Have you ever forced yourself to stay asleep so you could finish a dream? I rarely dream and even more infrequently do I remember my dreams. I was determined to write this one down before forgetting, but alas, I have forgotten a good portion of it.
I entered a fancy hotel and took an elevator to the top floor. The top floor ended up being the roof. I didn't really know why I was there, but I wasn't surprised when I was greeted by a number of my elementary school classmates; it was an elementary school reunion. We awkwardly chatted and caught up after the dozen of years apart. There were no chairs...there was fog....and clouds... The annoying feelings of nonacceptance managed to reappear even after all these years of attempting to convince myself that I didn't really care what those people thought of me. My frustration led me to exit the area where my peers all stood, and somehow I was back in a room with gaudy, fancy, red hotel carpeting. I re-entered the elevator. The elevator turned into a rollercoaster and it was whipping me every which way. Finally coming to rest on the bottom floor, the doors opened, and I stepped out slightly oblivious to what had just occurred and slightly knowledgeable but willing to not force memory. (One of the things I can't remember is the name of the elevator. It was the name of a famous singer; one only that I could vaguely recognize at the time.)
After forcing myself to remain awake at around Noon, I lounged around watching Scrubs most of the day. I met up with Lauren at 7:30PM to go see a movie. We decided to see Golden Compass. We had heard both positive and negative critiques of the movie from friends, but it ended up not being too bad. One of my friends sent me an email about all of the anti-God symbolism that can be found in the movie, but I need to read over it again. Perhaps I'll write more later about the trilogy.
After the movie, we found a cute little toast place; I didn't know it existed until today! I'm excited about it! We can get toast and fruit juice for pretty cheap. The name is Isaac, and there are biblical quotes on all of the plastic fruit juice cups; I'm going to take a guess that the restaurant is Christian-affiliated in some way, shape, or form.^^
Got home around 11:30PM, said goodnight to the host fam, and headed to bed. We have to head out to Gyeongido for a birthday party early in the morning.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
Winter Camp Day 3 - Friday Dec. 28, 2007
Since today is the last day of winter camp, I decided to do something really fun with each of my classes. Unfortunately the only class that didn't tick me off in the process was fifth grade. With the third grade, I had a pancake breakfast. My host mom helped me make 20 pancakes this morning for them. BTW, I am officially the worst cook ever! I'd like to blame it on the gas stove that I'm still not used to, but in reality, it's ALL me. I would have gotten then hang of it eventually... Anyway, the kids were to decorate the pancakes with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and almonds. They made a little bit of a mess (ok...they're kids), but they weren't being incredibly helpful in cleaning up. I went to get some rags, and then they helped clean up. One girl came up to me to tell me that she had a stomachache, I told her that she would be okay. When I got back over to the class, she was still eating the pancake drenched in chocolate syrup. I said, "If your stomach hurts, STOP eating the pancake." She didn't realize that she didn't have to eat the whole thing. Is that strange only to me? Don't kids normally just stop eating if they don't want to eat something?
I semi-went off on a fourth grade student who was mocking me every time I read a students name off to get their invitations back to them. I took him to the back of the room and made him stand there. Normally it wouldn't bother me, but this kid has been pretty disrespectful each of the three days of camp. They finished their invitations, and I told them I had a surprise for them. We threw a real party. The fourth graders weren't very polite...or rather the fourth grade boys. I wasn't very happy with them. I love the fifth graders though. They were happy to have a party and actually thanked me. We were working on party manners. "Can you please pass me the ____." "May I please have some more to drink?" "May I please have some more chips?" "How is everything?" ^^
After school, we went to a buckwheat kalguksu restaurant. It was the first time I had had it. It was good, but I think I like the original kalguksu better. Hee went with us; I was really happy to see her!! When Seok and Hee dropped me off at home, it was really sad! I told them that I would stay in touch over the next two months.
My host mom had to take me back to the photo studio that Hee took me to, because somehow they lost my picture file. There was crazy traffic downtown, so my host mom parked in the church parking lot nearby, and I just ran over to the photo studio. I was literally in and out in about a minute. When I got back to the car, my host mom thought I had gotten lost, because I was back so soon. Ha!
Tonight, I watched about 4 episodes of Heroes with my host family. My host dad downloads them to his computer and then uploads them onto the little silver trashcan looking thing. So, we watch a few episodes at a time.
I decided not to go to the Friday Korean English meeting tonight. 1) I didn't have any desire to discuss the topic that had been posted. It was about what you do with bad Christmas gifts. This was not something I was willing to spend an hour of my life discussing. 2) I was watching Heroes with my host family until 10:30PM. 3) I didn't really feel like going. It's kind of sad that I chose to stay in instead of going out to meet friends, but I really am quite content sticking around the house. Pretty soon, I will be traveling and gone for weeks at a time; I want to spend time with my host family. I do miss the people of the group, and I'm going to try to go next week, but it is the day before I leave for my workshop trip. I felt even worse when Chan (the leader of the group/like a father figure to me) called to ask if I was there because he was getting ready to head over. Sadness! I love Chan! He's such a great guy, and his son is adorable! Many times he leaves the group early; when I ask him why he's leaving using my puppy dog eyes, he explains that his son called asking why he isn't home. It's super cute! He's such a good father!
I semi-went off on a fourth grade student who was mocking me every time I read a students name off to get their invitations back to them. I took him to the back of the room and made him stand there. Normally it wouldn't bother me, but this kid has been pretty disrespectful each of the three days of camp. They finished their invitations, and I told them I had a surprise for them. We threw a real party. The fourth graders weren't very polite...or rather the fourth grade boys. I wasn't very happy with them. I love the fifth graders though. They were happy to have a party and actually thanked me. We were working on party manners. "Can you please pass me the ____." "May I please have some more to drink?" "May I please have some more chips?" "How is everything?" ^^
After school, we went to a buckwheat kalguksu restaurant. It was the first time I had had it. It was good, but I think I like the original kalguksu better. Hee went with us; I was really happy to see her!! When Seok and Hee dropped me off at home, it was really sad! I told them that I would stay in touch over the next two months.
My host mom had to take me back to the photo studio that Hee took me to, because somehow they lost my picture file. There was crazy traffic downtown, so my host mom parked in the church parking lot nearby, and I just ran over to the photo studio. I was literally in and out in about a minute. When I got back to the car, my host mom thought I had gotten lost, because I was back so soon. Ha!
Tonight, I watched about 4 episodes of Heroes with my host family. My host dad downloads them to his computer and then uploads them onto the little silver trashcan looking thing. So, we watch a few episodes at a time.
I decided not to go to the Friday Korean English meeting tonight. 1) I didn't have any desire to discuss the topic that had been posted. It was about what you do with bad Christmas gifts. This was not something I was willing to spend an hour of my life discussing. 2) I was watching Heroes with my host family until 10:30PM. 3) I didn't really feel like going. It's kind of sad that I chose to stay in instead of going out to meet friends, but I really am quite content sticking around the house. Pretty soon, I will be traveling and gone for weeks at a time; I want to spend time with my host family. I do miss the people of the group, and I'm going to try to go next week, but it is the day before I leave for my workshop trip. I felt even worse when Chan (the leader of the group/like a father figure to me) called to ask if I was there because he was getting ready to head over. Sadness! I love Chan! He's such a great guy, and his son is adorable! Many times he leaves the group early; when I ask him why he's leaving using my puppy dog eyes, he explains that his son called asking why he isn't home. It's super cute! He's such a good father!
Winter Camp Day 2 - Thursday Dec. 27, 2007
Today in classes, I let the students finish up their dream home drawings. Some students were REALLY creative! I like the assignment. In third grade, we went on to talk about breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods. In fourth and fifth grade, we started talking about and making theme party invitations. Many of the girls got into it, because they could make cutesy little cards; many of the boys got into it as well, because they could make computer game invitations. I felt a little disorganized today, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that there are only three 40 minute classes in the entire winter camp for each grade. (Except the fifth grade actually had 4 classes but they were super late the first day.)
After school, the teachers went out to a tofu restaurant. I feel like they are building their lunches around me since I am a vegetarian. I think most teachers haven't caught onto the fact that I can find something to eat anywhere. It is really nice of them though, and I appreciate it!
I just hung out at home the rest of the night. My host fam and I were going to watch a movie, but there are some frustrating points when trying to watch a movie with my host family. 1) My host dad finds it necessary to explain everything that is being said in English to my host sibs even though there are subtitles. 2) We usually get about 15 minutes into a movie (just enough for me to get into the movie), and we have to change it because it is inappropriate for my host sibs. (I can kind of understand this one, but it still is annoying.) So, we went from watching Love Actually to some movie with Kevin Bacon that I don't remember the name of to an episode of Prinson Break that I have already seen. Apparently, the version of Love Actually in Korean doesn't have the sex scenes like the American version.
I decided to stick to Scrubs for the rest of the night. I'm obsessed with Scrubs. I'm almost done with Season 5!!
After school, the teachers went out to a tofu restaurant. I feel like they are building their lunches around me since I am a vegetarian. I think most teachers haven't caught onto the fact that I can find something to eat anywhere. It is really nice of them though, and I appreciate it!
I just hung out at home the rest of the night. My host fam and I were going to watch a movie, but there are some frustrating points when trying to watch a movie with my host family. 1) My host dad finds it necessary to explain everything that is being said in English to my host sibs even though there are subtitles. 2) We usually get about 15 minutes into a movie (just enough for me to get into the movie), and we have to change it because it is inappropriate for my host sibs. (I can kind of understand this one, but it still is annoying.) So, we went from watching Love Actually to some movie with Kevin Bacon that I don't remember the name of to an episode of Prinson Break that I have already seen. Apparently, the version of Love Actually in Korean doesn't have the sex scenes like the American version.
I decided to stick to Scrubs for the rest of the night. I'm obsessed with Scrubs. I'm almost done with Season 5!!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Winter Camp Day 1 - Wednesday Dec. 26, 2007
I set my alarm to 7:00AM, so I could get up and plan a little bit for the classes today. Remember me saying that I can't actually get up to an alarm if I go to sleep after 2:00AM? Luckily, whatever occasionally malfunctioning sorry excuse for an internal alarm clock came through for me today. I woke up at 8:00AM, got dressed, and my host father drove me to school. It was so nice of him to drive me to school! Before I rode with him, because he was taking his children anyway.
I hurried up and finished my powerpoints before the winter camp orientation began. I was introduced to the students much more intensely than the other teachers; I'm not entirely sure why, but I assume it has something to do with me being a foreigner who speaks English. That's usually the way it goes around here.
My first class was 3rd graders. I actually really enjoyed teaching them. That's how the first day of Winter Camp went. I really enjoyed teaching the kids. I think, in part, it's because they were classes of half the students I usually have to teach; it's much more personal. Plus, the class was fun. I've realized that I'm not going to teach something that's not fun for me to teach, because I figure if it's fun for me to teach, the students will have fun learning it. The opposite is true as well; if I am bored teaching something, then the students are probably going to be bored. I believe this is partially because I think and act like a kid in a lot of ways still., which I'm completely okay with.
We started by playing knots and using English directions; the third graders had a hard time with it, the fourth graders caught on pretty well, and the fifth graders were quite good at it. I actually only taught my 5th graders for 20 minutes, because the teacher before them lost track of time. It's okay, because I teach them 4 times instead of 3.
After playing knots, I introduced some household objects vocabulary, and we discussed the different rooms of a house. I then showed a powerpoint of "Homes of the Future." They were really random house designs that looked really cool. Then I told the students that they were to get in pairs, think of their dream home, and draw it. I'm going to pick the top three and have the students vote for the best house on the last day during our party; the winner will get a prize.
After the awesome day of classes; I went out to eat with the head English teacher, Seok teacher, 2-4 teacher who organized the camp, another teacher, Hae Yeon, and the two vice principals. We went to the same restaurant that my host family went to on Monday; never had I been to that restaurant before this week, and now I have been there twice in one week!^^ It's super tasty, so I was psyched to go. I think tomorrow we are going to KalGuksu. It was mildy frustrating that the entire lunch, the head English teacher, Seok, and 2-4 teacher were talking about my diet. The head English teacher doesn't think I eat enough, Seok kept telling me to eat more and got offended when I didn't eat the soup because I was full, and they were comparing the way I eat to the way the last ETA ate. GAH! One of the most frustrating things is that I actually eat more than the head English teacher who is saying I should eat more.
Seok dropped me off at home, while the rest of the teachers went back to school. All teachers are still at school through today. In the car on the way home, a teacher looked at me and said, "You look bad" with a smile on her face. Haha! What she meant to say was, "Are you sick?" Cracks me up! Koreans flat out tell you what they think, especially when it comes to appearances.
I watched a few episodes of Scrubs and took a nap until dinner. After dinner, my host sister came into my room and started counting all of the penguins in my room.^^ CUTE!! My mom sent me about a billion penguin things for Christmas! Super excited! Amongst everything, is a dancing penguin who sings "I'm Singing in the Snow." My host sister came in and asked if we could dance with it, so we did!^^ I gave her a penguin snow globe pen that my mom sent me. I'm slowly passing on my penguin obsession!!
I hurried up and finished my powerpoints before the winter camp orientation began. I was introduced to the students much more intensely than the other teachers; I'm not entirely sure why, but I assume it has something to do with me being a foreigner who speaks English. That's usually the way it goes around here.
My first class was 3rd graders. I actually really enjoyed teaching them. That's how the first day of Winter Camp went. I really enjoyed teaching the kids. I think, in part, it's because they were classes of half the students I usually have to teach; it's much more personal. Plus, the class was fun. I've realized that I'm not going to teach something that's not fun for me to teach, because I figure if it's fun for me to teach, the students will have fun learning it. The opposite is true as well; if I am bored teaching something, then the students are probably going to be bored. I believe this is partially because I think and act like a kid in a lot of ways still., which I'm completely okay with.
We started by playing knots and using English directions; the third graders had a hard time with it, the fourth graders caught on pretty well, and the fifth graders were quite good at it. I actually only taught my 5th graders for 20 minutes, because the teacher before them lost track of time. It's okay, because I teach them 4 times instead of 3.
After playing knots, I introduced some household objects vocabulary, and we discussed the different rooms of a house. I then showed a powerpoint of "Homes of the Future." They were really random house designs that looked really cool. Then I told the students that they were to get in pairs, think of their dream home, and draw it. I'm going to pick the top three and have the students vote for the best house on the last day during our party; the winner will get a prize.
