and take one!).
On a random aside -- I put the finishing touches on preparation for my last immersion class tomorrow. I dropped some serious cash to fill their stockings. I have made the firm decision that If they will not give me their love I will buy their love. All kidding aside, two classes down a Korean teacher helped them make balloon animals so I naturally had to up the ante if I wanted to be the cool kid on the block!!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Seoul Snow Jam!!
This past Saturday I went down to Seoul with my friends Carmine and Joe. After a long afternoon of Christmas shopping, and in my more frugal and calculating ways, Christmas prospecting, we walked a few blocks down from Insadong (where we were shopping) to where some friends were getting ready to go ice skating. As it turns out, the rink was closing down but the latter portion of a snowboarding tournament was just getting going. We were probably there for about an hour or so. It was pretty fun. I think I had more fun being around all the people, many of whom were really into it, rather than actually watching the snowboarding. They replayed highlights from earlier in the day and the skiing ones actually looked great!! I snagged a few photos before we left which I put on facebook. It was definitely nice to see the lights out around Seoul. It is not always easy to grasp the American vacations here but Christmas seems to be coming along quite nicely! I heard that about 1/3rd of Koreans celebrate Christmas. Here are a few photos I took with absolutely no description to go along with them!!
Mmmmm Cashmere
it fits great, it's warm and I am still falling in love with my new pea coat. My cousin Steve pointed it out but David Letterman sure was right when he or whoever was writing on his behalf penned the note "you do good job" on Manchester Tailors' celebrity autograph board. What a word smith!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Random tid bits
- I forgot to mention an odd story on the way back home from Seoul this past Saturday. I was a little gloomy because at this point I came to the realization that I sealed my fate on the whole sickness thing. The cab ride definitely cheered me up though!! I had a cab driver who spoke English fantastically. After he narrowed down that 2 out of 3 of his passengers were from Texas (Sophia and myself, along with our 3rd Joe from LA), he proceeded to name off a few of the cities he had been to. He started with Houston (of course, even in Korea, everyone is from Houston) to which we nodded and then tacked on Dallas to which we nodded again. Then he dropped a bomb; Brooh-own-sville. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? It's hard to find a Texan who has been to Brownsville, much, much, much less a Korean.
- Keeping up with my American habits, I have spent a solid % of my money on eating out. However, today might be a deciding reversal in the war against dining out. This is because today is the day I finally finished gathering all the ingredients for spaghetti. There were some casualties in this battle; I was forced to forego parmesean cheese. PC is my right hand man when it comes to the spaghett's. I thought it would be difficult to get ahold of salt too, but the stars aligned as I finally managed to (a) remember to look for it BEFORE going into the store rather than after and (b) have enough time to look for it rather than being in a rush. Shaping and educating kids' lives in Korea has been great but let it be known that the highlight of December 7th was spaghetti. Booyakasha!
Alright - Forget It
I have spent far too much time trying to edit He-Man so he would take up less space on that last post. Alas, I have given up seeing that my will can not surpass his. If I was working on a PC I would have no troubles but I still can't figure out seemingly simple tasks on this Mac sometimes! On that note, I am still very, very grateful to Brock for selling me his computer days before I left for Korea!!
About that Pea Coat
So it turns out I am sick for the 2nd time since living in Korea. My He-Man, take-no-prisoners, never-get-sick persona has been completely decimated. On Saturday I ventured out to Seoul to pick up my newly purchased coat - which I was very much excited for!! I gambled a bit, being the logical creature that I am, by arguing that I shouldn't wear a coat to go get a coat. I took a thermal and a hoodie and sallied forth. Turns out the coat was not ready (another gem lost in translation) and I was there for a final fitting of sorts. It should be shipped to me this coming Friday after school. At least I won't have to pick it up. I spent the rest of the day with Steve jumping around parts of Seoul and picking up lunch at the "All-American Diner." It was totes delish. (Totally delicious for the old timers). I really wasn't too cold that whole day, or at least I didn't feel like it but I guess I was wrong. There were certainly times where it was COLD but mostly it was an enjoyable cold that didn't get into your bones. I actually managed to jump home and take a hot shower before heading back to Seoul for the night to see some friends who came in from both Busan and Gwangju. However, my earlier poor decision was surpassed by the one I made that night to fully partake in the festivities. These decisions cost me and have thus stripped away my self-image (pictured above). I thought my new and healthy Korean diet could overpower the cold's of old that used to get to me far more often than most men. Apparently not - I lose again!!
However, the silver lining is that I will be assured to be in good health when the family and girlfriend arrive in a little less than two weeks. This has been the prime factor keeping me in as good a spirit as I can muster.
:: Currently reading ::
Was jumping between Guns, Germs & Steel and John Adams. Will probably set both of those down briefly after picking up (per Steve's recommendation) Life of Pi. I needed a little easier reading in both content and weight. Seriously, it can be a major drag carrying around 800 page nonfiction books on the subway when you have about 10-20 minutes per session. Much happier now!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Vacancies Vacancies!!
I found out today that after Matt and Blair, two of my English coworkers at Hae Song, leave at the end of December, there aren't two set people to come in and replace them. This means that the English Camps that begin towards the beginning of January will be run by the English director and me. In fact, we are so far from being set on two replacements that Ms. Lim has asked me (for some reason she's in charge of this search when she already has about a billion things to do!) to ask any of my friends if they want to come take their place!!
So if you are reading this and you know me or reading this and you know someone interested, there are two vacant positions at Hae Song opening up on January 1st'ish. I wish I could be more specific with the job details but because they will be hired directly through Hae Song and not the EPIK program like I was, I am not completely clear on all the details. My understanding is that they would want them here at the beginning of January or ASAP after that for a 1 year contract. I don't know the pay but I would assume it is somewhere in the realm of mine, perhaps better, which will mean that if you spend money somewhat reasonably (see Pea Coat post for my spending habits!) you should be able to save some considerable money. I am assuming, though am not sure, that they will pay for your flight to Korea and am positive they will set you up with living arrangements. The only specific requirement I know of is that you have to be a college graduate. Like I said, since it's a specific hire, there should be less hoops to jump through rather than going through a program. There will be no training period, but you will have me!! I mean I'm totes the best teacher in the world and if I can't run you through it I don't know who can (see Royal Rites of Brag..etc. etc.).
This is pretty abrupt, and I have my doubts that Hae Song's next hire will come through me but I am just throwing it out there. Two vacant positions! You can come as a tandem for all those in relationships!
I wish I could get some of the WW kids out here, but I don't know if they can look the part of a 20'something college grad!
So if you are reading this and you know me or reading this and you know someone interested, there are two vacant positions at Hae Song opening up on January 1st'ish. I wish I could be more specific with the job details but because they will be hired directly through Hae Song and not the EPIK program like I was, I am not completely clear on all the details. My understanding is that they would want them here at the beginning of January or ASAP after that for a 1 year contract. I don't know the pay but I would assume it is somewhere in the realm of mine, perhaps better, which will mean that if you spend money somewhat reasonably (see Pea Coat post for my spending habits!) you should be able to save some considerable money. I am assuming, though am not sure, that they will pay for your flight to Korea and am positive they will set you up with living arrangements. The only specific requirement I know of is that you have to be a college graduate. Like I said, since it's a specific hire, there should be less hoops to jump through rather than going through a program. There will be no training period, but you will have me!! I mean I'm totes the best teacher in the world and if I can't run you through it I don't know who can (see Royal Rites of Brag..etc. etc.).
This is pretty abrupt, and I have my doubts that Hae Song's next hire will come through me but I am just throwing it out there. Two vacant positions! You can come as a tandem for all those in relationships!
I wish I could get some of the WW kids out here, but I don't know if they can look the part of a 20'something college grad!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Royal Rite of Bragitudiousness
I had completely forgotten about this!! Throughout last week we had our annual "Golden Bell" challenge, an English test at Hae Song conducted by my coteacher Ms. Lim and myself. The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grades participated. Each grade went on a different day, and they all got markerboards and would write their answers and raise them in the air; last one standing wins. The questions ranged from spelling, "what am I?" riddles, and some true or false questions.
If any of you remember my schedule, I teach and see everyone from the 3rd grade up but I also run my immersion classes and have a group of about 5-10 students from each grade that I see 4 times a week. Initially, I was not happy about this class. The curriculum is still a little dry, but these are my babies and the classes that I enjoy the most now. It was just a matter of making the curriculum fit what I wanted to do - it has definitely improved with time!
Anyhoo.. I have to say I couldn't be more excited about how the immersion kids did. I tried to keep a loose eye on them throughout the Golden Bell Challenge and from what I saw I thought they did great. In fact, out of about 100 kids per grade (roughly), I maybe have 5% of them in my immersion class. I am happy to say that the 3rd and 4th grade winners were both members of my immersion class!! The 3rd grader, Julia, has actually lived in the States for the majority of her life so I wasn't flabbergasted to see her win. My 4th grader, Jason, has learned all his English here though. It was very exciting. Generally speaking, I usually had one of the immersion kids in the top 5 or so in each class.
Sometimes it feels as if my teaching style is throwing a bunch at a wall and hoping some of it sticks. Some days it feels great, rewarding, and fulfilling. Some days it feels slightly less than that. I am happy to say that those rewarding days where I actively see them learning are beginning to outnumber the days where I feel I have fallen on my face. As long as they have fun, which feels like most of the time, I am happy though!
That's all to report from Hae Song. Other than that, school is going great!!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
THE Pea Coat
This past Saturday I made the trek to Seoul to invest in a new coat. I needed something a little heavier than I own now. I had been looking forward to this for a while now because this was the first time I'd be seeing a tailor and having something custom made for me!! I can report that it went fantastically.
After walking by a handfull of shops with some potential, my friends and I ran into a guy who seemed to know what's what. He ushered me into his shop downstairs and proceeded to pour on the honey talk. I must say, he was probably the best salesman who's ever made a pitch to me. Generally speaking, I am pretty good at backing out of purchases. Sure, there has been a time or two (as Daniel, Alex and Gus can attest to) where I have been lectured by a salesman for upwards of an hour, looking desperately at anyone who could me away from them. When my nicer, "I'll hear you out" side clash with my frugal nature, frugality saves the day. I like to sit and think about a purchase for a few days and THEN go back and get it. Not the case this time around. He could have signed me up to buy 5 coats and I probably would have been down.
His English was great, and from my limited knowledge he really seemed to know what he was doing. He had some celebrity photos that he had made clothing for. Nothing much stood out except for Kobe Bryant. If you see KB tell him he now knows somebody who knows somebody who knows you. He gave me the "English teacher" price, as opposed to what he called the "professional athlete" price. This Saturday I will be heading up to Seoul to pick up my new, double breasted, cashmere navy pea coat!! Complete with my name stitched inside. No worries, I resisted the urge to request "E-Money".
His English was great, and from my limited knowledge he really seemed to know what he was doing. He had some celebrity photos that he had made clothing for. Nothing much stood out except for Kobe Bryant. If you see KB tell him he now knows somebody who knows somebody who knows you. He gave me the "English teacher" price, as opposed to what he called the "professional athlete" price. This Saturday I will be heading up to Seoul to pick up my new, double breasted, cashmere navy pea coat!! Complete with my name stitched inside. No worries, I resisted the urge to request "E-Money".
T-Giving
Thanksgiving Day!! It came and went and for the most part my friends and I tried to do it right. We had a potluck dinner! At first a potluck seemed like a scary proposition since we were running heavy and volunteers for napkins, bread and wine and a little lighter on things like FOOD. It worked out in the long run though. I showed up with 2 pizzas and 2 bottles of wine. We had sweet potatoes wrapped in bacon with rosemary (thank you Patrick), baked chicken (Ryan), cake and salad (Carmine), TURKEY BURGERS (Joe), and marinara sauce to put on whatever it is we were supposed to put it on (thanks Sophia!). Sophia was actually our lovely host! We had 6 Americans and 6 Koreans throughout most of the night. We maintained the tradition of going around and saying what we were thankful.
In all seriousness, other things got me thinking about what I was thankful for in Korea but our T-giving dinner really cemented it for me. I, along with the rest of the A-team (our affectionate and 100% innocently motivated self-tagged group name), have been really lucky to find eachother. I referred to them as my family for a year, and I very much mean it. It is hard to believe I have only known them for 3 months and some change. We have been having a great time!!
On another note, I CAN'T wait to get my family up here. As most of you know, my parents and my girlfriend Emily will be coming up here in a little bit less than 3 weeks. I can't wait to share the past 3 months of my life with them. Pictures certainly help, but some things just have to be seen!!
Hope all is well with my faithful readers!! Happy Holidays!!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Weekend in Gwangju
Hi All! Haven't been very active lately I know.
This past weekend I visited some friends in Gwangju. My friend Patrick and I took a 3 1/2 hour bus over there to the Southwest Korea. The rail system was out of the question because it runs Northwest (Seoul & Incheon) to Southeast Korea (Busan). It was a pretty enjoyable ride down though they went a little heavy on the heater - very Sauna-esque.
There are a few photos up on Fbook that I added to the Halloween album by the way.
The highlights of the weekend, besides seeing our good Gwangju friends, were spending Saturday playing paintball and a bit of Saturday night at an ice bar. The cool thing about the ice bar is that you got to throw your glass at a target if once you were done. Out of 3 tries, I managed to score once. Unfortunately, I won a coupon for 5,000 W (5 dollars) that can only be redeemed on your NEXT visit to the restaurant. Smooth talking my way out of this did not help. I now am in possession of a 5 dollar coupon that I may be able to redeem in about 2 months.
Forgot to mention that we went to an airsoft gun range. Apparently, and I don't know if it is the Texas in me because I have never fired a gun, I am a pretty good shot. Must be the video games. Cashed in for a phone charm that soon broke afterward.
The paintball was the absolute best part of the weekend. Patrick, my friends Alex and Brian, and myself woke up early on Saturday and played right through to about 3 PM. There were tooooo many stories to recount here, and the girls heard them all ad nauseum.
