Cultural Trip and Not Playing Soccer

Last weekend, the Provincial Office of Education hosted a cultural trip for all of the TaLK scholars in the province. Not only would they pay for our hotels, food, and travel, but we also got Friday off of school. So, on Friday morning, the scholars from the Suncheon area all met up at a gas station awaiting the bus that was picking us up. This trip wasn't just for our group, but also scholars that are still here from before. So, there were about 60 of us in total, taking up two buses. First,we made our way to the port city of Tongyeong. This is where the famous Korean admiral Yi Sun Sin fought the Japanese in the 16th century. The city itself was beautiful, with multiple islands just off the coast and beautiful architecture lining the port area. We took a Ferry out to the islands and toured a temple and also the battle monuments. That night, we stayed in a great resort just on the coast.

                Interesting fact about Korean hotels. No matter how nice the hotel or resort, chances are, you will not get any beds. That's right. We walked into our very nice resort, and our rooms are empty. In the closets are mats and pillows, but you are on the floor. However, the mats are thick enough to where you are quite comfortable. This resort also had it's own noraebang, pool room, bowling alley, and anything else we would want to do. Needless to say, we made sure to use everything the resort offered. The next morning, we got up early and headed to the 2nd largest city in Korea, Busan. We went immediately to the Busan aquarium, located underground just on the beach. The aquarium was quite nice and had great displays, including a glass tunnel with a variety of sharks and then the penguin exhibit, which was cool to see. After a great lunch, we made our way up to Gyeongju, a city two hours north of Busan. This historical city is full of temples and museums to explore.  After getting into Gyeongju, we arrived at yet another fancy resort. No beds, but the overall luxury of the hotel more than made up for it. When we got up, a buffet style breakfast was ready for us that was amongst the best food i've had in a while. Eggs made right in front of you and how you wanted them, potato wedges, sausages, toast, cereal, fruits, and even different types of cheeses. All of this may seem like thing you can get at your nearest Waffle House to you, but here in Korea, getting a breakfast like this is rare, especially with cheese.

               That day, we got to tour the different musuems of the area and get an idea of what Korea would have looked like centuries ago. On top of that, we also visited the burial mounds that had been preserved. This ongoing property had small mounds sticking out of the ground which was where funerals were done. We found a bike shop next door, and a large group of us rented bikes for just $3. Not only did we ride through the beautiful area around the burial mounds, but we also got to ride through parts of the city. Overall, a great time. After that, we made the four hour trek back to Suncheon. The trip was awesome, and we got to see a lot of things we may not have gotten to see on our own. Also, it was great to just be back as a complete group. We are together almost every weekend, but usually it's only ten or so of us, and not everyone.

               The week went smoothly. The school is getting ready for the school festival coming up, so students are practicing everything from dances to skits. We are practicing our own stuff for the festival, so i'm looking forward to my students pulling of some english songs with style. This weekend, I was pretty busy. On Saturday morning, the Local Office of Education here in Gwangyang hosted a cultural trip for the TaLK scholars. Because it was local, we didn't leave Gwangyang. We were taken to a place where different types of Korean food is made. We spent the morning make Kimchi, the most common Korean food, and also rice cakes, a common dessert. I must admit, the process for making those two foods is tedious work. Although it was work, it was rewarding. On top of that, we had a delicious lunch. That evening, Gio came over from Boseung and we went out to the soccer fields to just shoot around. When we got there, there were some korean teams playing. So, we decided to sit and watch. After being there maybe two minutes, a team approached us and asked if we wanted to play for them. We of course said yes, and within two minutes we were starting a match with a team we didn't know. We did really well, and they were asking us afterwards to come back next week. So, maybe we will. That night, G6 game to Gwangyang and we all went out together. There was a birthday party for one of the girls in town, so we made our appearance there.While we were there, Gio and I ran into a table of hispanics. There was a Brazilian, a Columbian, and a spanish speaking American. When we realized that the spanish speakers didn't speak english, we asked what brought them to Korea (foreigners are normally english teachers or soldiers). Turns out, we were talking with some professional soccer players that played for the Chunnam Dragons here in Gwangyang. They were here on contract. They were pretty cool guys and definitely had some good conversation about Korea and what it would be like to play with a team that doesn't speak your language.

               The next morning,  we got up at 7am to get ready for a soccer tournament in Busan. We got a taxi to Suncheon to meet up with the team. We had hired a bus and driver for the day because about 13 of us would be going by bus. Although the bus was very expensive, it would turn out to be less expensive than all of us getting bus tickets and then taxis from the bus station. At 9:00am, as we are boarding our private bus, the other team calls and tells us that because the field they reserved was a grass field and that it was raining, the match had to be cancelled. Why they decided to tell us so late, or reserve a grass field with a forecast of rain, no one knows. All we do know is that because we had the bus come out and pick us up and reserved it for the day, we had to pay the entire bus fee. So, after each of us spending about $20 on a bus we wouldn't use, we decided to get some use out of it. We had the bus first take us to McDonalds for a team breakfast before finally dropping us all of at our houses. It turned out to be a very expensive bus ride, especially considering we never got to play our match.

