So, we get to Seoul and realize it's 5.30 at night. On a Friday. On Christmas Eve. The subways are going to be a mess! And, guess what?! They were...aweful! It was so much fun!
Sarah's "really?! what have we gotten ourselves into?!" face
The train had just taken off--these were all the people that couldn't fit into it. We were so screwed.
We waited through 2 trains coming, being JAMMED stuffed, and finally we were at the front of the line.
Waiting for the training...you can tell we're still waiting because we are standing up-right.
Now we are on the train. I took a shoulder bag--which was much better than a wheely bag, but still, not great because it got caught underneath the hands, arms, and bodies of everyone else. This equals Maggie shrinking about 6 inches. Talk about a soar back!
It was great. We are stuffed like sardines. You can't move. You aren't holding on to anything. When the train slowed down the whole crowd would just sort of lean because we were all so tightly packed that you wouldn't fall down.
I literally am resting my head on some strange man's shoulder. Sarah is about 4 feet away from me, but there are around 5 people inbetween us. To make sure we were all on the train we would randomly yell out, "Marco?!"
Somehow, I have my left arm free. I was able to reach into my pocket and pull out my camera. I slowly raise it into the air and aim it at me. All the Koreans start laughing. I couldn't stop laughing. It was some serious culture shock.
Over Christmas, I took a 3 day trip to Jeju-do. ("do" means island in Korean, so it is Jeju Island). It is located off the southern tip of South Korea and considered the "Hawaii of Korea." A place for honeymooners.
Jeju is the island at the bottom. Note the spelling change: it is not exactly a "J" sound, more of a blend between "J" and "ch".
I went with a company called Adventure Korea. They organize medium to large group sized tours aimed for foreigners. Some friends in Gunsan know the owner, Saekjin, so we (my friend Sarah and I) booked the trip around 4 weeks ago. I would so highly recommend Adventure Korea to anyone in South Korea looking for traveling opportunities.
adenturekorea.com
But because I live in Gunsan, I had to travel up to Seoul the night before so that I could meet up with the group on time.
This meant that on Friday (Christmas Eve) meeting up with some friends from Gunsan (Sarah and Scott) and catching the bus up to Seoul.
I had Christmas with my family over Skype that morning. I opened all my presents and they opened the ones I had sent them, plus the secret stocking stuffers my family and I do. My cousin got very lucky--she got a very Korean Stocking this year!
Dad was setting the mood with candles...so I couldn't really see everyone but It was great to just hear all their voices.
In the package my parents sent to me for Christmas, they also included a few small gifts for the Kim family. Ms Kim is my co-teacher, and the wonderful lady who helped me get adjusted my first week. I have become good friends with her, and I really like her children: Suk Young (5) and Suk Jing (2). In fact, Suk Young called me his Aunt.
The Kim's are Christian, but they don't really celebrate Christmas. What I mean is, they only go to church, and maybe 1 present for Suk Young (Suk Jing has been too little to get any presents thus far). But that changed this year--much to everyone's surprise!
I brought in the gifts and discreetly gave them to Ms Kim. I did not buy anyone else Christmas gifts because I have been lazy. Not going to sugar coat that one...I've been lazy. If I was on top of my game I would have made little ornaments for everyone. But, not this year. So I didn't want to broadcast to the rest of the teachers that I was giving Ms Kim a present.
This is how Suk Young and Suk Jing ended up having their first Americanized Christmas. And I think, as you can tell from the pictures, they loved it!
Suk Jing had never been given a Christmas gift before so he was especially excited.
Although I'm not quiet sure if they understood the concept of American Football. Ms Kim tried to explain that it was like Soccer in Korea...but I'm not entirely sure a 2 year old can grasp that concept....
So precious!
My personal favorite picture of the bunch. That's one excited kid saying thank you in the only way he knows how.
I got a package in the mail last week and discovered that my parents are super cool people--which I sort of already knew. In addition to some Christmas presents, they also sent me a 2 ft Christmas tree and lights so that I actually have something to put my gifts around. And when I opened my Aunt's package, I discovered some candy canes (which are not in Korea so Thank You Karen and Randy)!!! So I moved my TV (Because, seriously, I've turned it on once in two months) to the floor and put up some Christmas cheer.
Lights off!
Lights Off
Lights On and Off!
"Oohh...pretty!'
But I did not just decorate my little tree. The Apartment is appropriately Christmas-tized:
And because my Christmas Soul has been depleted so much of the extreme festiveness from the homeland, I also have gone a little bonkers at school:
"Tee-cha! So cute-e!"
