The Card Shark

Meet my card shark. I don't remember her actual name, but this is what I called her for the day. To back up and give context, I met her at an orphanage. Yes, she is an orphan. As I said in an earlier post, there are so many foreign groups for any kind of activity imaginable, and there are many great volunteer opportunities. I decided to take advantage of one right away. This way, if I enjoyed it, I had that much more time to do it and if I didn't, well, at least I did it once. This particular volunteer excursion was to an orphanage called Soyangwon Children's Home. The volunteer group organizes a trip once a month (as it is a bit of a trek to get there) and the volunteers (us) bring games, snacks and energy. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it ended up being one of the best days I've had thus far. The group of volunteers was a nice mix of Koreans and foreigners and everyone was very friendly. We got there and were immediately served lunch (even though we had missed the lunch time, they had kept the food hot just for us!). Then we all trooped outside to play with the kids. The children's home has children from elementary to high school age. Mostly we played with the elementary aged children, as the high and middle school-ers were a bit too cool for us. To be fair, we were making origami, painting nails, coloring and playing basketball. I decided to bring a deck of cards, thinking that I would teach them simple games. Well this one- the card shark- caught onto the games really quick (with the help of an excellent translator) and so it went from simple to difficult. By the end of the day she was teaching other kids how to play and sitting there with an excellent poker face telling the other kids she would play nice (she never did, I had to work hard not to lose every game!).

Posin' for the camera in typical Korean style

Group picture of the volunteers and some of the children decided to join in as well

It was a refreshing and relaxing afternoon of just playing with the kids on a beautiful sunny afternoon on a hill overlooking the ocean.

View from the orphanage

Afterwards the volunteer coordinator decided to take me and any willing volunteers on a food expedition.

Katherine, the volunteer coordinator, and I by the docks

She found out that I was a complete newbie to Korean food, so off we went! First we checked out the famous fish market, I have never seen such a variety of fresh seafood in my life. Everything from fish to octopus to sea anemone, squid and eels.

Octopus all ready to eat!

Ok not even sure what all of this is aside from the squid in the front

Don't be fooled, these aren't cheap

They're trying to escape!

Anyone for lunch? Those are silk worms in the small bowl

Fresh sting rays

Just enjoying the view of the ocean by the market

Once we had worked up enough of an appetite, she whisked us off to a small restaurant to try a sit down version of a popular Korean street food: Tteokbokki! In a word: Spicy! Yet, delicious. There are many different kinds, this kind in particular has eggs, ramen noodles, some fish and veggies in it (in Korean, its 라볶이). My words cannot do it justice, so here are some pictures that might. I'm very glad that there were tissues on the table because I needed them to get through it, and that wasn't even the spicy-est kind!

After it has cooked all the way through we are ready to eat.

With just the sauce left its time to add the rice to finish it up.

Add some rice and seaweed and you have a savory/spicy dessert!

To wash it down, we went to the streets and got the famous Nampo-dong Huk-dul (pictured below). It is essentially friend dough with brown sugar in the middle. Then they cut a slit in it and fill it with peanuts and seeds and voila! Delicious hot goodness all for about $1.

 As you can see, this was quite a fantastic day. Relaxing and playing games in the afternoon and delicious authentic Korean street food. Needless to say I was exhausted, but did that stop me from going on a massive hike the next day? Nope! Look to the next post to find out more. If you want to read more about Korean food, please vote for food on the side bar!

The Amazing Race

During our second week in Busan, one of our Korean group leaders posted in our Facebook group that there was an upcoming 10k race in Busan. The race course would take runners across what's known as the Diamond Bridge, which has a spectacular view of Busan. As soon as I heard of it, I knew I wanted to sign up. With two friends we decided to go for it, not knowing the mayhem that we were in for. Our leader told us that pre-registration was done in person at the Adidas store at the famous Shinsegase department store starting at 10:30am. We casually all met up and found our way up to the store around 11am, thinking that we could just walk right in. 

We couldn't have been more wrong. We got up to the store and found a long line wrapped around the store and a sign (that we couldn't read) which he translated for us saying that it was closed for the day. After much discussion with the staff we were told that they only allow 100 people to sign up each day and so we were out of luck. However if we wanted to buy shoes (upwards of $100) we could then reserve a spot for the race. 

