Fall in Korea

First written October 2012:

Hello All!

It's been so long since my last post that I don't even know where to begin. Fall is in full swing here in Cheonan City, South Korea. The leaves are changing colors and everything is beautiful. 

These are just a preview of pictures that will come later.

We have been very busy this month. I can't even believe that tomorrow starts November. At the end of September we had a 5 day weekend due to a Korean holiday called Chuseok. Chuseok is a harvest holiday similar to Thanksgiving (but nothing like Thanksgiving too). It is a family holiday and most Koreans go to "grandma's house" for the holiday. EVERYONE travels. So Zack and I decided to use our time to stay in Seoul for a few days and explore the city. The city was very deserted due to the holiday so it was easy to get around the city without as many people there. 

This is part of a HUGE palace we visited in Seoul during our Chuseok vacation. 

We have been to a "Walnut Cookie Festival" and the "World Dance Festival". Both of which were in Cheonan City. 

Zack and I have been to both a cat cafe and a dog cafe to get our animal "fix". Which is exactly how it sounds. It is a business that has cats or dogs that you can play with when you order coffee. 

Cat Cafe

Dog Cafe

I have been working or several projects for my classroom to make it more fun and inviting. And who am I kidding, it's also my crafting outlet while in Korea.

Also, KNU (Korea Nazarene University) has about 60 native teachers in the program for Cheonan City Public Schools. Once a semester they take us on a "Cultural Excursion". It was last weekend. They took us to a city near Seoul on buses. We went to an art museum with a gorgeous outdoor garden. And then we went to a theme park called Everland. It's the closest thing to Disney in Korea. In actuality it is an oversized fair. But we still had fun. (However, there are Disney parks in Tokyo, Japan and in Hong Kong. Zack and I are determined to hit one of them while we are here). They gave all of us zip up sweatshirt jackets with Korea Nazarene University printed on them and a lunch ticket for the park. 

I had a pretty bad cold last week and lost my voice but am much better now. My co-teachers are so sweet.

And last but not least, I had 'stag beetles' brought to my classroom..... (yes, I said beetles. Plural.)

Well, I hope that this post will curb you're hunger for Korea blogposts for a little while. I will work on individual posts along with more pictures.

Love you all!

Dujeong Elementary School

First written September 2012:

Dujeong Elementary School is the school that I teach at. I have my own classroom. It is located on the 5th floor of the 5 story school building. There is an elevator but I am not allowed to use it. It is only for the disabled and old people. If you are able, you use the stairs. (I better have fantastic legs soon). I teach 5th and 6th graders. There are 5 5th grade classes and 6 6th grade classes. So I see each class twice a week. Each class has 25 to 30 students in them. So I have around 300 students. Most teachers including Zack have at least 600 or more students because they see 22 classes once a week and some classes have more than 30 students each. So I am learning  my students faces and names quicker than most native teachers.

On Wednesday's after school the teachers play volleyball in the gym. It is a lot of fun. I get to see the teachers that I see everyday but in a less professional manor. They are more carefree. Even though I can't understand much of what anyone is saying I do understand context and can usually guess at what is going on. I have played two times so far. The first time I didn't know what to expect. I changed into sportswear and sneakers and went to the gym. There are about 8 men teachers (including the principle and vice principle) that play volleyball and the rest are women. The women play a little bit but don't move around the floor very much but the men try to play most of the floor. My head teacher grabbed a ball and we started to warm up. I practiced serving the ball under and over handed. All of the women "ooo'd and aah'd at my ability to hit the ball "powerfully". I am not very good at volleyball but I find it fun and I try to be ready if the ball is headed in my direction. Which translates into me being "awesome" at volleyball. The men are very good and the women mainly stay in the back and hope the ball doesn't come to them and serve on their turn. They say I am "very passionate". We play best 3 out of 5 games wins. Also, they have rules that Americans don't have. Or better yet, they have lack of rules.  For you volleyball players out there, they carry all of the time, they kind of push the ball over sometimes and worst of all they kick the ball and its legal. The first time someone kicked the ball I quit playing defensively because I thought the volley was over but it kept going. I turned around to my head teacher and said "Did that count?" She shook her head yes. "Whatever! It so does not!" I thought to myself.  But I just went with it. Our team lost that day. We won 2 of 5 games. Afterwards, my head teacher says, "wait, we have a gift." I was like, "for what?" She said, "for volleyball." She walked away and I just waited. She returned with a bar of soap for both of us. "It's our gift for losing. The winners got toothpaste." Oh ok, sure. I said thank you and took my soap. Last week my team won. We got first pick out of a bunch of boxes of cookies. The losers got second choice. I wonder what we will get next week?

