Flying from Minneapolis was fine. United. Chicago to Warsaw was not very pretty. Why? So many people on that flight had really bad body odor. I slightly remember this as a problem last time I was in Bulgaria, but it was really bad in the airport and in the plane. Of course, I continually thought it was me with the BO, but every time I took a sniff, I turned out fine.
However, the inflight magazine from Warsaw to Sofia was fantastic. Poorly translated English combined with efforts to bolster tourism in Poland made the two hour flight whiz by. Here was my favorite article:
Misfits Sing and Dance:
Mr Schister, a high school Spanish teacher, assumes the directorship of the school choir. But instead of the usual Hanna Montana wannabes and sugar-sweet kids, Schister's group is a lineup of outcasts and misfits that includes a Jewish girl raised by a gay couple, a wheelchair-bound boy, an obese Afro-American, an Afro-Asian and a gay. All these minorities dance and sing hit covers. A pregnant cheerleader comes to join the choir and two football players from the school team who just happen to be enamoured of her quickly follow suit. If the students defy stereotypes, the teachers are downright motley. Season one won many awards to date. Watch it in Poland on Fox Life from September.
In my sleep-deprived state this was hilarious. I'm still trying to figure out what an Afro-Asian is.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Off to Sofia
Today is a Monday.
I feel nervous, but mostly anxious.
I'm moving to Sofia, Bulgaria.
This will be quite a huge difference from my last home in Seoul, South Korea.
Wish me luck.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
A Weekend in Food
Since it was Thanksgiving in the states last week, I spent the week teaching my children about the holiday and strove to get them to stop calling Native Americans ‘Indians’. All this talk made me hungry, especially when I would call my mom and here her plans for the holiday. So, Thursday night Sam, Andie, Nick and I met up with our recruiter, Henry, and his girlfriend for live octopus. Not really traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but I cannot stress how fun it is to try to pull the thrashing tentacles after the plate. Don’t worry, the octopus that we ate had been decapitated minutes before consumption. However, I still want to try eating the whole live baby octopus. Along with this treat, Henry had ordered this giant smorgasbord of seafood: clams, shellfish, shrimp, mollusks, and oysters. It looked like they had scraped all the seafood from the sea floor and served it in a monstrous tray. 맛있어요 (delicious)
On Friday after school we went out for a real Thanksgiving dinner. Toque restaurant in Itaewon served us turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, green bean casserole, tuna casserole, candied yams, and pumpkin pie. It was a surprisingly good meal, but some of us realized we missed the spiciness that is Korean food. Most of the people that went were foreigners, but two Koreans came as well, and Byeong Hun tasted turkey for the first time.
The weekend of food continued on Saturday when Andie, Sam, Liza and I went to the Seoul Fancy Food Festival. Although it didn’t apparently compete at all with festivals in New York, we were still able to try samples of random desserts and drinks as well as a quick wine tasting. There wasn’t as much free food as we hoped, but whenever a line built up we would sprint to the end and see what was in store. After walking back to my home, I jumped on a bus to Dongdaemun to go shopping for a winter coat. I had seen one earlier, but it was $150, and I didn’t have the money. I told the shopkeeper that I would be back, but she definitely did not believe me. However, I returned and when she recognized me she was so excited that she knocked the price down to $100. I could have probably bargained more, but since this was the price I wanted to pay, I said thank you, bought it, and am now rocking my new Korean coat. My students love when I wear Korean clothing, as it looks so much better than the clothing I brought from the US.
At 8 pm, Rachel, Arianna, Byeong Hun, So-Jin, and I met up to go out for drinks with some of BH’s friends from the Asia-Pacific World Deaf conference. While we were waiting, a Korean American approached us because we were signing and she knew ASL. She wants to learn KSL, and joined us for the rest of the night. Her name was Charity, which is fitting since she wants to be a social worker. I was jealous of her signing skills, but I know I just need more time and practice. We met up with a bunch of Israeli guys and they were crazy. Fun, but crazy. We ended up dancing at the Loft in Itaewon for hours, before finally heading home.
Oh Sundays. Omelet for breakfast, coffee with friends at Konguk University and then dinner in Gangnam. Rachel Frank, BH, So-Jin and I went out for budaejjigae, which is this soup that originated during the Korean War. Apparently the American soldiers gave it to the Koreans who just kept adding stuff to it until it tasted good. Nowadays, it tastes delicious. Afterward, we went for a long walk and then back to sleep to start the workweek. This week I am teaching The Giving Tree to my second graders and we are making ‘cootie catchers’ in first grade. This job is awesome.
On Friday after school we went out for a real Thanksgiving dinner. Toque restaurant in Itaewon served us turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, green bean casserole, tuna casserole, candied yams, and pumpkin pie. It was a surprisingly good meal, but some of us realized we missed the spiciness that is Korean food. Most of the people that went were foreigners, but two Koreans came as well, and Byeong Hun tasted turkey for the first time.
 |
| Andie, Paul, Allan, and Chloe enjoying their meal |
The weekend of food continued on Saturday when Andie, Sam, Liza and I went to the Seoul Fancy Food Festival. Although it didn’t apparently compete at all with festivals in New York, we were still able to try samples of random desserts and drinks as well as a quick wine tasting. There wasn’t as much free food as we hoped, but whenever a line built up we would sprint to the end and see what was in store. After walking back to my home, I jumped on a bus to Dongdaemun to go shopping for a winter coat. I had seen one earlier, but it was $150, and I didn’t have the money. I told the shopkeeper that I would be back, but she definitely did not believe me. However, I returned and when she recognized me she was so excited that she knocked the price down to $100. I could have probably bargained more, but since this was the price I wanted to pay, I said thank you, bought it, and am now rocking my new Korean coat. My students love when I wear Korean clothing, as it looks so much better than the clothing I brought from the US.
At 8 pm, Rachel, Arianna, Byeong Hun, So-Jin, and I met up to go out for drinks with some of BH’s friends from the Asia-Pacific World Deaf conference. While we were waiting, a Korean American approached us because we were signing and she knew ASL. She wants to learn KSL, and joined us for the rest of the night. Her name was Charity, which is fitting since she wants to be a social worker. I was jealous of her signing skills, but I know I just need more time and practice. We met up with a bunch of Israeli guys and they were crazy. Fun, but crazy. We ended up dancing at the Loft in Itaewon for hours, before finally heading home.
Oh Sundays. Omelet for breakfast, coffee with friends at Konguk University and then dinner in Gangnam. Rachel Frank, BH, So-Jin and I went out for budaejjigae, which is this soup that originated during the Korean War. Apparently the American soldiers gave it to the Koreans who just kept adding stuff to it until it tasted good. Nowadays, it tastes delicious. Afterward, we went for a long walk and then back to sleep to start the workweek. This week I am teaching The Giving Tree to my second graders and we are making ‘cootie catchers’ in first grade. This job is awesome.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
November in Seoul
November 12th:
As I had hoped, after sleeping in, I went to Dongdaemun Market with Rachel and Ryan. It is this huge indoor and outdoor market that has everything you would want to find. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have any money to buy anything, but it was fun to browse. People would approach you trying to sell you things, and I really wanted to buy a winter coat, but I didn’t have the cash. I told the lady I would be back come payday, but she didn’t seem very happy about this response. The stay was short, as I had Korean class at 4:30. The class keeps changing, with various students entering and leaving. This can be frustrating, as we tend to repeat things that we learned in prior lessons. However, it gives me a chance to actually have mini-conversations in Korean with other students and meet interesting people. It is moving way to slowly however.
November 13th,
Friday the 13th. Not my favorite day, but never quite as scary as the movies fortunately. After classes, I met up with Byeong Hun and Andie and we went to the lantern festival near City Hall. Andie posted the pictures; there were lanterns representing every country. It was really cool. I thought that they were going to be just standard lanterns, but they were these gigantic representations of various things. Afterward, we met up with Phil and Sam, and said goodbye to Andie and headed to Appujeong. We wanted a quick dinner, but ended up sitting at a restaurant for about 2 hours, eating fried seafood and chatting with some random Korean guys who gave us some of their birthday cake. Afterward, BH and I met Nick and Evan at Monkey Beach and danced for a LONG time. Maybe four hours.
November 14th,
Saturday! Shopping with Sonali in Myeongdong turned out to be really boring. She warned me, I should have listened. However, she gave me a great lesson on Indian culture, so for that I am thankful. BH, Allan and I made a nice little dinner afterward, and then went to Itaewon for a game of poker. This was really boring for BH, so he left to find his friends and I ended up losing my 10,000 Won, but it was fun to hang out with the guys. Not as easy to beat them as it is my friends from home :-P
At around 10, we met up with Rachel Nusbaum for her birthday party. BH invited five of his friends, who may have been bored with us English speakers! However, after an hour and a couple of drinks, many attempts were made at cross-cultural communication and maybe some new connections have been made.
