Farewell celebration, again!

Monday started a new week and more travels.  Janggi, my main school, was holding their English Winter Camp and I was one of the main teachers.  For the first day of the week, about 50 of the students and 2 teachers, me being 1 of them, we all headed to the big city of Daejeon.  We hopped on a charter bus and arrived at the Daejeon English Center in less than an hour.  Students filed out and sat in the auditorium.  A small Korean man walked out and tried his hand at speaking English when introducing himself.  He went over rules in English but translated for himself when giving detailed information. 

Students working hard

All of the students split up into three groups depending on their skill level.  I took the 2^nd group, the middle level, and we started our day.  There were three stations that we were to visit- food, dance, and science.  All consisted of an activity where only English was to be spoken.  The teachers of the classes were native English speakers like me and they were all from Canada and America.  They taught the children different activities like how to make hot chocolate by explaining each of the directions individually before performing them.  The dance station was a charades activity that involved conjugation of verbs.  The final activity was a science experiment which was basically mixing baking soda with vinegar.  The students seemed to love it all and really learned some new English words – simple ones that you and I would not even imagine would be a problem like mix, fizz, and scoop.  After leaving the English Center, we went to dinner- a popular Chinese food meal made with noodles and a black sauce.  We all skipped back onto the bus and went back to school before I even knew the day was over. 

My higher level class- some of them were hiding 

The rest of the week, one of the other teachers and I taught English camp.  My camp was winter themed so I taught them different vocabularies, watched movies, and played games.  I think the only reason they offer winter camp is for those parents that still work and don’t want their kids to be at home alone.  It is basically a week of fun- and that’s exactly how I made it.  Thanks to the candy that my Mom sent me, my class was a hit.  They were very attentive knowing that when they answered a question correctly, they would receive a sticker or a piece of candy.  The camp was only for 4 classes in the morning and then we were allowed to leave at 12:10.  At 12:10, everyone was completely gone- no where to be found which showed me that these Koreans are strictly business.  Wednesday to Friday, all of the teachers that worked that day went to lunch.  I was treated to spicy soup, duck, and fish soup each day. 

Thursday evening for dinner we went to a farewell dinner for the two teachers that were leaving.  I was picked up by one of the teachers and we all met up at the restaurant.  There was a huge selection of food ranging from sashimi to soups to caviar rolls and so much more.  Basically, anything related to seafood was plopped on our table that night.  Korean meals are set in groups of 4.  They bring out food for each group of 4 and when it is a big celebration, they celebrate by serving/eating more.  Well, this restaurant must have thought this was a very special celebration.  They did not skip out when it came to the amount of food they served.  Plate after plate after plate came out and they didn’t wait for us to finish the previous rounds.  I was full off of the first round but the other teachers insisted I eat more, so I did. 

Our side of the table

Sashimi, octopus legs, corn, and fried fish

I got food poisoning from this night, and I think this was the culprit! 

Caviar and rice

I was sitting at the table with the administration workers, the science teacher, the principal, and the vice principal.  All of them love to drink soju.  In Korean culture, if someone offers you a drink, you take it and then return the favor by offering them one.  Well, when in Korea, do as the Koreans do right?  So, I couldn’t deny any of the offerings of drinks.  We found ourselves at least 15 bottles deep in soju before we all decided to leave. 

Shells, pumpkin, and clam soup

Soju bottles

As I walked outside, I was told that many people would be going to a karaoke bar, called a Noraebang (노래방) in Korean, and that I should attend.  So, I did.  It was my first time going to a noraebang but it was a lot of fun.  There is a huge U-shaped couch wrapped around a table for everyone to sit at and some room at the front of the table for a makeshift stage.  The teachers that sang were really good, but honestly, I don’t think I’ve really heard a Korean that was bad at singing.  I didn’t plan to sing anything, just watch, but the science teacher insisted I get up and sing the only two English songs he had memorized in high school- both 80’s love songs.  He prepared me by singing it when we were walking to the noraebang with the lyrics “nothing’s gonna change my love for you.”

