So, just back from an amazing weekend in Andong. I HAD to blog right away so I wouldn't forget anything, or not get around to doing it.
Lets start off with my Tuesday night... this is where my story begins. I finish work on Tuesdays at 4:30, so I went home and did some house work, relaxed, then went to my friend Heather's house. Heather and I went to high school together, and she is one of the most amazing women I have ever met, and I always feel so energized after I hang out with her. Well... I get to her place around 8pm and we make supper (soooo yummy by the way, Kimchi, Tofu, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Pizza and Mandu... a FEAST!) Then we decide to fix my couchsurfing page that I never got around to updating... everyone knows how computer savy I am (NOT!) and the site confused me. Well, she is a pro and got it going! :) Then we put on a movie, the same escapes me now... but I loved it. It was about a cop in South Africa who robs banks during the apartheid. It was great!
Well, after being at her house I felt really good about life, being in Korea, and had good conversations too... Heather is really good for that! The rest of my work week flew because on Thursday we had a field trip... and it was a short day.. then Friday.. well Friday is Friday!
Now, let me tell you about my field trip and how amazing it is! We went to this farm and dug for sweet potatoes and picked peanuts that were already dug for us. The kids had so much fun. Each of them wanted to dig the biggest potato, but didn't know how to use a shovel.. haha I did most of the digging, and when we found bugs and worms in the ground they all squealed as I head it up and taunted them with them... I know.. I am so mature... haha but they secretly loved it.. haha I am sure. I had also never seen how peanuts grew before, so that was really interesting to see.
The kids laughed at me when I tried to say Korean things, and they tried to get me to say things and laughed when I said them very wrong. At lunch, just like any Field trip they all wanted me to try their lunches and what their parents made for them. They love when I try Korean food with them. I have actually started to eat lunch with them everyday... I like it because I can see the children really trying to use their English, I get to eat free Korean yummy food everyday, and the kids make me laugh. On the way home from the trip all the kids wanted to sit next to me and play games... so we played the ABC game.... but I changed it because they are getting too good at it... all the ABC game is, is each student says one letter until we get to end, if one says it wrong, we start all over again and the student who said it wrong is out until the next round. Well... this time they had to say the letter, but also a word that started with that letter. They are getting REALLY good at it.. and I think it is helping with their phonics.
Speaking of Phonics my class has always been pretty below the other classes with their English, but slowly they have been getting much better. They were recently tested along with the other classes, and did much better than everyone else suspected! :) I was proud!
Anywho... remembering back to Tuesday where I updated my couchsurfing account with Heather, I received an e-mail from the guy who organizes the Busan group here welcoming me to the group, we pass a few e-mails back and forth and he ends up telling me about this event on the weekend. (I get this e-mail on Friday night at work... the event is the next morning...) The event is for the Maskdance festival in Andong... Andgong is about 2 hours away from where I live, and also in the e-mail he tells me that we will be staying in a Traditional Korean Village. Of course I jump in on that adventure and get my friend Allison on board as well!
So, Friday is a goodbye party for my friends April and Michael. There is no way I missing that because my introduction to Korea has largely rested with them, and I wouldn't have felt so welcome without them. I met a lot of really fun people, and done and seen some great things because of them. This is how I started going to the Socrates meetings. They got me to join. Well... I went 20 min on the subway to their party to only stay for about an hour... but I am so happy I went. They will be missed.
The next day I wake up at 6am after getting home at 12:30am because I have to be across town for 7:30 to catch the 8am train... I have to meet people from couchsurfing who I have never met, but extremely excited. Allison I met up eagerly, go to the bank and then end up missing out transfer stop on the subway and it results in us being late for the bus, and missing it. Thank god for cell phone reception in Korea, because otherwise I wouldn't have found Pablo (my host!) We get to the festival late, can't find Pablo, because I am terrible with directions, but decide we want to look at a lot of these things on our own... (p.s: the bus ticket was only 15 dollars!) We have so much fun... we see masks from all over the world, eat an amazing lunch (chicken still on the bones, glass noodles, some veggies, and this spicy sauce all cooked in the same bowl... Apparently a very Andong dish), we paint a mask, watch kids on the stage practice their takewondoe (so cute!) and watch some cultural dances... around 5:45 we think it is probably a good time to call Pablo again so we can find out about where we are sleeping... I know I leave everything to last minute!