               So, that is what has been happening with me lately. Over the next few weekends, i'll be playing a lot of soccer in different cities around Korea as there are a lot of tournaments going on. My weeks will be fairly repetitive, as they should be. On that note, I want to, in a way, change the direction and focus of this blog. Because i'm fairly settled in here in Korea, only on certain occassion will I be discovering new thing to write about. So, I will try to choose a topic every week to write about on top of just simply updating everyone on what i'm up to. The topics will be things like tips on living in Korea for those of you who found this blog by googling "living in korea". Also, I'll post on cultural notes and anything else interesting that I come across. Hopefully I can try to keep things interesting for everyone to read.

Make sure to check out some of the pictures!

Thanks for reading! 

Tongyeong

On the ferry

Taking a cable car to the highest point in the area. This is the town of Tongyeong.

The Islands in the far distance area part of Japan.

Ringing the gong at one of the temples.

Funny enough , I realized that this is the same temple in my background image of the blog.

Burial Mounds

Riding bikes at the Burial mounds. The person behind me is not affiliated.

Children Falling, Small Kittens, and Making Jerro

Hello There,

              Since I finished and posted the video for the contest, a few things have happened (obviously). For starters, I finally got over my sickness a couple of days ago. The total running time: 13 Days, 4 hours, and 33 minutes, give or take a few hours. Even now, I'm still sneezing every once in a while, but the actual 'being sick' part of it is over. Now, I just have to stay healthy.

               Two Fridays ago, so the 21st, I get a call from a friend at 8am. She goes, "Hey, so you mentioned wanting a kitten, well, someone has one." Basically, someone in Suncheon bought a kitten from a pet store, woke up the next morning and realized that he was leaving soon and keeping the kitten wouldn't really be fair. So, he needed to let someone take it. After much debate, I decided to take the kitten. It is a small, black and white kitten that was 2 weeks old when I got it. I named it Romi, which is short for Ramyeon, the Korean word for Noodles. She is very loud, very hyper, and anything else that can describe a kitten. Luckily, she uses the litter box and only the litter box. In fact, I even accidently locked her in my wardrobe for an entire afternoon (not really my fault), and when I found her, she jumped out and ran straight to the litter box. Great cat.

               Last tuesday, the 25th of October, the school had a field trip. It was optional, but I decided to go along. So, at 8:30am, a teacher picked me up from my apartment and we headed to the school. When I got there, everyone was lined up, ready to get on the buses. I knew we were going hiking, but I wasn't sure what to expect. The last time we went hiking, we walked a 1/4 mile, sat down, and ate. So, I really didn't think too much of it. Well, this time was different. First, we drove for what felt like half an hour into the mountains. We are dropped off at the huge lodge, where we take pictures and start walking.

(Insert cultural oberservation tangent below)

               As we are beginning our walk, I realize something. It is something i've been told about and even seen a few times, but this was the first time that I was blown away by it. In Korea, when a Korean is performing some type of physical activity, such as soccer, golf, camping, or anything really, there is a need to be 110% equipped, no matter how serious the event. There are guys in my town with full sets of golf clubs, balls, bags, shoes, and everything else needed to play the PGA tour, except that the only golf they play is screen golf because there isn't a course within 300 miles. On this hiking trip, every teacher and student out there shows up with full hiking gear, a hiking pole, backpack, canteens, you name it. Here I am with my jeans, tennis shows, and sports jacket. People are asking me, aren't you cold? Where is your hat? Are your feet sore? No, i'm fine.

               Ok, so we are walking. After about 10 minutes, the path gets steep, really steep. Then, it gets rocky. Before you know it, i'm watching 3rd graders slip and fall on their butts because the steps they have to take to get over the terrain is about 1/3 of their height. Finally, we saw a sign, and I realized that the entire hike would end up being about 4 miles. Once we hit the ridgeline, however, I realized that it was definitely worth the hike. Just from the first viewpoint, less than half way up, I could see for miles in either direction. It gave me a perfect view of the city on one side and a river I had never seen on the other. Finally, we reached a stopping point near one of the taller peaks. We had to use ladders that had been screwed into the sides of the rock, but all the kids made it alive. We took some picutes together holding a banner, which i'm guessing said something about our school. Then, one teacher told me that if I wanted, we could go to the highest peak. So, him and I set off for the very top. We had to use some ropes that had been installed to get up and down some rock faces, but it wasn't anything to bad. From the top, you could see four different cities and a different province. The view was absolutely spectacular. For lunch, we had bimbap, or something like that. It is basically Korea's version of sushi. It was suprisingly not too bad, although I still would have preffered a ham sandwich.

