All Caught Up!

I told myself I had to be all caught up on my blog before day end February 28, 2010. This date is important because it marks the end of my first 6 months in Korea. I will recap my January and February briefly in this blog post, and if time allows in the future (or if anyone wants more of something), I will revisit any of these events. I want to "clean up shop" on this blog before I start in with a new school year (and the second half of my year here).

I'll do this chronologically the best I can, starting with my return to school after break on Wednesday, January 6, 2010. Remember, school was supposed to start Monday but we had a snow day, and I used a sick day on Tuesday after I was awake with food poisoning all night.

On Wednesday, I was very excited to see Jasmine and Grace, and also to meet my new students, Vicky and Olivia. As I was adjusting to the additions, and they to me, I also had to plan for a visit of 3 other prospective students, Eugene, Micky, and Kevin. They visited for two periods on Wednesday, and began school on Thursday. My class jumped from 2 students to 7 in a matter of 24 hours! On Friday, January 8, 2010 (my 24th birthday!), we had a little party. Jasmine's mother brought us a cake, and Grace's mommy brought me some flowers.

From left: Vicky, Micky, Eugene, Kevin, Molly, Olivia, Jasmine, Grace

Here is a video of the kids singing "Happy Birthday" to me. Please note Grace's perfect attention... to her cake.




After school, all the staff of Kid's College went to eat some duck for our holiday party. After dinner, some of the Korean teachers went with us foreign teachers to norebong to do some karaoke celebrations for Molly Teacher's birthday.


After, norebong, the festivities continued at the WABar where the rest of the evening is a little fuzzy and probably not worth mentioning. It did involve Dustin buying a very large Corona for Luke, and then begging (by the birthday girl) of the bar owner to let Dustin take the bottle home.

On Monday, Jan. 11, I returned to school with a class of only four. Eugene, Mickey, and Kevin decided that going to school in English all day long was too stressful and that they were going to return to their old school.

All girls, yet again: Olivia, Vicky, Jasmine and Grace.

I was told, though, that a new student, Rian (pronounced Ree uhn), would be starting school on Monday, Jan 18. So, I soaked up what was left of our girl time for a week in anticipation of Rian's arrival.

With 3 new permanent students, the group dynamic was very different. The new students read better than my originals, but mine were more confident in their speaking.

Olivia, oh Olivia, she was an active one. She loved to speak Korean, and get out of her seat, and talk all day long, and generally just do what she wanted. Remind you of anyone? Yeah. I love her and she makes me crazy all at the same time.

Vicky was very shy when she began, but grew into a big contributor to class. She worked hard and fast, and was, overall, a positive addition to the classroom. She listened well, asked questions when she didn't know, remembered when I told her different way to say things, etc.

Rian was very quiet and sleepy when he started. I could pretty much count on him to say nothing unless prompted, speak Korean to me regularly, and life hysterically when I responded to him in English. He seemed a lot smaller and younger than the other girls, and I wanted to hold him all day long. Only after he washed his hands, though, because his fingers seem to always be in his nose.

Grace got a lot more spacey as the class grew because I wasn't able to sit next to her and walk her through everything. She was having fun, though, and that's all that really matters.

Jasmine grew into a leadership role because she was able to help everyone with the ways of my classroom. She led by shining example and I will be grateful to her always.

So, once the dust settled, there were five little sort-of-English-speaking Asian babies for me to play with everyday (and get paid for it). My life is awesome.

We celebrated Olivia, Vicky and Rian's birthdays over the course of the 2 months that I had them. For birthdays, we hand-make cards and then the birthday child's mommy brings in cake, fruit, chicken and pizza for everyone to share.

On January 28, we had a field trip to a local ski mountain to go sledding. The kids had so much fun and were so cute! Grace didn't come. Her mom took her shopping instead. It kind of makes sense, she is the future Miss Korea after all. Can't hurt that pretty face.

