Holiday to Busan and Geoje – January 2011

We left Osan on Monday morning from the Osan bus terminal, headed to Daejeon where we could get an express bus straight down to Geoje Island. Originally we had planned to go to Busan first but both that and our leaving date changed last minute. The bus to Daejeon took about an hour, buses here are really great, super comfortable and if you get a regional bus then they don’t stop – they go straight to your destination. We got to Daejeon and raced over to the ticketing office to get a ticket for the direct bus to Geoje…only to discover we had missed it by like 5 minutes. Fortunately there was another bus, which only had one stop, leaving about 20 minutes later. The next bus was a couple of hours but the countryside is beautiful and I was lucky enough to have great company and great music! By the time we got to Geoje I was completely lost, the area looked completely different…and compared to the other parts of Korea I have seen it was super quiet! There were still people everywhere but not nearly as many! First thing we did was to jump in a taxi and head for homeplus to pick up a few things – we weren’t sure of what would be at the accommodation so we thought it was wise to have a few basics. Then we got another taxi to take us to the accommodation… which was spectacular! It was called “Santa Monica” and it was beautiful. The room we had on the first night even had little fairy lights in the painted tree that was set up in the kitchen – the attention to detail was amazing. First thing we did was to head down to the beach at the bottom of the hill… it’s freezing here in Korea at the moment…much warmer in Geoje but still only 9 degrees. So the visit to the beach was more so that we could see “a” beach rather than that we planned to do anything down there (like sunbathing…lol). It was stunning… Looking out from the beach over the South Sea and seeing the reflections of the other Islands on almost perfectly still water. It was so unbelievably peaceful down there and it made me realize that since I have been in Korea I have never had a moment of complete silence. There have been times when it’s quiet in my apartment because I live on a quiet street, but there is always noise coming from somewhere, which I guess is to be expected in a country this small with such a large population. I sat on a rock for a little while and just listened to the silence thinking about how much has changed in the last 12 months… Melbourne to Perth, Perth to Korea, finishing my teaching qualification… life has changed a bit! The next day the son of the owners of Santa Monica drove us down to the local town to catch the bus, it was a little like stepping back in time. Right in the heart of town was the most beautiful temple, it was constructed in 1470 during a time of “Japanese aggression”, it was set on fire by the Japanese sometime between 1592 and 1598 but parts of it survived and it was rebuilt. Just incredible to me that we could go into a local town, there is no-body there caring for the building, you can just wander round and touch anything you want and yet it has such a massive history. We waited for about 45 minutes for a bus, in the freezing cold, looking at the little street market that was set up around the bus stop and talking about possible historical reasons while all the Korean women older than 50 seem to be so bent over, like they are permanently reaching down to the ground to pick something up. We decided it was likely a result of the farming and hard work they did as the country was developing, and dealing with times of famine and war, which is really no more than a relatively educated guess! A lot of the older Korean’s in the town also seemed to be wearing more traditional clothing which was kind of neat, definitely added to the surreal feeling of stepping back in time, not sure how warm those puffy pants would be though. When we eventually caught a bus we headed into the heart of Geoje-si (“si” is pronounced “she” and means city) where we ate a remarkably Korean lunch of McDonalds’… Don’t judge ok…sometimes it’s nice to have western food! The McDonalds was ridiculously busy and there were so many foreigners… apparently the ship building industry in that area is flourishing and the foreigners come to work for the big ship building companies. Anyway I spotted some empty seats and politely said hello in Korean and then spoke English and kind of gestured “is it alright if we sit here?” it is absolutely amazing what you can get across with gestures…but to my surprise the woman responded, “of course”, in the most beautiful English and then spent a good ten minutes encouraging her 2 children to talk to us… I guess it was a free English lesson! It seemed to happen a lot while we were down there…I nearly forgot to mention the girls on the bus. Another common occurrence here is for young girls, boys too but mostly girls, about middle school age to say hello and try and practice all the English words they know…though as my remarkably astute companion suggested the girls who do this are generally the naughty ones who are too busy talking in class to learn English so they don’t know very much! Next stop was the Geoje Prisoner of War camp, most of the island was used at that when the war began between the North and the South, and the museum was fantastic. While we were wandering through a couple of tour groups of older Koreans were wandering through as well and we were a little surprised that they seemed to be having a party and not taking the viewing of this stuff more seriously. We thought that given it was their history and that older Koreans tend to be pretty serious people unless they are drinking that they would have been a little more solemn…who knows…maybe they had soju on the bus! The museum itself was cool though, it was spread out over quite a big space and a lot of it was outdoors so we were happy it was a sunny day, and not as cold as it had been at home. They had a lot of the original stuff set up like the tents that the prisoners had lived in, one of the hospital tents that looked like it could have been from the set of MASH…lol. Most of the displays and signs were written in both Korean and English which was handy, though there were a few things they hadn’t translated, some of the multimedia based stuff for example. One of the really cool things about Korea is that every business and museum etc, knows how much Korean’s like to take pictures so they have photo areas set up, and fun things you can take photo’s with…like the giant gun…lol. That night we took all the stuff we would need to try out cooking galbi for ourselves (Korean BBQ) including the onion though we had no idea how to make the sauce that they put the onion in so we were kind of winging it. Karel also braved the freezing cold to cook the meat for which I was certainly grateful! It was quite successful actually and we were rather