                After lunch, the kids played games organized by the teachers, while I slept in the grass. Then, out of nowhere, a teacher comes up to me and shakes me, telling me to get out of the grass. I stand up, surprised and nervous, wondering what the problem, or maybe if something is in the grass. He says, "Grass dirty, no sleep". My mentor teacher translated the details for me. Basically, the grass is very dirty, and if I sleep there, I will definitely get sick. It's not a question of if I get sick, it's more like, "you will get sick". I, doing my duty as a foreigner, looked at them strangely, wondering if they were playing a joke on me or if they actually believed what they were telling me. My only reply was, "I'm already sick". To keep from stirring up worry amongst the staff, I moved to the harder, less natural wooden platform that is so popular here in Korea. On the trip down, I watched student after student tumble, cry, get up and later tumble again. The kids would get a kick out of it when I would say, "Cha Re So", or "Good job", after someone fell down. I guess hearing me speaking Korean would be enough for the student to laugh and forget they fell. Overall, the trip was well worth it. I'm glad I decided to get up earlier than normal to make the hike. The view was amazing, as you can see in the pictures, and it was fun to get out with the staff and students.

               Earlier this year, I got a package from home. My parents sent me a random assortment of, well, stuff. I got a stuffed animal, cooking utensils, a card, and of course, Jello. Jello is not something they have here, or can really even fathom. It's strange how something like Jello never made it over here when they have virtually everything else. When I first showed my staff the packages, they had definitely never seen it before. So, last week, I decided to make Jello with the kids. The third graders were the lucky ones who got to make the Jello, which ended up being more than enough for the entire school. Making it was fun, and the kids did everything. I got a water heater from the kitchen and we mixed, stirred, and put everything in the fridge. The next day, I passed out Jello to every grade and the staff members. The kids were thrilled. More than a few times I heard, "Teacher, eat?". "Yes, eat it", I would have to say.

               Today, I have an interesting topic to write about. It's a bit of a language difference that creates some big time confusions and some laughs as well. In English, if someone asks a negative question, such as "You've never had Jello?" we can respond by saying, "No, I've never had Jello".  Although the question is negative, you still respond negatively even though the persons assumption of you never having had Jello was correct. In Korean, if someone asks a negative question, you can either agree or disagree with the statement. So, if I say, "You don't want to eat with us?", the response would be "Yes, I don't want to eat with you" or simply, "Yes". What this means, is that when I am speaking English with Korean students or some of my staff, we get confused at times. A few days ago I decided to run some errands in town before coming to school and I ate at home. So, I called the school and told my mentor teacher than I would be coming in later. He asks, "You don't want to eat lunch here?" I responded with, "No". So, after eating lunch, I get to school, just to find that the cafteria had made me lunch and it was waiting on me.

                  Almost forgot to mention... last week I hosted a dinner at my place. One of the staff members came over with some friends of hers and I told them I would host a classic "American" meal. So, I bought a small grill for $10, found some semi-acceptable meat (ground beef here is crazy expensive), and put some things together. Wow, talk about an intersting meal. I was thrilled. I was having cheeseburgers, kraft macaroni and cheese (thanks to my army friend who brings me american products from the base), potato salad, sour cream and onion potato chips, the whole getup. I picked up my burger and just went to town. My guests, on the other hand, were trying to figure out how to put the burger together. One burger ended up having no top bun, one burger had only meat and bread, and so on. They refused to pick the burger up with their hands, which made the entire event interesting and ended only in a burger disaster. They did enjoy the overally American / completely not spicy meal, although they went about it the totally wrong way. It was kind of a nice change, considering when i'm eating at school, I have to ask how to eat nearly everything. 

               In other news, it's finally starting to cool down here. In the mornings and evenings its in the 50s, meaning i'm wearing sweaters now. I know that in about a month, it will start to get really cold and i'll be doing some winter shopping. Also, next weekend i'll be in Busan for a soccer game, which should be a good time. It's with the foriegner team here in Gwangyang, and it's the first leg of a tournament. Also, I just returned from a culural trip sponsored by TaLK. They took all of the scholars from our province on a free trip to three different cities, seeing different cultural sights along the way. The trip was amazing, and it was great to see everyone again. That is a totally seperate post coming in a few days, along with plenty of pictures.

Romi

Romi looks very similar to the cat my parents sent me

Bottom of the mountain...

...Top.

This is a panorama from the top

Korean Picnic!

That's right. Potato Salad, Mac and Cheese, Cheeseburgers, Chips... Good stuff!

Jello!

They loved it.

Kids got to make footprint ghosts for Halloween

Making Jello with the 3rd graders

Alrighty, until then!