February 13-15 marked the Seol-Nal (Lunar New Year) in Korea. We had a Seol-Nal party at school on Friday, February 12, complete with hanboks (the traditional dress), a bowing tutorial (the kids receive money if they bow properly to their elders on this holiday), and some traditional games.

After school that day, Liz Teacher, John Teacher and I went to Susan's apartment to help her/learn how to make mondue. Mondue is a Korean dumpling filled with meat or kimchi, and vegetables. They can then be either steamed or fried.

On February 25, they graduated :-(. March begins a new school year nation-wide in Korea and our schedule is the same. My kids will move on to John Teacher's class. My students sang "This Little Light of Mine" at graduation. The video is posted in the post below.

Rian, Vicky, Grace, Jasmine and Olivia... all ready to graduate! :-(

On February 27, I moved! Liz Teacher's contract ended Feb 26, and she took a job at another school in Seoul. Because enrollment's down, our boss opted out of hiring a teacher to replace her, so... John gets my apartment (an upgrade, believe it or not), and I get Liz's! Pictures to follow, once I get unpacked.

Which brings us to now. I am assigned to the 5/6 year old beginning Kinder class. They will barely know the alphabet. It will be hilarious.

Winter is over in Korea. It has been much warmer and rainier this week. Spring is finally here!

let'sjameverythingwecanintoKaren'slasttwodays

On Sunday, January 3, 2010 we (Luke, Marissa, Karen and I) got up at an awful hour to get to English Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral by 9am. Here's a really cool shot Bear took inside the church while we were waiting for Mass to begin.

Saebomi met us at Mass and then we headed up to Seoul Tower to try again. It was not nearly as crowded and we made it on the second cable trolley up to the base of the tower. I'm not one for heights, and being glass-encased and riding up a mountain with only a steel wire to support the 30 or so of us was super scary. I couldn't stop gripping the handle or making this face, apparently.

When we got off the cable car, we had about 100 stairs to climb to get to the place to buy tickets to go up into the tower. Before we did that, I stole a shot of the tower from the ground.

We got in and traveled to the highest floor allowed by elevator. Here's one picture of the view, absolutely beautiful!

Here's the group of us in front of the windows:

After Seoul Tower, we went a few stops on the subway to meet Saebomi's family for lunch. We ate at a Japenese fusion restaurant and we ate sushi rolls and donkasuh (fried pork tenderloin). Luke and I got ours served "wet" so it came in a chicken/egg broth. It was all very delicious! It was also very nice to meet Saebomi's family. Her brother, Barney, works for the Korean baseball league. Her mother is beautiful and so kind. All of them speak English as if they were born in America, it's amazing. Here's Marissa with her Korean family:

After lunch, we walked to Gyeongbukgung (Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven) for a tour. The palace is on a big plot of land and belongs to the Joseon Dynasty and was built in 1395, only three years after the dynasty was founded. It served as the main palace during that time. It was reduced to ashes during the Japanese invasion of 1592, and then was restored beginning in 1867. During the second Japanese invasion, it was torn down in 1915 by the Japanese-run government. Restoration has been ongoing since 1990. Needless to say, there is a lot of history on these grounds. Here's Karen (with Benny) in front of Geunjeongjeon (meaning: all affairs will be properly manages if you demonstrate diligence), the main throne of the palace.

Here's all of us on the yard in front of the National Folk Museum (we didn't go in), but the big open space, beautiful buildings, blue sky, and pretty snow were too photogenic to pass up.

After the palace, we were exhausted and freezing so we headed back to Dongbaek. I had to teach the next day, you know! Or so I thought.