November 15th,
Because we had spent the weekend doing non-Korean things, Andie and I decided we should do something cultural. Around noon, we met up at Seolleung to see the tomb of King Seongjong of the Joseon dynasty. Although the day was cold, the sky was clear and the walk around the park was a nice change from the bustle of the city. The tombs were these huge mounds with interesting stone statues scattered about. I was snapping pictures quite furiously until Byeong Hun told me that culturally this was inappropriate as these were burial grounds. Luckily, I snapped some nice pictures before I realized that I was a bad person for doing so.
November 16th-19th,
Weekdays are weekdays. Work, Korean language lessons, and food at home. A lot of lazy behavior, including watching my favorite US TV programs. Boring but satisfying. My newest obsession? Glee. What an amazing show. I also finally added some 300 pictures to Facebook for everyone’s perusal.
November 20th,
Mark F had invited me Byeong Hun and his friend So-Jin to Suwon for a concert on Friday and I met my friends Katy and Jen there, who live and work in this city about 30 miles south of Seoul. It started to snow: large, wet, and beautiful. When we all met up, we headed to this random bar in a random building to be greeted by applause; they were very excited to have foreigners at their concert. Apparently it was a bunch of Samsung employees, and they ended up giving us free Budweisers because we were Americans. By the end of the night, they had invited Mark and I to the stage, where we danced and sang and had many pictures taken.
November 21st,
After crashing at Jen’s place, Byeong Hun, his friend So-Jin, Rachel Nusbaum and I met at City Hall in Seoul and had a nice fancy lunch. At Pizza Hut. Koreans love to take crappy restaurants in the US and make them seem awesome. Outback Steakhouse is apparently one of the best, and they think it is a legitimate Australian restaurant.
After the meal, we walked to Insa-dong to meet up with Arianna for some tea. This seriously was the best tea I have ever had in my life. Ginger tea on a cold day. Perfect. Plus, we decided on Christmas plans: a weekend at a ski resort in Eastern Korea. Another walk through the lantern festival and then we returned to Kangnam. Katy and Jen met up with us at my place and we went to get some burgers, coffee, and soju. The Rainbow House had an ethnic music night, and we listened to this fantastic, eclectic Asian music while smoking hookah.
November 22nd,
Nothing says breakfast better than kimchi. Seriously, fermented cabbage tastes FANTASTIC in omelets. I’m obsessed. After some badminton (Byeong Hun and I against Rachel Frank and So-Jin) Rachel infected me with another obsession: Go-Stop. It is the Korean version of poker, except with flowers and animals and ribbons. Look it up if you are interested. I play it online at school now all the time, and we might introduce it to the poker club.
November 23rd-25th,
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Nothing exciting. My lessons this week have to do with Thanksgiving, which is making me homesick. Tomorrow though, Thanksgiving Day here in Korea, Andie, Sam and I will meet up with our recruiter for some live octopus. Sounds like a Happy Thanksgiving to me!
As I had hoped, after sleeping in, I went to Dongdaemun Market with Rachel and Ryan. It is this huge indoor and outdoor market that has everything you would want to find. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have any money to buy anything, but it was fun to browse. People would approach you trying to sell you things, and I really wanted to buy a winter coat, but I didn’t have the cash. I told the lady I would be back come payday, but she didn’t seem very happy about this response. The stay was short, as I had Korean class at 4:30. The class keeps changing, with various students entering and leaving. This can be frustrating, as we tend to repeat things that we learned in prior lessons. However, it gives me a chance to actually have mini-conversations in Korean with other students and meet interesting people. It is moving way to slowly however.
November 13th,
Friday the 13th. Not my favorite day, but never quite as scary as the movies fortunately. After classes, I met up with Byeong Hun and Andie and we went to the lantern festival near City Hall. Andie posted the pictures; there were lanterns representing every country. It was really cool. I thought that they were going to be just standard lanterns, but they were these gigantic representations of various things. Afterward, we met up with Phil and Sam, and said goodbye to Andie and headed to Appujeong. We wanted a quick dinner, but ended up sitting at a restaurant for about 2 hours, eating fried seafood and chatting with some random Korean guys who gave us some of their birthday cake. Afterward, BH and I met Nick and Evan at Monkey Beach and danced for a LONG time. Maybe four hours.
November 14th,
Saturday! Shopping with Sonali in Myeongdong turned out to be really boring. She warned me, I should have listened. However, she gave me a great lesson on Indian culture, so for that I am thankful. BH, Allan and I made a nice little dinner afterward, and then went to Itaewon for a game of poker. This was really boring for BH, so he left to find his friends and I ended up losing my 10,000 Won, but it was fun to hang out with the guys. Not as easy to beat them as it is my friends from home :-P
At around 10, we met up with Rachel Nusbaum for her birthday party. BH invited five of his friends, who may have been bored with us English speakers! However, after an hour and a couple of drinks, many attempts were made at cross-cultural communication and maybe some new connections have been made.
November 15th,
Because we had spent the weekend doing non-Korean things, Andie and I decided we should do something cultural. Around noon, we met up at Seolleung to see the tomb of King Seongjong of the Joseon dynasty. Although the day was cold, the sky was clear and the walk around the park was a nice change from the bustle of the city. The tombs were these huge mounds with interesting stone statues scattered about. I was snapping pictures quite furiously until Byeong Hun told me that culturally this was inappropriate as these were burial grounds. Luckily, I snapped some nice pictures before I realized that I was a bad person for doing so.
November 16th-19th,
Weekdays are weekdays. Work, Korean language lessons, and food at home. A lot of lazy behavior, including watching my favorite US TV programs. Boring but satisfying. My newest obsession? Glee. What an amazing show. I also finally added some 300 pictures to Facebook for everyone’s perusal.
November 20th,
Mark F had invited me Byeong Hun and his friend So-Jin to Suwon for a concert on Friday and I met my friends Katy and Jen there, who live and work in this city about 30 miles south of Seoul. It started to snow: large, wet, and beautiful. When we all met up, we headed to this random bar in a random building to be greeted by applause; they were very excited to have foreigners at their concert. Apparently it was a bunch of Samsung employees, and they ended up giving us free Budweisers because we were Americans. By the end of the night, they had invited Mark and I to the stage, where we danced and sang and had many pictures taken.
November 21st,
After crashing at Jen’s place, Byeong Hun, his friend So-Jin, Rachel Nusbaum and I met at City Hall in Seoul and had a nice fancy lunch. At Pizza Hut. Koreans love to take crappy restaurants in the US and make them seem awesome. Outback Steakhouse is apparently one of the best, and they think it is a legitimate Australian restaurant.
After the meal, we walked to Insa-dong to meet up with Arianna for some tea. This seriously was the best tea I have ever had in my life. Ginger tea on a cold day. Perfect. Plus, we decided on Christmas plans: a weekend at a ski resort in Eastern Korea. Another walk through the lantern festival and then we returned to Kangnam. Katy and Jen met up with us at my place and we went to get some burgers, coffee, and soju. The Rainbow House had an ethnic music night, and we listened to this fantastic, eclectic Asian music while smoking hookah.
November 22nd,
Nothing says breakfast better than kimchi. Seriously, fermented cabbage tastes FANTASTIC in omelets. I’m obsessed. After some badminton (Byeong Hun and I against Rachel Frank and So-Jin) Rachel infected me with another obsession: Go-Stop. It is the Korean version of poker, except with flowers and animals and ribbons. Look it up if you are interested. I play it online at school now all the time, and we might introduce it to the poker club.
November 23rd-25th,
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Nothing exciting. My lessons this week have to do with Thanksgiving, which is making me homesick. Tomorrow though, Thanksgiving Day here in Korea, Andie, Sam and I will meet up with our recruiter for some live octopus. Sounds like a Happy Thanksgiving to me!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Halloween and an Amazing Play
Although Koreans obviously don’t celebrate the same holidays as we do, all the foreigners here transformed parts of Seoul into Halloween enclaves on the 30th and 31st. On the first night of Halloween, Friday the 30th, I met up with a bunch of people in Hongdae, which is one of the University areas of Seoul. I put together a cheap and easy costume, dressed as G-Dragon from his Heartbreaker music video; it is always fun to dress as a Korean! Although I got a few stares on the subway for my face paint, Rachel was gawked at for her full mask. When we got to Hongdae, however, we met up with a bunch of our friends and it actually felt like Halloween. Some clubs in Hongdae even had Halloween themes! We went to this bar in the shape of an igloo, which was an experience. You literally had to step over rivulets to get to different clusters of people. Nick was dressed up as Where’s Waldo, which was awesome, and we eventually headed off to a different bar with some of the other guys. A couple of one dollar bad tequila shots later, and I decided I had to head home. Those tequilas did a number for my stomach, however, and I ended up eating 4 hamburgers from a sandwich stall. Oh, Korea.
