12 Things You Need To Know About Native Teacher Apartments In Korea

I just wrote a new article for Hubpages:


12 Things You Need To Know About Native Teacher Apartments In Korea


Click to follow the link for advice, tips, and some pictures of my first Native Teacher Apartment in Korea.

Two Years in Korea: A reflection

 So...today is the anniversary of my arrival in Korea... 2 years ago!  I can't really believe that I have been here for two years now.  Time is a little bit crazy in Korea, some things seem to go really fast, and others really slow. I don't feel like it has already been two years - and yet I feel like I have been living here forever!

So much has changed in two years... I went back to read the blog I posted the day I arrived and found myself laughing a lot and thinking about all the things I didn't know then that I know now!  I have also changed a lot since then - for starters I am now married to the love of my life...who I probably never would have found if I hadn't come here!

I thought I would take this time to list a few of the top things I have learned, observed, noticed or discovered since I have been in Korea;

• Being a millionaire every month is awesome.
• Paying rent in the equivalent of $10 bills makes you feel rich.
• Spam is a major food group.
• Spam can be given as a gift on family holidays provided it's in a gift box
• older Korean women can be lovely or frightening & there is no way to tell until you interact with them.
• If you eat enough garlic you can't tell how bad everyone around you smells from eating too much garlic.
• English movies where they speak other languages suck - they only translate those sections into Korean.  (I may never know what the apes said in the new Planet of the Apes movie).

• You don't need to speak another language to make someone understand you.
• The Google translate app is legendary; as long as you only write really short sentences.

•  If you are going to drive, drive like a race-car driver, otherwise get off the road.
• Mini-skirts and hot-pants can be worn all year round - if it's cold just wear stockings underneath!
• Samsung makes everything.  If Samsung doesn't LG does.  If neither make it...it must be rubbish.

• Dokdo belongs to Korea. End of Story. Lol.
• Everything is negotiable.
• If you get married while in Korea you must immediately have babies.  If you are not married...why not? You are getting old. You must get married soon or no-one will want you.
• What do you mean it says no parking?

• What do you mean you need more notice that we were planning to have a school dinner?
• The voices over the loudspeakers on the trucks that go past are only selling fruit. DON'T PANIC!

• The F-16's that fly over your house are just practicing.  In case North Korea decides to be really naughty.
• Don't forget to turn your hot water on BEFORE you get into the shower...otherwise the water is going to take a really really really long time to warm up.
• Galbi is awesome. Soju is a bad idea.

• If you can't find it at Homeplus then you can probably live without it.
• Having fried chicken delivered to your door at 1 am is awesome.
• If it doesn't come with a freebie attached to it then it probably isn't worth buying.
• When it's really cold street food is the best.
• Socks are everywhere.

I am sure I have missed loads of things but that's the shortlist off the top of my head!  All in all I am super glad that I made the decision to move here two years ago.  I learned a lot and my life has changed a lot... and all for the better!  Looks like we are going to be here in Korea for at least another year and then who knows where after that!  In the meantime there is still plenty for us to explore... and a party to celebrate my two year anniversary this Saturday night which should be awesome!

 Last but not least I would like to add that today is doubly special because it has been 5 months since I married my darling husband.  I wanted to say thank you to him for being so wonderful and finding new ways to make me smile every single day.  Every day that I have been with you has been happier than the last my darling - I truly feel like the luckiest girl in the world!

January 2012 Update

So, I know I have been pretty quiet on the blog front for a while, it has been a really busy few months! Excuses aside I figured it was time to give you all an update on what I have been up to!

A few months back now I finished my GEPIK contract (thankfully!) and started working at a Hagwon / Private School in Byeongjeom.  Byeongjeom is not to far from where I was in Osan so it was pretty easy to settle in.  I moved into a new apartment and I was excited to start working - it had been a bit of a rough exit from my last school with a few broken promises and some fairly average treatment - but after meeting my Hagwon directors I was fairly certain it would be different here.  The differences are fairly unbelievable, my co-teachers are lovely, helpful and super friendly.  The majority of the students really want to learn and are polite and helpful. Then, of course, there are my wonderful hours... I work from 1pm till 7:30pm Monday to Friday which means I get to sleep in every day but everything is still open when I finish.  All in all I am so glad I made the change - and many thanks to Sonya (the previous native teacher at my Hagwon) who gave me confidence in my new employers and made the hand over process so easy!

Korean Cultural Customs

Things to remember, things to do and things to avoid doing while in Korea!

