Ice Cream and Vitamins= Stamina?

I've been a little bummed out all day.  No specific reason (though yesterday's meeting didn't help).  I'm just feeling homesick and generally down.  Also, I still feel vaguely ill.  I hate that feeling, I wish my immune system would make a decision one way or the other.

It was really windy this morning.  Dust blew off the children's field out our window, our apartment hallway howled and parts of the track were wind tunnels when we ran this morning.  It almost looked like a storm was going to roll in, but it didn't.  I read online that there is a typhoon (Melor) just off of Japan.  It's supposed to hit land early tomorrow.  I wonder if that had any affect on our weather.  Japan blocks Korea from most of the extreme "ocean" weather, but I'm sure that some gets through to us.

I got to work a few minutes late today because the bus was behind and traffic was bad.  Just as I went to my desk to put my stuff away, "Hank" told me that it was coffee time.  So, I went and had coffee with the other teachers, Chun wha and "Hank."  I really tried to be smiley and talkative, but my mood must have shown through because everyone told me I looked tired and asked me if I was sick.  I told them that I didn't think so.  They even looked up the translation for "chest congestion" on the internet.  Again, I told them "Not really."  Then "Hank" suddenly disappeared.  When he came back he had a bunch of little health drinks and vitamins.  He gave all of us one of each and we took them.  They told me "Cheer up."  It was a pretty strange experience, but I truly appreciate their thoughts.  Though I feel a little ill, I have a feeling that they know that I'm not really sick and that this was their way of being emotionally supportive.  Koreans don't seem to deal with emotions very well.  Or at all, really.

When I got done with classes today "Hank" and Chun wha greeted me with Baskin Robbins ice cream.  They packaged some up for me to take home for Ian and I.  Now that's a medicine I won't question.

Now for the lighter side...  My favorite moment of the day:  "Hank" was leaving the academy to go back to home or work (I'm not sure), he said goodbye to me and then he and Chun wha high-fived.  It was awesome.  Korean's don't publicly show affection to a member of the opposite sex (though little things like holding hands has become acceptable), so their little show of couple-ness struck me as uber cute.

I need more things to write about on these average days, so please give me suggestions.  Asking specific questions would be great!  Try to convince Ian to write, too!

Terrible Day

I didn't want to name this post "Terrible Day," so I Googled that to see if I could come up with something clever.  You know what the first link was?  An ESL worksheet.  Damn it.

Our meetings with Julia have been moved to Tuesdays at 11am.  And, as you've heard after every meeting we've ever had, they are not very fun.  Today's meeting, however, takes the cake.

The meeting started with us talking about our upcoming paychecks.  Luckily, because the 10th is on a Saturday, we'll be paid on Friday.  And it's direct deposit, so that helps.  Then, as usual, Julia pulled out her little notebook full of "suggestions" for us.  Except they're not suggestions, because there is no back and forth.  Julia talks, pretends to listen to us (she actually listens a bit to Ian) and then finishes her thought or moves on to a new suggestions.

I never come out of those meetings in very good shape.  Ian is hard to pick on, so even though Ian and I do many of the same things at work, I bear the vast majority of criticism.  A few weeks ago I was told that I was meek in the class room.  I probably was, considering I have never taught before and I received no training.  So, I thought I'd toughen up a bit and make sure my students respect me. I started disciplining instead of laughing things off.  Last week Julia told me that my "voice is too high" (illustrated with raised hands) at times in the class room.  She didn't mean tone (which is obvious for anyone who knows me), she meant volume.  Well, yeah, Julia, I've had too yell a few times.  Ian yells a lot.  Oh, right, he's a man.  That's one of the cleanest-cut ways to illustrate how contradictory she is.

Apparently, Ian and I need to spend more preparing our "materials." Which, admittedly, we could do.  We spend every Thursday morning creating lesson plans, but we could do more.  We just need legitimate direction.  She wants us to play games in class, but the book must be filled out to impress the parents (who are paying a fortune).  She told us about a South African couple that worked for her for three years at her other academy.  According to her, they were always thinking about ways to get through to their younger students.  They were so creative that they game up with a game involving two cups and a string!  So, Ian and I brought up the other version of telephone (the one where the students pass a phrase on in a circle).  We thought that'd be a great way to get the students to think about sentences and phrases and the importance of the way they say things.  Julia didn't like our version.  Apparently it's too repetitive.

