Hilariously, people in Korea looove this expression. At least 2 people say it to me every Friday. They may not be able to speak any other English, but they sure as hell know TGIF!!
I'm sitting here trying and failing to put together new lesson materials (I can't figure out how to get youtube videos into PowerPoint) and just took some ibuprofen for my raging headache... but hey, THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!! And TGEM (even more) that next week I only work for 2 days (Mon/Tues) and then I have a five-day weekend. That sound you hear is the sky parting to a choir of angels. Tonight, as per usual, I am leaving for Seoul right after work and meeting up with some friends to go out, then tomorrow some other friends and I are going to Seoul Land (which is the Korean rip-off of Disneyland... no joke, 3 of the 5 themed areas are Adventure Land, Fantasy Land, and Tomorrow Land. I think Disney should be suing their asses). It might even be slightly warm tomorrow! In May!! Shocker!!!
Excuse my excessive sarcasm, I just think this weather is total and absolute BS, and I am ready for it to not be cold anymore. My managing teacher was asking me this morning what is wrong with me. "Why do you have a headache? Why are you so tired? What do you do at night? Are you hungover?" "No I get 8-10 hours of sleep every night. I have no idea what's wrong with me." "Ohhh, well this is not normal. Maybe you need to try harder." For some reason, Koreans love to point out your flaws or what's wrong with you and it's totally not rude here. The other day, I had a pimple. One pimple, on my cheek. I walk into my office and the first thing Kristen says to me is, "Oh no, you have a pimple!!! Ohh, I am so sorry!! This is too bad!!!" Well thanks a ton, Kristen, it's like I may as well be dying. Then a student in my 5th period class said, "Ohhh, teacher, you have bad complexion." Again, thanks for pointing that out. God forbid anyone has a bad case of acne in this country.
Excuse my ranting. I am just thoroughly annoyed at the moment. I need to get out of Haseong. TGIF!!!
Friday 30 April 2010
Wednesday 28 April 2010
WHERE IS SPRING?????
Apparently this is one of the coldest and longest winters South Korea has ever had. Spring normally arrives long before the date I got here, April 12th. But not this year!! Ever since I got to Korea, it has been freakin freezing. Today, three days away from May, it is only about 40 degrees and windy and rainy. Same thing yesterday. I am ready to cut someone. GIVE ME SPRING!!!
On a side note, today the foreign-language teaching department (8 people, including myself) went out to lunch after midterm exams. The Koreans call this hwe-shik and it is quite a frequent occurrence within companies and organizations as kind of a bonding ritual. At least once a month, an entire department or even the whole school faculty will go out to a restaurant for lunch or dinner and drinks. There has not yet been an evening hwe-shik since I started working here, but apparently those are the ones that get really messy because all the teachers get super-drunk. In Korea, it is very very rude to stop drinking before the head boss (or principal in the case of a school) so I have heard from other native English teachers that hwe-shiks at night are pretty crazy and funny, but also a bit much to deal with. Anyway, at our hwe-shik today, we literally ate soup of fish eggs and fish guts. It was good, even though the eggs and guts really did look disgusting. I am really glad that I am not put off by gross-sounding or gross-looking food, because I would be missing out on some good stuff. I remember being the only one of my friends to eat the haggis back in Scotland, and it was delicious.
Although right now, my stomach kinda hurts. I hope I don't regret being adventurous today....
On a side note, today the foreign-language teaching department (8 people, including myself) went out to lunch after midterm exams. The Koreans call this hwe-shik and it is quite a frequent occurrence within companies and organizations as kind of a bonding ritual. At least once a month, an entire department or even the whole school faculty will go out to a restaurant for lunch or dinner and drinks. There has not yet been an evening hwe-shik since I started working here, but apparently those are the ones that get really messy because all the teachers get super-drunk. In Korea, it is very very rude to stop drinking before the head boss (or principal in the case of a school) so I have heard from other native English teachers that hwe-shiks at night are pretty crazy and funny, but also a bit much to deal with. Anyway, at our hwe-shik today, we literally ate soup of fish eggs and fish guts. It was good, even though the eggs and guts really did look disgusting. I am really glad that I am not put off by gross-sounding or gross-looking food, because I would be missing out on some good stuff. I remember being the only one of my friends to eat the haggis back in Scotland, and it was delicious.