I have been wearing this headband and Santa's hat for 2 weeks now. These girls decided they would model it for me...so I'm getting them in the Spirit Also!
The Christmas Game we've been playing in class. Note the garlands--the students have been writing their 3 favorite things about Christmas on the paper and then we make class chains.
This is one of my country school classes. We have Ms Cho (pronounced Joe) on the left, my only English Co-teacher for Oku Middle School.
And then my city school also has been Christmas-tized. There's me in the front in purple and Mrs Park right behind me. One of my four co-teachers at city school, the lady who did the video lesson with me, and the one who picked me up the first/second day in Korea.
It does not feel like Christmas here. I think its a combination of two things: no snow (it has all melted and the last 4 days it's been 45 degrees) and no Christmas carols. I'm a musical person...I've played the French horn for 10 years, plus two years of trombone, I know how to play the trumpet and piano. I think my New Year's Resolution is going to be learn the guitar. Music feeds my soul.
I've thoroughly enjoyed learning/hearing all the new music that Korea has to offer. But...I've heard 3 (Count them! ONE TWO THREE!) Christmas Carols my entire December. It is depressing...It makes it very hard to get into the Spirit--but don't worry! I have been "teaching" Christmas the last 2 weeks so I can supplement all the Carols I want during class.
I have a good bunch of students. They are pretty advanced for 1st and 2nd years in Middle school (at least, I think they're advanced.) (Korean school have middle school starting with American 7th grade through American HS grade 9. So my kids are roughly 14-16 years old.)
So we've been playing this game I found on the best ESL Teaching Site: waygook.org. It's a Quiz Game with questions like, (Q1) "What color is Rudolph's nose?" The kids know this one and one student usually shouts out the answer (granted, it's not a person on the team...but they know the answer). But this has given me the perfect opportunity to break out into song:
"Rudolph the RED NOSED reindeer, Had a very shiney nose! If you ever saw it, you would even say it glows!"
Motions are necessary too. Point to your nose, flick your fingers to have it "glow" and generally just dance. I swear, I am the biggest goof in the classroom. I am always dancing, singing, and twirling in circles. I once ran up and down the aisleways screaming, trying to explain to the kids what Black Friday was like. It worked...
Anyway, back to Christmas.
(Q2) "How many reindeer does Santa have?"
"He has Dasher and Dancer, Comet and cupid, Donner and Blitzen, Prancer and Vixen... But do you remember the most famous Reindeer of all? Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?!!!!!!"
(Q3) "What is "Merry Christmas" in Spanish?"
Which prompts me to sing Felize Navidad--which I really only know two lyrics: Felize and Navidad...but I do end up humming the rest.
(Q4): "Who is the famous snowman?"
"Frosty the Snowman Was a jolly happy soul, With a corncob pipe and a button nose And two eyes made of coal!"
I think I end up singing at least 4 or 5 carols throughout the class. Others include, "Santa's coming to Town," "Carol of the Bells," "Joy to the World," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," and (of course) "Jingle Bells." I can usually get half the class to join in with me on Jingle Bells.
People who know me from home might be surprised that I'm so Christmas Song happy. I typically really do not like Christmas songs. At home, they make my head hurt. You hear them EVERYWHERE! But here, I tend to be the only one who is singing them. And I do mean singing them--up and down the streets, dancing as I go along.
It doesn't just stay at school, either. At home, I've been surfing Youtube in my freetime. And I came across this group: Straight No Chaser. I do believe I've listened to the 12 Days of Christmas Rendition just about 15 time this morning. It's a little pathetic. But it's feeding both my Christmas and Musical Soul.
A little background: (Thanks Wikipedia):
Straight No Chaser is a men's a cappella group started in Indiana University. (Woot woot! Shout out to my home!!!) There is an amateur college group, but there is also a professional group composed of alumnea from the college group--I think most of them were original members from back in 1998. In 1998, some of the members posted a video on YouTube and was watched by 12 million people. Back in 1998--that's incredible. One of those 12 million people, the chairman and president of Atlantic Records, and soon Straight No Chaser had a 5-album recording deal.
Here are some of their songs:
12 Days of Christmas
The Christmas Can-Can
I have posted just Christmas songs, but they also sing pop stuff. They are fantastic and they've helped me cope with the void that is Christmas Time.
More Interesting News: A friend sent me this story and they titled the email: Antagonize the North! Propaganda messages are the best. Rock and Roll and Christmas can just be so dang threatening!