I woke up at around 11 the next morning to a knock on my door. Groggily, I made my way over to the door in my underwear and was greeted with a large package! I greedily opened it to find sheets, a French press, Halloween candy, and coffee from my mom. She also sent three towels. They looked so gigantic! In Korea, they use these tiny little towels, which you have to wash all the time because they smell horribly after one use. These giant towels, however, are a godsend. Of course, the package also had my student loan bills. Typical mother behavior. The rest of the morning was spent recuperating and then cleaning my apartment. Although my place is just a studio, because of its location it is perfect for hosting parties. I had decided to have a little Halloween pre-game at my place, but according to Facebook only five people were for sure coming. This was fine by me, so by 7 pm, I had bought some snacks and decorated my room with spiderwebs and scary pictures my students had drawn. Apparently, many of the maybes became yeses, as the size of the party reached some 25 people. Byeong Hun and his friend Yeon Hee came, so we all had some practice signing ASL. We turned Byeong Hun into a veritable vampire and Yeon Hee wore Rachel’s mask backwards to give herself the illusion of a bird. It worked out pretty well.
At around 10:15, we taxied to Itaewon to go to The Loft, because ladies drink free. The night was really fun, with a lot of dancing and chatting and looking at the crazy costumes. I love Halloween.
The next morning, Sam, Sonali, Rachel, Paul, Andie, Byeong Hun and I went to brunch at Big Rock in Kangnam. There was an all you can eat buffet for around 10 dollars, which was awesome. After stuffing our faces, we went to Kyobo books to buy some Korean language books to help in our endeavors to learn this language. Everyone was still exhausted from the night before, however, and they all left around 4. I went for a nice walk to Appujeong and window shopped for puppies. I don’t know if I like dogs, but I kind of really want to buy a puppy here. They are incredibly adorable, and I am allowed to have pets in this apartment.
Monday the 2nd I started my week of listening tests. This made school extra boring. Monday night I met up with Byeong Hun and his friends in Jongno 3 Ga, which is another of the downtown areas near Insadong (a street famous for its shopping and art). We went to this fantastic 식당 (restaurant) and I was given another opportunity to practice my ASL. Some Japanese friends were there, and I was once again amazed at how they could communicate through ISL even though they did not have a common linguistic background. It was, of course, difficult and tiring for me to follow, but I did catch a few things and enjoyed signing with all of Byeong Hun’s friends.
On Tuesday, all the second graders and many of the first graders were sent home because of H1N1. This meant that I only had one class on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. My co-teacher, Seon Suk Kim, thought I was depressed, but I just kept telling her I was bored. They also cancelled my morning and afternoon classes, which meant that I had a half an hour of extra sleep the entire week. This was nice, but I would rather be teaching than sitting around all day. Badminton practice wasn’t as fun either, because many of the teachers were heading home immediately after school because of H1N1. Much of my week was just spent walking, because the weather has been perfect. Nice autumn weather: not too cold with a nice gentle wind. The smell here is amazing, with all the trees changing color. I love autumn.
Andie, Sonali, Sam, Rachel and I had decided to meet up on Wednesday to go to BH’s restaurant to try his fusion food. It was fantastic. Eunhoe Choi and Yeon Hee came as well. In between mouths of delicious chicken and pizza, we learned new signs, new Korean words, and new things about one another.
After another lame badminton practice on Friday, I walked home to Kangnam and then ate a quick dinner. Mark, Rachel and I went to Jongno 3 Ga again to meet up with Byeong Hun at a bar called Barcode. However, it was very Korean and very not fun. Luckily, Byeong Hun knew the area pretty well and brought us to a fun little underground bar/restaurant where we drank soju, beer, and learned a lot about one another.
Saturday morning I slept in, and then got on a train to Incheon. Incheon is the fourth largest city in Korea and is only an hour from downtown Seoul. Byeong Hun was in a show at a Deaf play festival and he invited me to come. I took some wrong transfers, unfortunately, and was running really late. I got there just in time to see the start of BH’s show. With three of his friends, he was telling a story about the life of a deaf person in a speaking world. It was ridiculously funny. The first scene was BH using the bathroom and a speaking person knocking on the door. Oblivious, BH continues to use the toilet until the other person barged into the room. Another scene saw BH and his friends fly to America, where they were served by a bimbo-looking waitress who, obviously, did not know any sign. However, they were able to order successfully and the audience roared with laughter. It was seriously one of the best shows I have ever seen, and I understood it even though they were signing a language I did not understand. There body movements and facial expressions were awesome. Out of the 12 teams performing, BH’s team ended up getting 1st prize.
For the rest of the evening, BH and I walked around Incheon and ate this crazy ham soup. It had everything in it. Apparently, the legend is that some GIs gave this soup to some Koreans during the war, and the Koreans continuously added ingredients until it actually tasted delicious.
At around 9 pm, we got back on a train and headed back to Seoul and, for the third time this week, Jongno. We ran into BH’s friend Seong Cheol on the subway and I ended up clumsily explaining the differences between the 50 states in sign language. In Seoul, we met up with another Deaf Korean and his boyfriend, and went to a gay bar in Jongno. There are all these narrow allies with old cackling ladies and men in business suits in Jongno; it was quite terrifying, but luckily I was with a group of Koreans. At the bar, I realized that I really needed to work on my Korean, because while I could easily communicate with BH, I could not so easily communicate with his Korean speaking friend. It was a nice night out regardless, and we all headed home around 10 pm.
Noon the next morning we continued our new Sunday brunch tradition at a nice place in Kangnam. I ordered pancakes and eggs and was not disappointed. The bill was a little hefty, however, and we had to wait in a line for an hour so I hope next time we chose a less popular place. Rachel, Mark, BH, Seong Cheol and I all played badminton after breakfast and then went for a walk. This city is excellent to walk around in. Even though it is not as appealing as, say, Boston, it is so big that you always see new things.
My classes for this week have been pretty boring. Because of the H1N1 epidemic, many students are taking their speaking tests this week, which has thrown off the schedule. My lesson is about making sandwiches, which is fun for me and the students, but it also makes me hungry all day. Today, however, is Pepero day, so I was given little candy sticks from my students. Since November 11th is four ‘1’s, Pepero decided to make it into a holiday based on their candy. It is like Valentines’ day, but worst because there is NO hiding its commercialism. However, I did get this cute little stuffed puppy from one student, which made my day. Tomorrow I don’t have school because the high school students have a huge standardized test. Maybe I’ll head to Dongdaemun for once and actually see the crazy market. Have a good day!
I woke up at around 11 the next morning to a knock on my door. Groggily, I made my way over to the door in my underwear and was greeted with a large package! I greedily opened it to find sheets, a French press, Halloween candy, and coffee from my mom. She also sent three towels. They looked so gigantic! In Korea, they use these tiny little towels, which you have to wash all the time because they smell horribly after one use. These giant towels, however, are a godsend. Of course, the package also had my student loan bills. Typical mother behavior. The rest of the morning was spent recuperating and then cleaning my apartment. Although my place is just a studio, because of its location it is perfect for hosting parties. I had decided to have a little Halloween pre-game at my place, but according to Facebook only five people were for sure coming. This was fine by me, so by 7 pm, I had bought some snacks and decorated my room with spiderwebs and scary pictures my students had drawn. Apparently, many of the maybes became yeses, as the size of the party reached some 25 people. Byeong Hun and his friend Yeon Hee came, so we all had some practice signing ASL. We turned Byeong Hun into a veritable vampire and Yeon Hee wore Rachel’s mask backwards to give herself the illusion of a bird. It worked out pretty well.
At around 10:15, we taxied to Itaewon to go to The Loft, because ladies drink free. The night was really fun, with a lot of dancing and chatting and looking at the crazy costumes. I love Halloween.
The next morning, Sam, Sonali, Rachel, Paul, Andie, Byeong Hun and I went to brunch at Big Rock in Kangnam. There was an all you can eat buffet for around 10 dollars, which was awesome. After stuffing our faces, we went to Kyobo books to buy some Korean language books to help in our endeavors to learn this language. Everyone was still exhausted from the night before, however, and they all left around 4. I went for a nice walk to Appujeong and window shopped for puppies. I don’t know if I like dogs, but I kind of really want to buy a puppy here. They are incredibly adorable, and I am allowed to have pets in this apartment.
Monday the 2nd I started my week of listening tests. This made school extra boring. Monday night I met up with Byeong Hun and his friends in Jongno 3 Ga, which is another of the downtown areas near Insadong (a street famous for its shopping and art). We went to this fantastic 식당 (restaurant) and I was given another opportunity to practice my ASL. Some Japanese friends were there, and I was once again amazed at how they could communicate through ISL even though they did not have a common linguistic background. It was, of course, difficult and tiring for me to follow, but I did catch a few things and enjoyed signing with all of Byeong Hun’s friends.
