Josh:
Continue!
After our little Osan adventure we decided it would be best to continue cleaning the still messy house. I decided I would try out the trash bag system so I went out to find where to buy them. I don't remember how I ended up at this street vendor but it seems it was fate. We have found one of the greatest street vendors in the world. Imagine an entire egg (fully cooked) inside a perfectly cooked cornbread muffin. Not only is it an awesome combination by itself but the guy manages to put salt inside the egg at the right place so when you take a bite of the egg you get the perfect amount of salt and then you get the cornbread taste. He gives you three big muffins for only two dollars. Where else in the world would you ever get something this awesome for only two dollars? No where, that's where! Be sure to visit Korea if you want a small taste of heaven.
Aside from the delicious egg muffin things I also brought home some giant trash bags so we can finally clean up the house. In Korea they have a system where you buy trash bags from local stores (one for regular waste and one for food), you organize your trash and then you throw it away at specified locations. You are also required to recycle aluminum, plastic, etc. A lot of work to throw away trash isn't it? Life would be so much easier if they just had dumpsters or trash cans like America and people can just throw things in and let it be. So after I went through the entire house I managed to fill two giant trash bags and one small one for food. Going off of very confusing directions from the land lady I carried the giant load down the road that she pointed to. I eventually found a street corner that had other trash bags on it so I put them down and headed home. Once again I had this feeling that somehow I did it wrong so I made sure I wasn't followed or spotted and rushed home. Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I'm always worried about Koreans yelling at me because I don't know their trash system. If they would fix it so it would be easier maybe I wouldn't have to worry so much about this whole "Where to throw away your garbage" thing. You hear that, Korea? Cater to me!
After doing a deep cleaning of the house we finally managed to make the house start to look like a place where someone would want to live. We assembled the desk and started to set everything up. Our house has finally started to come together (sort of).
The following Monday it was another school day. I really do enjoy teaching. Maybe one post I'll go into details about what/how I teach, but not this time. Audrey got to go to the medical clinic today because she started feeling better. I headed over to Suwon to the department of immigration in an attempt to get my registration card (I got my medical results back - healthy!). I'll start with Audrey really quick. Ms. Kim was nice enough to take Audrey over to the same hospital and help her through like she helped me. The funny thing was the doctors gave her more exams that I had to go through. They checked her teeth (she claims she got a splinter in her tongue because of their tongue depressor) and checked other things that I didn't have to worry about. For some reason they only check half of the patients fully because there was another teacher who had as many tests as Audrey while there was another that had the few that I had. The problem came about when Audrey had to go upstairs to get her blood drawn. I knew that she wasn't looking forward to it so I tried to calm her down saying that I didn't even feel it so it'll be okay. I warned Ms. Kim that she has low iron so she has had trouble getting blood drawn in the past. I don't think she understood fully until they finally took Audrey's blood. Apparently she said she felt every second of it (and it lasted a million years to her) and afterwords when she was leaving she started to get dizzy and had to sit down. Ms. Kim was really worried but after a few moments she got to the car and they went back to my school. Audrey might be able to fill in more details than I can as she was the person who was there.
As for Suwon, I did my last class and walked as fast as possible to the train station (the place closes at 6PM and it was already 2PM). I managed to hop onto a train, grabbed a taxi and made it there by about 3:20PM. Unfortunately that was where the "easy" ended. Since it was just me I had no idea where to go or what to do. I waited in front of an information desk for about five minutes while the guy talked on the phone. Luckily another white guy with his co-teacher came and walked past him so I sneakily followed them. They went into the wrong room and I asked an attendant and she pointed me in the right direction. I went into a small room and started filling out the form. With the help of another attendant I managed to fill out most of it (I was missing some information because I didn't know I needed it but luckily I was able to retrieve it off of a computer nearby). At one point I gave up and asked the other white guy and his co-teacher what I needed to do and how to get a number. She was nice enough to help me fill out the form, show me how to buy a stamp (proof of payment) and grabbed me a number. I talked with him a little and thanked both of them for their help. When my number was finally called I got to the front and with a little confusion I learned that I had to wait 15 days until I would get my card. Keep in mind this card allows me to get a bank account, internet and phones (later I would learn I also wouldn't be able to get paid without a bank account). I headed home with the grim news that we would have to survive another 15 days without any modern conveniences or extra money.
On my way back I figured Audrey would have some trouble with the blood drawing so I went by that street vendor I mentioned earlier and got her some egg muffins. She came home about 10 minutes after I got back and was quite happy to have some tasty food.
Not much happened for the rest of the day as we spent time relaxing and organizing our thoughts.
On Tuesday I got to meet with the principle and it was a very good meeting. He basically requested that I teach practical English and that his students were good at writing but not speaking; this happened to be exactly what I have been telling every other teacher here and what I based my lesson plans on. It was nice to know that I was teaching the right thing. I also saw another few kids get hit today but, as I mentioned before, it was perfectly fine. The teacher just seemed to be going through the motions of it and didn't really seem like he wanted to actually do it. The intensity was nothing compared to before so I didn't even do a double take when I saw this and just kept going with my day. The kids even came up to the teacher after and seemed to be friendly. I have seen this happen multiple times where a student gets hit lightly, shrugs it off and continues talking with the teacher (it seems they knew they did something wrong).
While I am on the thought of physical punishment I want to talk about something rather interesting here. In Korea it is okay for teachers to touch their students in familiar ways (unlike in the States where it is forbidden to even stop another kid from punching another kid by holding his arms). I believe this allows teachers to not only be more effective (let's say what I mentioned last sentence happened in Korea) but also to be closer to their students. Many teachers will playfully punch or shove their students (lightly of course) if they say something snarky (much like one would to his or her friends). I have only seen the female teachers do this but it kind of makes me happy that everyone is able to function not just as teacher and student but also as a friend on a small level. Something utterly hilarious to me is I have even seen some female teachers smack some male students on the butt playfully. I almost burst out laughing when I first saw this because it was utterly ridiculous to see. It seems that most things here are so much more innocent that they ever could be in the United States. If a teacher smacks a kid on the butt it usually means something sexual and that is obviously a big no-no. But here it is just another gesture that one does like holding someone's hand or tapping them on the shoulder to get out of their way. It is innocent and playful. I also find older women doing things like that super funny because you just don't normally see that very often (if you are reading this David I am thinking of that one story you told me with the winking). Of course I am not endorsing this kind of behavior going to the States but I am happy that I am in a place where I can stop a kid from hurting another kid (if the above situation ever arises).
A few other awesome things happened today: I got three packages full of goodies, I learned that we only owe Verizon $20 instead of $230 and we are now done with them and I learned that my students love seeing old pictures of me. I showed them a picture of me with long hair from college and they didn't believe it was me. Some students asked why I cut it, others said I look better with short hair. My favorite quote is one kid called me a "pashionista"-aka-"fashionista" (there is no 'f' sound in Korean) which meant I was very fashionable. I guess this is a real term in Korea because Audrey's kids called her this way before one of mine mentioned it to me. Another funny moment today was when I had all my kids say the daily tongue twister out loud. When I got to one student he said, "Start?" so I said, "Start." and he excitedly said, "Okay!" It was really funny. I hope that my future students in America can put a smile on my face as easily as these kids can.
The second post of the day is done. Soon enough, soon enough.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Must...catch...up...
Josh:
Only one more day until I get my Alien Registration Card! That means we will be humans again! Example:
Not exactly but close enough. One can only imagine finally getting paid, having phones and (of course) easy access to the internet.