Christmas tree lit at border hot spot
Military alert in case North shoots down tower visible from Kaesong
December 22, 2010
Christians sing in front of a 30-meter (100-foot) Christmas tree visible from North Korea on Aegibong Peak in Gimpo, South Korea, yesterday. [AP/YONHAP]
A metal tower with decorative Christmas lights and a cross on top was illuminated on top of Aegibong Peak yesterday to mark the holiday season, and North Korea might shoot it down.
The stylized tree’s 100,000 lights were lit up around 5:45 p.m. yesterday by a Christian church in Seoul. Reinforcements of South Korean soldiers were sent to guard the 155-meter (509-foot) peak in Gimpo, Gyeonggi, yesterday, and the military said it was on high alert.
“We are maintaining our alert level at the highest Jindotgae 1 at the western border islands, Aegibong Peak and all front lines,” an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday.
Aegibong is just 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) away from North Korean territory and the 30-meter structure, which is used to celebrate both Christmas and Buddha’s Birthday, was a form of anti-North propaganda that was stopped during the Sunshine Policy days of engagement with the North. The last time it was lit was in 2003.
Minister of National Defense Kim Kwan-jin said yesterday at the National Assembly that if the North shoots at the tower, the military would “boldly punish the North.”
North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun said on Monday that the lighting of the tree tower would be a signal that an electronic display for propaganda messages that the South Korean military has installed at the demilitarized zone could also soon be activated, possibly leading to a military clash. In the past, the North has threatened to shoot the display and propaganda loudspeakers at the DMZ.
“As sharp tension is rising between North and South Korea, provocations that irritate the opposite party could lead to military clashes and to a full-blown war,” the paper said.
A South Korean military official told the JoongAng Ilbo last week that North Korea had specifically requested that the tree tower be dismantled during negotiations in 2004 that resulted in the suspension of all forms of propaganda at the inter-Korean border.
“They asked the tower be taken down as the lights on the peak and car lights on the freeway leading there irritate [the North Koreans] most,” said the official. In clear weather, the tower can be seen from Kaesong.
According to the official, the lighting of the tower this year is “not unrelated to the anti-North propaganda that the South Korean military has been involved in since the Cheonan sinking,” and that there is no reason for the military to stop the church from installing the tower and lights.
The Defense Ministry has been sending propaganda leaflets across the 4-kilometer-wide DMZ and into North Korean territory by balloon in response to the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. Anti-Pyongyang broadcasts have also been made at the border, and 20 locations have newly installed loudspeakers along the demarcation line.
The tree-lighting came a day after the South Korean military conducted live-fire exercises from Yeonpyeong Island with no North Korean retaliation.
This past weekend I went ice skating in the 'city'/'town' next to me. The town is called Iksan; it is slightly bigger than Gunsan.
One of my friends, Lindsay, has been in Korea for 2 years and, if she can, is trying to stay a 3rd! Because she's been here to so long, and she teaches in schools way out in the boonies, she owns a car. It's surprising how much of a luxury it is to ride in a car. After 2 months, I really start to understand what a life-changing invention a car is.
Lindsay picked me up around 11 and then we picked up Jen--another foreign teacher. Sidenote: Jen and her boyfriend James are hosting a Christmas Party on Thursday--I am very excited! After a 30 minute ride, we pull up into a small parking lot with only one small building. I was a little confused until I learned that the rink was underground.
We go and buy our rink admission--which was super confusing. Jen and I don't have skates, but Lindsay (who is from Canada) does. We spent a good five minutes trying to figure out how much it was. In the end, we all walk away feeling like we've been through a Korean tornado. Lindsay said she's been here for almost 2 years and that was one of the worst communication issues she's had. And Lindsay speaks enough Korean to be able to order tickets and such without hassle. So it really was just a confusing time.
Anyway, we are the only ones at the ice rink. It's about 11.30 by the time we get to the rink and it takes us another 30 minutes to figure out what size skates we are. At this time the man who was helping us with the shoes asked if we minded him cleaning the ice. We all shrugged and said, "sure, okay!"
And this started the Epic Zamboni March. I found out that Lindsay actually taught ice skating lessons for 8 or 10 YEARS before she came to Korea. So this girl knows a thing or two about skating. And she told us that it would only take 10 to 15 minutes to clean the ice.
Started out fine....and then it just kept going and going and going. This man took over 40 minutes to clean the ice. He went around just brushing off the extra snow and then went around a second time with the hot water to make the ice real smooth.