Once we call him he tells us we have to run to catch the 6pm bus since it is the last one to the village. We met a guy named Eric during one of the dances, he was couchsurfing himself in Korea aside from that group we came with and helps us find the bus... we didn't want to miss that since we had no idea where the village was we were sleeping at! haha We get on the bus, and realize... wow... we have no idea what these people look like who we are meeting. I get a phone call from Pablo asking where we are, and he happens to be sitting right across from me on the bus! haha Great turn of events!
The bus ends up taking 40 minutes to get to this village, but it was neat to look out at the window and really see Korea outside the city. I saw houses that looked more like shacks and rice fields EVERYWHERE!
We get to the Village and head straight to the house we have rented (we rented a house and two rooms from another since we came with about 22 people!) People actually live in this village, and they rent out their homes for people to come stay in... this home in particular cooked us supper! We had the same thing for dinner as we did for lunch... but that was perfect because it was soooo good! After dinner I really had to use the washroom, and it turned out to be a Korean style looking toilet (on the floor), but this one was an outhouse... (now.. some may not want to read this... so skip to the next paragraph... )but I would much rather use the outhouses at campgrounds I have used when camping growing up, or even the ones when camping with girl guides... this one was smelly... and mastering a Koren style toilet... haha difficult when you are a girl! Especially clumsy! Well, to make this experience worse... it was that time... yes ladies, that time. Imagine, an outhouse. A standing style outhouse. A smelly standing style outhouse. A dirty smelly standing style outhouse. A dirty smelly standing style outhouse with no toilet paper... A tampon. Enough said.
Once that experience was over we get ready to go to the river for fireworks, but before I go I bump into the couchsurfer I met in Toronto who introduced me to Korean food in Little Korea in Toronto! What a small world! So anyways... I went to the river, the river at night here was BEAUTIFUL! We could see stars!!!!!!!! I haven't seen stars in a long time. There were mountains everywhere, and you just felt like you were really in nature... the smells were beautiful... I really missed the smell of real fresh air. The mountain had some lights on it so you could see it, but it also had wires from one end of the mountain to the beach. From the wires they had attached slow burning fireworks... I don't really know how to explain slow burning fireworks other than they look like a very long burning sparkler... well these were pointed down towards the sand, and it seriously looked like it was raining fireworks. It was beautiful. There were hundreds of them tied to 5 or 6 wires. I had some friends take photos, but they really don't show you how it really looks.
After this experience of sitting on the beach and just watching this we head back to the rented house. It is only just before 9, but I am super tired. We thank everyone for a wonderful dinner and Pablo show us to where we are sleeping... we were sleeping in this little tiny room that you had to slide the doors open and duck in. I am 5 feet tall and I had to duck! Anyways.. we were provided with one blanket and one pillow each! :) And thankfully our floor was heated (that is house homes are heated in Korea). It was cold in the mountains and I wore a hoody for the first time since getting to Korea! I slept in this room and could even hear the crickets... It felt so nice to be in nature. However, since we were travelling with 22 couch surfers we had three others join our sleeping space throughout the night. It felt like I should have been watching television, but I was living haha.. One guy came in throughout the night to find his wife, she had come in an hour or so before him and he was pretty drunk... and was mad at her, and kept talking as if no one was in the room.. ahah she was so embarrassed, but it was harmless... mostly hearing, "Vicky, why aren't you talking to me... where were you, I looked everywhere, it was cold, Vicky talk to me... Why are you being so mean" for almost 30min haha. Then.... the snoring started. I never thought that a human being could make those noises before! haha Thank goodness I am a very sound sleeper and could fall back asleep after a while, but man.. if anyone knows how I sleep.. not much can wake me.. snoring may be one thing, but it has to be loud... this was unreal! She apologized for him in the morning because he was still sleeping, but I told her not to worry.. :) It all comes with this type of travel, and I have loads of patience!