satisfied with the results! The meal went down nicely with a couple of bottles of good Australian, and South African wine, which are remarkably easy to get here. The next morning we, sadly, left Santa Monica and caught a bus to Okpo where we were planning to get the ferry across to Busan. We had a bit of a look around Okpo and had an unbelievably good traditional (almost) English breakfast, with bacon and eggs and baked beans etc…sooooo good. Would have killed for a few mushrooms on the side but the meal was still amazing. We raced back to the ferry terminal after breakfast and were just in time to jump on board – there were only about 5 people on the ferry – and I suspect some of them were working on the boat, if not all of them! The ferry took about an hour to get from Geoje to Busan and the view was stunning… that being said I did take a 15-20 minute powernap, since being in Korea it’s like my body has just decided that it’s sleep time any time I am on transport of any kind. We got off the boat and walked through the terminal which was almost as deserted as the boat had been – it was mid-week so I guess the majority of the Korean’s who may usually do the tourist thing were probably at work. We jumped on a train and headed out to Gwangali Beach which is where we were planning on looking for accommodation since we didn’t have any organized. We wandered down to the beach and found a coffee shop where we could relax for a bit while we planned our next move. We ended up taking a room in the hotel right next to the coffee shop which was super convenient because the coffee there was delicious and it meant we didn’t have to walk to far for it the next morning! (The picture is of the view from our hotel window.) We dropped our stuff in the room and settled in a bit and then went in search of dinner. We had Budae Jjigae…yum…though not nearly as good as the Budae Jjigae place in Byeongjeom! After dinner we went for a walk alongside the beach (again freezing cold which is why we weren’t walking on the beach!) and looked at all the art work displayed there. One of the things there was a projector that projected quotes (in English!) on the beach itself in giant letters, then there was the laser light fountain thing, that sprayed water out over the sea and lit the droplets. We wandered down to the end of the strip of beach we were staying on and found, completely by accident, a little amusement park with rides. Why not right? So we bought a ticket for this ride that looked like it just spun around and around because there were no safety bars. Turned out to be the Korean Amusement Park Ride of Death… there was a guy controlling it and talking to everyone on it – and of course as foreigners we were an easy target…it jumped and bounced up and down and spun around and you had to hang on for dear life or end up thrown on top of someone else and risk serious injury. It was crazy and fun, for the most part, but my arms were screaming for days afterwards! After that we wandered back towards the hotel and decided to stop in for a song or two in the No Rae Bang close by (private karaoke rooms)…which was even more fun and a whole lot les painful! The next day we were up and about early with plans to go and visit all the tourist attractions in Busan that we could fit into one day! We started with Busan museum which was interesting enough, normally I am a bit of a freak for museums, so on my rating scale this museum left a little bit to be desired, the building was stunning though. The highlight of the museum visit was watching this little 8 year old kid absolutely fascinated by what one of the museum guides was saying about this particular historical map, the kid was enthralled and asking questions, it was all in Korean but it was still amazing! A little bit later we were in the same part of the museum as them again – 2 mum’s and their sons – and they started talking to us…encouraged by their parents. The boy who had been asking the questions of the museum lady had the most beautiful English including eloquent use of past and present tense which is really impressive from an 8 year old when you consider that the majority of 15 and 16 year olds I teach haven’t mastered that yet! I told him his English was beautiful and looked up at his mum who blushed and started stammering thank you’s, its one of the biggest compliments you can pay someone here, and its regarded as a skill that is gold… most jobs wont promote past a certain point unless the staff member has a certain amount of English. So when you tell someone their child’s English is excellent you are basically saying they are going to get a good job and be able to support you when you are ancient…lol. After the museum we headed up to Taejongdae which is right on the coast and has some of the most spectacular views… we spent a few minutes debating whether or not we were going to wait in the massive queue to catch the little bus thing that took you up the mountain and then decided we couldn’t be bothered waiting and just hoped it wasn’t going to be a massive walk. It was a fairly massive walk and most of it was up hill, at one point I did consider grabbing onto the back of the little bus thing, or commandeering the Korean army jeep drove past. It was worth it for the view though… truly gorgeous. The colour of the water made it look so inviting, even though I am certain it was freezing, and the sun on the water made me feel a little bit like I was at home. After our mammoth walk we headed back towards the city, had a bite to eat and then went for a wander around Jagalchi Fish Market, which was amazing. For a start the size of the seafood was unbelievable…the biggest scallops I have ever seen, and the majority of the things there were alive and swimming around, just waiting to be selected. Once you have chosen something you could either take it away raw or you could have it sent upstairs to be cooked for you. It was really amazing! There was one guy who worked there who was so lovely, I asked if I could take a picture of his stand and he reached down and pulled out a baby shark for me to take a picture of and then a big flat looking fish that he held in front of Karel. He was super friendly and he didn’t mind that we were only “eye-shopping” (which is Konglish for window shopping or only looking). Some of the people working in those kind of stalls in Seoul would get grumpy with you if they did their best sell in English and you said you were only looking… but Busan is a little different…super friendly. After the market we wandered around in the main shopping district for a while – the lights up were so beautiful. We went back to the hotel after quickly stopping in at Starbucks and then headed for home the next day. It really was the most amazing trip – a massive adventure – with some fantastic company and so many incredible things to do. My first holiday / adventure in Korea…. I hope its like this every time!