Singing some songs

We sang for about an hour and then headed to our next stop, bowling.  It’s the same as in America, and my skill level was also the same as in America, low.  I think they were all expecting me to be good since they know I like to play sports. My team was pretty disappointed when they found out bowling is one of my weak spots.  Precision is something I always have problems with when it comes to games.  Well we played 4 vs. 4 and my team didn’t do so hot.  That didn’t stop the crowd from moving on.

Making teams

It was about 9:30 at this time and as we walked out into the cold, they explained to me, one more little drink, so I agreed.  We went to a bar down the street and all sat down at a large table.  Most of the bars in Korea are sectioned off with half walls for your own private area.  With that, you also normally have to buy some sort of food to go along with it.  So, we ordered a bunch of beers, some soju, and a plate of dried squid, nuts, and fish chips.  These seem to be a staple of what people eat when they go out to bars so I am used to these things by now, and have actually grown to like them.  Some of them at least. 

The science teacher brought his kids to the bar

We stayed there for about an hour talking about family and anything else they could muster to tell me in their broken English sentences (mind you none of these teachers spoke English well).  After a while we all split up and 4 of us caught a cab.  I thought they were going to just drop me off but one of the teachers, my Korean father, insisted he meet Jeremy.  So, they came to Jeremy’s apartment with me to have some coffee.   They stayed for a few minutes for introductions and some small talk- then they headed out the door.  It was just about midnight when I went to bed.  It was definitely a night I will not forget. 

Mollie Teacha!

Before I left for Thailand:

            In Korea, all teachers, administration, and principals are not allowed to stay at a school for more than a certain number of years (4-6 depending on the position).  Two of our administrators are transferring to another school.  One, being the "numba one driva," in his words, and the other being the executive mechanic, aka the Gardner.  They are both pretty funny- both short and stumpy and are hilarious to watch when we all play volleyball together (they sometimes try and spike the ball but completely miss because they are too short to reach over the net).

The only picture I got from lunch- half devoured plates of seafood and only
chopped up sea dwelling creatures were left  

We all went out the week before I went to Thailand to celebrate them leaving and also to celebrate a successful end of the school year.  We traveled to a city about an hour away to have a big sushi lunch.  They love to drink soju here, which if you have heard of it before, is pretty good.  Everyone explains it as a lighter vodka but I don't think that's a good comparison.  It is definitely like nothing I have ever tasted, but it is much easier to drink than vodka and much better tasting than sake.  Well, they drink it like water here.  So when we went out to lunch, they insisted on serving me a bunch. 

They pride themselves on telling people how many shots they have taken- so they kept asking me while they were giving me drinks but honestly I could not even remember since they were coming from every direction. 

After many cheers, chatter, a sashimi/seafood filled lunch, we all hop in the car to leave.  As we are leaving, the other teachers tell me that one of the drivers is "happy."  I asked if that meant he was drunk and they agreed. 

So, the drunk driver (school bus driver, not the actual driver of the car), made us follow him to a special place he knew about that was nearby.  We pulled up to a Migratory Bird Sanctuary down the road.  

About 8 other teachers and I climbed a tall tower and relaxed at the top while looking through high powered binoculars for these so called migrating birds. Now, it's in the middle of December in South Korea, so there weren't many birds to see when we were bird watching.  After we left the tower, we turned left and walked up the hill more.  There were a group of cages outside so we went to look. 

This brings me to the way Koreans handle animals.  There were a bunch of cages side by side, and all of them had birds in them.  One cage had 4 huge buzzards waddling around, definitely not enough space for all of them.  The owls were in the next cage- no place for them to hide during the daylight and not many places for them to perch themselves.  The rest were all smaller animals but all of them were outside and no coverings!  It was really cold there- the pond we walked by later was frozen!  It made me sad to see all of the animals just sitting out there in the cold. 

After ogling at the birds, we went to the souvenir shop for some much needed coffee.  All the other teachers insisted that I try and guess, who of the 4 men, were the oldest and youngest.  Unlike Americans, age in something everyone knows, no matter what your age is.  They even post it at the bottom of the screen when interviewing people on television!  This is because everyone is addressed depending on their age- if you are older, you are spoken to with a sense of politeness and higher respect.  If you are younger, an entire different kind of sentence structure is used, more casual.  I personally think that most Koreans, and most Asians in general, look younger than they really are- and sometimes they even fool each other with their age, so people always ask each other.  Well, when I guessed, I was completely wrong.