Take your shoes off!
It is disrespectful to enter someone’s home with your shoes on. In Korea they sit on the floor to eat and then roll out a sleeping mat onto the floor to sleep so it is important to keep the floor clean. Many Korean’s view westerners as backwards for keeping our shoes on in the house and I have actually seen some of Korean colleagues wrinkle their noses with disgust at the thought of sitting on carpet – especially carpet we have walked on with our outdoor shoes on!
For foreigners in Korea there are three things to remember:

- Take off your shoes when entering someone’s home
- Don’t try to tell Korean’s it’s ok for them to leave their shoes on
- Keep your floor clean!

My student's are tired!

A substantial amount of research has been done into how much sleep humans need to be healthy. Sleep is crucial to our health as it is the time that allows us to rest and regenerate and gives our bodies time to deal with damage our system has sustained during the day. It has also been suggested that sleep is important because it allows us to dream and therefore lets our subconscious deal with and rationalize the events of the day. So sleep maintains or physical and psychological well-being.

Girl's Necessities

I am writing this because sometimes it can be awkward to ask your co-teacher these questions... especially if your co-teacher is male, or if you live somewhere outside of the main cities.

These are the basics that every girl needs to know...

The list below includes;

Shampoo & ConditionerDeodorant

Hair Removal Products

Birth Control

That time of the month

ToothpasteUnderwear

Fake Tan

Perfume

Make-up

Handbag's & Shoes

Things you can get here that SHOULD be made available at home

What Your Blood Type Means In Korea

Don't be surprised if you are asked what blood type you are when you are in Korea - they consider it a normal question - so normal in fact that it appears on some job application forms! If you are someone like me this question can prove to be a bit of a problem because I have absolutely no idea what blood type I am. The most interesting thing about being asked this question is that it does not, as I would have thought, have anything to do with you health or donating blood. Actually in Korea they believe that blood type dictates personality type.

Trip to the Interactive Art Museum

I had seen so many pictures on the facebook pages of my friends here in Korea where it looked like they were actually involved in a painting somehow and I had to go and check it out. I picked a weekend where I had some free time (those are few and far between!) and started getting organised to head into Seoul... then I realised I didn't know where we were going... Special mention in this post goes to the lovely Rosie for providing some last minute directions (also because this time they were really good directions...this time...lol)!

 We jumped on the subway and headed for Sindorim station and found the Interactive Art Museum without any problems... finding the ticket office around the corner from it and then the right door to get in was a little challenging but even though they had very little English the people working there were happy to help. It was such a cool thing to go to, like a large winding series of rooms, full of the most amazing 3D paintings that you could interact with. It was also amazing to see the large number of people going through it and how no-one seemed to get stressed, everyone just waited for their turn, and patiently! I have had a lot of fun playing with the photo's since then so I have attached a bunch of them below. Definitely a fun day!

Butterfingers & Dr Fish

Butterfingers All I have to say is wow! Having been in South Korea for around 8 months now there are a few things that I frequently crave - a lot of which I can cook for myself with ingredients available from stores like Homeplus - but there are some things you just want to be able to have cooked for you...the way you like them! The butterfingers menu is impressive... they serve the most amazing buttermilk pancakes but you can also get Waffles, Bacon and Eggs, breakfast sausage, fried potatoes, french toast etc etc etc. There is also a massive selection of sweet pancakes, waffles and ice creams. It's not the cheapest restaurant around, though you can expect that with most places that serve Western Food, it's also not ridiculously expensive and the meals are huge. My friend and I shared 1 big breakfast and added an extra two pancakes (coz they were too good and we were being greedy) and we were both stuffed for hours afterward. Definitely worth a visit and they are open from 7am to 3am so there is plenty of time to get there! Directions: Get to Gangnam Station on the subway and look for exit six which will take you up to street level. Walk in a straight line from the top of the subway stairs till you reach the Body Shop at the first corner and then turn left. Butterfingers will be on your left on the second block, though the blocks are small in this area so you should see it just after you round the corner, it's just after the Burger King. Dr Fish Cafe Another awesome experience! Though it's a little difficult to find on the second floor of a massive building in Gangnam it is well worth he trip! It costs about 2,000won ( roughly $2) although you have to buy a cup of coffee so you are looking at about 7,000won in total...the coffee is fabulous so I had no complaints! You are also given a tray with some butter and jam and they have a station in the middle of the cafe where you can help yourself to as much fresh bread or toast as you can eat. You can choose to have your coffee before or after your Dr. Fish session. When you are ready you walk up to a little raised area right by the window where there is lots of natural light and one of the assistants directs you to take off your shoes and socks and put your feet down into a wooden sink where he hoses them down to make sure you don't contaminate the fish water. Then you have a choice of two different tanks, on with small fish, and the other with rather large fish. You sit down and drop your feet into the tank where the fish start to eat the dead skin off whatever skin is submerged in the water. It tickles for a while with the little ones then it just starts to feel like your skin is tingling. I didn't like the bigger fish because I could actually feel them eating me and I found it a little creepy. A little background: Doctor fish is the name given to two species of fish, Garra rufa, and Cyprinion macrostomus. The fish at the cafe in Gangnam are Garra Rufa. They consume the affected and dead areas of the skin leaving the healthy skin to grow - kind of like the way the cleaner fish look after sharks and whales. Directions: Get to Gangnam Station on the subway and look for exit six which will take you up to street level. Walk in a straight line from the top of the subway stairs till you can see the CGV building on the other side of the road and then you should be practically in front of it. Look up! The cafe is on the second floor but you should be able to see the sign pictured here.