The bus ride home was the only sour part of the trip. We hit rough traffic and our 3 1/2 hour trip back up turned into 6 1/2 hours. All in all, had a fun time in Gwangju. Check out the pictures and if you can't access them let me know - I will provide a different avenue!!
This past weekend I visited some friends in Gwangju. My friend Patrick and I took a 3 1/2 hour bus over there to the Southwest Korea. The rail system was out of the question because it runs Northwest (Seoul & Incheon) to Southeast Korea (Busan). It was a pretty enjoyable ride down though they went a little heavy on the heater - very Sauna-esque.
There are a few photos up on Fbook that I added to the Halloween album by the way.
The highlights of the weekend, besides seeing our good Gwangju friends, were spending Saturday playing paintball and a bit of Saturday night at an ice bar. The cool thing about the ice bar is that you got to throw your glass at a target if once you were done. Out of 3 tries, I managed to score once. Unfortunately, I won a coupon for 5,000 W (5 dollars) that can only be redeemed on your NEXT visit to the restaurant. Smooth talking my way out of this did not help. I now am in possession of a 5 dollar coupon that I may be able to redeem in about 2 months.
Forgot to mention that we went to an airsoft gun range. Apparently, and I don't know if it is the Texas in me because I have never fired a gun, I am a pretty good shot. Must be the video games. Cashed in for a phone charm that soon broke afterward.
The paintball was the absolute best part of the weekend. Patrick, my friends Alex and Brian, and myself woke up early on Saturday and played right through to about 3 PM. There were tooooo many stories to recount here, and the girls heard them all ad nauseum.
The bus ride home was the only sour part of the trip. We hit rough traffic and our 3 1/2 hour trip back up turned into 6 1/2 hours. All in all, had a fun time in Gwangju. Check out the pictures and if you can't access them let me know - I will provide a different avenue!!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Wowzers!!
It's snowing tonight!!
I was with friends from Austin and Los Angeles so we were all very excited! My friend Carmine from Toronto was slightly less enthused.
I was with friends from Austin and Los Angeles so we were all very excited! My friend Carmine from Toronto was slightly less enthused.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Turn the Other Cheek
Those famous .. Walt Whitman words, I believe =), certainly ring true! Now, in all seriousness, I came about as close to being in a fight since the age 10. There's no denying, I was quite the scrappy 10-year-old.
I think I have written a few times where I have been harassed, generally by older Korean men, at various locales throughout Seoul. Not to break the mold, this fight almost came to be with an older Korean man in Seoul (I'll ballpark him at about age 45, 5'6, and one who has taken a rather liberal stance on physical fitness to give him a little illustration).
I was riding the subway to Seoul, a solid 30 minutes behind the rest of my compatriots. I was on the train, quiet of course since I was by myself, and generally keeping to myself when I heard this man start yelling. I gave him a quick glance but as he kept going I thought Surely this isn't directed at me. Well, it was directed at me - 100% of it in fact. He really laid into me too, and I would've been obliged to take offense had I known what he was saying. After about 5 minutes of him yelling at me as I tossed in a "Mian hamida, anyo Hangeul" (I'm sorry, no Korean) the few times I could get a word in, I reached the Evan Daniel breaking point. Commence the stare down!! He had been staring at me this whole time while I had been generally avoiding eye contact. I released the hounds - I looked him in the eyes for about 45 seconds or so and he finally stopped yelling and stopped looking at me. I sat down though the only vacant chair was directly in front of him. He really hit his boiling point after I crossed my legs in front of him and started shaking my foot. There is a Korean custom that I was previously unaware of that dictates that you should not cross your legs in front of your elders. The custom seems to more accurately follow the practice of "Don't cross your legs when your elders are yelling at you."
I had gone back to avoiding eye contact by the way. In fact, I was texting my friend Carmine something along the lines of "HELP ME." No matter, my leg shaking was enough to send him out of his seat. He walked over to me, standing directly over me, and started yelling at my leg again. I almost forgot to mention that every Korean on the train outside a 10-foot vicinity were staring directly at us. Those within the danger zone pretended that all was well with the world. Any other Koreans I made eye contact with gave me what I can only describe as an "I'm sorry this is happening to you" look. By this point, I have apologized ten times to a man standing directly over me with his fist clenched at cocked behind his head ready to hit me for whatever it is I did to him.
Now, for those wondering why I summoned the patience of Job, let me throw in a quick technicality on deportation. If you fight a Korean citizen, you will probably get deported 10 times outta 10. There are very few extenuating circumstances. Had this taken place in America, I would have helped this man sit back in his seat regardless of whether he wanted my aid, told him to leave me alone, and be done with it. Here in Korea however, I took the road less traveled by. Plus, you never know what level of crazy someone brings to the table, and I'm content to go through life never finding out!!
My saving grace was that I was only two stops from my destination. I waited him out, took another 2-3 minutes of abuse wondering if he would hit me or not and how I would respond, and exited the train. As he stood over me I got into the most relaxed, I-don't-want-to-fight stances I have ever mustered. It was very Sean Penn in Fast Times. I managed to escape incredibly irked but unscathed.
And for any of my EPIK'ers who might follow the joke, this was NOT time for a "This is a kill" references.
I think I have written a few times where I have been harassed, generally by older Korean men, at various locales throughout Seoul. Not to break the mold, this fight almost came to be with an older Korean man in Seoul (I'll ballpark him at about age 45, 5'6, and one who has taken a rather liberal stance on physical fitness to give him a little illustration).
I was riding the subway to Seoul, a solid 30 minutes behind the rest of my compatriots. I was on the train, quiet of course since I was by myself, and generally keeping to myself when I heard this man start yelling. I gave him a quick glance but as he kept going I thought Surely this isn't directed at me. Well, it was directed at me - 100% of it in fact. He really laid into me too, and I would've been obliged to take offense had I known what he was saying. After about 5 minutes of him yelling at me as I tossed in a "Mian hamida, anyo Hangeul" (I'm sorry, no Korean) the few times I could get a word in, I reached the Evan Daniel breaking point. Commence the stare down!! He had been staring at me this whole time while I had been generally avoiding eye contact. I released the hounds - I looked him in the eyes for about 45 seconds or so and he finally stopped yelling and stopped looking at me. I sat down though the only vacant chair was directly in front of him. He really hit his boiling point after I crossed my legs in front of him and started shaking my foot. There is a Korean custom that I was previously unaware of that dictates that you should not cross your legs in front of your elders. The custom seems to more accurately follow the practice of "Don't cross your legs when your elders are yelling at you."
I had gone back to avoiding eye contact by the way. In fact, I was texting my friend Carmine something along the lines of "HELP ME." No matter, my leg shaking was enough to send him out of his seat. He walked over to me, standing directly over me, and started yelling at my leg again. I almost forgot to mention that every Korean on the train outside a 10-foot vicinity were staring directly at us. Those within the danger zone pretended that all was well with the world. Any other Koreans I made eye contact with gave me what I can only describe as an "I'm sorry this is happening to you" look. By this point, I have apologized ten times to a man standing directly over me with his fist clenched at cocked behind his head ready to hit me for whatever it is I did to him.
Now, for those wondering why I summoned the patience of Job, let me throw in a quick technicality on deportation. If you fight a Korean citizen, you will probably get deported 10 times outta 10. There are very few extenuating circumstances. Had this taken place in America, I would have helped this man sit back in his seat regardless of whether he wanted my aid, told him to leave me alone, and be done with it. Here in Korea however, I took the road less traveled by. Plus, you never know what level of crazy someone brings to the table, and I'm content to go through life never finding out!!
My saving grace was that I was only two stops from my destination. I waited him out, took another 2-3 minutes of abuse wondering if he would hit me or not and how I would respond, and exited the train. As he stood over me I got into the most relaxed, I-don't-want-to-fight stances I have ever mustered. It was very Sean Penn in Fast Times. I managed to escape incredibly irked but unscathed.
And for any of my EPIK'ers who might follow the joke, this was NOT time for a "This is a kill" references.
Halloween!
I am realizing now that I never made a post covering the H-party. Not too much to say other than it being purtty spectacular. I had friends visiting from Busan that weekend so I also got to give my first Seoul tour too!
Everything we made for the party, monetarily speaking, went back into the party. We charged about 10 dollars per head and had over a couple hundred people - actually now that I am doing this math those numbers don't add up!! After we ran outta food though we only charged about 5. I don't generally talk extensively about money but the party fund ended up running over a thousand dollars, and it all went back in. A Mexican restaurant named On The Map was kind enough to let use their place as our venue. I think we probably helped them out too by giving them one of the better business nights they've had since they have been opened (about 4 months).
Anyway, the most important thing is that it set us up well for our next party. I spent about half the night running around but I did get to enjoy myself towards the end. I do love to host though, and between the 5 or 6 of us who threw it, I must say we did a rather good job!
Everything we made for the party, monetarily speaking, went back into the party. We charged about 10 dollars per head and had over a couple hundred people - actually now that I am doing this math those numbers don't add up!! After we ran outta food though we only charged about 5. I don't generally talk extensively about money but the party fund ended up running over a thousand dollars, and it all went back in. A Mexican restaurant named On The Map was kind enough to let use their place as our venue. I think we probably helped them out too by giving them one of the better business nights they've had since they have been opened (about 4 months).
Anyway, the most important thing is that it set us up well for our next party. I spent about half the night running around but I did get to enjoy myself towards the end. I do love to host though, and between the 5 or 6 of us who threw it, I must say we did a rather good job!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Hi All!!
A few new updates in the life of E ::
My friend Hero posted the videos of our bungee jumps. If you click here you can find me in all my glory. This was one of those situations where even had I known I'd be on video, I still would of ended up looking about as scared as I've ever been. If the link doesn't work, let me know!!! It says I can upload videos on here but I don't know how to save it from FB. My brain is not large enough for tasks like these.
Anyway, I was able to spend today with the newly engaged Steve and Nara. They actually came down to Incheon to check out my neck of woods. It was my first time checking out China Town too. It was, as my students would describe, "so-so." We had a good time walking around catching up though, and I am just happy to finally meet Nara and have family in the same country as me!!
Steve got some good photos too so those should be up at some point. All I can say is that both the Daniel's and Iams' will be proud of our patriotism as we saluted General MacArthur in a way only Americans could.
Ugh.. I've seen the bungee jumping video about 5-10 times and I get Vietnam like flashbacks. That's all from here for now!!
My friend Hero posted the videos of our bungee jumps. If you click here you can find me in all my glory. This was one of those situations where even had I known I'd be on video, I still would of ended up looking about as scared as I've ever been. If the link doesn't work, let me know!!! It says I can upload videos on here but I don't know how to save it from FB. My brain is not large enough for tasks like these.
Anyway, I was able to spend today with the newly engaged Steve and Nara. They actually came down to Incheon to check out my neck of woods. It was my first time checking out China Town too. It was, as my students would describe, "so-so." We had a good time walking around catching up though, and I am just happy to finally meet Nara and have family in the same country as me!!
Steve got some good photos too so those should be up at some point. All I can say is that both the Daniel's and Iams' will be proud of our patriotism as we saluted General MacArthur in a way only Americans could.
Ugh.. I've seen the bungee jumping video about 5-10 times and I get Vietnam like flashbacks. That's all from here for now!!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Weather
It's a good time to be a vampire in Incheon. When I wake up around 7 or so it has just gotten light out. Within an hour of getting out of school or so though it is already dark. As winter approaches I have been told that it should darken a tad bit later (say 7:30-8 or so) and be dark by 4:40 (the end of my school day). Hello darkness my old friend!
The other crazy thing about this week has been the cold front. Yesterday and today it has been in the high 20's. The wind is killing me. It is supposed to warm up as soon as tomorrow. I most certainly hope so, because fall is my favorite season and while I am excited about having a full season of winter for the first time in my life, I am not ready just quite yet!
The other crazy thing about this week has been the cold front. Yesterday and today it has been in the high 20's. The wind is killing me. It is supposed to warm up as soon as tomorrow. I most certainly hope so, because fall is my favorite season and while I am excited about having a full season of winter for the first time in my life, I am not ready just quite yet!
Did I Mention Something About Lesson Plans?
I think going into this week I talked about using this time to make lesson plans through the end of the school year. I hope to get a heavy dosage starting tomorrow, because Monday and Tuesday I did nothing but read and watch movies. Not the good kind of reading either - ESPN & The Internet Movie Database have taken up farrrrrr too much of my time recently.
Hope to get on it sooN!!
Hope to get on it sooN!!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Well..
It had been a long time coming, but they finally canceled school at Hae Song Elementary.
They have had several meetings here and there about swine flu. A few days ago, they had 6 deaths in one day here in Korea. All of next week school will be canceled. I will still be getting paid .. and I will still have to show up too! The only thing is I will have no classes - so it will be 8 hours of dead time every day for 5 days. Not too bad though, I can catch up on some reading and knock out lesson plans from now until Christmas. The only reason I can't plan further than that is ... by the way, yes it is further and not farther (I looked it up to double check but I got it right on my first try, booyakasha!) ... anyway, the reason I can't plan lessons further than that is because I will have no clue what my schedule will be and how it will change after the semester.
The two big changes will be:
a. It will be a new semester. The new school year for Korea starts in February, so everyone moves up and some of my classes (like the immersion class I mentioned before) might be different. In fact, they are thinking of adding a 4th class per grade, which will completely change everything about the way our school runs. No one knows what to expect though.
b. Matthew and Blair, two teachers from the English center at Hae Song, will be finished with their contracts. Describing the workings of the Hae Song English teachers can be a little tricky. First of all, there is Josh and Amee, (Amee replacing my good friend Ryan after he changed schools) who do a private after-school program we usually refer to as Okey Dokey. Then comes Matt and Blair, who have been at Hae Song for 8 months or so and have a couple left on their contract. They work out of the English center, each teaching to half the grades (Matt takes 2/4/6, Blair takes 1/3/5 or something like that) plus a couple of after-school programs themselves. I teach the official, by the book, English class. I am not too sure on the differences between responsibility but they work out of the English center and I work out of our official English classroom. Anyway, this has been sufficiently boring - the point is when they have finished their contracts, all these different classes will be up in the air and I have no clue how they will fall because there will most likely be two new English teachers to come in after.