I guessed that the youngest guy was the oldest and the oldest was the second youngest.  I then tried to explain that the youngest man acted older because he was so devoted to his job and stern when it came to working (which is completely true).  I didn’t, though, say that since he was the only one balding, that that swayed my opinion.  Yes, many Koreans have great genes here when it comes to old age and hair.  They keep their hair color until well into their 50’s, maybe even later, and it’s rare to see them balding. 

The group of my co-workers

While drinking coffee, we all talked about age and children.  A couple of the men told me that they have children around my age so they now call themselves “Malia teacher’s Korean father,” but it comes out at “Mollie teacha Korean whot-taa.”  They have trouble pronouncing “f’s” and I guess it’s easier to say Molia instead of Malia- the shortened version being Mollie.   

Sitting in front of a "love" sign

We all got back into our cars and started our hour travel home.  Well, if you know me, I always fall asleep during car rides- it’s something my Mom trained me to do when I was little and I have never grown out of it.  When I awoke, the teachers were all frantically chatting and pointing to things on their phones.  One proceeded to tell me that we had gotten lost. We were now on the road heading towards Seoul, a 2 hour trip!  We then swerved off the highway at the next exit and onto a country road which took us through a bunch of small cities.  

About an hour later, an hour longer then what was expected, we arrived back at school.  This trip was a lot of fun, and it made me closer with a lot of the teachers.  It was also when I was supposed to teach Winter English Camp at my rural school so I got out of doing that as well and had a day off!

I added a couple of new posts so check them out!  I will be adding more in a couple of weeks but right now Jeremy and I are off to Thailand from 1/7 - 1/15!  Pictures from that later on!!

School Festivals!

Each year in October or November, the schools have different festivals to show off their dancing, singing, English, and other skills to parents and different schools in the area.  I got lucky and was invited to 3 different festivals.  Each of my schools had their individual festivals for the parents at their schools and then both of my schools, along with another native teachers' two schools, had an English festival.  At both of my schools' individual festivals, I could not pull myself away from taking pictures of all the students (and it was hard to decide which pictures would make the cut to be in my blog,there were so many choices!).  

The school festival at Janggi Elementary School

The 4th grade class performing a skit in English- the Grasshopper and the Ants

All of the students sitting and waiting for the opening ceremony to begin

Kindergartners performing with fans

Kindergartners lining up to leave after performing

They were all so cute standing up on stage performing- and it was nice to see how they acted outside of the classroom.  These festivals seem to be a big deal.  They rent costumes for the students to wear- sometimes even two different costumes for different acts, and they practice very hard before the big day.  A few of my classes were cancelled due to practicing for the festival.  

At the festivals, some of the students would sing, dance, do Taekwondo moves, jump rope, or role play.  It was a really fun time. 

Kindergartners role playing

TaeKwonDo presentation

3rd graders waiting to perform

 Kindergartners walking off in their funny costumes

Kindergartners waiting to perform- this was the best act for sure
the played the drums so well and they are only 6 years old!

1st and 2nd graders dancing together

3rd and 4th graders performing a song with bells- they practiced so hard for this!

6th graders doing the "Roly Poly, " a famous Korean song/dance
while wearing school uniforms/military fatigues costumes

After the school festivals, all of the parents would walk around the school looking at all of the art on display that was made by the students.  A group of the 6th graders herded me around to show me all of the different things they made and what their siblings made.  I snapped a few pictures along the way. 

These are upside down stools, one just says "boyfriend" in English 

The English festival was a competition between 4 schools.  Grades 3-6 from each school were present.  They showed off their skills through English role plays and songs first.  Second, they recited a dialogue they memorized- they were the dialogues at the beginning of each lesson for the 6th graders.  After this, they had the "Golden Bell" contest.  Each school sent 10 representatives to the front of the auditorium.  They sat on the floor in rows and were given individual pens and white boards.  A question would pop up on the screen and yours truly would recite the questions.  They would have to write down the answer on the white boards and hold it up.  They had three chances to be incorrect before they were out of the running and had to go sit in the audience.  There were only two students left at the end and they were from each of my schools!!  It was pretty exciting and fun to be a part of it.  