After the awesome day of classes; I went out to eat with the head English teacher, Seok teacher, 2-4 teacher who organized the camp, another teacher, Hae Yeon, and the two vice principals. We went to the same restaurant that my host family went to on Monday; never had I been to that restaurant before this week, and now I have been there twice in one week!^^ It's super tasty, so I was psyched to go. I think tomorrow we are going to KalGuksu. It was mildy frustrating that the entire lunch, the head English teacher, Seok, and 2-4 teacher were talking about my diet. The head English teacher doesn't think I eat enough, Seok kept telling me to eat more and got offended when I didn't eat the soup because I was full, and they were comparing the way I eat to the way the last ETA ate. GAH! One of the most frustrating things is that I actually eat more than the head English teacher who is saying I should eat more.
Seok dropped me off at home, while the rest of the teachers went back to school. All teachers are still at school through today. In the car on the way home, a teacher looked at me and said, "You look bad" with a smile on her face. Haha! What she meant to say was, "Are you sick?" Cracks me up! Koreans flat out tell you what they think, especially when it comes to appearances.
I watched a few episodes of Scrubs and took a nap until dinner. After dinner, my host sister came into my room and started counting all of the penguins in my room.^^ CUTE!! My mom sent me about a billion penguin things for Christmas! Super excited! Amongst everything, is a dancing penguin who sings "I'm Singing in the Snow." My host sister came in and asked if we could dance with it, so we did!^^ I gave her a penguin snow globe pen that my mom sent me. I'm slowly passing on my penguin obsession!!
Christmas Day! - Tuesday Dec. 25, 2007
Soooo...what's a Christmas like in Korea. My fam keeps asking me back home, so here ya go. Some people in Korea celebrate Christmas; many do not. The religion base is nearly half and half Christian and Buddhist here. Many Buddhist do not believe in Christmas and often state, "I'm not Christian" as there reason of not celebrating Christmas. My host family does not celebrate Christmas; however, this year they told me that they would because I am a part of the family, and my host parents want their children to experience "my" culture.
I woke up around 10:15AM to a phone call from Lauren. The phone call reminded me that I had forgotten to set my alarm, because I had to be on the other side of Wonju by 11:00AM to meet Lauren for church. I hadn't forgotten that I was going to church with her...only that I hadn't set my alarm.
Sidenote: I've also realized that it has become INCREDIBLY difficult for me to get up even the slightest early even with an alarm if I have been up late (after 2:00AM). I used to stay up until 5:00AM and get up for 8:00AM classes or teaching at 7:00AM; what has happened to me?!
Anyway, I went out to ask my host family to call me a taxi, and I saw that they had opened their stockings without me. After last night, I was not surprised in the slightest. It doesn't bother me too much, because I know it is a cultural thing.
In the taxi, I called my fam in the states (Christmas Eve for them). Since everyone is in CVille for the holidays, the phone was passed around like it was during Turkey Day. I failed to realize that my host mom had called like 15 times, because I was on the phone (My host mom was asking if I took a taxi, because apparently the taxi we called wasn't the one I took. Ha! I didn't realize until she told me. I think I took a taxi that just happened to drop someone off at the exact time that I needed one.) So, all of the messages were vibrating on my phone when I got to the church. It was a 7,000 Cab ride ($7) which is expensive in Lauren's and my terms.
Hmm...church...it was nice to see Lauren and her new host fam (she moved four days ago to the music teacher's apartment), but it was difficult for me since I don't speak even close to enough Korean to somewhat understand a thing the preacher was saying. Oh, it was nice to see their 6 year old daughter, Esther too! Apparently she had been asking about me, which is super cute because I had only met her twice before. After the service, we walked to Lauren's new homestay apt (it's that close). We drank tea, and Lauren and I exchanged gifts. She got me this really cute passport cover and a card! If only I had my passport right now so I could take the new passport cover for a spin...Rebecca will have it until the flight instead.
We went out to lunch with her homestay. The music teacher was super cute; he was craving xiao jung myeon, was sad that we couldn't get it since I'm a veggetarian, and then super happy when he realized I could eat something else at the restaurant. ^^ I had something similar to ohm rice. Then the music teacher dropped me off at my apartment.
I hung out around the house trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to teach tomorrow for the opening class of Winter English Camp. I made a powerpoint until dinner; we had ohm rice.^^ I like it a lot, so it was totally okay to have it twice in one day. My host mom put cheese in mine, because she knows how much I love cheese!!! I love my host mom!!!
We left at 9:00PM to go skiing. We have night passes at a ski resort named Oak Valley. My host father bought me a ski pass with the rest of his family!! I'm not going to lie; I was in a super bad mood right before we left and as we were getting our gear, but as soon as we started skiing, I lost the attitude and was really happy to be there. The deal with the gear was that the guys who worked at the shop didn't realize that I wasn't 5 foot tall when I walked in the door and gave me pants that barely reached my thighs. So, I tried on two more sets of pants, and finally settled on pair three because I was sick of trying on pants. Then, they started me at 250 size boots...I need 270. So, we finally got out of there, and we realized in the parking lot of the ski resort that they gave me 2 lefts, and my host mom had one 250 boot and one 260 boot. So, the guys from the store scurried their butts to the resort to trade our boots out.
I was slightly terrified to ski for the first time after 10 years, but I guess you don't completely forget how to, because I wasn't as horrible as I thought I would be. My host bro fell a few times before we got to the lift, so I felt better about us sticking to the beginner course. The beginner course was really long, and I liked it. I didn't fall once, but I definitely need to work on my "S line." My host bro and host dad went to the middle course...when I finally met up with my host bro again, he used his hand to show me how steep it was. I decided that I most definitely made the right decision to stay at the beginner slope.
We literally finished at 1:00AM, took our stuff back to the rental place, and got home around 2:00AM. In the car, my whole host family was talking about wanting ramen when we got back except for my host mom. Unfortunately, the host sibs passed out on the way back and had no desire for anything other than sleep when we returned home. My host father really appreciates the cd that I made for him; he likes it a lot! I'm so happy! I was worried that firs of all it wouldn't play in his cd player and second of all that he might not like the songs.
I made some toast while talking to my fam back in the states after my host family went to bed. It was LATE, and I have to teach tomorrow. Gah! I talked to Matthew, Cory, Steph, Sheryl, and my mom. I had initially told my mom that I couldn't call on Christmas, but I forgot that I could call Christmas night/early morning the day after Christmas and talk to them.
I'm still not completely sure what I'm teaching tomorrow, but it is time for bed!
I woke up around 10:15AM to a phone call from Lauren. The phone call reminded me that I had forgotten to set my alarm, because I had to be on the other side of Wonju by 11:00AM to meet Lauren for church. I hadn't forgotten that I was going to church with her...only that I hadn't set my alarm.
Sidenote: I've also realized that it has become INCREDIBLY difficult for me to get up even the slightest early even with an alarm if I have been up late (after 2:00AM). I used to stay up until 5:00AM and get up for 8:00AM classes or teaching at 7:00AM; what has happened to me?!
Anyway, I went out to ask my host family to call me a taxi, and I saw that they had opened their stockings without me. After last night, I was not surprised in the slightest. It doesn't bother me too much, because I know it is a cultural thing.
In the taxi, I called my fam in the states (Christmas Eve for them). Since everyone is in CVille for the holidays, the phone was passed around like it was during Turkey Day. I failed to realize that my host mom had called like 15 times, because I was on the phone (My host mom was asking if I took a taxi, because apparently the taxi we called wasn't the one I took. Ha! I didn't realize until she told me. I think I took a taxi that just happened to drop someone off at the exact time that I needed one.) So, all of the messages were vibrating on my phone when I got to the church. It was a 7,000 Cab ride ($7) which is expensive in Lauren's and my terms.
Hmm...church...it was nice to see Lauren and her new host fam (she moved four days ago to the music teacher's apartment), but it was difficult for me since I don't speak even close to enough Korean to somewhat understand a thing the preacher was saying. Oh, it was nice to see their 6 year old daughter, Esther too! Apparently she had been asking about me, which is super cute because I had only met her twice before. After the service, we walked to Lauren's new homestay apt (it's that close). We drank tea, and Lauren and I exchanged gifts. She got me this really cute passport cover and a card! If only I had my passport right now so I could take the new passport cover for a spin...Rebecca will have it until the flight instead.
We went out to lunch with her homestay. The music teacher was super cute; he was craving xiao jung myeon, was sad that we couldn't get it since I'm a veggetarian, and then super happy when he realized I could eat something else at the restaurant. ^^ I had something similar to ohm rice. Then the music teacher dropped me off at my apartment.
I hung out around the house trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to teach tomorrow for the opening class of Winter English Camp. I made a powerpoint until dinner; we had ohm rice.^^ I like it a lot, so it was totally okay to have it twice in one day. My host mom put cheese in mine, because she knows how much I love cheese!!! I love my host mom!!!
We left at 9:00PM to go skiing. We have night passes at a ski resort named Oak Valley. My host father bought me a ski pass with the rest of his family!! I'm not going to lie; I was in a super bad mood right before we left and as we were getting our gear, but as soon as we started skiing, I lost the attitude and was really happy to be there. The deal with the gear was that the guys who worked at the shop didn't realize that I wasn't 5 foot tall when I walked in the door and gave me pants that barely reached my thighs. So, I tried on two more sets of pants, and finally settled on pair three because I was sick of trying on pants. Then, they started me at 250 size boots...I need 270. So, we finally got out of there, and we realized in the parking lot of the ski resort that they gave me 2 lefts, and my host mom had one 250 boot and one 260 boot. So, the guys from the store scurried their butts to the resort to trade our boots out.
I was slightly terrified to ski for the first time after 10 years, but I guess you don't completely forget how to, because I wasn't as horrible as I thought I would be. My host bro fell a few times before we got to the lift, so I felt better about us sticking to the beginner course. The beginner course was really long, and I liked it. I didn't fall once, but I definitely need to work on my "S line." My host bro and host dad went to the middle course...when I finally met up with my host bro again, he used his hand to show me how steep it was. I decided that I most definitely made the right decision to stay at the beginner slope.
We literally finished at 1:00AM, took our stuff back to the rental place, and got home around 2:00AM. In the car, my whole host family was talking about wanting ramen when we got back except for my host mom. Unfortunately, the host sibs passed out on the way back and had no desire for anything other than sleep when we returned home. My host father really appreciates the cd that I made for him; he likes it a lot! I'm so happy! I was worried that firs of all it wouldn't play in his cd player and second of all that he might not like the songs.
I made some toast while talking to my fam back in the states after my host family went to bed. It was LATE, and I have to teach tomorrow. Gah! I talked to Matthew, Cory, Steph, Sheryl, and my mom. I had initially told my mom that I couldn't call on Christmas, but I forgot that I could call Christmas night/early morning the day after Christmas and talk to them.
I'm still not completely sure what I'm teaching tomorrow, but it is time for bed!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Visa/Christmas Eve!! - Monday Dec. 24, 2007
We woke up and were out of the apartment by 7:30AM. We took the subway for nearly an hour to reach the exit for the embassy. We exited the station and hailed a taxi. Go figure...they had absolutely NO idea where the embassy was. We semi-expected this, so we went back into the subway station to check out a map to find the closest major building. We found some international language school that the taxi driver still had to punch into his navigation device. We got to the building and walked the rest of the way to the embassy. There were so many buildings that should have been on that map instead of the international school...like...oh I don't know...the Hyatt. That would have been something that the taxi driver would have actually known.
Anyway, when we got to the embassy, we realized that the opening time on the website didn't match the opening time on the sign. We went in and waited in the waiting area. We discussed how the ETA that went with Margaret last year wasn't incredibly reliable and ended up showing up at the embassy without any passport pictures. For real...who does that?!
We had received a letter from Fulbright to give to the embassy explaining why exactly we don't have alien registration numbers (the most frustrating thing in the entire world when living as a foreigner in Korea!) Because we are on A3 visas and employed by the government, we are not given these super vital little numbers that you need to do basically anything. We can't order anything on line, we can't get any sort of tickets, I have had problems with medical stuff and insurance stuff because of it, AND it almost cost us our trip! >_< I can't remember if I blogged about this, but a few weeks ago Margaret called Rebecca and me to tell us that the trip was going to be canceled, because we couldn't get visas without this damn little number. After throwing a fit and contacting about every embassy relevant to the situation, Margaret called back telling me that the woman at the embassy had done some research and that we could, in fact, get visas. It was a few horrible hours of worrying though. After all of that crap, we got our visas without a problem.
I, however, couldn't pick up my own passport. Rebecca picked it up for me, and I'll get it from her the day we fly out. I had to get back to Wonju to go to the orphanage. My host fam went out to eat about 10 minutes after I got back. We had bibimbap at this really cute restaurant in the country. I invited my host sibs to come with me to the orphanage. My host sis was ecstatic and skipped her English class to go with me. My host brother was really disappointed that my host mom wouldn't let him out of his math hagwan to come with. I was really surprised that they wanted to come with me so badly. It was awesome!
At the orphanage, we decorated paper stockings and stars for them to hang up in their living rooms (a girls' line of stockings and a boys' line of stockings). We also made yarn bracelets. I let them choose three colors, and we just did a simple twist method. We'll see how many of them still have them on after my vacation.^^ My host sis passed out candy canes to each child, and I gave an American calendar to the boys and to the girls. I also gave a box of South Bend's famous Chocolate Charlie to the office. They gave me a card and some cute traditional boy and girl key chains. I'm not sure how my host sis felt about being there. At first, she was shy and embarrassed, because everyone was asking who she was. I know she was tired afterward, but I think she enjoyed it.
My host father brought home a Christmas cake a few hours after we got home. It was sooo cute! Apparently, they do Christmas cake in Korea...very common. We ate dinner and cake, and then my host father disappeared for a while. There were some of his friends coming over, so I guess he went to get supplies.
There were two couples that came over; one I have met many times. One couple had a baby, and the other couple had two children; one my host sis' age, and one about 4 years old. SUPER CUTE! We watched Polar Express (my first time to see it!); how appropriate to watch on Christmas Eve. I was getting a little sad about Christmas, but I got over it quickly. My host parents and their friends were being loud; the man from downstairs came up and complained. After that, everyone went home; my host mom felt bad for the family downstairs and said that we need to be more careful in the future.
Oh, I almost forgot the most random part of tonight. I was given a present at dinner to open; it was a beautiful purse! My host sibs couldn't wait to open theirs, so I let them. Then, at midnight, my host sister went running around wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Next thing I know, my host father is walking to the mirror in front of my room and thanks me for the hat. LOL! My host rents opened their presents without me around. It surprised me for about a second and then remembered that this is Korea.^^ They don't really open presents in front of the people that got them the presents.
I stayed up until about 3:30AM, so I could sneak my family's stockings out onto the couch.