I woke up Monday to a bunch of snow on the ground, but had no call from school so I tip-toed around Marissa and Karen to get ready, and trudged to school. When I arrived my awesome boss said, "I'm sorry. You should have called! We have no kindergarten today." I joined 4/5 teachers in the teachers' room who "should have called" and we had an outright whine-fest until noon when James decided we also weren't having elementary classes so we could go home. Here's the view of the snow from my classroom window:

We rounded up our visitors, Marissa, Luke and Karen, to go to the movie theatre to see Avatar. After Avater, we went back to the 5500 for Karen's last meal. Her flight left early the next morning, so to avoid the hassle of trying to get there in the morning in the snow, we left that night. We literally caught the last bus at the last minute to the airport, it was very lucky. Liz Teacher and her brother Matt joined us for dinner. They had just returned from their trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Karen and I made it safe and sound to our hotel that evening, but around 1 am I got the worst bought of food poisoning I've ever gotten in my life and spent the remainder of the evening/morning hugging the toilet. Thankfully, it missed Karen so she wasn't miserable on her flight. We got her to the airport in plenty of time, and she made it home just in time to go to back to school the next day! I made it back to Dongbaek in time to go to work, but I didn't, I took a sick day and tried to sleep the rest of my day away. It was pretty good timing, because Marissa and Luke left the next day (Wednesday) to visit Gangneung, where Luke lives, until Thursday. So I had my apartment back to myself to rest and recoup without ruining her trip.

To my surprise, though, upon returning to school on Wednesday I had two new students, Vicky and Olivia, and three more that were planning to visit on Thursday! More to come on that...

Korean Folk Village

On Saturday, January 2, 2010, we visited the Korean Folk Village. It is about 15 minutes away from our apartments, and to get their by bus is impossible (for us, anyway), so we took a taxi. Calling a taxi is a hilarious thing to do when you don't speak Korean, but somehow (and by somehow, I mean Dustin) we figured it out. Betsy, Dustin, Karen, Luke, Marissa and I left around 2 pm (after a quick lunch at Kimbap Chungguk), for the village. It is a huge space of Korean heritage. It's like a big, traditional, historical, outdoor museum.

We arrived just in time for the daily performances. First up, the drum dancers. It was an all male team, and much of what they did seemed more acrobatic than dancing. It was amazing what they were doing, how they were spinning their long ribbons and how they were twisting and carrying each other, the whole time with these enormous hats on. Very cool. Here's Bear with two dancers after they finished:

After the dancers was this 800 year old man doing tricks on a tightrope. The tightrope alone amazed me, his age left me breathless.

Next was the equestrian show. These men rode around in circles on horses doing weird tricks like running with the horse, or standing on the horse, or standing on the rider while riding the horse...
After the shows we walked around the village until we were just too cold to stand it anymore. We found this beautiful Korean women spinning silk like they used to do before factories did.

Then we found a traditional bridal glen, complete with the bridal box that she is carried in to the ceremony. Here comes the Betsy...

After we got home, we were tired, cold, and hungry. So, we hopped on a bus to Dustin's favorite dduk-sam restaurant for some samgyeopsal. It's like super thick strips of bacon grilled in front of you with kimchi and bean sprouts. This restaurant also served this slices of white, pink and yellow dduk (rice cake) with the side dishes. Get it? Dduk-sam? Dduk and samgyeopsal. They're very direct around here.

There were 3 different dipping sauces, steamed eggs (gaeranzzim), a cabbage salad with a wasabi soy sauce, sliced onions and lettuce for wrapping. Macheesuhyo! (Delicious)

Come visit and eat with me! :-)

New Year's Day

On New Year's Day we had to check out by noon. You'd think that would have been an easy thing to do, but it was a pretty late evening for the majority of us. We barely made it. Here's a view of Seoul from our window on the morning of 1/1/10!


Naturally, the only things that sounded good to us (in our tired and hungover state) were fried food and fried food. Half of us went to Dunkin Donuts, the other half to McDonalds (again). Bear busted our her chocolate, of course, because it's all she ever eats.



After lunch, Betsy and Dustin went back to Dongbaek to sleep the day away, and the rest of us went back to Jonggak to see the damage to the scene the night before. Here is the pavilion that the huge bell lives in, and the five siteseeing troopers still standing:



Marissa and Karen decided it would be funny to re-enact our near suffocation experience from the night before.