These are the wands that parents buy for their children after the festivals-
they are filled with candy and can be used to hit your friends with them

Later on in the month, all of the teachers were cleaning the school after all of the children left for winter break.  The gym teacher came into the teacher's lounge holding one.  He took some of the candy I was eating and shoved it in the top and handed it to me.  How friendly those Koreans are. 

My Schools

As I said at the beginning, I work at two different schools- Janggi and Uirang Elementary.  They are both about 20 minutes outside of town but my classes at Uirang are about 1/4 of the size that they are in Janggi.  Uirang is pretty rural, with only 50 students in the entire school.  I like having the small classes because it helps me get to know them better.  There is a wide range of English skill levels depending on grade and student.  

The banner at Janggi of all the 4th and 5th grade students 

My 4th grade class seems like they were sleeping the last two years that they were in English class because they barely understand the materials that I show to my Kindergartners.  I think this is because the Art teacher teaches them English when I’m not, which doesn't seem like it is helping.  I struggled with them at the beginning of the semester because they didn't seem to understand anything and really were not interested in learning- then I discovered their weakness: stickers.  If there are stickers involved, they will do anything to get one.  They also love games, which almost all of my students do except for the 1st graders- surprisingly, they act like they are too good for games or something.  They don’t even seem to care for videos!!  What kind of child doesn’t like to watch TV!!

My 4th grade class busy working on their English lesson

Both of my schools are set up the same composition wise.  There are two floors, rooms on only one side of the building and the hallway on the other.  Janggi, my primary school (as in the one I go to 3 days a week), has an attached gym, English hall, and a second building for Kindergarten and extra classes for science, health, etc.  Uirang, only has two floors- and no gym, just a very small auditorium.  In Janggi, my desk occupies the English library aka the “English Experience Room.”  It's very nice, I have my own classroom that no one really comes to unless they need something from me....or if they are playing hide and seek with some friends and need a place to hideout (which is about everyday).  

My desk and seating area for the English library

The curriculum is the same at each school, they have books depending on their grade.  The teacher uses those along with CDs and an English notebook for writing.  All subjects have these materials- so the students have science books, Korean books, Math books- and they all look the same!  I can only imagine how heavy their backpacks must be when they leave. 

There is a Korean teacher that uses all the materials to teach English and I just make up my own curriculum.   It has been hard getting used to it but over time I have adapted well, I think.  From co-teaching with the English teacher and some other teachers, as well as what I do in my class, I have noticed that the way students learn is extremely different from America.  In Korea, elementary learning is all based off of memorization.  They are given books to use, follow along with, and do the same activities in each lesson.  They are to memorize sentences and use those within the entire lesson.  This means that in English class, they do not necessarily understand what they are saying when they say it, they just know that is what the lesson is about.  Also, if I switch up the sentence when speaking to them, they have no idea what I am saying.

Beautiful flowers they had lining the entire school- they smelled so sweet

This concept just tends to get frustrating because their comprehension level is low even though they have had years of lessons.  This way of learning is enforced by the government so it cannot be changed.  I guess it is my job to do things with them that involve speaking and comprehension outside of the textbook.  

Weekend Trip to Busan

A couple of weekends ago, the boys and I went to Busan, an east coast city, to visit some of RJ's friends. We arrived late that night after a relaxing trip on the KTX which is similar to the bullet train in Japan. We went out to a club that was called "Ghetto" which was a lot of fun- nothing like I thought a Korean club would be like. There was a lot of smoke, a lot of people dancing like they had seizures, and a lot of American hip-hop. I knew about 90 percent of the songs that came on, and when they did come on, it was only for a minute or less before the DJ changed to a different track.

Being the DJ at a club in Korea seems like a tough job. It requires picking a good techno- related song and having some good dance moves. When people aren't sure how to sway to the beat, they look towards the DJ to set the moves. I guess that's why they changed DJ's about every half hour to an hour. It must be tiring!