Anyway, when we got to the embassy, we realized that the opening time on the website didn't match the opening time on the sign. We went in and waited in the waiting area. We discussed how the ETA that went with Margaret last year wasn't incredibly reliable and ended up showing up at the embassy without any passport pictures. For real...who does that?!
We had received a letter from Fulbright to give to the embassy explaining why exactly we don't have alien registration numbers (the most frustrating thing in the entire world when living as a foreigner in Korea!) Because we are on A3 visas and employed by the government, we are not given these super vital little numbers that you need to do basically anything. We can't order anything on line, we can't get any sort of tickets, I have had problems with medical stuff and insurance stuff because of it, AND it almost cost us our trip! >_< I can't remember if I blogged about this, but a few weeks ago Margaret called Rebecca and me to tell us that the trip was going to be canceled, because we couldn't get visas without this damn little number. After throwing a fit and contacting about every embassy relevant to the situation, Margaret called back telling me that the woman at the embassy had done some research and that we could, in fact, get visas. It was a few horrible hours of worrying though. After all of that crap, we got our visas without a problem.
I, however, couldn't pick up my own passport. Rebecca picked it up for me, and I'll get it from her the day we fly out. I had to get back to Wonju to go to the orphanage. My host fam went out to eat about 10 minutes after I got back. We had bibimbap at this really cute restaurant in the country. I invited my host sibs to come with me to the orphanage. My host sis was ecstatic and skipped her English class to go with me. My host brother was really disappointed that my host mom wouldn't let him out of his math hagwan to come with. I was really surprised that they wanted to come with me so badly. It was awesome!
At the orphanage, we decorated paper stockings and stars for them to hang up in their living rooms (a girls' line of stockings and a boys' line of stockings). We also made yarn bracelets. I let them choose three colors, and we just did a simple twist method. We'll see how many of them still have them on after my vacation.^^ My host sis passed out candy canes to each child, and I gave an American calendar to the boys and to the girls. I also gave a box of South Bend's famous Chocolate Charlie to the office. They gave me a card and some cute traditional boy and girl key chains. I'm not sure how my host sis felt about being there. At first, she was shy and embarrassed, because everyone was asking who she was. I know she was tired afterward, but I think she enjoyed it.
My host father brought home a Christmas cake a few hours after we got home. It was sooo cute! Apparently, they do Christmas cake in Korea...very common. We ate dinner and cake, and then my host father disappeared for a while. There were some of his friends coming over, so I guess he went to get supplies.
There were two couples that came over; one I have met many times. One couple had a baby, and the other couple had two children; one my host sis' age, and one about 4 years old. SUPER CUTE! We watched Polar Express (my first time to see it!); how appropriate to watch on Christmas Eve. I was getting a little sad about Christmas, but I got over it quickly. My host parents and their friends were being loud; the man from downstairs came up and complained. After that, everyone went home; my host mom felt bad for the family downstairs and said that we need to be more careful in the future.
Oh, I almost forgot the most random part of tonight. I was given a present at dinner to open; it was a beautiful purse! My host sibs couldn't wait to open theirs, so I let them. Then, at midnight, my host sister went running around wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Next thing I know, my host father is walking to the mirror in front of my room and thanks me for the hat. LOL! My host rents opened their presents without me around. It surprised me for about a second and then remembered that this is Korea.^^ They don't really open presents in front of the people that got them the presents.
I stayed up until about 3:30AM, so I could sneak my family's stockings out onto the couch.
Monday, December 24, 2007
A Little Dose of Reality - Sunday Dec. 23, 2007
I have a lot to say about today, but I'm skipping it for now.
Maxin' and Relaxin - Saturday Dec.
So...I did a WHOLE bunch of nothing today. I sat in bed, I watched television shows online, and then I started to get bored. Then I realized that one of the Christmas presents that my family sent me looked suspiciously like a season of Scrubs under it's penguin wrapping. Well, I decided I would treat myself to an early Christmas present. Oddly enough, it was the sixth season. As of now, my mom has sent me season 1 and 2 of Scrubs...so the whole situation didn't make a lot of sense. Then, I realized that one of the presents looked suspiciously like 3 seasons of Scrubs! Sure enough, it was Season 3, 4, and 5!! Woot! No more boredom!
I also got up the courage to attempt to learn how to use the stove. The conversation online with Nick before the experiment went like this:
Me: I'm going to attempt to use the stove for the first time and try really hard not to blow up the apartment.
Nick: If I don't talk to you again, I love you. We would have had beautiful children together.
Me: ....I'll make toast.
So, after two meals of toast, I then decided that I could figure it out. YAY!! I made ramen all by myself! AND that's what happens when my host mommy is away for the day!
I was also up late wrapping presents and fitting in as many Scrubs episodes as possible. Finally got to bed around 5:00AM.
I also got up the courage to attempt to learn how to use the stove. The conversation online with Nick before the experiment went like this:
Me: I'm going to attempt to use the stove for the first time and try really hard not to blow up the apartment.
Nick: If I don't talk to you again, I love you. We would have had beautiful children together.
Me: ....I'll make toast.
So, after two meals of toast, I then decided that I could figure it out. YAY!! I made ramen all by myself! AND that's what happens when my host mommy is away for the day!
I was also up late wrapping presents and fitting in as many Scrubs episodes as possible. Finally got to bed around 5:00AM.
FINALLY!! - Friday Dec. 21, 2007
TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR TWO MONTHS!! Oddly enough, my first class didn't show up, and the teacher of my second class showed up to tell me that her class couldn't come today. SO, not only is it my last day of teaching, I don't even have to teach.
I do, however, have to figure out the rest of the stuff for my three day winter class. I've been putting off the details, because I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to teach it.
I hung out with the first grade teachers during lunch (it wasn't provided by the school) and for a while after that. I had to tell them goodbye around 2:00PM though, because I had to meet Hee to get a few things taken care of. All morning, since I didn't have to teach, I was working on arranging Rebecca's and my flight. After all of the crap that we have been through, we jumped on this offer. It's from the original travel agency that said this flight didn't have any more seats left, but I guess seats opened up! So, Hee helped me get a 50,000 Won (~$50) phone card, and then walked with me to the bank to help me transfer all $1,742 (for both Rebecca's and my ticket). We had to transfer money by 4:00PM, so naturally when we got there around 3:30PM and my card got stuck in the machine...I slightly panicked. Luckily, it was quickly spat out after a call to the bank. Hee and I got ice cream from a bakery for the walk back to the school.
BTW...she has the cutest baby belly!! She's going to be super pregnant by the time next semester rolls around.
After getting all of that taken care of, I fixed some stuff in my room. Again, luckily that I stuck around that long, because my visa pictures were brought to the school by the man who had taken them. He had to drop off some photos anyway, so he brought my visa pics. They are very nice...thick paper and peel off sticky backing! It doesn't take a lot to excite me!
As I got ready to head out, I packed up this 1,000 (~$1) red, santa bag with the Christmas tree from my classroom, the Merry Christmas sign I had made, and all of the felt Christmas-y decorations I had made. I felt kind of like the Grinch who stole Christmas...since I had all of the Christmas decorations packed in a bag and I was hauling them out of the school.
I asked permission to put the tree in the living room; my host rents said that it would be okay. For some reason, any time I put up a Christmas decoration, I made sure my host father was out of the room. I think it is because his initial reaction to the idea of Christmas and a Christmas tree wasn't the most positive, but he ended up liking all of the decorations.
My host family went out together to meet some friends of my host father; they're going to be gone until Sunday. I went to my club meeting. It was a role-playing one today. I had to play a woman who thought that her husband was cheating on her with another man. They tried to assure me that Korean culture is different and that men are sometimes closer than western men. I spun it by saying that I found a man's name card with a heart drawn around the name. I immediately tried to get them not focus on the idea that it might be a man. I informed them that I didn't care if it was a man or a woman; I care if he is cheating on me in general.
We headed to the Makkoli bar afterward. We got into a political and English education discussion/debate. The girl from South Africa that has been irking me since she got to the club, said a few things that made me want to slap her. She basically said that we need to let SoKo's education cave in on itself before they are going to change anything. Hmm...I don't believe in standing by and watching an education system destroy itself, but you know, hey, whatever. There is a guy in the group who supported #6 presidential candidate (he's a fresh face...just quit Kimberly Clark to run for president). Anyway, he hates the new SoKo president just about as much as I do, but he informed me that there are good points to Lee Myung Bak. We never actually talked about what those positive points are, but I sure would still like to know.
I got home around 12:30AM, and went to bed not a whole lot after that. It's weird sleeping in an empty apartment!
I do, however, have to figure out the rest of the stuff for my three day winter class. I've been putting off the details, because I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to teach it.
I hung out with the first grade teachers during lunch (it wasn't provided by the school) and for a while after that. I had to tell them goodbye around 2:00PM though, because I had to meet Hee to get a few things taken care of. All morning, since I didn't have to teach, I was working on arranging Rebecca's and my flight. After all of the crap that we have been through, we jumped on this offer. It's from the original travel agency that said this flight didn't have any more seats left, but I guess seats opened up! So, Hee helped me get a 50,000 Won (~$50) phone card, and then walked with me to the bank to help me transfer all $1,742 (for both Rebecca's and my ticket). We had to transfer money by 4:00PM, so naturally when we got there around 3:30PM and my card got stuck in the machine...I slightly panicked. Luckily, it was quickly spat out after a call to the bank. Hee and I got ice cream from a bakery for the walk back to the school.
BTW...she has the cutest baby belly!! She's going to be super pregnant by the time next semester rolls around.
After getting all of that taken care of, I fixed some stuff in my room. Again, luckily that I stuck around that long, because my visa pictures were brought to the school by the man who had taken them. He had to drop off some photos anyway, so he brought my visa pics. They are very nice...thick paper and peel off sticky backing! It doesn't take a lot to excite me!
As I got ready to head out, I packed up this 1,000 (~$1) red, santa bag with the Christmas tree from my classroom, the Merry Christmas sign I had made, and all of the felt Christmas-y decorations I had made. I felt kind of like the Grinch who stole Christmas...since I had all of the Christmas decorations packed in a bag and I was hauling them out of the school.
I asked permission to put the tree in the living room; my host rents said that it would be okay. For some reason, any time I put up a Christmas decoration, I made sure my host father was out of the room. I think it is because his initial reaction to the idea of Christmas and a Christmas tree wasn't the most positive, but he ended up liking all of the decorations.
My host family went out together to meet some friends of my host father; they're going to be gone until Sunday. I went to my club meeting. It was a role-playing one today. I had to play a woman who thought that her husband was cheating on her with another man. They tried to assure me that Korean culture is different and that men are sometimes closer than western men. I spun it by saying that I found a man's name card with a heart drawn around the name. I immediately tried to get them not focus on the idea that it might be a man. I informed them that I didn't care if it was a man or a woman; I care if he is cheating on me in general.
We headed to the Makkoli bar afterward. We got into a political and English education discussion/debate. The girl from South Africa that has been irking me since she got to the club, said a few things that made me want to slap her. She basically said that we need to let SoKo's education cave in on itself before they are going to change anything. Hmm...I don't believe in standing by and watching an education system destroy itself, but you know, hey, whatever. There is a guy in the group who supported #6 presidential candidate (he's a fresh face...just quit Kimberly Clark to run for president). Anyway, he hates the new SoKo president just about as much as I do, but he informed me that there are good points to Lee Myung Bak. We never actually talked about what those positive points are, but I sure would still like to know.
I got home around 12:30AM, and went to bed not a whole lot after that. It's weird sleeping in an empty apartment!
2 Days and Counting! - Thursday Dec. 20, 2007
My first class didn't show up today. Hmm....normally I would call; today, I did not! I assumed they were busy. I went through the next two classes playing BINGO. The kids love it!
After school, I waited for the head of the English dep't and Hae Yeon to come help me figure out what exactly I'm supposed to be emailing to the head of the English dep't. They want a copy of all my PowerPoints. I'm not incredibly sure why. Anyway, they didn't show up, so I went downstairs to visit the first grade teachers. They told me that there were Korean games going on in the gym at 3PM.
I went down there, and it was definitely the teachers from each grade on teams competing against each other. Ha! I was on the 1st grade team. The name of the game is Yut Nari. You have four sticks, and you move around a board with two pieces per team depending on whether the sticks land face up or face down. 1 face down = 1 space, 2 face down = 2 spaces, 3 face down = 3 spaces, 4 face down = four spaces + another throw, and 4 face up = 5 spaces + another throw. Also, if you land on the same space as another team, they are kicked off of the board, and you get another throw. The game goes until one team has both pieces around the board and off.
Our team was NOT good, but it was fun. It was great seeing the teachers get into it; it's a game from their childhood, so it was cute seeing them compete and trash talk.^^
After the games, we had a raffle drawing. A lot of the prizes were...um...more for older people. Luckily, when my name came up...I got a huge box of Jeju tangerines!! I was super psyched!!
Hee and I went to Emart afterward to pick up supplies for my Winter Class. I'm having a pancake breakfast with one of the grades and a Christmas themed party with the other two grades. We then went to get my picture taken for the yearbook. Apparently, it was done during Monday or Tuesday when I was in China, so Hee was nice enough to take me to the studio. We also asked the guy if he would take visa pictures for me; he said he would do it for free. How sweet!^^
I headed home after that, because Hee had to go back to school and get some work done. She's always so busy; I wish we could have spent more time together!
Oh, I also gave out all of the China gifts today. It's so awkward giving gifts in Korea! You have to make sure it goes in the right order of seniority, and since there are two vice principals, I had make sure that they would be in relatively the same location so one didn't get a present way before the other one. You also have to make sure that the principal's gift looks nicer (it doesn't actually have to be nicer as long as it looks nicer) than the vice principals' and the other teachers.
After school, I waited for the head of the English dep't and Hae Yeon to come help me figure out what exactly I'm supposed to be emailing to the head of the English dep't. They want a copy of all my PowerPoints. I'm not incredibly sure why. Anyway, they didn't show up, so I went downstairs to visit the first grade teachers. They told me that there were Korean games going on in the gym at 3PM.
I went down there, and it was definitely the teachers from each grade on teams competing against each other. Ha! I was on the 1st grade team. The name of the game is Yut Nari. You have four sticks, and you move around a board with two pieces per team depending on whether the sticks land face up or face down. 1 face down = 1 space, 2 face down = 2 spaces, 3 face down = 3 spaces, 4 face down = four spaces + another throw, and 4 face up = 5 spaces + another throw. Also, if you land on the same space as another team, they are kicked off of the board, and you get another throw. The game goes until one team has both pieces around the board and off.
Our team was NOT good, but it was fun. It was great seeing the teachers get into it; it's a game from their childhood, so it was cute seeing them compete and trash talk.^^
After the games, we had a raffle drawing. A lot of the prizes were...um...more for older people. Luckily, when my name came up...I got a huge box of Jeju tangerines!! I was super psyched!!