On Tuesday, all the second graders and many of the first graders were sent home because of H1N1. This meant that I only had one class on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. My co-teacher, Seon Suk Kim, thought I was depressed, but I just kept telling her I was bored. They also cancelled my morning and afternoon classes, which meant that I had a half an hour of extra sleep the entire week. This was nice, but I would rather be teaching than sitting around all day. Badminton practice wasn’t as fun either, because many of the teachers were heading home immediately after school because of H1N1. Much of my week was just spent walking, because the weather has been perfect. Nice autumn weather: not too cold with a nice gentle wind. The smell here is amazing, with all the trees changing color. I love autumn.
Andie, Sonali, Sam, Rachel and I had decided to meet up on Wednesday to go to BH’s restaurant to try his fusion food. It was fantastic. Eunhoe Choi and Yeon Hee came as well. In between mouths of delicious chicken and pizza, we learned new signs, new Korean words, and new things about one another.
After another lame badminton practice on Friday, I walked home to Kangnam and then ate a quick dinner. Mark, Rachel and I went to Jongno 3 Ga again to meet up with Byeong Hun at a bar called Barcode. However, it was very Korean and very not fun. Luckily, Byeong Hun knew the area pretty well and brought us to a fun little underground bar/restaurant where we drank soju, beer, and learned a lot about one another.
Saturday morning I slept in, and then got on a train to Incheon. Incheon is the fourth largest city in Korea and is only an hour from downtown Seoul. Byeong Hun was in a show at a Deaf play festival and he invited me to come. I took some wrong transfers, unfortunately, and was running really late. I got there just in time to see the start of BH’s show. With three of his friends, he was telling a story about the life of a deaf person in a speaking world. It was ridiculously funny. The first scene was BH using the bathroom and a speaking person knocking on the door. Oblivious, BH continues to use the toilet until the other person barged into the room. Another scene saw BH and his friends fly to America, where they were served by a bimbo-looking waitress who, obviously, did not know any sign. However, they were able to order successfully and the audience roared with laughter. It was seriously one of the best shows I have ever seen, and I understood it even though they were signing a language I did not understand. There body movements and facial expressions were awesome. Out of the 12 teams performing, BH’s team ended up getting 1st prize.
At around 9 pm, we got back on a train and headed back to Seoul and, for the third time this week, Jongno. We ran into BH’s friend Seong Cheol on the subway and I ended up clumsily explaining the differences between the 50 states in sign language. In Seoul, we met up with another Deaf Korean and his boyfriend, and went to a gay bar in Jongno. There are all these narrow allies with old cackling ladies and men in business suits in Jongno; it was quite terrifying, but luckily I was with a group of Koreans. At the bar, I realized that I really needed to work on my Korean, because while I could easily communicate with BH, I could not so easily communicate with his Korean speaking friend. It was a nice night out regardless, and we all headed home around 10 pm.
Noon the next morning we continued our new Sunday brunch tradition at a nice place in Kangnam. I ordered pancakes and eggs and was not disappointed. The bill was a little hefty, however, and we had to wait in a line for an hour so I hope next time we chose a less popular place. Rachel, Mark, BH, Seong Cheol and I all played badminton after breakfast and then went for a walk. This city is excellent to walk around in. Even though it is not as appealing as, say, Boston, it is so big that you always see new things.
My classes for this week have been pretty boring. Because of the H1N1 epidemic, many students are taking their speaking tests this week, which has thrown off the schedule. My lesson is about making sandwiches, which is fun for me and the students, but it also makes me hungry all day. Today, however, is Pepero day, so I was given little candy sticks from my students. Since November 11th is four ‘1’s, Pepero decided to make it into a holiday based on their candy. It is like Valentines’ day, but worst because there is NO hiding its commercialism. However, I did get this cute little stuffed puppy from one student, which made my day. Tomorrow I don’t have school because the high school students have a huge standardized test. Maybe I’ll head to Dongdaemun for once and actually see the crazy market. Have a good day!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Through the End of October
Unfortunately, I was not able to defer the Fulbright. That means that I had to decide yes or no. I decided on staying in Korea, because it does not feel right to break this contract. However, the Fulbright representative was really nice and told me I could re-apply, and I didn’t even need to worry about all the little details (like teacher recommendations and language evaluations). Hopefully I can get the award again.
Pusan never happened. I was planning on a fun long weekend trip, but at the last moment decided against it. It was just too much money and not enough time. Instead, I stayed in Seoul. I hung out a lot with Ais on the weekend from the 9th to the 11th, and it looked like she was going to stay. We met up with Grisel, Todd, and Molly and went to Hongdae to play darts and go dancing. Jerry was really mad with me because I was late, but it really wasn’t my fault. I was just really confused and couldn’t find my way to the subway station. I had only been living in Seoul for a month, what did he expect? He quietly withdrew and didn’t talk to us the rest of the night. Since then, I haven’t tried to contact him again. I don’t know if it is a Korean thing, but he was too needy and impatient, which isn’t me at all.
Sunday the 11th I met up with Ais and Todd and went to the Canadian brewery for a couple of beers and darts. The owner there is really nice, and it is really close to my house. Also, they have a Sunday brunch. Yum. Afterward we went out for burritos at Dos Tacos and I won some heart pillows at a dart booth. They are pretty nasty, actually, but fun because I won them. Ais slept over and told me she decided she was going to leave. The breakup was too messy, and she couldn’t stay in Seoul any longer. Although this kind of crushed me because she was my best friend here in Seoul, I definitely understood that she had to do what was best. I just wish that the best would be staying here.
My lessons during the week of the 12th through the 17th were pretty boring. The first graders practiced telling stories while the second graders worked on communication. However, I added on some more workload with the start of my morning and afternoon classes. I LOVE these classes. There are only fifteen students, and since the area most Koreans need to work on in terms of their language abilities is speaking and listening we spend most of the class just talking. I can already see improvement in some of the students confidence, which makes me feel like I am actually helping these students. All of them work so hard but they are always working with the goal of passing a test. Since these classes are not graded, I can spend them doing whatever. Hopefully, I can let them use English in a fun and exciting manner and broaden their interests and help them find what they enjoy. I have been reading a book about Korean culture by a famous comic artist and he stresses how the Korean education system leaves no room for creativity or entrepreneurial behavior, but solely creates test-taking machines. Hopefully I can shape some students in having a creative edge over other Koreans. I also spent much of my week on my Korean lessons, both with my co-teacher So Young and at the Yeoksam global center. I love free language lessons!
On Friday night, I had Andie and Paul over to watch some Youtube videos and go to the Rainbow Bar in Gangnam. Pretty chill night. I ended up going to Itaewon because I wanted to dance, and I didn’t come home till late. However, I woke up quite early because my friend, Brent, had tickets to Seoul Fashion Week and wanted me to join. I got to the stop at 1:30, but Brent wasn’t there. I ended up reading this random atlas of the Middle East until 3 when he finally showed. We were given back stage passes to the fashion show and I had a great time watching the show with Brent and his friend Mike. (These are there English names . . . I am actually not sure what their Korean names are). The first show was great, with good outfits, good music, and a good atmosphere. The second one, however, was awful. Throughout the entire show slow Christian music was playing and all the models had their midriffs exposed. Not cool. After the shows, we went to City Hall to meet up with a lot of the other English teachers at Oktoberfest, which had all you can drink beer for 15,000 won, which is only about twelve dollars. Brent and Mike gave me some great tips on the Korean language, and I can have a VERY small conversation with Koreans about where I live and what I like. VERY small, mind you. After this huge Oktoberfest party, Brent, Mike and I headed to Itaewon and went to SoHo bar for a couple of drinks. There was a group of Deaf people at the bar, and I ended up talking to one of them, Byeong Hun. He was very nice, and we decided to meet up later. This means that I have added another thing to my plate: learning ASL. Although Koreans sign KSL, obviously, we figured it would be easier for me to study ASL, and most Deaf Koreans know a bit of KSL.
On Sunday I met up for Andie for a nice dinner of Korean BBQ. I don’t know why Korean food is not more popular in the United States, because it is SO fun to eat. Afterward, I walked around Olympic Park for about an hour, and was going to walk home but it ended up being a VERY long walk and I had to take a bus. I’ve been buying Korean shoes and they are too small. When I got home, I studied some more ASL, finished my lesson plans for the week, and went to bed.
Monday the 19th through Thursday the 22nd I taught my first graders a lesson about ethics and my second graders a lesson about the person they admire. I have to give a speaking test next week, and this was the introduction to the speaking test. 700 students is way too many kids to test, so the test will start out with a reading and writing portion. I have been reading all of these letters and essays this week which has been killer, but it will make the speaking portion a lot smoother. Monday through Wednesday was typical, with badminton and Korean lessons. Thursday night, however, I went with Andie, Sam, Sonali, and Brent to Seoul Fashion Week. We went to a show that was featuring Hanbuks, which is the typical Korean clothing. We thought it was going to be a really stupid show, but it ended up being pretty interesting. They weren’t the huge puffy Hanbuks that make all women look pregnant, but, dare I say, sexy Hanbuks.