In the morning we woke up early, used the outhouse, this one had toilet paper... thank goodness.. then adventured around the village... it was so beautiful in daylight, they even had a little information room in which we were told all about Queen Elizabeth's visit! Interesting eh?
We went back to the festival, made some more crafts, RAN to the bus, almost missed it again, and now I am home ready to start another work week! :)
Miss you all, and will post pictures from this amazing weekend as soon as I can. I have no Internet right now... my stealing wireless signal days are over and I am going to have to pay like the rest of the world...I am hoping to have the Internet by Tuesday... that might be wishful thinking!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
My Sunday night
Hello readers!
It is a little late here, but I must tell you a little about my weekend before I go to sleep!!
first a little story before I get to my day today:
One of my close friends from home Kylie, her university roommate moved to Korea, so I met up with her to give her a nice welcome! It was nice to meet someone that knew someone I knew from home! I have Heather here, but the more the merrier! We had a great time swapping Kylie stories!! Oh Ky, I miss you!!
Now for today:
I was feeling a little lazy today, but forced myself to do my grocery shopping, then once I was home I was not in the mood at all to cook, so went with my friend Steph to find a cheap place to eat. We decided on this little Japanese place and we would get a cheap 4000won meal. Well... we had to pass by the jet ski repair place on our way there. We said hi to the owner who is really friendly and always talks to me whenever I see him, and has become friends with my friend Steph. He asks where we are going, so we tell him to get a quick bite to eat. He says he is hungry too, so we invite him along. He told us that he was closing his shop in 10 minutes, so to just wait. We wait and end up going with him and his friend. They point to their car and ask us to get in... we laugh since the place is down the road, but get in anyways.
Once in the car, they ask us if we like Swellfish. We think they are saying Shellfish and Steph tries to explain her allergy, but they say no, not shell but swell. We decide to go and check out the menu at least. We drive to Haeundae... which is not far, but the car we are driving in a nice BMW with leather seats and a tv in the front haha. I felt high class! At the restaurant we find out what swellfish is... haha it is actually BLOWFISH! Me, not being much of a fish person feel a little nervous, but agree to try it anyways since I am in Korea, and may never get the chance to do it again. We have three courses along with all of the side dishes... the side dishes are pickles, pickled radish in red pepper paste sauce, some sort of fish thing, sesame seed leaves mixed with red pepper paste sauce and a few others that I can't remember. The first course is a delicious salad with of course shrimp, so we pick that out for Steph, but it also has nice greens (how I love and missed!), peppers, tomatoes and blowfish... oh gosh was it ever good! Then we had fried blowfish dipped in a sweet red pepper paste sauce, then swellfish soup. The soup was pretty good.. however as we were eating it, Steph looks more carefully inside and sees a fish head, and even an eye ball. I have a pretty weak tummy and have to turn away... the men we are with laugh, and he takes it out for her and puts it away. I look inside of mine... and yep... I also have a fish head. Mine was mostly bone, and no eyes... lets hope it wasn't floating in my soup anywhere... oh gosh. Well, mine gets taken out too!! Thank goodness! I continue to eat my dinner since it was good, and try to forget about the head.
Once we are finished, we get back into the beautiful silver BMW and start to drive. The shop owner Mr. Gong asks if we want coffee... it is already pretty late, so I say no since I want to be able to sleep tonight... and I am not a huge coffee person either... he wants some still and asks if that is ok, and we agree. He runs into the coffee shop and gets his drink for himself and his friend, but also comes out with a peice of cake for Steph, since he missed her birthday, and two little stuffed animals for us. haha how cute!
While he is in the store, we try to talk to his friend who knows next to no English and and ask him if we can drive across the bridge where our beach is... he says yes of course and even opens the sun roof! We end up not driving to the bridge, but to the Marnia instead. Mr. Gong asks us if we want to see his boat. So we go and see it. He points to this pathetic looking thing and says, here it is... then laughs and points to a beauty and says that is actually it. We get inside of this 200 thousand dollar boat and they begin to get it ready for driving the sea. We are driving around and see the really rich area of Busan at night. Like the Trump towers, and the hotel and spa for the the VIP gift card his friend gave us to try to sauna! Mr. Gong's friend's friend owns it and so we got a card!! :) Anywho... Mr. Gong stops the boat to show us the jumping fish, it looks so nice at night, and we turn around and head back to the Marnia. As we are heading back a song by Elliot Smith comes on the radio... and it just makes the whole experience so great... and then it gets better.