So that's that. All I wanted to say was that school is canceled week. However, I decided to indulge a thinking aloud urge .. or a thinking composition if you will. Or just writing if you aren't into the whole brevity thing.
They have had several meetings here and there about swine flu. A few days ago, they had 6 deaths in one day here in Korea. All of next week school will be canceled. I will still be getting paid .. and I will still have to show up too! The only thing is I will have no classes - so it will be 8 hours of dead time every day for 5 days. Not too bad though, I can catch up on some reading and knock out lesson plans from now until Christmas. The only reason I can't plan further than that is ... by the way, yes it is further and not farther (I looked it up to double check but I got it right on my first try, booyakasha!) ... anyway, the reason I can't plan lessons further than that is because I will have no clue what my schedule will be and how it will change after the semester.
The two big changes will be:
a. It will be a new semester. The new school year for Korea starts in February, so everyone moves up and some of my classes (like the immersion class I mentioned before) might be different. In fact, they are thinking of adding a 4th class per grade, which will completely change everything about the way our school runs. No one knows what to expect though.
b. Matthew and Blair, two teachers from the English center at Hae Song, will be finished with their contracts. Describing the workings of the Hae Song English teachers can be a little tricky. First of all, there is Josh and Amee, (Amee replacing my good friend Ryan after he changed schools) who do a private after-school program we usually refer to as Okey Dokey. Then comes Matt and Blair, who have been at Hae Song for 8 months or so and have a couple left on their contract. They work out of the English center, each teaching to half the grades (Matt takes 2/4/6, Blair takes 1/3/5 or something like that) plus a couple of after-school programs themselves. I teach the official, by the book, English class. I am not too sure on the differences between responsibility but they work out of the English center and I work out of our official English classroom. Anyway, this has been sufficiently boring - the point is when they have finished their contracts, all these different classes will be up in the air and I have no clue how they will fall because there will most likely be two new English teachers to come in after.
So that's that. All I wanted to say was that school is canceled week. However, I decided to indulge a thinking aloud urge .. or a thinking composition if you will. Or just writing if you aren't into the whole brevity thing.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
This past Weekend
Hi all!
Sorry it has been so long since I have written anything. I have a few updates for everyone, but a day or so after my last post I got sick. This killed my writing aspirations for the week. Fortunately, I was able to rebound in time for this past weekend; the most exciting 24 hours of my life!! Though it might be phrased better if I say that I have not done as much crazy stuff in a 24 hour span.
I was invited by my Korean friend Hero to tag along with his University's English group for an overnight trip to Gangchon, just outside of Seoul (I think). Hero formed the English Club at his school, and I must say he did a darned-fine job. Originally there were over 80 applicants - so he had to do interviews to shave it down to a shade under 30 or so. The people he let in were picked mostly on their personality rather than strictly their English skill. It definitely showed because they were a really fun group of people. There were 22 Koreans along with 5 native English speakers invited along. Generally, he invites out some of his American friends to grab dinner and drinks and just speak English. This is great for a young chap like myself because they usually pick up the tab on the meal and drinks to thank us for going out. I would honestly do it for free, it is so much fun to be around them!!
Anyway, back to Gangchon. We left on a Friday night for a day of "mountain biking and bungee jumping" as it was pitched to me. How could I pass this up??
The 27 of us took 2 vans (which sat 11 apiece) and an SUV to get there for a trip that took roughly 2 hours with terrible traffic. I learned a lot of Korean travel games that will definitely come in handy. We drew tiny sandwiches for who would cook. Of the 27 sandwiches, 8 were packed with wasabi and the others were regular. Luckily, none of the Natives drew a sandwich packed with wasabi, especially after watching those who were unlucky trying to eat it! The ones who didn't have to cook kicked off the night by heading to a miniature carnival. It had 2-3 rides, a batting cage, and some cheesy games like throwing darts and shooting bee-bee guns. We went on "The Hurricane", a ride that works by spinning everyone in it from side to side while simultaneously spinning you around. It was tons of fun, and I have pictures of the whole weekend that should follow this post by no more than a day or two. The ride was rather tame in the grand scheme of things, but exciting enough to worry me about bungee jumping if I freaked out about this baby one.
It provided short lived food for thought because we ended up going home to a grand meal of Korean barbecue. In fact, they had four grills going at the same time. We had a nice long night! In fact, one of my new Korean friends, Nicholas, had such a great time that he couldn't find our lodging and ended up staying with a new set of Korean people he met that night. He actually went missing into the late morning the next day, but more to come on Nicholas in a bit !! ..
The next day we woke up early and hit the road. We got to the bungee jumping place, and then took an elevator up. It was only 25 meters high, so from the ground I was able to talk a big game about how weak it looked. However, things are always different judging by one's point of view. From up there, it looked hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Added to the scariness factor was that the floor was a steel see-through grate.
- 2 Quick Notes: It was not over a bridge (man made structure) and we were strapped up by our backs.
About 10 of us or so were up for it. All of the Americans, plus Hero and a handful of new Korean friends. *Reenter Nicholas* Nicholas, after the long forgetful night, was not feeling quite so well. He had me laughing the whole time because he did in fact go bungee jumping. While we were 25 meters in the air, nervously awaiting bungee jumping, Nicholas was asleep face down on the platform. He stayed asleep until it was his turn and as he stumbled off the platform to jump I swear he looked asleep and motionless the whole time. His limp, noiseless body bungee'ing around had me laughing pretty heavily.
I went third to last, and it was about as scary as anything I've ever done leading up to it. However, actually doing it was fantastic and I can't wait to go higher and connected at the ankles. I will probably be just as scared but it is about as fun as it gets.
We headed out to the place where we were supposed to go mountain biking. Still a little sick, and after a long night, mountain biking wasn't high on the priority list. When we got there, though, we had no trouble upgrading from a mountain bike to an 4-wheeler ATV. I mean, is this even a decision for people? The prices weren't that different. I don't get how anyone rents a mountain bike in good conscience with an ATV sitting RIGHT THERE next to it. I can't believe I have gone this far in life without driving one. It was awesome!!
2 hours on an ATV was the perfect way to close out my overnight trip. We ate a great lunch, hopped in our vans, and came back home. I managed to get to sleep around 8 PM that night and slept for a solid 14 hours or so. the nice things that come with an overnight trip vs. a full weekend sometimes can only be measured in sleep!!
The only negative about the whole weekend was that I saw my SK Wyverns force a Game 7 in the Korean Baseball Championship only to drop it to a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th against the Kia Tigers of Gwangju. To make matters worse, I have a bunch of friends in Gwangju and now I have to put up with whatever trash talk comes my way.
My cousin Steve should be arriving in Korea soon, and I will be visiting with him at some point next week. I am super psyched!!
Hope all is well with everyone - you are all in my head more than you know and I miss you guys dearly!! From my family to friends to Westwood, I wish you the best and appreciate all the emails I get from everyone!!
Sorry it has been so long since I have written anything. I have a few updates for everyone, but a day or so after my last post I got sick. This killed my writing aspirations for the week. Fortunately, I was able to rebound in time for this past weekend; the most exciting 24 hours of my life!! Though it might be phrased better if I say that I have not done as much crazy stuff in a 24 hour span.
I was invited by my Korean friend Hero to tag along with his University's English group for an overnight trip to Gangchon, just outside of Seoul (I think). Hero formed the English Club at his school, and I must say he did a darned-fine job. Originally there were over 80 applicants - so he had to do interviews to shave it down to a shade under 30 or so. The people he let in were picked mostly on their personality rather than strictly their English skill. It definitely showed because they were a really fun group of people. There were 22 Koreans along with 5 native English speakers invited along. Generally, he invites out some of his American friends to grab dinner and drinks and just speak English. This is great for a young chap like myself because they usually pick up the tab on the meal and drinks to thank us for going out. I would honestly do it for free, it is so much fun to be around them!!
Anyway, back to Gangchon. We left on a Friday night for a day of "mountain biking and bungee jumping" as it was pitched to me. How could I pass this up??
The 27 of us took 2 vans (which sat 11 apiece) and an SUV to get there for a trip that took roughly 2 hours with terrible traffic. I learned a lot of Korean travel games that will definitely come in handy. We drew tiny sandwiches for who would cook. Of the 27 sandwiches, 8 were packed with wasabi and the others were regular. Luckily, none of the Natives drew a sandwich packed with wasabi, especially after watching those who were unlucky trying to eat it! The ones who didn't have to cook kicked off the night by heading to a miniature carnival. It had 2-3 rides, a batting cage, and some cheesy games like throwing darts and shooting bee-bee guns. We went on "The Hurricane", a ride that works by spinning everyone in it from side to side while simultaneously spinning you around. It was tons of fun, and I have pictures of the whole weekend that should follow this post by no more than a day or two. The ride was rather tame in the grand scheme of things, but exciting enough to worry me about bungee jumping if I freaked out about this baby one.
It provided short lived food for thought because we ended up going home to a grand meal of Korean barbecue. In fact, they had four grills going at the same time. We had a nice long night! In fact, one of my new Korean friends, Nicholas, had such a great time that he couldn't find our lodging and ended up staying with a new set of Korean people he met that night. He actually went missing into the late morning the next day, but more to come on Nicholas in a bit !! ..
The next day we woke up early and hit the road. We got to the bungee jumping place, and then took an elevator up. It was only 25 meters high, so from the ground I was able to talk a big game about how weak it looked. However, things are always different judging by one's point of view. From up there, it looked hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Added to the scariness factor was that the floor was a steel see-through grate.
- 2 Quick Notes: It was not over a bridge (man made structure) and we were strapped up by our backs.
About 10 of us or so were up for it. All of the Americans, plus Hero and a handful of new Korean friends. *Reenter Nicholas* Nicholas, after the long forgetful night, was not feeling quite so well. He had me laughing the whole time because he did in fact go bungee jumping. While we were 25 meters in the air, nervously awaiting bungee jumping, Nicholas was asleep face down on the platform. He stayed asleep until it was his turn and as he stumbled off the platform to jump I swear he looked asleep and motionless the whole time. His limp, noiseless body bungee'ing around had me laughing pretty heavily.
I went third to last, and it was about as scary as anything I've ever done leading up to it. However, actually doing it was fantastic and I can't wait to go higher and connected at the ankles. I will probably be just as scared but it is about as fun as it gets.
We headed out to the place where we were supposed to go mountain biking. Still a little sick, and after a long night, mountain biking wasn't high on the priority list. When we got there, though, we had no trouble upgrading from a mountain bike to an 4-wheeler ATV. I mean, is this even a decision for people? The prices weren't that different. I don't get how anyone rents a mountain bike in good conscience with an ATV sitting RIGHT THERE next to it. I can't believe I have gone this far in life without driving one. It was awesome!!
2 hours on an ATV was the perfect way to close out my overnight trip. We ate a great lunch, hopped in our vans, and came back home. I managed to get to sleep around 8 PM that night and slept for a solid 14 hours or so. the nice things that come with an overnight trip vs. a full weekend sometimes can only be measured in sleep!!
The only negative about the whole weekend was that I saw my SK Wyverns force a Game 7 in the Korean Baseball Championship only to drop it to a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th against the Kia Tigers of Gwangju. To make matters worse, I have a bunch of friends in Gwangju and now I have to put up with whatever trash talk comes my way.
My cousin Steve should be arriving in Korea soon, and I will be visiting with him at some point next week. I am super psyched!!
Hope all is well with everyone - you are all in my head more than you know and I miss you guys dearly!! From my family to friends to Westwood, I wish you the best and appreciate all the emails I get from everyone!!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Baseball & Relaxation
I am coming to you in this post a little aimlessly. I have no direct purpose for it, but I have gone so long without writing that I felt I ought to. So get ready, this should be good!!! *cue sarcasm, for my mom's benefit
Time has flown by since Chuseok. I have been having a great time the last few weeks despite coming under the influence of a bad cold just a few days ago. I think a trip to a Korean sauna is in the works; they are supposed to be quite wonderful (and cheap!).
I just got done watching my beloved SK Wyverns beat the Kia Tigers in Game 4 of the Championship series. We won 4-3, evening us at 2-2. The next 3 games will be played in Seoul. It is a bit of a strange format, with 2 games in Gwangju, 2 in Incheon and the remaining 3 (if necessary in this best-of-7) in Seoul. I won't complain though since Incheon is the little brother city and shouldn't have too much trouble flooding the stadium.
I have only been able to read up on the Horns recently. I was scheduled to go watch the RRS, (I refuse to call it the Red River Rivalry), but my phone died in Seoul that night and I was a little worried that I'd be in dire straits if I got lost going from the group of friends I was hanging out with to the friend watching the game that night. It was ugly, so I hear, but we won and that's all that counts.
School has been a series of highs and lows. With the enormous amount of time I have spent with kids in the past 8 years, I can't help but hold myself to high standards with this teaching gig. It is hard to realize that I have started something new in regards to some lesson plans being great and some being just OK. I want my students to be engaged at all times - and when they are in school for literally 12-14 hours a day, sometimes I just have to come to terms with the fact that they won't be running on all cylinders at all times. That being said, my immersion classes which I was originally stressing over are much improved. I see them 4 times a week (M,T,W,F), with a joint class for 1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th grade, and a 5th grade class by themselves. I have been having trouble tailoring most of my teaching stuff to the 1st and 2nd graders, but the 3-4 and the 5 classes have been going really really well. My other half of teaching (the regular public school hours), along with the English courses I run for teachers, have been great too. If I can get the 1-2 class up to my standards, I will be about as happy as I can be for a new teacher 2 months into the job!!
For now though, I am off to Skype with my parents!! Hope all is well with everybody!! Hook Em!!
Oh and P.S.