Ian and I get to work an hour early every day.  We do our final preparations and make copies, which leaves us with about a half hour to kill.  So, we've brought books occasionally.  I hardly get a chance to read mine, but Ian finds time, which is good because it settles your brain between classes.  We are no longer allowed to read "private" books.  Which I understand.  But, it's okay for us to hang out on the internet.  It's all about appearances, after all.  It's important for you to understand that I run my class schedules based on the time on my cell phone.  All the clocks at school are different.  I can count on my phone to be consistent.  The reason Julia gave for disallowing books is this:  Apparently, one day I was late to class according to the clock in the classroom.  I always change them, but they never stick.  The students asked the principle where I was (two minutes in, mind you).  She said that I was gathering my materials and that I would be right in.  That's when the little dears said "Nuhuh, she's reading her "private" book."  So, if I indulge my own brain for five minutes the company loses face.  Therefore, no more books.

Though both Ian and I have read at work, Julia only mentioned my behavior.  Today, when I had forgotten to write my the classes page numbers on the attendance sheet, she said "Ian filled out his for JanlRak and Goam, but you did not."  Awesome.  She also pointed to my teaching at Ha So a lot (which makes sense since I am there three days a week).  But, that makes me feel strange about our relationship with Chun wha.  We're supposed to be friends, so if there's something I can improve on, I'd rather her come to me.

Every meeting has been bad.  But Julia managed to shatter a month's worth of confidence in her teachers in an hour and a half.  I asked her today if we could be taken to Seoul to watch other Yoon's teachers or at least see a tape (both of which we were promised at some point).  She made a lot of excuses and said no.  She added that next year, when new teachers come, they will be happy because they will have us to watch.  Subtext: "You're SOL."  To be honest, if they had been up front about us being the first native teachers for Yoon's, I would have declined the job.  Unfortunately, they didn't even give us the correct name for the school in the beginning.  Part of me wants to contact Asia, I just don't know what to say.

Today was filled with many things we hate about South Korea.  Don't worry, there are things we love, too.  Like:

Fishy bread!  No fish involved.  It's a fresh crispy donut-y type filled thing.  They're really cheap from street carts.  W800 for two.  That's less than a buck.  This one was filled with a Bavarian creme of sorts.  Yummy.

I appreciate you sticking it out through all that complaining.  I'd share the fishy bread if I could, but the interwebs just aren't technologically advanced enough, yet.

A Korean Fairy Tale or Two

Today was an average Monday.  It didn't drag as much as usual because we didn't have class on Friday, so the material's not as old hat.  I only took one photograph today.

I took this photo out my bus window.  I was struck by how European she looked.  Her style, the trike, the basket... The only thing that screamed Korea was her position in the middle of busy traffic.

I forgot to report on how my kids' did with the Burgerville assignment.  Most of them did it pretty half-assed, choosing things that made me unsure of whether or not they even went to the website.  But, the students that fully participated did well.  Almost all chose the Tillamook Cheeseburger and several chose strawberry milkshakes.  One girl chose strawberry lemonade and one of the berry sundaes.  She went all out.  I like her style.

One of Ian's classes talked about mythology today.  Two stories they told him were about a nine tailed fox and a story involving goat children and a wolf (think Three Little Pigs meets Little Red Riding Hood).  I did some wikipedia-ing and found a few things.  If you want to know more, it's pretty easy to find this stuff on Google and Wikipedia.

The nine tailed fox is called a Gumiho (or Kumiho).  This creature is capable of changing it's appearance as it wishes, but it is never fully successful.  There is always something animal-like or fox-like about it.  It uses it's ability to trick people (usually into marrying it, but I don't know what it gains from this), though the creature wasn't always considered evil.  Every story of it's transformation (save for one) has it changing into a woman.  Go figure.