Buddha's Birthday Lantern Parade

Buddha's Birthday was celebrated on May 10th this year (2011). In Korea the birthday of Buddha is celebrated according to the Lunar Calendar so the date changes each year. This day is called 석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil), meaning "the day of Buddha's birthday". Many temples are decorated with paper Lotus Lanterns for the entire month and some even provide free meals and tea to all visitors on the actual day. This year in Seoul, in an area called Dongdaemun, there was a Lantern Parade which ran from about 7pm through to after 9:30pm - though it wasn't scheduled to run that long! We went into Seoul a little early to run a few errands and have something to eat before the Lantern Parade started. The parade itself was spectacular. It was as though a never ending stream of people were passing us in full costumes, either Hanbok's or otherwise, carrying the most amazing lanterns. The Lanterns were either hand-held, held on a stick that was raised in the air, or giant structures that were carried by a group of people. It was beautiful to watch! Buddhism in Korea Facts: Originally brought to Korea in about 372CE Original religion (Korean Shamanism) and Buddhism blended together. In many Buddhist Temples shrines are set aside for Sanshin (the Mountain Spirit), Toksong (the Recluse) and Chilsong (the Spirit of the Seven Stars, the Big Dipper) who were the three most important spirits in in Korean Shamanism. Neo-Confucian overcame Buddhism during the Joseon Dynasty. Persecution of Buddhism stopped after some Buddhist monks helped to repel Japanese forces at the end of the 16th Century. In 2005 46.5% of the population had "no religion", 22.8% were Buddhist, 18.3% were Protestant, 10.9% Catholic, and only 0.2% followed Confucianism.

K-pop

(Right, Boy band "Beast")






Let's talk about K-pop, which is the abbreviation of "Korean Pop" music, it originated in South Korea (no real surprises there given the name and the fact that the only real music to come out of North Korea is Yoyo Ma...) and it is entirely it's own musical genre. Kind of like a cross between R&B, Hip hop, techno, electronic and boy / girl band style pop - depending on which artist you listen too. K-pop really started to become popular around 1992 with a band called Seo Tai-ji & Boys. The first real K-pop girl and boy bands began to appear in the mid to late 1990's. K-pop is now starting to become popular in countries like the US, Canada and Australia (as well as the rest of Asia) - A band called wondergirls released a song called "nobody" which appeared on the billboard top 100 charts in the US in 2009, and in 2010 girl band 2NE1 have released a few songs which have graced the charts in the US and Canada. (Click here for a full list of K-pop artists.)

(left, boy band "2PM)

Some links that might be of interest:

Korean Pop Music Chart (with sound files)

K-popped - passionate about Korean pop culture (daily news and gossip)

My take on K-pop? I actually love it! The great little dance moves that go with it, the fact that every now and then there are English phrases thrown in there, and the fact that some of the time those English phrases are grammatically incorrect and don't make any sense at all! It's very catchy...and given that I was a teeny bopper around the time of the Spice Girls, the Backstreet boys and Brittany Spears it takes me back a little bit! Would be nice to know what some of the lyrics meant - but you really don't need to know to enjoy it anyway. If nothing else, enjoy it for the fact that it is amusing!


(above, boy band "Big Bang)
(Left, Girl band "Girls Generation")


(Right, Girl band "Miss A")


(Above, Boy band "Shinee")

If you would like to listen to some of the K-pop that has been popular while I have been here check out my You-tube Playlist by clicking here!