Oku School Festival (Part 3: Outside Festival)

Date: 11/12/2010

After the morning auditorium shows were done, everyone had two hours to goof off until lunch.  There were a bunch of activities out in the courtyard.  These are varied and seemingly random--but, hey, just go with the flow.  They make for some good laughs!

Face-Painting: A staple at every festival.  I got a blue sheep.

In the back there is a "Joker" face, and the boy next to me is getting a Panda face.

My fabulous artist!

This was my guide for the day--her name is Hong Seo-young  (Or I guess, it's Seo-young Hong.  Hong is her family name).  She speaks really REALLY REALLLLLYYY!!! good English and is just pretty fabulous all around.  She wants to practice her English so she attaches herself to me.  I didn't mind one bit, she is a sweet heart.  And pretty funny too!  Here she is objecting to the boy (another really good English-speaking student who attaches himself to me) for the picture he suggested painting on her...

They settled on a fairy....

A Cold Treat:  Basically they take a little ball of chocolate and drop it in Liquid Ice.  It freezes (I guess) and when you bite it (which I didn't think you really were suppose to eat things frozen by Liquid Ice, but hey, what do I know?) you get "smoke breathe."  The poster says it all:

Does it make so much more sense now?  I like the picture the best--It is also the only part I can actually understand...

The mad scientists

I love this picture of Seo-young.  Perfect!

I waited too long to eat my treat (I don't know...something about the Nitrus made me nervous!  But, you can see a good picture of my crazed blue sheep!

Next, there were random activities that are traditional Korean games.

Throw and...

Aim.  It was very difficult.

I stunk!

To get prize, you had to get 4 out of 6.  Or...just be a foreigner.  I got a bag of popcorn for making one in!  Yes, for Waygooks!

The final outside fun thing was a Lemon-eating competition.  Yes, you read that right.  Lemon eating.  When one of the teachers told me about this earlier in the morning, I simply thought he didn't know the right English word and/or mispronouncing it.  I was wrong.  He was correct.  A Lemon Eating Competition.  How face can you peel and eat a whole lemon?  And this was, by far, the most popular activity.  

It was very well organize--a stop watch, a judge, a listening judge (they stopped the time once you could whistle), and a general get-the-crowd roaring man.  It was great!  

First contestant.  he used the "chunks of peel at a time" method.

He used the "corn husker" method. 

You can spit out the peel into the box. 

This guy got all the way through the peeling--but couldn't swallow the lemon--which is ALOT harder than just chew and swallow.  I would know--I did it!

I couldn't really not do it.  I mean, how many times are you going to be at a Lemon eating competition.  It was madness.  And it was fun.  You are currently reading the 3rd Fastest Lemon Eater at Oku Middle School's blog!  I peeled and ate a whole lemon in 40 seconds flat.  The winner, the guy in the first picture, finished in 36 seconds. ...

Chew, chew, chew, SPIT, chew, chew, chew, SPIT!

This is the, "Holy Crap!  I have a WHOLE LEMON in my mouth!  It's a lot BIGGER than I thought!"  Chew chew chew chew SWALLOW chew chew chew chew SWALLOW---okay!  Whistle!  40 SECONDS!

It was a blast.  I actually had a really good time doing this.  It was one of those moments where I know I'll probably never forget.  Just too random.  One of the moments where I said, "Oh, I love Korea."  

Next, we headed in for some indoor activities.  This is going to be a new post.  There are just too many crazy-factors for me to put it in the same post.  Caution--if you do not like various approached to Sex Education--you may want to skip the next posting.  That's all I'm saying.

Oku School Festival (Part 2: Morning Auditorium)

Date: 11/12/2010

Picking up where I stopped off before my computer charger cord decided to go on the fitz (it only makes sense to be chronological about posting events--and boy do I have a lot to do this weekend!) (Yah for speedy delivery--thank you Apple Korea!): Oku School Festival.

Here is my school--I have finally made it!

Front Entrance (from the street view)

The courtyard.   To the right is the middle school and the high school is on the left.  My classroom is on the first floor on the right.  

I immediately go to my English room--but the doors are locked.  I knock on a teacher's office door and they guide me to the school's auditorium where the festival is being held.  I walk in right as the Principal is giving out awards and officially starting off the ceremony!

I love how all the students stand at attention, in nice neat rows.  It makes me laugh to think of an American school trying to pull this off--at least, I can't remember ever obeying any teachers telling me to be in a single file line with my homeroom class.

The program for the festival.  The far left is the morning's activities, middle is the list of the talent show, then the right is the front page.  I thought the "school picture" was very interesting--see below:

Okay: so the most important things about Oku MS:  they have a good choir, a fun shaped building, and they're male students can make shapes while jumping in the air...??? Sure...let's go with that.  