The other story was more familiar:  A goat-woman leaves her seven (Korean lucky number) goat children at home while she runs to the market.  The ubiquitous malicious wolf, knowing she is out, moves in to trick the children, so he may have them for dinner.  He dips his paw in flour and waves it through a small opening in the door, telling the children that "Mother is home, you may unlock the door."  The goat-children do so and discover a terrifying wolf to be behind the door instead of their mother.  They run and run, but eventually the wolf catches and eats six of the seven.  Feeling full, the wolf lays down for a nap.  The seventh child comes out of hiding and sees the wolf asleep.  He slits open the wolf's belly and out pop his six siblings.  They fill the wolf's now empty belly with rocks and throw him in the river.  The end.

The Korean creation myth is pretty interesting, too.  It's too long and complicated to try and summarize it here, but I recommend you look it up.

Numbers are important to Koreans and Korean mythology.  Seven is a lucky number, referring to the Seven Pronged Sword which is an archeological and historical treasure of both South Korea and Japan (though archeologists say it's origins are in Korea).  Four is a very unlucky and bad number.  In our elevator the floors are as follows: 1, 2, 3, F, 5, 6... Just as many American elevators skip 13 because of it's connotations, Korean elevators skip 4.  4's unluckiness stems from a homonym (like most Eastern numerology).  The word for four (pinyin sì ) sounds almost identical to the Chinese word for death (pinyin sǐ ).  

If you're interested in more of this, it's super easy to find online.  Also, you could ask me specific questions and I could look them up and ask around for you.

Happy Monday!

Food Coma

We took it pretty easy today.  Laziness seems to be our Sunday routine.  When I woke up this morning I was still full from last night.  That's a pretty gross feeling.  After lazing about (e.g. eating nachos and watching Flash Forward) we decided to hop a bus and wander around.  So, today was one of our usual walkabout and people watch days.  Seems a little boring when you think about it, but I quite like them.

It's getting a lot colder here.  I definitely don't have enough "in between" clothing.  It's amazing how fast the season changed.  Just last week we were saying, "No, it's still pretty hot and muggy here."  Now it's crisp and dry.  I actually like it, it's just strange not knowing what to expect from the seasons.  We'd gotten pretty comfortable with the Pacific Northwest, granted Korea's weather is supposed to be more predictable.

The buses here are not set up in the most economical way.  There are double seats on some buses, but not many from what I've seen.

Today's bus had an extended, lofted back seat.  It stretched from one side of the bus to the other.  It was necessary to hold on at times.

We took my bus (605) to Ha So because Ian had never seen that neighborhood.  It didn't really hold much for us except S-Mart.

I'm really not sure why everything is mart.

This was next to S-Mart.  If you join the Muscle and Fitness Club you, too, can look like them.

In S-Mart (the "KMart" of the Korean marts) there were only a few finds.

This seems to be kim (seaweed) flavored soymilk.  Though, it's difficult to know for sure.

So, they do have microwave popcorn here.  But, when I asked my students if they ever ate popcorn at home they acted as though it was the strangest thing they had ever heard.  It must not be popular.

Our booty.  Cherry Cokes, packaged yakwas (not even close to as good as Chun wha's), black bean sauce and popcorn.  I don't know why we got the Cokes.  We didn't like them very much.  They're the same as they are in the states, we just prefer diet Coke.

This farm patch was near the mart.  It still amazes me how the farmland is mixed into an urban or suburban setting.

"Reborn Resoap!"  The deeper meaning behind lather, rinse, repeat.

This is above the little town square (where the fountain and shopping center is).  If you can't read it, it says "Natural Beauty Obsity Clinic."

At least it's spelled right on this window.

The Curry Pot sells "natural and healthy" food.

Like cheddar covered spaghetti.  This restaurant is nearly across the street from the clinic.  Coincidence?

We decided we would watch the movie "Gamer" (bad idea, terrible movie), so we went to buy tickets.  This couple was in the theater.  We've been seeing more and more couples dressed alike.  It seems that it is a trend here.  A frightening, frightening trend.

We ate dinner at a pizza and toast (toasted sandwiches) place.  In this restaurant they really want you to think about "People Baking Toast."

While we waited an absurdly long time for our "yachae picha" we took amusing close ups of each other's faces.  I'm sure everyone was wondering what the hell the Americans were doing.

                                           

I thought I'd give you all a better mental picture of where we live.  So, here's a map of Jecheon.  Well, most of it.