Friday the 23rd was amazing. It was the Suh-Moon festival, so I didn’t have to teach. Instead, I walked around the school and ate all this great food and played fun activities. I was supposed to judge a chicken fight (where people hop around on one foot and push each other apparently), but since I didn’t know what the heck to do I instead just played all the games instead. I did a cake walk, a shoe kicking contest, arm-wrestling, a screaming contest, limbo, and threw some darts. I also ate an awesome kimchi pancake and some kids tricked me into eating a tablespoon of wasabi, which was not cool. Around eleven, I judged the English pop-song festival. Not only are these kids amazing at all school subjects, they are also fantastic at singing pop-songs in English with great voices. Although I disagreed with the judges on the placing of the winners, all of the students did a really good job. After the contest, I watched some students make silly putty with chemicals and dissect a frog. Finally, the English room was decorated for Halloween, and I got my face painted and listened to Halloween music (aka “This is Halloween” on repeat). I definitely acted more like a kid then a teacher on Friday, but I am young, so whatever.
When school was let out, I jumped in a car with some of the other teachers at Suh-Moon middle and high school and headed to Dae-bu-do, an island on the west coast. I do not know why I agreed to go to badminton training with a bunch of teachers whose names I don’t know and who do not speak English, but I had a blast. The island was beautiful, and we had rented a pension for the night. There was a piano at the house, and immediately one of the teachers started playing and I joined in and we played a duet by Czerny. Afterward, one of the teachers rented bikes and I tried to help one of the teachers re-learn how to ride a bike but failed miserably. Next, we went to a seafood restaurant and ordered a lot of sushi. I had things I have never seen before, such as clams the size of footballs. The best part? Freshly cut octopus that was still moving. One tentacle struggled so hard and was sticking to the plate that I couldn’t get at it with my chopsticks. The other teachers cheered me on and I finally got it in my mouth only for it to suction on to my tongue. With one bite and swallow, however, I was declared the winner. Do you know how Koreans award the winners? They get you wasted. Before I knew it, I had drunk way too much soju and way too much makeli. I thought this was badminton practice. Being a lot taller than all these Koreans, however, I was probably one of the more sober teachers, but I was nowhere near sober. They were drinking hard alcohol out of bowls. Since none of them spoke English, the only thing we could communicate was ‘drinking contest’ and I think I fell asleep around ten pm. I woke up in the only bed in the house, which made me feel awful. Everyone else was sleeping on a yo, sleeping pad, but when I apologized, they all said, “Oh, you need a bed. You have such long legs!” That made me feel better. For breakfast #1, they fed me a spicy, peppery clam soup, which was delicious. We finally played some badminton in the morning, but I was still a little drunk so I went for a walk to clear my head. When I got back, it was time to head back to Seoul. Well, I thought that was the plan. Instead, we went to a breakfast place and got haejang. When I looked up this word in my dictionary it said “the food one eats the morning after drinking to relieve a hangover”. I could not stop laughing. I would argue that this says a lot about Korean culture, that they have a single word to describe the food that one eats to relieve their hangovers. I did not have any haejang, because I did not think sheep blood soup was the best way to cure my hangover. While eating this soup, they had Abba blasting from their cars into the restaurant and I could not stop laughing. Haejang, Abba, and badminton training, with me the only foreigner in sight? Hilarious.
After breakfast #2, we headed to a seafood place to buy clams to take home to Seoul. We jumped back into the car and went to a grape place to buy grapes. Finally, they brought me to a temple and I took some pictures. By this time, I was very much drained, but they luckily brought me back to Seoul. However, it was already noon, and I had plans to meet up with Byeong Hun and his friends at two. I took a quick shower, and met up with Byeong Hun and his friend Seth at Insadong, which is a street famous for its art and shopping. Seth was also Deaf, so throughout the day I learned many new words in ASL. This was good, but confusing. Especially when we met up with a group of four Deaf people from Hong Kong, and everyone switched to ISL (International Sign Language). Somehow, however, it is a lot easier to speak in sign than it is to speak in Korean so we managed to communicate. After a lot of shopping and a huge walk, we ended up at Namsan tower, which overlooks Seoul. We took a funicular up the mountain, and then an elevator up the tower. The view was magnificent, but, being me, I had my camera but the battery was dead. Ugh.
After the fantastic time at the tower, we headed back to Myeong-Dong, another shopping district, and spent an hour looking for a restaurant. Normally I don’t care about wondering around for hours, but I was starting to get REALLY hungry. We finally met up with some of Byeong Hun’s friends and went to a chicken and beer restaurant. I was the only speaking person, but I ended up signing with this lovely girl by the name of Eunhoe Choi. She was fantastic at ASL, and taught me a lot of signs. I feel like I can decently communicate with my new Korean Deaf friends, but I have a long way to go.
Sunday morning, I went to Kyobo books to buy a book on KSL. I figured if I am learning the language I could learn the signs as well. This is SO much more difficult than ASL, however, because I don’t really understand Korean grammar at all. The explanations of KSL grammar, furthermore, are in Korean. Hopefully I can figure it out, but until I do, I will have to use ASL to communicate with my new friends. For lunch, I went to a Vietnamese restaurant with Byeong Hun and he showed me pictures of his travels to Taiwan and Hong Kong. I have two more places to add to my growing lists of desired vacations. Ugh. Sunday evening I worked on my lesson plans and watched some episodes of a Korean soap opera.
Did I mention that I am obsessed? There is this show called Boys Over Flowers and it is amazing. It was originally a Japanese comic, then a live action drama in Japan, then a live action drama in Taiwan, and now a soap opera in Korea. It is really fantastic. Of course, like any soap opera, it is over-dramatic, but it is helping my Korean language studies.
The lessons this week have been preparations for the speaking test next week as well as drawing Halloween costumes and haunted houses. I should take some pictures of my classroom before we take down the decorations, because there are a lot of good artists at my school. And creepy artists. A lot of blood and weapons . . .
Tuesday evening I met up with Eunhoe Choi at Tea Purple and we signed over coffee. When I’m with her for just even an hour I feel like my ASL skills go through the roof. She is such a great teacher. I invited her to my Halloween party tomorrow and I really hope she comes. I am also trying to get Sonali and Andie to learn ASL, because I want them to meet my new friends. I showed Eunhoe pictures of my family, and she said that when she visits the US she is going to visit me. Awesome.
Wednesday evening, after a REALLY intense badminton practice, I had an excruciatingly painful Korean lesson. So Young is a great teacher, but that also means that I am learning a lot. This hurts my brain, but I know it is the right methodology and I know that it will make me learn Korean faster and with a higher level of proficiency. But her lessons are killer. It also doesn’t help that I have a slight cold, or that I am a little paranoid about the swine flu. One of my classes was sent home because five of the students had H1N1. I really hope they didn’t pass it on to me. They are actually considering closing all of the schools, but I hope they don’t, because that would cut into our winter vacation time.
Last night, I had my free lesson at the Yeoksam global center. I like the teacher, but the students don’t take the class very seriously and it is a little annoying. And we are moving at such a slow pace. I NEED to do more self-study, but I am pretty busy with after school lessons, classes, and badminton, so I don’t really have the time. I also have been reading a lot of stuff about Korea, second language teaching pedagogy, and Korean politics. Combined with the ASL practice, I am happy that I had enough time to write this journal.
Speaking of said journal, I have been rambling. I am sorry. Way too long, but one last thing. I got a stuffed animal as a present from one of my co-teachers for Halloween. It is adorable. I am also having a Halloween party tomorrow. It should be fun.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Pusan never happened. I was planning on a fun long weekend trip, but at the last moment decided against it. It was just too much money and not enough time. Instead, I stayed in Seoul. I hung out a lot with Ais on the weekend from the 9th to the 11th, and it looked like she was going to stay. We met up with Grisel, Todd, and Molly and went to Hongdae to play darts and go dancing. Jerry was really mad with me because I was late, but it really wasn’t my fault. I was just really confused and couldn’t find my way to the subway station. I had only been living in Seoul for a month, what did he expect? He quietly withdrew and didn’t talk to us the rest of the night. Since then, I haven’t tried to contact him again. I don’t know if it is a Korean thing, but he was too needy and impatient, which isn’t me at all.
Sunday the 11th I met up with Ais and Todd and went to the Canadian brewery for a couple of beers and darts. The owner there is really nice, and it is really close to my house. Also, they have a Sunday brunch. Yum. Afterward we went out for burritos at Dos Tacos and I won some heart pillows at a dart booth. They are pretty nasty, actually, but fun because I won them. Ais slept over and told me she decided she was going to leave. The breakup was too messy, and she couldn’t stay in Seoul any longer. Although this kind of crushed me because she was my best friend here in Seoul, I definitely understood that she had to do what was best. I just wish that the best would be staying here.