There was one more day to pre-register so Sunday morning at 8:30am found us in a line waiting outside Shinsegae to get in when it opened at 10:30am. It wasn't the warmest of mornings but we managed to stay strong. We noticed some people were getting in the building, but we weren't sure how and assumed that they were employees. Hmmmmm.....

At 10:30am the door opened....and everyone ran. We ran past the Hermes scarf store, up the escalator, around and past the fancy hiking gear stores and up three stories with a herd of other running fanatics (to be noted, we were the only foreigners). Once we got to the store, we ran in horror to the end of the line. This is what we saw. 

Somehow, despite the fact that we were near to the front of the line outside, 100 people had already mysteriously gotten in before the store opened at 10:30am and so we were past the cut off point. Now we were ready to attribute that to us being foreigners and completely clueless, however the fact that so many Koreans had also been tricked gave us pause to wait. Sure enough, the Koreans that had been with us began to cause a scene. 

Generally speaking in public places voices are hushed and anger at a situation is bottled up here. The mad dash through the store seemed to have awoken genuine anger and the men behind us started straight up yelling at the employees. After a while of general outcry during which we just stood there and hoped for the best as we had zero clue as to what was actually happening, there was good news. A sign up sheet for those who had waited outside appeared and we were suddenly guaranteed a spot with a confirmation code. At that point we still didn't have phones, but one of our friends did, so we wrote down his number for the three of us and hoped he wouldn't get a random text all in Korean. 

The next few days proved futile. My co-teacher was constantly calling the store because they mis-typed my name or there was this or that problem with the login. Both of us became invested in getting me registered for the race as it was taking up so much time and energy. The online pre-registration closed on the Wednesday following the in-store pre-registraion and I had just gotten to the point of check out when I came across the wall I knew I would: Payment with a Korean card. While I had a bank card, it can only be used to withdraw money and can't be used for online purchases like a regular debit card. 

So ultimately, I couldn't register and the race has since been filled and closed off to overall registration. There will be another one in the fall and I think when that one comes around I will be better armed with a cell phone, a debit card, more knowledge of Korean and possibly where the secret entrance is in Shinsegae. 

We're here to work!

My school on a slightly overcast yet warm day.

The first week of teaching was a bit of a blur where I was so confused that I didn't really do too much. Now that the dust has settled the real teaching (or as real as an assistant teacher can get without overstepping the boundaries) has begun.

Mihye (my main co-teacher) and I at the staff dinner where I ate live octopus for the first time!

 For those interested, my weekly schedule is as follows:

Monday- Third grade in the morning, after school remedial class in the afternoon. 

Tuesday- Reading class for one grade (for this coming week its for third grade, after will be 2nd grade, then first grade, yay little ones!) in the morning and after school remedial class in the afternoon. 

Wednesday- Fourth and sixth grade in the morning and prep in the afternoon

Thursday- Fifth grade in the morning, sixth grade in the afternoon and after school class with the sixth grade soccer players.

Friday- Before school storytelling broadcast, sixth grade in the morning and prep in the afternoon.

Now entering the English Zone! Ye have been warned....

Whew, busy week! My afternoon prep time is generally spent creating powerpoints for the after school classes and reviewing the lessons for the other grades, and thinking up more activity ideas for the classes, along with any other extra prep work that comes up (as all teachers know, even the most basic worksheet can take far longer to prepare than ever imagined). 

Such as making vocabulary books, ah book binding.

My students are fun and keep me on my toes. Sometimes they seem to understand me and the next second they all just stare at me as if I am a purple alien that is asking them to fly to the moon. The language comprehension disparity is really quite large, as some students have wealthier parents and so they can afford to go to Hagwons after regular school (Hagwons are private academies that specialize in specific subjects, like English, and most Korean schoolchildren of all ages go to these regularly as a culturally enforced secondary education. It's quite a strange phenomenon to come home late from dinner or drinks with friends to see small children with backpacks on heading home from school...at 10pm!) and so their English is much more advanced. 

5th graders designed their own person from various countries.

One was named potato....from Brazil....

Playing a dice game and saying what country they're from.

 Now that the weather is nicer the students are less and less focused on lessons. More often then not there is a student shouting "HELLO TEACHER HOW ARE YOU I AM FINE THANK YOU!!!!!!" in just about every class. 