Mr. Gong asks us if we have driving licences. I said I have one to drive a car at home, but haven't driven in years. He says thats ok, and gets up and lets us drive the boat!!! Steph goes first and he teaches us all about driving boats. After she is done we are closer to the Marnia and he tells me it is my turn. Guess what. I drove this 200 thousand dollar beauty of a boat into the Marnia. Of course I didn't dock it, or drive it close to the other boats... but I drove it through the rocky entrace way from the sea to the Marnia. Yes... Sherry Wyse drove a boat! haha woo! The whole time I just thought.. man I wish I had a camera to show my Uncle Jim!
It is a little late here, but I must tell you a little about my weekend before I go to sleep!!
first a little story before I get to my day today:
One of my close friends from home Kylie, her university roommate moved to Korea, so I met up with her to give her a nice welcome! It was nice to meet someone that knew someone I knew from home! I have Heather here, but the more the merrier! We had a great time swapping Kylie stories!! Oh Ky, I miss you!!
Now for today:
I was feeling a little lazy today, but forced myself to do my grocery shopping, then once I was home I was not in the mood at all to cook, so went with my friend Steph to find a cheap place to eat. We decided on this little Japanese place and we would get a cheap 4000won meal. Well... we had to pass by the jet ski repair place on our way there. We said hi to the owner who is really friendly and always talks to me whenever I see him, and has become friends with my friend Steph. He asks where we are going, so we tell him to get a quick bite to eat. He says he is hungry too, so we invite him along. He told us that he was closing his shop in 10 minutes, so to just wait. We wait and end up going with him and his friend. They point to their car and ask us to get in... we laugh since the place is down the road, but get in anyways.
Once in the car, they ask us if we like Swellfish. We think they are saying Shellfish and Steph tries to explain her allergy, but they say no, not shell but swell. We decide to go and check out the menu at least. We drive to Haeundae... which is not far, but the car we are driving in a nice BMW with leather seats and a tv in the front haha. I felt high class! At the restaurant we find out what swellfish is... haha it is actually BLOWFISH! Me, not being much of a fish person feel a little nervous, but agree to try it anyways since I am in Korea, and may never get the chance to do it again. We have three courses along with all of the side dishes... the side dishes are pickles, pickled radish in red pepper paste sauce, some sort of fish thing, sesame seed leaves mixed with red pepper paste sauce and a few others that I can't remember. The first course is a delicious salad with of course shrimp, so we pick that out for Steph, but it also has nice greens (how I love and missed!), peppers, tomatoes and blowfish... oh gosh was it ever good! Then we had fried blowfish dipped in a sweet red pepper paste sauce, then swellfish soup. The soup was pretty good.. however as we were eating it, Steph looks more carefully inside and sees a fish head, and even an eye ball. I have a pretty weak tummy and have to turn away... the men we are with laugh, and he takes it out for her and puts it away. I look inside of mine... and yep... I also have a fish head. Mine was mostly bone, and no eyes... lets hope it wasn't floating in my soup anywhere... oh gosh. Well, mine gets taken out too!! Thank goodness! I continue to eat my dinner since it was good, and try to forget about the head.
Once we are finished, we get back into the beautiful silver BMW and start to drive. The shop owner Mr. Gong asks if we want coffee... it is already pretty late, so I say no since I want to be able to sleep tonight... and I am not a huge coffee person either... he wants some still and asks if that is ok, and we agree. He runs into the coffee shop and gets his drink for himself and his friend, but also comes out with a peice of cake for Steph, since he missed her birthday, and two little stuffed animals for us. haha how cute!