My TaLK Life Contest Video

This past friday was the due date for a video contest held by the TaLK program here in Korea. Contestants must make a video about their experience teaching with the TaLK program. The winning videos will be used for advertisements for the TaLK program and also during future orientations. I finished my video on Thursday night and turned it in on Friday morning. It took me about a week to complete and came out alright. Check it out for yourself.

My apartment: Part 2

While i'm sitting here in my apartment doing absolutely nothing but blowing my nose and drinking hot chocolate, I thought I mind as well show you guys what my apartment is looking like these days. I've made a lot of changes, looked at used furniture adds, ordered online, and picked up random things along the way. If you remember, my apartment is basically the size of an oversized shoebox, but, if you position everything the right way (believe me, I tried a ton of different ways), you can make it seem fairly roomy. The bathroom and kitchen are roughly the same, but the living area itself doesn't look at all like it did.

If you remember my first post, this is my heartless, furnitureless room I was given

Found this french style cafe table on facebook!

Bought the futon and pictures online, the curtain from homeplus, the table from the school's storage facility, and the flags from their respective countries.

This desk has been a life saver. No more sitting on the floor for me!

The cat's name is Bubba. Mom shipped him here a couple of weeks ago. He's a huge hit with the students. Thanks mom!

Besides plenty of different cookware, this is the only addition to the kitchen. It provides me with much needed counter space.

If you noticed, I did get rid of my bed. The futon is pretty comfortable, so at night I simply fold that down. Saves on a ton of space. When friends come over, I have a double sized sleeping mat that is actually really comfy. Overall, it hasn't cost too much to furnish the place. Furniture here isn't too pricey, especially when you only have a few square feet to worry about. Despite the size, when I get off work, I can finally call this place "home" in its own little way.

Sick

Hello again,

              It's 6am on a Monday morning here in Korea, and i've been up all night, sick. Fever, runny nose, the works. If you know me very well from back home, you know that typically, my immune system just goes to town on anything that comes its way. Normally, I'll get sick once, maybe twice a year. I was really sick in January, but that was the first time I had had more than a cold since the beginning of college. I have now been in Korea nine weeks, and this is probably the fourth or fifth time that i've been fairly sick. What i'm pretty sure of is the fact that my co-scholars from abroad are, in some part, experiencing the same thing. It could be adapting to the new environment, yes, or maybe the stress of living abroad, sure, but I really don't think so. In reality, what causes this, especially for the unprepared foreigner, is the attitude towards sickness. People here are sick way more often that people back home, fact. Sick days do not exist, for teachers or students. If you are able to move, in any way, you must show up. This work ethic is amazing for productivity and competition, yes. However, the counter-effect is that you have 3rd graders coughing up a lung, or two, in the middle of class, and within three or four days the entire class is miserable.

               To help matters along, it is not customary to cover you mouth when you sneeze or cough. This one suprised me because you'll see people walking around with masks and gloves on (meaning they are the one's that are sick, usually), and they will uncover their mask, sneeze openly, and then put the mask back on. On friday, a 5th grader, while looking over my computer at something, sneezed on me. For me, if I just unloaded on someone, I would be beyond embarrassed, and I would apologize frantically. But, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and not even an apology was needed.

               I also think that the culture, to some extent, has aspects that help the transferring of sickness. Korea is a peninsula, a small peninsula at that. There are about fifty million people in an area the size of Indiana. This means that people naturally live close together. Apartment buildings are the overwhelming majority of housing, even for the most well off members of society. Also, being a communal culture, everything is shared. At meals, you all take from the plates, soups, etc, regardless of current health status. And just because you are sick doesn't mean you can't talk in very close proximity to someone, i've noticed this on many occassions, personally. This is all oppossed to the American cultural idea of, "This is my space, don't mess with it. Don't touch my food, don't look through my wallet everytime it's sitting around, etc..." Neither culture is better than the other, just different. In fact, many people consider the american ideas to be very individualistic and not based enough on the bettering of the community. Whatever. Like I said, neither way is better, but I get sick here, a lot. 

               While i'm on the topic, let me discuss something that I have yet to get accustomed to in any way. In Gwangyang, there is a hospital, a large hospital, with hearts all around its name. We foreigners affectionately refer to this building as the "love hospital".  It's just a normal hosptial. Anyway, look down at the picture posted below. Being near this hospital, I see this all of the time. In all of Korea, you can never be forced to stay in bed while in the hosptial. In fact, regardless of if you are released or not, you have free reign over, well, the world. The first time I saw this, in Seoul, I thought, "O geez, this guy must be mental. Someone must be out searching frantically for him." However, it is not uncommon to see someone covered in bandages, carrying their IV, sitting outside of the hosptial, smoking a cigarette. Or, while eating dinner, noticing a family eating with one person at the table that has a cart full of machines, oxygen, IVs, the whole getup. If I am one day in the hosptial in Korea, I'm sure i'll enjoy being able to go out to the bar with my friends just after surgery, but until then, i'll still look twice every time I see it. 