December 2010

I have been exceedingly slack with my blog so I have decided that it is time to catch up and since I am desk-warming this week I think it is the perfect time to do it! On the 5th of December I had my first experience snowboarding! We go up around 5am and got ready, heading out into the morning before it had even started to get light, trying not to slip on the icy ground while carrying all the snowboarding gear. We went to Suwon first, where we were to catch the ski resort bus to Jisan, and grabbed a bite to eat along the way – we knew we would be spending at least a few hours n the bus. We got to the ski field and hustled to get ready… everyone I was with had season passes and their own snowboards so I was the only one who needed to get a day pass and hire boot and a board. As soon as we were ready we jumped on a chair lift and headed up the bunny slope (still looked fairly huge to me at this point…). I haven’t been skiing in 10 years, and I have never been snowboarding, so sheer terror is probably the best way to describe what I was feeling when we hit the top of the first slope. I had assistance attaching the boots to the board, which was also a scary, having your feet strapped to something and unable to move is unnerving at first – I’m guessing it just takes some time to get used to. Then I tried to stand up. Then I tried to stand up again…and again… and realized I was going to be spending a substantial portion of my day sitting on the snow and probably head home with some spectacular bruising! The first run was a nightmare, I was a quivering mess by the time I eventually got to the bottom, I seriously considered taking the board off and walking down but my pride wouldn’t allow me to give up that easily. My stomach and arm muscles were killing me from trying to hoist myself upright while still leaning backwards so I didn’t go flying down the slope accidentally, I was trying really hard not to cry from sheer frustration at the fact that I couldn’t seem to pick it up in the first 5 minutes, for those of you who know me well you would know that I assume there is something very wrong with me if I can’t master a new skill in 30 seconds (which I am well aware is ridiculous!). I had also become incredibly grumpy and was unbelievably relieved when my companions suggested lunch. After lunch I sent them off on a run and relaxed after giving myself a stern talking to, they were back fairly quickly and I decided to give it another go, after all my pride wouldn’t let me stop after just one run…and my snowboarding pants are so cute they really needed to be worn! We went for a steeper slope this time around…which I thought was a really bad idea given how much trouble I had on the bunny slope but my companions insisted that it was easier to stand up on a steep slope…so I pulled myself together and climbed onto the chairlift. It was great! It was so much easier to stand up and I felt like I was starting to figure it out, the balance thing was getting easier, and I wasn’t falling as often! I made it down a couple of runs with only 1 or two falls – the one time I was certain I was going to make it without falling I was taken out by a girl who apologized about 15 times in English. By the end of the day I was incredibly sore and tired but feeling very satisfied that I had given it a real go and I wasn’t a complete waste of space on the snow! As soon as we got back we headed to the “all you can eat” Galbi place and ate till we were like balloons trying to get through the door on the way out, went home and fell asleep within about 10 minutes! The following weekend was girl’s night out! We all got dressed up and headed into Hongdae… by way of Suwon where we met a few other girls and had a cocktail or two. We didn’t end up reaching Hongdae until about 12:30 / 1am – which is not necessarily a bad thing because you know when you go out in Hongdae that you have to be out till the trains start running the next morning around 6:30 am… so if you get there too early it can be a very long night! We settled on a place that I had been to once before because everyone knew it, it has three levels, and they play music on the different levels that appeals to everyone. We started out on the middle level – where it’s the most bizarre mix of top 40 type music and a bit of ABBA and the Beegee’s thrown in and some dance, and some rock, and then some “build me up buttercup”…lol. It costs roughly $3.50 for a vodka and orange over here…which is great…and they are not shy about pouring the vodka – which makes for an interesting night if you’re not careful! We danced the night away, dodging the unwanted attention of some amorous Koreans and some crazy drunken American Army dudes, and sticking to the back corner of the club where we had space. We made it through till about 5am and then decided our feet couldn’t take anymore punishment and headed off to fins somewhere for breakfast. The awesome thing about Hongdae is that pretty much everything is open 24 hours – so we had a feast of deep fried seafood etc and made it through till 6:30 when we headed for the train station wondering if our feet were actually going to be able to go the distance. The train to Hongdae seems to take about an hour and a bit but on the way home in the morning the trains run less frequently and it always ends up taking around 2 hours – which is a killer at that time of day after a massive night out. But we made it! Round the 21st of December, on a Tuesday night if my memory serves me, I met up with a bunch of the Osan crew (foreign teachers in Osan) and we went ice-skating in the park out the front of city hall. It cost about 80 cents to go skating and that included hiring the skates! It was so much fun, there is something really special about skating outside at night, we went round and round in circles, using the time to catch up on what everyone had been doing. When we decided we had finally had enough Rosie and Alex and I headed to Roti-mum (if you have been reading my blogs then you should be well aware of the passion I have developed for Roti!) and sat down to enjoy some great coffee and a Roti bun – which the girls hadn’t had before. I talked them up a lot before we got there but I get the feeling the girls weren’t disappointed! Next major event was Christmas…a big bunch of us had booked some accommodation at Phoenix ski resort so early Christmas morning we all got up bright and early and jumped on a bus (where the majority of us went back to sleep). The bus took around 3 hours to get to the resort and we trekked up to the accommodation to put our things away before heading down to the ski fields. I have never been so cold in my life! The temperature was between minus 15 degrees and minus 20 degrees (celcius) but the wind was really strong and bitingly cold. I only ended up doing 1 run, which I know is a bit pathetic, but I was so cold I couldn’t feel my feet and fingers and I decided that being there was about having fun – and outside in that weather with the wind whipping the snow into my face I really wasn’t having that much fun! By about 10pm all the girls were back at the accommodation while the boys were still out braving the weather. The room had the most incredible view of the ski fields, we were on the 7th floor and we could see everything from there. There wasn’t a bed in the place, they provided these thick mattress things that we rolled out onto the floor, the floor of course was lovely and warm so it was rather pleasant! Felt a lot like we were on school camp or having a sleep over at someone’s house. It was fun spending Christmas with friends – but it didn’t really feel like Christmas… in Korea it is kind of treated more as a couple’s holiday and the decorations and carols etc are very limited. It was still Christmas…but without a roast etc…think I might just have to do another Christmas when mum gets here in Feb! The other down-side was having to go back to work on Monday even though Christmas was only Saturday… felt like a normal weekend! Final major event of December was New Years Eve… I finished work and headed home to get ready then Alex and I headed into Osan for a quick dinner before heading into Hongdae to meet up with another bunch of people. We started at an intimate little club where we had a few drinks and waited for the countdown (we got there at about 11:30 so we didn’t have to wait long) and then we headed to the same club we had been to on the girls night out – turns out everyone seems to love that club! Because it was new years they had a special on where you pay entry to the one club and you can get into three different clubs with the wristband they give you – and a free drink – so entry ends up costing about $3…lol. A night out here really is relatively cheap… or maybe its more that I don’t need to drink a lot to have a really good time! We danced for hours, and hours…but in the end Alex and I decided we couldn’t take anymore so we left and got a Turkish kebab on the way to the DVD bang – or private DVD room… Those things are a great idea! It’s a little room with a massive leather couch type thing, you could probably fit 4 people on it, and you select the movie you want and the guy at the front puts it on the massive flat screen there is in each room. Alex and I were being clever so we chose the movie Titanic which we had both seen a million times, we knew we wouldn’t want to stay awake to see it, and it was the longest movie we could think of which meant more sleeping time! We slept for a few hours and when we woke up (with hang over’s) we jumped straight on the train and began the two hour journey home…I have never been so grateful to see my bed! Some nights just feel harder than others…I think it will be much easier to spend the nights out when the summer arrives and you are not freezing all the time. Not to mention that high heels on ice are difficult! Well I think that pretty much covers the main events in December…though I am sure there is plenty that I have missed out and if I updated this more often it wouldn’t be so hard to write about / remember the events! Must remember that! Anyway time to get January’s entry started…

Thursday December 2nd 2010

Last Wednesday to Friday I attended the GEPIK (Gyeonggi Province English Program in Korea) Winter Orientation. It was basically a three day, 2 night conference, where they talked about everything from classroom management to things to know about living and working in Korea. Given this is the internet I am not going to spend too much time deconstructing the program and what I though of it...instead I thought I would just mention some of the fun parts! I think the best part was getting to meet a whole lot of other people from similar areas, when I say people I mean foreigners, and when I say similar areas we may be in the same province but you can travel for 3-4 hours and still be in the same province!

There were a few people though who are a lot of fun, and through facebook it will be easy to keep in touch! It was also good to be able to share the different experiences with co-teachers etc. and what we are all required to do by the school. Some people have to submit full lesson plans a week in advance, and teach from the text book, while other literally just show up to class and don't have to prepare anything. I think I have the happy medium as far as that is concerned - I don't have to worry about lesson plans and I don't have to teach from the textbook - they just show up to my classroom (I see each class group once per week) and they expect me to be prepared and ready to go which I always am!

 Was really interesting to hear some of the stories about other people's co-teachers as well and what they go through, most people only seem to have 1 or 2 co-teachers (I have 5) but some people seem to have really bad experiences, or difficult people they have to work with. I guess I have 1 teacher who is a little up and down (ok...a lot up and down) but I also have a couple who are awesome to work with. I am also really happy with the area I am in, a lot happier after speaking with the other teachers, some of whom are stranded out in the middle of the countryside with no big shops or other foreigners in sight. I can see the appeal of being left alone on occasion, but I think it would get very lonely, and very tiring never being able to speak English at a normal speed!

 One of the really interesting things that was talked about a lot, and I had heard it before the Orientation, was how strange it was being surrounded by other foreigners. It almost gets to be too much, you are so used to never really understanding what is being said and being able to just tune out and be in your own little world, so to all of a sudden be surrounded by people when you can understand what they are saying gets very noisy! There were many times when you would see people (especially those who had been here for a long time) just wander away from the group a bit and stare off into space, or disappear up to their rooms for some quiet time.