The red arrow is approximately where our apartment is and the white arrow is approximately downtown (where everything else is).  Most of the photos you see happen between those two locations, but we try to give you pictures from all over.

Well, our weekends about over.  Enjoy the rest of yours!

Ain't No Party Like a Chuseok After Party

Tonight was a blast.  Chun wha and her family are amazing.  They picked us up around three and brought us back to the house.  There we met their kids (both very nice, but a bit awkward and shy) and gorged on amazing homemade Korean food for four hours straight.  I'm not kidding, and I don't mean that we grazed like Americans do when they gather, no we were expected to eat up, and eat up we did.  I didn't take any pictures in their home, simply because I didn't want to risk making anyone uncomfortable.  Though, Chun wha's husband works for Hyundai as an engineer, they live in an apartment about twice the size of ours.  It seems that Koreans prefer to live in smaller spaces, which makes a lot of sense, because it's a pretty small country.  Their apartment was very tidy and their floor was impossibly clean (we sat on it to eat, of course).  There was japchae (sweet potato noodles with veggies), salad, ha-mul pajeon (Korean "pancakes" with vegetables),roasted chestnuts, eggs and sweet potatoes and PLENTY of different kinds of dduk (the generic name for Korean rice cakes and cookies).  There was no meat in sight except for a very small side of beef.  It was very welcoming.

One of my favorites was the yakwa.  They're pretty much honey and flour (rice or wheat) cookies fried in oil.  So, they have the simple sweetness of a sugar cookie, but the same satisfying fatty taste of, say, a cornchip.  Yeah, they can't be good for you.  Image source (sorry, I didn't take it):

http://english.visitseoul.net/visit2007en/lodgingdining/fooddrinks/fooddrinks.jsp?cid=107&sid=1023

Along with the intense amount of food there was also a lot of alcohol.  Ian and I managed pretty well.  Our "anio" (no) abilities and the intense amount of food we were eating helped us stay sober.  Chun wha's husband (whom we've mentally named Hank because we are having a ridiculous amount of trouble with his real name), however got pretty tipsy.  In fact, he not only knocked my wine glass over on me, but he broke it.  It was hilarious.  They are great to be around.  When the food orgy began to wain, dinner was suggested.  Ian and I almost died, but they ordered a veggie pizza and insisted that we each eat two slices.  After four and a half hours of being pumped full of food and liquor (Autralian wine, Korean wine [more like a liquor], mokoli, soju, Korean sake, and Johnnie Walker) it was decided that we should go to the noribang (Karaoke rooms).

At the noribang there was singing, dancing, laughing and beer.  Yes, beer.  On top of all that food and drink there was now beer.  By the way, Koreans are the kings of peer pressure.  So much for that "just always keep some in your glass" rule.  They just tell you to drink it, so they can refill it.  The place didn't smell all that great, but I've decided that in Korea some places just kind of smell.  They don't flush toilet paper, so the bathrooms eminate a funk from the garbage can.  Side note:  that's one thing on which Ian and I won't cave.  The toilet paper goes down the toilet; our apartment is much too small for that business.

We're singing "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."  We also sang "Somebody Told Me" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" (complete with Wayne's World head banging) among others.

They mostly chose slow songs.  Their daughter had me sing "Because of You" by Kelly Clarkson with her at one point.

This picture is too dark, but it kind of gives you an idea of what the rooms are like.  You can see the disco light and everything.

We were almost home when I heard a cat meowing (a strange occurrence here).  I stopped to see if I could see anything and a tiny little tabby cat came out from under a truck to greet me.

I'm pretty sure it was a female, but it was dark.  She was very affectionate, but she was rooting around on us a lot, so we decided to get her something to eat.  Ian ran over to the store and bought her a hot dog on a stick.  She gobbled it like there was no tomorrow.  We put what she didn't eat in a safe place on the ground and put her down next to it.  But, when we went to walk away she cried a little and followed us.  We started thinking of our options and decided that since there was no way we could keep a cat (no space and we're never home) that we'd call the animal shelter in Asan and ask for their advice.  Well, when we decided we would pick the cat up and do this, she decided to head somewhere else.  If I see her again and she seems as hungry and cold as she did tonight, we'll get her to the shelter.  I wish we could just take her in, but we live in a box.