Seoul, Lotte World, Soccer, and more...

Where to start?

Two weekends ago, just after my last post, my friends and I made a trip to Seoul for the three day weekend. We had Monday off because of the Korean Independence Day, and there were some birthdays that weekend, so we decided to hit the city. We got a bus up on Saturday and proceeded to walk around for over an hour asking for prices at different hotels. Finally, we found one for a reasonable price in Sinchon, just outside of central Seoul. We went out that night for a nice dinner, which was a much needed change from spaghetti and ham sandwiches I had been making back home. Let me just say this: Overall, Korean food is ok. After spending time in Europe, and having a mother who can really cook, I’ve seen what I believe are some of the tastiest, most extreme creations that can be made with what God has put on this earth. However, Koreans definitely do chicken right. If you go to a “Chicken and Beer” place anywhere in the country basically, you can get an array of different flavors and sauces, and enough chicken to feed four or five people, for just under $15.

While I’m on the topic, I’ll dive a bit deeper in. My personal opinion of Korean food. Ready? Ok, here it goes: Koreans like spicy things. In fact, if you find a meal that doesn’t have ground up red peppers all over it, remember the name so you can order it later. The food that appears at every single meal, no matter what, is Kimchi. It is basically cabbage that has been sitting for some time and then is coated in, well, red pepper sauce. It has a very strong smell and everyone makes it somewhat different, although to the untrained tongue, it’s hard to tell the difference. I eat lots of soups here. On the traditional menu, I would say that over half of the items are some kind of soup served with a side of rice and of course kimchi and other small items. There are Korean BBQ places, where you get served raw meat and then cook it over a small grill in the middle of the table, which is usually really delicious. Those are always great options for a good meal out. Rice is typical; it is usually at every meal in some form. Also, fish is very popular. In fact, when I walk out of my apartment, I smell fish. Fish is everywhere, and even at the supermarkets, where we would see tons of different steaks, ribs, meats, etc, there are a variety of different fish. It makes sense considering this is a peninsula. It takes some getting used to. I love fish, don’t get me wrong, but for me it is more of a once in a while kind of food. I love trout, but I wouldn’t eat it every day. Here, seafood is the way to go, especially for snacks. Example: A few days ago I went to the cinema with some of my Korean co-workers. I sat down with my coke and buttered popcorn. They sat down with their coke and fried squid. We were both equally happy. I tried the squid, and although it wasn’t bad, in my opinion: 1. It doesn’t go with coke. 2. It doesn’t belong in a theatre. But that’s just me, of course. Ok, and to wrap up my quick opinion of Korean food… The only thing that bugs me is that at most meals outside of restaurants, you never drink during the meal. Water comes after the meal. In fact, you don’t even have a cup. So, I, the soft tongued, dehydrated foreigner slowly begin to shed small little tears while eating spicy fish, rice, and kimchi, waiting desperately for the cup of water. I finally got over the fear of committing cultural taboo and I just bring bottles of water with me to school every day for lunch. No one seems to care, although sometimes they point at the water and chuckle a bit. But they know why it’s there.

Kimchi

Ok, back on topic. We are in Seoul, we have just had dinner. We head back to the hotel, get dressed nicely, and head to Hungdae, one of the livelier parts of town. We met up with some friends from, surprisingly enough, Group 6, our beloved group from orientation. If you haven’t noticed a trend already, we usually move as a pack, taking over small cities as we go. Again, at least twelve or so of us met up in Seoul. We found them at a small pub in Seoul and the night began there and ended in some other pub after a few epic games of darts, pool, and of course, music and dancing.

The next day will go down in Korean history as one of the greatest days of all time.

          We slowly got up the next morning, got some food (pizza to be more specific), and got ready for an epic day out. That afternoon, all 12 of us took off in search of “Lotte World”, the famous indoor amusement park there in Seoul. “Lotte” is the name of a company here in Korea that is somewhat like “Wal-Mart” back in the US. They have huge department stores, but it doesn’t stop there. They have “Lotteria”, the restaurant, “Lotte-Mart”, the massive stores, “Lotte Cinemas”, “Lotte Insurance Providers”, you name it. I feel like Lotte owns a lot of Korea, just because it’s everywhere. So yes, as any large conglomerate should, Lotte has its own “Lotte World”. You know? Like “Disney World”, except, just, “Lotte”. We definitely need a “Wal-Mart World” back home, just an idea.