Hee and I went to Emart afterward to pick up supplies for my Winter Class. I'm having a pancake breakfast with one of the grades and a Christmas themed party with the other two grades. We then went to get my picture taken for the yearbook. Apparently, it was done during Monday or Tuesday when I was in China, so Hee was nice enough to take me to the studio. We also asked the guy if he would take visa pictures for me; he said he would do it for free. How sweet!^^
I headed home after that, because Hee had to go back to school and get some work done. She's always so busy; I wish we could have spent more time together!
Oh, I also gave out all of the China gifts today. It's so awkward giving gifts in Korea! You have to make sure it goes in the right order of seniority, and since there are two vice principals, I had make sure that they would be in relatively the same location so one didn't get a present way before the other one. You also have to make sure that the principal's gift looks nicer (it doesn't actually have to be nicer as long as it looks nicer) than the vice principals' and the other teachers.
Election - Wednesday Dec. 19, 2007
All schools have today off for the presidential election. My host father also had work off, so we went out to lunch to a kalguksu restaurant; it is owned by one of his fish friends. We dropped my host sibs off, and I went with my host mom and host dad while they voted. They knew that I was interested in the process, so they offered to take me with them. It literally took about 2 minutes.
I was expecting the result all night. 이면박 (Lee Myung Bak) was in the lead popularity wise going into the election. I decided to do a little bit of research about this possible future president. As I did more and more research, I realized that I don't incredibly care for this potential president.
Well, at 8:00, we learned that 이면박 (Lee Myung Bak) was, in fact, the winner by a great deal. Let me tell you a little bit about this president. He will take over in February officially as long as the current investigation into the accusation that he tampered with stocks in 2002 comes up with nothing. He is a part of the conservative party; basically the opposite of the situation in the states is occurring. In the states, people are sick of the conservative president, so they are eager to try out the other major party. Well, in Korea the more liberal president Roh didn't do too great of job, so the people of South Korea are eager to try out the more conservative party for a while. In Korea, a president can only be elected once, and it is for a term of 5 years.
In addition to the awesome charge of stock tampering that the future president has going into his presidency, he also helped to pave over a river in the 1960's only to demolish the road and re-introduce the river after announcing that he had become "Green" in 2002 during his time as Mayor of Seoul. More in depth: So the Cheonggyecheon was a river running through Seoul that was paved over in 1968. In 2005, the Cheonggyecheon was re-opened, and with it, many people lost their jobs and homes without proper compensation.
Before politics, he was part owner of Hyundai and acquired near $40 billion dollars. He claimed two of his children to be employees of his to evade taxes on those individuals with more than 1 or 2 properties in their name. This is no rumor; this is something that he has admitted to. One of his main goals as president is to build a $16 BILLION canal from Busan to Seoul. He assures the people of South Korea that by building this canal, it will improve their 12th largest economy to the 7th largest economy and 7% growth in annual GDP. Many Koreans have been quoted saying that they don't care about Lee Myung Bak's past or if he is guilty as long as he does something positive for the economy. Besides the concern for the amount of money this canal is going to cost, what exactly is its effect going to be on the environment?
He is also going to have harsher restrictions on the funding given to North Korea.
So, I'm currently doing the only thing I can do; I'm waiting to see what kinds of things Lee Myung Bak is going to get done for South Korea. I hope he surprises me; otherwise, I sure as hell hope that these next 5 years go awfully fast for SoKo.
I was expecting the result all night. 이면박 (Lee Myung Bak) was in the lead popularity wise going into the election. I decided to do a little bit of research about this possible future president. As I did more and more research, I realized that I don't incredibly care for this potential president.
Well, at 8:00, we learned that 이면박 (Lee Myung Bak) was, in fact, the winner by a great deal. Let me tell you a little bit about this president. He will take over in February officially as long as the current investigation into the accusation that he tampered with stocks in 2002 comes up with nothing. He is a part of the conservative party; basically the opposite of the situation in the states is occurring. In the states, people are sick of the conservative president, so they are eager to try out the other major party. Well, in Korea the more liberal president Roh didn't do too great of job, so the people of South Korea are eager to try out the more conservative party for a while. In Korea, a president can only be elected once, and it is for a term of 5 years.
In addition to the awesome charge of stock tampering that the future president has going into his presidency, he also helped to pave over a river in the 1960's only to demolish the road and re-introduce the river after announcing that he had become "Green" in 2002 during his time as Mayor of Seoul. More in depth: So the Cheonggyecheon was a river running through Seoul that was paved over in 1968. In 2005, the Cheonggyecheon was re-opened, and with it, many people lost their jobs and homes without proper compensation.
Before politics, he was part owner of Hyundai and acquired near $40 billion dollars. He claimed two of his children to be employees of his to evade taxes on those individuals with more than 1 or 2 properties in their name. This is no rumor; this is something that he has admitted to. One of his main goals as president is to build a $16 BILLION canal from Busan to Seoul. He assures the people of South Korea that by building this canal, it will improve their 12th largest economy to the 7th largest economy and 7% growth in annual GDP. Many Koreans have been quoted saying that they don't care about Lee Myung Bak's past or if he is guilty as long as he does something positive for the economy. Besides the concern for the amount of money this canal is going to cost, what exactly is its effect going to be on the environment?
He is also going to have harsher restrictions on the funding given to North Korea.
So, I'm currently doing the only thing I can do; I'm waiting to see what kinds of things Lee Myung Bak is going to get done for South Korea. I hope he surprises me; otherwise, I sure as hell hope that these next 5 years go awfully fast for SoKo.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
The Long Journey Home - Tuesday December 18, 2007
We met at 7:00AM today. Every day has been getting earlier and earlier. Ha! We had a long bus ride to the airport. I believe we left through Tangjin. We had a noon flight, and it was about an hour and a half. We got a meal on the flight again...so strange! When we got back to Korea, we had to go through the red tape and whatnot. When we finally got through everything, I noticed that my host mom was kind of in a hurry...considering she had us run to the bathroom. LOL! I came to find out that we had to catch a bus in about 10 minutes or we had to wait another hour. So, we were running through the airport. The other family was being met by the husband/dad, and they were going to visit family.
We made it to the bus with about 4 minutes to spare, and then my host mom ran off quickly to buy water. It was a three hour bus ride, and we finally got back to Wonju around 7:00PM. We took a taxi home. We met my host father as he was coming up the stairs from smoking and we were coming up the elevator^^
He was happy to see us. He told me that he ate ramen for the past four days. HAHA! We ordered in kimbap and deokkbolki. I didn't really feel like it, but I didn't argue. I was hungry and tired. We talked a little bit before heading our separate ways. I talked with my host father a little bit about the election for tomorrow. I'll write more about it later.
We made it to the bus with about 4 minutes to spare, and then my host mom ran off quickly to buy water. It was a three hour bus ride, and we finally got back to Wonju around 7:00PM. We took a taxi home. We met my host father as he was coming up the stairs from smoking and we were coming up the elevator^^
He was happy to see us. He told me that he ate ramen for the past four days. HAHA! We ordered in kimbap and deokkbolki. I didn't really feel like it, but I didn't argue. I was hungry and tired. We talked a little bit before heading our separate ways. I talked with my host father a little bit about the election for tomorrow. I'll write more about it later.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Da' Wall! - Monday Dec. 17, 2007
We had to meet even earlier than yesterday...7:30AM. We first went to a traditional medicine pharmacy/museum (I'm not entirely sure). There were oriental medicine doctors to take our pulse; nurses translated from Chinese to Korean. I thought that the nurse was going to have to translate from Chinese to Korea, and then my host mother was going to have to translate from Korean to English, but it turns out that the doctor could speak English. From taking my pulse, he determined that: 1) I have low blood pressure and 2) I have a weak stomach...meaning that I digest food slowly, I guess. Another doctor told me host brother's 12 year old friend that he has stress. My host mom and her friend were told that they need to exercise. All this determined from taking a pulse. China has a goal to check every incoming foreigner's pulse starting in 2008. Oriental medicine is one of the most popular industries in China, and they are trying to make it grow ever more.
We then went to a jade factory and kind of learned about the different kinds of jade (had no idea what they were saying.) I bought a few pairs of earrings for the equivalent of ~$5.00 each. It was so hard for me to figure out exchange rate...I never really knew what I was spending. I either paid in won or asked my host mom what the exchange rate was compared to won.
We then headed to lunch; it was like Chinese/Korean all-in-one. It is a government-owned restaurants with a government-owned store connected to it. Another place we had to stop. I bought a few small things, one being a Beijing t-shirt that says, "One World, One Dream." Hmm...I realized after buying it that it was printed in the states. Ha! I also bought some postcards of Beijing.
After lunch, we headed to an emperor's tomb. He was the 14th emperor of the Ming Dynasty; his name was DingLing. I'll admit, I giggled to myself about that one a little bit. His tomb was excavated...there was an entryway discovered in 1956 to the underground palace. His tomb was initially constructed from 1584-1590. My host mom informed me that many people used to be buried alive with their dead emperors as human sacrifices. This came to an end when little wooden idols were instead placed in the tombs. Inside of the empress' tomb, make-up products were placed. Hmm...I wonder what I will be buried with. What will people say was important to me?
We then made our way to the Great Wall of China!! We took a cable car to an area we could walk on. I rode up with my host family; my host sister was scared of the cable car. The climb was at an incredible incline; my host mom and her friend decided not to walk up. My host mom told me later that a 76 year old woman from our group walked up; I think my host mom felt a little silly after that. I walked up with my host bro; it wasn't a very long climb, just really steep. I can't imagine being one of the people who worked on that wall. There were between 2 and 3 million Chinese that died during the centuries of constructing the wall. We were told it took 260 years by our guide. I bought a painting of the wall from a man who claimed to be the painter; whether that is true or not, I'm not sure, I just liked the painting. At the bottom, we were approached to buy some small souvenirs; they were offered to us for $2 (2 small Great Wall statues and a large wall hanging), so we bought them.
We went to get a foot massage. It was very strange. There were about 9 beds lined up in a room, and we each had a personal foot massager. We were asked if we wanted to pay $15 to get the dry skin scraped off of our feet (how disgusting does that sound?) I went ahead and did it...mostly because my host mom and her friend decided to. The guys massaging our feet were actually quite attractive. They were all 20 except one was 23.^^
We walked over to dinner afterward; we had individual pots for shabushabu. Usually it is all done as a stew in the center of everyone, but I liked the individual deal. I could have my veggies, and they could have their meat!
We went to a...legal black market...after dinner. The whole thing was bargain like crazy with everyone. It was huge!! I bought a beautiful skirt and some earrings. The guide helped me bargain at first, because I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. Honestly, I think I could have done better than the guide, but it was fun watching her argue in Chinese. ;) We were there for about an hour; I just roamed around by myself.
I took a bath when we got back to the hotel and attempted to journal. Tomorrow we have to leave super early, and we have a LONG trip home.
We then went to a jade factory and kind of learned about the different kinds of jade (had no idea what they were saying.) I bought a few pairs of earrings for the equivalent of ~$5.00 each. It was so hard for me to figure out exchange rate...I never really knew what I was spending. I either paid in won or asked my host mom what the exchange rate was compared to won.
We then headed to lunch; it was like Chinese/Korean all-in-one. It is a government-owned restaurants with a government-owned store connected to it. Another place we had to stop. I bought a few small things, one being a Beijing t-shirt that says, "One World, One Dream." Hmm...I realized after buying it that it was printed in the states. Ha! I also bought some postcards of Beijing.
After lunch, we headed to an emperor's tomb. He was the 14th emperor of the Ming Dynasty; his name was DingLing. I'll admit, I giggled to myself about that one a little bit. His tomb was excavated...there was an entryway discovered in 1956 to the underground palace. His tomb was initially constructed from 1584-1590. My host mom informed me that many people used to be buried alive with their dead emperors as human sacrifices. This came to an end when little wooden idols were instead placed in the tombs. Inside of the empress' tomb, make-up products were placed. Hmm...I wonder what I will be buried with. What will people say was important to me?
We then made our way to the Great Wall of China!! We took a cable car to an area we could walk on. I rode up with my host family; my host sister was scared of the cable car. The climb was at an incredible incline; my host mom and her friend decided not to walk up. My host mom told me later that a 76 year old woman from our group walked up; I think my host mom felt a little silly after that. I walked up with my host bro; it wasn't a very long climb, just really steep. I can't imagine being one of the people who worked on that wall. There were between 2 and 3 million Chinese that died during the centuries of constructing the wall. We were told it took 260 years by our guide. I bought a painting of the wall from a man who claimed to be the painter; whether that is true or not, I'm not sure, I just liked the painting. At the bottom, we were approached to buy some small souvenirs; they were offered to us for $2 (2 small Great Wall statues and a large wall hanging), so we bought them.
We went to get a foot massage. It was very strange. There were about 9 beds lined up in a room, and we each had a personal foot massager. We were asked if we wanted to pay $15 to get the dry skin scraped off of our feet (how disgusting does that sound?) I went ahead and did it...mostly because my host mom and her friend decided to. The guys massaging our feet were actually quite attractive. They were all 20 except one was 23.^^
We walked over to dinner afterward; we had individual pots for shabushabu. Usually it is all done as a stew in the center of everyone, but I liked the individual deal. I could have my veggies, and they could have their meat!
We went to a...legal black market...after dinner. The whole thing was bargain like crazy with everyone. It was huge!! I bought a beautiful skirt and some earrings. The guide helped me bargain at first, because I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. Honestly, I think I could have done better than the guide, but it was fun watching her argue in Chinese. ;) We were there for about an hour; I just roamed around by myself.
I took a bath when we got back to the hotel and attempted to journal. Tomorrow we have to leave super early, and we have a LONG trip home.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Dinner AND a Show! - Sunday Dec. 16, 2007
We had a 6:00AM wake up call this morning! I got ready and went to wake up my host mom. We went to breakfast; it was buffet style. We met up at 8:00AM in the lobby. Today we visited the Forbidden Palace. I had an English headset, so I was able to understand a lot more than I expected to. The headset was, however, worked based on geographical location. Since the tour guide moved faster than the information I was receiving, there was quite a bit of information left off.