This lead to a short "serious" music portion of the morning.  Students played the piano, the choirs sang, and the clarinet/recorder choirs preformed.  I kid you not about the recorder choirs--I didn't know you could actually get music, let along different sizes of recorders, to play--but they do things a little different here in Korea.

This girl had major skills.   Below is a video of her song--listen to it!  It's pretty freaking amazing!

A mostly boys choir.  Which was interesting because, in American, you run short on guys very quickly.  I think this group only had 6 six girls and probably 3 times as many male singers.  Which, would make me very confused as what to do if I was a music teacher and faced with this conundrum...

The lovely commentators.  They did a very good job.

Which makes me want to point out the difference between a country school and city school.  My city school hired a professional commentator to do their school festival.  The country school--yah, these kids won by popular vote and teacher recommendations.

This is the recorder choir.  The two girls on the first row on the right have "base recorders" (?).  (?).  I didn't snap a video of them, because while they were good, it sounded just like a bunch of weird flutes in semi-tune.

After the performances were over, the whole middle school body played a game of T/F.  I must admit, the whole middle school student body consists of maybe 150 kids.  Which, in my city school, there are 9 classes (40 kids each) per grade (three grades).  Differences differences...

The T/F game goes like this.  The teacher asks a question, for example, the first question was, "Did Romeo kiss Juliette the first time they met?"  In front of the room, there is a teacher holding an X sign and an O sign.  (X=F and O=T---another Asian-ism).  The students move to the side of the room that they think the answer is on.  The teachers string a line up to indicate time for choosing is up and give answer.  In this case: O!  So, the kids who are on the WRONG side, lose and have to sit out.  The kids who win, stay around to play another round.  Keep going until you have only 1 player who = the WINNER!  Just in case you're curious--I lost in the first round.  I thought the first time Romeo kissed Ms J is during the Climb Up the Trellis scene. 

Here are some pictures: 

Everyone chooses sides....

Tape drawn...you are committed to your answer now.  And then....your fate is determined.  

The lucky last two!

That concluded the morning auditorium session....because there is so much to write about for a day like this--and many videos and pictures, I'm going to end this post.  But...more to come!

Computer Woes

Date: 11/16

So, I got to school yesterday and discovered that my computer's charge cord had overheated during the night and basically gone on a killing spree.  No joke, but the heat ate through my charge cord--the protective plastic wrap, and everything. 

This means that I do not have a charged computer.  This equals a snag in the putting up blogs...sorry about this.  It will be fixed.  The fabulous Ms Kim called the Seoul Apple Store and they will be mailing me a new charger cord (set up for Korean voltages) within the week.  I love APPLE, mostly because of their warranty services.  This cord will have a 1 year policy, which if the cord decides to go on the fitz again, I will not have to pay another \98.000 to buy a new one. 

I have pictures...but alas, they are on my computer--which has not battery.  But, I will not leave this post without a picture.


err.....

well...I thought I'd leave a picture.  But because I am on a Korean computer...I can't quiet figure out how to copy and paste an image.  The Crtl+C and Crtl+P does not work because the picture shows up as a box with a ? mark in it.  I have to figure out how to save the picture--which I beyond my abilities...

So... no picture for you. Sorry!

Oku School Festival (Part 1: Getting there)

Date: 11/12/2010

On Fridays I go to my country school.  The first week I was here, the fabulous Ms Kim called the country school and asked if they wouldn't mind me missing this week because it was the city's school's festival.  Then the next week (last week) I got a ride to my country school  by an English teacher.  But this was special treatment so that I could figure out the ride, so that I could take a bus from then on out.  I don't really understand why they can't pick me up every week--since she lives in Gunsan... I asked Ms Kim about this and didn't really give me an answer.

So, this past Friday was my first solo-trip to Oku Middle School.  And to top it off, it was the school's festival (just like the one I had at the city school!).  So no lessons to plan!  Woot woot!  I was excited because I sort of knew what to expect this time around--but I had to get there first.  And believe me, that's a little harder than it sounds.

I was told to take bus 34 by the country school teacher: Ms Joo.  But Ms Kim told me to take 31.  Since Ms Kim actually showed me the exact place where to wait for the bus, I planned on taking 31.   I got up early on Friday so I could push my morning routine back with a starting time at 6.40--not 7.20.  I got all ready, put on some cute shoes and was headed out the door by 7.45 to make it to the bus stop (a 10-12 minute walk).  The bus was suppose to come at 8.05 so I figured it would give me a couple minutes le-way and it would be good.