I have been growing out a bit of a beard, mostly out of apathy after being sick and a little out of motivation for my Halloween costume (I am going as my friend Joe - there may be pictures of him up and I need to have some appropriate length for the sideburns!). Today, however, one of the teachers asked me if I hadn't shaved because I was so busy. This has shamed me enough into chopping off the beard tomorrow morning!
Time has flown by since Chuseok. I have been having a great time the last few weeks despite coming under the influence of a bad cold just a few days ago. I think a trip to a Korean sauna is in the works; they are supposed to be quite wonderful (and cheap!).
I just got done watching my beloved SK Wyverns beat the Kia Tigers in Game 4 of the Championship series. We won 4-3, evening us at 2-2. The next 3 games will be played in Seoul. It is a bit of a strange format, with 2 games in Gwangju, 2 in Incheon and the remaining 3 (if necessary in this best-of-7) in Seoul. I won't complain though since Incheon is the little brother city and shouldn't have too much trouble flooding the stadium.
I have only been able to read up on the Horns recently. I was scheduled to go watch the RRS, (I refuse to call it the Red River Rivalry), but my phone died in Seoul that night and I was a little worried that I'd be in dire straits if I got lost going from the group of friends I was hanging out with to the friend watching the game that night. It was ugly, so I hear, but we won and that's all that counts.
School has been a series of highs and lows. With the enormous amount of time I have spent with kids in the past 8 years, I can't help but hold myself to high standards with this teaching gig. It is hard to realize that I have started something new in regards to some lesson plans being great and some being just OK. I want my students to be engaged at all times - and when they are in school for literally 12-14 hours a day, sometimes I just have to come to terms with the fact that they won't be running on all cylinders at all times. That being said, my immersion classes which I was originally stressing over are much improved. I see them 4 times a week (M,T,W,F), with a joint class for 1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th grade, and a 5th grade class by themselves. I have been having trouble tailoring most of my teaching stuff to the 1st and 2nd graders, but the 3-4 and the 5 classes have been going really really well. My other half of teaching (the regular public school hours), along with the English courses I run for teachers, have been great too. If I can get the 1-2 class up to my standards, I will be about as happy as I can be for a new teacher 2 months into the job!!
For now though, I am off to Skype with my parents!! Hope all is well with everybody!! Hook Em!!
Oh and P.S.
I have been growing out a bit of a beard, mostly out of apathy after being sick and a little out of motivation for my Halloween costume (I am going as my friend Joe - there may be pictures of him up and I need to have some appropriate length for the sideburns!). Today, however, one of the teachers asked me if I hadn't shaved because I was so busy. This has shamed me enough into chopping off the beard tomorrow morning!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Let's kick some Ice
I've been waiting for a while now for it to get cold, practically overdressing a few days in anticipation. Now it is finally here!! It is 40 degrees this morning, though it should warm up a bit throughout the day. For a Texan, this is as good as it can get. However, Mother Nature had to wait til I was sick before it changed on me. Yesterday it was cold and rainy, and I was rather miserable. I feel a bit better today and should be on the up-and-up.
btw the quotation is from Ah-nold, playing Dr. Freeze in Batman & Robin
btw the quotation is from Ah-nold, playing Dr. Freeze in Batman & Robin
More photos
An album documenting the baseball games I went to, listening to the renowned Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and a few pictures from around SK.
pictures
pictures
Photos from School
A few photographs I have taken around school, featuring a few of the kids I see most often!
pictures
pictures
Friday, October 9, 2009
Korean Music
In case anyone has been curious what I have been jamming out to:
my favorite song thus far by the pop group Brown Eyed Girls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTqQjOJ7jk
another big hit right now, it's up on my list too, by 2NE1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgAxMO1KD0
the nice thing about Korean music, is that it is so commercialized that there are only a handful of popular groups, so it is easy to learn and if you find yourself really liking a song you can take solace in the fact that you will hear it 10-20 times per day. If you dislike a song, you better learn to like it!!
Our school actually has a dance class for 1st - 4th graders, where they learn the choreography to all these pop hits. Watching them do the Abracadabra dance by Brown Eyed Girls (the arms crossed with the hip swivel) is probably one of my favorite things in the world. There are about 30 8 year olds doing these synchronized moves. It is by far the cutest thing in the world. In fact, I wasn't able to attend, but today we had a similar class just for teachers to learn the moves too, we take our dancing seriously at Hae Song Elementary!!
my favorite song thus far by the pop group Brown Eyed Girls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTqQjOJ7jk
another big hit right now, it's up on my list too, by 2NE1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgAxMO1KD0
the nice thing about Korean music, is that it is so commercialized that there are only a handful of popular groups, so it is easy to learn and if you find yourself really liking a song you can take solace in the fact that you will hear it 10-20 times per day. If you dislike a song, you better learn to like it!!
Our school actually has a dance class for 1st - 4th graders, where they learn the choreography to all these pop hits. Watching them do the Abracadabra dance by Brown Eyed Girls (the arms crossed with the hip swivel) is probably one of my favorite things in the world. There are about 30 8 year olds doing these synchronized moves. It is by far the cutest thing in the world. In fact, I wasn't able to attend, but today we had a similar class just for teachers to learn the moves too, we take our dancing seriously at Hae Song Elementary!!
Chuseok Pt. 2
My Busan adventure is undeniably quite shorter because my time there revolved more around who I was with rather than what I did. Ryan from OK stayed back in Jejudo, spending his whole vacation there (not a bad idea at all). Patrick, Sophia and I touched into Busan that early afternoon. On a random aside, most of the flight was dedicated to Patrick telling us his experiences on September 11th, in NYC. Pretty powerful stuff..
The 3 of us met up with my roommate from orientation, Neil from Boston. Neil and I seemed to be one of the few sets of roommates who grew quite close during our orientation there. In fact, he reads my blog, Hello Neil... Neil and I, it seems, spent our time doing different things - because while he has become quite adept and dedicated to his Korean, he isn't what I would call a master of geography. I, on the other hand, have spent a LOT of time aimlessly traveling around Incheon and as much of Seoul as I can, while forsaking much of my Korean language duties. I don't know about him, but I am certainly jealous of his new found skills!
I was able to see three different beaches during my time in Busan, hit up as close to a legitimate Mexican restaurant as I could find (see: burrito), walk around the closed Jalgachi fish market, and take some sweet photos from the top of Busan tower. We went to a "heliparty," which is a party on a helipad, and dancing after that. I think this was the let-loose portion of the vacation. I had a great time the whole way through, and managed to make my flight home on Monday without too much difficulty. You really can fly anywhere in Korea for about 50 dollars.
We also managed to watch a terrible terrible terrible terrible movie called "The Marine", terrible. It is about.. surprise surprise, a marine (the title was NOT spun in any metaphorical sense) who gets mixed up with some criminal masterminds midway through a jewel heist, or something.. I'm not exactly sure. What I am sure of is it has at least three scenes in which he jumps out of a building as it is blowing up - who could ask for more? I have already given up trying to explain to Korean people why these are bad movies. Michael Bay will always have home a Korea. Limited dialogue makes for good dubbing I guess, and they really like it when stuff gets "blowed up."
It's good to be back, and I am glad that I had a few hours before I got back into the rhythm of school. It has been a tiring week, but it is finally the weekend and I loved my first vacation!!
The 3 of us met up with my roommate from orientation, Neil from Boston. Neil and I seemed to be one of the few sets of roommates who grew quite close during our orientation there. In fact, he reads my blog, Hello Neil... Neil and I, it seems, spent our time doing different things - because while he has become quite adept and dedicated to his Korean, he isn't what I would call a master of geography. I, on the other hand, have spent a LOT of time aimlessly traveling around Incheon and as much of Seoul as I can, while forsaking much of my Korean language duties. I don't know about him, but I am certainly jealous of his new found skills!
I was able to see three different beaches during my time in Busan, hit up as close to a legitimate Mexican restaurant as I could find (see: burrito), walk around the closed Jalgachi fish market, and take some sweet photos from the top of Busan tower. We went to a "heliparty," which is a party on a helipad, and dancing after that. I think this was the let-loose portion of the vacation. I had a great time the whole way through, and managed to make my flight home on Monday without too much difficulty. You really can fly anywhere in Korea for about 50 dollars.
We also managed to watch a terrible terrible terrible terrible movie called "The Marine", terrible. It is about.. surprise surprise, a marine (the title was NOT spun in any metaphorical sense) who gets mixed up with some criminal masterminds midway through a jewel heist, or something.. I'm not exactly sure. What I am sure of is it has at least three scenes in which he jumps out of a building as it is blowing up - who could ask for more? I have already given up trying to explain to Korean people why these are bad movies. Michael Bay will always have home a Korea. Limited dialogue makes for good dubbing I guess, and they really like it when stuff gets "blowed up."
It's good to be back, and I am glad that I had a few hours before I got back into the rhythm of school. It has been a tiring week, but it is finally the weekend and I loved my first vacation!!
Chuseok Pt. 1
I am splitting up my Chuseok (T-giving break) into two posts. I spent two days on the island of Jejudo, and two days in the city of Busan (pronounced Pusan). The Chuseok celebration for Koreans is definitely a big deal. The customs mostly revolve around a big feast, and it isn't always on the same day every year, a la Thanksgiving. However, it differs in that it is mostly focused on paying respect to one's ancestors. The highlight of Chuseok is the eating, but also the preparation of many foods - most notably songpyeon (rice cake). They are about the size of a dumpling, and vary in colors between white, pink and a dark green. Personally, I think they are just OK. Koreans go nuts over them though, and I heard they are fantastic when fried.
But, on actual Chuseok day, I ended up eating a burrito!! .. So let's get on to the vacation part!! In all seriousness, I just wanted to give you guys a brief intro to the holiday so you were aware of why I had time off and what it means to Koreans.
I left for Jeju on a ferry around 7 PM on Wednesday, September 30th. This means that I had about an hour and a half after school to get to this ferry, with the necessary stops of picking up a duffel bag, getting home and quickly packing clothes I had already set out, making a stop along the way at Juan Station, to pay for and pick up my repaired camera (hooray!), and pay off a cell phone bill. I was able to get the bag, pack, and pick up the camera - if you couldn't tell by the photos I uploaded. However, the cell phone bill fell by the wayside. Luckily, I was able to pay it off one day late without any charge. Anyhoo, made it to the ferry with enough time to get some necessary supplies for a 13 and a half hour ferry ride, you can use your imaginations as to figuring out my list!! I was travelling with my friends Patrick from NYC, Ryan from Oklahoma, and Sophia from Austin, TX. The boat deck was freeeeeezing, and our cabin, which had a maximum occupancy of 55 in a room built for 20, was about 88 degrees. Pick your poison! I am glad to report that I had no issues with sea sickness or anything like that; outside of the temperature, it was all smooth sailing. I got about 8 hours of sleep or so and woke up to us being pretty close to the island of Jeju. Picked up McDonald's for breakfast, of course, and hopped on an hour long bus to Seogwipo, the southern area of Jeju-do (as opposed to Jeju-si, the northern side of the island where the ferry brought us).
wikipedia page for Jeju-do:: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju-do
They refer to Jeju as the "Korean Hawaii," and while I am fairly certain that Jeju is not in fact as nice as Hawaii, I have never been to Hawaii so I am rather easily impressed!! It is honestly beautiful. In terms of vacation spots in Korea, I can't see it getting much better than Jeju. Living there, as amazing as it is, might be tough in an area that small. Plus, being from Brownsville, I have already gone through the small town routine - granted, comparing Brownsville to Jeju is like comparing fire to ice ... I suppose I'd be the lukewarm water .. these go to 11!
One of the first things we wanted to see were the famous waterfalls. We told the cab driver to take us to the Cheonjiyeon watefall, in fact, we even pointed at the sign. However, he decided to take us somewhere else. It was about 100 yards from the waterfall entrance, but we entered where he took us and ended up taking a 2 hour tour or so around this mini island. It was beautiful, and that's where all my photos came from of the rocks and spiders on my facebook album. It really did rain ALL day long. We ended up finding the Cheonjiyeon waterfalls (pronounced Chon-che-yon with a Hispanic "o" sound). It was worth both the effort and walk. We saw a Mandarin duck, and found that huge bridge in this area too, where we got that coconut rolling from the photos. We also ate fresh, emphasis on FRESH, raw fish and breaded shrimp.
Later that night, we met up with some EPIK people stationed in Jeju. I knew none of them, but they were very friendly. They do a weekly potluck, where we were able to eat PB&J sandwiches, so good, and a few other treats from home. I was under the impression that night that it was around 2 or 3 AM when they decided to go to the karaoke bar. I ducked out and hit the sack early, and got close to 10 hours of sleep. The next day they informed me that I went to bed sometime around 11:30 PM, and it was not in fact 2 AM. Evidently, I can be a real party animal sometimes. Truthfully, the sleep on the ferry wasn't the most relaxing, and we went about 36 hours without a shower at one point, so I would have taken the sleep 10 times out of 10 even if I knew I was checking out a little earlier than the others.
The next day we hit the beach - this involves the photos where we buried Ryan in the sand and had that marvelous view of the Hyatt hotel. Being the noob I am, I went to one of the most outdoor specific areas in all of Korea and managed to omit taking a bathing suit or hiking boots. For the first time in my life, Evan the swim coach had to wear basketball shorts - I felt stripped of my armor with out a good jammer!! I did a little swimming, but for the most part the water was freezing and no one was interested in paying me for private lessons. We left the beach and did a bit more traveling .... wait a minute.. no no, THIS was the day I went to the aforementioned bridge. Anyway, I am too tired to go back and switch around the order of events, so just know that all these things happened and we can be a little relaxed with the specific order of events!!
Had a relatively quiet night the second go around. We made it out to a famous Western bar, which was a nice flashback to the good ol' US of A with the amount of English speakers. Our night was cut short because we jumped on a shuttle home, yes, this bar runs a free shuttle to take you where you live. The only downside is the driver enjoys speeds bordering on 90-95 MPH. You know those rides you sometimes take your baby on to help it fall asleep? This was NOT one of those rides. We compared it to the VR roller coaster back in Incheon, but coined it the AR coaster (Actual-Reality). The next morning we woke up, caught a bagel breakfast, and headed for the airport to Busan. The flight was great and only cost 52 dollars. I ended up meeting two people from Texas during my time in Jeju by the way, both older men who I managed to have relatively lengthy conversations with considering I was a young buck on the go.