While he is in the store, we try to talk to his friend who knows next to no English and and ask him if we can drive across the bridge where our beach is... he says yes of course and even opens the sun roof! We end up not driving to the bridge, but to the Marnia instead. Mr. Gong asks us if we want to see his boat. So we go and see it. He points to this pathetic looking thing and says, here it is... then laughs and points to a beauty and says that is actually it. We get inside of this 200 thousand dollar boat and they begin to get it ready for driving the sea. We are driving around and see the really rich area of Busan at night. Like the Trump towers, and the hotel and spa for the the VIP gift card his friend gave us to try to sauna! Mr. Gong's friend's friend owns it and so we got a card!! :) Anywho... Mr. Gong stops the boat to show us the jumping fish, it looks so nice at night, and we turn around and head back to the Marnia. As we are heading back a song by Elliot Smith comes on the radio... and it just makes the whole experience so great... and then it gets better.
Mr. Gong asks us if we have driving licences. I said I have one to drive a car at home, but haven't driven in years. He says thats ok, and gets up and lets us drive the boat!!! Steph goes first and he teaches us all about driving boats. After she is done we are closer to the Marnia and he tells me it is my turn. Guess what. I drove this 200 thousand dollar beauty of a boat into the Marnia. Of course I didn't dock it, or drive it close to the other boats... but I drove it through the rocky entrace way from the sea to the Marnia. Yes... Sherry Wyse drove a boat! haha woo! The whole time I just thought.. man I wish I had a camera to show my Uncle Jim!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
It has been a while!
So I have been pretty terrible with updating my blog lately. I am very sorry! Especially after receiving lots of e-mails from friends and family asking for more! So, here is an update!!
I am going to start with the beginning of September… I have a new class. My summer intensives loved my class so much so they all signed up for regular monthly classes! They are a great class, so I am really happy. We also had two extra students join my class. I am pretty sure that these two new students were new to English school because they didn’t have an English name. When you take English lessons here, you are given a name. The teachers are usually left responsible for naming these students. I think that is a pretty important role, as most of these children will keep these names for the rest of their English speaking lives. A name is very important for someone and can really give someone personality. I had a girl student and a boy student. Since it was the beginning of September and I had just missed my friend Jennifer Devine’s wedding and I was a little homesick I named her Jenny. Jenny, you will be pleased to know she is a wonderful student and very smart and doing very well in my class! So, you have a little Korean girl named after you!! As for the boy I tried to name him Edmund after my Daddy, but he couldn’t really say it or spell it all that well and he didn’t like Eddie! Hahah So, thinking about all the men and boys in my family I picked a nice short name in which he could easily spell and remember and pronounce. So I have a student named after my cousin Ben! Ben, you will also be pleased to know he is at the top of the class as well, and loves his name. The Korean c-teacher named him Tim because the first day he was so shy and never told her I had given him a name. In the next class all the other students were calling him Tim, but he told me he liked Ben better!
I went to a baseball game here last week. It was great fun, probably the most excitement you can find in Korea. Seriously. These games are always packed! Once you get to the stadium, all the seats are first come first serve, so it can be madness. Our friend left earlier and saved seats as I ran home after work to change out of my dress clothes. After you are seated everyone makes pompoms out of newspaper, you fold the newspaper in half, and tear it in strips until you reach close the end, you leave some room for a handle and then you roll it. I am not joking when I tell you that everyone makes these. Also, I heard the most cheering I have ever heard in my life at this game, and I lived in rez! My favourite cheer is when you hear the stadium yell “Ma! Ma! Ma!” yep… they are chanting asshole. You can bring your own food and alcoholic beverages into the game, even glass bottles of soju, so everyone gets pretty boozy, which makes it funny when you see the old men dancing, like the man beside us, or when people get up on stage at half time or even as you are waiting for the game to start to sing karaoke! During the last inning everyone in the stand is handed an orange shopping bag. You are meant to blow up this bag and then tie it on your head. It is really funny to see a sea of orange heads! I think the main reason for this practice is because you are allowed to bring in your own food and drinks you can put your waste in these bags and leave it at the door as you are leaving. We didn’t bring our own things to the game, but bought a few beer. It really didn’t make much of a difference because it was still really cheap. One beer only cost me 2000won ($2). I couldn’t read the sign very well since it was all written in Korean, so I befriended the group beside me. During half time they went to get food, and even came back with enough for my group of friends as well. Koreans are so nice. They bought us fish that was molded into tubes that looked like thick noodles that was soaked into this spicy red sauce. It was actually pretty good. Another hit at the game is dried squid, or fried chicken. I have had dried spicy squid before, and it is actually pretty good!