I think that maybe this life makes you a little too accustomed to having your own space and being left alone - I know that by the end of the three days I was completely drained and just wanted to hide from the world and not talk to anyone! Other than talking to people I also really enjoyed the calligraphy class that I attended, it was run by the loveliest older lady, who was very encouraging even though she couldnt speak a word of english! She had an assistant to help translate if it was needed, but you could figure out what she was saying most of the time from her expressions and body language. She wrote a few things on the board for us to copy down and then you could make special requests if you wanted her to write something specific so that you could copy it...it was so much fun! All that was missing really was music, a few of us talked about the fact that we needed some nice calming, meditation-type music!

The opening ceremony was also pretty cool, with some traditional dance done by guys with long ribbons attached to their hats...and wow, the things they could do with those ribbons! (Wish I had taken photos of that!) There was also one particularly good session on classroom management... I did a whole semester on classroom management at uni and this guy summed it up better in an hour (my uni was a joke...and this guys was great...lol.) he even through some teaching terminology in there which made me feel very knowledgeable! Friday night was fairly quiet, a nice dinner, and a reasonably early night!

From memory Saturday was pretty quiet as well - during the day anyway! Saturday night we headed into Gangnam in Seoul, started with Burger King (Hungry Jacks) for dinner, which is always thrilling because the burgers are quality and the closest Burger King to me is Suwon which is quite a distance to go for a burger! After the burger we made a quick stop at Krispy cream for a doughnut and coffee (this is why I am getting fat!) and then headed on to the Hippy Bar... The Hippy Bar (which may or may not have an actual name) was definitely an experience! We smoked apple tobacco through a hookah and drank buckets of singapore slings...very very strong buckets, they were not shy at all about the alcohol!

For the first little while we were there, there was a really terrible band playing, but fortunately they finished after about 30 mins! Then the place felt a lot more chilled out - and it's a hippy bar right, it's supposed to be chilled out! It was Korean style in the fact that all the tables were low to the ground, you sat on cushions, you had to take your shoes off when you come in... oh and one of the best things about Korea?? When you go into a place where you must sit on the floor they provide little blankets for the women so that if you are wearing a skirt nothing is visible! Brilliant!

So we stayed at the hippy bar for quite a while, lounging around on the floor, feeling very much like hippies...then tried to catch the bus back to Suwon. Missed the bus by about 2 minutes... enjoyed some Korean street food, and hopped in a taxi, bound for the No rae bang (singing room) at about 1am...yes they are still open and they still let you in! At the no rae bang we all sang till we were hoarse (I had a go at "the real slim shady" which left me out of breath but I was feeling pretty proud of!) and then kept singing! I really feel for the people who run those things because they sit out the front and you can hear like a medley of all the atrocious singing from all the different individual rooms - surely they would think about investing in better sound-proofing just to protect their sanity?!

We almost literally stumbled out of the no rae bang at 3ish... so slept around 4 / 4:30ish...and then got up at 8 am to get organised for some shopping in the technology district! Again we started at Suwon, and caught the regular train out to Yongsan. Wow! This place was incredible... and I spent a small fortune! Mostl due to the fact that I bought a new phone, some really nice snow boots, and a PS3 with 2 games and an extra controller etc... Though I have to say for those of you that know about this stuff... I got the PS3 console, extra controller, COD black Ops, the new Grand Turismo and an HD cable for about $390...hehe...not bad huh?! I love my new phone too...seriously cute and substantially bigger than the little stone age thing I was using before! And I really will need the snow boots... especially because it snowed that night! 

That's right! My first snow in Korea! The first time I have seen snow in about 8 years! I was so excited that I stuck my head out the window of my fourth floor apartment and watched it fall for about 20 minutes, by which time I realised that my apartment was freezing and I couldn't feel my fingers or my nose...oops! Worth it though! I have been really disappointed that it hasnt snowed since then... I keep hoping! But it is not due to snow again till next week, either way I took photo's of the snow the next morning as evidence that it really happened, and I was thrilled when the snow was still there at mid-day the next day - which just goes to show how freezing it is here! Fortunately this morning I figured out how to turn the heating on in my classroom - it is controlled by a central switch in the main office - but when they turn it on I still have to turn it on in my classroom to get it to work!
Sunday by the time I got home I was positively exhausted... played my new PS3 for less than 30 minutes and then went to sleep! I almost forgot special mentions for the week! Karel and Jaco for getting a score of 100% at the No Rae Bang on a bee gees song! Ashleigh and myself for getting a score of 100% on a Kelly Clarkson song...lol. All of the above for helping me secure my new phone and PS3! Rosie, for being a legend and moving to Osan! Meresa for being hilarious... I will never look at a dove the same way again!

 Fortunately this week has been / is pretty cruisy! The students all have exams, so yesterday, today, and tomorrow I have no class - I just get to sit in my classroom (which is now warm) and do "preparation work"... hehe. I have worked out next weeks classes, and I have spent plenty of quality time on facebook and youtube...and very shortly I may watch an episode or two of Grey's Anatomy (which I have recently become a little addicted to because I have been watching it from the beginning!) so all in all life is pretty good right now... and Friday night I get my fix of Budae jjigae which will make me very happy...and now that Jisan is finally open we can go snowboarding on Sat! Anyway...must go and do some "work"! Totsiens!

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!