After the Forbidden Palace, we headed to take carriage/bike rides. It's hard to explain. It's like a two-person carriage attached to a bicycle, and apparently we paid for someone to pedal around with us in these carriages. They actually took us to specific locations and waited for us to return. The first stop was a very traditional house. It is actually under protection from being sold or destroyed, because of how traditional it is. We were invited into the home, which was a little strange seeing as how someone is currently living there. I don't know the whole story, but basically he lives somewhere else and just owns the house. There are many tourists who come to see it though. After leaving the traditional house, we got back in our little chariots and rode to a traditional market. Oh, this market was so incredible!! There were rows and rows of fresh fruit and vegetables of ALL kinds! We were only got to stay there for a few minutes, but we managed to buy some star fruit, leche, and rambutan. I had never had star fruit before; I'm not sure if I liked it all that much. Rambutan and leche, I had a bad experience with earlier in Korea...didn't like it AT ALL, but I think they both have grown on me! The guides bought us some sunflower seeds and bread. The bread was like nan (Indian bread); oh so incredibly delicious. We were told that instead of popcorn at movies, people take sunflower seeds; sometimes because of the noise of the sunflower seeds being cracked open, it is difficult to hear the movie. I'm pretty sure I can never go to a movie in China; it would drive me crazy!
We got back in our chariots and headed back to the buses. We went to lunch at a Korean restaurant; I will never understand why people visit another country but still eat food from their own country; however, it was interesting to see how China does Korean food. When we entered the restaurant, there were people there to greet us in Korean, but they didn't actually know Korean. It's hard to explain the feeling of being in China. I've never visited another country while living in a different country other than my own. It was strange to see my host mom not be able to communicate with people; at one point I told her, "Now you know how I feel in Korea." I was mostly joking, but it's somewhat true. It's a good experience for people to be in situations where they literally don't speak the same language; it helps people grow and learn to become creative with communication. Anyway, it was a meat restaurant. Ha! There was no problem though; I found plenty to eat.
After leaving, we visited the second home of an empress. I'm not entirely sure what that means; whether she had two houses or if she moved to this house after the first house she lived in. I'm also not completely sure why it was only the empress' house; I think that back in the day emperors had multiple wives, hence, they each had separate houses. I occasionally wandered off to hear some of the English groups explaining the house. LOL!
While on the trip, we had to visit certain malls to help reduce the price of the trip. It wasn't bad at all though; all of the malls/shopping areas were interesting to visit. The trip was all under $500 except for what I spent otherwise. That $500 included the flight, my $110 visa, the hotel, and all meals. Crazy! The first "mall" we went to was actually a tea testing. We were then offered super expensive tea to buy. I suppose it was a fairly decent deal, but I don't like tea enough to pay $80 worth. The second "mall" we went to was not a mall but a silk factory. I again attempted to listen to an English group's explanation. We were shown the silk making process all the way from the worm and the cocoon to the the finished product of a blanket that took 9,000 cocoons to make. We were then invited to buy silk products; most of them were fairly expensive. There was a BEAUTIFUL blue dress that I was tempted to buy, but it was the equivalent of about $70. Instead, I bought 10 pairs of silk socks for 10,000 Won ($10). I'm slightly obsessed with socks...even though I hate wearing shoes! The last "mall" we went to today was...a bed factory. We sat through a spiel about how wonderful latex (not sure if it was actually latex; I didn't entirely understand) mattresses and pillows are. They were also super expensive! My host mom and her friend ended up buying two each though. They spent more on those pillows than I have on pillows in my entire life!
We headed to dinner afterward. It turned out to be dinner and a show; they were both amazing! The dinner was a HUGE buffet! There was sashimi, sushi, chopchae, all kinds of meat, spaghetti, salads, tons of dessert, etc! The show ended up being international dances! I didn't recognize some of the names of the areas where certain dances were from. For one of the dances, a woman came out with a snake wrapped around her; I felt so bad for the snake! It was shedding horribly, and I'm pretty sure that they had its mouth taped shut. >_< She also came off stage and was putting it around audience members; hopefully nobody was incredibly terrified of snakes. I'm terrified of spiders, and if someone had put a spider on me, I probably would have cried!
We got back to the hotel around 9:30PM, and I promptly fell asleep! I was so exhausted. I woke up at around 11:00PM when my host sis brought me part of a dragon fruit to try; it was pretty tasty. I had never had it before. It's quite interesting looking; look it up if you have never seen one. I ate a bit of it and then passed out again. LOL!
After the Forbidden Palace, we headed to take carriage/bike rides. It's hard to explain. It's like a two-person carriage attached to a bicycle, and apparently we paid for someone to pedal around with us in these carriages. They actually took us to specific locations and waited for us to return. The first stop was a very traditional house. It is actually under protection from being sold or destroyed, because of how traditional it is. We were invited into the home, which was a little strange seeing as how someone is currently living there. I don't know the whole story, but basically he lives somewhere else and just owns the house. There are many tourists who come to see it though. After leaving the traditional house, we got back in our little chariots and rode to a traditional market. Oh, this market was so incredible!! There were rows and rows of fresh fruit and vegetables of ALL kinds! We were only got to stay there for a few minutes, but we managed to buy some star fruit, leche, and rambutan. I had never had star fruit before; I'm not sure if I liked it all that much. Rambutan and leche, I had a bad experience with earlier in Korea...didn't like it AT ALL, but I think they both have grown on me! The guides bought us some sunflower seeds and bread. The bread was like nan (Indian bread); oh so incredibly delicious. We were told that instead of popcorn at movies, people take sunflower seeds; sometimes because of the noise of the sunflower seeds being cracked open, it is difficult to hear the movie. I'm pretty sure I can never go to a movie in China; it would drive me crazy!
We got back in our chariots and headed back to the buses. We went to lunch at a Korean restaurant; I will never understand why people visit another country but still eat food from their own country; however, it was interesting to see how China does Korean food. When we entered the restaurant, there were people there to greet us in Korean, but they didn't actually know Korean. It's hard to explain the feeling of being in China. I've never visited another country while living in a different country other than my own. It was strange to see my host mom not be able to communicate with people; at one point I told her, "Now you know how I feel in Korea." I was mostly joking, but it's somewhat true. It's a good experience for people to be in situations where they literally don't speak the same language; it helps people grow and learn to become creative with communication. Anyway, it was a meat restaurant. Ha! There was no problem though; I found plenty to eat.
After leaving, we visited the second home of an empress. I'm not entirely sure what that means; whether she had two houses or if she moved to this house after the first house she lived in. I'm also not completely sure why it was only the empress' house; I think that back in the day emperors had multiple wives, hence, they each had separate houses. I occasionally wandered off to hear some of the English groups explaining the house. LOL!
While on the trip, we had to visit certain malls to help reduce the price of the trip. It wasn't bad at all though; all of the malls/shopping areas were interesting to visit. The trip was all under $500 except for what I spent otherwise. That $500 included the flight, my $110 visa, the hotel, and all meals. Crazy! The first "mall" we went to was actually a tea testing. We were then offered super expensive tea to buy. I suppose it was a fairly decent deal, but I don't like tea enough to pay $80 worth. The second "mall" we went to was not a mall but a silk factory. I again attempted to listen to an English group's explanation. We were shown the silk making process all the way from the worm and the cocoon to the the finished product of a blanket that took 9,000 cocoons to make. We were then invited to buy silk products; most of them were fairly expensive. There was a BEAUTIFUL blue dress that I was tempted to buy, but it was the equivalent of about $70. Instead, I bought 10 pairs of silk socks for 10,000 Won ($10). I'm slightly obsessed with socks...even though I hate wearing shoes! The last "mall" we went to today was...a bed factory. We sat through a spiel about how wonderful latex (not sure if it was actually latex; I didn't entirely understand) mattresses and pillows are. They were also super expensive! My host mom and her friend ended up buying two each though. They spent more on those pillows than I have on pillows in my entire life!
We headed to dinner afterward. It turned out to be dinner and a show; they were both amazing! The dinner was a HUGE buffet! There was sashimi, sushi, chopchae, all kinds of meat, spaghetti, salads, tons of dessert, etc! The show ended up being international dances! I didn't recognize some of the names of the areas where certain dances were from. For one of the dances, a woman came out with a snake wrapped around her; I felt so bad for the snake! It was shedding horribly, and I'm pretty sure that they had its mouth taped shut. >_< She also came off stage and was putting it around audience members; hopefully nobody was incredibly terrified of snakes. I'm terrified of spiders, and if someone had put a spider on me, I probably would have cried!
We got back to the hotel around 9:30PM, and I promptly fell asleep! I was so exhausted. I woke up at around 11:00PM when my host sis brought me part of a dragon fruit to try; it was pretty tasty. I had never had it before. It's quite interesting looking; look it up if you have never seen one. I ate a bit of it and then passed out again. LOL!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
CHINA!! - Saturday Dec. 15, 2007
We got up and left by 4:00AM! It snowed last night for only the third time in Wonju. We met a limo bus on the corner near our apartment that took us to Incheon International Airport. We got there about an hour and 1/2 before we were supposed to meet our guide and 4 hours before our plane was scheduled to leave. I finally got my passport back when we met the guide. I haven't had it for a week and I hate not having it in my possession.
My host family is traveling with another host family, minus the dads. The two moms went shopping at the airport for a bit to kill time. They bought super expensive gifts for their children's teachers. So far the annoying daughter of my host mother's friend has asked me to watch her eat a piece of chocolate, sit in a special way, and look at her pocket. Oh, and she has said "Stacey teacher" about 20 times. I was a little worried about her annoying the hell out of me, but I'm just going to try to let everything roll off.
On the hour and 40 minute flight, we actually got a meal. Very unusual! We got rice, salmon sashimi (YUM), and some other random stuff. We met our second guide shortly after arriving in China; he is Chinese, but he speaks Korean fluently. His name is Chaeng Song. We went to eat almost immediately; we had a variety of foods and they were placed on a lazy-susan to make it easier to reach each food.
We visited a few historical sites throughout the day. I'm not going to know names to any of them; I'm sorry. They were either written in Korean or spoken to me in Korean, and I had no English reference. One was called the Tables of the Empire Embassies (or something to that effect). There was another place where the front gate was square and the back gate was round (the emperors believed that heaven was round and earth was square...they would pray to these gates).
One of the things that impacted me the most was something we simply walked by. There was a long hall where people were singing and dancing. I wanted to stop, but our tour guide was on a mission. Those few moments in the hall contained so much culture. It was intriguing to see how people were just joining in with songs that they were familiar with. Or how people walking through would stop to watch a pair dancing a familiar dance. Or listening to the random Chinese instruments that are so unfamiliar to our ears. I wanted to stay longer...
We went to an acrobatic performance that was quite amazing!! Surprisingly, we were allowed to take pictures during the performance. Afterward, we went to another Chinese style restaurant. We then went shopping in the biggest shopping area in Asia. In this humongous shopping area, we only had 40 minutes to look around. We looked up and down the food alley; there were so many different and interesting foods: from silk worms, to sugar dipped fruit, to fried seahorse. Oh, I forgot to mention, it is intensely cold in China! Super cold! So, when we ducked into a shopping mall for warmth, we made our way to the basement where I bought some dried fruit for the first and second grade teachers. It was really cheap! With five minutes left until we had to meet the group, we stopped into a cheap souvenir place and were buying stuff quickly. You just put stuff in a basket, they add it up, you pay at the counter, get a receipt, and then get the stuff you bought. We bought some bags for 10 yuan...which is about a $1 a piece. My host mom had fun shopping that quickly. We grabbed our bags and ran out of there and across the street. She was so cute about it; so pumped!
We headed to the hotel (Schengen Hotel). I had a room to myself, because my host mom fought with the travel agency; they wanted to put 7 of us in two rooms. They said that it was going to cost an extra $150, but they changed it so there was no extra charge. It was AMAZING! There were two queen sized beds, a nice tv, a bathtub separate from the shower, a funny little toilet next to the normal one (I think it was a bidet...not sure), a vanity with a lotus floating in a glass dish, and the doors to the bathroom were frosted sliding glass doors. I took a bath and watched tv from the bathtub...oh so nice!! I fell asleep for a few minutes, so I decided that it was probably a good idea to get out and go to bed.
My host family is traveling with another host family, minus the dads. The two moms went shopping at the airport for a bit to kill time. They bought super expensive gifts for their children's teachers. So far the annoying daughter of my host mother's friend has asked me to watch her eat a piece of chocolate, sit in a special way, and look at her pocket. Oh, and she has said "Stacey teacher" about 20 times. I was a little worried about her annoying the hell out of me, but I'm just going to try to let everything roll off.
On the hour and 40 minute flight, we actually got a meal. Very unusual! We got rice, salmon sashimi (YUM), and some other random stuff. We met our second guide shortly after arriving in China; he is Chinese, but he speaks Korean fluently. His name is Chaeng Song. We went to eat almost immediately; we had a variety of foods and they were placed on a lazy-susan to make it easier to reach each food.
We visited a few historical sites throughout the day. I'm not going to know names to any of them; I'm sorry. They were either written in Korean or spoken to me in Korean, and I had no English reference. One was called the Tables of the Empire Embassies (or something to that effect). There was another place where the front gate was square and the back gate was round (the emperors believed that heaven was round and earth was square...they would pray to these gates).
One of the things that impacted me the most was something we simply walked by. There was a long hall where people were singing and dancing. I wanted to stop, but our tour guide was on a mission. Those few moments in the hall contained so much culture. It was intriguing to see how people were just joining in with songs that they were familiar with. Or how people walking through would stop to watch a pair dancing a familiar dance. Or listening to the random Chinese instruments that are so unfamiliar to our ears. I wanted to stay longer...
We went to an acrobatic performance that was quite amazing!! Surprisingly, we were allowed to take pictures during the performance. Afterward, we went to another Chinese style restaurant. We then went shopping in the biggest shopping area in Asia. In this humongous shopping area, we only had 40 minutes to look around. We looked up and down the food alley; there were so many different and interesting foods: from silk worms, to sugar dipped fruit, to fried seahorse. Oh, I forgot to mention, it is intensely cold in China! Super cold! So, when we ducked into a shopping mall for warmth, we made our way to the basement where I bought some dried fruit for the first and second grade teachers. It was really cheap! With five minutes left until we had to meet the group, we stopped into a cheap souvenir place and were buying stuff quickly. You just put stuff in a basket, they add it up, you pay at the counter, get a receipt, and then get the stuff you bought. We bought some bags for 10 yuan...which is about a $1 a piece. My host mom had fun shopping that quickly. We grabbed our bags and ran out of there and across the street. She was so cute about it; so pumped!
We headed to the hotel (Schengen Hotel). I had a room to myself, because my host mom fought with the travel agency; they wanted to put 7 of us in two rooms. They said that it was going to cost an extra $150, but they changed it so there was no extra charge. It was AMAZING! There were two queen sized beds, a nice tv, a bathtub separate from the shower, a funny little toilet next to the normal one (I think it was a bidet...not sure), a vanity with a lotus floating in a glass dish, and the doors to the bathroom were frosted sliding glass doors. I took a bath and watched tv from the bathtub...oh so nice!! I fell asleep for a few minutes, so I decided that it was probably a good idea to get out and go to bed.