Now to catch up (hopefully):
One thing I am very appreciative of having is the fact that all of our co-teachers are super concerned for our happiness. As soon as we got to this country all of them (Mr. Chu, Ms. Kim, Mr. Hong) said if we ever needed anything that we should call them. They also check up on us every few days asking if everything is okay; if something does go wrong, they try their best to fix it. We are very lucky to have co-teachers who want to make sure we are comfortable. I know this can make or break some teachers because half of the complaints about teaching English in Korea come from problems with co-teachers (being lazy, not caring, being rude, etc). One might say we are both quite lucky.
On Thursday (4/9/10) we decided to meet up with Zack (guy we met on the street randomly) to get some grub. We eventually decided to try to get some Indian food again and we headed to the place where we got glared at the first time (makes sense right?). This time there was a young Asian girl behind the counter who welcomed us in and took us to a seat. She spoke English pretty well and she turned out to be a really nice and cutesy person. We came back later and talked to her for a little while and ended up connecting fairly well with her. The food was fantastic and the naan was ridiculously huge so we had a very hearty meal. The owner of the store came in and it turns out that he had met Zack on the street and had invited him to his restaurant. We got to meet him and he was a very nice guy and he even gave us a free dessert. After dinner, Audrey still had some food left over so we decided it would be a good idea to take some home for later. We asked the owner if he had some kind of container we could use and he told the girl to put it in a little bag so we could take it. It turns out that she took him literally and put it in a tiny plastic bag. She came downstairs with it and handed us this bag with a tiny bit of food (it kind of looked like a plastic bag of vomit). The look on his face was priceless. We thought it was quite amusing so we said thank you and headed out. We have successfully found some amazing Indian food in Korea and it is only about five minutes from our house. Score one for Josh.
Side note: Not to sound like I'm bragging or anything but something that I absolutely love is how often I hear how much my co-teachers love me. Some of the things I have heard that just make me smile are "The students are excited to learn English because of how you teach," 0r "I like you. You like the food here so that makes me happy." As I said, I'm not trying to boast but it's so nice to hear my co-teachers say things like that. I also frequently get asked how long I am going to stay in Korea. I tell them I'm not sure because it's still to early to tell and they always say I should stay a couple of extra years. This could just be part of them trying to make me feel comfortable or it could be them authentically happy with me as a teacher. Either way, it still makes me feel good to hear it every now and then. Considering this is going to be my career in the future, it's good to hear that I am pretty good at it.
When we got out of school on Friday (4/10/10) we decided it would be a good idea to start cleaning the house. My co-teachers had told our landlady about the mold problem and they worked it out with her that she was going to replace the wallpaper on Saturday. They requested that I take down the old and moldy wall paper so it's easier for her to put the new parts up; so Audrey and I started cleaning. We decided we would try to get the house in a somewhat acceptable condition before she came. It didn't really pan out that well but at least we made some progress (keyword: some).
On Saturday (4/11/10) our landlady showed up with her husband to replace our old moldy wallpaper. We had already scraped off most of it (Not fun, by the way. Apparently it's super hard to get off wallpaper with a box cutter). We weren't sure whether she was going to replace the entire house or just those spots so we didn't strip down all the wallpaper (good move). It turns out it would only be those few spots. It's kind of funny because there are squares in our house of really white wallpaper while the rest of it is slightly discolored (it's not too bad of an eyesore but you can see a distinct color difference). We decided to give her and her husband a pear because of all the work they did (it took several hours) and she ushered us down into her house and gave us a huge container of kimchee (I'm talking more than we will ever eat). We thanked her profusely and headed back up. By this time we were starving so we scarfed down some ramen and rice. About an hour after we ate we heard an unexpected knock.
We opened it and it turned out to be Mr. Chu (AKA Ryan, Audrey's co-teacher). He was going to take us hiking but the weather wasn't good enough so he was nice enough to take us to Osan air base instead. One might also be able to call this place "America Town". As we walked through there were Americans everywhere. It's very funny to see the distinct difference in the dress and mannerisms of the English teachers and the military people. The English teachers tend to wear more formal things (keywords: tend to) while the others have shirts and skirts that don't leave much to the imagination and pants where the belt is worn around the knees.
Side note: With that in mind, on the drive over we heard a commercial that had two girls talking about another girl saying, "What is she wearing? I don't want her to represent America. I'm going to tell my chief," and then had a man saying, "Please dress appropriately outside." I thought that was utterly fantastic. There are commercials like that all the time apparently (with crappy voice acting and all). One that I loved had a guy saying, "Be careful! We should cross at a crosswalk and be sure to look both ways!" with another guy saying, "No way! I'm just going to cross here!" and then the sound of a car crashing and the last voice saying, "Don't be like him. There is a lot of traffic in Korea. Make sure to look both ways and to always use a crosswalk." I can't wait to get a radio so I can listen to these fantastic commercials.
To return to what I was getting at about the base area, it was awesome other than the people. There were shops all around (fast food, restaurants, street vendors selling ripped DVDs, suit shops, etc). I can definitely get used to coming back to this place. While we were walking we decided to grab dinner (Ryan was nice enough to offer to buy). We looked around for a little bit and my eye spotted something familiar. They were alluring colors with familiar shapes forming words that made me want to cry. After seeing this I shouted excitedly, "Mexican food!" Audrey said, "Where?!" I pointed out the glorious sign and we went inside. It was beautiful. We sat down, they gave us chips and we ordered burritos. It was really fun because Ryan hadn't really been to Mexican food that much in his life so we had to help him decided on what to get. When the food finally arrived we had to explain how to eat it. It was very refreshing because we saw a person get to experience the joy of Mexican food right in front of us. We showed his him to wrap the tortilla and what to mix with what. My favorite quote from him was, "This is very agreeable to me." It's so much fun to share food with someone who hasn't had it before. Audrey got a chicken burrito (very good) while I got a burrito with beef. Unfortunately the waitress didn't know the difference between ground beef and strips so when I asked if they had ground beef she said yes just hearing the word beef. So when my burrito came it was filled almost solely with beef. The strips would have been okay if they put more than just a sliver of beans and rice but the burrito almost consisted entirely of beef. Normally this would be good for anybody else because they are being generous with the meat (usually the part they are stingy with) but for a guy who really only likes ground beef, beans and rice it was a huge disappointment. I ate a decent amount (a little heartbroken), got a doggy bag for Audrey's burrito and Ryan took us home.
When we got home we cleaned a little bit more. I forgot to mention that I got my picture taken for my ID card. I ordered the "ID package" from a local photo place. It was only $13 and I got about 13 pictures of different sizes. I mention this because they not only included the photos in the package but gave me a plastic guitar key chain with my photo in the center. I thought this was hilarious so I gave it to Audrey and she put it on her keys. The awesome part is that I am not smiling because this is an ID picture so Audrey has a plastic guitar key chain with a picture of me looking serious with flowers around my head. I love Korea. (Audrey got the same package so I have a little key chain of her also)
Just to be "merciful" I will post this one and continue writing on another. It also works out because it doesn't seem as intimidating when you scan through deciding if you are going to read it or not. Who wants to read really long posts? Hmmmmm. Tricksy.
Only one more day until I get my Alien Registration Card! That means we will be humans again! Example:
Not exactly but close enough. One can only imagine finally getting paid, having phones and (of course) easy access to the internet.