I have settled into my school and I am starting to get to know my co-teachers names and remember which classes they teach. Korean school cafeteria food is good most days and they is always rice in case I don't like something (and a can of Pringles in my desk for dire situations).

My first few days were pretty rough though. I mixture of things were going on that caused lots of stress. Let me take you through what is now kind of humorous but at the time was no where close to funny.

My first day was a Friday. For all of my classes that day I introduced myself. I made a powerpoint with pictures of my family and some things they might want to know about me. It went well. However, the way my schedule of classes is, I see a couple classes on Friday and Monday. So even though I haven't met all my classes yet I have to start teaching a couple lessons to a couple classes on Monday. I have a teachers guide (there is a lot of Korean is this book and a little bit of English), a kids classroom book and a CD rom. All I know is to teacher "these 2 pages for 30 minutes." That means nothing to me. I take my books and CD home for the weekend to see if I can figure something out. I have no idea how long it takes to teach these pages and how much of my own materials are needed and I don't know what the CD does. On Sunday afternoon I am scouring the internet and looking for ideas for teaching. They hours go by faster and faster and I am getting no where. I put the CD in my computer and it doesn't work in my MAC. At this point I am so tired and I know I have an hour and a half at school before I have my first class that I decide I will try and figure something out at school. I am already not going to get a full nights sleep as it is and I go to bed. As soon as we get to bed an alarm goes off (it's about 2 am). It's the kind of alarm that goes off for 20 seconds and then is silent for 10 seconds over and over and over and over again. Apparently we weren't thinking about the meaning of the alarm. We were just annoyed and couldn't sleep. We finally were so tired and fell asleep for about 4 hours. They alarm woke us back up around 6 am on Monday morning (the first full week of school and I get 4 hours of sleep). (Also, you should know that September is the middle of the school year. They graduate and change grade in February so this is the second semester not the first week of school). So we get ready and head to school. So I'm exhausted, I don't know what I'm going to teach exactly and I am missing home and I want American food. I get to school, go to my room, turn my computer on, open all the windows because it's like a furnace in my room and put my CD in. I should also tell you that my head teach told me on Friday that I would be getting a new computer in my room over the weekend. So I have a new computer and it's a LOT better than the one I had on Friday but all of the things you need to do to a new computer like downloading Adobe hadn't been done. My CD needs Adobe. So I go to download Adobe but Adobe is all in KOREAN. I finally figure out how to download it and I get a pop up error message in KOREAN. I decide to try and use my CD and it opens up and I have 4 options in KOREAN! I don't know what to do so I immediately start crying (naturally). But this isn't any crying. It's not just a few tears falling on my face. It's flat out sobbing. And I CAN'T MAKE IT STOP! My poor head teacher (who I have spent 1 day with) came in after a while (I have no idea how long I sat there crying) and she was trying to figure out what my problem was. :) "Why you crying? You have to tell me if something is wrong. I can't help if you don't tell me. What happened?" I'm still sobbing and can't speak and I'm embarrassed. She looks at the computer screen and it clicks. "You can't read Korean." Yeah, that's right lady. I can't read Korean. I don't know what I'm going to teach. I want to sleep. But I nod my head yes. I am still crying. I try to stop but I just keep wiping tears away. "You are a sensitive person, yes?" Yep, that's me. I guess she will know that from the get go. Anyways, I finally dry it up after I let out a few more good sobs (like an hour after I started). The day ended much better than it started. For the rest of the week I thought I was going to get sick on the way to school everyday. My second week was 100 times better than my first.