          Story Time: While on the subway to lotte world, all 12 of us are sitting down, in this very "public" subway, talking about whatever. Now, one thing I'm beginning to notice is that Koreans never speak while in motion. Let me explain: On subways, buses, escalators, moving sidewalks, playground slides, or anything that can be called 'public transportation' really, no one ever speaks. Maybe slight whispers here and there, but for the most part, people don't make noise. I don't know if it is being respectful of those around them or maybe the fact that the way buses drive here puts everyone on edge, waiting for an accident at any moment. Either way, when I am with my western friends on any public transportation, we feel like the obnoxious ones because we are simply talking. So, we are all on this subway, chatting way. We aren't playing soccer, or having a screaming contest, we are just talking. Then, this guy from the other end of the subway leans out and yells very loudly our direction. Our friend who speaks korean told us that he had basically told us to 'shut up' but in a really rude sense, almost like 'shut the #$@# up'. When she told us this, we were shocked. We lean out and respond with, "I'm sorry. Is this your subway?" He was obviously super upset that we were speaking in public, and we weren't about to stop speaking, I mean, we had things to discuss. So, as he is leaving the subway, apparently he says some pretty nasty / racist stuff, things that back home would end up in some sort of brawl, who knows. That was a pretty hot topic for the evening, wondering how someone could justify telling a bunch of people they don't know to shutup in a public place. Our only conclusion was that this guy just didn't like foreigners and he was having a bad day. It is true that soldiers, especially in Seoul, have caused some trouble over the years and have ruined some people's view of Americans.

          After taking a subway to the “Lotte Supertower”, we realized that finding this mysterious indoor park would be a bit complicated. Seeing as it’s indoors you can’t just look for the roller coasters like you do back home. After walking through the oversized supermarket asking for the nearest roller coaster, we were finally directed the right way. We walked past all of the electronic stores, clothing shops, restaurants, food vendors, (all of this in one massive building by the way), perfume suppliers, and other thing you find at a department store. Then, we turn a corner to see the entrance to “Lotte World”. When I found out the tickets were $30, I was not happy. I mean, who pays $30 to go to an indoor amusement park? Actually, who goes to an indoor amusement park? I mean, what is that? Seeing as we had come all that way, and despite some believes, we are only on this planet once, I bought the ticket. As I went up the escalator, my eyes were opened, to the awesomeness (yup, word) that is “Lotte World”. Not only is this place incredibly huge, but the amount of lights, rides, and attractions that they pack this place full of is mind blowing. We rode log flumes, pirate ships, this that take you up over the roof, make you look at Seoul, and then plunge you down faster than gravity. We rode roller coasters, watched Koreans sing N-Sync, ate a not so New York like New York hotdog, and then finished the night by ice skating on an olympic-sized, well maintained ice rink in the middle of this amusement park while watching and dancing / falling to a live performance of YMCA, with a Korean accent. Overall, this place was awesome and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. I hear there is another place in Seoul that is supposedly better, so I’ll make sure to visit that one and tell you guys about it at some point during my stay here. That evening, we ate dinner at about 12:30am because the park closed at 11pm. The next morning, we all split ways, heading back to our cities to start another week at school.

         We started school on Tuesday because of the long weekend, so last week felt very short. We had our Wednesday night game of volleyball with the school staff, I finally joined a gym just down the street from me, and then I got recruited to play soccer for a team here in Gwangyang. Next story begins, now:

          After playing with the expats from my city, I began going to the fields more to just play around with whoever was out there. Apparently, that weekend, the largest tournament of the year was coming up for the province. Teams from all around get together to have one weekend of total soccer. The winner walks away with a trophy, a flag to keep for a year, and quite a bit of cash. A team in the area, one of the better ones around, was interested in having me play because of my age. The tournament allows a certain amount of players from each age group to avoid teams getting a bunch of 20 year olds and just going to town. You are allowed 2 players 22 and under, then 2 players 22 to 26, and so on. So, on Friday, I went to practice with this team. At first, it was a bit frustrating not being able to communicate at all on the field. Actually, even at the end it was still frustrating. They are good, very good. Apparently a few of the players played pro for some time but had to quit due to injuries or families. So ya, I did well at practice, but I was not only the new player, but the deaf / mute one.

          The next day, I got up and headed to the stadium. I get there at 10am, thinking I’m early, and all of the teams are lined up on the field, and the mayor of the city is giving a speech from the podium. I guess I missed that memo. Anyway, they come to me after the ceremony and say, “First game, 12:30.” They invite me to a quick lunch and we go eat. As we are eating, noon rolls around and I’m looking at my phone saying, “hey, shouldn’t we go to the field?” They respond by saying, “First game at 2:30, don’t worry”. Ok, now 2 oclock comes and we are still sitting around, not warming up. Game is at 3:30, oops. Nope, it’s actually at 4:30. Ok, so finally we get out on the practice field and we are stretching, kicking, warming up. By this time I’m frustrated that I wasted basically an entire day sitting around waiting to play. It gets better… We go to line up for the opening ceremony (you line up, bow, shake hands, etc) and we are the only ones on the field. Everyone leaves and starts going to the parking lot. I’m looking around going, “what is happening?” Someone comes to me and says, “Other team, no come this year. We play 2^nd round tomorrow”. At that, I take my jersey off, and walk away. My friends sitting in the stands waiting for the game to start are just as confused as I am. So ya, my first Korean soccer experience didn’t go so well. The fact that the other team was never there, and no one thought to mention that was crazy to me, but only to me, which was also crazy to me.