AND THEN, we were told we couldn't get on the ice until the water had frozen (which doesn't make a lick of difference.) So, we literally had to watch water freeze for 10 minutes.
Jen had to go a wedding that afternoon, so the amount of time we actually spent on the ice was really small. But, we had a real good time while it lasted:
Me, Lindsay, and Jen
I really wish I had pulled out my own camera and snapped a couple shots of Lindsay on the ice. She was doing jumps, twirls, spins, one leg skating, and all the fancy stuff. It was impressive to watch. I have never been around someone who can actual skate. I mean, I can go backwards and forwards, but this girl knows how to skate. It was neat to watch.
On the way home, we stopped at a Paris Bagette we had seen on the way to the rink. They had this cute snowman with the face cut out so that you could stick your head in. I don't think the Paris Bagette people actually intend to see anyone actually use the snowman, but three foreign girls changed that real quick!
Of course, after looking at this photo, I realize that we befriended a seriously disturbed snowman. I mean...he is creeply telling everyone that "You are not alone" and he's serving up one of his own kind on a platter. Hello? We made friends with a cannibal.
Yesterday, the US senate repealed the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is a policy in the US Military which forced homosexual soldiers to hide their orientation or be discharged. I think Obama said it nicely:
"It is time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed."
Or, to be a bit more comical: "As Barry Goldwater said, 'You don't have to be straight to shoot straight,' " said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), referring to the late GOP senator from Arizona.
Today I got to school and was told that I don't have to teach any classes today. (Thus why I have posted about 5 posts on this blog today alone...and I still have 2 hours left in the day!) The reason for no classes is that it is a national testing day. I have heard of this happening many times from other teachers. You come to school and people tell you that it's a free day. I probably should be working on prep work for Winter Camp but I have been really slack with updating my blog so I figured it wouldn't hurt to get caught up.
Anyway, about 2.00 pm this afternoon I realize something quiet strange. There is English being spoke around me. This might seem like a strange thing to notice, but I get in this bubble at school where I block out everything. I can't understand it anyway. And for days when I don't have to speak, I can go a whole day without hearing any English besides inside my own head. So for me to suddenly understand English at my school--it was quiet a "Wait...what's that?" Moment.
Turns out there's an English section to this National Exam. (I just typed "National Exam Test" as if Exam and Test aren't synonyms. Lord, I'm supposed to be teaching English....)
It was kind of funny. David is sad because his parents didn't remember his birthday. Bob and Susie want to go to the movies but can't because they have science homework--which they will finish today so that they can go to movies tomorrow. Some is sick because she got in a car accident. Someone asked to see a library card.
And the voices were really bad. Very stilted and disjunct. Super high rises and extreme falls--over exaggerating for the sake of trying to make it easier to understand. While I comprehend the reason why they do this, it does not make it authentic for the students. In the classroom, I slow my speech, dumb it down, and also use higher and lower rises, along with some pauses around important key words, but I don't over do it. Over doing it is setting a wrong example.
But it was funny to hear these random voices just pop out of the speakers. Like, "Hello! And NOW we will be beginning of the ENGLISH PORTION of this test!"
My friend Sarah and I went to Mr Pizza for dinner the other night. Like most stores it has been decorated for Christmas. It just made me smile because sometimes at school and home you can really feel like Christmas is another month or so away. I canNOT believe that Christmas is like 4 days away. It is crazy! But Mr Pizza did a pretty sweet job of decorating and it made me smile.
We ordered the Hawaiian pizza. Pineapple and ham--all the way!
These sweet pickles they serve when the waiter comes to your table. We usually smile, put on our "embarrassed Waygook face" and say sorry, and give them back. They just kinda gross me out--I've eaten one. But I don't really like pickles at home and I don't really like pickles here and, darn it!, I don't want to eat them.
I was facing towards the area where the pizza was being made and, to my delight!, I realize the pizza maker man is wearing a santa hat! I think I made a goof out of myself by going over and taking a picture of him. You can see in the reflection of the glass that servers are watching me.
He is making a sweet potato mousse pizza. They put sweet potato mousse in the crust like how Americans put stuffed cheese. It is sweet, but really good. Its really one of those, "Only in Korea" Moments.
Climbing Santas! Perfect!
Finally, I watched one of the girls wrap some left overs. Usually we would just throw the left overs in a styrofoam box and call it a day. Not in Korea!!!!