Now to catch up (hopefully):
One thing I am very appreciative of having is the fact that all of our co-teachers are super concerned for our happiness. As soon as we got to this country all of them (Mr. Chu, Ms. Kim, Mr. Hong) said if we ever needed anything that we should call them. They also check up on us every few days asking if everything is okay; if something does go wrong, they try their best to fix it. We are very lucky to have co-teachers who want to make sure we are comfortable. I know this can make or break some teachers because half of the complaints about teaching English in Korea come from problems with co-teachers (being lazy, not caring, being rude, etc). One might say we are both quite lucky.
On Thursday (4/9/10) we decided to meet up with Zack (guy we met on the street randomly) to get some grub. We eventually decided to try to get some Indian food again and we headed to the place where we got glared at the first time (makes sense right?). This time there was a young Asian girl behind the counter who welcomed us in and took us to a seat. She spoke English pretty well and she turned out to be a really nice and cutesy person. We came back later and talked to her for a little while and ended up connecting fairly well with her. The food was fantastic and the naan was ridiculously huge so we had a very hearty meal. The owner of the store came in and it turns out that he had met Zack on the street and had invited him to his restaurant. We got to meet him and he was a very nice guy and he even gave us a free dessert. After dinner, Audrey still had some food left over so we decided it would be a good idea to take some home for later. We asked the owner if he had some kind of container we could use and he told the girl to put it in a little bag so we could take it. It turns out that she took him literally and put it in a tiny plastic bag. She came downstairs with it and handed us this bag with a tiny bit of food (it kind of looked like a plastic bag of vomit). The look on his face was priceless. We thought it was quite amusing so we said thank you and headed out. We have successfully found some amazing Indian food in Korea and it is only about five minutes from our house. Score one for Josh.
Side note: Not to sound like I'm bragging or anything but something that I absolutely love is how often I hear how much my co-teachers love me. Some of the things I have heard that just make me smile are "The students are excited to learn English because of how you teach," 0r "I like you. You like the food here so that makes me happy." As I said, I'm not trying to boast but it's so nice to hear my co-teachers say things like that. I also frequently get asked how long I am going to stay in Korea. I tell them I'm not sure because it's still to early to tell and they always say I should stay a couple of extra years. This could just be part of them trying to make me feel comfortable or it could be them authentically happy with me as a teacher. Either way, it still makes me feel good to hear it every now and then. Considering this is going to be my career in the future, it's good to hear that I am pretty good at it.
When we got out of school on Friday (4/10/10) we decided it would be a good idea to start cleaning the house. My co-teachers had told our landlady about the mold problem and they worked it out with her that she was going to replace the wallpaper on Saturday. They requested that I take down the old and moldy wall paper so it's easier for her to put the new parts up; so Audrey and I started cleaning. We decided we would try to get the house in a somewhat acceptable condition before she came. It didn't really pan out that well but at least we made some progress (keyword: some).
On Saturday (4/11/10) our landlady showed up with her husband to replace our old moldy wallpaper. We had already scraped off most of it (Not fun, by the way. Apparently it's super hard to get off wallpaper with a box cutter). We weren't sure whether she was going to replace the entire house or just those spots so we didn't strip down all the wallpaper (good move). It turns out it would only be those few spots. It's kind of funny because there are squares in our house of really white wallpaper while the rest of it is slightly discolored (it's not too bad of an eyesore but you can see a distinct color difference). We decided to give her and her husband a pear because of all the work they did (it took several hours) and she ushered us down into her house and gave us a huge container of kimchee (I'm talking more than we will ever eat). We thanked her profusely and headed back up. By this time we were starving so we scarfed down some ramen and rice. About an hour after we ate we heard an unexpected knock.
We opened it and it turned out to be Mr. Chu (AKA Ryan, Audrey's co-teacher). He was going to take us hiking but the weather wasn't good enough so he was nice enough to take us to Osan air base instead. One might also be able to call this place "America Town". As we walked through there were Americans everywhere. It's very funny to see the distinct difference in the dress and mannerisms of the English teachers and the military people. The English teachers tend to wear more formal things (keywords: tend to) while the others have shirts and skirts that don't leave much to the imagination and pants where the belt is worn around the knees.
Side note: With that in mind, on the drive over we heard a commercial that had two girls talking about another girl saying, "What is she wearing? I don't want her to represent America. I'm going to tell my chief," and then had a man saying, "Please dress appropriately outside." I thought that was utterly fantastic. There are commercials like that all the time apparently (with crappy voice acting and all). One that I loved had a guy saying, "Be careful! We should cross at a crosswalk and be sure to look both ways!" with another guy saying, "No way! I'm just going to cross here!" and then the sound of a car crashing and the last voice saying, "Don't be like him. There is a lot of traffic in Korea. Make sure to look both ways and to always use a crosswalk." I can't wait to get a radio so I can listen to these fantastic commercials.
To return to what I was getting at about the base area, it was awesome other than the people. There were shops all around (fast food, restaurants, street vendors selling ripped DVDs, suit shops, etc). I can definitely get used to coming back to this place. While we were walking we decided to grab dinner (Ryan was nice enough to offer to buy). We looked around for a little bit and my eye spotted something familiar. They were alluring colors with familiar shapes forming words that made me want to cry. After seeing this I shouted excitedly, "Mexican food!" Audrey said, "Where?!" I pointed out the glorious sign and we went inside. It was beautiful. We sat down, they gave us chips and we ordered burritos. It was really fun because Ryan hadn't really been to Mexican food that much in his life so we had to help him decided on what to get. When the food finally arrived we had to explain how to eat it. It was very refreshing because we saw a person get to experience the joy of Mexican food right in front of us. We showed his him to wrap the tortilla and what to mix with what. My favorite quote from him was, "This is very agreeable to me." It's so much fun to share food with someone who hasn't had it before. Audrey got a chicken burrito (very good) while I got a burrito with beef. Unfortunately the waitress didn't know the difference between ground beef and strips so when I asked if they had ground beef she said yes just hearing the word beef. So when my burrito came it was filled almost solely with beef. The strips would have been okay if they put more than just a sliver of beans and rice but the burrito almost consisted entirely of beef. Normally this would be good for anybody else because they are being generous with the meat (usually the part they are stingy with) but for a guy who really only likes ground beef, beans and rice it was a huge disappointment. I ate a decent amount (a little heartbroken), got a doggy bag for Audrey's burrito and Ryan took us home.
When we got home we cleaned a little bit more. I forgot to mention that I got my picture taken for my ID card. I ordered the "ID package" from a local photo place. It was only $13 and I got about 13 pictures of different sizes. I mention this because they not only included the photos in the package but gave me a plastic guitar key chain with my photo in the center. I thought this was hilarious so I gave it to Audrey and she put it on her keys. The awesome part is that I am not smiling because this is an ID picture so Audrey has a plastic guitar key chain with a picture of me looking serious with flowers around my head. I love Korea. (Audrey got the same package so I have a little key chain of her also)
Just to be "merciful" I will post this one and continue writing on another. It also works out because it doesn't seem as intimidating when you scan through deciding if you are going to read it or not. Who wants to read really long posts? Hmmmmm. Tricksy.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
A post for comments!
Josh:
Hello everyone! For some reason it wasn't allowing me to comment on my own blog so I changed the settings so now I am allowed to (finally). I figured since my comments would be fairly long by themselves it would be easier for me just to make a quick blog post instead.
Everyone - Thank you guys for the wonderful comments, messages and love. I truly appreciate it.