Monday November 22nd 2010

The end of last week was great, positively relaxing actually, and I have to say I am really happy with how often the schedule seems to change here! Instead of having my usual crazy 5 lesson day on Thursday, I had 3 classes - all 2nd graders which meant all speaking tests...which meant very little work for me! Not to mention the classes were shorter too. Wednesday there was also a schedule change - classes were only 35mins and I was completely finished with teaching by about 12:30 - still had to sit in the office till 4:30 though! Then Friday was all speaking tests again because I only have 2nd Graders - and again some sort of schedule change meant that each lesson was 5 mins shorter...not much, but enough to make it seem like I had a little more free time! Wednesday night we had dinner in Osan, like an informal foreign teachers get together, there were about 10 of us in the end - was a lot of fun - good to catch up with a bunch of other people ho live in the same area and do the same thing. By the time dinner was finished I couldn't resist the thought of some Roti so headed in to get some, fortunately just before the shop closed, a maple latte was out of the question but take-away Roti was good enough for me! Friday night I headed home to get myself organised and then (eventually) jumped on a bus and caught up with some friends in Suwon for a few drinkies. We went to this great little cocktail bar called "About". You walk down the stairs into a room that kind of looks like a cross between a basement and a cellar, there is a big screen tv up one end and the bar up the other, and it's dark and lit by candles and a few backlights here and there. Really great atmosphere - and the cocktails were delicious! My favourite was one I hadnt tried before called a peach blossom, I ahve no idea what was in it, because it didnt say on the menu, but it was fantastic. It was really sweet and a good idea to drink it slowly because you wouldn't notice how much alcohol was in it! We were all feeling quite happy by the time we decided to head home (with another short stop at the Roti shop...hehe). Saturday around mid-day I was suddenly hit by a craving for some Budae jjigae, at this particular restaurant, we were there twice the weekend before... turns out the guy remembered us - well why wouldn't he - some crazy foreigners that keep coming back! He stopped for a chat this time asking where we were from etc, and gave us a cider (lemonade for the Aussies, 7up or Sprite for the Americans) which he said was "service" which basically means on the house or free of charge. I was fairly happy about that but to be honest he didn't need to give me anything free to keep me going back - I'm addicted! After lunch I met Ashleigh to go for a little shopping trip in Gangnam.....oh wow... can't wait to go back! It was a little like paradise if you love to shop and don't mind being surrounded by people all the time. Shopping in Korea is a contact sport too - the Ajuma's (old married ladies... Troy describes them as having a malevolent nature stemming from guilt and their husbands liking of sexy bars...which I think is pretty apt!) they don't like to wait and because they are older I think they feel that they have the right to literally just push you out of the way...its kind of amusing when its not irritating! I couldn't get over the amount of stuff there - and how cheap it all was - I got some really nice polo neck jumpers for 1 Aussie dollar! Jealous yet girls? Wait till I tell you about the stunning high heels that all seem to be around $20! The rows of these little shops just go on forever too, we were there for about 2 hours and didn't get around it all, I think it might be one of those trips that you have to do over a full day...so I might have to go back, what a shame! There was a substantial amount of traffic on our way up to Gangnam, so our shopping trip was cut a little short when we realised the time and that we were going to have to rush back if we wanted dinner before the rugby, and yes, Rugby does take preference over shopping...I know that will horrify some of you...lol. Unfortunately the rugby match was a bit of a let down, but the dinner was delicious, don't know about Jaco's boast that its the best meat in Korea...but it was definitely tasty! I am sure I have talked about Korean BBQ before, a number of times, but it is worth another mention just because it is so delicious, every place you go to has different side dishes, and there are always half a dozen different side dishes served with the meat - when they run out they just get filled up again... there is also a serious amount of food served but I think its one of the nicest ways to eat, you really take your time and enjoy it, and always end up feeling like you have eaten to much anyway! I have my favourites now though and every other place is just going to have to live up to them...and tonight for dinner I am going to try to make Budae jjigae myself with this nifty little pack I bought from E-mart...from what I can gather you throw everything in a pot and cook it because it all looks like it should be ready to go...it's cheating really but its a start! It's one of those things I am determined to learn to cook well before I leave Korea, that and dukboki...not sure I could live without them anymore! Sunday it was off to do a little more shopping, but just in Suwon which is really close, at some of the new shops that have opened there... followed by my last stop in at the Roti shop for the next week...I would really love to find one in Osan... but to be honest it's probably better for my waistline that I don't! Special mentions this week go to Alex for being new in town, fun, and coming snowboarding for Christmas, Ashleigh for being an awesome shopping buddy and for knowing how to get to Gangnam in the first place, and to Karel for carrying all my shopping (seriously...Aussie guys take note...this is how a gentleman behaves!) and teaching me how to say left and right to the taxi driver! Ooooh did I mention I got my snowboarding stuff?? I love my snowboarding stuff that I have considered the option of wearing it to school...the jacket I probably will - the pants might be a little bit harder to explain...hehe. Kudos also goes to Ashleigh for ordering them online and sorting everything out! So, at this stage next weekend looks like it will be snowboarding on Saturday, and shopping on Sunday (some area where the technology is the focus and its all really cheap - apparently its the place to go for camera's PS3's etc etc) which I am really looking forward to because the phone I am currently using is just begging to be put out of its misery... And in the meantime I only have 1 day left of teaching because I am away on GEPIK oreintation / training from Wednesday till Friday which I have been told is awesome fun (I heard rumours that one group actually drank all the alcohol in the place...so yo know its gonna be good!) and there will be a bunch of other people going from my area that I haven't met yet. Right at this moment though I am absolutely hanging to get home and into the warm... I am hoping that I have set the timer right so that when I get home the floor is already warm...in floor heating is the best invention ever! Would be nice if my washing was dry too - I would really like to have some clothes to wear when I go away...(3 days... wonder how big of a bag I should take?) Also really looking forward to a nice hot cup of coffee, if I wasnt so lazy I could have gone upstairs and made one, but I really have craving for the french vanilla cappuccino that i have at home. Very possibly also a hot shower to warm me up - it is beyond m why all the windows in the school are open when it is like 4 degrees outside...and I'm really sorry but why would you turn off the heating in my classroom at 3pm...I am required to be here till 4:30 so that's just mean! But really, the kids are all wearing their winter jackets to class it's that cold, and I feel even worse about leaving them locked out in the corridors so I can have a few minutes of peace...when you see their little faces pressed up against the glass and they are calling out "teacher, please, it's so cold!" So much for my 5 minute break (of silence) in between classes... it's so not worth it when that is the guilt you have to deal with! Pictures will come later! Bye for now!

Tueday November 16th 2010

So I have been really slack with my blog since I last posted... kept putting it off thinking that it would encourage me to finish my essays... which I guess it eventually did! As of this minute I have completed all the work and handed in everything I needed to do to finish my teaching degree! Another notch on the belt..woohoo!! Still have a while to go before I catch up to my Mum and my Uncle... not sure how many degrees they have between them but maybe I will go for a PhD and see if I can beat them to it! Either way it's a fantastic feeling! All the work is done!! Yay!! Now I can focus on all the other things I want to achieve...with no due dates! Last time I wrote was Sunday...I am doing my best to remember everything that has happened since then... Last Thursday was Pepero day, I wrote in the last blog about it, I have some picci's to add in - but they are still on my i-phone which I forgot to copy over to my computer so they will have to wait for now! It felt a little bit like a part the whole day - and the students bought pepero for me which as was so sweet! The whole day they were telling me I had to celebrate because it was pepero day... hehe - I haven't been to E-mart since but I am guessing it is all on sale now! Good time to stock up! Friday night we went to a restaurant in byeongjeom for Galbi, I think it was 14,000won for all you could eat, amazing! You sit on a cushion on the heated floor at a low table and then you get up to go over to what looks like a buffet cabinet full of raw meat, different cuts, and different marinades - you select your meat and then take it back to your table where you cook it over what looks like a mini BBQ in the middle of the table. I am also particularly partial to the onion salad that they serve with it... it's basically onions and some sort of vinegar sauce, but mixed with the meat, or by itself it is delicious! Needless to say after an all you can eat meal of such delicious food all I wanted to do after that was sleep! (which is pretty much what I did...10pm on a Friday night...oh how times have changed!) Saturday was also a very lazy day...first one in a while which was really nice! Spent the whole morning involved in deep and meaningful conversations about politics and religion...which is always fun! Then headed off to see if I could get the heels on my boots fixed...to much dancing and I have worn them down to the metal again...oops!