Students in between classes checking out the English library

If I had to pick a favorite grade level, it would be the sixth graders at this point. Not only is their English more advanced, but they are the ones that take more of an interest in me and take it upon themselves to come into my classroom and ask me questions or just hang around my desk and giggle or show me various books they like. Some of the remedial girl students come into my classroom early and happily start singing, "Let it go, let it GO!" in the hopes that I will turn on the projector and play a youtube video for them to sing a long to. Most of the time I do, I must be the only English teacher here who is not deathly sick of anything related to Frozen. 

As for the staff, so far I have felt very welcomed. Despite the language barrier they are all very kind. True, many of them don't spend more time with me then is strictly necessary because of their irrational fear of English, they seem kind hearted. I am sure there is plenty of drama that I don't know about, but I am content that way. There are lots of staff get togethers and every Wednesday there is teacher sports day where all teachers are meant to play a various sports activity, the first week we all played indoor field hockey, which was pretty fun! If you want to know more about school life or students, please vote on the side-bar!

Half-time chat during the all staff field hockey game. 

Here comes spring!

The cherry trees are blooming, my winter coat is tucked into my closet and spring is on the way here in Busan. This week marks my one month anniversary of teaching at my school and roughly five weeks of living in Korea. It is amazing how time flies! Slowly I have begun to settle down into a weekly and daily routine. My week days are filled with teaching and evening exercise classes. As of now I have been dabbling in various workout groups and sports. I even played American football for the first time EVER on my second weekend in Busan, who knew that would happen? 

Rather then try to push everything into one post, I am going to post several small posts about the highlights from the first few weeks here. I have also added a side-bar with different options for my next blog post, please feel free to vote (even several times if you are really keen on one topic) on what you want to hear about!

Here is a general map of Busan, although it is hard to see here, I live right near Gwangali beach, see if you can find it!

 

Time to Settle In

Last week I discovered that the "hot water" in the teacher's lunchroom is actually hot rice water that has rice at the bottom that you're not supposed to eat.This is how I've discovered most things here in Busan: Trial and Error!

A little over a week ago (which now feels light years away) I took a bus from Daejeon to Busan and waited at a central meeting point (the soccer field of a middle school) for my co-teacher to pick me up.

Here is a map of South Korea, I flew in near Seoul, bused to Daejeon for the orientation week and then bused to Busan.

My co-teacher arrived right on time with another one of my co-teachers. Together we all got lost trying to find my new apartment in the Haeundae area of Busan. Right away I realized that I had lucked out with my co-teachers. Both of them speak excellent English and were incredibly friendly and helpful. Kwon Ha Kim (Who I will be co-teaching the special weekly reading classes) drove her friends car while Mihye Cho (My main co-teacher who I share a classroom office with and who is the one in charge of me) called everyone she could to figure out where the apartment was. At first I thought it was strange and slightly worrying that they didn't know where I would be living. Then they told me that they decided to switch apartment buildings so it was all new for them too (Whew, that was a relief to find out!).

My room before I unpacked.

I am so glad they decided to switch, my apartment building is great! All the people in the building are foreign English teachers and some have been here for over a year. Did I mention that the apartment is a 10 min. walk away from the beach? And right across from a supermarket/bus stop/subway station/hospital? It couldn't be better!
I can't really say the same for my room, but I don't mind. Its small, perfect for one person.
The only problems were that upon arrival we realized that the internet was not set up, the tv was broken and the sink in the bathroom was broken. So my first day/evening was spent sitting on my floor with Miyhe while a procession of repairmen came in and out over the course of several hours. At least I know my landlady pretty well after all that!

This also gave Miyhe and I an opportunity to get to know each other. She is a very kind, intelligent and genuine person. Her English is also wonderful, which is a huge relief. On the first day we had conversations about religion, teaching styles, family dynamics, Korean culture and books.It was so great and made the idea of school seem much more enjoyable once I knew we could communicate more easily.

The first weekend was spent exploring the area around my apartment, navigating the subway, finding grocery/home stores (they have giant mega grocery/home stores called "Home Plus" that are multiple stories and have everything you could possibly need-except sheets for some reason) and checking out some hot spots in Busan.