Katie - Ah, that makes sense, says I. That seems a little pointless to wait four months and the other part is really lame. Another side note for you, there was a time here when Audrey was "Katie dancing" and we thought of you. Also, I'm listening to "Stand Out" right now. I love that movie.
Wu - No picture. As for the trash, yeah they brought everything over. I guess when Ms. Kim said bring it all over they took her literally and even brought the trash. We got your duck eggs man!
Overall note on second to last post: I have received multiple messages requesting I don't do anything next time I see physical punishment of that caliber. Of course I understand I am a guest in the country and I don't assume a moral superiority to them at all. I try to stay as worthy of staying in the country as much as possible. I have seen other kids get hit (of course) and it was nothing like this last one; I assure you, it was full of rage and malice. These other ones where the kids got hit I simply shrugged and moved on because it was done as punishment, not as a vent session. So, no, I would not directly do anything (and of course hurt his "face") but I would ask if that man is how they want their school the be represented to the outside (not only the country but the world too). I don't know if anybody remembers but there was a big news story about how a teacher in Korea gave bruises on a girl's arm. I assure you that these kids had more than bruises (most likely cuts) and it wasn't on their arm but on their backs and shoulders. Since this hasn't happened again I haven't been placed in a situation where my ideas of human safety and my respect of a culture haven't been in conflict and I sincerely hope I won't ever have to walk that fine line. I truly appreciate the concern because these messages are coming from a place of genuine interest for me because you don't want me to get kicked out of the country because I opened my mouth about something that I'm not used to. Thank you to everyone who has sent me messages or gave me advice. I do request that you please trust my judgement as an intelligent and articulate adult that what I saw was indeed out of line (even to Koreans) and if/when I speak about this issue it will be done with utmost sensitivity and care.
The last post: Dude, of course I wouldn't do it. The idea of it just tickles me pink. It seems like VCDs are the way to go then. They were less than four dollars! That's awesome. As for video games, since we haven't gotten paid yet I have tried to avoid video game stores like the plague because I know I will find some crazy game that is only available in Korea and I will want it. I don't have any game systems here except for my PSP which the folks back home were nice enough to ship to me. I'll shoot you an email and picture if I find any "rare" games that you might like. Also, I looked up red panda on Google and they awesome!
Thanks again, everybody! We love to receive comments so please keep them coming. Feel free to ask for clarifications (I tend to write a lot so I don't know if that would be necessary) or just to say "Hi" because it helps let us know there at people back at home watching for us.
Hello everyone! For some reason it wasn't allowing me to comment on my own blog so I changed the settings so now I am allowed to (finally). I figured since my comments would be fairly long by themselves it would be easier for me just to make a quick blog post instead.
Everyone - Thank you guys for the wonderful comments, messages and love. I truly appreciate it.
Katie - Ah, that makes sense, says I. That seems a little pointless to wait four months and the other part is really lame. Another side note for you, there was a time here when Audrey was "Katie dancing" and we thought of you. Also, I'm listening to "Stand Out" right now. I love that movie.
Wu - No picture. As for the trash, yeah they brought everything over. I guess when Ms. Kim said bring it all over they took her literally and even brought the trash. We got your duck eggs man!
Overall note on second to last post: I have received multiple messages requesting I don't do anything next time I see physical punishment of that caliber. Of course I understand I am a guest in the country and I don't assume a moral superiority to them at all. I try to stay as worthy of staying in the country as much as possible. I have seen other kids get hit (of course) and it was nothing like this last one; I assure you, it was full of rage and malice. These other ones where the kids got hit I simply shrugged and moved on because it was done as punishment, not as a vent session. So, no, I would not directly do anything (and of course hurt his "face") but I would ask if that man is how they want their school the be represented to the outside (not only the country but the world too). I don't know if anybody remembers but there was a big news story about how a teacher in Korea gave bruises on a girl's arm. I assure you that these kids had more than bruises (most likely cuts) and it wasn't on their arm but on their backs and shoulders. Since this hasn't happened again I haven't been placed in a situation where my ideas of human safety and my respect of a culture haven't been in conflict and I sincerely hope I won't ever have to walk that fine line. I truly appreciate the concern because these messages are coming from a place of genuine interest for me because you don't want me to get kicked out of the country because I opened my mouth about something that I'm not used to. Thank you to everyone who has sent me messages or gave me advice. I do request that you please trust my judgement as an intelligent and articulate adult that what I saw was indeed out of line (even to Koreans) and if/when I speak about this issue it will be done with utmost sensitivity and care.
The last post: Dude, of course I wouldn't do it. The idea of it just tickles me pink. It seems like VCDs are the way to go then. They were less than four dollars! That's awesome. As for video games, since we haven't gotten paid yet I have tried to avoid video game stores like the plague because I know I will find some crazy game that is only available in Korea and I will want it. I don't have any game systems here except for my PSP which the folks back home were nice enough to ship to me. I'll shoot you an email and picture if I find any "rare" games that you might like. Also, I looked up red panda on Google and they awesome!
Thanks again, everybody! We love to receive comments so please keep them coming. Feel free to ask for clarifications (I tend to write a lot so I don't know if that would be necessary) or just to say "Hi" because it helps let us know there at people back at home watching for us.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
No more day by day?
Josh:
I think today I will start with two of my favorite quotes I have heard so far:
Imagine a very high status London accent saying this (referring to how Korean's eat):
"They eat like peasants!"
I still laugh to myself because this is fantastic on so many levels.
"Korea - the country that logic forgot."
Perfect for many reasons because it seems like Korea is, in many ways a "weird stereotype" (to quote yet another teacher here) of America. Things here are close to how they are in America but off in some way. It's not like these things are particularly hard to fix. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can come up and say, "Uh hey, it works better this way." and everything would work more efficiently. But no, that would be too simple, wouldn't it?
I think now is the right time for me to stop listing day by day. I might list a day when a lot happened but I'll just start listing general events or thoughts that I experience.
I feel kind of bad for having this thought (key words: kind of), but I can't help but giggle like a little school girl. I'm really tempted to teach the kids certain phrases mean different things. I would teach them something that sounds like it might be correct but in America it means something entirely inappropriate (I have an example but I think it is a little too inappropriate to type out). Later on in life they might use that phrase I taught them and have an American do a double take when they say it. By the time they actually got to use it I would be long gone and all I would do is laugh sadistically to myself at the thought of that actually happening. It's not like they would track me down and say, "You told me this phrase meant this! I accidentally offended my boss because of you!" It would be like an investment where I would never see the return but I could imagine the riches I would have.