Catch up/Rant about English/Day from Hell! - Monday through Friday Dec. 10th-14th
Whoa! So I'm super far behind. I'm going to try to remember what has happened in the past week...but we'll see how this goes. Actually, screw it...this is going to just be one big post instead of individual days.
Monday: Ok, so I'm sick! Lots and lots of sick! Not sure what's wrong yet! I didn't have school today, because today is finals for the school. Yep...even the little ones have finals. I stayed in bed for a large portion of today and talked online. I went into school at around 1:00PM to work on stuff for the orphanage. While there, I realized that I couldn't even handle the few kids coming up and saying hi repeatedly, and I was stressed out from being sick. So, I asked my host teacher to cancel my trip to the orphanage today. Of course I felt like crap for doing so, but I knew that I couldn't handle it. I spent the rest of the day vegging as far as I can remember.
Tuesday: I taught some of my first grade classes for the last time this year today. I'm done with teaching the first graders after this week because of changing my schedule for the China trip. I decided that we are going to play Christmas BINGO for the last class for first and second grade. It's something simple and fun to do, and most of the kids already understand how to play! Today after school, my host mom took me to the clinic down the road. What I believe he said was that I have phlegm in my throat and he prescribed cough medicine and some sort of mystery pills. (In Korea: 1) You come to school no matter how sick you are. 2) You never know what pills you are taking, because they don't freaking label the bags.) So, the doctor, assuming that I hadn't already thought of it being a cold...gave me cold medicine. I have to take it for 3 days, and then I will come back in and tell him point blank that he was wrong...which I already know.
Wednesday: I taught a first grade and three second grade classes (because of the schedule change). Today is the last day to have any of these classes, so we played BINGO in all of them. It was strange...my first two classes showed up super late. My 1-7 class showed up with 20 minutes left of class. Be flexible! After classes, I hung out in the office with the first grade teachers. We talked about the importance of English. I was talking to the teachers about this in the first grade office, because once again nobody showed up to my teachers' class and this was the topic to be discussed. I'm still trying to understand why they push themselves so hard to learn English. ("Themselves" read: the teachers, their children, their students, their citizens). Next year, if I'm not here, the first grade and second grade teachers have to teach English on their own. Some of these teachers DO NOT speak English at all! I'm not saying that in a critical way, I'm saying that in a matter of fact way. They DO NOT speak English! How can they be expected to teach an English class. Their students will not learn, they will be stressed out, and English class will be boring. Teachers will be forced to stick to text-book English, because they will not know what else to teach. They will have to teach themselves, before they can teach their students. Even the teachers who speak English fairly well, hate the idea of teaching English. It's hard to teach a second language, let alone a first language! Different teachers have different levels of English ability; therefore, their students will have different levels of English ability. Which already happens a great deal, because half of these students spend at least an hour of their daily lives in an English institute, while some students can't afford these privatized special institutes. English is SO important that they have a name for the father who stays in Korea while his family moves to an English speaking country to become more fluent in English! (Kiragi Abba) There has to be another way; I don't know what way it is yet, but there has to be another way!
Thursday: I taught a first grade class and three second grade classes again today. I love 2-5 class! They're so adorable, and they're so attentive! There is one little girl who comes up to see me every week just to try to speak English to me. She's super cute! Ok...so I agreed to go to a basketball game today with 1-5 teacher and her friend. They picked me up at 6:00PM and I found out at 6:10PM that I am to be a half time event. Ha! I was given a jersey (pretty cool!) and told what to do. I was actually to be a quarter event...it all happened very fast. I was put into pads, rushed out onto the court with a big green monster that is one of their mascots, and made to sit on a skateboard. I was then placed in a human slingshot and shot down court while sitting on this skateboard. I was slingshotted at pins...like a human bowling ball. Unfortunately I only made it half-way down court before falling off of the skateboard. Luckily, they still gave me a prize...of meat! LOL! Meat for the vegetarian. Wonju won by nearly 20 points! WOOT! I gave the meat to my family; they were pretty excited! At first my host mom told me that I should have given it to 1-5 teacher, and I felt kind of bad. Eh...I got over it! My host family will enjoy it!
1-5 teacher's friend and me before the first quarter break.
Me watching the Green Monster prepare to be slingshotted.
Me preparing to be slingshotted down court while on a skateboard.
Wheee....look at me go!!
Me with the two Wonju mascots after the first quarter break!
Friday: Day from hell! I had four classes today, and I usually only have 2 on Fridays. Luckily, it wasn't too bad! I tried to email the travel agency to look up tickets in addition to the ones they had already found and to change a bit of the original flight. We'll see if I hear from them. After classes, I went to the clinic...by myself. The lady remembered me, so that was good. They had a hard time finding my information initially though. I went in to see the doctor. He confirmed what I've basically known since last weekend; I have bronchitis. He prescribed some medicine, including an antibiotic, and I got it filled at the pharmacy downstairs. I went home and tried to get some packing done. I didn't! After dinner, I realized that I took the prescription without checking to see if the antibiotic had penicillin in it. For those of you that don't know, I am INCREDIBLY allergic to penicillin. So, in a panic, I walked/ran back to the pharmacy to ask them if the antibiotic had penicillin in it. They kind of understood what I was saying but didn't understand how urgent it was that I know. They simply told me to stop taking it, and see the doctor in the morning. I wanted to scream, "IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT! I HAVE TO KNOW NOW!" Alas, I didn't. I did tell them that I needed to know now and that it was very important. They were looking it up, and I called my host mom. She also didn't understand why it was so important to know and told me that she would call in the morning. I finally got through to her that I needed to know asap, and she called the pharmacy. They explained that the name is Cefaclor and that it is a type of penicillin. They again told me to just stop taking it and see the doctor in the morning. I told them that I was leaving for China in less than 10 hours. I accepted the diagnosis of not taking the medicine anymore and attempted to buy the anti-allergy medicine that they gave to me. Because I left the house so quickly, I only had 3,000 Won in my pocket. The medicine was 4,000 Won. They took the 3,000 and said it was okay. By this point, I had tears streaming down my face. I left the pharmacy, called Lauren, and just started bawling. It was so incredibly frustrating; there are hardly words to describe the way I felt at that moment. I had yet to cry that intensely in Korea, but leave it to being truly lost in translation at the worst possible time. I walked home, came in my room, and shut the door. I had no desire to see anyone, especially my 10 year old host sis who was the only one home at the time. I immediately looked up the drug online and talked to a few friends in the program who know about medical stuff (good thing I'm in a program full of future doctors). I also tried calling an on call doctor who we were given the number for during orientation. He, also, didn't really understand me too well. I just decided that I was going to wait and see if anything happened. I made it past the anaphylactic shock stage...so that's a plus! After that I became more and more confident that nothing was going to happen. My friend in Wonju did a little bit of research as well and found out that only 10% of people allergic to penicillin are allergic to this drug as well. Another friend of mine in the program who is also allergic to penicillin, told me that she is not allergic to Cefaclor. Needless to say, it was a horrible experience, and I hate being sick in a country where I don't speak the language well enough to avoid these kinds of situations. I tried to explain further when my host mom came home why it was so important that I find out immediately; she understood a little more. The best I could describe it was, "VERY VERY ALLERGIC!" I had a horrible experience with an allergic reaction a few years ago, and I would prefer that it never happen again. My doctor in the states...well...he just told me that I had better never take it again. My whole host fam was up super late; I finished packing and got to bed around 12:30AM or so. I might get a total of 3 hours of sleep!
Monday: Ok, so I'm sick! Lots and lots of sick! Not sure what's wrong yet! I didn't have school today, because today is finals for the school. Yep...even the little ones have finals. I stayed in bed for a large portion of today and talked online. I went into school at around 1:00PM to work on stuff for the orphanage. While there, I realized that I couldn't even handle the few kids coming up and saying hi repeatedly, and I was stressed out from being sick. So, I asked my host teacher to cancel my trip to the orphanage today. Of course I felt like crap for doing so, but I knew that I couldn't handle it. I spent the rest of the day vegging as far as I can remember.
Tuesday: I taught some of my first grade classes for the last time this year today. I'm done with teaching the first graders after this week because of changing my schedule for the China trip. I decided that we are going to play Christmas BINGO for the last class for first and second grade. It's something simple and fun to do, and most of the kids already understand how to play! Today after school, my host mom took me to the clinic down the road. What I believe he said was that I have phlegm in my throat and he prescribed cough medicine and some sort of mystery pills. (In Korea: 1) You come to school no matter how sick you are. 2) You never know what pills you are taking, because they don't freaking label the bags.) So, the doctor, assuming that I hadn't already thought of it being a cold...gave me cold medicine. I have to take it for 3 days, and then I will come back in and tell him point blank that he was wrong...which I already know.
Wednesday: I taught a first grade and three second grade classes (because of the schedule change). Today is the last day to have any of these classes, so we played BINGO in all of them. It was strange...my first two classes showed up super late. My 1-7 class showed up with 20 minutes left of class. Be flexible! After classes, I hung out in the office with the first grade teachers. We talked about the importance of English. I was talking to the teachers about this in the first grade office, because once again nobody showed up to my teachers' class and this was the topic to be discussed. I'm still trying to understand why they push themselves so hard to learn English. ("Themselves" read: the teachers, their children, their students, their citizens). Next year, if I'm not here, the first grade and second grade teachers have to teach English on their own. Some of these teachers DO NOT speak English at all! I'm not saying that in a critical way, I'm saying that in a matter of fact way. They DO NOT speak English! How can they be expected to teach an English class. Their students will not learn, they will be stressed out, and English class will be boring. Teachers will be forced to stick to text-book English, because they will not know what else to teach. They will have to teach themselves, before they can teach their students. Even the teachers who speak English fairly well, hate the idea of teaching English. It's hard to teach a second language, let alone a first language! Different teachers have different levels of English ability; therefore, their students will have different levels of English ability. Which already happens a great deal, because half of these students spend at least an hour of their daily lives in an English institute, while some students can't afford these privatized special institutes. English is SO important that they have a name for the father who stays in Korea while his family moves to an English speaking country to become more fluent in English! (Kiragi Abba) There has to be another way; I don't know what way it is yet, but there has to be another way!
Thursday: I taught a first grade class and three second grade classes again today. I love 2-5 class! They're so adorable, and they're so attentive! There is one little girl who comes up to see me every week just to try to speak English to me. She's super cute! Ok...so I agreed to go to a basketball game today with 1-5 teacher and her friend. They picked me up at 6:00PM and I found out at 6:10PM that I am to be a half time event. Ha! I was given a jersey (pretty cool!) and told what to do. I was actually to be a quarter event...it all happened very fast. I was put into pads, rushed out onto the court with a big green monster that is one of their mascots, and made to sit on a skateboard. I was then placed in a human slingshot and shot down court while sitting on this skateboard. I was slingshotted at pins...like a human bowling ball. Unfortunately I only made it half-way down court before falling off of the skateboard. Luckily, they still gave me a prize...of meat! LOL! Meat for the vegetarian. Wonju won by nearly 20 points! WOOT! I gave the meat to my family; they were pretty excited! At first my host mom told me that I should have given it to 1-5 teacher, and I felt kind of bad. Eh...I got over it! My host family will enjoy it!
1-5 teacher's friend and me before the first quarter break.
Me watching the Green Monster prepare to be slingshotted.
Me preparing to be slingshotted down court while on a skateboard.
Wheee....look at me go!!
Me with the two Wonju mascots after the first quarter break!
Friday: Day from hell! I had four classes today, and I usually only have 2 on Fridays. Luckily, it wasn't too bad! I tried to email the travel agency to look up tickets in addition to the ones they had already found and to change a bit of the original flight. We'll see if I hear from them. After classes, I went to the clinic...by myself. The lady remembered me, so that was good. They had a hard time finding my information initially though. I went in to see the doctor. He confirmed what I've basically known since last weekend; I have bronchitis. He prescribed some medicine, including an antibiotic, and I got it filled at the pharmacy downstairs. I went home and tried to get some packing done. I didn't! After dinner, I realized that I took the prescription without checking to see if the antibiotic had penicillin in it. For those of you that don't know, I am INCREDIBLY allergic to penicillin. So, in a panic, I walked/ran back to the pharmacy to ask them if the antibiotic had penicillin in it. They kind of understood what I was saying but didn't understand how urgent it was that I know. They simply told me to stop taking it, and see the doctor in the morning. I wanted to scream, "IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT! I HAVE TO KNOW NOW!" Alas, I didn't. I did tell them that I needed to know now and that it was very important. They were looking it up, and I called my host mom. She also didn't understand why it was so important to know and told me that she would call in the morning. I finally got through to her that I needed to know asap, and she called the pharmacy. They explained that the name is Cefaclor and that it is a type of penicillin. They again told me to just stop taking it and see the doctor in the morning. I told them that I was leaving for China in less than 10 hours. I accepted the diagnosis of not taking the medicine anymore and attempted to buy the anti-allergy medicine that they gave to me. Because I left the house so quickly, I only had 3,000 Won in my pocket. The medicine was 4,000 Won. They took the 3,000 and said it was okay. By this point, I had tears streaming down my face. I left the pharmacy, called Lauren, and just started bawling. It was so incredibly frustrating; there are hardly words to describe the way I felt at that moment. I had yet to cry that intensely in Korea, but leave it to being truly lost in translation at the worst possible time. I walked home, came in my room, and shut the door. I had no desire to see anyone, especially my 10 year old host sis who was the only one home at the time. I immediately looked up the drug online and talked to a few friends in the program who know about medical stuff (good thing I'm in a program full of future doctors). I also tried calling an on call doctor who we were given the number for during orientation. He, also, didn't really understand me too well. I just decided that I was going to wait and see if anything happened. I made it past the anaphylactic shock stage...so that's a plus! After that I became more and more confident that nothing was going to happen. My friend in Wonju did a little bit of research as well and found out that only 10% of people allergic to penicillin are allergic to this drug as well. Another friend of mine in the program who is also allergic to penicillin, told me that she is not allergic to Cefaclor. Needless to say, it was a horrible experience, and I hate being sick in a country where I don't speak the language well enough to avoid these kinds of situations. I tried to explain further when my host mom came home why it was so important that I find out immediately; she understood a little more. The best I could describe it was, "VERY VERY ALLERGIC!" I had a horrible experience with an allergic reaction a few years ago, and I would prefer that it never happen again. My doctor in the states...well...he just told me that I had better never take it again. My whole host fam was up super late; I finished packing and got to bed around 12:30AM or so. I might get a total of 3 hours of sleep!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Vaginas - Sunday Dec. 9, 2007
So, I went to Seoul today to audition for the Vagina Monologues that are being produced in Korean and English. The audition went fine, but when I told them that I might have to miss the January practice, they basically told me that I wouldn't be able to have a part. Here is why I'm frustrated: I emailed the organization to ask about practices; there are two, one in January and one in February. I told whoever I was talking to about me not being able to make the January practice and they said it was mostly about individual practice anyway and that I should still try out. So, I did, and then that is the reaction I got. Plus, the head of the production is not incredibly nice; it was a very awkward first meeting.