I get to the bus stop.  It looks like this:

 I know I'm at the right place because I double check which buses will come by:

That top row says 31-35.

I figured I'd just take the first bus that showed up.  I started to get worried at 8.12 when no buses had showed up.  Then, at 8.15, on the other side of the road, my bus No. 31 goes rumbling down the street.  I kinda stare at it, like, "Hey...that's my bus..." then my brain kicks into gear--"THAT'S MY BUS!"  I have to wait until I can dash across the street, and by the time I am able to cross, the bus has a huge lead on me.  I chase it for a while, but no luck.  Bye bye bye bus!  

I have one of those classic freak out minutes: I'm twirling around, stomping my foot, covering my face.  "Shoot! That was MY bus!" I had wanted to be a grown-up and make it to school like "yah, public transit, no problem!"  

So, I head back to my stop thinking in defeat.  I pull out my lovely new phone and call up Ms Kim.  She answers, and she's still at home with her babies.  I tell I missed the bus.  I explain I was at the "supposed" right stop, the bus was on the other side of the road, and I couldn't catch it.  As I'm talking to her, I decide to head down that side of the road and find the "right" bus stop.  It looks like this: 

Big difference, right?!  It actually has the exact numbers that the other stop had.  I am worried, the bus only comes every hour and 15 minutes.  There was no way I was going to realistically make it to school in time.  Already, with the bus that I had planned on taking I would arrive with 2 minutes to spare before class starts (which I think I really strange--I'm basically always going to arrive late because the teachers say its okay...).  

Then, while I'm trying to figure out what to do and waiting for Ms Kim to call me back, I head back up to my first/wrong stop and nibble on my thumb nail.  Then, to my amazement, another bus pulls up--BUS 31!  I guess the buses go two directions.  It's 8.23, but it's the right bus number so...as I speed dial Ms Kim, I pull out my bus fare (1,100 won) and board the bus.  

You drop your fare into that box at the top of the steps.

Ms Kim finally picks up and I explain that there was another bus and that I'm currently driving through Gunsan.  She asks me, "What is around you?" I look out some of the windows.  Big Problem: I can't read any Korean.  "Well, Ms Kim....um...there are apartment buildings..."  I figure that the bus route is a circle (At least I figured it was, I'm not sure) so even if I was on the wrong bus, I could ride it for an hour and 15 minutes and be back to where I got on.  

Then Ms Kim asks me if there are any young people around me.  I look to my right.  Yep.  Young people.  "Meggie, hand the phone to a young nice-looking person," Ms Kim commands me.  So I look around, and tap a female college student on the shoulder.

I extend the phone with a smile.  She looks at me like I have three eyes, slowly takes the phone, and says, "Annyehaseyo?" into the mouth piece.  I can hear Ms Kim start off in Korea.  The girl looks at me, smiles reassuringly, and nods.  She stands up, goes up to the front of the bus and starts off in Korean.  "blah blah blah blah blah" points to me, "blah blah blah blah blah." The bus driver looks up, makes eye contact with me, and nods with a grunt, "Ne..." (which I know is "yes" in Korean).  The girl gets back on the phone, spits off some more Korean and then hands the phone back to me.  I say, "Gamsa-hamneeda!" ("Thank you!") and the girl exits the bus.  I put the speaker back to my ear, "Hello?" Ms Kim says, "Don't worry, Meggie.  Bus drive tell you when to get off." I nod, thank her, with a "enjoy your bus ride" Ms Kim hangs up.  

About 25 minutes late, I start to recognize the town that Oku Middle school is in.  I take out my ear phones and start to pay active attention to my surroundings.  As I spy the road I know Oku is off of, the bus drive looks up at me, "Tee-cha!" and points down the same road.  He drives past it, which worries me, but about 100 ft later, pulls the bus over.  The bus drive says, "Tee-cha! Off!" And points to the door.  I bow, wave and say, "Gamsa-hamneeda!" and get off the bus.  I square my backpack and head back to the road. 

I turn on the road, and begin a 7 minute walk to school. 

I pass a police station.

I snap a picture to commemorate this trip--I look pretty good for feeling like a loser, completely lost and knowing that I'm so late.  I also have the wrong shoes on--so I can feel a blister forming.

One side of the street had the police building, the other some homes.  Korea does not understand the concept of zoning.

 Then, a blessed sight: my school!

 I have made it.  

Just writing all this down and remembering the day was exhausting.  But its only 9.15 in the morning.  A full day is still ahead and as I head towards the English room, I put a smile on my face and get ready for it.   