My lessons during the week of the 12th through the 17th were pretty boring. The first graders practiced telling stories while the second graders worked on communication. However, I added on some more workload with the start of my morning and afternoon classes. I LOVE these classes. There are only fifteen students, and since the area most Koreans need to work on in terms of their language abilities is speaking and listening we spend most of the class just talking. I can already see improvement in some of the students confidence, which makes me feel like I am actually helping these students. All of them work so hard but they are always working with the goal of passing a test. Since these classes are not graded, I can spend them doing whatever. Hopefully, I can let them use English in a fun and exciting manner and broaden their interests and help them find what they enjoy. I have been reading a book about Korean culture by a famous comic artist and he stresses how the Korean education system leaves no room for creativity or entrepreneurial behavior, but solely creates test-taking machines. Hopefully I can shape some students in having a creative edge over other Koreans. I also spent much of my week on my Korean lessons, both with my co-teacher So Young and at the Yeoksam global center. I love free language lessons!
On Friday night, I had Andie and Paul over to watch some Youtube videos and go to the Rainbow Bar in Gangnam. Pretty chill night. I ended up going to Itaewon because I wanted to dance, and I didn’t come home till late. However, I woke up quite early because my friend, Brent, had tickets to Seoul Fashion Week and wanted me to join. I got to the stop at 1:30, but Brent wasn’t there. I ended up reading this random atlas of the Middle East until 3 when he finally showed. We were given back stage passes to the fashion show and I had a great time watching the show with Brent and his friend Mike. (These are there English names . . . I am actually not sure what their Korean names are). The first show was great, with good outfits, good music, and a good atmosphere. The second one, however, was awful. Throughout the entire show slow Christian music was playing and all the models had their midriffs exposed. Not cool. After the shows, we went to City Hall to meet up with a lot of the other English teachers at Oktoberfest, which had all you can drink beer for 15,000 won, which is only about twelve dollars. Brent and Mike gave me some great tips on the Korean language, and I can have a VERY small conversation with Koreans about where I live and what I like. VERY small, mind you. After this huge Oktoberfest party, Brent, Mike and I headed to Itaewon and went to SoHo bar for a couple of drinks. There was a group of Deaf people at the bar, and I ended up talking to one of them, Byeong Hun. He was very nice, and we decided to meet up later. This means that I have added another thing to my plate: learning ASL. Although Koreans sign KSL, obviously, we figured it would be easier for me to study ASL, and most Deaf Koreans know a bit of KSL.
On Sunday I met up for Andie for a nice dinner of Korean BBQ. I don’t know why Korean food is not more popular in the United States, because it is SO fun to eat. Afterward, I walked around Olympic Park for about an hour, and was going to walk home but it ended up being a VERY long walk and I had to take a bus. I’ve been buying Korean shoes and they are too small. When I got home, I studied some more ASL, finished my lesson plans for the week, and went to bed.
Monday the 19th through Thursday the 22nd I taught my first graders a lesson about ethics and my second graders a lesson about the person they admire. I have to give a speaking test next week, and this was the introduction to the speaking test. 700 students is way too many kids to test, so the test will start out with a reading and writing portion. I have been reading all of these letters and essays this week which has been killer, but it will make the speaking portion a lot smoother. Monday through Wednesday was typical, with badminton and Korean lessons. Thursday night, however, I went with Andie, Sam, Sonali, and Brent to Seoul Fashion Week. We went to a show that was featuring Hanbuks, which is the typical Korean clothing. We thought it was going to be a really stupid show, but it ended up being pretty interesting. They weren’t the huge puffy Hanbuks that make all women look pregnant, but, dare I say, sexy Hanbuks.
Friday the 23rd was amazing. It was the Suh-Moon festival, so I didn’t have to teach. Instead, I walked around the school and ate all this great food and played fun activities. I was supposed to judge a chicken fight (where people hop around on one foot and push each other apparently), but since I didn’t know what the heck to do I instead just played all the games instead. I did a cake walk, a shoe kicking contest, arm-wrestling, a screaming contest, limbo, and threw some darts. I also ate an awesome kimchi pancake and some kids tricked me into eating a tablespoon of wasabi, which was not cool. Around eleven, I judged the English pop-song festival. Not only are these kids amazing at all school subjects, they are also fantastic at singing pop-songs in English with great voices. Although I disagreed with the judges on the placing of the winners, all of the students did a really good job. After the contest, I watched some students make silly putty with chemicals and dissect a frog. Finally, the English room was decorated for Halloween, and I got my face painted and listened to Halloween music (aka “This is Halloween” on repeat). I definitely acted more like a kid then a teacher on Friday, but I am young, so whatever.
When school was let out, I jumped in a car with some of the other teachers at Suh-Moon middle and high school and headed to Dae-bu-do, an island on the west coast. I do not know why I agreed to go to badminton training with a bunch of teachers whose names I don’t know and who do not speak English, but I had a blast. The island was beautiful, and we had rented a pension for the night. There was a piano at the house, and immediately one of the teachers started playing and I joined in and we played a duet by Czerny. Afterward, one of the teachers rented bikes and I tried to help one of the teachers re-learn how to ride a bike but failed miserably. Next, we went to a seafood restaurant and ordered a lot of sushi. I had things I have never seen before, such as clams the size of footballs. The best part? Freshly cut octopus that was still moving. One tentacle struggled so hard and was sticking to the plate that I couldn’t get at it with my chopsticks. The other teachers cheered me on and I finally got it in my mouth only for it to suction on to my tongue. With one bite and swallow, however, I was declared the winner. Do you know how Koreans award the winners? They get you wasted. Before I knew it, I had drunk way too much soju and way too much makeli. I thought this was badminton practice. Being a lot taller than all these Koreans, however, I was probably one of the more sober teachers, but I was nowhere near sober. They were drinking hard alcohol out of bowls. Since none of them spoke English, the only thing we could communicate was ‘drinking contest’ and I think I fell asleep around ten pm. I woke up in the only bed in the house, which made me feel awful. Everyone else was sleeping on a yo, sleeping pad, but when I apologized, they all said, “Oh, you need a bed. You have such long legs!” That made me feel better. For breakfast #1, they fed me a spicy, peppery clam soup, which was delicious. We finally played some badminton in the morning, but I was still a little drunk so I went for a walk to clear my head. When I got back, it was time to head back to Seoul. Well, I thought that was the plan. Instead, we went to a breakfast place and got haejang. When I looked up this word in my dictionary it said “the food one eats the morning after drinking to relieve a hangover”. I could not stop laughing. I would argue that this says a lot about Korean culture, that they have a single word to describe the food that one eats to relieve their hangovers. I did not have any haejang, because I did not think sheep blood soup was the best way to cure my hangover. While eating this soup, they had Abba blasting from their cars into the restaurant and I could not stop laughing. Haejang, Abba, and badminton training, with me the only foreigner in sight? Hilarious.
After breakfast #2, we headed to a seafood place to buy clams to take home to Seoul. We jumped back into the car and went to a grape place to buy grapes. Finally, they brought me to a temple and I took some pictures. By this time, I was very much drained, but they luckily brought me back to Seoul. However, it was already noon, and I had plans to meet up with Byeong Hun and his friends at two. I took a quick shower, and met up with Byeong Hun and his friend Seth at Insadong, which is a street famous for its art and shopping. Seth was also Deaf, so throughout the day I learned many new words in ASL. This was good, but confusing. Especially when we met up with a group of four Deaf people from Hong Kong, and everyone switched to ISL (International Sign Language). Somehow, however, it is a lot easier to speak in sign than it is to speak in Korean so we managed to communicate. After a lot of shopping and a huge walk, we ended up at Namsan tower, which overlooks Seoul. We took a funicular up the mountain, and then an elevator up the tower. The view was magnificent, but, being me, I had my camera but the battery was dead. Ugh.
After the fantastic time at the tower, we headed back to Myeong-Dong, another shopping district, and spent an hour looking for a restaurant. Normally I don’t care about wondering around for hours, but I was starting to get REALLY hungry. We finally met up with some of Byeong Hun’s friends and went to a chicken and beer restaurant. I was the only speaking person, but I ended up signing with this lovely girl by the name of Eunhoe Choi. She was fantastic at ASL, and taught me a lot of signs. I feel like I can decently communicate with my new Korean Deaf friends, but I have a long way to go.
Sunday morning, I went to Kyobo books to buy a book on KSL. I figured if I am learning the language I could learn the signs as well. This is SO much more difficult than ASL, however, because I don’t really understand Korean grammar at all. The explanations of KSL grammar, furthermore, are in Korean. Hopefully I can figure it out, but until I do, I will have to use ASL to communicate with my new friends. For lunch, I went to a Vietnamese restaurant with Byeong Hun and he showed me pictures of his travels to Taiwan and Hong Kong. I have two more places to add to my growing lists of desired vacations. Ugh. Sunday evening I worked on my lesson plans and watched some episodes of a Korean soap opera.
Did I mention that I am obsessed? There is this show called Boys Over Flowers and it is amazing. It was originally a Japanese comic, then a live action drama in Japan, then a live action drama in Taiwan, and now a soap opera in Korea. It is really fantastic. Of course, like any soap opera, it is over-dramatic, but it is helping my Korean language studies.