Korean BBQ! that is a hole for hot coals and you grill the meat on top.

I was a bit nervous going into my first week of work, but I really had nothing to fear. The first day was stressful, I was immediately told to prepare a speech (in Korean!) introducing myself to the entire school over their TV system. I quickly ran through my few sentences that I had and then was whisked off to the broadcasting room where I ended up just standing in a line of other new Korean teachers and bowing at the appropriate moment. I was incredibly relieved and settled down to a day of figuring out what I would be doing.

Over the course of the week I learned more about my school schedule and my fellow co-teachers and workers. For now I will be teaching with Mihye for three days a week, Kwon-Ha (or Miss Kim) one day a week and Mr. Kim one day a week, with some classes here and there. I will also be doing two after school remedial style classes and one with the soccer players who miss classes for games (which everyone says will be "interesting"). My schedule is very nice, I teach classes in the mornings and then have the afternoons to lesson plan and do the after school classes. Last week I taught sporadically and when I did I just introduced myself and then observed the teacher with the class. It was a very low stress week teaching wise and gave me ample time to adjust to the fact that all my textbook teacher resources, computer and school wide messaging system is in Korean. Did I mention I have my own English library? I feel like Belle in Beauty and the Beast, so many books!

My side of the room! My desk is on the right

On Wednesday evening I went out to a wonderful BBQ place on the beach with the people in my apartment. It was beautiful and delicious! I can't wait for summer when it will be so nice to just walk down to the beach and relax.

Thursday night brought a special treat: My co-teacher (who now officially spoils me rotten with being an incredibly wonderful and helpful person) took me out to explore Shinesgae-the largest department store in the world! It was amazingly large and beautiful and was topped off with a tasty dinner at one of the fancy restaurants on the upper floors.

The outside of the largest department store in the world, Shinsegae!

 This lead to a return trip on Sunday to the movie theater where my friends and I saw Frozen in 4D. What does that mean? It means that your chair simulates the reindeer every time someone rides in the sleigh (which is just really funny), or shoots a water spray at you when someone gets wet. It was a pretty amusing special feature, but not one I would want for a horror movie (which I think is the real purpose and would be absolutely terrifying).
Now I am properly prepared to work with my students who love singing "Let it Go." To show you how truly obsessed people are here with Frozen, here is an impressive clip of the song perfectly timed to a students hand drawing of the scene.

Whiteboard "Let it Go"

On Friday I had a traditional meal with my fellow new Korean teachers (including Mihye) and my Principle and Vice Principle. It was delicious and I ate octopus for the first time (knowingly) and actually enjoyed it! I believe I am making process in my ability to eat seafood, which is great, because half the time, I know I'm ingesting some form of seafood but I don't know or care to know what it is (My favorite trick is to pretend its pasta of some kind and ignore the extra chewiness or crunch).

Cute Student Moment of the Week

A small 6th grade girl whispers to Mr. Kim while looking at me. Then she comes up to me, a bit shyly, and asks, " Do you like animals?" I reply, " Yes I do like animals!"
She says, "Oh, me too! We are the same!" Blushes, says "Bye teacher!" and walks away.
Best part of that? the words "animal" and "same" were on their vocab list for the day!

All and all this week has been busy and satisfying. Everything is still new, but its all be fun and exciting so far. Check in next time for some more teacher stories as I head into my first real full week!

An EPIK beginning

After a long traveling experience, I have finally arrived in Daejeon, South Korea for a week long orientation. The final days in the U.S consisted of last minute goodbyes, frantic trips to the store for last minute supplies, phone calls and of course, packing. It took the better part of three days to pack up the stuff I wanted to take, realize that it would never fit in my decided upon luggage (two large hard shell suitcases, a backpacking pack and a small messenger bag) and then weed out the necessities from the "But I MIGHT need this!" There was a brief moment where I tried to convince myself that both of my red heels needed to come with me (despite the fact that I have only worn one of them once in the past year). The verdict? Neither made the final cut.