Part 2 to follow!!
But, on actual Chuseok day, I ended up eating a burrito!! .. So let's get on to the vacation part!! In all seriousness, I just wanted to give you guys a brief intro to the holiday so you were aware of why I had time off and what it means to Koreans.
I left for Jeju on a ferry around 7 PM on Wednesday, September 30th. This means that I had about an hour and a half after school to get to this ferry, with the necessary stops of picking up a duffel bag, getting home and quickly packing clothes I had already set out, making a stop along the way at Juan Station, to pay for and pick up my repaired camera (hooray!), and pay off a cell phone bill. I was able to get the bag, pack, and pick up the camera - if you couldn't tell by the photos I uploaded. However, the cell phone bill fell by the wayside. Luckily, I was able to pay it off one day late without any charge. Anyhoo, made it to the ferry with enough time to get some necessary supplies for a 13 and a half hour ferry ride, you can use your imaginations as to figuring out my list!! I was travelling with my friends Patrick from NYC, Ryan from Oklahoma, and Sophia from Austin, TX. The boat deck was freeeeeezing, and our cabin, which had a maximum occupancy of 55 in a room built for 20, was about 88 degrees. Pick your poison! I am glad to report that I had no issues with sea sickness or anything like that; outside of the temperature, it was all smooth sailing. I got about 8 hours of sleep or so and woke up to us being pretty close to the island of Jeju. Picked up McDonald's for breakfast, of course, and hopped on an hour long bus to Seogwipo, the southern area of Jeju-do (as opposed to Jeju-si, the northern side of the island where the ferry brought us).
wikipedia page for Jeju-do:: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju-do
They refer to Jeju as the "Korean Hawaii," and while I am fairly certain that Jeju is not in fact as nice as Hawaii, I have never been to Hawaii so I am rather easily impressed!! It is honestly beautiful. In terms of vacation spots in Korea, I can't see it getting much better than Jeju. Living there, as amazing as it is, might be tough in an area that small. Plus, being from Brownsville, I have already gone through the small town routine - granted, comparing Brownsville to Jeju is like comparing fire to ice ... I suppose I'd be the lukewarm water .. these go to 11!
One of the first things we wanted to see were the famous waterfalls. We told the cab driver to take us to the Cheonjiyeon watefall, in fact, we even pointed at the sign. However, he decided to take us somewhere else. It was about 100 yards from the waterfall entrance, but we entered where he took us and ended up taking a 2 hour tour or so around this mini island. It was beautiful, and that's where all my photos came from of the rocks and spiders on my facebook album. It really did rain ALL day long. We ended up finding the Cheonjiyeon waterfalls (pronounced Chon-che-yon with a Hispanic "o" sound). It was worth both the effort and walk. We saw a Mandarin duck, and found that huge bridge in this area too, where we got that coconut rolling from the photos. We also ate fresh, emphasis on FRESH, raw fish and breaded shrimp.
Later that night, we met up with some EPIK people stationed in Jeju. I knew none of them, but they were very friendly. They do a weekly potluck, where we were able to eat PB&J sandwiches, so good, and a few other treats from home. I was under the impression that night that it was around 2 or 3 AM when they decided to go to the karaoke bar. I ducked out and hit the sack early, and got close to 10 hours of sleep. The next day they informed me that I went to bed sometime around 11:30 PM, and it was not in fact 2 AM. Evidently, I can be a real party animal sometimes. Truthfully, the sleep on the ferry wasn't the most relaxing, and we went about 36 hours without a shower at one point, so I would have taken the sleep 10 times out of 10 even if I knew I was checking out a little earlier than the others.
The next day we hit the beach - this involves the photos where we buried Ryan in the sand and had that marvelous view of the Hyatt hotel. Being the noob I am, I went to one of the most outdoor specific areas in all of Korea and managed to omit taking a bathing suit or hiking boots. For the first time in my life, Evan the swim coach had to wear basketball shorts - I felt stripped of my armor with out a good jammer!! I did a little swimming, but for the most part the water was freezing and no one was interested in paying me for private lessons. We left the beach and did a bit more traveling .... wait a minute.. no no, THIS was the day I went to the aforementioned bridge. Anyway, I am too tired to go back and switch around the order of events, so just know that all these things happened and we can be a little relaxed with the specific order of events!!
Had a relatively quiet night the second go around. We made it out to a famous Western bar, which was a nice flashback to the good ol' US of A with the amount of English speakers. Our night was cut short because we jumped on a shuttle home, yes, this bar runs a free shuttle to take you where you live. The only downside is the driver enjoys speeds bordering on 90-95 MPH. You know those rides you sometimes take your baby on to help it fall asleep? This was NOT one of those rides. We compared it to the VR roller coaster back in Incheon, but coined it the AR coaster (Actual-Reality). The next morning we woke up, caught a bagel breakfast, and headed for the airport to Busan. The flight was great and only cost 52 dollars. I ended up meeting two people from Texas during my time in Jeju by the way, both older men who I managed to have relatively lengthy conversations with considering I was a young buck on the go.
Part 2 to follow!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Photos from Chuseok are up!!
The dirty details of the trip will come later, but here are the photos I was able to take. If you can't view them, let me know so I can host them somewhere else too!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2755575&id=7935602&saved#/album.php?aid=2755575&id=7935602
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2755575&id=7935602&saved#/album.php?aid=2755575&id=7935602
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Chuseok!!
I will be out of school for Chuseok, like I mentioned earlier, this coming Wednesday through Monday. I will be going to the islands of Jeju for 2 days, and Busan for 2 days. My old roommate Neil, from the EPIK Jeonju orientation, lives in Jeonju - so I am pretty excited for him to show me the ropes. Busan comes highly recommended from just about every Korean. Jeju is supposed to be beautiful too!
I will be taking a ferry to Jeju, a trip lasting a little over 13 hours. I hope I don't get seasick!! The plan is to sleep for as much of it as I possibly can. The trips to Busan from Jeju, and back home to Incheon from Busan, will both be by plane. The rates are amazing here in Korea, I literally scheduled both flights in the past two days, and I am paying about 50 dollars for each flight. I definitely plan on cashing in on these cheap deals again! (Thanks, travelocity.com and Patrick, a buddy of mine from NYC, for showing it to me in relation to Korea).
The best chunk of news from today is that I will be getting my camera back right before my trip. In fact, I will be picking it up on the way to the ferry, so hopefully I will be back in the picture game with photos-a-plenty!!
I wish everyone a great start to October!!
P.S. I will let you guys know about the big Halloween party the EPIK teachers are planning as the dates get closer!!
I will be taking a ferry to Jeju, a trip lasting a little over 13 hours. I hope I don't get seasick!! The plan is to sleep for as much of it as I possibly can. The trips to Busan from Jeju, and back home to Incheon from Busan, will both be by plane. The rates are amazing here in Korea, I literally scheduled both flights in the past two days, and I am paying about 50 dollars for each flight. I definitely plan on cashing in on these cheap deals again! (Thanks, travelocity.com and Patrick, a buddy of mine from NYC, for showing it to me in relation to Korea).
The best chunk of news from today is that I will be getting my camera back right before my trip. In fact, I will be picking it up on the way to the ferry, so hopefully I will be back in the picture game with photos-a-plenty!!
I wish everyone a great start to October!!
P.S. I will let you guys know about the big Halloween party the EPIK teachers are planning as the dates get closer!!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Quick Update
My last day of school this week is Wednesday. I will have the 1st, 2nd and 5th off of October, for Korea's Chuseok celebration. Chuseok is like the Thanksgiving of America but it is geared more towards honoring one's ancestors and probably a bigger deal here than T-Giving is in the States.
I haven't been very good the past few days about making new posts, but I will update you all my Chuseok travel plans soon. I will be heading to the Jeju islands along with Busan, so it will be a busy 5 days!!
This past weekend I was in Seoul on both Saturday and Sunday, and spent both days at the Dongdaemun Market. It is a giant shopping area where you can hit up the department stores, or go to the area where you can haggle. I opted for the .......... (sorry, I had to take a 5 minute break to go on a mosquito-killing binge) .. anyway, I opted for the clothing market where you haggle. It was a lot of fun!! I was a little worried I'd get taken but it ended up being OK, though I got much better rates on Saturday than Sunday.
Gotta go for now, class tomorrow in the early morning! I'll post soon on my upcoming travels.
I haven't been very good the past few days about making new posts, but I will update you all my Chuseok travel plans soon. I will be heading to the Jeju islands along with Busan, so it will be a busy 5 days!!
This past weekend I was in Seoul on both Saturday and Sunday, and spent both days at the Dongdaemun Market. It is a giant shopping area where you can hit up the department stores, or go to the area where you can haggle. I opted for the .......... (sorry, I had to take a 5 minute break to go on a mosquito-killing binge) .. anyway, I opted for the clothing market where you haggle. It was a lot of fun!! I was a little worried I'd get taken but it ended up being OK, though I got much better rates on Saturday than Sunday.
Gotta go for now, class tomorrow in the early morning! I'll post soon on my upcoming travels.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
They're Breakdance Fighting!!
This past Saturday afternoon I ventured out to the Incheon Arts Center, which has a really neat setup, plus a lot of cool restaurants and a virtual-reality roller coaster. In fact, I could have probably skipped the rest of my vague description and just mentioned that it had a VR roller coaster, which makes it a hands-down awesome place to be. It's dirt cheap to ride it too, but I digress..
The specific reason I was out there was to catch a 2-day break dancing competition teamed with a graffiti exhibition. They had about 8 graffiti artists who had some incredible artwork going, along with a public board where anyone could grab hold of a can and spray whatever it is they chose to spray. I threw up an EPIK tag, not wanting to get too crazy considering it was both the first time I held a can of spray paint and actually used it too. The main attraction, however, were the B-Boys (break dancers). The B-Girls actually performed earlier today, so I wasn't able to catch it. Watching them dance live was .. incredible. There really isn't anyway to say it, but they had the whole crowd hooked. My favorite part was when the music would change, which I believe happened at random, and watching the dancers adjust to the new beat or tempo. Lots of times it would happen mid-dance, and if you watched their faces you could see for a split second them adjusting their moves to suit the song. They would change so fluidly, though, that you only caught it in an instant, and it only translated in their faces; their bodies would adjust seamlessly.
I actually got some video of a few dancers, and being the adventurous soul I am wandered over to the performers' side of the stage. My friend Ryan and I started talking up this dancer from the UK, and with very little prompting whatsoever, he tried to recruit us into the world of break dancing. He introduced us to a fellow named Daniel, who gave us his card and some strong encouragement to join up. They were all really nice people, and incredibly talented too. Learning to break dance wasn't necessarily the highest priority on my to-do list coming to Korea, but I have given it a little thought and I will continue to ponder the possibility for a few days before I join a "crew." I think that a lot of the EPIK'ers were pretty excited about the prospect of learning how to break dance though, so I may come back home with a newly found set of skills. We shall see!
It very well may be one of my favorite things I have been a part of since I have been in Korea. The population it attracted was almost as fun to watch as the actual dancers and graffiti'ers, because their fashion was always top notch. The setting was perfect too, because all this new-age art and dance was taking place in the midst of a pretty classic Korean scene. The old-Korea feel of our locale tied in so well with everything. I will try and get some of those pictures and videos up and running as soon as I can.
The specific reason I was out there was to catch a 2-day break dancing competition teamed with a graffiti exhibition. They had about 8 graffiti artists who had some incredible artwork going, along with a public board where anyone could grab hold of a can and spray whatever it is they chose to spray. I threw up an EPIK tag, not wanting to get too crazy considering it was both the first time I held a can of spray paint and actually used it too. The main attraction, however, were the B-Boys (break dancers). The B-Girls actually performed earlier today, so I wasn't able to catch it. Watching them dance live was .. incredible. There really isn't anyway to say it, but they had the whole crowd hooked. My favorite part was when the music would change, which I believe happened at random, and watching the dancers adjust to the new beat or tempo. Lots of times it would happen mid-dance, and if you watched their faces you could see for a split second them adjusting their moves to suit the song. They would change so fluidly, though, that you only caught it in an instant, and it only translated in their faces; their bodies would adjust seamlessly.
I actually got some video of a few dancers, and being the adventurous soul I am wandered over to the performers' side of the stage. My friend Ryan and I started talking up this dancer from the UK, and with very little prompting whatsoever, he tried to recruit us into the world of break dancing. He introduced us to a fellow named Daniel, who gave us his card and some strong encouragement to join up. They were all really nice people, and incredibly talented too. Learning to break dance wasn't necessarily the highest priority on my to-do list coming to Korea, but I have given it a little thought and I will continue to ponder the possibility for a few days before I join a "crew." I think that a lot of the EPIK'ers were pretty excited about the prospect of learning how to break dance though, so I may come back home with a newly found set of skills. We shall see!
It very well may be one of my favorite things I have been a part of since I have been in Korea. The population it attracted was almost as fun to watch as the actual dancers and graffiti'ers, because their fashion was always top notch. The setting was perfect too, because all this new-age art and dance was taking place in the midst of a pretty classic Korean scene. The old-Korea feel of our locale tied in so well with everything. I will try and get some of those pictures and videos up and running as soon as I can.
A Cheese by Any Other Name
I take a special interest in linguistic humor. One of my favorite things about being in Korea are the products, expressions and titles that get lost in translation. For instance, just yesterday I was in a Lotte Department store, which is a biggggg shopping center (they have their own baseball team, to really give you an idea of the size), and stumbled across the exit during my search for the food court. It read, verbatim, "This exit is the doorway to life." Pretty heavy stuff.... I managed to take a photo of it on my cell phone, but I accidentally deleted it when I was trying to show it to some friends. I know that I will be back in the area, though, so the next time I am there I will try and get another photo of it - I mean, it is the doorway to life and all.