On Wed. 4/8/10 we went to Lotte Mart for the first time. Lotte Mart is one of the big grocery/home/electronic stores in Korea. It has pretty much everything you could ever need. It's like five different American stores all smashed up into one. The shopping experience was cool because we explored the floors and found some amazing things. The second (ground) floor has a food court and an area for clothes and other similar things. The third floor is where the party begins. This is the "home improvement" section. When you first enter you are greeted with a nice DVD section mixed with an animal store! It's like they thought, "Yeah, small animals and DVDs are basically the same category, right?" We found a little "VCD" (Video-CD) section that had Porco Rosso, Spirited Away, Howl's, Grave of the Fireflies and other Ghibli films. We got really excited because we left all our videos in the States (they were sent to us shortly after though, thanks a bunch again). We weren't sure what VCD was so we bought Howl's to test out what it was (We guessed correctly. It turns out to be a somewhat low quality video that is only playable on the computer. There is no menu so there are only Korean subtitles with Japanese dialogue but we mainly wanted the music so it works out well). There was a nice DVD section with another smaller section for music but unquestionably the best part was the animal section. They had all sorts of critters such as birds, bunnies, guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, turtles and (drum roll please) chipmunks and hedgehogs! Audrey fell in love with the chipmunks because they kept being ridiculously cute. I'm sure she would have swooned over the hedgehogs but they were asleep in a hedgehog pile (still very cute though). I will post some videos of them playing later. We spent a good 10-20 minutes just watching the animals. I love being in a place that doesn't have pointless "exotic" animal laws. After pulling ourselves away from cute we wandered around and found this floor also had microwaves, fridges, washers, computers, HD TVs, bedding, dishes, bathroom objects, trash cans and the like, laundry things, wall paper, other electronics, bikes, guitars and pianos. It's like they couldn't decide what they wanted to sell and just threw a bunch of things onto one floor. The fourth floor (we would find out later) had a dog and cat pet store, cell phones, a spa/nail place, another PC vendor and a place with food. The higher floors are all for the parking garage. Finally, the first floor is a full grocery store with a small "dollar store" in the corner. I think we need stores like this in America. Why drive to five different stores when I can get everything I would ever need in life at one store?
I leave you with this:
Isn't it amazing how one little letter can change so much? I love Konglish.
I think today I will start with two of my favorite quotes I have heard so far:
Imagine a very high status London accent saying this (referring to how Korean's eat):
"They eat like peasants!"
I still laugh to myself because this is fantastic on so many levels.
"Korea - the country that logic forgot."
Perfect for many reasons because it seems like Korea is, in many ways a "weird stereotype" (to quote yet another teacher here) of America. Things here are close to how they are in America but off in some way. It's not like these things are particularly hard to fix. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can come up and say, "Uh hey, it works better this way." and everything would work more efficiently. But no, that would be too simple, wouldn't it?
I think now is the right time for me to stop listing day by day. I might list a day when a lot happened but I'll just start listing general events or thoughts that I experience.
I feel kind of bad for having this thought (key words: kind of), but I can't help but giggle like a little school girl. I'm really tempted to teach the kids certain phrases mean different things. I would teach them something that sounds like it might be correct but in America it means something entirely inappropriate (I have an example but I think it is a little too inappropriate to type out). Later on in life they might use that phrase I taught them and have an American do a double take when they say it. By the time they actually got to use it I would be long gone and all I would do is laugh sadistically to myself at the thought of that actually happening. It's not like they would track me down and say, "You told me this phrase meant this! I accidentally offended my boss because of you!" It would be like an investment where I would never see the return but I could imagine the riches I would have.
On Wed. 4/8/10 we went to Lotte Mart for the first time. Lotte Mart is one of the big grocery/home/electronic stores in Korea. It has pretty much everything you could ever need. It's like five different American stores all smashed up into one. The shopping experience was cool because we explored the floors and found some amazing things. The second (ground) floor has a food court and an area for clothes and other similar things. The third floor is where the party begins. This is the "home improvement" section. When you first enter you are greeted with a nice DVD section mixed with an animal store! It's like they thought, "Yeah, small animals and DVDs are basically the same category, right?" We found a little "VCD" (Video-CD) section that had Porco Rosso, Spirited Away, Howl's, Grave of the Fireflies and other Ghibli films. We got really excited because we left all our videos in the States (they were sent to us shortly after though, thanks a bunch again). We weren't sure what VCD was so we bought Howl's to test out what it was (We guessed correctly. It turns out to be a somewhat low quality video that is only playable on the computer. There is no menu so there are only Korean subtitles with Japanese dialogue but we mainly wanted the music so it works out well). There was a nice DVD section with another smaller section for music but unquestionably the best part was the animal section. They had all sorts of critters such as birds, bunnies, guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, turtles and (drum roll please) chipmunks and hedgehogs! Audrey fell in love with the chipmunks because they kept being ridiculously cute. I'm sure she would have swooned over the hedgehogs but they were asleep in a hedgehog pile (still very cute though). I will post some videos of them playing later. We spent a good 10-20 minutes just watching the animals. I love being in a place that doesn't have pointless "exotic" animal laws. After pulling ourselves away from cute we wandered around and found this floor also had microwaves, fridges, washers, computers, HD TVs, bedding, dishes, bathroom objects, trash cans and the like, laundry things, wall paper, other electronics, bikes, guitars and pianos. It's like they couldn't decide what they wanted to sell and just threw a bunch of things onto one floor. The fourth floor (we would find out later) had a dog and cat pet store, cell phones, a spa/nail place, another PC vendor and a place with food. The higher floors are all for the parking garage. Finally, the first floor is a full grocery store with a small "dollar store" in the corner. I think we need stores like this in America. Why drive to five different stores when I can get everything I would ever need in life at one store?
I leave you with this:
Isn't it amazing how one little letter can change so much? I love Konglish.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Bam! Another!
Josh:
Before I continue trucking I wanted to fill your heads with some more pointless information. I have lived in San Francisco for about 4-5 years so I can say that I have decent gaydar. That means absolutely nothing here in Korea. There is gay and then there is "Asian gay" which means they are still straight but do really feminine things. For example the male pop groups look exactly like girls. I even had to ask a teacher if two guys on a boy scouts picture were actually boys. She said "Yes they are a famous pop group here." If you watch any Asian music videos you will find a certain level of femininity in all of the men. For boys in real life it is slightly different. Some of them do strange things like describing the men I put up on the screen as "cute, very cute" etc. I know they are doing it for giggles but there is just a hint of something behind it. It is also common for people of the same gender to hold hands. In America that is reserved for couples or young children but there are older men, boys, older women and girls who walk down the street holding hands. I am fascinated and also touched by the innocence that this simple gesture shows. In America if I were to hold my friend's hand it would clearly make me gay, but here it is a way to show that you are good friends and nothing really more. I have even seen some students hold hands in class. We theorize that this comes from the lack of contact between the two sexes. Most high school students never have relationships because they spend a majority of their time in class and studying (most students go to school from 7AM-11PM Monday-Saturday [not kidding, it's intense]) so they never have time to meet girls or boys and date. When they finally get to college they start to notice the other sex. Some even wait to date until they have graduated from college. This does not allow boys and girls to have an outlet for these new feelings they have towards each other and since they spend most of their time with the same sex sometimes this gets expressed in familiar touching that only means they are best friends. It's funny to me to come from a culture where most people who don't start dating late elementary school are nerds and losers to a culture that is so innocent on some level that they can touch each other freely without having to worry about what others think or say. This idea also comes from their way of thinking (group society) while America is individual based and everyone has their own person bubble. Maybe I'll talk more about that later but for now, let us continue.
Tues -
I was supposed to meet with the principle today but he was very busy so I ended up just speaking with Mr. Hong and learned about some Korean philosophy (such as they prefer open fields as opposed to flowers). A little side note about my lunch because it turns out the restaurant we ate at last night is magic. Audrey had been craving yukejang and we finally found it in a restaurant. The next day what kind of soup is my school serving? You guessed it, yukejang. The next day we ate at the same restaurant and I had curry. Guess what I ate at school the next time? This has happened three different times. This place is magical.
