teacher's day, palace museum, and games

We haven't updated in two weeks, so here's another quick update on our lives.

Last weekend was a relaxing weekend, because we didn't go anywhere or do that much. On Saturday we just cleaned and rested, and on Sunday some of Aaron's relatives came by and dropped off a table, a fan, some pots, and lots of food, so it was very appreciated and pretty good, especially the table, because we had been eating off a tray off the floor. Also, we figured out the AC so we are ready for the humid hot summer!

This Friday was Teachers Day in Korea, so apparently the teachers get presents from students (and their parents) or the school. Aaron didn't really get much (except lunch out on Friday and got to go home early) but I got some flowers, perfume, little bunny decoration thing, and some soap.



This weekend was pretty cold and rainy. On Saturday it rained ALL day and was pretty chilly, but we headed to Seoul, where first we went to the National Palace Museum, which was better than the Ho Am, because it had some more interesting exhibits, such as instruments and clothes and such. We wanted to do the palace but it was so rainy that we didn't really want to stay outside too long.










After that, we headed to Yongsan, where we helped two friends get cell phones. The first one was good because we headed to the second stall and he got a good deal, but the other friend had a lot of trouble trying to get a phone that works as a prepaid phone, and he had to go to many stalls, and ended up with not as a good deal.




It was Costco after that, and we bought some food, such as oatmeal, mashed poatoes, canned meat, etc. We almost got lost but eventually found out way. We managed to pack most things into our bag so it was good, because it was raining pretty hard when we got back.

Today (Sunday), we invited one of our friends over to play some games. It was a pretty fun day, although he did get lost to our boonies, since it was pretty hard to get to. First he took the bus the wrong direction, then got off one stop after us, etc. But eventually he got here and we played some our games, such as Guillotine, Flux, and Gloom. We also had chocolate cake and I made curry. Then he also taught us how to play Magic Cards. A pretty enjoyable day.





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Apartment video

Video post!


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Our apartment!

We finally made a video and pictures of our apartment, because we cleaned up a bit and well, I'm sure soon our apartment won't be this clean ever again, so why not.

Here are some more pictures. We will follow up with a video post.

Our neighborhood dog

Our clothes rack, since there are no dryers here

Our bedroom

Our kitchen

Our kitchen from the other view

Main living room. The sliding door on the left is to the kitchen, the brown door on the right is to the bedroom.

Living room towards the door

Our tiny bedroom

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Aaron's jumbled musings

I'm jumping into the blog a tad late so, i'll try to fill in some gaps here and there.

 

Consulate

 

Dealing with the Korean consulate was pretty tough.  We tried to confirm required paperwork and etc with the Consulate, but the person on the phone didn't understand and kept on saying to check the website (even though we were staring at it simultaneously).  The website, of course, was also confusing and didn't really explain much.

 

Eventually, we got down to Houston, from Dallas (left at 4:30 am), and had our interviews with some Korean guy.  He was pretty hardcore, I couldn't get a smile from that guy at all.  He seemed to ask random questions to me and Jacki (one on one), and I think as well to the three other people that were there for the same purpose.

 

Packing

 

We took about a month to pack for Korea.  Tried to weigh the pros and cons of taking various items and tried to pack against the unknowns.  Weight was our enemy.  So was bulk, but we solved that a bit by using a DIY vacuum seal on some bulkier items.

 

Prior Leaving & Korean

 

We tried to eat lots of BBQ and steak before we left, although we don't normally because its slightly unhealthy.  I figure the slight weight increase can't hurt, most people end up losing weight in Korea.

 

So I ended up learning some Korean before we left, I figure it couldn't hurt.  I started I think sometime back around 4 months prior to leaving.  I did have a extremely rudimentary understanding of Korean because I'm a halfer and I also took a semester in college (where I believe I didn't learn much do to motivation issues).  I assumed that I might be judged slightly harder because I am a halfer so I figured I'd attempt it with my free time.  I didn't have much time to learn it, because I was finishing my masters program at the time, but persistence pays off it seems.  It's slow at first, but then it builds and it feels good to be able to read/talk/listen to others when here even if only basically.  Although, most English teachers don't know a lick of it, so I wouldn't worry too much about it though if you don't know any.

 

Airport and Plane Trip

 

Well, I was worried about our weight limits, but it seemed to be fine.  Out of our checked bags, two of them were 50 pounds, and then 50.5, and 51.5.  Didn't seem to charge/hassle us for going over the 50 lb limit which was good.