Anyway to make myself feel better about the auditions deal, I went shopping. I bought some socks, a hat, and a shirt. I headed back to Wonju at 7:15PM and was home before 9:00PM.
There were blue slippers sitting in front of my door; I put them on and asked my host mom what they were for. She told me they were for me and said, "Your color." Hehe...she remembered that my favorite color is blue. Super cute! She studied all day with my host sis and host bro, because they have their final exams tomorrow. She got frustrated and she said they fought a little bit, so she and her husband went shopping.^^ She and I deal the same way...lol!
I hung out with my host sis and we made something together like we were supposed to yesterday. We made a pop-out Christmas tree, and then she went through her sticker collection and gave me some stickers! I love her!
Everyone went their separate ways pretty early. I have tomorrow off, so I'm sleeping in!!
Anyway to make myself feel better about the auditions deal, I went shopping. I bought some socks, a hat, and a shirt. I headed back to Wonju at 7:15PM and was home before 9:00PM.
There were blue slippers sitting in front of my door; I put them on and asked my host mom what they were for. She told me they were for me and said, "Your color." Hehe...she remembered that my favorite color is blue. Super cute! She studied all day with my host sis and host bro, because they have their final exams tomorrow. She got frustrated and she said they fought a little bit, so she and her husband went shopping.^^ She and I deal the same way...lol!
I hung out with my host sis and we made something together like we were supposed to yesterday. We made a pop-out Christmas tree, and then she went through her sticker collection and gave me some stickers! I love her!
Everyone went their separate ways pretty early. I have tomorrow off, so I'm sleeping in!!
Goin' to the Chapel - Saturday Dec.8, 2007
I felt HORRIBLE this morning; my cold is even worse! I really didn't want to move from bed today, but I had to get up to go to a wedding with a teacher from school. I hadn't ever been to a Korean wedding, so I wanted to see what it was all about.
It is definitely different than an American wedding, although Korean weddings have become incredibly westernized. We greeted the groom (a 6th grade teacher from Seowonju), and we then went to see the bride. Yes...see...because she was in a glassed in room, sitting on a bench. She was...like...on display. We poked our heads in to congratulate her and the whole room smelled of perfume.
The wedding convention center has many wedding that occur at the same time. So while the couple we were there to see was getting married, it was incredibly loud out in the hall due to the lack of doors. There were people talking throughout the ceremony, and there were people on their cell phones. The bride and the groom didn't smile while they were up there; I saw a bit of a smile as they were walking to the door after bowing to their parents and their guests, but that's it. There is no kiss, and I'm not exactly sure when they were announced husband and wife. We went to eat right after the ceremony in this cafeteria/buffet style dining room. The food was AMAZING! I wasn't very hungry though since I had just eaten about 3 hours beforehand. The bride and the groom came in to the dinner wearing matching traditional hanboks; it was cute! A bunch of teachers ended up showing up, but I think after the ceremony for the food! ;)
I fell asleep in the car on the way home. I was basically incapacitated the entire day. I slept for a few hours, got up for dinner, and went to bed again soon after. I feel bad, because I told my host sister that I would make something with her, but I just didn't have the strength to do it. Maybe tomorrow...
It is definitely different than an American wedding, although Korean weddings have become incredibly westernized. We greeted the groom (a 6th grade teacher from Seowonju), and we then went to see the bride. Yes...see...because she was in a glassed in room, sitting on a bench. She was...like...on display. We poked our heads in to congratulate her and the whole room smelled of perfume.
The wedding convention center has many wedding that occur at the same time. So while the couple we were there to see was getting married, it was incredibly loud out in the hall due to the lack of doors. There were people talking throughout the ceremony, and there were people on their cell phones. The bride and the groom didn't smile while they were up there; I saw a bit of a smile as they were walking to the door after bowing to their parents and their guests, but that's it. There is no kiss, and I'm not exactly sure when they were announced husband and wife. We went to eat right after the ceremony in this cafeteria/buffet style dining room. The food was AMAZING! I wasn't very hungry though since I had just eaten about 3 hours beforehand. The bride and the groom came in to the dinner wearing matching traditional hanboks; it was cute! A bunch of teachers ended up showing up, but I think after the ceremony for the food! ;)
I fell asleep in the car on the way home. I was basically incapacitated the entire day. I slept for a few hours, got up for dinner, and went to bed again soon after. I feel bad, because I told my host sister that I would make something with her, but I just didn't have the strength to do it. Maybe tomorrow...
Finally Friday! - Friday Dec. 7, 2007
I taught three classes today instead of the usual two...again because of the schedule change. It was fun though! We're making a "storm" with random objects. I have a gong for thunder, left over laminated scraps for wind, and boxes of paper clips for rain. I'm also teaching about the seasons, so I brought in a bunch of different clothing to teach what clothing you wear in what seasons. So, I put each piece of clothing on as we talked about it; the kids thought it was hilarious.
I had to run home after the three classes before lunch to get an envelope for the English teacher who shares my classroom. She wanted an "American" envelope for English practice on Saturday. They're having three elementary schools to our school on Saturday. I don't completely understand, but that's okay...I usually don't. ;)
After lunch, I hung out with the first grade teachers until I had to go shopping with Hae Yeon; she was getting new fruit for the English Zone and I said I would go with her. We went to a cheap store downtown. I also bought quite a bit for Christmas. When we got back, I decorated a 2,000 Won ($2) Christmas tree that I bought and hung up Santa's bag with toys coming out of it on the wall. I love decorating!!
I then went back downstairs to visit with the second grade teachers; we ate kimbap and lakboki (ramen and ddeokboki). I finally headed home around 5:30PM.
I met Lauren at 8:00PM at Lotte Cinema. I asked her to come to the Wonju English Club meeting tonight. The topic tonight was New Year's Resolutions. The topic didn't last very long; we ended up talking about randomness for about 30 minutes after the topic ran out. There were many new members today; another foreigner named Thabo was new as well. He is also from South Africa (like Ashlie), and he has only been in Korea for two weeks. I was amazed! Two weeks! That's so fresh! I was excited for him!
Afterward we went to the Makkoli bar and talked more. They were amazed that Lauren speaks Korean. LOL! Usually I can drink Makkoli just fine, but I was definitely feeling it tonight. I think it was, because I am still have a cold. I know, I know...I shouldn't have been drinking then.
My cough has been really bad in the mornings but settles down throughout the day. I hope I get over it soon.
Anyway, Lauren and I got a ride home with Kevin around 12:30AM. Lauren was worried about her host family being angry, but they weren't even home. Lucky break!
I had to run home after the three classes before lunch to get an envelope for the English teacher who shares my classroom. She wanted an "American" envelope for English practice on Saturday. They're having three elementary schools to our school on Saturday. I don't completely understand, but that's okay...I usually don't. ;)
After lunch, I hung out with the first grade teachers until I had to go shopping with Hae Yeon; she was getting new fruit for the English Zone and I said I would go with her. We went to a cheap store downtown. I also bought quite a bit for Christmas. When we got back, I decorated a 2,000 Won ($2) Christmas tree that I bought and hung up Santa's bag with toys coming out of it on the wall. I love decorating!!
I then went back downstairs to visit with the second grade teachers; we ate kimbap and lakboki (ramen and ddeokboki). I finally headed home around 5:30PM.
I met Lauren at 8:00PM at Lotte Cinema. I asked her to come to the Wonju English Club meeting tonight. The topic tonight was New Year's Resolutions. The topic didn't last very long; we ended up talking about randomness for about 30 minutes after the topic ran out. There were many new members today; another foreigner named Thabo was new as well. He is also from South Africa (like Ashlie), and he has only been in Korea for two weeks. I was amazed! Two weeks! That's so fresh! I was excited for him!
Afterward we went to the Makkoli bar and talked more. They were amazed that Lauren speaks Korean. LOL! Usually I can drink Makkoli just fine, but I was definitely feeling it tonight. I think it was, because I am still have a cold. I know, I know...I shouldn't have been drinking then.
My cough has been really bad in the mornings but settles down throughout the day. I hope I get over it soon.
Anyway, Lauren and I got a ride home with Kevin around 12:30AM. Lauren was worried about her host family being angry, but they weren't even home. Lucky break!
Thrilling Thursday - Thursday Dec. 6, 2007
I had four classes today because of the schedule changes. It wasn't too bad though. The class that has started to slide quickly downhill was good today. Woot!
I hung out for a while with the first grade teachers after classes. Then I went to meet Kim downtown. She was in town to meet up with her aunt and cousin. She told me later that she actually called me first to make plans and then called her family. LOL! I was her little bit of sanity in between the family visits. We went to a coffee shop called Time and Space and talked for a few hours. We then went to find dinner. There was a great place called Brannew that we went to. It was an Italian place and a bit expensive but worth it. It was like Kimmie and I were on a date! The lights were all low, and there were candles everywhere. Our waiter was incredibly attractive which added to our dinner conversation. We ate a ton! We started with an appetizer of mozzarella and tomatoes (cabrece), then split a magherita pizza and a shrimp and olive oil pasta, and finished with raspberry cheesecake! Oh, it was fantastic!
After dinner, Kim's aunt offered to drive me home. Super nice of her!
I hung out for a while with the first grade teachers after classes. Then I went to meet Kim downtown. She was in town to meet up with her aunt and cousin. She told me later that she actually called me first to make plans and then called her family. LOL! I was her little bit of sanity in between the family visits. We went to a coffee shop called Time and Space and talked for a few hours. We then went to find dinner. There was a great place called Brannew that we went to. It was an Italian place and a bit expensive but worth it. It was like Kimmie and I were on a date! The lights were all low, and there were candles everywhere. Our waiter was incredibly attractive which added to our dinner conversation. We ate a ton! We started with an appetizer of mozzarella and tomatoes (cabrece), then split a magherita pizza and a shrimp and olive oil pasta, and finished with raspberry cheesecake! Oh, it was fantastic!
After dinner, Kim's aunt offered to drive me home. Super nice of her!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Wonderful Wednesday - Wednesday Dec. 5, 2007
Classes went well today. I'm doing a form of "Doggy Doggy, Where is Your Bone?" with the second graders, except it is with Happy Birthday and presents.
No teachers class again. Well, one teacher showed up (1-5), but since nobody else did, we went downstairs to celebrate Jia's birthday. Definitely didn't know it was her birthday! I felt really bad! Boo for the failing grape vine!!
I hung out in the office for a while and then wandered back upstairs. I talked to Lauren for a bit online (She's back from Jeju) with some interesting news about a friend who is in a relationship of two months and is apparently going to get married to this girl. I'm still confused due to lack of details, but I have a feeling that I will still be confused even after details.
I hung out with my host sis when I got home from school. I stopped by a munbangu to get a random gift for a secret snowflake thing we're doing throughout the ETA group. Laura set it up, but I'm not sure how many people decided to do it. I also took out a wad of cash for my host mom to pay her back for the China trip. Anyway, my host sis and I ate cheese, drank yujacha, and made crafts out of felt; I made a wreath, and she made a stocking. CUTE!
My host mom helped me look for flights for January, because I'm having a really hard time finding flights. Apparently there is a travel agent in the family, my host father's cousin. My host father called him, and my host mom looked online. It's going to be a hard flight to find in general.
Eh, I have to plan another lesson since my schedule has been completely rearranged due to the China trip. I don't know what I'm going to teach, but it is late. Perhaps, I'll wait until the morning.
No teachers class again. Well, one teacher showed up (1-5), but since nobody else did, we went downstairs to celebrate Jia's birthday. Definitely didn't know it was her birthday! I felt really bad! Boo for the failing grape vine!!
I hung out in the office for a while and then wandered back upstairs. I talked to Lauren for a bit online (She's back from Jeju) with some interesting news about a friend who is in a relationship of two months and is apparently going to get married to this girl. I'm still confused due to lack of details, but I have a feeling that I will still be confused even after details.
I hung out with my host sis when I got home from school. I stopped by a munbangu to get a random gift for a secret snowflake thing we're doing throughout the ETA group. Laura set it up, but I'm not sure how many people decided to do it. I also took out a wad of cash for my host mom to pay her back for the China trip. Anyway, my host sis and I ate cheese, drank yujacha, and made crafts out of felt; I made a wreath, and she made a stocking. CUTE!
My host mom helped me look for flights for January, because I'm having a really hard time finding flights. Apparently there is a travel agent in the family, my host father's cousin. My host father called him, and my host mom looked online. It's going to be a hard flight to find in general.
Eh, I have to plan another lesson since my schedule has been completely rearranged due to the China trip. I don't know what I'm going to teach, but it is late. Perhaps, I'll wait until the morning.
Tired Tuesday - Tuesday Dec. 4, 2007
I was running around hard core this morning. I had to print, laminate, and cut out 40 food items for today's activity. At the same time, I was supposed to help a teacher with taking photos and uploading them onto the computer. This was all within the span of an hour.
Today's classes went a lot better until the last period I teach. I don't know what the deal was, but I had to ask four tables before getting the answer to, "What day was yesterday?" I ask it every class, but for some reason today was super difficult to extract an answer from them.
After classes, I hung out downstairs in the first grade office. 1-5 and 1-3 teacher made miniature snowmen with me.
I left a little earlier than I normally would, so I could go to the hospital at 3:30PM with my host mom. My toe has been really red lately, and I thought that I might have an ingrown toenail, so I thought I would get it checked out. Sure enough, I was right. Only, the doctor thinks I should have surgery. Guess what?! Not happening! I don't want surgery AND I don't have time for surgery. I'm going to China in less than two weeks, traveling again two weeks after that, and then going to Japan two weeks after that. My host mom doesn't really agree with the surgery option either, so I'm just going to keep an eye on it for a while. I'll be fine.
I worked on editing a workshop for January and watched Finding Nemo the rest of the night.^^
Today's classes went a lot better until the last period I teach. I don't know what the deal was, but I had to ask four tables before getting the answer to, "What day was yesterday?" I ask it every class, but for some reason today was super difficult to extract an answer from them.
After classes, I hung out downstairs in the first grade office. 1-5 and 1-3 teacher made miniature snowmen with me.