I only had one class because today was the day when we finally got the rest of Wu's things (bed, dresser, washer, etc) so I got to leave school early and wait for the movers to come. I ended up waiting two hours and just as I was about to leave they showed up with Ms. Kim. Turns out they were looking frantically all over the apartment for the things that we took last night from Wu (another oops moment). The movers brought everything in very fast (one guy even carried the washer by himself on his back - intense!) and soon enough the house started to look a little better. They even put everything where I wanted and assembled it for me. It's strange here because I feel like I want to help but it seems like it is rude to offer help (it is their job after all so why would they need help? - is they way they think) so sometimes I feel awkward watching these guys lug and assemble everything for me (even though it is pretty cool). They brought everything (and I mean everything) over. As we would learn later that included Wu's full trashcan. I managed to miss two classes while I waited and I returned to work for the last office hour. Turns out I shouldn't have come back in.
After a few minutes of me sitting at my desk trying to make another lesson plan I start to hear this noise. I look over across the top of my desk and I see this guy yelling at two kids. He makes one of them get on his knees and he proceeds to literally raise his hand (with a stick similar to a Kendo shinai), almost jump in the air and slam the stick down onto the kid. Before I came here I knew that they physically punished the kids here so I prepared myself mentally for that but this was absolutely inappropriate. This guy wasn't punishing these kids, he was taking his anger out of them. He did this to both kids. I sat there with my mouth open while everyone else continued doing work like nothing was going on. He was yelling at these kids and hitting them with all his strength and gravity on his side. I honestly didn't know what to do because I am a foreigner in a brand new country but I feel this is unacceptable. If someone was hitting me like that I would assume they were trying to kill me and I would have started fighting but of course these kids just sat there and took it. They weren't crying but they definitely were not happy. I now know what I should have done and what needs to be done when I see something like this happening but it absolutely stunned me. I didn't know what to do but just leave when it was time. When I met up with Audrey I showed her in a very animated fashion and she was unhappy that that happened also. She had seen physical punishment in her school but nothing of this caliber. I feel bad that I didn't have the presence of mind to do something about it but as I said, I was utterly stunned and I was the new kid on campus who had very little influence on his second day of work. This and the dog issue mentioned earlier has unquestionably been the hardest thing for me to deal with here.
Changing gears rapidly, I met up with Audrey and we decided to get dinner at the Indian restaurant Wu had shown to us (yes, authentic Indian food in Korea made Josh ecstatic). We took the short walk and went inside. When we got upstairs there were two Indian guys that stopped eating and started staring at us with glares. We ignored them and looked around for the server or some kind of worker. No one showed up. We waited for fifteen minutes with those guys glaring at us the whole time and still no one showed up. We eventually decided to give up and try the other Indian place (yes there are two!) down the street. We eventually found it and, of course, it was closed. It looked like there would be no tasty for Josh today. We decided to go back to that really nice restaurant we had with Wu, Mike and Zack and ate another delicious meal (remember it's magic to I had the same thing for lunch the next day). After we just went home, I showed Audrey the new furniture and we finally got to sleep on a bed for the first time since we arrived in Korea. It was bliss. It's a queen size bed with no foot board so we both have plenty of room to stretch. Going from the hard, cold floor to a warm bed is such a fantastic feeling. Audrey would finally be able to start feeling better now.
Closing thought for today - If you are using Skype on a girl's dad's computer, it is most wise to try to not put inappropriate messages on it. Good advice I must say.
Before I continue trucking I wanted to fill your heads with some more pointless information. I have lived in San Francisco for about 4-5 years so I can say that I have decent gaydar. That means absolutely nothing here in Korea. There is gay and then there is "Asian gay" which means they are still straight but do really feminine things. For example the male pop groups look exactly like girls. I even had to ask a teacher if two guys on a boy scouts picture were actually boys. She said "Yes they are a famous pop group here." If you watch any Asian music videos you will find a certain level of femininity in all of the men. For boys in real life it is slightly different. Some of them do strange things like describing the men I put up on the screen as "cute, very cute" etc. I know they are doing it for giggles but there is just a hint of something behind it. It is also common for people of the same gender to hold hands. In America that is reserved for couples or young children but there are older men, boys, older women and girls who walk down the street holding hands. I am fascinated and also touched by the innocence that this simple gesture shows. In America if I were to hold my friend's hand it would clearly make me gay, but here it is a way to show that you are good friends and nothing really more. I have even seen some students hold hands in class. We theorize that this comes from the lack of contact between the two sexes. Most high school students never have relationships because they spend a majority of their time in class and studying (most students go to school from 7AM-11PM Monday-Saturday [not kidding, it's intense]) so they never have time to meet girls or boys and date. When they finally get to college they start to notice the other sex. Some even wait to date until they have graduated from college. This does not allow boys and girls to have an outlet for these new feelings they have towards each other and since they spend most of their time with the same sex sometimes this gets expressed in familiar touching that only means they are best friends. It's funny to me to come from a culture where most people who don't start dating late elementary school are nerds and losers to a culture that is so innocent on some level that they can touch each other freely without having to worry about what others think or say. This idea also comes from their way of thinking (group society) while America is individual based and everyone has their own person bubble. Maybe I'll talk more about that later but for now, let us continue.
Tues -
I was supposed to meet with the principle today but he was very busy so I ended up just speaking with Mr. Hong and learned about some Korean philosophy (such as they prefer open fields as opposed to flowers). A little side note about my lunch because it turns out the restaurant we ate at last night is magic. Audrey had been craving yukejang and we finally found it in a restaurant. The next day what kind of soup is my school serving? You guessed it, yukejang. The next day we ate at the same restaurant and I had curry. Guess what I ate at school the next time? This has happened three different times. This place is magical.
I only had one class because today was the day when we finally got the rest of Wu's things (bed, dresser, washer, etc) so I got to leave school early and wait for the movers to come. I ended up waiting two hours and just as I was about to leave they showed up with Ms. Kim. Turns out they were looking frantically all over the apartment for the things that we took last night from Wu (another oops moment). The movers brought everything in very fast (one guy even carried the washer by himself on his back - intense!) and soon enough the house started to look a little better. They even put everything where I wanted and assembled it for me. It's strange here because I feel like I want to help but it seems like it is rude to offer help (it is their job after all so why would they need help? - is they way they think) so sometimes I feel awkward watching these guys lug and assemble everything for me (even though it is pretty cool). They brought everything (and I mean everything) over. As we would learn later that included Wu's full trashcan. I managed to miss two classes while I waited and I returned to work for the last office hour. Turns out I shouldn't have come back in.
After a few minutes of me sitting at my desk trying to make another lesson plan I start to hear this noise. I look over across the top of my desk and I see this guy yelling at two kids. He makes one of them get on his knees and he proceeds to literally raise his hand (with a stick similar to a Kendo shinai), almost jump in the air and slam the stick down onto the kid. Before I came here I knew that they physically punished the kids here so I prepared myself mentally for that but this was absolutely inappropriate. This guy wasn't punishing these kids, he was taking his anger out of them. He did this to both kids. I sat there with my mouth open while everyone else continued doing work like nothing was going on. He was yelling at these kids and hitting them with all his strength and gravity on his side. I honestly didn't know what to do because I am a foreigner in a brand new country but I feel this is unacceptable. If someone was hitting me like that I would assume they were trying to kill me and I would have started fighting but of course these kids just sat there and took it. They weren't crying but they definitely were not happy. I now know what I should have done and what needs to be done when I see something like this happening but it absolutely stunned me. I didn't know what to do but just leave when it was time. When I met up with Audrey I showed her in a very animated fashion and she was unhappy that that happened also. She had seen physical punishment in her school but nothing of this caliber. I feel bad that I didn't have the presence of mind to do something about it but as I said, I was utterly stunned and I was the new kid on campus who had very little influence on his second day of work. This and the dog issue mentioned earlier has unquestionably been the hardest thing for me to deal with here.