Taxis and Cell Phones

Date: 11/12/2010

It is very inexpensive to take a taxi here in Gunsan, and more largely, South Korea.  I have not taken very many--because I like to walk and because I don't have spare cash--but they are a nice option in case it starts to rain just as you step outside.

On Thursday, I met a friend for some Chinese.  I took my 3,000 Won umbrella because I had actually checked the weather that morning and storms where in the forecast for night.  I was very glad I did take my 'brella because I needed it!

I get on my main street and BAM! rain starts pouring down.  It was the first time it had rained since I arrived in SK but rain is rain and it doesn't really vary very much wiether you are in Carmel, IN, USA or Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea.  So I decided it was a good time to flag a taxi.

To do this, you stick your arm out horizontal, palm down, and flick your fingers back and forth when you see a taxi coming down the road.  No NYC action--waving goodbye, but the Korean style of "Come" with your hand facing down.  The taxi is open and ready to pick you up if their light is on.  The light is both on top and there is a glowing sign sitting on the dashboard.

So, I found a taxi, pulled them over, and hurry inside.  This is what it looks like--I have been very impressed with how clean the taxi's are here.  No stinking sweat smell...

Okay...so that doesn't really help you visual the inside of a taxi...but it's a taxi.

Once you sit down, you say where you are going with the City Location first, and then store name.  In this case, I said, "Naun-dong, Men Bali Chung Choon."  Naun-dong is the city "borough" and Men Bali Chung Choon is a restaurant that around where my friend lives.  Unfortuantely, in this case, the driver didn't know where Men Bali Chung Choon actually is...but that's the general idea.

I know you are wondering, "But Maggie, the driver didn't know where you were going...what did you do?" Answer:  I called my friend.  I got a cell phone this past week! so it I now am the proud owner of a communication device--thank God!  I have heard of people living without them, but it just seems like a lot of work and they are often miss out on things because things are planned rather late.

Anyway, to get a phone, Ms Kim took me to OZ Phone store--which there is basically one on ever street corner.  Did you know that Korea was the first nation to have more cell phones than land lines?  Yep.  True.

I love Ms Kim, because she did all the talking to the phone person.  I have been advised by other foreign teachers to get a pay-as-you-go plan-- or a PP.  I laugh every time I think of getting a "PP" but that's my silly mind.  I could have gotten a 1 year contract, but that was a 50,000 won start up fee, and then 40,000 a month.  The PP version is 10,000 won for 28 minutes--texts are not included, but they can be paid for. I do not know the price of texts so I am going soft on the texts for a while until I pay my first bill.   But, basically, this is what the store looks like:

Think Bright and PINK--it suits Oz Cell Phones very well.

The wonderful Ms Kim and nice phone lady talking about contract options.  

The ads in the phone store were really strange.  Very very effeminate men all slicked up and standing next to a smurf.  It was strange.  But...whatever.

But, not complaining because having a phone is a must for me.  It felt so strange to walk out of the house and not carry a cell phone--despite what my family thinks--when I am not lounging around home in Carmel, I carried my phone everywhere!!!!

Pepero Day

Day: 11/11/2010

Koreans have a lot of holidays--some actually holidays and some just for fun.  Pepero Day is a "just for fun" holiday.  It's kind of like Valentine's Day, in regard that it is an entirely commercially-driven holiday.  Basically, students buy pepero sticks (a cookie covered in chocolate--although sometimes the chocolate is flavored like coffee, or banana, or butter).  If you've ever heard of Japanese Pocky sticks, you know what I am talking about.  Pepero are the Korean version.

The cool thing about Pepero Day is that the students don't give the Pepero to other students--they give it to teachers!  So I finally have some chocolate in the house--thanks to all my students!

Talking about candy, this is a popular "dessert" in Korea: A Rice Cake.  I say "dessert" because it is often just a snack.  Anyway...it is pounded rice so that it is very gelatinous, then rolled with bean paste, then another layer of pounded rice, and finally some whole beans.  It is...better hot than cold.  It doesn't really have a taste--pounded white rice and unsalted beans...not much to work with there flavor wise.  I get one about 3 or 4 times a week--I think a mom brings them in for all the teachers.  I always smile, say thank you, open it, take a bite (hoping that it will be better than the last time) and end up wrapping it back up.  I once did not eat it immediately after receiving, and I had a teacher come up an hour later and ask me if I had tasted.  Because of the language gap, I ended up having to eat it in front of her.  Since then, I have always ALWAYS taken a couple bits as soon as I get it--since they are warm that way--and then discretely hide it until I can throw it away.  I don't like throwing it away, but really, I cannot eat them like the Koreans do.  Just not an option--sorry!