 I am loving school and teaching now. I am getting to know more and more about Korea and Korean culture. We have gotten settled into our apartment (even though we will be moving to a new one in January). We are becoming more familiar with our city and have even ventured out into other parts of Korea which we will do more and more as time goes on. There is a Starbucks about a 12 minute walk from my school that I go to a lot while I'm waiting on Zack to get out of school. (I will right a whole other post on coffee later). I am starting to make my classroom my own little by little every day. I am getting more and more used to Korean food and find myself craving it from time to time. I don't dread going to lunch everyday. There is usually something I am going to like each time (at least that's how it's been so far and it's been over 3 weeks). So much has happened in the past 2 months we have been here. I need to write 1000 more posts to cover it all. Hopefully, I will get some more writing done this week.

Thanks for reading!

Love you all!

A Little Feng Shui

First written September 2012

So, we have tried to make the apartment we are living in as comfy and home-y as possible. I have moved the furniture around a lot. It's a one bedroom apartment but the bedroom doesn't have an air conditioning unit. But the living room area does. Since we came to Korea the end of July it was unbearably hot and there was no way we could sleep in a room that was 85 degrees at least. So the first thing we did, even though we were so tired and jet lagged, was move the bed into the living room and the other things in the living room into the bedroom.

A previous resident had put up some kind of stick on wall decor. But someone had later decided that it needed to come down. So they peeled it off the wall which has been poorly painted on cheap sheet rock. I'm not saying anything about the people who made the decision to put up the cheap sheet rock, I'm just painting a picture. So when they peeled off the wall decor it left an "outline" (for lack of a better word) on the wall where it had been. 

Ta Da!

It's all I can do not to sit and stare at the terrible wall all the time. And when I am Skyping with anyone new that hasn't seen the wall they always say "Is that a flower behind your head?" 

So I decided that my contribution to this apartment for everyone that comes after us is fixing this wall.

I found some peel and stick wall paper at a local store that I liked and would cover up this craziness. It has big orange flowers on it and is kind of asian but anything is better than the weird "under the sea" wall.

Here is what the wall looks like now as of this weekend. It has made SUCH a difference.

There are several bubbles in the paper and you can still see a little of what is behind it but like I said ANYTHING is better. I really like the big flowers and it adds some color to a pretty bland apartment. 

Hope you like it too!

Love you all!

Tiffany

Some Funny English Signs

First written August 2012

It's true cafes are ubiquitous around here. This one just wants you to know it.

This one speaks for itself.

OK, so there's no English on this but who doesn't want a big stuffed cuddly loaf of bread for $15?!?

Bon Voyage if you are planning a long trip somewhere....

If not, no Bon Voyage for you!

just you are.

This hangs in the bathroom stall at my school. It's funny the things you read while peeing.

Here is another.

I can't figure out what this one is even trying say. 

This one takes the cake. Do you see it? Want to learn BUTTER ENGLISH? Yes, please teach me. It sounds delicious.

History Lesson: VJ Day in Korea

First written August 2012:

Well, we have about a week of training left before we start teaching in our schools. We've been in classes for 6 hours a day 5 days a week learning about how to teach English as a second language. One thing I have learned in Korea is that you need to be flexible ALL OF THE TIME and be ready for anything because things change constantly. You also might not know of things that are happening until the last minute for various reasons. As a planner, I find this a little frustrating but I'm learning to go with the flow and take things as they come. Day by day.

Zack and I both know that we are teaching Elementary schools. We know that the schools are very close together so we will be able to take the same subway or bus together to work. He has to walk by my school to get to his school. This is a rare thing from some of the things we have heard from other married couples that are here. Some of them have schools in complete opposite directions. We know that he will probably be teaching 4th, 5th and 6th grades and I will probably be teaching 5th and 6th grades. Each school usually only has one native English speaking teacher. So this means each class will only have English in my classroom once a week. This also means I will be teaching the same lesson 10-12 times a week (if 5th and 6th grade lesson plans are different). This is both good and bad. Yay, we only need to prepare 2-3 lessons each week. But this also means we teach the exact same thing over and over and over again which could get pretty boring. We know that we both have our own English classrooms and the students come our classrooms each day. (Some schools the teacher rotates to each classroom and the children stay in the same classroom. Every school is different). This means we will be able to decorate our classrooms and hang things on the walls. We probably couldn't hang anything on the walls if we traveled to different classrooms. This is about all the information we have on our schools until we actually start teaching. And it took me a long time to track down this information. Also, since things change constantly around here I may be writing another post in a couple weeks saying our schools are nothing like I said (which is totally possible).