Changing gears rapidly, I met up with Audrey and we decided to get dinner at the Indian restaurant Wu had shown to us (yes, authentic Indian food in Korea made Josh ecstatic). We took the short walk and went inside. When we got upstairs there were two Indian guys that stopped eating and started staring at us with glares. We ignored them and looked around for the server or some kind of worker. No one showed up. We waited for fifteen minutes with those guys glaring at us the whole time and still no one showed up. We eventually decided to give up and try the other Indian place (yes there are two!) down the street. We eventually found it and, of course, it was closed. It looked like there would be no tasty for Josh today. We decided to go back to that really nice restaurant we had with Wu, Mike and Zack and ate another delicious meal (remember it's magic to I had the same thing for lunch the next day). After we just went home, I showed Audrey the new furniture and we finally got to sleep on a bed for the first time since we arrived in Korea. It was bliss. It's a queen size bed with no foot board so we both have plenty of room to stretch. Going from the hard, cold floor to a warm bed is such a fantastic feeling. Audrey would finally be able to start feeling better now.
Closing thought for today - If you are using Skype on a girl's dad's computer, it is most wise to try to not put inappropriate messages on it. Good advice I must say.
Keep the ball rolling
Josh:
More, more and more!
Sun 4/5/10:
We finally got a day to sleep in a little. After getting a decent amount of sleep we woke up and prepared for the day ahead. Since the family who was living in the house finally moved out on Saturday we decided to lug all of our stuff onto the bus and meet up with my co-teacher who would take us shopping and give us our keys. We loaded up (with about three giant bags each) and got onto the bus (lucky for us he let us on). After a long and cramped ride we got off in front of the Pizza Hut near the station and waited for Ms. Kim.
As we were waiting we saw another white person heading towards us. We hadn't really seen one together so we both looked openly and he came right up to us. It turns out that he teaches the elementary school right behind the station and he got there at the same time we did (small world eh?). We talked for about 20 minutes, traded contact info and parted ways (We now hang out with him regularly. His name is Zack and he's a pretty cool cat). Shortly after Ms. Kim came, picked us up and we dropped off our bags at the new house. It was even bigger than I had remembered. I was so happy to have room to put our things and sit or lay down comfortably (well, sort of). Ms. Kim took us to the Macy's of Korea and bought a blanket, pillows, a sheet, dishes etc. It was very nice of her to take us shopping and we were ecstatic that we now had pillows and blankets of our own but it felt very strange for us to have someone buying things for us (even if it was out of the school's wallet). We shopped for several hours and unfortunately we hadn't eaten anything so we were starting to get incredibly hungry. After a huge shopping cart and a car ride home we said thanks, goodbye, threw our stuff in the house and ran out to get some food.
We decided to go all out and just finish moving everything tonight so we took a bus back to Dogok and loaded up the rest of our things and headed back out. As we were walking to the stop we managed to catch a glimpse of a spectacular looking dog. He was in a pet store and he was huge. He looked like a gray wolf so Audrey suggested we ask if we can pet it. One of us stayed out while the other went in and got to play with the fluff monster. It was good to see a dog that was taken care of and super friendly. We said goodbye to the monster and hopped onto the first bus. We managed to drag our things all the way to our new house (not an easy effort mind you) and went inside. Of course we didn't have a bed so we had to sleep on the cold floor. We also didn't know how to work the heater/it wasn't working so we huddled together and tried to sleep throughout the night (Note that Audrey was getting sick so this wasn't too good of a decision even if we did have lots of room).
Earlier that day Audrey saw a huge spider and made me kill it. It was big enough to make an audible pop when I stepped on it. That was one thing I wasn't too thrilled about when we decided to come here. There are bugs that make the ones in California seem like gnats here. I'm okay with it but Audrey definitely does not like them. I think it's the beginning of a long battle with the monster bugs.
Mon - 4/6/10
Today is my first day of school! After a long week I finally get to do what I came here for. Luckily I had already prepared a good lesson plan (or so I thought) and I was ready to go. I got to my first class and found out that the lesson plan was finished with about 20 minutes to spare (oops). I managed to ad-lib for the rest of the time but it was a little too close for me. It worked out well, however, because the ad-libbing turned out to work its way into my daily lesson plan. It also helped me gauge how long a real lesson plan works. The rest of the day went fairly smooth. Audrey had the day off and it was a good thing because she was feeling quite sick. We were supposed to go to the hospital to get the "health check" but we decided it would be best if I went because we didn't want Audrey to fail and get kicked out of the country just because she had a cold. So when I left Ms. Kim made Audrey go to the nurse where she got some medicine and hot tea and she got to relax at my desk for the rest of the day.
I got to head to the hospital with Ms. Kim. It was lucky that she was there because it would have been impossible without someone who spoke Korean to the nurses for me. They first checked my height and weight and then measured my chest for some reason (I have no idea why). I then did the eye test where you put something in front of one eye and try to read the tiny letters. She then took my blood pressure and I got ushered into a really small room with somebody sitting at a desk. Turns out I was privileged enough to get the third degree from someone who spoke broken English:
Doctor: Do you have spread diseases? (something like that, it was very difficult to understand her through her thick accents)
Josh: Uh, no.
Doctor: Ah. *nods head and writes something down* Drugs?
Josh: Excuse me?
Doctor: Do you have any drugs?
Josh: Oh. No.
Doctor: Ah. *nod* Do you have HIV?
Josh: No.
Doctor: Ah. *nod*
She then ushered me out and I got to have my chest x-rayed (once again I don't know why). It was a little strange because I didn't have any protective led anywhere that might be important to me in the future so I was a little worried about that but there's nothing I can really do about it. He then moved me back out and we moved to another wing in the hospital. I went upstairs where I got to pee into a cup and put it on a tray near the entrance to the small room. I thought it was strange that I just put a cup right by the glass door full of my urine where anybody could throw whatever they want into it. I don't know when they picked it up but I was worried somebody was going to knock it over or, as I said, , put something in it. Once again, nothing I can do. I then got to sit down and they had to draw some blood. This isn't like the States though and they stuck a big needle into my arm and pulled out my blood with a plunger. After a few moments they dropped the bloody needle into a giant box on the counter that was covered in blood and filled with needles. Safe? Nay sir. Nay. Surprisingly it didn't hurt (I'm not trying to be a macho man by saying "My manly muscles prevented me from feeling pain" but I was authentically surprised I didn't really feel it). We left the hospital, came back to my school and decided to meet up with Wu for dinner.
We left the school, changed and met up with Wu who was nice enough to show us his house. On the way over Audrey got to meet some of the older students. It's funny because when you are a "rebel" here you smoke cigarettes outside school or in the bathrooms. This, of course, made me realize that they are on a different level of "cool" than the United States. What they consider cool here is only baby cool in the States. As we walked to Wu's house we learned of the various locations where they smoke including the church. The leader kept nodding his head as Wu pointed to all the locations he caught them smoking. When he said the church Audrey looked over and said, "You smoke in the church?" and gave a disapproving look. He quickly looked over and said, "Oh no. Not me *shook his head vigorously*. Them." I like this kid's personality (too bad I will never have to teach him because he is a third grader).