Saturday we did my favorite past time: went shopping! Well, we didn't actually shop much, just walked around a large department store. The Guinness Book of World Records' largest department store to be exact. It was truly amazing- anything a gal could ask for in one place. There were floors of food, clothes, shoes, accessories, and they even had a golf range, spa, movie theater, and sports center. It was definitely a sight to see. At points, we had to search to find things that didn't break the bank but I did seem to find a very nice trench coat that was inexpensive and fit perfectly- size and style wise.

Before walking around, we hit the food court. There were stands upon stands that served all different kinds of food- most of which looked incredibly appetizing. I got a roll of Korean style Japanese sushi (not Kimbap which is the traditional Korean sushi) and a cheese and chicken roll/wrap. Everyone else in the group couldn't resist the hamburger joint and devoured it upon delivery. Here are some pictures of the delicious (and some not so delicious) looking foods they offered in the food court.

Tasty treats in Shinsegae Mall - this was a piece of bread that was fluffy on the  inside  with butter yet had a hard exterior and sprinkled with chocolate chips

Fried rice stuffed squid...I didn't actually eat this, just took a picture.

Korean pumpkin filled with other vegetables

Savory crepes

Cupcakes!  They looked to be a good rival of Coastal Cupcakes!

Fruit on a stick- almost everything here was on a stick.

The view from the roof of Shinsegae Mall (about 14 floors high)

No big deal, just an adorable group of Korean kids sharing a tub of ice cream.

View from the other side

More of RJ's friends had come and so there was a large group of us before we knew it. It was raining but that didn't stop the festivities that ensued. This partic

ular weekend, in America was known for celebrating Halloween, but in Busan, it was the fireworks festival. Now, knowing Busan as the location of the largest department store, you have to know that they won't just have any sort of fireworks display. This made the fireworks in Wilmington look like what you could buy at a dinky roadside

stand on the way to the South of the Border...and with that

, there isn't much to say about the ones in Vienna. Well, this f

ireworks show lasted for a solid 45 minutes before finishing with a breathtaking grand finale. There was never a break in bursts. It was a sight to see- and would have been much better if we didn't have to stand in the rain while it happened. Rain always seems to find its way arriving at the worst times.

After the show, we went out again downtown. There were some people dressed in Halloween costumes but the majority was not- I think I made the right decision when I chose not to wear mine.

That night, we all slept in a jjimjilbong. This is a bath house with individual floors for men and women- and then a co-ed floor where everyone sleeps. It's was a comfortably heated room so there is no need for blankets and the pillows were wood blocks that help support your neck. When I say floor, I literally mean floor, no beds. Well, we had a good time out- and didn't get back until around the time that the bars close which was about 4 or 5 AM. By the time we got a mid-morning snack, took a dip in the baths, and arrived at the sleeping floor, it was around the time for everyone to start getting up. So, beside the fact that you don't get pillows or blankets when on the sleeping floor, people getting up and some high school boys thinking it's a good idea to horse around in the room- we didn't get much sleep.

After getting up, regrouping, and getting lunch, it was time to leave. Because of the fireworks festival, the city was packed and in turn, getting out of the city was rough. All of the trains were full except for one- the Mugunghwa. Even though it's named after Korea's national flower, this train trip was anything but pleasant. It was standing and a little bit of sitting for hours before arriving home. Those trains never sell out so there were always more people getting on at every stop then there were getting off. With every wave of people that came on, sitting room depleted. There were people shoved in corners, behind doors, and all were fighting for a place to sit. Jeremy got nudged out of the way when an old lady squeezed her way into the closest seat. That train was one I know not to take in the future.

Weather and other things

It's starting to get colder and colder each day. Yesterday was the first day that I saw frost on the ground. When we talk about the weather with the Koreans, they sometimes bring up the harvesting of kimchi. Kimchi, the traditional dish that Korea is known for, is prepared this time of year. It is a big event where barrels and barrels of cabbage strew the streets. They let it soak in salty water for several hours before covering it with spicy seasonings and other toppings.

When walking to my rural school, I cross over a river. One thing I like about the walk is there are always a little family of ducklings that hang out by the bridge I cross. It makes my day to watch them play in the water and quack to each other.