So on to VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day). South Korea has 3 independence days (they have claimed independence from several different countries in their history). Last week on August 15th, Korea celebrated their independence from Japan. Japan surrendered at the end of WWII on August 15th, 1945 about a week after the US dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the US the date of surrender is August 14th but due to the time difference it was the 15th here when Japan surrendered. The Japanese and Japan are a very touchy subject here in Korea. It hasn't been that long ago since the war and most people have relatives like grandmothers etc that were alive during the war. Things that the Japanese did to Koreans are still pretty fresh in the minds of some of the Korean elders. That hate has trickled down to the younger generations as well. (The Koreans and Japanese still fight over who owns this tiny, tiny island directly between Japan and South Korea).

VJ Day is a national holiday in South Korea so schools, banks and post offices were closed. So on our day off from classes we decided we were going to get up early (ish) and go hiking. We've been told that hiking here isn't really like hiking when you think of traditional hiking. Most of the paths are paved and you are basically just walking. Our group of 7 that went hiking decided to plan like it was real hiking and boy are we glad we did. We wore sneakers and took sandwiches and lots of water in backpacks. We had previously been to a Buddhist temple and had seen a few paths around that area on that mountain so we decided to head back there. We knew which busses to take to get there. We had to take 2 busses to get there. There are two options for the first bus, the 12 and the 14. The 12 bus is a more direct bus to get to where we transfer to the next bus. We knew that the 14 would get us there as well but it would take a little bit longer. We went with the 14 bus because it was already at the bus stop when we got there. However, it took much longer than the 12. 45 minutes later we are standing at the next stop waiting for the next bus to take us to the bottom the the mountain where the Buddhist temple was. It seemed like we were waiting forever for that bus. Anyways, we eventually get to the bottom of the mountain. We start to walk up. We stopped by the temple again to see it another time and to take a few more pictures.

                                                

This is a huge Buddha. He is made of bronze and stands (sits) around 70 feet high.

These are prayer lanterns. People pay to buy these lanterns and then write their prayer requests on them.

We decided to now begin our hike behind the Buddha. Let's just say these paths are not ones that are paved on the way up it is quite steep. (At least the path we blindly chose was steep).

Up we go. This picture doesn't even begin to show how steep it was. At one point there was rope to help us climb.

Once we got to the top there was a clearer path for us to walk the ridge of the mountain cluster. We had heard there were a couple places to see a view of the city and we wanted to find them. Most of the mountain was covered with trees and you really couldn't see much at all. We walked one way and then turned around and went the other way. We walked for a LOOOOOONG time. I should also tell you that the weather forecast for this day was overcast and heavy rain predicted. It was much cooler this day. Probably the coolest it had been up to that point to South Korea. We really couldn't have picked a better day for this. There was a nice breeze on top of the mountain and even though it was raining a little bit there were so many trees that we really weren't that wet.

Finally we found one view:

This was not on the side of the mountain where the city was but it was gorgeous.

We decided it was about time to head back down so we were going to walk the other direction and hopefully see the view on the other side of the mountain as we went. We didn't want to go down the way to came up because it was WAY TOO steep to go down.

We did find the other view. By this point it was starting to rain more heavily so the pictures we got weren't the best but it was still amazing. Hopefully we will go back on a clear day and take more pictures.

There are tons and tons of buildings mixed in with tons and tons of mountains. It's very hard to make out.

Now, we begin our journey down the mountain. We are all very tired and are starting to get a little more wet. We walk and we walk and we walk and we walk. By the time we decide that we probably should have gone down somewhere else we are too far to turn back. We are committed. The path gets smaller and smaller and eventually we are in the middle of the woods on a mountain in Asia. Finally we make it off the mountain and we wind up very close to where we got off the bus. Where we came out doesn't even look like a path. If you saw it from the road you would have no idea it was there. It was quite an experience.

Here we are finally off the mountain.

THIS is where the path finally came out!