This past weekend was a Korean holiday, which was really nice. I got Monday and Tuesday off of work, so this week I only had to work three days! The holiday was Chuseok, which is like a Korean Thanksgiving. From the amount of gifts I received from my kids you would have guessed it was Christmas! I got lotions, soaps, body wash, perfume, a picture frame. It was lovely! The perfume is very nice, it is a really nice brand I am told called Anna Sui. I like it because it smells nice and the top of the bottle is shaped like a peacock.
From what I have been told and what I have read Chuseok is a major holiday here and it is a time where all families gather together and give thanks to their ancestors for the bountiful harvest for that year. In the morning before they eat they make Songpyoen. This is a rice dessert filled with sesame seeds, red beans, chestnuts, pine needles… they are actually very tasty! We had a cooking class with our kindergarten classes where we made homemade songpyeon. It was so messy, and the kids had so much fun. We teachers in my group even made a bunch, and I was told I made them very well! Which is nice to hear because an old Korean saying says that the person who makes the most beautiful songpyeon will meet a good-looking spouse! Haha
The day before the holiday all my kindergarten classes were playing traditional Korean games to celebrate Chuseok at ECC. We played a jacks game, a game where you had to throw a stick into a long tube, a game that reminded me of hackie sack, and many others… we even got to eat songpyeon! All the kids also came to school wearing traditional Korean gowns… they looked soooo cute! I even got to wear one for a photo with each one of my students! My Camera is broken, so I don’t have any photos, but a friend of mine will send me hers soon! I will post them soon! However, Allie the drama queen and supermodel of the class who goes with her mother to the nail salon all the time to get her nails done told me I looked beautiful! Haha
For my long weekend I went to Seoul. It was really interesting there! Such a HUGE city. 10 million people live in Seoul, and they have 10 lines on the subway! It was madness at times! I took the cheapest bus to Seoul, which most people told me was crazy since it was the long weekend and a regular 5 hour trip would take 10! I decided to take my chances since the ticket was only 19000won, and the train was 50000won. I am glad that I chose the bus. It was actually very comfortable for me (I have short legs!) and it only took me 4-4.5 hours! The train takes 3.5! So I think I saved money there!!!
Once my friend and I got to Seoul we adventured onto the subway to the middle of Seoul, since I was on the East side. It took 30-40 min and I had to transfer subway lines like three times. But I did it!!! We got off the subway in Itaewon. This place is known as the “America of Seoul”. There are a lot of chains there that you would see in America, and the most foreign population I have seen in Korea yet. Walking down the street, I am not kidding you, I heard 5 different languages and about 20 different English accents! We ate Sushi for supper, then went to the corner store and bought a bottle of wine. This wine was only 5000won! We got ready for the night in our hotel, which had no bed! Oh… I had Korean style sleeping on the floor that night. Once we were ready and had a few glasses of wine we went to this cute jazz bar and listened to live jazz music. It was lovely! The music was great, and she even sang some English songs! When she finished her set, it was almost 2 in the morning, so we walked down to the heart of Itaewon and found the hill that many frequent called “Hooker Hill.” Now don’t get any ideas! We went to this bar called “Trance”… they had a Korean Drag show! What fun that was!! These drag queens were beautiful, and did a great job with their performances!! However, there was one woman who was a total train wreck, but hey, you can’t go to a drag show without at least one total train wreck right?!