However, that was just an example of the odd things that get tossed onto products or signs. My favorite thus far came while I was grocery shopping. My list was short, but I definitely needed the essentials (bread, meat, cheese, mayo) because I am a sandwich man. I had every item on my list completed save the cheese by the time I meandered towards the wine section. There are a lot of pretty good wines here and most of it comes on the relative cheap too, but what caught my eye were the snacks that go along with the wine, namely the cheese and crackers. The cheese here is pretty expensive, it being a rarity and all, so my selections were limited to two types (keep in mind these were paired with wine!), American cheddar cheese and American white cheddar cheese. The labels read as follows:
- Well Being Cheddar Slice Cheese
and
- Orange Cheddar Slice Cheese II
Yes, there was literally the roman numeral for "2", so obviously I was curious where "1" was. Needless to say, I went with the well-being variation (the white American cheese), and it has treated me quite well so far! One of the reasons I have enjoyed my time here, among the many, is that all the drab endeavors in America have become little adventures of their own in Korea!
However, that was just an example of the odd things that get tossed onto products or signs. My favorite thus far came while I was grocery shopping. My list was short, but I definitely needed the essentials (bread, meat, cheese, mayo) because I am a sandwich man. I had every item on my list completed save the cheese by the time I meandered towards the wine section. There are a lot of pretty good wines here and most of it comes on the relative cheap too, but what caught my eye were the snacks that go along with the wine, namely the cheese and crackers. The cheese here is pretty expensive, it being a rarity and all, so my selections were limited to two types (keep in mind these were paired with wine!), American cheddar cheese and American white cheddar cheese. The labels read as follows:
- Well Being Cheddar Slice Cheese
and
- Orange Cheddar Slice Cheese II
Yes, there was literally the roman numeral for "2", so obviously I was curious where "1" was. Needless to say, I went with the well-being variation (the white American cheese), and it has treated me quite well so far! One of the reasons I have enjoyed my time here, among the many, is that all the drab endeavors in America have become little adventures of their own in Korea!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Some Pictures - All Borrowed!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2745268&id=7935602&saved
even if you are not on fbook, you should be able to access these. Let me know if you can't.
even if you are not on fbook, you should be able to access these. Let me know if you can't.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Back in Seoul!!
I had a much better experience the second go around in Seoul! We went to the 63rd tower, which is a huge gold skyscraper. The view rivals the N. Seoul Tower, but the 63rd has an art exhibit at the top too. It was a lot of fun, and it is always amazing to see Seoul from that far up.
After that, we headed down to the Seoul City Hall area, where they had an outdoor orchestra playing Beatles songs, the 007 theme (there is a video of my pretending to be James Bond, hoping that doesn't make it to the internet), and Oye Como Va. In fact, the band came to the place we caught dinner after their show so they were pouring in towards the end of our meal. We went to a smaller club where they had a few live shows, reminiscent of Austin.
We took a cab back this time around, and believe it or not it only comes with about a 5.50 fare to get from Seoul back to Incheon, so no waiting for the first train at 5:30 AM anymore!! However, my friend Ryan wants to hit a sauna one of these nights in Seoul and take the first train back one more time, so I think I might join in on that because the saunas are supposed to be pretty cool, and cheap!
Pictures to come soon I promise!
Hey Ya'll
Sorry for the lack of photo updates.
I think I mentioned earlier that my camera broke at the end of orientation. I dropped it a grand total of a foot and that was all she wrote. In fact, and don't ask me how, ten minutes after that I managed to spill mustard on all sides (front, side and with the aid of my elbow I even got my back) of my favorite white polo - my 4th grade habits are coming back to haunt me I suppose. It's a small part of my life I wish I could take back.
Anyway, I took my camera into a Canon shop - and actually got it set up to be fixed by only knowing how to say "Dowa juseyo?" (can you help me?), "yes," and some serious acting skills where I mimed dropping my camera and it exploding. It should take about a week or so from this past Friday, and I will be uploading an album of photos I downloaded from my friends, but some originals are on the way as soon as I get my camera back, I can't wait!!
Back at school again today, which feels great, because on Thursday and Friday I actually spent the day doing voice recordings in a pretty expensive sound studio. I had official leave from school, so I got to spend those two days saying things like "Is this your cap?," "No, my cap is red," and "How many pigs do you have?" I actually broke out laughing twice, so in two days of repeating some pretty ridiculous stuff, I think I did a good job. Either this semester or next, when the students take the official English tests, they will be hearing my voice from grades 3-6. It was quite the experience!!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Seoul Adventure
This past Saturday I was finally able to make it out to Seoul for the first time!!
In this story though, the good comes with the bad as well. I might have gotten my first true taste of culture shock, ironically in one of the more internationalized cities in Korea (how did I get through Jeonju, reputed as one of the most classically Korean cities, without any odd encounters!!). The train was actually great and the ride there was fantastic. I expected the trip to last close to an hour, but it really only took us about half that. Low expectations for travel turned into a rather pleasant surprise.
The five of us who came into Seoul that day happened to all have a pretty late night on Friday, so we were all lacking some energy. We did however run into some friends we hadn't seen since orientation, and that gave us a second wind of sorts.
The only tourist-y thing we did that day was to visit the N. Seoul Tower (it is incredible!! I'll have some photos on fbook soon but there are some tagged of me already). The bus driver was incredibly cranky though and was yelling pretty harshly at us in Korean to be quiet; we had a friend with us who speaks fluent Korean who was able to act as translator. He was actually on a rant for the duration of the whole bus ride up the hill, going on about how foreigner tourists are terrible. It is worth noting that he picked an interesting form of employment considering his disdain for us (a bus driver on a route of probably the biggest tourist attraction in Seoul). But!, we were in the wrong and we pretty much quieted down when we figured out he was aiming his rant at us. No big deal, we moved on quietly and forgot about it for a while.
The tower was amazing by the way, and it purports to have the best view from a bathroom in the world, and I believe it!! I bought some postcards along the way as well. Outside of my friend Joe, we all skipped out on the adjoining teddy bear museum. It was strange that the TB museum was more than going into Seoul tower, but only later did I find out it was Korea's history via teddy bears, complete with breakdancing TB's (a return visit is in order!!). We made our way down the hill, onto a new bus with a much gentler driver and into the subway....
but then!! A friend of mine named Ramsey actually got caught in the subway door as it was closing. We had to pry the thing open, and it ended up closing on him twice with the first one landing on his neck. Although it was a pretty scary event, we did end up getting the door open and him in without tooooo much trouble. However, enter Rant #2: An older Korean gentleman was reaaaaaaaaaaaallly not happy that we caused this scene and proceeded to go on a fairly mean spirited rant about how we should have split up and had some people wait for the next train. This would have actually been a fine idea if any of us knew where we were going (if you are lost in a big city, don't split up!!). He gave us some means looks along the way and gave us all a stink-eye. This one was a little bit more frustrating because our predicament had no adverse effects on anyone else and we delayed the train's departure by about 20 seconds tops. I was well aware coming into Korea of the power of age, but I let a little Americana slip out anyway. I didn't fight the 75 year old man and I certainly didn't say anything to him either, but I maintained eye contact with him until he looked away when his gaze came my way (I regret this a little now, because I have been so good about falling into Korean etiquette, but it happened and I can't go back in time). A lot of our frustration really came from remembering the experience on the bus. Most of us tried to keep to ourselves but we were yelled at anyway.
Luckily, a decent dinner put us back in tiptop shape. Let's fast forward a few hours because not much happened from here to there, outside of us deciding to catch the first train back in the morning (5:30 AM) rather than the last train out at night (10:30 PM) - bad idea! We ended up at a dance club for a while but were through with that by 2 PM and had some time to kill.
Time to kill.... enter me getting hit by a car!!
And I will say that I have only played it up because the actual story pales in comparison to the technical translation. We were walking down to a convenience store down a narrow road when a car came up behind us and happened to clip me in the side. I bounced off of it like a pinball and was about 1000x more confused than I was injured. It didn't hurt, but it really caught me off guard. In all actuality, I probably would have destroyed the tiny car before the car destroyed me, but I can now check that off my to-do list - getting hit by a car! I actually happened to have to walk next to the car, which was already doing about 2 MPH, for a good block or so, which is as every bit awkward as you might imagine!
On a side note, I was blown away by how many Americans there were that night! We were in Hongdae-Seoul, a huuuuuge place for foreigners, but there were times where the English speakers outnumbered the Koreans. It was less than ideal, because I have really enjoyed being one of the few Americans engulfed in a sea of Koreans.
All in all, it wasn't my ideal trip to Seoul, but I'd put the odds on favorite that I might be back as soon as next week. I know it is an amazing place, I think I might have just gotten less than an amazing experience (though the car thing was actually a pro, not a con). I should probably add that despite the few crazy events, it all pales in comparison to how amazing this country and how much neat stuff there is around me. I am sure I will get a decent share of both good and bad throughout my year, but I will say that the good outnumbers it 10 to 1.
I'm out!! G'night everyone!
In this story though, the good comes with the bad as well. I might have gotten my first true taste of culture shock, ironically in one of the more internationalized cities in Korea (how did I get through Jeonju, reputed as one of the most classically Korean cities, without any odd encounters!!). The train was actually great and the ride there was fantastic. I expected the trip to last close to an hour, but it really only took us about half that. Low expectations for travel turned into a rather pleasant surprise.
The five of us who came into Seoul that day happened to all have a pretty late night on Friday, so we were all lacking some energy. We did however run into some friends we hadn't seen since orientation, and that gave us a second wind of sorts.
The only tourist-y thing we did that day was to visit the N. Seoul Tower (it is incredible!! I'll have some photos on fbook soon but there are some tagged of me already). The bus driver was incredibly cranky though and was yelling pretty harshly at us in Korean to be quiet; we had a friend with us who speaks fluent Korean who was able to act as translator. He was actually on a rant for the duration of the whole bus ride up the hill, going on about how foreigner tourists are terrible. It is worth noting that he picked an interesting form of employment considering his disdain for us (a bus driver on a route of probably the biggest tourist attraction in Seoul). But!, we were in the wrong and we pretty much quieted down when we figured out he was aiming his rant at us. No big deal, we moved on quietly and forgot about it for a while.
The tower was amazing by the way, and it purports to have the best view from a bathroom in the world, and I believe it!! I bought some postcards along the way as well. Outside of my friend Joe, we all skipped out on the adjoining teddy bear museum. It was strange that the TB museum was more than going into Seoul tower, but only later did I find out it was Korea's history via teddy bears, complete with breakdancing TB's (a return visit is in order!!). We made our way down the hill, onto a new bus with a much gentler driver and into the subway....
but then!! A friend of mine named Ramsey actually got caught in the subway door as it was closing. We had to pry the thing open, and it ended up closing on him twice with the first one landing on his neck. Although it was a pretty scary event, we did end up getting the door open and him in without tooooo much trouble. However, enter Rant #2: An older Korean gentleman was reaaaaaaaaaaaallly not happy that we caused this scene and proceeded to go on a fairly mean spirited rant about how we should have split up and had some people wait for the next train. This would have actually been a fine idea if any of us knew where we were going (if you are lost in a big city, don't split up!!). He gave us some means looks along the way and gave us all a stink-eye. This one was a little bit more frustrating because our predicament had no adverse effects on anyone else and we delayed the train's departure by about 20 seconds tops. I was well aware coming into Korea of the power of age, but I let a little Americana slip out anyway. I didn't fight the 75 year old man and I certainly didn't say anything to him either, but I maintained eye contact with him until he looked away when his gaze came my way (I regret this a little now, because I have been so good about falling into Korean etiquette, but it happened and I can't go back in time). A lot of our frustration really came from remembering the experience on the bus. Most of us tried to keep to ourselves but we were yelled at anyway.
Luckily, a decent dinner put us back in tiptop shape. Let's fast forward a few hours because not much happened from here to there, outside of us deciding to catch the first train back in the morning (5:30 AM) rather than the last train out at night (10:30 PM) - bad idea! We ended up at a dance club for a while but were through with that by 2 PM and had some time to kill.
Time to kill.... enter me getting hit by a car!!
And I will say that I have only played it up because the actual story pales in comparison to the technical translation. We were walking down to a convenience store down a narrow road when a car came up behind us and happened to clip me in the side. I bounced off of it like a pinball and was about 1000x more confused than I was injured. It didn't hurt, but it really caught me off guard. In all actuality, I probably would have destroyed the tiny car before the car destroyed me, but I can now check that off my to-do list - getting hit by a car! I actually happened to have to walk next to the car, which was already doing about 2 MPH, for a good block or so, which is as every bit awkward as you might imagine!
On a side note, I was blown away by how many Americans there were that night! We were in Hongdae-Seoul, a huuuuuge place for foreigners, but there were times where the English speakers outnumbered the Koreans. It was less than ideal, because I have really enjoyed being one of the few Americans engulfed in a sea of Koreans.
All in all, it wasn't my ideal trip to Seoul, but I'd put the odds on favorite that I might be back as soon as next week. I know it is an amazing place, I think I might have just gotten less than an amazing experience (though the car thing was actually a pro, not a con). I should probably add that despite the few crazy events, it all pales in comparison to how amazing this country and how much neat stuff there is around me. I am sure I will get a decent share of both good and bad throughout my year, but I will say that the good outnumbers it 10 to 1.
I'm out!! G'night everyone!
I've Got a Confession!!
Let me preface this post by saying that throughout all my McDonald's eating years, I had never experienced the Big Mac (Whaaaaaaaaaaat!?? Yes, it's true).
I have actually been eating there a lot more than I would have hoped for. I maybe catch it for a meal every other day, causing me great shame. I do need to go back to my first point in my defense however. I contest that my new-found reliance on McD's has less to do with American tendencies than it does with the realization that I love Big Mac's. It is just ill timing that I discover this while in a different country. The Big Mac is the only non-Korean altered item on the menu, so I got it at my lowest, but it turns out that I love it. I firmly believe that if I lived in the States I would still be on a huge McDonald's kick. Anyway! I thought I'd toss that out there and have a little fun with it before I got onto the next post about getting hit by a car!!!