The lessons this week have been preparations for the speaking test next week as well as drawing Halloween costumes and haunted houses. I should take some pictures of my classroom before we take down the decorations, because there are a lot of good artists at my school. And creepy artists. A lot of blood and weapons . . .
Tuesday evening I met up with Eunhoe Choi at Tea Purple and we signed over coffee. When I’m with her for just even an hour I feel like my ASL skills go through the roof. She is such a great teacher. I invited her to my Halloween party tomorrow and I really hope she comes. I am also trying to get Sonali and Andie to learn ASL, because I want them to meet my new friends. I showed Eunhoe pictures of my family, and she said that when she visits the US she is going to visit me. Awesome.
Wednesday evening, after a REALLY intense badminton practice, I had an excruciatingly painful Korean lesson. So Young is a great teacher, but that also means that I am learning a lot. This hurts my brain, but I know it is the right methodology and I know that it will make me learn Korean faster and with a higher level of proficiency. But her lessons are killer. It also doesn’t help that I have a slight cold, or that I am a little paranoid about the swine flu. One of my classes was sent home because five of the students had H1N1. I really hope they didn’t pass it on to me. They are actually considering closing all of the schools, but I hope they don’t, because that would cut into our winter vacation time.
Last night, I had my free lesson at the Yeoksam global center. I like the teacher, but the students don’t take the class very seriously and it is a little annoying. And we are moving at such a slow pace. I NEED to do more self-study, but I am pretty busy with after school lessons, classes, and badminton, so I don’t really have the time. I also have been reading a lot of stuff about Korea, second language teaching pedagogy, and Korean politics. Combined with the ASL practice, I am happy that I had enough time to write this journal.
Speaking of said journal, I have been rambling. I am sorry. Way too long, but one last thing. I got a stuffed animal as a present from one of my co-teachers for Halloween. It is adorable. I am also having a Halloween party tomorrow. It should be fun.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Happy Chuseok: Jimjilbangs, Palaces, and Incheon
I’m at a weird fork right now. I just got a note saying more funding is now available and they would like to offer me the Fulbright award. Fantastic. The problem is it was for the 2009-2010 academic year, which means if I would accept the award, I would have to leave now. I have asked to defer the award and I hope that this is a possibility. If not, I will have a hard decision to make. Especially because life here is SO good.
Tuesday, the 29th, I had my demonstration class. It was a lot of stress practicing for the class, because my co-teacher, who normally does not speak too much during my classes, had to speak in front of the class and use English just as much as me. So we rehearsed and rehearsed. The lesson was about idioms, which was not my cup of tea, and it was, I must admit, kind of dull. However, it went off really well in the classroom, the students were great, and our supervisors thought we did an awesome job. I was jokingly offered a job at another school. Sometimes I think they are biased just because I have blond hair.
After the lesson, my colleagues and superiors brought I Wol-Su, my co-teacher, out for dinner. It was a delicious meal, with huge slabs of fatty pork grilled in front of us and served with tons of side dishes. Wol-Su got a little tipsy because they wouldn’t stop giving us soju and she ended up crying because of all the built up stress from the demonstration class. I feel like this would have spoiled the fun in the US, but we just ended up all going to the noraebang (karaoke) and sang for a couple of hours. I got a 100 on a Korean pop song somehow and had to slap 10,000 won on the screen. A couple of the Koreans also got a perfect score, and at the end there was 50,000 won on the TV. They decided to use it to buy yogurt for everyone on Thursday. This is a weird country.
After school and badminton practice on Wednesday, I met up with my Korean friend, who prefers to be called Jerry, and we got coffee and then he helped me pick out a desktop. It is now hooked up to my TV, which makes my room sweet. Did I mention that for some reason I have a flat screen TV? It took a while to figure out the sound, but now I have speakers and can watch The Office to my hearts’ desire.
Since my lesson was about holidays, I was really excited on Thursday for the start of Chuseok. Since traffic is incredibly horrible during Chuseok in Korea, I decided to stay in Seoul. That did not damper my vacation however. I decided that I was going to leave on Thursday and not return to my house in Kangnam until Sunday. I was halfway joking, but somehow it did turn out this way. On Thursday night, Nick, Ais, Katy, Jerry and I met up. We went to a Moroccan restaurant, delicious, and then, like good Moroccans, smoked water pipe. Afterward, we went to Itaewon and danced for a while. Around two, we were starting to get really tired. We didn’t want to go home, however, so Nick, Katy, Jerry and I went to a sauna, or jimjilbang, and had the time of our lives. It was amazing. This jimjilbang was five stories. The first story had pools, and after checking in your clothes, you would bathe naked in these pools of various temperatures. Afterward, you shower, head upstairs and face tons of choices. On the second floor, there were places to sleep and a play place for children. Third floor there were more beds, and massage chairs. Also, these hot sauna rooms and an ice room. It was like an igloo! The fourth floor had a gym and finally the fifth floor had these cubicle type sleeping boxes. They had a yo (sleeping mat) inside of each cubicle, and although you didn’t get a pillow, it was still decently comfortable. Did I mention that this experience only cost six bucks, and you can sleep over? Any traveling I do within the country will involve sleeping at these amazing saunas.
Friday morning we woke up relatively early and headed off for an American style breakfast. I ordered the “Lumberjack Special”, and for the first time in around ten years I actually heartily enjoyed my bacon. Korea is changing me. Afterward, we had our first truly historical experience with our visit of Gyeonbokgung Palace. Since Jerry was there, he gave us a fantastic tour. The weather was amazing, and some of the buildings in the complex combined with the weather created a picture so idealistic that it gave me shivers. Like any palace, there were different buildings for different functions. The family hierarchy was fascinating, with a strong emphasis on the mother of the king as well as his first son. Throughout the complex there would be wide ramps that were needed for the women in the court. Since they wore apparently gigantic dresses, they needed these ramps so they could move around otherwise they would fall on stairs (since they couldn’t see them!). There was also a room that was specifically for the King and Queen to make love, as well as a room for the King’s other wives. Koreans do NOT talk about sex explicitly, so these rooms had an implication of sex that Jerry would note by making finger quotes. It was hilarious. Afterward, we caught a glimpse of the Blue House, which is where the Korean president lives.
Jerry also taught us about the zodiac. Apparently, Koreans used to tell time using the Chinese Zodiac. I think my sign, the rabbit, is used for the time between six and eight am. Apparently, if it is six in the morning you can say, oh it is rabbit time. After pictures with out zodiac symbols and a quick museum trip, we headed out of the complex and headed home. All of a sudden, we were in City Hall and there was a huge fountain. Nick and I couldn’t help but jump in. All the Koreans were laughing at the two of us, probably thinking that these foreigners, wae-guks, were crazy. Although I wouldn’t say I regretted my decision, we had to walk around for a couple of hours afterward to dry off. By then, it was getting late, so I went back to Ais’ house and we ended up spending the evening watching episodes of Law & Order and ordered a pizza. It was Domino’s.
Saturday we woke up late and decided to go to Incheon, which is the fourth largest city in Korea and the location of the main airport. It was just the two of us, which made it really exciting. Incheon has the only Chinatown in Korea, so we started out looking at all the goods and then wondered to Wolmi island or Wolmido.
We were just wandering around and happened on this carnival. It was so weird. It was like we stumbled onto Korean Coney Island. We grabbed some fried shrimp, bought a corndog, and I threw some darts and won two stuffed penguins, one for Ais and one for me. We also went on to one of those carnival rides that are kind of like an elevator except your feet dangle and they shoot you up really fast and shoot you down. It was probably one of the scariest things ever. Not necessarily the ride itself, but the fact that they didn’t check to see if we were buckled in. Not cool. Luckily, Ais and I had pulled the bars over our heads and we screamed our faces off. The ride didn’t just go once, however, but went through the entire sequence four times. Afterward, we headed back to mainland Incheon and saw another Korean drum festival. A guy gave us some traditional songpyeon, Korean rice cake, and a potato pancake and then made us pound at the rice cake’s dough. We also walked around this re-creation of a traditional Korean village. There were houses, farms, and streams and it looked like Hobbiton. There was also this game where you would jump on a seesaw with a partner and try to bounce as high as possible using your partner’s weight. The first time Ais and I tried I was so confused and could not figure out the timing. We spent about ten minutes watching the Koreans, and then they pushed us back on the ‘seesaw’. This time our timing was perfect, and we were getting WAY more air than the Koreans. Within seconds, a crowd surrounded us.
By this point, we were ready to see the actual city. We got into the city, bought a cup of coffee, and chatted about theater. Inspiration hit us out of nowhere and we decided to do Rocky Horror Picture Show in Seoul. Thrilled, we jumped back on the train to Seoul, downloaded the movie on iTunes, and watched it while taking notes. The script has been hammered out and we are currently casting, so if you are interested, let me know!