They literally put the pizza in a nice pizza box, and then proceed to wrap it in ribbons. To make a little carrying case. Of course the whole thing is color coordinated and the ribbons have perfect little spirals. It really is precious.
It was two weeks ago that I got invited to the ROK bar for the first time. I had not been to bar street and I basically only knew a vague location, as in, "it is over that way..." [wave hand to left]. That did not inspire much confidence for going to meet some new people at the bar for the first time, at night.
I mentioned to Ms Kim that I had no idea where I was going, AND that the ROK is basically really new so I'm not sure a taxi would know where to go. She quickly went over and asked other Korean teachers if they knew the ROK bar. Unfortunately, none did. But Sung Sik did hop on his computer and do something pretty neat: Street View.
All the teachers piled around:
Street view.
There is a small picture of "where you are in your city" at the bottom left corner, and you can pick to go forward, left or right at stop signs. You can move your 'view' so that you can look down streets or at the buildings' sides. It is pretty cool.
This was something new to a lot of teachers. Sung Sik is in his glory showing off this feature.
Unfortuantely, the ROK was too new for the CCTVs to actually have uploaded it onto the internet. So in the end I ended up meet Sarah for coffee at a cafe that we knew was on bar street and then walking to meet Lindsay. But still, the technology is really cool.
Last week, one of the teachers brought in a huge box of ...something. I later found it is called "Garaedok"--although I've also seen it spelled "garaetteok." They are basically very fine rice cakes -- as in the rice is pounded very finely. They are used in cooking and they actually have a lot of history.
You eat these rice cakes usually in a soup on New Years and it's called tteok guk. Ms Kim told me that when you eat tteok guk you age one year. (In Korea, everyone has a giant, mass, country wide birthday on the New Year and you all turn one year older.) She laughed and said when she was younger she ate two or three bowls of tteok guk so she could become older quicker, and now she doesn't eat tteok guk because she doesn't want to get any older. It made me smile.
Last week, two of the teachers made a bet about who would win a volleyball game between the students. I think each teacher is a homeroom teacher. The unfortunate thing--one of the teachers is the gym teacher. His class won. Sooo, the other teacher had to bring a treat for his office staff--which meant that I got to snack on some garaedok!
It was not in a soup--just the rice cake.
In a big box....
You grab one of the ... rolls? Maybe that's the right word...? I have no idea.
Peel it apart from the rest of the garaedok. They cooked by steam so they are sticky.
They are basically just a non-glutinous rice powder steamed together to make this long tubes. So it doesn't really have much taste (Read: none). Well, I guess there is a taste of rice, but its not like Rice-A-Roni or Spanish Rice or any flavorful rice like in the States. Its steamed rice, like you would get in Japan or Korea. I always used to call it Sticky rice because it was...well...sticky. Anyway, not really any flavor. I've been told that in Japan the rice was used as sort of a palate cleanser between bites of food. Eat some sashimi, eat some rice to clear off the taste so you can fully enjoy the taste of whatever new delicious gourmet Japanese food you attempt to eat next. I don't know if that's particularly true, but it makes sense and helps explain that lack of taste that is sticky rice.
Anyway, back to blog: Since the garaedok doesn't really have any flavor, you can dip it in sugar. It's just white sugar. The teacher who lost the volleyball game bet actually brought in a whole bag of sugar. You just dip one end of the garaedok in the cup of sugar and bite.
The Koreans are not really concerned about double-dipping...
The Koreans really seemed to love it. I don't know if they just have really good memories of garaedok so it tasted good to them. I could eat about 3/4 a tube and then couldn't really make myself eat any more. It just hard to chew and I felt like my stomach was going to start leaking rice cake...
There are no such things at "too big a bite" in Korea. You basically stuff your face most of the time.
Mrs Kang on the left and Mrs Park on the right. Both are my English co-teachers.
My other two co-teachers: Ms Kim in the back and Ms Lee in the front in the yellow turtle neck and red-ish jacket.
See...big bites!
I usually don't eat a very big breakfast. I don't have time to really make anything at my apartment and the coffee stores, to my dismay, do not open until after school starts. I don't have a toaster (it's on my list of investments) so can't easily do toast or a bagel--I've tried. (I tried putting the toast/bagel over the open flame of the gas grill--not a smart idea. Won't be attempting that one again). So I usually have a small thing of yogurt, and drink a lot of water/tea to try and keep myself full. But more often than not, I am feed at school. Random people bring things in so I never really go hungry. And I actually enjoy not knowing what's going to end up on the "group food sharing" table. It makes the morning an adventure.