 

Our carry-ons were slightly bulky and heavy as well.  A gate stewardess ended up telling us that we had to check one (at no charge), so I gave her the lightest one, lol.  The others were most likely over the 25 lb limit.

 

So the flight was long and boring, I couldn't sleep very much as usual (like one hour out of 14).  The food was not enough, it was the first flight where I asked for more food and they didn't have any.  So we slightly starved, and we're not overweight by any means.

 

Arrival in Korea

 

The taxi driver was nice and liked that I could speak some Korean as do most.  The taxi driver got lost near the end of our journey with him because we're located in the middle of the boonies. 

 

On Friday, our apartment was filled with people/co-teachers/co-workers, and no-one seemed to introduce themselves to us off the bat, so we ended up confused and bewildered in our jet-lag stupor.  We went out and got to experience first-hand how cold it was.  We ended up going out for dinner in our light jackets and nothng else -- It was cold.

 

I think the second day, we unpacked our massive horde and realized a few mistakes -- packed a few things we shouldn't have and should've packed a few things, but nothing too serious.  We went major shopping on Saturday and it filled in the gaps for a lot of basic necessities.

 

Met with about eight expats at another dinner on Sunday.  I felt a bit bad because they were blabbing away with each other without talking to the two Korean people that were there, so I ended up trying to make some small talk with them.

 

Apartment

It's fairly quiet there surprisingly.  We live next to the stair way, so we hear some people walking by, but its not too bad.  Our windows are nice and fairly secluded.  The layout is slightly strange, but no biggie.  Showers are somewhat a pain, getting the toilet wet (and most other things) irritates me for some reason.  Ah, bed was slightly annoying, they bought blankets for us, but there blankets are probably what we would consider good as floor mats.  We brought some small blankets and linens (although it was tedious last minute weight issue) which was well worth it.  Thermostat and hot water work decently, just curious about the cost of it all down the line -- cause we like it toasty.

 

Buses

 

Buses are interesting, they cost about 60 cents USD oneway and use an electronic rechargable card.  The buses are fast, but they sometimes lack enough stop buttons generally situated throughout the bus.  Getting off is sometimes difficult because of their speed.

 

School & Classes

 

Well, the school was slightly ill-prepared for my arrival, but that's alright.  I like the extra time to get settled.  I worked on the first lesson a few days in advance of my first actual class and it seemed to work out fine.  But, so far I've only taught one class.  The co-teacher (the only one that talks semi-fluently, mentors me, and shows me around), is really helpful.  Her only drawbacks are lack of information at times.  I knew I was going to teach my first class today, I just didn't know when until 5-10 min before as kids started to pile in, lol.

 

The classroom is pretty new, and has some fairly nice equipment.  The podium that they have has a built-in touch-screen computer and an electronic projector that seems to be touch-screen (although annoyingly at times) as well.  I can't help but think that these walls are my prison cell for the next year though, lol.

 

There is only one men's restroom in this school since it is all female and there are like 700+ students.  It's slightly annoying because I have to somewhat cross the school and the flocks of students along the way.

 

Integration

 

The teachers nod in acknowledgement, and some will try to talk in broken English or minor Korean, but most of the teachers are fairly oblivious.  The students on the other hand are super hyper, and about 1/5 will try to say hi or hello as your passing by.  Not really used to the attention myself, I'd rather just walk down the hallway like a college student and be ignored like the best of them, lol.  So, I generally try to avoid the hallways during the recesses between classes.  I'm a bit of a celebrity here, I suppose.

 

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First Few Days of Korea

It's Monday afternoon now, and I'm sitting my empty classroom. Today there was only an opening ceremony at my school, so no teaching today, but since I do have internet here at my desk, I can talk about the last few days' adventures.

 

THE FLIGHT

 

So, we left Texas on Thursday morning, and had a 14 and a half hours of flight. It was pretty long, but at least it did leave on time, which was good. We had way too much luggage, but my dad helped us and we were able to get everything to the aiport with little problem. When we settled in the plane, it was a packed flight so there was a guy sitting next to us. I think he was going to Vietnam. There was the little screen in front of our seats but Aaron's was broken so he couldn't use his, and used mine sometimes. There was a few dinky games on it like minigolf and yatze. I watched a few TV shows on my screen, such as a cruise show with Samantha Brown, a show about San Francisco, "faking it" show, and some other shows. I also watched a movie, Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which was about the innocence of children. It is how a son of the commander of a concentration camp makes friends with a jewish prisoner boy. It was pretty sad at the end, without giving away too much, but I felt like it didn't really conclude much. The food was pretty dinky in size, so we were pretty hungry most of the flight.