The shoe repair man was gone - guess I left it too late in the day - but we discovered this Budae jigae restaurant which was fantastic! A lot more variety in terms of the meat in it, thick hokkien noodles, and a few vegies... it's a worry how much I love it. The place was so good we went back for lunch on Sunday! After we had literally polished off the entire pot of Budae jigae we headed next door to "Roti Mum", which is a coffee shop that sells Roti - which I had never heard of before... The place was gorgeous, fairy lights looped around the tree out the front, tables out the front with heaters...and I had a maple latte which was to die for! We ordered an original and a chocolate Roti - I was hoping I was going to like it! They are like a bun, its a sweet bread that has a really mildly flavoured sweet custard inside... see the picture?! They may also become one of my favourite foods... Going to need to see if I can find somewhere that sells them in Osan! And the chocolate is the best...though I would happily eat the original as well...hehe. On Sunday we also went and bought a collar for Karel's kitten, Odya, he resisted rhinestones and bling, but eventually gave in on the collar... it's a girl kitten so it really needed to be pink! Got a lead as well in the hopes of possibly being able to teach the kitten to go for a walk...haha...you see stranger things in Korea...trust me! So after eating all weekend I decided that I really needed to start thinking about doing something to get me fit again... I figure I have a few choices, I can stop eating so much and do nothing, keep eating and enjoying myself and do some sort of exercise, or I can keep eating and enjoying myself and just come to terms with the fact that I will need to replace all my clothes when they stop fitting... Exercise it is! So last night I went on a little mission... to find running shoes and some track suit pants or something to run in that would give me a tiny bit of warmth... since it is freezing here and I would have to run either very early in the morning, when it's dark, or after school, when it's dark... Fortunately it's like another whole day starts at about 7pm here so there are people everywhere and the bright lights make it seem less dark and scary and like there are wolves after me... So I finished school a little late - I have been doing some extra study with one of my particularly bright and focused 1st graders - we were studying the poem the highwayman...she got really excited by the imagery after we went through some of the more complicated vocabulary and she started drawing...wow...I would kill to be bale to draw like that and she was doing a 5 minute sketch on a scrap of paper! When I eventually left the school I headed straight into Osan, past the main street to the outdoor market, and the strip that has loads of really cheap shops... hehe...like paradise... I wandered through and even though I was in search of two specific things I couldn't resist going into the hat shop! I greeted the lady who owned the shop - and even though she couldnt speak any english at all she quickly realised what I was looking for and the kinds of things I liked and started bringing different hats to me to try on... I ended up buying three which I know was a little excessive but I got a cream beanie which I just loved, a black beanie which I bought specifically for running and this kind of beanie thing with a little peak, in gray, cream and red...gorgeous! She gave me the price (on the calculator fortunately...I am getting there with numbers and money but it helps to see it!) and then she discounted it for me...I didn't even have to ask! Next I headed for the shoe shop, wondering how I was going to explain what I was after, thinking that motioning running would probably help me! Fortunately the guy in the shoe shop spoke English quite well, unfortunately the shoes I really liked they didn't have in my size, I may fit the clothes here and be built like a Korean woman - but my feet are huge compared to theirs! I still found a pair I liked, (pink, gray, and white...are you seeing a theme?) and they were only about $20 aussie dollars so I was fairly happy with that, they are very comfortable. I started heading back in the direction of my apartment still looking for tracksuit pants - bout a pair for about $5 - which I discovered when I got home are too short...lol. So may have o go on another expedition to get some later on...for the moment I can make do with what I have. Then I saw this scarf that I just had to have - a pale grey, soft, massive blanket scarf...mmm... I am wearing it now...hehe. Not to mention the little fluffy black ear muffs I found which I thought might come in handy given they were only a dollar! Called into one last shop to get a warmer pair of gloves (they have little bows on the wrist and are so cute!) and then with packages in hand I started on the long walk home. I was briefly accosted by a Brazilian dude, who I think was just really happy to see another foreigner, and after I managed to get away I stopped by a little roadside shop for some take-away dukboki... really didnt want to have to cook when I got home...and the whole massive container of it only costs $2 so its probably cheaper to eat out than to eat at home! Most importantly though I did actually go for a run after dinner! I am feeling very proud of myself about that! It wasn't a long one and I quickly realised just how unfit I was, bu it was immensely satisfying and I am looking forward to my next one! Anyway...I know this is short - and I have probably missed heaps - but at least I feel like I am mostly caught up now! And now that my study is done I should be able to keep this a little more up to date! Ciao for now!

Sunday November 11th 2010

Yet another big weeked! I have the feeling that is not going to change anytime soon!

Friday after school I had my dinner with the other English teachers, well most of them, we made it into a bit of a girls night which was a lot of fun... We all piled into Ja Young's car and headed to Songtan - which is where the US Osan Airforce base is. We headed to a Thai restauruant for dinner, apparently the Thai food you can get in Osan is "Korean style" and the teachers wanted an authentic Thai meal. The food was incredible, once again I ate far too much, I really am going to have to join a gym or start doing something active here because at the moment I feel like all I do is eat!

I really love the way Korean's eat - even when ordering Thai food - they choose a selection, eat that, and then order other different things, so you really get much more of a selection. Not to mention that the food is always shared so there is never that Western style "I want what she's having" dilemma! Sharing food is not an issue - its just dig in with your chopsticks! The kids at school do sometimes take this to the extreme though, like when I bumped into some of them at the E-mart and they were eating ice-creams, to make polite English conversation I told them that their ice-creams looked good, and their instant response was to hold it out to me so I could have some. While I don't have a problem digging in with my chopsticks, sharing a pre-licked ice-cream is something I would only do with a few people, not my students!

Because Songtan is where the US base is located there are American's everywhere, and the Thai restaurant was no different, there was a couple there with their young daughter, who was behaving like a brat...no surprise there...hehe. But the other teachers thought the kid was really cute - even though she had ghost eyes (blue eyes...hehe). Just as we were finishing up a bunch of about 20 soldiers came in for their dinner - a good time to depart as all of a sudden the restaurant was really noisy! We headed off for coffee to this gorgeous little shop we had passed on the way up to the restaurant, apparently one of the best coffee shops in Songtan,

Yun is a bit of an expert on coffee - she drinks a huge amount of it! The Korean's love their coffee, American style, and Korean style - and I have discovered that I love both...so life is pretty good! The cappuccino I had was delicious, and spending that time with the other teachers was fantastic, we had some of the most bizarre conversations. One of the teacher's, Osana, has a really mean sense of humour, she has me in hysterics, even in English she is brilliantly clever. So with our coffee's finished and two of teachers thinking about returning home to see their kids (they look way to young to have kids...) we decided to head back to Osan.