Finally the bags weighed in at 50.4 lbs each and I was off to the airport early on the morning of February 19th. I was sweating by the time I made it to the gate as I wore my heaviest clothing items on the plane, and the walk to the gate was not a short one. The plane rides were decent enough, however 12 hours is really quite a long time to be on a single airplane. This one was a giant one that had two levels. Unfortunately, passengers had to pay upwards of $1,000 extra to be able to enter the upper deck, so I didn't get to check it out. Instead I was on the aisle of a cramped economy row with a mother and son. They were pleasant enough and that coupled with the many other EPIK teachers on the flight to get up and chat with and the in-flight movies, the time passed quickly enough. Unfortunately I didn't sleep much so I landed in Seoul with about a few scattered minutes totaling 3 hours of sleep over the 20 hour period. Once we made our way through customs, we made our first purchase in Korea: Jamba Juice. Yes, unfortunately, I fulfilled the American stereotype of finding American food upon arrival in a new place. Despite the fact that we had hardly left the country, we clung desperately to our frozen cups of home and headed towards the EPIK desk.

Now, if you have not read my first blog post, EPIK= English Program in Korea. It is the official government program of the Ministry of Education that hires native English speakers to teach in public schools around the country. I now know that it was started in 1995 and now there are over 9,000 native English speakers in South Korea in public schools, thanks to this program. So really, a solid place to get started if you are looking to teaching English in Korea for the first time.

The opening ceremony complete with detailed slideshow of events

If I could describe EPIK in one word, I know what it would be: Organized. This is different from efficient, but we'll get to that later on.

Once we checked in at the desk with our visas we got a number and waited for another hour or so to get a spot on the bus. We arrived in Daejeon at the KT conference center around 10pm and promptly went to sleep.

So for the next week there are around 300 EPIK teachers from around the world (ok, seven countries, the U.S., England, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and South Africa) stuffed into one dormitory building.

Over the course of this time here we are learning the basics of teaching in Korea, working in the public school system, vacations and pay, organizing summer/winter camps, classroom management, Taekwondo and going on a field trip the cultural city of Jeonju. Oh and the most important part, learning Korean! But first, we needed to have a demonstration on Taekwondo.

The eight day orientation passed in a blur, here are a couple of highlights in picture form!

The dorms where all 300 or so of us foreign teachers were housed for 8 days

At a temple on top of a hill in Jeonju

Overlooking Jeonju

Watching fancy paper being made!

Our fearless and fun group leaders, Jun and Suzie

Playing in the bamboo gardens

Bibimbap, yum!

Pencil case making

Wandering around and noticing the cute city signs

Drum class that was really just us hitting a drum and laughing a lot

Finally we made it through to the part we were all waiting for: The school placements. All of the EPIK guest teachers who were placed in the city of Busan sat in a room and were handed an envelope containing our contracts and our region/school assignment. I am pleased to announce that I am in the Haedunae region of Busan at the Haedong Elementary school. That may not mean anything to you, so check out this link with a map!
 http://wikimapia.org/9616980/Haedong-Elementary-School

From what I can tell, I will be nearby the famous Haeundae beach and the worlds largest department store. Basically I will be in the school quarter that is just next to the central downtown area. Whatever that means, I will find out tomorrow when I get there! Right now there is only a closing ceremony, dinner, possible karaoke and a 3.5 hour bus ride between myself and Busan.

Last night celebrations in a neubang (Karaoke bar)

I'm ready to go! An-nyeong-hi-ke-se-yo Daegeon, An-nyeong-ha-se-yo Busan! (Translation: Goodbye Daegeon, Hello Busan!)

Step one: Don't count the steps

Welcome to the blog of my new adventure! To start off, I am writing this first post prior to leaving the US. This is because the process of getting myself to the airport with a one way ticket to Korea is an adventure as well.

I first began thinking about teaching English in South Korea in August of 2013, after the glow of getting a college degree had receded enough for reality to set in. My thought process went something like this:

 So I don't have a job and I'm not yet tied down to a lease, what do I want to do with my relative lack of adult responsibilities? Go abroad!

The decision of South Korea as my destination of choice came relatively quickly and from there I began my research.

Note: Looking for teaching jobs in Korea is a rather time-consuming and confusing task. It took me the better part of three months to research the types of jobs available, what I would need to prepare myself to apply, prepare (by getting a credible TESOL certification and as much in classroom teaching experience I could get), and finally apply to my top choice jobs with precision.