Although right now, my stomach kinda hurts. I hope I don't regret being adventurous today....
Monday 26 April 2010
Stupid Americans
I felt that this deserved its own entry because it's hard to formulate my thoughts on this topic. I don't know who I'm angrier with. Allow me to explain.
Last week, I spent W-F at a 3-day orientation for public school teachers in my province (which I desperately needed). Out of about 1,000 teachers, I'd say 75% were male, which was the first thing that jumped out at me. Second thing was that over 50% were American, with the rest split between the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa (oh yeah, and like one dude from Ireland). Now, I've traveled quite a bit, and one thing you can usually count on is that the vast majority of foreigners you meet while traveling tend to be friendly, tolerant, open-minded people who are interested in the culture they are visiting. If you aren't of this mindset, you probably aren't traveling in the first place. Not so in Korea!! I guess it's a combination of the high demand for teachers and the relatively high salary that they pay native English speakers to teach, but there was a significant number of straight-up douchebags at this orientation. As well as a few utter weirdos and crazies (there was one lady who I swear would be one of the crazy babblers living on the streets if she were back in SF). I just kept asking myself, why are these people even here? Why live in another country if all you want to do is complain, get wasted, and try to bang Korean girls? Are you freaking kidding me??
Last week, I spent W-F at a 3-day orientation for public school teachers in my province (which I desperately needed). Out of about 1,000 teachers, I'd say 75% were male, which was the first thing that jumped out at me. Second thing was that over 50% were American, with the rest split between the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa (oh yeah, and like one dude from Ireland). Now, I've traveled quite a bit, and one thing you can usually count on is that the vast majority of foreigners you meet while traveling tend to be friendly, tolerant, open-minded people who are interested in the culture they are visiting. If you aren't of this mindset, you probably aren't traveling in the first place. Not so in Korea!! I guess it's a combination of the high demand for teachers and the relatively high salary that they pay native English speakers to teach, but there was a significant number of straight-up douchebags at this orientation. As well as a few utter weirdos and crazies (there was one lady who I swear would be one of the crazy babblers living on the streets if she were back in SF). I just kept asking myself, why are these people even here? Why live in another country if all you want to do is complain, get wasted, and try to bang Korean girls? Are you freaking kidding me??
Seoul Impressions
So I've spent the last two weekends in Seoul and I realized I've barely said anything about it. I suppose since I will very likely be there at least every other weekend, if not every weekend, I should record my thoughts on the place.
First of all, I don't know why I thought that Seoul would be compact like NYC or SF, but it is definitely not. Imagine if LA were filled with high-rise apartment buildings instead of one- or two-story family homes and you have Seoul. Hugely expansive, spread out, crazy traffic. Except Seoul actually has a useful, functional, wonderful subway system which just goes to prove (I'm looking at you, LA) that even gigantic cities can be easy to get around. The actual city has 10 million (!!) people while the metropolitan area, including suburbs, is 25 million, which is literally half the population of the entire country. Many parts of the city are really ugly, but other neighborhoods are really really cool and fun to wander and get lost in. One thing that I can't stop noticing is how ridiculously long the traffic lights are here. I will never complain about a "long" red light in the US again. I've waited at crosswalks for up to 5 minutes. It's annoying.
First of all, I don't know why I thought that Seoul would be compact like NYC or SF, but it is definitely not. Imagine if LA were filled with high-rise apartment buildings instead of one- or two-story family homes and you have Seoul. Hugely expansive, spread out, crazy traffic. Except Seoul actually has a useful, functional, wonderful subway system which just goes to prove (I'm looking at you, LA) that even gigantic cities can be easy to get around. The actual city has 10 million (!!) people while the metropolitan area, including suburbs, is 25 million, which is literally half the population of the entire country. Many parts of the city are really ugly, but other neighborhoods are really really cool and fun to wander and get lost in. One thing that I can't stop noticing is how ridiculously long the traffic lights are here. I will never complain about a "long" red light in the US again. I've waited at crosswalks for up to 5 minutes. It's annoying.