Ah, but the story is quite over yet. Remember how I told you the forecast called for heavy rain? Well, we make it back to the bus. It's raining some. We transfer busses to the bus that will take us back to school. While we are on that bus the flood gates opened. It was pouring. Raining cats and dogs. Gully washing. 

The school is the last stop on the bus. The bus lets us out at the bottom of the hill below campus. We have to cross the street and go up a big hill and make a couple of turns to get to the building we all live in. We get off the bus and take off running up the hill to get to our building. We get less than halfway there and realize that is doesn't matter if we run or not because we are already soaked through. It took a couple of days for my sneakers to finally dry out.

Completely soaked. 

What a day! 

Well, that's all for now.

Love you guys!

Our First Few Days in Korea

I had posted some of these posts in a separate blog but I have decided that instead of keeping up with 2 blogs I will put them all in the same blog. 

First written August 2012.

We are here! I can't believe we have been here 3 days. Each day has been jam packed with things to do. This has really been the first little bit of down time we have had since we got here (it's Saturday afternoon). We have unpacked and put away basically everything at this point. It has taken until today to get everything put away. I would put a few things away every time we came back to our apartment. Finally this afternoon everything found a home. We have bought a few things we have needed each day. There are still a few things on the list but we can only carry so much back with us each time.

The air conditioning unit is in the living room and there is not a separate unit in the bedroom so the very first thing we did when we got into our apartment was move the bed into the living room and the couch into the bedroom. The air is on a timer so every time it goes off I would have to get up and turn it back on. With the bed in the living room area all I have to do when the air goes off is lift my hand up and hit the button. No getting up needed. The unit makes a noise when it cuts off so I know when I hear it to just turn it back on.

There are 13 new teachers that arrived at the same time on Wednesday. 11 women and 2 men (one is Zack). All are single except for Zack and I. But there are several married couples that have been here for a while. We are all mostly the same age. There 3 or 4 more that are arriving in the next few days. They have been waiting on their visas to come back. Of those 3 or 4 there is another married couple coming in a couple days and they will live next door to us. I'm pretty excited to meet them. I have chatted with the wife (Allison) on FB a little bit. I really like all of the new teachers that came with us. And all of the teachers that have been here a while have all been super helpful and are full of information that we need to know. Whether it is directions, teaching us some Korean phrases or things that taste good they have all been great.

Now, let's talk about the weather. It is HOT! If you look up the weather on the weather channel it says it is 88 degrees, 58% humidity and feels like 94. That is putting is nicely. TN is hot and humid but it is nothing like it is here. I have never been so "sticky" in all my life. It's just hot all the time. Not every where has air conditioning. Some restaurants and stores do but the classrooms do not. The subway does but the busses do not. And as far as I know it equally as cold in the winter time.

As far as food goes we have tried several different things since we've been here. Mostly everything is very good. It might look weird but it's very good. :) Some places we have been with Koreans or other teachers that speak enough Korean to get around and order food so that wasn't a problem. A couple times we have been out with only new teachers and the only Korean we know right now is 'thank you'. So those times we would point to something on the menu and hope for the best. Both times were successful. :)

 I think our next step is to learn the Korean alphabet. So we can at least learn to read the signs. A lot of signs are in "Konglish" which means the word is an English word but written in Korean letters. So if we can read the sign we know what we might be ordering etc. Korean is made up of an alphabet they are not characters like Chinese or Japanese. There are 10 vowels and 14 consonants.

It's really amazing how many things are already written in English on signs etc. and how quickly more and more English has been popping up all around. Apparently even 1 1/2 years ago there was a lot less English than there is now. Most people are very interested in us and our culture. Since Zack and I are both blonde and I have blues eyes and Zack's a hazel color and we are both very white we are very interesting. Little kids have waved to us, at lunch the other day a group of women thought we were funny using chopsticks (we were probably the biggest group of foreigners they had ever seen) and lots of people stare. If you ask a Korean when the first time they saw a foreigner or white person they will more than likely remember the exact moment and tell you.