          The next day, I came out, and we did play. The team was good, very good, but again, not ever playing with them or being able to communicate with them was frustrating. I did alright, but considering the amount of players they have (more than enough) and the quality of players, I felt like having someone who has no knowledge of Korean was just a hassle. But, they wanted me to play, so I did. We ended up placing 2^nd in the tournament after a 2-0 loss in the final match. They had the award ceremony and one of these days they are all going out for a really nice dinner with the award money from 2^nd place. Also, that weekend, Gio came down from Boseung and we went to a party at San Antonio’s, a Spanish owned bar in Suncheon. It definitely felt like a Spanish place, with the décor, the environment, and Jose, the owner. I definitely plan to be a regular at this place.

          What else is new? Well, at the party, I met some people who do latin dancing in Suncheon. I was really excited to hear that, and they invited me out dancing with them. So, last night (Thursday), I took a bus to Suncheon and met them at this small dance studio in Suncheon. What a blast! There were maybe 25 people there in total, but the place was small enough to make it feel just right. Everyone besides us was Korean, and everyone was very good. They played Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Cha Cha, you name it. It was good to finally get some quality dancing in, and now I have something to look forward to every Thursday night.

         

          How about school? School is going well, very well. The kids are great, and although the “new teacher” status is wearing off, if I continue to throw new things at them, they continue to stay at least semi-interested. Here, I’ll take you through each grade:

1^st: I have seven awesome students. This class is really easy because, well, they are entertained by everything. I do a dance with them, and they are thrilled. Sing a song, they love it. Play tic tac toe, they are enthralled.

2nd: I have seven students as well. The smart kid in the school (at least at English) is in 2^nd grade. He’s a pain in the @#!, but his English is amazing for never having had any English friends or lived abroad. The class itself is pretty good, and I use a lot of the same material from 1^st grade, I just have to make it detailed or they can get bored.

3^rd: They guys can give me issues. I have ten of them, but the levels of English are so varied. Some of them are fairly good, and a few of them are totally lost. So, when I pass out worksheets, 3 of them are done in 5 minutes, and 4 of them don’t have anything written down yet. Also, the difficult stuff I give the older kids is too difficult, and the stuff from 1^st and 2^nd is too easy, so planning for them can be a little troublesome at times, but nothing too bad.

4^th: 4^th grade is surprisingly good, considering they are about the same level as 3^rd. There are only 6 of them, and 4 of them are really good students. Those 4 pressure the other 2 into getting their work done because they want to finish their work and play games.

5^th: This is my favorite grade. There are 9 of them, and they are a very dynamic class. 7 of those 9 play soccer with me every day, and because of that, they think I’m awesome. And for some reason, the entire class is obsessed with Barcelona FC, my favorite soccer / football team, so when they found that out, they again, flipped out. They usually catch on to the games very quickly, get their work done, and then we watch youtube videos as a reward. There is one girl in this class who is probably my best student overall. She not only does her work fast and well, but she will ask questions about it instead of just sitting around and waiting for everyone else to finish. And, she kicks all the guy’s butts at lunchtime soccer, and they get frustrated.

6^th: There are only 5 of these guys, 2 girls and 3 boys. They are easy to handle and stay not hard to get interested. I can talk to them and they maybe get about 50% of what I’m saying if I speak super slowly, and then the rest I can make motions or draw pictures and they understand. I enjoy this class because it fits the stereotypes so well. The two girls are super quiet and sassy. The three guys are loud and beat each other up. When we play games, the girls always win, by a lot. And then on worksheets, the guys will get stuck and ask the girls for help. Maybe half the time, the girls laugh and say, “no”. This class is great, though, and it’s a good change of pace from the younger kids.

          This week, the three older grades are watching the movie, “The Sandlot”. Today, Friday, we are having Coke Floats and eating popcorn while watching the movie. Originally, it was going to be rootbeer floats, but finding rootbeer here is basically impossible. The kids have to write down every name they hear throughout the movie, and then they have to say / write something about the movie at the end.

          Actually, just finished watching the movie, and it was great. The kids loved it, and the coke floats were a hit. Now, for the weekend. Tonight, Gio is coming in, and in the morning we leave for Daegu for a K-Pop concert. Then, Sunday, we have a soccer game here in Gwangyang followed by a cookout with the team. So, this should be a good weekend and i'm definitely looking forward to it.