So, that was our eventful evening.  Now, I believe we're going to settle in and watch Flash Forward.  Have a good Saturday!

It's a Chuseok Miracle!

Today was the first day since we've been in Korea that we allowed ourselves to wake up naturally without setting an alarm.  It was very nice.  I woke up at about 10:15.

We doddled around the apartment for a bit, washed our sheets (you have to let them dry all day) and ate breakfast.  Then we went out for a run.  We decided to go over to this little park that we can see from our window.  From our window we can see a green patch and a gazebo, so we figured it was a little nature park.  When we got there it turned out that there wasn't much nature to run in, but that there was a little family park with a small track attached to it.  It was so nice to run in a place filled with other active people.  It reminded me of neighborhood parks or even college campuses at home.  I think we have a new running place.  Plus, though the track isn't ideal (it's more like slightly padded cement), it's still better than the asphalt on which we've been running.

When we got back we went to Lotte Mart because we were running low on groceries.  Because Chuseok is tomorrow, there were about twice as many people in the store.

Including this couple who thought to themselves "Gee, we like each other a lot, maybe we should dress like each other, too!"  The girl is pushing the cart and the guy is standing next to it.  They're probably close to Ian and my age.  Only their shoes were different.

Hershey's seems to have exploded in Korea.  I Googled it, but found nothing that made me understand why we couldn't find it two weeks ago and now we can find it all over the place. (from left to right: Hershey's with almonds, Hershey's nuggets of various flavors, and Hershey's Kisses)

As I've mentioned, Chuseok is all about the gift pack.  Pretty much anything that you can buy in a grocery store here is available in gift pack.

Rice cakes are some of the gift packs that make the most sense to me, but you can also buy fresh meat, produce, and canned goods like Spam to give as gifts, too. I couldn't get a picture of the Spam.  Maybe Lotte Mart was sold out, because normally they are everywhere you turn.  Feel free to Google "Korea Spam gift pack" if you're curious.

Now for our Chuseok miracle.

Real cheese!  Ironically, we would reject this terrible excuse for sharpness in the states, much preferring Tillamook or something less mass produced.  But, in Korea we are MORE THAN HAPPY to eat this.  I mean, look how happy he is.

So, naturally, we made nachos and mexi-veggies for dinner.  It was delicious.  Though, the amazing mexi-veggies (made with a jalapeno pepper's Korean cousin) were so good that they over shadowed the cheese a bit.

So, we're going over to Chun wha's tomorrow for the equivalent of a Chuseok after party.  I thought I'd tell you a bit about the holiday.  I'm going to try to do this one without doing anymore internet research.  Let's see how much I've learned from living here.

Chuseok is Korea's harvest festival.  It's also called Hangawi and a few other things as well.  All of it's names refer to "Great Middle," though I'm not sure why, as it's not considered the middle of the year.  It falls on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar.  Expat's often refer to it as Korean Thanksgiving, and that's pretty accurate.  Chuseok is about food, family, and having a good time, just like it's American cousin.  However, Chuseok has a memorial aspect to it, as well.  The eve is traditionally used to visit one's ancestral  tombs and to pay homage.  There is a specific, sorrowful bow used for this.  One gets on their knees before the grave and bows forward until their head is on or near the ground, arms stretched in front of them.  Food offerings are given (sometimes on tables at home, or at the site itself) and incense is burned.

Another main difference between American Thanksgiving and Chuseok is gift giving.  Gift giving is common for Chuseok and the gifts usually reflect the fact that it is a harvest holiday.  People commonly gives packs of apples and other food.  Gift packs are sometimes used to give a group of people a gift to share.

Hanbok's were traditional Chuseok attire for a great while, but they've fallen out of style.  This is probably because they are uncomfortable and difficult to maneuver.  I can't imagine cooking in one.  Chuseok has changed in other ways, too.  Because it often extends a weekend (three days are given for this holiday, though this year, two are on a weekend), more and more Koreans are using this holiday for travel abroad instead of staying home.  Also, there are some people that give offerings to their deceased love ones via internet sites that allow for a person to participate emotionally and symbolically.  It is more common for people to hire companies to care for grave sites and tombs now.  Korean's lives have become more industrial only recently (within the last 20 years or so), so these changes, though inevitable, are pretty new.