After, we walked to Insadong to assist Marissa and Karen with some souvenir shopping. Marissa tried to make friends with every Korean she met, and Bear got interviewed by two university students who had an "interview an English speaker" assignment. Here she is with her interviewers:

We decided we were going to Mass at Myeongdog Cathedral at 4 pm. The only English Mass is offerend at 9 AM daily and we clearly didn't make that, so Mass in Korean it was. We made a brief stop at Insadong's Starbucks (the one whose name is in Korean), then walked to the church.

They have Mass every hour on the hour on Sundays and obligation days. So everyone is coming in and out at the same time.

Yeah, we didn't speak or sing much:

After Mass, we walked around Myeongdong to find some dinner. Saebomi directed us to a Jim Dalk restaurant. It was a dish of chicken and veggies cooked in a soy-type sauce. They brought as Coca-Cola, too!Look how good it was (we licked the plate clean after this pic):

After dinner, we walked around Myeongdong to shop. Karen finished up her souvenir shopping, and bought herself a new, red winter coat! Here's a view of Myeongdong at night from inside Forever 21:

We decided to make a huge day of it and go to Seoul Tower (Namsan Tower) after shopping. On our way to the lift, we passed a group of young Koreans passing out free hugs. Who doesn't love hugs?

When we got up to the lift area, it was PACKED with people, so we took some night shots of the tower, and decided we'd try to go up again on Sunday. Here's a pic of Seoul Tower at night:


On the journey back, we found a women's restroom with a urinal AND 10,000 won (about $10). Here's the urinal, and Bear's new coat:

It was a perfect(ly exhausting) start to 2010. The next day, we had plans to go to the Korean Folk Village, so that's what you'll see next. Ciao!

New Year's Eve

Marissa and Dustin arrived in one piece on the 30th. Her boyfriend, Luke, is teaching in Gangwando about 3 hours from Seoul. He came to Dongbaek for the week she was here. Saebomi, a Korean exchange student who lived with Marissa's family while we were at Luers, also came to Dongbaek to play with us.

On New Year's Eve, we left Dongbaek around 3 pm to check into our hotel room in Yeoido. All public transportation stops at midnight, so this way we would be able to get a cheap cab ride back to bed after midnight.

Karen, Marissa, Luke, Dustin, Saebomi, Betsy and I checked into our hotel and began getting dressed for our VERY cold evening. We had plans to ring in the new year in Jonggak, where they ring this huge bell (that probably has some importance to someone - I just don't know what it is) 31 (or is it 33?) times at the stroke of 12.

Here are Betsy and Dustin in our hotel room!

Marissa, Luke, Molly and Betsy all layered-up and ready for New Year's Eve!

When we arrived in Jonggak we realized we were very early so we went to McDonalds to grab some dinner. Karen ordered a cheeseburger. This is what she got:

Needless to say, we, along with the Korean McDonald's employees got a huge kick out of the burgerless burger. We started the evening on a good note!

After dinner, we made our way toward the bell, but stopped for a photo op on the river in front of the Christmas tree! Here are the Indiana girls:

We made it to the bell! It was soooo crowded and fareezing. We decided we are NEVER going to Times Square in NYC on NYE.

From left: Karen, Saebomi, Dustin, Betsy, Molly, and Luke

We had to wait for the police guard to block off the street to flood the street in front of the bell. It involved climbing a fence and trampling some bushes, which Marissa lovingly coined "The National Garden." We don't know why. It was pretty much the longest 45 minutes of our lives. We were smashed in a huge crowd, thought we were going to fall over every time someone moved, and everyone of us had to urinate.... badly. We were very happy to see the new year.

Here's the bell ringing!

Then, we made our way to a nearby Texas-themed bar to relieve ourselves and grab a snack and a beer. Luke, Marissa, and I recharging:

After Texas, Karen, Dustin and I went back to the hotel. We were pretty tired. The rest of the group went to Hongdae to meet up with some of Luke's friends. We think we heard them coming in at daylight... :-)

Happy New Year!