Fooooood!

One thing I love here is the food. The salty and spicy dishes that are made from the same ingredients yet always seem to have a different taste. We have been to many restaurants and marked some of them as ones to go to again. A list of foods has been started and is added onto every day. There are some things that I would have again, and then some things that I remembered the name of just so I don't run across it again.

Here are some of the meals we have had:

This is the first western burger place I went to since being here. This is a 'frisco burger' with a steamed patty, bell peppers, lettuce, tomato, an extremely processed and breaded flap of cheese, and olives. Didn't look very appetizing.... I just got a cheeseburger which was pretty good for being made in Korea. But the fast food here is not nearly as fast as it is in America- they tell us 6 minutes before our food is ready, which I am not complaining about. It makes me think they made the burger with care, all neatly wrapped and perfectly stacked.

The set-up of the side dishes. Here are some pickled cabbages, pickled cucumbers- or just pickles, some steamed octopus, steamed broccoli, potato cakes- which are always delicious, and in the back are potatoes in mayo. They seem to really like mayo here and put it on a lot of things. I went to dinner with my teachers this night.

Below are some homemade rice cakes. They are sticky and have all sorts of nuts and dried fruits on the outside. They are pretty yummy but I wish they were slightly sweeter.

Above is banana milk- my favorite drink here in Korea!

Below is a menu at a soup shop. Most Korean restaurants are specialty shops where they focus on making one kind of meal. The shop normally includes the dish in their name.

Like I said in the previous post, the water here is not purified so with every meal they bring out a bottle of purified water before you order- there is one in the top left hand side of the picture below. They also give slightly damp hand towels.

Here are some pictures from when Jeremy and I went out to dinner. We got kalbi which is a kind of meat. This kind was marinated chicken and came with some pretty delicious side dishes, except for one. At the bottom of the picture below there is what looks like coleslaw but it's not, it is weird tasting salad dressing over top shredded cabbage. The taste is an indescribable tangy yet sour with a creamy feeling. Not my favorite by far.

In the background of the picture above is the marinated meat.

Now, the two pictures below are two things that were not necessarily bad but I just don't think I will have them again. The first one was something that I had at the soup shop. I just said the name and waited for it to be delivered to me. I had no clue what I was getting. When it came out, it looked like that. It smelled like tofu, tasted like tofu, and looked just like a darker tofu- so I assumed it was tofu. I researched to eventually find out that 선지해장국 is....... processed and congealed cow's blood. I have never had black pudding before and probably never will again but it's just knowing what it is. Between me and you, it wasn't all that bad. Oh, and Jeremy had a sort of beef stew (bulgolgi) - he stayed on the safe side when ordering. In the middle of the table is one of my favorite side dishes: kimchi radish!

Flower tea- one of the office staff made some for me. It tastes exactly like you are drinking....flower water.

Coming soon!

More to come: information on my apartment, last couple of weekends, and the food!

Personal insights on Korea

Now, I am warning you in advance, this is probably going to be a very long post. I am going to try and catch up what happened the last couple of weeks, so brace yourself

Sometimes I wish I just kept a small notebook or something in my back pocket everywhere I went. There are always things I think of or see that I want to write down but never remember after the fact. The past couple of weeks have just flown by and I find myself with no extra time during the day. I have started teaching at my first school, Janggi, and they have me booked from morning until afternoon with teaching, reading books to students, and learning Korean. Yes, I am taking classes with my Vice Principal every Monday-Wednesday morning, which is great! The only thing about it is we are using a little kid’s Korean book so all of the vocabulary so far has been semi-useless. It involves family members, animals, and school vocabulary. I have a feeling I won’t need to be calling anyone Mom here but if I do, I am prepared. The picture is of the hallways in Janggi.