Until next time!

The Mayor of my city giving a speech before games begin

The teams lined up for the ceremony... oops

Salsa Dancing in Suncheon

My girl Diviya showing her skills! She's the one that showed me this place

San Mi, my co-teacher, with our first graders. Taken today

A game where they have to make the letter I say as a team

Definitely a "B"

4th Grade watching the Sandlot and eating coke floats 

Staff cookout. Grilled pork and tuna.

Hiking, Baseball, and Money

Since I last posted, quite a bit has happened and I've definitely gotten settled down a lot more here in Gwangyang. Let's start from the previous weekend. Two weekends ago, we heard about a get-together down on an island just off the coast of our province, Wando island.  On friday I met with some of my friends and we headed down to Wando. It was a three hour bus ride, but what was great was that because the event was so big, every time the bus stopped, more foreign english teachers boarded. We stayed the first night at our friends place in Wando. His co-teacher offered us his restaurant to sleep in and he had a sleeping mat for everyone. It was quite nice, although kind of strange. The next day we went to the beach for the event. Overall, there were about 200 foreigners there for the event, so basically the entire beach. Volleyball, beach soccer, grilling hotdogs, guitars, you name it. It was my first time at a beach in Korea, and it was beautiful. Check out some of the pictures below.  I brought my handy hammock and slept right there on the beach for the night. Overall, a great weekend!

That week I got to really get serious with teaching. I knew that the whole "new teacher" phase would be wearing off, so I had to come up with new material to keep things interesting. I continue to use youtube videos that I find to start off classes, and the kids really seem to enjoy that. It gets them to quiet down and look up front, which is the goal for the first minute or so of class. After that, i've been using material that i've come up with on my own, along with games from a site called www.waygook.org and another site called www.barryfunenglish.com. If you mix you up right, in 40 minutes you can have 3 minutes of youtube, 10 minutes of lesson, 25 minutes of a game based on that lesson, and then, depending on how the class went, you can just watch that video from the beginning of class again (usually it's something funny that they like) or you can play a quick game. 1st graders get 10 minutes to color and draw letters and such, and then older kids, like 6th graders, spend more time doing worksheets and covering material much faster. So I can take one lesson plan, adapt it to three different levels (1&2, 3&4, and 5&6), and be set for the day. It simplifies things, and so far the kids stay interested. A few days ago I decided to have a "cultural" day and taught the three oldest grades how to play paper football. It was an instant hit, and every once in a while I'll see kids playing between classes here and there.

This past weekend, I met up with some friends  from our group and we headed for the city of Gwangju, where we had our provinicial orientation. There, about 15 of us went to the Kia Tigers baseball game. Baseball in Korea is a big deal, so getting to go to a game was quite an event. Although the stadium is this city is smaller than most in Korea, the crowd was quite lively. I am told that if you go to a game in a larger city, it's the same thing but on a much larger scale. The next day, I headed back to Gwangyang to play soccer with the city team here. I wasn't quite sure where the stadium was in Gwangyang, so I looked it up online, only to find out it is legitimately right next to my apartment. I walk across the river, and there it is. In total, it is about a four minute walk. How I didn't find this before, I don't know. It was nice to meet the team, and I found a lot of cool guys that live just around me. Also, in the evenings now, I can go and run at the stadium, which has a nice track all the way around it. I look forward to playing with these guys on a regular basis, especially because they travel and play teams around Korea, so it would be a good opportunity to see other places as well.

In other news: I just received my first paycheck a few days ago, and man, was that needed. I finally got some stuff for my apartment and have more than just a matress now. Once everything is here, i'll post some pictures for you guys. I use a website called Gmartket, which is basically like a Korean version of amazon. The prices are insanely cheap, and they deliver whatever it is to your door. Not shipping, deliver. I'm expecting a futon here shortly, which will come in real handy.

Also, my school took me hiking a few days back. The hike was amazing, and the area around this city reminds me so much of North Carolina. The mountains aren't quite as tall, but with the small streams and the moutain lake near my school, it's very similar. We walked up to a temple built sometime around 1000AD i believe. Although the original was burnt by the Japanese sometime in the 20th century, it was immediately rebuilt in the exact same style. Check out some of the pictures below.

This weekend i'll be in Seoul for a friend's birthday, and then in a few weeks the Busan Fireworks Festival is going on, and we are all heading to the east coast for that. Be looking out for pictures from the fireworks, it is supposed to be incredible. Thanks for reading! 

Hiking with my school staff. Some of them anyway.

Me, on a rock.

The view from the temple.

A big gong.

Part of the housing at the temple.

The view of the area.

My co-workers.

4th Grade playing some paper football.

She's really good.

Kia Tigers game in Gwangju.

Everyone has these yellow things, makes for a good time!