 Ja Young dropped us off at the school where the other teacher's cars were waiting and I wandered back up to my apartment, she offered to drive me but it is in the other direction from her house, and it is only a 5 minute walk anyway! At his point I think it was about 8 pm (oh the joys of teaching hours...hehe) so I quickly got organized and jumped on a bus to Byeongjeom... where wine, chocolate and the most adorable kitten were all apparently waiting for me - and chilled out after a busy week in front of the film "Invictus".

Really great movie, even if the rugby scenes were a little lame, the shots from under the scrum actually made me giggle... Saturday morning was busy - the weather man lied to me and told me it was going to be 19 degrees - and like a fool I believed it! So we headed down to Cheonan, which is a few stations beyond Osan, in the opposite direction from Seoul. We were suppsoed to arrive in Cheonan at about mid-day but ended up getting there around 1pm by the time we had gotten off the train and managed to get a taxi to the restaurant - Outback Jack's.

Definitely a strange feeling walking into Outback Jacks, with all the aboriginal style artwork, boomerangs, and the word "Sheila" spelled incorrectly on the door to the ladies room...hehe. The menu made me giggle too - I really should have taken a photo of it - every meal was named after a place in Australia, and then all the descriptions were in Korean... My friends and I were there for a post-wedding lunch for some friends, for Richard and Nesheba, with a small but very friendly group of people. Those events always make me feel all mushy...lol... especially when they got up to give speeches - so cute! After lunch we headed back to their apartment which was absolutely amazing, I think it was on about the 18th floor of this massive building, and the views were spectacular! One level down there was a balcony area from which you could pretty much see the whole of Cheonan and at this time of year the autumn colours make everything look so beautiful even against a grey sky.

The apartment was also substantially bigger and far more modern than mine, it was a two bedroom with a loft affair for the bed above the living area, before I cam here I had never really fathomed just how big you could make such a tiny space feel! We played poker for a few hours, with a few drinkies, some good music and great conversation, before heading up to Seoul for the Lantern Festival. At this point I was feeling thoroughly frustrated with the weather man - it was freezing and I was wearing a mini-skirt - so I stopped at this little roadside stall (they are everywhere here) and for about $20 I bought a pair of stockings and some little black ballet flats that would get me out of the sandals but also be really handy to have for school!

I was planning on getting them and heading to burger king to change quickly but the guy must have clicked as to what was going on because he told Ashleigh (thank goodness for Ashleigh and her translation!) that I could use the backroom are behind the stall to get changed. A very bizarre experience but I was super happy to be warm again!

We decided that rather than catching the normal train, which from Cheonan would have taken a little over an hour, that we would catch the KTX train instead. KTX stands for Korea Train Express, it is a high speed rail system, the top speed for trains in regular service is about 305 km per hour but it has been designed to go as fast as 350 km per hour. The terminal where you catch the train was impressive, looking more like an airport than a train station, but it was the feeling of watching the trains that didnt stop at the station that knocked my socks off - they slowed down for the station but they still rushed past at around 200km per hour - the blast of wind, the sound, and the shape of the trains as they whizzed by was very futuristic!

 So we arrived in Seoul where we headed straight to a coffee shop - in need of a caffeine hit - and it was cold enough that a hot coffee was too tempting to pass up! We waited for our coffee's, talking about the fact that the Christmas decorations were already up, and harassed the guy working there to take a group shot of us with the Christmas tree. With the photo taken and coffee in hand we headed out again into the cold night air, following the large crowds in the direction of the Lantern Festival. The lanterns were stunning, some of them were the most incredible colours, and they were all placed in the middle of a stream that wound its way through the middle of the city. Because they were set down into the stream the lights glittered off the water and lit up the faces of all the spectators.


The lights of the city buildings and all the busy signs above that made the night almost as bright as the day. The crowd was massive, akin to the new years eve rush in Melbourne, and yet apparently quite normal for events like that. Everywhere you looked there were people, and people just pushed past each other to get where they were going. The older ladies are funny, they really don't care if they hurt your feelings, and have no concerns for manners, they would just put their arm out and push you out of the way. We wandered up and down looking at all the different lights and displays and then began to head back in the direction of the train station contemplating the idea of Galbi followed by a short session at the No Rae Bang to keep us awake till the rugby started.


We stopped for a snack at one of the street food stalls where I bought some Mandu (dumplings) and dukboki (spicy rice cake stuff) which I hadnt tried yet but that everyone had raved about. Absolutely delicious! Now I am just upset that the lady with the stall outside the E-mart doesn't sell dukboki! By the time we got on the train back we were all feeling pretty tired - so the Galbi and No Rae Bang idea was dropped pretty quickly, we opted instead for heading back to Jaco's place to chill out, order take out, and generally muck around before the rugby. Fortunately the All Black's played the English at 12:30ish so that kept me awake till the South Africa v Ireland match that was on at 2:30am... We ordered chicken (wow - I really have to find out what that stuff is called...soooo delicious... might be handy if I could speak Korean well enough to get it delivered too - but at the moment I wouldn't even know how to give them my address!) followed by pizza when we found a place that was still open!

As it turned out by the time the match started Ashleigh and Nesheba were fast asleep (shame!) and it was only Jaco, Richard, Karel and I that were still awake to watch it - and even then a little bit of the enthusiasm had faded... Special mention also goes to Richard for telling me about some really handy i-Phone applications, that I can use without needing a sim card or a wireless connection, that give me a complete map of the train system and all the bus routes and timetables etc. Special mention should also go to Jaco for letting me hi-jack his wi-fi so I could download these applications!

Got home at roughly 4:45am on Sunday morning feeling a little worse for the wear and practically fell into bed - I was lucky enough to fall asleep in the taxi on the way back to the apartment, which I hear was a good thing because apparently the taxi driver was a little more frightening than usual! I do vaguely remember thinking he was going pretty fast considering you could only see a few meters in front of the car due to a thick fog. Speed limits are apparently irrelevant in this country...haha. Piling out of a nice warm taxi into the cold not air is also not exactly pleasant - makes me think it is definitely time to go and invest in a nice warm winter jacket - fortunately I get my Alien registration card on Monday afternoon so I can finally open a bank account - and get paid!!!

Sunday, again, was a bit of a write off - spent sleeping, eating, and generally being lazy - other than the dance lesson I gave to Karel...lol... kudos to Karel for being a good sport! ;) Went via E-mart on Sunday night to buy candy for the kids for this week - I promised them prizes as part of my people bingo game that we played last week - and bought this absolutely massive bag for about $5. I suspect this bag will last me at least to the end of the year! (Unless I suddenly decide that I can't live without a sugar fix...) I also noticed a huge area dedicated to Pepero Day - November 11th - something to do with the fact that the date 11/11 resembles four sticks of Pepero - which are the long thin biscuity things dipped in chocolate - apparently inspired by the Japanese "Pocky" - which for those of you that know me would know I have a bit of a passion for...lol. I was told about this "Pepero Day" by a few people and the geek in me made me look it up and do a bit of research...