School- the schools I teach at are great, the kids are great, and the food is great (I will talk more about that one later). One thing I noticed while teaching was the kind of students that are in the classes. In Korea, they do not separate mentally disabled students from others. There are at least 10 students in the two schools that have learning disabilities. Normally they will just be in their own world or trying to follow along but are just lost. The one thing that confuses me, is they are tested on the same level as everyone else. This seems unproductive because they are obviously behind all of the other students. This week we tested the 4^th graders on the lesson they just finished. They had to listen to sentences to match pictures with prices, spell words, and recite a dialogue (the name of the lesson was ‘How much is it?’). The dialogue is just something they are expected to memorize (I will talk more about this later). All of the kids successfully regurgitated the dialogue word for word, except for one. It was as if he was listening along when all of the students would uniformly recite the dialogue during class but he had no idea what the meaning of each word was or how to spell it. When it was his turn to individually recite the dialogue to me, he just blurted out gibberish in the correct up and down tone of the sentences. It just showed that he was very behind but no one was helping him catch up, they knew he wasn’t on the same level as everyone else, but seemed fine with it.

Memorizing: I think just about all of the classes that Korean children take are based off of books. The teachers use books, CDs, and workbooks for every subject, including math. This is where I wish I was part of this- there is another English teacher that works at my schools but she teaches the kids in Korean. She uses all of the English materials and I am just left high and dry trying to figure out lesson plans from scratch. When learning English, the students are just supposed to memorize sentences and phrases instead of understanding how to actually read them. They can recite a sentence that was written in their books, but once you take the book away from them and write the same sentence, just re-worded, they have absolutely no clue what it means (which is what I have been trying to do- have them understand the meaning of each word and sentence).

There is a annual English competition called the Golden Bell- there are three students chosen to represent their schools, two for speaking and one for writing. Instead of the judges asking the students questions and basing their scores off of their answers, the speaking students must memorize 10 pages of dialogue from their books. From those 10, 2 will randomly be chosen at the contest and they must recite them in front of the judges. I helped students at both schools with their memorization and pronunciation of the dialogues in which both sets of students sounded like native English speakers- they practiced day and night for this contest. From that, I assumed they were able to understand more than the other students- but I was wrong. They just memorized exactly how to say each word, each sentence, and each dialogue until it sounded perfect. This way of learning just doesn’t seem helpful but I guess the Korean government thinks otherwise.

I am finally completely settled in at this point. I have received my Alien Registration Card- which is practically a foreigner’s driver’s license, a bank account (and my first paycheck!!), and a cell phone. Getting a phone took a lot of time and money to set up but now that we have it, it is so much easier to get around and communicate with others. When we didn’t have a cell phone, we would have to use a pay phone, and the first time we tried using it, we had some trouble. Not because we are too technologically savvy to understand those phone boxes that are attached to a wall, but because it was all in Korean and the phone practically screams at you when it is trying to connect you to the other party. I was actually surprised as to how many pay phones there are in Korea. Maybe I never noticed them in America, but I feel like it was rare to find one on the side of the street….and to actually be working.

One thing I noticed while traveling in Korea is the trash issue. Now, I have been to Japan and from what I’ve seen, Korea seems like it tried to mimic Japan’s trash system but failed miserably. In America, you can find a trashcan just about anywhere. I remember hiking with my Dad once and seeing a trashcan on the way up the mountain-it seemed strange but I guess it was a way of having people not litter. In Japan, they were very strict on how to throw away trash. Everything had to be separated. Green bags were for things that could be burned like paper and scraps of food, pink bags were for things that needed to be recycled, and the white ones were for whatever else was left that could not be recycled or burned (I think those were the colors). Every Tuesday was trash night at my school in Japan and when Tuesday came around; everyone would bring their trash out to be inspected before thrown away. When I say inspected, I literally meant it. Volunteers would hold the bags up and look to see if something was in the bag that shouldn’t have been. It was weird to me but I guess very useful. Since Japan is such a small island, they do not have room for dumps or heaps of garbage, so they have to do as much as possible to get rid of what they don’t need.

Well, in Korea, I have seen the green bags around. You actually have to buy them individually at the grocery stores. Instead of using grocery bags at the store, they sell the trash bags so you can use them to take groceries home and then later use it as a trash bag- convenient! Instead of Koreans just using the green bags though, they use any kind of bag. Some days, when walking down the street, there will be bags upon bags of trash sitting on the side of the road just waiting to be picked up. And I still am not sure what day trash pick-up is. Unlike America, Korea does not have trashcans anywhere in the city. If you have some trash, you either hold on to it until you get home or you just put it on a pile of trash that you come across on the side of the road. Some people even litter- I saw three little boys sitting at the bus stop enjoying breakfast before school and they just left all of their wrappers on the ground.