Oh but it didn't end there. After the application (which was comparable in length to most grad school applications) was submitted, there was waiting. For the month of December and the beginning of January I waited for my interview, then the results of my interview. Both of my interviewers told me, " Great, well we will contact you in the first or second week of January, in the meantime, relax and happy holidays!" Needless to say, relaxing was quite difficult while my fate was being decided.

Fortunately on January 12th  I was offered a teaching position with EPIK in the city of Busan with a departure date of February 19th. The past month has been a blur of preparation, more paperwork and saying goodbye to friends and family. Over the course of this now 6 month process, I have been asked many questions about Korea and teaching English. Anyone who is reading this probably has similar questions, so I decided to do an FAQ of my favorite questions thus far so that you have a better idea of what I'm about to do.

FAQs about Korea!

Sooo….are you going to North Korea or South Korea?

South Korea. You can’t, in fact, visit or live in North Korea if you aren’t a North Korean or Dennis Rodman.

Why are you going to Korea?

Some of my closest friends have been Korean immigrants/of Korean descent so I know a bit about Korean culture (such as they listen to K-Pop, eat Kimchi and speak Korean for starters). I also wanted to live in Asia and South Korea seemed like the best option in terms of secure teaching positions.

Where are you going to be living?

In an apartment in Busan. I have zero idea where it is exactly as my school decides where I live, but I will find out as soon as I arrive in Busan. Busan is 2 hours away from Seoul via high speed train and a ferry ride away from Japan. There is also a giant beach and everyone has told me that Busan is a great place to live! It is known as the “summer capital of South Korea,” has the famous Haeundae and is known for amazing seafood/street food and beautiful seaside temples. Basically, its great during the summer and probably pretty cozy in the winter as well.

Will you have internet?

Yes, Korea actually has the fastest internet in the world and it's also available everywhere. Except in my apartment for the first month, as I have register as a foreigner and get a residency card to set up internet/phone/bank accounts. The Koreans prioritized internet speed almost a decade ago and so are leagues in front of us. Check out this CNN article, it’s pretty interesting and explains why its faster there than in the US.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/31/broadband.south.korea/

What exactly are you doing there?

I will be teaching with the EPIK teaching program. Its a government program that hires native English speakers from around the world (England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand), to teach English in public schools throughout the country. They hire us, the teachers, then they ship us out to Korea, give us some tips and such and assess our teaching style. After orientation ends we are assigned a school and leave to meet our Korean co-teacher who will help us get settled in our apartment and school. Oh and they help us buy food and bedding, which is really great as I know that will be a daunting task right away.

Are you qualified to teach in a classroom?

Well that is debatable, but I think I am as qualified as I can be. I am armed with a quality TESOL certificate (which was not taken online and came with graduate level credit, already on my way towards a masters!), years of experience teaching swim lessons, being a child myself and working in several ESL/ELL classrooms for the past 5 months. I feel comfortable teaching any level of student and can create lesson plans without fear. I guess I’m a bit qualified but with teaching there’s always more to learn! If you are curious about my TESOL certificate or what that means, check out the school where I got it, the School of TESL, which has many excellent resources if you are looking for a place to get your TESOL certification or just take some classes.

How long are you going to be gone?

My contract is for one calendar year (February 25, 2014- February 23, 2015), however I am hoping to either extend my contract for another year, or find another job in Korea so that I can really immerse myself in Korean culture.

Can you speak Korean?

Nope! I am trying though. Currently I can say “hello” “I’m an English teacher” and some other phrases, but I don’t remember which ones are which. I will make progress though and intend on taking a Korean language course once I get settled in Busan. I also want to take music lessons and join a kickboxing gym in order to force myself to use Korean. Plus I need musical and exercising outlets.

What is the weirdest Korean food you've heard of so far?

Eating live octopus. That sounds awful and scary, because the suckers can get stuck in your throat and people have died from this. However Korean food is quite delicious in general, so I think I will have a good edible experience.

What is the one thing you’ll miss from the US?

My friends and family. Luckily I will have this blog and the many means of communication that the internet offers to stay in touch. Please feel free to send me emails, comment on this blog or message me while I am away!

If you have made it all the way through this first entry, thank you for reading! The next installment will come once I have finally arrived in Korea, stay tuned!