Somethings that Koreans need to know about you is age and blood type. It is very important for a Korean to know if they are younger or older than you or the same age (born the same year). They use different words if you are older or younger. There is a guy named Jeff that works in the office that works with all of the English teachers and he was showing us around Cheonan. We were talking about age because you are a different age in Korea (which I will go into later). When he found out he and I were both born in 1988 he immediately started teaching me the word for friend in Korean (which I can't remember right now). I was very confused as to why he was talking about being my friend but I was just like "sure we can be friends". I had no idea at the time that it had to do with my age until a teacher that had been here a while told me that if two people were born the same year they are your "friend" it has nothing to do with actually liking the other person. In Korea they believe you are 1 year old when you are born and start counting from there. You can't be less than a year old. So I am 25 Korean age. Also, you do turn the next age on your birthday. Everyone turns the next age on January 1 regardless of your birthday. So even though Zack is 24 right now in America he is 26 KA because he was born in 1987. In December when he has his birthday he will be 25 (American Age) but a few weeks later on January 1 he will be 27 KA. Even though Zack and I are 5 months apart we were born in different years so in Korea he will always be a year older than me Korean age.

Blood type is also important. It is similar to a horoscope in the US. Different blood types are said to have different personality traits. Zack and I have the same blood type O+ (however I don't think + or - matter just the letter).

Blood Type A:
Positive Traits: Conservative, introverted, reserved, patient, punctual and inclined to be perfectionists.
Worst Traits: Obsessive, stubborn, self conscious and uptight.
Referred as ‘farmers’ in some descriptions, Type A’s are said to be considerate of others and loyal to a fault. They can also be secretive and reluctant to share their feelings. Apparently they don’t hold their liquor well, either.

Blood Type B:
Best Traits: Animal-loving, creative, flexible, individualistic, optimistic and passionate.
Worst Traits: Forgetful, irresponsible and self-centered.
Referred to as ‘hunters’, Type B’s have very independent natures and tend not to be concerned about what other people think of them. Although often described as shallow and lazy, they can be quite passionate about the things they hold dear. Patience is not their strong suit either.
Type B men have acquired a very negative reputation in Korea and are not considered by many to be good husband material. Often described as ‘players’, they are perceived as being selfish and mercurial, quick to anger and not terribly reliable. That said, their bad boy image makes them very attractive to women, but not for the long term. (Type B women do not share in this bad rep, for some unexplained reason).

Blood Type AB: 
Best Traits: Cool, controlled, empathic, introverted and rational.
Worst Traits: Aloof, critical, indecisive and unforgiving.
Referred to as ‘humanists’, Type AB’s are said to be controlled more by their heads, than by their hearts. They are rational, good with money, but unpredictable. Although inclined to be distant, they prefer harmony and as such, work well with mediators. Some consider them two-faced, and therefore untrustworthy.

Blood Type O: 
Best Traits: Ambitious, athletic, robust and self-confident.
Worst Traits: Arrogant, insensitive, ruthless and vain.
Referred to as ‘warriors’, Type O’s are viewed as natural leaders and are often, also, natural athletes. They tend to be outgoing, expressive and passionate, but can also bore others to death with their obsessive drive for success coupled with their absolute convictions that they are winners. This certainty that they will always win explains why they aren’t afraid to take risks or gamble. They have a strong physical presence and are unlikely to ever be overlooked.


Source: www.korea4expats.com/article-blood-types.html

Well, this at least a start as to what we have been experiencing the past few days. More to come later. Love you guys!

My Little Red Bicycle

 

One of the things on my 101 in 1001 list was to buy a pretty bicycle. First of all, I have always wanted a cute bike to ride around on. Then when we moved to Korea there were adorable bikes all over the place. We don't have a car in Korea but there is public transportation galore here (trains, buses, taxis, etc). Plus it is really easy to get anywhere in town on a bicycle here too. School is close enough for me to ride my bike too. Getting a bike was something that I had always wanted to look into but just never got around to. However, fate stepped in and someone that I know who is leaving the country soon had a bike she was selling. I JUMPED on her offer. I know that I will only be in the country for another 6 months but that is still enough time to enjoy the bike and it was cheaper than buying a brand new bike. Then I will sell it to another wonderful teacher when I leave. It's a win-win. Isn't she cute? Her name is Penelope. ;)