I left a little earlier than I normally would, so I could go to the hospital at 3:30PM with my host mom. My toe has been really red lately, and I thought that I might have an ingrown toenail, so I thought I would get it checked out. Sure enough, I was right. Only, the doctor thinks I should have surgery. Guess what?! Not happening! I don't want surgery AND I don't have time for surgery. I'm going to China in less than two weeks, traveling again two weeks after that, and then going to Japan two weeks after that. My host mom doesn't really agree with the surgery option either, so I'm just going to keep an eye on it for a while. I'll be fine.
I worked on editing a workshop for January and watched Finding Nemo the rest of the night.^^
Manic Monday - Monday Dec. 3, 2007
Oh good lord, I'm sooo done with Mondays!!!
The game I had planned for the students today didn't go over very well; they didn't understand. I am still trying to figure out why 1-1's homeroom teacher comes, because she doesn't help explain when the students are confused or help control them when they get hyper. Gah! I flat out asked 1-3 to help explain the game to the students, but I think she would have helped anyway. She said that she would let the other teachers know to help explain the game. I really like doing things outside of the textbook mold, so the help of the teachers is always incredibly appreciated.
I felt pretty defeated after todays lessons, which kind of put me in a bad mood.
Usually when I go to the orphanage, I feel a lot better, but it was kind of a rough day at the orphanage as well. The helper wasn't there this time. Since those kids know a considerable amount less English than my actual students, it was hard to keep them in line. Having 20 kids just sitting on the floor while I'm trying to teach them is a lot harder than it sounds...no classroom style anything. I think I'm going to start leaning toward more games. I've also considered breaking up the young kids and the older kids next year and going twice a week instead of once.
I was taken home by the director of the orphanage. We had a broken English/Korean conversation. He told me that he is 42...I believe, and he also invited me out for a drink sometime and gave me his card. He was really sweet, but it's never going to happen. He even opened my car door for me.
We went out for Kalmanduguk tonight for dinner, which helped improve my mood. I LOVE KALMANDUGUK!!
BTW: I'm getting sick. *Sad face*
The game I had planned for the students today didn't go over very well; they didn't understand. I am still trying to figure out why 1-1's homeroom teacher comes, because she doesn't help explain when the students are confused or help control them when they get hyper. Gah! I flat out asked 1-3 to help explain the game to the students, but I think she would have helped anyway. She said that she would let the other teachers know to help explain the game. I really like doing things outside of the textbook mold, so the help of the teachers is always incredibly appreciated.
I felt pretty defeated after todays lessons, which kind of put me in a bad mood.
Usually when I go to the orphanage, I feel a lot better, but it was kind of a rough day at the orphanage as well. The helper wasn't there this time. Since those kids know a considerable amount less English than my actual students, it was hard to keep them in line. Having 20 kids just sitting on the floor while I'm trying to teach them is a lot harder than it sounds...no classroom style anything. I think I'm going to start leaning toward more games. I've also considered breaking up the young kids and the older kids next year and going twice a week instead of once.
I was taken home by the director of the orphanage. We had a broken English/Korean conversation. He told me that he is 42...I believe, and he also invited me out for a drink sometime and gave me his card. He was really sweet, but it's never going to happen. He even opened my car door for me.
We went out for Kalmanduguk tonight for dinner, which helped improve my mood. I LOVE KALMANDUGUK!!
BTW: I'm getting sick. *Sad face*
Michael Clayton - Sunday Dec. 2, 2007
I asked some members of WEC to go to a movie with me today. Originally I asked Ssook and the new guy from the group, but Ssook asked to invite Kevin. The new guy couldn't come, so it was Ssook, Kevin, and me.
We went to a new movie theater that just opened in Wonju; Kevin wanted to see it. We got tickets and then went to eat. We ate at a buffet bibimbap restaurant! YUM! We went to see Michael Clayton (this was only a few days ago, but honestly I'm having a hard time remembering off the top of my head what exactly it was about). It was that good. Actually it was quite slow. Wow! I can't believe how much I don't remember this movie! So far, I've got something about money and death. George Clooney plays a former lawyer, current "fixer," and he wants to expose a case about something that will damage higher ups. That's all you get. Anyway, the ending is pretty good. Just pay close attention if you go see it. The theater I was in was super warm, so I think I was zoning in and out. As were my friends.
Kevin drove me to a restaurant that my host family was at with my host father's fish group. A man in the fish group owns a bar/restaurant, but it is shut down for 2 months because of underage drinking that occurred there. The owner didn't realize and yah...closed down for 2 months. The owner is SUPER nice!! He gave me as much beer as I wanted and kept trying to talk to me. He also ordered pizza when I got there! He apparently hadn't had that much to drink; he's just always that friendly. I told him that I would come back sometime. There were about 20 people there; men at one table, women at the other, and children running all over the place. My host fam was there for 6 hours; I was only there for 1.
I went home and accidentally passed out on the couch around 9:00PM. My host mom woke me up and sent me to bed.
We went to a new movie theater that just opened in Wonju; Kevin wanted to see it. We got tickets and then went to eat. We ate at a buffet bibimbap restaurant! YUM! We went to see Michael Clayton (this was only a few days ago, but honestly I'm having a hard time remembering off the top of my head what exactly it was about). It was that good. Actually it was quite slow. Wow! I can't believe how much I don't remember this movie! So far, I've got something about money and death. George Clooney plays a former lawyer, current "fixer," and he wants to expose a case about something that will damage higher ups. That's all you get. Anyway, the ending is pretty good. Just pay close attention if you go see it. The theater I was in was super warm, so I think I was zoning in and out. As were my friends.
Kevin drove me to a restaurant that my host family was at with my host father's fish group. A man in the fish group owns a bar/restaurant, but it is shut down for 2 months because of underage drinking that occurred there. The owner didn't realize and yah...closed down for 2 months. The owner is SUPER nice!! He gave me as much beer as I wanted and kept trying to talk to me. He also ordered pizza when I got there! He apparently hadn't had that much to drink; he's just always that friendly. I told him that I would come back sometime. There were about 20 people there; men at one table, women at the other, and children running all over the place. My host fam was there for 6 hours; I was only there for 1.
I went home and accidentally passed out on the couch around 9:00PM. My host mom woke me up and sent me to bed.
Veg - Saturday Dec. 1, 2007
The next few are going to be kind of short, because I need to catch up, and my attention span is at an extreme low currently.
I vegged for a large portion of today.
I met Lauren for dinner, and we went to the Vietnamese restaurant near my house. After dinner, we went to the coffee shop nearby, Cafe Novellino. We talked for a few hours...about everything. We were catching up. Since we rarely get to see one another, we talk a lot when we get the chance.
I found out yesterday that my host family is going to China, and I think I might be going with them. As long as everything works out at school, because I'll have to miss two days of school.
Anyway, the day was about relaxing...mission accomplished.
I vegged for a large portion of today.
I met Lauren for dinner, and we went to the Vietnamese restaurant near my house. After dinner, we went to the coffee shop nearby, Cafe Novellino. We talked for a few hours...about everything. We were catching up. Since we rarely get to see one another, we talk a lot when we get the chance.
I found out yesterday that my host family is going to China, and I think I might be going with them. As long as everything works out at school, because I'll have to miss two days of school.
Anyway, the day was about relaxing...mission accomplished.
Monday, December 3, 2007
What's the Time, Mr. Wolf? - Friday Nov. 30, 2007
So, today, I played the role of a lifetime. I played a...wolf. That's right! For a first grade open class in front of the other first grade teachers, the vice principals, and the principal...I wore a wolf costume. Pictures may be up at some point within the span of my lifetime. I danced a little wolf dance, and I sang a little wolf song. All in all...a pretty good time!
After school, I hung out and made some stuff/decorated my classroom until I met 1-5 teacher to go to dinner at around 5:45PM. We were late to dinner, AND late to meet the principal and vice principals. Oops!
Dinner was okay, but it was just as uncomfortable as it always is when going out with the higher ups. Confucian society creates so much tension when in the presence of elders or people of higher rank. It is impossible to feel comfortable with them. I have talked to other Koreans who feel similarly even though they are accustomed to the natural societal rules.
After dinner, the first grade teachers went to this bar named "Aqua Vitae." Apparently it has changed since the last time the teachers had been there; it is now India motif. I really like it, but the teachers were a little weirded out by it. I think it even has hookahs, which I would have never expected to see in Korea.
I had to leave soon after arriving, because I was the leader for the topic today at the English meeting. The topic was a pretty heavy one and a difficult one language-wise to discuss. The topic is three parts about equality, prejudice, and discrimination: 1) Are women and men treated equally in Korea? 2) How are people of different races and nationalities treated in Korea? 3) How are people of different sexual orientations treated in Korea?
It was a pretty interesting conversation. Like I said, it was difficult for a few to discuss, but we made sure everyone in the group had a chance to talk. I discussed about how it is nice, but almost uncomfortable to be treated so well in Korea. I am treated as well as I am 1) Because I'm American and 2) because I speak English. I don't like knowing that I'm treated the way I am simply because I have a skill that Koreans want. They discussed the fact that blacks are not treated very well by Koreans and that people from South East Asia, as well, are not treated very well. They, for the most part, feel like women and men are treated fairly equally. I beg to differ, but it was only an hour long meeting.
We barely got into the topic of sexual orientation, but it's probably a good thing. I tend to get a little frustrated with the topic. I also was frustrated at the fact that a few members of the group made HUGE generalizations, which isn't uncommon for people of every country. The United States was called conservative, because of this story from one woman in the group:
"I have a friend who knows this guy in the United States who hadn't even kissed his girlfriend as a freshman in college, because his father is so conservative."
My response: "But that is one person."
There was one new member who studied abroad in the states for 6 months; he is about 25, I think. He had a much more liberal stance on "homosexuality" than I have heard from any Korean I have talked to about it. He said that he doesn't see anything wrong with someone, "coming out." He also talked about going to a gay bar in the states with one of his friends (Sidenote: Just because you go to a gay bar, does not mean that you are gay. I think the group picked up on this concept, but I'm not entirely sure.) Some of the Koreans at the table thought this was a mistake on his part and incredibly weird. I think it was brave of him to say at a table full of Koreans who obviously disagreed with homosexuality.
I was asked after the group meetings ended by one of my friends in the group, "How do you feel about it?" My response, "I support it." She was slightly baffled. She told me that she didn't used to have a problem with it until one of her friends chose to be gay. She said that she thinks some people are born that way, but some choose that lifestyle. We didn't get to finish the conversation, but I was interested to hear her opinion. I disagree with where she was heading, but I wanted to understand more about where her thought process was.
After the meeting, we headed to our Makkoli restaurant. I spent a lot of time talking to Vinod (a new member; his parents are from India, but he was born in England). He's quite funny to talk to, and has an interesting outlook on life; he's lazy and he doesn't care. I love the phrase, "I can't be bothered." Talking to him reminded me of two male British friends of mine from study abroad in Japan; they, too, were hilarious to talk to and had a similar outlook on life.
We headed home around 12:30AM. A few people wanted to go out for longer, but I think the majority of people were ready to go home. I was named the most reliable member of the Sunshine Club, and Jay was disappointed that I wasn't ready to go out after Makkoli. LOL!
After school, I hung out and made some stuff/decorated my classroom until I met 1-5 teacher to go to dinner at around 5:45PM. We were late to dinner, AND late to meet the principal and vice principals. Oops!
Dinner was okay, but it was just as uncomfortable as it always is when going out with the higher ups. Confucian society creates so much tension when in the presence of elders or people of higher rank. It is impossible to feel comfortable with them. I have talked to other Koreans who feel similarly even though they are accustomed to the natural societal rules.
After dinner, the first grade teachers went to this bar named "Aqua Vitae." Apparently it has changed since the last time the teachers had been there; it is now India motif. I really like it, but the teachers were a little weirded out by it. I think it even has hookahs, which I would have never expected to see in Korea.
I had to leave soon after arriving, because I was the leader for the topic today at the English meeting. The topic was a pretty heavy one and a difficult one language-wise to discuss. The topic is three parts about equality, prejudice, and discrimination: 1) Are women and men treated equally in Korea? 2) How are people of different races and nationalities treated in Korea? 3) How are people of different sexual orientations treated in Korea?
It was a pretty interesting conversation. Like I said, it was difficult for a few to discuss, but we made sure everyone in the group had a chance to talk. I discussed about how it is nice, but almost uncomfortable to be treated so well in Korea. I am treated as well as I am 1) Because I'm American and 2) because I speak English. I don't like knowing that I'm treated the way I am simply because I have a skill that Koreans want. They discussed the fact that blacks are not treated very well by Koreans and that people from South East Asia, as well, are not treated very well. They, for the most part, feel like women and men are treated fairly equally. I beg to differ, but it was only an hour long meeting.
We barely got into the topic of sexual orientation, but it's probably a good thing. I tend to get a little frustrated with the topic. I also was frustrated at the fact that a few members of the group made HUGE generalizations, which isn't uncommon for people of every country. The United States was called conservative, because of this story from one woman in the group:
"I have a friend who knows this guy in the United States who hadn't even kissed his girlfriend as a freshman in college, because his father is so conservative."
My response: "But that is one person."
There was one new member who studied abroad in the states for 6 months; he is about 25, I think. He had a much more liberal stance on "homosexuality" than I have heard from any Korean I have talked to about it. He said that he doesn't see anything wrong with someone, "coming out." He also talked about going to a gay bar in the states with one of his friends (Sidenote: Just because you go to a gay bar, does not mean that you are gay. I think the group picked up on this concept, but I'm not entirely sure.) Some of the Koreans at the table thought this was a mistake on his part and incredibly weird. I think it was brave of him to say at a table full of Koreans who obviously disagreed with homosexuality.
I was asked after the group meetings ended by one of my friends in the group, "How do you feel about it?" My response, "I support it." She was slightly baffled. She told me that she didn't used to have a problem with it until one of her friends chose to be gay. She said that she thinks some people are born that way, but some choose that lifestyle. We didn't get to finish the conversation, but I was interested to hear her opinion. I disagree with where she was heading, but I wanted to understand more about where her thought process was.
After the meeting, we headed to our Makkoli restaurant. I spent a lot of time talking to Vinod (a new member; his parents are from India, but he was born in England). He's quite funny to talk to, and has an interesting outlook on life; he's lazy and he doesn't care. I love the phrase, "I can't be bothered." Talking to him reminded me of two male British friends of mine from study abroad in Japan; they, too, were hilarious to talk to and had a similar outlook on life.
We headed home around 12:30AM. A few people wanted to go out for longer, but I think the majority of people were ready to go home. I was named the most reliable member of the Sunshine Club, and Jay was disappointed that I wasn't ready to go out after Makkoli. LOL!
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