Other than that, the holidays are pretty similar.  The women cook and the men and children play games or watch t.v.  They eat all day and enjoy the company of their families.  It's easy for foreigners to feel homesick during this time.

Maybe I'll learn more about the holiday on a personal level tomorrow.  I'll be sure to let you all know.  I'll take as many pictures as possible, but we will be in their home, so I'll have to be careful not to intrude.

Have an excellent Friday.  I know ours was good.

Hey, you there, name this post for me.

Ian and I slept until 10am this morning.  Sounds fun, but we had to do lesson plans.  Which meant no run.  The sleep was good, though.  I haven't been feeling very well.  I haven't really been feeling sick, either.  I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of "coming down with something."

  It was WAY too warm at Ha So today.  The thermostat was set to 27 Celsius.  That's a little over 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  It was not exactly pleasant. 

Today flew by.  Thursdays always do because our material is fresh.  For my last two classes (my two most fluent groups), I decided to ignore the book just talk to them for the most part.  In the first of the two, we discussed the ways in which America is different from Korea and vice versa.  Unfortunately, the students didn't really start to get brave until the end when I was met with "Americans keep guns" and "Korea is one country and America is made of many."  It was so awesome to address culture in such an open way.  I only wish the students were less shy with their English.  I'm sure as they get comfortable with me, they'll have more confidence in their skills and talk more.  My last class today closed with each student asking me a question.  They were pretty predictable, like "Do you have a boyfriend?" and "How did you know to come to Korea?" but it was still fun.  I'm amazed at how the fetishism over being a foreigner is equally flattering and frustrating.

I got an email from Ian today chronicling an mini-adventure he had right before work.

"So I didn't pack myself anything for lunch today, but being the large man that I am I decided that I would need to eat something in order to refrain from devouring my students.  I walked about a block down and found a small restaurant that sold Kimbop and, being that it is one of the only things that I can order, I did so.  It was average, mild in flavor, but filling.  Most importantly it is very very cheap.  One roll is about 95 cents US, I ate two.  But what was really nice was near the end of my meal and small child, perhaps one and a half or two came to my table, crawled onto the chair and sat down.  I offered her some of the sides that inevitably come with any Korean meal.  Her mother swiftly moved her away laughing, but luckily for me the child came back again.  This time gladly accepting my offerings.  It was one of the only things that has happened here that made me feel really normal.  It was quite a pleasant way to start work."

I thought it was a cute story.  It was weird to read it, however, since he didn't preface his story in the email.  It left me thinking "Did he mean to email this to me?"  Anyway, there's a little bit of Ian for you.  This time sans violence against Korean women and children.

Ian tried to make cheese last night.

This is one of the most disgusting pictures I've ever taken.  Milk turns my stomach, so the smell of hot milk was not my favorite.  You're welcome.

We couldn't find real cheese cloth, so Ian tried to make due with a look-a-like.  Unfortunately, it wouldn't drain.

So, Ian created this contraption to allow it to drain slowly overnight in the fridge.  Sadly, it... didn't.  So, we had to throw it out.  All our dreams of nachos and sandwiches were a little premature.

Chun wha gave a fruit today that I had never seen before.

It looked a bit like a wayward tomato, but it tasted delicious.  After classes I asked her if it had an English name.  "Yes," she said.  "Persimmon."  The look on my face was probably priceless.  I felt so dumb. I can't believe I've never eaten or seen one before.  Apparently, that's what I came to Korea for.

So, Ian and I will be going to Chun wha and her husband's house on Saturday afternoon.  There we will be fed Chuseok leftovers and liquor.  It's less like we're participating in Chuseok and more like a Chuseok after party.  I'm happy to be included.  Plus we'll get to meet their son and daughter, who are our age.

No plans for tomorrow.  In an ideal world, we'd travel, but the lack of funds and inconvenience of the holiday makes that impossible.  Tomorrow I'll post about Chuseok, since Mom was the only one who chimed in on what she wanted to know.  :)