The next night during my trip we stayed in Insadong (the spelling is probably wrong)… this is a very artsy place and you can buy lots of handmade goods, and that I did!! At one point during my shopping I saw a tiny little parade drive down the street. They were in these little orange motor bike type things with instruments attached all over. The first one had a keyboard, and the rest were various types of drums… I wish I had my camera! My camera is of course broken! The rest of my trip was pretty low key. I did a walk of the the old and new downtown areas of Seoul and saw a street that was made to look like a piano and a walk along the river… we also saw a Palace… I can’t wait to go back there! A friend I went to university lives there… well two friends! And I plan on going on another visit to spend time with them! Hopefully I will have a camera by then!
Well, I am sure there is tons more I could say…. But I am super tired and have a long day tomorrow! Someone I know came to work here in Korea, and after a week couldn’t handle it and left the country… her school was in dire need of help, so my co-worker Brad is covering all her morning shifts, which means I am covering one of his classes for the month!!! Ughhh… tragic turn of events!
Well goodnight all, and I promise to blog more often!
I am going to start with the beginning of September… I have a new class. My summer intensives loved my class so much so they all signed up for regular monthly classes! They are a great class, so I am really happy. We also had two extra students join my class. I am pretty sure that these two new students were new to English school because they didn’t have an English name. When you take English lessons here, you are given a name. The teachers are usually left responsible for naming these students. I think that is a pretty important role, as most of these children will keep these names for the rest of their English speaking lives. A name is very important for someone and can really give someone personality. I had a girl student and a boy student. Since it was the beginning of September and I had just missed my friend Jennifer Devine’s wedding and I was a little homesick I named her Jenny. Jenny, you will be pleased to know she is a wonderful student and very smart and doing very well in my class! So, you have a little Korean girl named after you!! As for the boy I tried to name him Edmund after my Daddy, but he couldn’t really say it or spell it all that well and he didn’t like Eddie! Hahah So, thinking about all the men and boys in my family I picked a nice short name in which he could easily spell and remember and pronounce. So I have a student named after my cousin Ben! Ben, you will also be pleased to know he is at the top of the class as well, and loves his name. The Korean c-teacher named him Tim because the first day he was so shy and never told her I had given him a name. In the next class all the other students were calling him Tim, but he told me he liked Ben better!
I went to a baseball game here last week. It was great fun, probably the most excitement you can find in Korea. Seriously. These games are always packed! Once you get to the stadium, all the seats are first come first serve, so it can be madness. Our friend left earlier and saved seats as I ran home after work to change out of my dress clothes. After you are seated everyone makes pompoms out of newspaper, you fold the newspaper in half, and tear it in strips until you reach close the end, you leave some room for a handle and then you roll it. I am not joking when I tell you that everyone makes these. Also, I heard the most cheering I have ever heard in my life at this game, and I lived in rez! My favourite cheer is when you hear the stadium yell “Ma! Ma! Ma!” yep… they are chanting asshole. You can bring your own food and alcoholic beverages into the game, even glass bottles of soju, so everyone gets pretty boozy, which makes it funny when you see the old men dancing, like the man beside us, or when people get up on stage at half time or even as you are waiting for the game to start to sing karaoke! During the last inning everyone in the stand is handed an orange shopping bag. You are meant to blow up this bag and then tie it on your head. It is really funny to see a sea of orange heads! I think the main reason for this practice is because you are allowed to bring in your own food and drinks you can put your waste in these bags and leave it at the door as you are leaving. We didn’t bring our own things to the game, but bought a few beer. It really didn’t make much of a difference because it was still really cheap. One beer only cost me 2000won ($2). I couldn’t read the sign very well since it was all written in Korean, so I befriended the group beside me. During half time they went to get food, and even came back with enough for my group of friends as well. Koreans are so nice. They bought us fish that was molded into tubes that looked like thick noodles that was soaked into this spicy red sauce. It was actually pretty good. Another hit at the game is dried squid, or fried chicken. I have had dried spicy squid before, and it is actually pretty good!
This past weekend was a Korean holiday, which was really nice. I got Monday and Tuesday off of work, so this week I only had to work three days! The holiday was Chuseok, which is like a Korean Thanksgiving. From the amount of gifts I received from my kids you would have guessed it was Christmas! I got lotions, soaps, body wash, perfume, a picture frame. It was lovely! The perfume is very nice, it is a really nice brand I am told called Anna Sui. I like it because it smells nice and the top of the bottle is shaped like a peacock.