 

We finally landed on Friday, around 3pm, Korean time. Going through immigration was relatively easy, just had to fill a bunch of forms and go through a few people, but in the end we got our bags (although one of mine took forever to get out) and met our ride, a taxi driver, outside. The ride took about 2 hours, but when we got there, we kept no getting lost, because apparently our apartment is pretty hard to find. But eventually we found it when it was almost dark, and lugged our luggage into the room.

 

 

 

FRIDAY NIGHT

 

The apartment is actually pretty decently sized, other than the small kitchen and bathroom. The living room was relatively spacious, as is the bedroom. The only problem is the lack of furniture or drawers or closets or anywhere to actually put stuff in. So we met some teachers from our school at the apartment, and they took us out to a restaurant for dinner. It was okay food - some jajangmyeon, some chicken dish, and some shrimp dish. We were pretty tired though, so right after we went to our apartment and slept. It was pretty cold when it got dark.

 

 

SATURDAY

 

On Saturday we woke up at like 4:30 because our bodies weren't used to the time shift yet. Today we went out with Aaron's coteacher for some groceries and visiting his school. His school is an all girls' middle school, and his English classroom was brand spankin new. We walked around a little bit and then we went grocery shopping in downtown Anseong. An Korean supermarket is interesting - it's very crowded and of course everything is in Korean so it was hard to find stuff. Also, rice is expensive (but yummy). So is fruit. We did buy some noodles, rice, and some random things like cereal and milk to eat for a little bit. We also went to an Korean restaurant for lunch, which we had bulgogi soup. It was very tender and delicious. We sat on the floor to eat, and there was lots of yummy side dishes as well. After that, she drove us back to our apartment and we rested the rest of the day. It was interesting because it shows subtitled English movies on the TV so we watched some movies, such as Juno, Harry Potter movies, Terminator, Xmen 3, etc. We also figured out the shower and explored the area a little bit.

 

SUNDAY

 

On Sunday we got up around 6-7ish. Not as early at 4:30, that's for sure! Today this morning we didn't do too much, just explored our tiny little town of Samjuk, which was pretty much one street. Then we went to the local grocery, which was pretty small and a lot of things didn't even have prices printed on it, so there was lots of mystery costs. We did find pasta, so we bought some of that, as well as some soymilk and some snacks and random things. The food here are pretty good, though expensive. Later in the day we went out with two teachers from my school back to downtown Anseong. One is a new teacher who is going to be my co teacher, and one was the coteacher from last year. We also met up with the native teacher at my school from last year, Courtney, and her friend as well. We went to a coffeehouse with some drinks and cake, and then we all went out to eat galbi along with some of Courtney's western friends. It was the first time we've met up with other expats, so it was pretty cool. I think there were in total, other than Aaron and I, about five other expats. The food was good as well, and good conversation. It's nice to speak fluently, not with broken English, for once.

 

 

MONDAY

 

So it's Monday today and here I am in my classroom. This morning we woke up and I walked to the bus stop around 8:20. The bus stop seems far but it's actually not bad, about a 5 min walk or so. I went with my coteacher to the school, which was in a green building. The school isn't too big, about two stories, but there are two buildings that are connected by a side. This morning we got into my classroom and I just explored the room a little bit. There are about 36 chairs in my room, not too huge. There are also a ton of books and materials, games and signs and things like that. It is pretty interesting. Our textbook seems pretty simple, we also have cds of video sample conversation that goes along with the textbook. Each grade has its own textbook. After that we went to th gym, where there was some sort of opening ceremony for the school, where I saw all the kids and had to stand with the teachers. There was a point where I had to go on stage with my coteacher and some other teachers and stand there and be introduced, and I saw a million little faces staring at me. It was a little nervewrecking, especially since I didn't understand most of the whole ceremony. After that, we went to the teachers room, where we were introduced to the teachers, and I had to stand up there and say something, so I said something like "I hope I can teach English well here" or something. After that, all the schools' employees went out for lunch - we went to a local restaurant and got kimchi jigae, which is kimchi stew. It was hot but actually pretty good. After lunch coteacher and I went to the principal's office where he talked to us. Or rather, he talked to her in Korean and she translated some of it. And so I had to sit there and smile when I don't understand a word he's talking about. Which was most of today, of which people would talk and I would be like sitting there smiling like a weirdo, lol. And thus, that was my day, thus far.

 

 

I will be sure to upload some pictures of our apartment, my classroom, and other general Korea scenes soon.

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