Monday 19 April 2010
Culture Shock Has Landed
So this weekend I finally made it out of Haseong and headed down to Seoul both Friday and Saturday night. As soon as school let out on Friday, I hopped on bus # 2 for the hour-long trip to Songjeong, and then took the Seoul Metro system for another hour into Itaewon, the main 'foreigner area' of Seoul. The subway was incredibly nice and easy to navigate, with actual clean functioning public restrooms in every station and full cell phone service on every train. I appreciate the fact that subway systems are pretty much the same no matter where you go, which makes them a lot easier to figure out than local buses.
Thursday 15 April 2010
What a Difference a Day Makes
Yesterday I was shocked and appalled by the situation in front of me. Today, I am feeling a whole lot different.
After one of our classes today, I asked Mr. Lee if he could give me a clearer idea of what my role is meant to be in the classroom. My friend Jenna teaches at a public middle school in Osan and is basically the main teacher in charge of her English classes, creating all the lesson plans and materials, whereas I just seem to stand around. I was just having a difficult time grasping what I'm meant to be doing with these students. Mr. Lee did not really give me a straight answer but seemed to imply that he prefers to lead the class and that I am there in a support capacity, offering correct pronunciations and cultural insights.
After one of our classes today, I asked Mr. Lee if he could give me a clearer idea of what my role is meant to be in the classroom. My friend Jenna teaches at a public middle school in Osan and is basically the main teacher in charge of her English classes, creating all the lesson plans and materials, whereas I just seem to stand around. I was just having a difficult time grasping what I'm meant to be doing with these students. Mr. Lee did not really give me a straight answer but seemed to imply that he prefers to lead the class and that I am there in a support capacity, offering correct pronunciations and cultural insights.
Wednesday 14 April 2010
Trying Really Hard...
Is it possible to be jaded after 3 days?
I suppose I shouldn't have had any expectations, because history has proven that they are usually defied. But WOW. Honestly, WOW. This job is going to be really freaking difficult. I was under the impression that most Korean high school students have at least a rudimentary grasp of English having studied it for several years now. ERRRRR, wrong!!! I have exactly one class that is considered "advanced" and the rest? They literally don't. Know. Anything.
I suppose I shouldn't have had any expectations, because history has proven that they are usually defied. But WOW. Honestly, WOW. This job is going to be really freaking difficult. I was under the impression that most Korean high school students have at least a rudimentary grasp of English having studied it for several years now. ERRRRR, wrong!!! I have exactly one class that is considered "advanced" and the rest? They literally don't. Know. Anything.
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Jet Lag Is Catching Up To Me...
Yesterday was a really long day and I am definitely feeling it today. After school let out, my co-worker Kristen and another teacher, Ushi, offered to help me get a cell phone so that I will not get horrifically lost this weekend when I go to meet up with my friend Jenna in Seoul. None of us had any idea that apparently it is more difficult for a foreigner to get a cell phone in Korea than it is to get a freaking work visa. After driving 25 minutes to downtown Gimpo, we made it to the Samsung store, where they informed us that foreigners are required to sign 2-year contracts in order to get a phone. With nearly all work visas good for only 1 year, this is clearly a discriminatory practice designed so that no foreigners will use SK Telecom (the provider for Samsung phones). Next, we headed over to the LG store in order to sign up with LG instead and everything was going smoothly at first, with the phone costing only 40,000 won (about $35) and a 1-year plan that costs only 12,000 won ($10) per month + 20 won (0.018 cents) per text message. Seemed like a great deal, especially compared to the exorbitantly overpriced crap we have to deal with in the US.
Monday 12 April 2010
Sur-Reality
Well then.
I can already tell this is going to be a ridiculous, bizarre, and awesome experience. I've been in Korea for less than 24 hours and jeez, talk about diving right in. I wonder when the culture shock is going to hit.
I can already tell this is going to be a ridiculous, bizarre, and awesome experience. I've been in Korea for less than 24 hours and jeez, talk about diving right in. I wonder when the culture shock is going to hit.
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