From what I have been told and what I have read Chuseok is a major holiday here and it is a time where all families gather together and give thanks to their ancestors for the bountiful harvest for that year. In the morning before they eat they make Songpyoen. This is a rice dessert filled with sesame seeds, red beans, chestnuts, pine needles… they are actually very tasty! We had a cooking class with our kindergarten classes where we made homemade songpyeon. It was so messy, and the kids had so much fun. We teachers in my group even made a bunch, and I was told I made them very well! Which is nice to hear because an old Korean saying says that the person who makes the most beautiful songpyeon will meet a good-looking spouse! Haha
The day before the holiday all my kindergarten classes were playing traditional Korean games to celebrate Chuseok at ECC. We played a jacks game, a game where you had to throw a stick into a long tube, a game that reminded me of hackie sack, and many others… we even got to eat songpyeon! All the kids also came to school wearing traditional Korean gowns… they looked soooo cute! I even got to wear one for a photo with each one of my students! My Camera is broken, so I don’t have any photos, but a friend of mine will send me hers soon! I will post them soon! However, Allie the drama queen and supermodel of the class who goes with her mother to the nail salon all the time to get her nails done told me I looked beautiful! Haha
For my long weekend I went to Seoul. It was really interesting there! Such a HUGE city. 10 million people live in Seoul, and they have 10 lines on the subway! It was madness at times! I took the cheapest bus to Seoul, which most people told me was crazy since it was the long weekend and a regular 5 hour trip would take 10! I decided to take my chances since the ticket was only 19000won, and the train was 50000won. I am glad that I chose the bus. It was actually very comfortable for me (I have short legs!) and it only took me 4-4.5 hours! The train takes 3.5! So I think I saved money there!!!
Once my friend and I got to Seoul we adventured onto the subway to the middle of Seoul, since I was on the East side. It took 30-40 min and I had to transfer subway lines like three times. But I did it!!! We got off the subway in Itaewon. This place is known as the “America of Seoul”. There are a lot of chains there that you would see in America, and the most foreign population I have seen in Korea yet. Walking down the street, I am not kidding you, I heard 5 different languages and about 20 different English accents! We ate Sushi for supper, then went to the corner store and bought a bottle of wine. This wine was only 5000won! We got ready for the night in our hotel, which had no bed! Oh… I had Korean style sleeping on the floor that night. Once we were ready and had a few glasses of wine we went to this cute jazz bar and listened to live jazz music. It was lovely! The music was great, and she even sang some English songs! When she finished her set, it was almost 2 in the morning, so we walked down to the heart of Itaewon and found the hill that many frequent called “Hooker Hill.” Now don’t get any ideas! We went to this bar called “Trance”… they had a Korean Drag show! What fun that was!! These drag queens were beautiful, and did a great job with their performances!! However, there was one woman who was a total train wreck, but hey, you can’t go to a drag show without at least one total train wreck right?!
The next night during my trip we stayed in Insadong (the spelling is probably wrong)… this is a very artsy place and you can buy lots of handmade goods, and that I did!! At one point during my shopping I saw a tiny little parade drive down the street. They were in these little orange motor bike type things with instruments attached all over. The first one had a keyboard, and the rest were various types of drums… I wish I had my camera! My camera is of course broken! The rest of my trip was pretty low key. I did a walk of the the old and new downtown areas of Seoul and saw a street that was made to look like a piano and a walk along the river… we also saw a Palace… I can’t wait to go back there! A friend I went to university lives there… well two friends! And I plan on going on another visit to spend time with them! Hopefully I will have a camera by then!
Well, I am sure there is tons more I could say…. But I am super tired and have a long day tomorrow! Someone I know came to work here in Korea, and after a week couldn’t handle it and left the country… her school was in dire need of help, so my co-worker Brad is covering all her morning shifts, which means I am covering one of his classes for the month!!! Ughhh… tragic turn of events!
Well goodnight all, and I promise to blog more often!
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