Wu took us to the place where we were going to meet the other people for dinner (Zack and another guy named Mike). We met up, introduced ourselves and headed over for food. The restaurant turned out to be a fantastic place to eat. Audrey got yukejang finally and I got to eat some delicious dumplings. We had a good conversation, traded contact information with Mike (another awesome guy) and headed to Wu's house where we talked for another hour or so, picked up some of the things he wasn't using and went home to go to sleep. Unfortunately we had to sleep on the floor again and Audrey was still feeling sick. We knew our time would come. Soon.
Until we get internet and the time to properly upload images, here is a temporary place where you can see just a few of the many pictures we have.
http://s765.photobucket.com/home/joshuashadle
Enjoy!
More, more and more!
Sun 4/5/10:
We finally got a day to sleep in a little. After getting a decent amount of sleep we woke up and prepared for the day ahead. Since the family who was living in the house finally moved out on Saturday we decided to lug all of our stuff onto the bus and meet up with my co-teacher who would take us shopping and give us our keys. We loaded up (with about three giant bags each) and got onto the bus (lucky for us he let us on). After a long and cramped ride we got off in front of the Pizza Hut near the station and waited for Ms. Kim.
As we were waiting we saw another white person heading towards us. We hadn't really seen one together so we both looked openly and he came right up to us. It turns out that he teaches the elementary school right behind the station and he got there at the same time we did (small world eh?). We talked for about 20 minutes, traded contact info and parted ways (We now hang out with him regularly. His name is Zack and he's a pretty cool cat). Shortly after Ms. Kim came, picked us up and we dropped off our bags at the new house. It was even bigger than I had remembered. I was so happy to have room to put our things and sit or lay down comfortably (well, sort of). Ms. Kim took us to the Macy's of Korea and bought a blanket, pillows, a sheet, dishes etc. It was very nice of her to take us shopping and we were ecstatic that we now had pillows and blankets of our own but it felt very strange for us to have someone buying things for us (even if it was out of the school's wallet). We shopped for several hours and unfortunately we hadn't eaten anything so we were starting to get incredibly hungry. After a huge shopping cart and a car ride home we said thanks, goodbye, threw our stuff in the house and ran out to get some food.
We decided to go all out and just finish moving everything tonight so we took a bus back to Dogok and loaded up the rest of our things and headed back out. As we were walking to the stop we managed to catch a glimpse of a spectacular looking dog. He was in a pet store and he was huge. He looked like a gray wolf so Audrey suggested we ask if we can pet it. One of us stayed out while the other went in and got to play with the fluff monster. It was good to see a dog that was taken care of and super friendly. We said goodbye to the monster and hopped onto the first bus. We managed to drag our things all the way to our new house (not an easy effort mind you) and went inside. Of course we didn't have a bed so we had to sleep on the cold floor. We also didn't know how to work the heater/it wasn't working so we huddled together and tried to sleep throughout the night (Note that Audrey was getting sick so this wasn't too good of a decision even if we did have lots of room).
Earlier that day Audrey saw a huge spider and made me kill it. It was big enough to make an audible pop when I stepped on it. That was one thing I wasn't too thrilled about when we decided to come here. There are bugs that make the ones in California seem like gnats here. I'm okay with it but Audrey definitely does not like them. I think it's the beginning of a long battle with the monster bugs.
Mon - 4/6/10
Today is my first day of school! After a long week I finally get to do what I came here for. Luckily I had already prepared a good lesson plan (or so I thought) and I was ready to go. I got to my first class and found out that the lesson plan was finished with about 20 minutes to spare (oops). I managed to ad-lib for the rest of the time but it was a little too close for me. It worked out well, however, because the ad-libbing turned out to work its way into my daily lesson plan. It also helped me gauge how long a real lesson plan works. The rest of the day went fairly smooth. Audrey had the day off and it was a good thing because she was feeling quite sick. We were supposed to go to the hospital to get the "health check" but we decided it would be best if I went because we didn't want Audrey to fail and get kicked out of the country just because she had a cold. So when I left Ms. Kim made Audrey go to the nurse where she got some medicine and hot tea and she got to relax at my desk for the rest of the day.
I got to head to the hospital with Ms. Kim. It was lucky that she was there because it would have been impossible without someone who spoke Korean to the nurses for me. They first checked my height and weight and then measured my chest for some reason (I have no idea why). I then did the eye test where you put something in front of one eye and try to read the tiny letters. She then took my blood pressure and I got ushered into a really small room with somebody sitting at a desk. Turns out I was privileged enough to get the third degree from someone who spoke broken English:
Doctor: Do you have spread diseases? (something like that, it was very difficult to understand her through her thick accents)
Josh: Uh, no.
Doctor: Ah. *nods head and writes something down* Drugs?
Josh: Excuse me?
Doctor: Do you have any drugs?
Josh: Oh. No.
Doctor: Ah. *nod* Do you have HIV?
Josh: No.
Doctor: Ah. *nod*
She then ushered me out and I got to have my chest x-rayed (once again I don't know why). It was a little strange because I didn't have any protective led anywhere that might be important to me in the future so I was a little worried about that but there's nothing I can really do about it. He then moved me back out and we moved to another wing in the hospital. I went upstairs where I got to pee into a cup and put it on a tray near the entrance to the small room. I thought it was strange that I just put a cup right by the glass door full of my urine where anybody could throw whatever they want into it. I don't know when they picked it up but I was worried somebody was going to knock it over or, as I said, , put something in it. Once again, nothing I can do. I then got to sit down and they had to draw some blood. This isn't like the States though and they stuck a big needle into my arm and pulled out my blood with a plunger. After a few moments they dropped the bloody needle into a giant box on the counter that was covered in blood and filled with needles. Safe? Nay sir. Nay. Surprisingly it didn't hurt (I'm not trying to be a macho man by saying "My manly muscles prevented me from feeling pain" but I was authentically surprised I didn't really feel it). We left the hospital, came back to my school and decided to meet up with Wu for dinner.
We left the school, changed and met up with Wu who was nice enough to show us his house. On the way over Audrey got to meet some of the older students. It's funny because when you are a "rebel" here you smoke cigarettes outside school or in the bathrooms. This, of course, made me realize that they are on a different level of "cool" than the United States. What they consider cool here is only baby cool in the States. As we walked to Wu's house we learned of the various locations where they smoke including the church. The leader kept nodding his head as Wu pointed to all the locations he caught them smoking. When he said the church Audrey looked over and said, "You smoke in the church?" and gave a disapproving look. He quickly looked over and said, "Oh no. Not me *shook his head vigorously*. Them." I like this kid's personality (too bad I will never have to teach him because he is a third grader).
Wu took us to the place where we were going to meet the other people for dinner (Zack and another guy named Mike). We met up, introduced ourselves and headed over for food. The restaurant turned out to be a fantastic place to eat. Audrey got yukejang finally and I got to eat some delicious dumplings. We had a good conversation, traded contact information with Mike (another awesome guy) and headed to Wu's house where we talked for another hour or so, picked up some of the things he wasn't using and went home to go to sleep. Unfortunately we had to sleep on the floor again and Audrey was still feeling sick. We knew our time would come. Soon.
Until we get internet and the time to properly upload images, here is a temporary place where you can see just a few of the many pictures we have.
http://s765.photobucket.com/home/joshuashadle
Enjoy!
Friday, April 16, 2010
One more quick post
I was laughing to myself because this is what we (mostly Audrey) sing when there is something different here than in America.
Audrey's most quoted line:
"Barely even human!"
Beautiful.
Audrey's most quoted line:
"Barely even human!"
Beautiful.
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