I have actually been eating there a lot more than I would have hoped for. I maybe catch it for a meal every other day, causing me great shame. I do need to go back to my first point in my defense however. I contest that my new-found reliance on McD's has less to do with American tendencies than it does with the realization that I love Big Mac's. It is just ill timing that I discover this while in a different country. The Big Mac is the only non-Korean altered item on the menu, so I got it at my lowest, but it turns out that I love it. I firmly believe that if I lived in the States I would still be on a huge McDonald's kick. Anyway! I thought I'd toss that out there and have a little fun with it before I got onto the next post about getting hit by a car!!!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Mailing Address
I am using my school's mailing address:
Incheon Hae Song Elementary
Evan W. Daniel
9-27 Songdo-Don, Yeon'su-Gu, Incheon
South Korea
as far as postage goes, I have no clue. By the way, I am posting off the internet I just got in my apartment, hooray!
Incheon Hae Song Elementary
Evan W. Daniel
9-27 Songdo-Don, Yeon'su-Gu, Incheon
South Korea
as far as postage goes, I have no clue. By the way, I am posting off the internet I just got in my apartment, hooray!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Living Conditions
A quick note to where I am living and how I am doing it!! My
apartment, which initially seemed to be the one bad aspect of my
EPIK experience, has become almost endearing with time. It is not the
biggest (though not the smallest I've seen either!!), and I possess no
air conditioning or internet (I get my fridge in about an hour
though!), but it has grown on me a bit and with the windows open and a
pretty decent fan I picked up, I can handle the warm conditions. It
will be winter soon enough anyway, though then I will be dealing with
heating issues!! I hear, though, that the Koreans use a floor heating
method that is actually quite convenient and well thought out.
Apparently the steam and temperature is used from hot water to heat
the floor above yours, so I should be able to make it through the
winter OK. I am actually rather excited about it, since being from
Texas I could use a little variety.
I live north in my neighborhood, and caught a big break by living off
of the Woninjae subway station, so I don't have much of a commute and
I can travel pretty easily from place to place. I have friends who
have 30 minute bus rides/walks just to get to the subway, so I
definitely caught a break. I am about 6 stops south of main downtown
nightlife, and 4 or so north of my school, so I can't complain.
I forgot to mention something! My camera broke, so the pictures have
stalled, but I have a backup plan up and running so hopefully I will
have access to some pictures from my travels sooner rather than later.
The only good note is that with no more moving around (airport to
orientation to placement), nothing is really going anywhere. I have
been looking for a camera repair shop, so I am hoping to deal with
this problem quickly!
I have actually typed out all 4 of these new posts consecutively, so
at this point I can't tell if I have fingers or not. I think I might
leave off here! Today was actually the second anniversary of my
school, so I already have a day off, hence being at a PC Bang at 4:00
PM my time!!
I am thinking about you all always, and I would love to hear from you all!!
apartment, which initially seemed to be the one bad aspect of my
EPIK experience, has become almost endearing with time. It is not the
biggest (though not the smallest I've seen either!!), and I possess no
air conditioning or internet (I get my fridge in about an hour
though!), but it has grown on me a bit and with the windows open and a
pretty decent fan I picked up, I can handle the warm conditions. It
will be winter soon enough anyway, though then I will be dealing with
heating issues!! I hear, though, that the Koreans use a floor heating
method that is actually quite convenient and well thought out.
Apparently the steam and temperature is used from hot water to heat
the floor above yours, so I should be able to make it through the
winter OK. I am actually rather excited about it, since being from
Texas I could use a little variety.
I live north in my neighborhood, and caught a big break by living off
of the Woninjae subway station, so I don't have much of a commute and
I can travel pretty easily from place to place. I have friends who
have 30 minute bus rides/walks just to get to the subway, so I
definitely caught a break. I am about 6 stops south of main downtown
nightlife, and 4 or so north of my school, so I can't complain.
I forgot to mention something! My camera broke, so the pictures have
stalled, but I have a backup plan up and running so hopefully I will
have access to some pictures from my travels sooner rather than later.
The only good note is that with no more moving around (airport to
orientation to placement), nothing is really going anywhere. I have
been looking for a camera repair shop, so I am hoping to deal with
this problem quickly!
I have actually typed out all 4 of these new posts consecutively, so
at this point I can't tell if I have fingers or not. I think I might
leave off here! Today was actually the second anniversary of my
school, so I already have a day off, hence being at a PC Bang at 4:00
PM my time!!
I am thinking about you all always, and I would love to hear from you all!!
The Nitty Gritty
It's time we get to the stuff about my new school and where I am
living. There was a little bit of false advertisement going on in
Songdo, and while I thought about some legal recourse, I think I might
have to let it slide. Let me say that it is a BEAUTIFUL area, with a
lot going on and some serious resources at it's disposal. However, on
the brochure for "Visit Incheon," about half of it was dedicated to my
area where the land of robots and excellence unite! The problem is
that most of the buildings and attractions on the brochure have not
yet been built. They are timing it on a project for 2020, with a huge
portion to be completed by 2014 (In time for the Asia Games, being
held in Incheon). So while even the construction is magnificent
(along with how quickly they do it), it isn't quite all the brochure
chalked it up to be.
At the same time, I wouldn't trade it for any other area in Incheon.
The school is fantastic, and is as close to being an "international
school" as it can get without actually being one. I am the 5th
"native teacher" (born-English-speaking teacher) at the school,
something no other EPIK'er can boast. The other 4 have all been in
the area and teaching at the school for about 5-8 months. They are
really great people from all over the States (GA, OH, OK and MI). I
actually just had a BBQ with them last night (I got to eat some
fantastic BBQ sauce, which I had gone too long without). Funny side
note: I invited my friend Anthony from LA to the BBQ but in text
messaging on a Korean phone, there is no "q" key, so I had to settle
for BBCUE.
My principal is an English enthusiast and we have already had a few
impromptu English lessons. The school has about 4 floors and caters
to grades 1-6. The school is set up in a "U" fashion with one of the
prongs making up grades 1, 3, and 5 by floors with the other prong
making up grades 2, 4, and 6. In the middle there is a variety of buildings:
Teacher's room, a Music room, Science room, English center, and a
couple other centers. I love just about everything about it, and have
had an unparalleled welcome. I have felt like the new member of a
large, warm family. I have spent the week observing my classes, and
am fortunate enough to only have one co-teacher, which means that I
will be working alongside my main co-teacher who has had the grand
responsibility of getting everything set up for me. Ms. Lim, my
co-teacher, has been fantastic and I don't know if I can ever repay
her. I am in her debt. We will be seeing the 4th grade and 3rd grade
classes once a week, and 5th and 6th graders twice a week (each grade
has 3 classes). While observing has been an education experience, I
am excited to get to teaching!!
On a side note - Just yesterday I purchased indoor slippers, rendering
the pairs of dress shoes I painstakingly brought across the world
rather useless. In fact, before the ones I bought yesterday (they
are Van's knock offs, so it definitely fits my style!), I was using
guest open toe slip ons. I consider myself quite the fashionable man,
so being forced to wear dress pants, shirt and tie along with open toe
sandals was like making me walk on fire. New work slippers moved up
the list: past getting my refrigerator, internet and TV pretty quickly,
settling ever so slightly behind breathing air and eating food in
terms of priorities.
Before I end this post, I just want to tell all my loved ones one more
time that I am getting treated far better than I deserve, and am so
incredibly grateful for this opportunity so far.
living. There was a little bit of false advertisement going on in
Songdo, and while I thought about some legal recourse, I think I might
have to let it slide. Let me say that it is a BEAUTIFUL area, with a
lot going on and some serious resources at it's disposal. However, on
the brochure for "Visit Incheon," about half of it was dedicated to my
area where the land of robots and excellence unite! The problem is
that most of the buildings and attractions on the brochure have not
yet been built. They are timing it on a project for 2020, with a huge
portion to be completed by 2014 (In time for the Asia Games, being
held in Incheon). So while even the construction is magnificent
(along with how quickly they do it), it isn't quite all the brochure
chalked it up to be.
At the same time, I wouldn't trade it for any other area in Incheon.
The school is fantastic, and is as close to being an "international
school" as it can get without actually being one. I am the 5th
"native teacher" (born-English-speaking teacher) at the school,
something no other EPIK'er can boast. The other 4 have all been in
the area and teaching at the school for about 5-8 months. They are
really great people from all over the States (GA, OH, OK and MI). I
actually just had a BBQ with them last night (I got to eat some
fantastic BBQ sauce, which I had gone too long without). Funny side
note: I invited my friend Anthony from LA to the BBQ but in text
messaging on a Korean phone, there is no "q" key, so I had to settle
for BBCUE.
My principal is an English enthusiast and we have already had a few
impromptu English lessons. The school has about 4 floors and caters
to grades 1-6. The school is set up in a "U" fashion with one of the
prongs making up grades 1, 3, and 5 by floors with the other prong
making up grades 2, 4, and 6. In the middle there is a variety of buildings:
Teacher's room, a Music room, Science room, English center, and a
couple other centers. I love just about everything about it, and have
had an unparalleled welcome. I have felt like the new member of a
large, warm family. I have spent the week observing my classes, and
am fortunate enough to only have one co-teacher, which means that I
will be working alongside my main co-teacher who has had the grand
responsibility of getting everything set up for me. Ms. Lim, my
co-teacher, has been fantastic and I don't know if I can ever repay
her. I am in her debt. We will be seeing the 4th grade and 3rd grade
classes once a week, and 5th and 6th graders twice a week (each grade
has 3 classes). While observing has been an education experience, I
am excited to get to teaching!!
On a side note - Just yesterday I purchased indoor slippers, rendering
the pairs of dress shoes I painstakingly brought across the world
rather useless. In fact, before the ones I bought yesterday (they
are Van's knock offs, so it definitely fits my style!), I was using
guest open toe slip ons. I consider myself quite the fashionable man,
so being forced to wear dress pants, shirt and tie along with open toe
sandals was like making me walk on fire. New work slippers moved up
the list: past getting my refrigerator, internet and TV pretty quickly,
settling ever so slightly behind breathing air and eating food in
terms of priorities.
Before I end this post, I just want to tell all my loved ones one more
time that I am getting treated far better than I deserve, and am so
incredibly grateful for this opportunity so far.
Not the most important, but definitely the most recent...
Like the title indicates, this doesn't really fall into the grand
scheme of news, but it happened a bit ago and I am actually pretty
excited in a strange sort of way.
I have become quite the fan of Pepto Bismol pills since being in
Korea. I have had a few stomach aches as I adjust to the food (kim
chi may help with digestion but I can't handle it 3 times a day,
especially for breakfast, yuck!), but my dependence on them has
decreased with time. In fact, I haven't had to take one
since I have been in Incheon.
This is when the really good news shines through! Today, I had
McDonald's for the first time since being in Korea (first American
food since being here too!). However, I had to go back to the Pepto
for the resulting stomach ache. I think that means I am finally coming
around to the Korean style of food, since my system was not used to
dealing with a double burger, fries and a chocolate sundae. Hooray
for me!!
And by the way, it was so worth it!
scheme of news, but it happened a bit ago and I am actually pretty
excited in a strange sort of way.
I have become quite the fan of Pepto Bismol pills since being in
Korea. I have had a few stomach aches as I adjust to the food (kim
chi may help with digestion but I can't handle it 3 times a day,
especially for breakfast, yuck!), but my dependence on them has
decreased with time. In fact, I haven't had to take one
since I have been in Incheon.
This is when the really good news shines through! Today, I had
McDonald's for the first time since being in Korea (first American
food since being here too!). However, I had to go back to the Pepto
for the resulting stomach ache. I think that means I am finally coming
around to the Korean style of food, since my system was not used to
dealing with a double burger, fries and a chocolate sundae. Hooray
for me!!
And by the way, it was so worth it!
Sorry about the delay...
I haven't fallen off the map ya'll, but since I've been in my new
apartment I haven't had internet. I need to get my ARC (Alien
Registration Card) to apply for internet service, which I have already
done, so I am hoping that I might have it up and ready in the next
week or so - we shall see. The PC Bangs (internet cafes) I visit make
me sign into the blog in Korean, and I can barely do it in English so
I am a little lost there. In the meantime however, I will be posting
through my mom!
I wanted to thank everyone who has sent me a message while I have been
gone. I have been so happy to stay in contact with as many people as
possible. If you want to jump on the bandwagon, email me at
EWDaniel10@gmail.com; I would love to hear from you. Email, for now,
is probably the best way to keep in touch because the 14 hour time
jump makes it hard to sync schedules.
I have a few pieces of news but I'd rather divvy them up to make them
more readable and succinct.
But before I get on to the other posts, let me just say that I am
having a blast, and although there are a few frustrations in the way
of adjusting, it pales in comparison to the fun I am having and what I
am learning from being in a new place!!
apartment I haven't had internet. I need to get my ARC (Alien
Registration Card) to apply for internet service, which I have already
done, so I am hoping that I might have it up and ready in the next
week or so - we shall see. The PC Bangs (internet cafes) I visit make
me sign into the blog in Korean, and I can barely do it in English so
I am a little lost there. In the meantime however, I will be posting
through my mom!
I wanted to thank everyone who has sent me a message while I have been
gone. I have been so happy to stay in contact with as many people as
possible. If you want to jump on the bandwagon, email me at
EWDaniel10@gmail.com; I would love to hear from you. Email, for now,
is probably the best way to keep in touch because the 14 hour time
jump makes it hard to sync schedules.
I have a few pieces of news but I'd rather divvy them up to make them
more readable and succinct.
But before I get on to the other posts, let me just say that I am
having a blast, and although there are a few frustrations in the way
of adjusting, it pales in comparison to the fun I am having and what I
am learning from being in a new place!!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
And The Winner Is .....