I think Koreans know they have a littering problem but just accept it and make jobs from it. Instead of making laws to stop people from littering, they just hire more people to pick up the mess. At night, they have workers come out with rickshaws to pick up trash. They carry around what look like hand-made brooms and clean the streets and sidewalks. During the day, old people are the ones that clean. I am pretty sure Korea does not have retirement homes- instead elders live with their families and during the day they clean or work on the farms (at least in my area they do). There are always a group of elders cleaning the highway that I pass over to go to school in the mornings. They pick up the trash and then burn it on the side of the road… crafty old people! They keep themselves warm with the fire on chilly mornings.

Besides littering, Koreans have some pretty crazy laws. If there is a law for stopping at red lights, they don’t follow them. Around here, everyone I have talked to has said they feel very safe in Korea and I agree. The only way we imagine ourselves getting hurt, is getting hit by a car. I have only seen one accident, but I swear there must be more. The way Koreans drive can get pretty crazy and most of the streets are the size of one-way roads in America. They also do not stop at red lights or crosswalks, unless they see pedestrians. If there is a pedestrian, they will stop but if they don’t see you or if everyone has already crossed; they will run the red light. It seems like instead of a red light- it is what us Americans think of as a flashing yellow light- yield or slow down (but the thing is, they have those lights here!). They also don’t seem to care as much about child safety- or maybe Americans are overprotective. I have ridden in a car with a young child that was not in a car seat, or is even wearing a seatbelt! I saw a little boy standing on the passenger’s seat of a moving vehicle the other day. Crazy.

The food here is exceptional. I love it so much- and think it is probably the best part about Korea. The women that work in the cafeteria at my schools really don’t get enough credit for the amazing things they make. I am completely satisfied every time I leave the cafeteria. One thing that I should be used to but haven’t gotten the hang of it yet is not drinking while eating. The Koreans eat their food, and then after they are finished, they all gather around the water/tea dispenser and drink a cup before leaving. Sometimes it can be hard because the foods can be very spicy so you just have to eat quickly and then get something to drink. I sometimes find myself coughing from the spiciness and find that chugging the soup (which is also normally spicy) or eating a big mouthful of rice helps.

I think Americans in general just drink more water then Koreans- maybe because you have to boil the water here before drinking it because it is not purified yet. One thing that reminds me of the Polish (or at least my Polish family) is pleasing the chef with an empty plate. The way to show the chefs appreciation for a great meal is by finishing everything on your plate and going back for seconds. This wouldn’t be a problem because all of the food tastes so good, but they give everyone huge portions when served. I don’t eat much in general and some of these kids can definitely out-eat me any day. It surprises me that most Koreans are skinny- since they eat so much. Speaking of the size of Koreans- I think if you are chubby in Korea, a sense of humor comes along with the stature. Every single chubby kid in my classes is hilarious. It’s as if the inherit the quirky personality with every pound they put on.

Koreans are very big on sharing. I guess they don’t have a problem which germs. Yes, some people wear face masks, but I think they do this because they are sick and do not want anyone else to get sick. Something that I am still trying to stop, is saying ‘bless you.’ They don’t say anything when people sneeze here…and they definitely don’t cover their mouths most of the time either. It makes me nervous, because if any of you know my immune system, it’s terrible. I contract sicknesses very easily- thankfully I have discovered a vitamin C powder and drink that I take if I am feeling sick. One of my sweet students gave me a packet before class. It seems to work almost instantly!

The bathrooms here normally don’t have their own toilet paper. There is either a communal roll that you have to grab before you go into an individual stall, or there just isn’t any at all. I have learned to always carry a stack of ‘just in case tissues’ with me. They are also big on using bars of soap. I have only seen one place here that uses liquid soap and it’s actually the texture of lotion- I thought it was lotion the first time I used it.