Sunday was a slow day. After the fullness of Friday and Saturday, it was a relief. I came home in the afternoon and watched Mean Girls with the others in my apartment. On Monday, which we also had off for Chuseok, Rachel and I went grocery shopping and, since she was a costuming major in college, we continued to discuss Rocky Horror. I’m pretty sure we can actually pull this off. It is going to be incredible. I made some chili that evening and afterward Jerry came over. He did some more work on my computer and now it is pretty much set. Sonali, Mark, Rachel and I spent the evening working on Korean words, and then it was back to the workweek on Monday.
So far, I have had a slow week. Tuesday and Wednesday were my only days to teach, and my lesson was a little sub-par. Tuesday night I went to Seorae Mal, the French area, and got a delicious seafood dish and a nice glass of wine at an Italian restaurant. Last night, Nick convinced me to go to a casino and I agreed, but only brought 30 bucks. Somehow I won 70 on roulette. It was my first time, so it was definitely beginner’s luck which means I shouldn’t go back.
The student’s have mid-terms this week which means I do not have to teach today or tomorrow. It also means I get to leave school around noon. I might go to Pusan this weekend if I can find a cheap bus. And, unlike last weekend, I will make sure I bring my camera.
Tuesday, the 29th, I had my demonstration class. It was a lot of stress practicing for the class, because my co-teacher, who normally does not speak too much during my classes, had to speak in front of the class and use English just as much as me. So we rehearsed and rehearsed. The lesson was about idioms, which was not my cup of tea, and it was, I must admit, kind of dull. However, it went off really well in the classroom, the students were great, and our supervisors thought we did an awesome job. I was jokingly offered a job at another school. Sometimes I think they are biased just because I have blond hair.
After the lesson, my colleagues and superiors brought I Wol-Su, my co-teacher, out for dinner. It was a delicious meal, with huge slabs of fatty pork grilled in front of us and served with tons of side dishes. Wol-Su got a little tipsy because they wouldn’t stop giving us soju and she ended up crying because of all the built up stress from the demonstration class. I feel like this would have spoiled the fun in the US, but we just ended up all going to the noraebang (karaoke) and sang for a couple of hours. I got a 100 on a Korean pop song somehow and had to slap 10,000 won on the screen. A couple of the Koreans also got a perfect score, and at the end there was 50,000 won on the TV. They decided to use it to buy yogurt for everyone on Thursday. This is a weird country.
After school and badminton practice on Wednesday, I met up with my Korean friend, who prefers to be called Jerry, and we got coffee and then he helped me pick out a desktop. It is now hooked up to my TV, which makes my room sweet. Did I mention that for some reason I have a flat screen TV? It took a while to figure out the sound, but now I have speakers and can watch The Office to my hearts’ desire.
Since my lesson was about holidays, I was really excited on Thursday for the start of Chuseok. Since traffic is incredibly horrible during Chuseok in Korea, I decided to stay in Seoul. That did not damper my vacation however. I decided that I was going to leave on Thursday and not return to my house in Kangnam until Sunday. I was halfway joking, but somehow it did turn out this way. On Thursday night, Nick, Ais, Katy, Jerry and I met up. We went to a Moroccan restaurant, delicious, and then, like good Moroccans, smoked water pipe. Afterward, we went to Itaewon and danced for a while. Around two, we were starting to get really tired. We didn’t want to go home, however, so Nick, Katy, Jerry and I went to a sauna, or jimjilbang, and had the time of our lives. It was amazing. This jimjilbang was five stories. The first story had pools, and after checking in your clothes, you would bathe naked in these pools of various temperatures. Afterward, you shower, head upstairs and face tons of choices. On the second floor, there were places to sleep and a play place for children. Third floor there were more beds, and massage chairs. Also, these hot sauna rooms and an ice room. It was like an igloo! The fourth floor had a gym and finally the fifth floor had these cubicle type sleeping boxes. They had a yo (sleeping mat) inside of each cubicle, and although you didn’t get a pillow, it was still decently comfortable. Did I mention that this experience only cost six bucks, and you can sleep over? Any traveling I do within the country will involve sleeping at these amazing saunas.
Friday morning we woke up relatively early and headed off for an American style breakfast. I ordered the “Lumberjack Special”, and for the first time in around ten years I actually heartily enjoyed my bacon. Korea is changing me. Afterward, we had our first truly historical experience with our visit of Gyeonbokgung Palace. Since Jerry was there, he gave us a fantastic tour. The weather was amazing, and some of the buildings in the complex combined with the weather created a picture so idealistic that it gave me shivers. Like any palace, there were different buildings for different functions. The family hierarchy was fascinating, with a strong emphasis on the mother of the king as well as his first son. Throughout the complex there would be wide ramps that were needed for the women in the court. Since they wore apparently gigantic dresses, they needed these ramps so they could move around otherwise they would fall on stairs (since they couldn’t see them!). There was also a room that was specifically for the King and Queen to make love, as well as a room for the King’s other wives. Koreans do NOT talk about sex explicitly, so these rooms had an implication of sex that Jerry would note by making finger quotes. It was hilarious. Afterward, we caught a glimpse of the Blue House, which is where the Korean president lives.
Jerry also taught us about the zodiac. Apparently, Koreans used to tell time using the Chinese Zodiac. I think my sign, the rabbit, is used for the time between six and eight am. Apparently, if it is six in the morning you can say, oh it is rabbit time. After pictures with out zodiac symbols and a quick museum trip, we headed out of the complex and headed home. All of a sudden, we were in City Hall and there was a huge fountain. Nick and I couldn’t help but jump in. All the Koreans were laughing at the two of us, probably thinking that these foreigners, wae-guks, were crazy. Although I wouldn’t say I regretted my decision, we had to walk around for a couple of hours afterward to dry off. By then, it was getting late, so I went back to Ais’ house and we ended up spending the evening watching episodes of Law & Order and ordered a pizza. It was Domino’s.
Saturday we woke up late and decided to go to Incheon, which is the fourth largest city in Korea and the location of the main airport. It was just the two of us, which made it really exciting. Incheon has the only Chinatown in Korea, so we started out looking at all the goods and then wondered to Wolmi island or Wolmido.
We were just wandering around and happened on this carnival. It was so weird. It was like we stumbled onto Korean Coney Island. We grabbed some fried shrimp, bought a corndog, and I threw some darts and won two stuffed penguins, one for Ais and one for me. We also went on to one of those carnival rides that are kind of like an elevator except your feet dangle and they shoot you up really fast and shoot you down. It was probably one of the scariest things ever. Not necessarily the ride itself, but the fact that they didn’t check to see if we were buckled in. Not cool. Luckily, Ais and I had pulled the bars over our heads and we screamed our faces off. The ride didn’t just go once, however, but went through the entire sequence four times. Afterward, we headed back to mainland Incheon and saw another Korean drum festival. A guy gave us some traditional songpyeon, Korean rice cake, and a potato pancake and then made us pound at the rice cake’s dough. We also walked around this re-creation of a traditional Korean village. There were houses, farms, and streams and it looked like Hobbiton. There was also this game where you would jump on a seesaw with a partner and try to bounce as high as possible using your partner’s weight. The first time Ais and I tried I was so confused and could not figure out the timing. We spent about ten minutes watching the Koreans, and then they pushed us back on the ‘seesaw’. This time our timing was perfect, and we were getting WAY more air than the Koreans. Within seconds, a crowd surrounded us.
By this point, we were ready to see the actual city. We got into the city, bought a cup of coffee, and chatted about theater. Inspiration hit us out of nowhere and we decided to do Rocky Horror Picture Show in Seoul. Thrilled, we jumped back on the train to Seoul, downloaded the movie on iTunes, and watched it while taking notes. The script has been hammered out and we are currently casting, so if you are interested, let me know!
Sunday was a slow day. After the fullness of Friday and Saturday, it was a relief. I came home in the afternoon and watched Mean Girls with the others in my apartment. On Monday, which we also had off for Chuseok, Rachel and I went grocery shopping and, since she was a costuming major in college, we continued to discuss Rocky Horror. I’m pretty sure we can actually pull this off. It is going to be incredible. I made some chili that evening and afterward Jerry came over. He did some more work on my computer and now it is pretty much set. Sonali, Mark, Rachel and I spent the evening working on Korean words, and then it was back to the workweek on Monday.
So far, I have had a slow week. Tuesday and Wednesday were my only days to teach, and my lesson was a little sub-par. Tuesday night I went to Seorae Mal, the French area, and got a delicious seafood dish and a nice glass of wine at an Italian restaurant. Last night, Nick convinced me to go to a casino and I agreed, but only brought 30 bucks. Somehow I won 70 on roulette. It was my first time, so it was definitely beginner’s luck which means I shouldn’t go back.
The student’s have mid-terms this week which means I do not have to teach today or tomorrow. It also means I get to leave school around noon. I might go to Pusan this weekend if I can find a cheap bus. And, unlike last weekend, I will make sure I bring my camera.
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