I'll be teaching elementary students!! As of now I have only been posted in one school, but we shall see if that lasts - that is my main school but more could be added. It seemed like there were pros and cons to every group so I came in with no real expectations and liked what I got.
I'm not too far from my friends either, and I have a few in key spaces (the Munhak Stadium, City Hall which is in the downtown area, and some others around the north side). We leave tomorrow morning, so for tonight all the Incheon'ers will be hitting the town!!
My school is located in Songdo, the technical area of Incheon - looks like the building above, among other photos. It is the really really advanced area of Incheon and they are pouring in tons of money to keep it updated. Their plan runs through 2020. This building, the Songdo Conversia, is actually about 2 blocks away from my school. This is just a small sample of all the net things.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
By the way!
The beautiful Emily mentioned a way in which my followers would get an email update about new posts. I dont' know how to set this up, Any help?
Last Full day at Orientation
Whelp..
My time here in Jeonju is coming to an end, and being surrounded by all English speakers will soon cease too. My feelings are similar to the way I felt before the flight. The one good thing is is that I feel a little more prepared and am armored with an idea of what to expect. My class layout for those who don't know (which is everyone except my dad):
I will teach a given class ONCE a week, classes lasting roughly 45 minutes.
I will probably have over 700 students total since I will be going from class to class.
My 40 hour work week will be divided into no more than 22 teaching and the rest set up for planning.
I do have a good amount of vacation days - However, it's not always easy to arrange them given the Korean style of administration. Supposedly the conversation will go like this...
September/October
Evan: Can I take off the week of Christmas
Administration (If they like me, here's to good first impressions!): That should work
November
Evan: Can I take off the week of Christmas, are you sure? I need to start making arrangements
Administration: That should work
Evan: It should work or will it?
Admin: It should
December
Evan: I'm really hoping to get that week off in 2-3 weeks, any update on whether I can use my vacation days then?
Administration: That should work
two days before my break - Administration: You can, or, you can't
The good thing is I can at least expect to have this type of communication, everything is spontaneous and on the moment - which usually works great for me but in some circumstances it's nice to have some forward knowledge!
Random Updates
- I find out in a few hours which schools I will be teaching at, and which grade!!!
- Tonight all the people going to Incheon will be going out, so that should be a lot of fun
- I leave tomorrow for Incheon, at around 8 AM (6 PM your time, if you want to send good vibes)
- Class starts this Monday for me, Sunday night for all my State-side peeps.
Thinking about you guys all the time, Hope all is fantastic in the US of A!
My time here in Jeonju is coming to an end, and being surrounded by all English speakers will soon cease too. My feelings are similar to the way I felt before the flight. The one good thing is is that I feel a little more prepared and am armored with an idea of what to expect. My class layout for those who don't know (which is everyone except my dad):
I will teach a given class ONCE a week, classes lasting roughly 45 minutes.
I will probably have over 700 students total since I will be going from class to class.
My 40 hour work week will be divided into no more than 22 teaching and the rest set up for planning.
I do have a good amount of vacation days - However, it's not always easy to arrange them given the Korean style of administration. Supposedly the conversation will go like this...
September/October
Evan: Can I take off the week of Christmas
Administration (If they like me, here's to good first impressions!): That should work
November
Evan: Can I take off the week of Christmas, are you sure? I need to start making arrangements
Administration: That should work
Evan: It should work or will it?
Admin: It should
December
Evan: I'm really hoping to get that week off in 2-3 weeks, any update on whether I can use my vacation days then?
Administration: That should work
two days before my break - Administration: You can, or, you can't
The good thing is I can at least expect to have this type of communication, everything is spontaneous and on the moment - which usually works great for me but in some circumstances it's nice to have some forward knowledge!
Random Updates
- I find out in a few hours which schools I will be teaching at, and which grade!!!
- Tonight all the people going to Incheon will be going out, so that should be a lot of fun
- I leave tomorrow for Incheon, at around 8 AM (6 PM your time, if you want to send good vibes)
- Class starts this Monday for me, Sunday night for all my State-side peeps.
Thinking about you guys all the time, Hope all is fantastic in the US of A!
I have my Korean cell phone!!
The EPIK'ers got there cell phones yesterday at the end of class. We could have either gotten "the most compact phone in the world" or a Samsung model (we got a really stellar discount to boot too). I went with the bigger one, assuming I'd lose the smaller one. The phone has internet, texting and calling, an mp3 player and free television!! It's all in Korean of course but I can't get over the antenna that is double the size of the phone. Iphone users eat your hearts out! The one problem, however, is that to begin with I wasn't very phone savvy and to add to that all the buttons are in Korean. So lets all cheers to me learning sooner rather than later!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Classes
We officially started our classes today, and the rythm of going to lectures is taking me back to the good ol' days of college. Outside of tomorrow (our field trip) we will be having 2 lectures in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, all lasting 90 minutes each. They have been a lot of fun and the activities that we are being shown to incorporate into our teaching is really eye opening. The creativity and apparent effort that goes in to each activity is something I have enjoyed witnessing. I can't wait til I get to start planning my own lessons too (famous last words?).
We did have our first "Surviving Korea" class last night, and another one starts up in about an hour. These were not quite as exciting as the normal lectures, and they are optional, but I know I need to go even though the rooms are not air conditioned, the instructor doesn't speak English, and most of the class consists of counting minutes. We were working and will continue to do so tonight on Hangul, the basic Korean alphabet. It is actually fairly easy to pick up, from what I've been told. I heard that if I set aside a few hours to memorize it I should be alright. However, a few hours is something that isn't easy to come by - my reigning theme for this blog.
Through classes and the night life, I have been fortunate to meet tons of people. We have EPIK people from the States of course, from which I've found some LA friends, a Boston roommate, and a fellow Austinite (is that what we refer to ourselves as?). In addition to that, there are a lot of Canadians, some people from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and even South Africa. The different perspectives has been indescribable - and I say that literally because I spent about two minutes looking for the right adjective.
Anyhoo, I actually put a "hope all is well" kind of message in the post right before this so I find myself in an awkward state of sorts. So... uh... Hope all is well!!!
You are all on my mind at all times, and as fantastic as this experience has been and will continue to be, it will remain bitter sweet by leaving those I love in the States.
We did have our first "Surviving Korea" class last night, and another one starts up in about an hour. These were not quite as exciting as the normal lectures, and they are optional, but I know I need to go even though the rooms are not air conditioned, the instructor doesn't speak English, and most of the class consists of counting minutes. We were working and will continue to do so tonight on Hangul, the basic Korean alphabet. It is actually fairly easy to pick up, from what I've been told. I heard that if I set aside a few hours to memorize it I should be alright. However, a few hours is something that isn't easy to come by - my reigning theme for this blog.
Through classes and the night life, I have been fortunate to meet tons of people. We have EPIK people from the States of course, from which I've found some LA friends, a Boston roommate, and a fellow Austinite (is that what we refer to ourselves as?). In addition to that, there are a lot of Canadians, some people from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and even South Africa. The different perspectives has been indescribable - and I say that literally because I spent about two minutes looking for the right adjective.
Anyhoo, I actually put a "hope all is well" kind of message in the post right before this so I find myself in an awkward state of sorts. So... uh... Hope all is well!!!
You are all on my mind at all times, and as fantastic as this experience has been and will continue to be, it will remain bitter sweet by leaving those I love in the States.
Orientation thus far
Hi all! I wanted to make a quick post and update you guys before I leave on a field trip tomorrow. I'm guessing that after tomorrow I will have some good photo ops since we will be traveling around more "Korean" or traditional locales. In the morning we will be going to Jenju Hanok Village, and in the afternoon we will be visiting the Keumsan Temple. In the middle of our day out we will be eating a huge quantity (supposedly served in something larger than a bath tub) of bibimbap; a serving of rice with egg, meats, and vegetables. It is supposed to be favored by foreigners, especially Americans.
Getting out will be nice too since I will be able to leave the safe haven of Jeonju campus, which seems like a safe haven between the US and Korea in regards to language and food. For example - at lunch today they were serving all the traditional Korean stuff (like kimchi) along with french fries. I actually passed up the french fries in favor of kimchi radishes (atypical of general Evan tendencies). I might have to pause and let that sink in for some of you who know me well.
Last night I was able to overcome my persistent jet lag and hit the town. For all the adults out there, I tried Soju for the first time, which is basically a watered down (20%) version of vodka. I don't think it will become my beverage of choice. I was fortunate enough to coax the manager of the bar/restaurant we were at to try soju with me, so I guess that'll be an experience I won't forget. Later that night, I went down the street to one of the many, many karaoke bars. I did NOT sing, and I don't see myself performing any time soon, but it is a really cool atmosphere. Rather than a stage and one singing to everyone, it is broken up into a series of rooms. There was plenty of Bon Jovi to go around.
I apologize to everyone for this only being my second post. It has been incredibly hectic trying to find time to write with everything going on (plus a shaky internet connection that got fixed about 10 minutes ago - hooray!), but I want to keep anyone interested with my experiences in the loop. I do intend to pick up the pace a bit as I gather some more free time. I have a feeling that if I don't stay consistent with it I am going to get overwhelmed and fall behind, so I will make writing a point of emphasis.
On a quick side note, I am uploading most of the photos from my trip to my facebook account. If this doesn't work for certain people let me know and I will find a more accessible site for them. The game plan is to figure out how to upload them directly on here though, but I haven't had the time to sit down and actually do it (I'm sure it's beyond easy though).
Hope all is well with everyone, I would love to hear from you all when you get a chance to send me an email!! No word on my address or who I will be teaching, I believe I find that out this coming Thursday.
Getting out will be nice too since I will be able to leave the safe haven of Jeonju campus, which seems like a safe haven between the US and Korea in regards to language and food. For example - at lunch today they were serving all the traditional Korean stuff (like kimchi) along with french fries. I actually passed up the french fries in favor of kimchi radishes (atypical of general Evan tendencies). I might have to pause and let that sink in for some of you who know me well.
Last night I was able to overcome my persistent jet lag and hit the town. For all the adults out there, I tried Soju for the first time, which is basically a watered down (20%) version of vodka. I don't think it will become my beverage of choice. I was fortunate enough to coax the manager of the bar/restaurant we were at to try soju with me, so I guess that'll be an experience I won't forget. Later that night, I went down the street to one of the many, many karaoke bars. I did NOT sing, and I don't see myself performing any time soon, but it is a really cool atmosphere. Rather than a stage and one singing to everyone, it is broken up into a series of rooms. There was plenty of Bon Jovi to go around.
I apologize to everyone for this only being my second post. It has been incredibly hectic trying to find time to write with everything going on (plus a shaky internet connection that got fixed about 10 minutes ago - hooray!), but I want to keep anyone interested with my experiences in the loop. I do intend to pick up the pace a bit as I gather some more free time. I have a feeling that if I don't stay consistent with it I am going to get overwhelmed and fall behind, so I will make writing a point of emphasis.
On a quick side note, I am uploading most of the photos from my trip to my facebook account. If this doesn't work for certain people let me know and I will find a more accessible site for them. The game plan is to figure out how to upload them directly on here though, but I haven't had the time to sit down and actually do it (I'm sure it's beyond easy though).
Hope all is well with everyone, I would love to hear from you all when you get a chance to send me an email!! No word on my address or who I will be teaching, I believe I find that out this coming Thursday.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
From Austin to Seoul in More than a Day
The trip to Korea was definitely an exciting one. I flew out of SA to San Francisco, got to hang out for a few hours before hopping on United's 14 hour flight to Seoul. There was not a lot of leg room, and I am quite the lanky fellow so the flight was a bit of a challenge. I don't think I have a tailbone anymore either. I tried to sleep but mostly watched 17 Again, X-Men; Wolverine Origins, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past about 100 times over. I'm almost positive these movies came out of the "Academy Award Winners" catalog.
Arriving in the Incheon/Seoul airport was pretty exhilarating. It was the most fun I have had in an airport by far. I had some time while we were waiting for a shuttle (the orientation is 4 hours from Incheon at Jeonju University), so I was able to socialize a bit with some fellow teachers. Everybody is a lot of fun, and the EPIK people have been fantastically helpful. The care and effort that goes into herding the large pack of English speakers is incredible. I made a few stops along the way to the University and ended up arriving at 1:00 AM Korean time. All told, the trip was just about 30 hours. I left Spring Branch for the airport a little before 6 AM on the 18th and arrived in Korea at 11:00 AM by US time on the 19th.
It was hard to get straight to bed upon arrival, with so much to unpack and figure out about the dorms. The mattresses are like rocks (which I love) and the bathroom is unique too. The shower, toilet and sink are all within about 6 feet of eachother and nothing separates them so when the shower comes on the whole bathroom gets wet (pictures to come soon).
On a side note - If my writing is incredibly dry and boring people need to let me know since I am new to the blog world!! Hope to keep people relatively entertained. I'll get some pictures up a little later and post soon about orientation thus far. Hope all is well with everyone!!
Arriving in the Incheon/Seoul airport was pretty exhilarating. It was the most fun I have had in an airport by far. I had some time while we were waiting for a shuttle (the orientation is 4 hours from Incheon at Jeonju University), so I was able to socialize a bit with some fellow teachers. Everybody is a lot of fun, and the EPIK people have been fantastically helpful. The care and effort that goes into herding the large pack of English speakers is incredible. I made a few stops along the way to the University and ended up arriving at 1:00 AM Korean time. All told, the trip was just about 30 hours. I left Spring Branch for the airport a little before 6 AM on the 18th and arrived in Korea at 11:00 AM by US time on the 19th.
It was hard to get straight to bed upon arrival, with so much to unpack and figure out about the dorms. The mattresses are like rocks (which I love) and the bathroom is unique too. The shower, toilet and sink are all within about 6 feet of eachother and nothing separates them so when the shower comes on the whole bathroom gets wet (pictures to come soon).
On a side note - If my writing is incredibly dry and boring people need to let me know since I am new to the blog world!! Hope to keep people relatively entertained. I'll get some pictures up a little later and post soon about orientation thus far. Hope all is well with everyone!!
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