There are a few stories about how it began - one of which suggests that it was at a girls middle school in Busan, in 1994, where they exchanged the sticks as wishes to one another that they would grow tall and slender - amusing when you consider that they are biscuits dipped in chocolate and more likely to make them short and tubby... Another rumour is that it was actually started by Lotte Mart as a sales ploy - though they deny this - saying instead that they simply noticed more Pepero sticks were being sold at this time of year and decided to encourage the holiday by presenting the Pepero if special gift boxes etc. Check out this link for Pepero advertising. Upon further reading I discovered that there are actually about 21 such events / special days in the Korean calendar which have become about boyfriends and girlfriends showing affection and buying each other gifts. Some of them are: January 14th is Diary Day / Candle Day- Couples exchange journals or diaries to share wishes that the other will have a lovely year. Couples also exchange candles - something to do with staying warm in the cold weather...

 February 14th is Valentines Day - with a twist as this is the day where women buy chocolates for the men. Apparently they often deploy army trucks to deliver chocolates from girlfriends to the men who are in compulsory military service. March 14th is White Day - where the men return the favour and buy chocolates for the women. April 14th is Black Day - where those who haven't found love console their lonely hearts by eating black noodles - apparently many university students eat loads of these noodles hoping to meet a partner through this declaration of loneliness. May 15th is Yellow Day / Rose Day - Those who are in love by this day exchange roses. August 14th is Green Day - couples are supposed to dress in Green, walk in the woods and drink cheap liquor that comes in green bottles (this means soju...) First snow day - couples are suppsoed to celebrate the coming of snow with a romantic date. Christmas eve is apparently a couples night in Korea - but this makes sense given that the country is not built on Christianity like a lot of Western countries. I have to admit I am looking forward to May - where they also celebrate Teacher's Day! Anyway I best be off - still have 2 essays to write!!

4th November 2010

So...had the dinner last night with the Principal, Vice Principal and all the head teachers - none of whom spoke English! One of my co-teachers came with me for the dinner but she left rather early and I was dropped home by one of the other younger teachers. We went to this restaurant where we had Galbi for dinner, Korean BBQ with beef, which was really delicious and I have never seen so much food! I was so full but they kept bringing more and more to the table...finishing off with Naengmyeon which is a type of cold noodle. A really delicious meal!

Then the Soju started to flow... and between the soju and the beer, and the fact that while they couldn't speak English they were still telling me I wasn't drinking fast enough, the night started to liven up! Dinner lasted for a few hours and then the teachers were in a happy enough mood from all the soju that they decided it was time to hit the No Rae Bang just down the corridor in the same building...

A No Rae Bang is a private singing room, Karaoke for a group of people who know each other - the first one I went into was really small - but last night we had quite a big group - so the room was huge! The teachers were really into it too, probably helped by the fact that they were so smashed...haha. They started out with a whole lot of oldies - in Korean of course - and there were one or two who had really great voices. The object of the No Rae Bang though seems to be just to have fun, it doesn't matter of you can't sing, you must sing loud! The first time I got up to sing they were so excited, they started clapping before the song had even started, and after that I was part of the group - the second song they asked me to sing a duet - Yesterday by the Beatles... one that they all knew! The last song I did was "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz - who was a favourite of one of the teachers and I suspect that he may have videoed me singing it - by that point all the teachers were up dancing and clapping - it was so much fun!

I also was asked to dance on a number of occasions - with one of the teachers I had absolutely no idea what he was doing - it wasn't a dance I recognized but there seemed to be steps... And at the end we all stood in a group arm in arm as they passed the microphone around - they are such kind and welcoming people - I really felt like they were making me a part of their circle last night.

We wandered out to the cars and the principal decided we needed group photo's - which I am hoping i an get a copy of - funny thing is I look really short, I assumed I would be the same height as most people here because I am short, but Korean guys are pretty tall and they always make sure I am in the middle of the photo! We car-pooled home - which was interesting again because by this point there were no English speakers - the one English teacher who had accompanied me left before we headed to the No Rae Bang - assuring me that I would be fine! But we made it home in one piece, which is actually more of a challenge than one might think when you consider the way they drive here, its either foot on the brake or foot on the accelerator - so it can be a little bumpy!

By the time I got home I was feeling decidedly happy...too much soju and beer... I am going to have to start going to the gym if I keep drinking beer - I really don't like it but there are some situations where to turn it down might upset people and the teachers seem to be so thrilled all the time that I am loving Korean culture and adapting so well to it. They still seem to be stunned that I can use chopsticks... They mentioned to me last night that they had been really woried I would be homesick and that I wouldn't enjoy myself here... I told them "home is where your stuff is" - which is exactly what I believe!

They do seem impressed that I have managed to find people here that don't mind hanging out with me, e.g. friends, I am wondering if this is because one of the English teachers they had before had trouble with it (they told me she did...) or if it is because I am such a difficult person its a wonder anyone can tolerate me! ;) Needless to say I felt a little... whats the word...terrible!! When I woke up this morning, like elephants had trampled on my head while I was sleeping, but I made it to school early - they had changed the schedule today for some school function thing so my class started 30 mins earlier.

My co-teacher (Miss Yun) bought coffee down for me when she came for class - think she must have known I would need it! Lunch today was fantastic too! Just what I needed to get past this headache! I asked one of the other teachers what it was called, and for the life of me I can't remember what she said, but then when I asked her how to cook it I wished I had taken notes! I think I remember most of it - I hope so anyway because she went over to the E-mart just after lunch and bought me a bag of the ingredients so I would be able to practice making it at home! They are so sweet here! I don't know why I am still constantly surprised by their kindness, they have been like this since I got here, perhaps I just expected it to fade as they got used to me being around?!

 So 2 classes left for the day and then tomorrow is Friday!! I am going out for dinner with the female English teachers tomorrow night which should be fun - they are calling it a girls night because we are leaving Mr Kim behind... hehe. I think we are headed to Songtan, which is right near Osan US airforce base, for some Thai food - the teachers don't like the Thai food in Osan because it is apparently Korean style - and they want the real thing! After that I feel certain I will be headed out somewhere else and I think I may be heading to the Seoul Lantern Festival on Saturday... another busy weekend ahead! I am hoping I will have a bit of time to sleep sometime next month!!

Wednesday November 3rd 2010

So Sunday was a bit of a wipe-out... tried really hard to get to sleep early but that wasn't going to happen, turns out m body clock either likes to be awake all night and asleep all day or the other way round, it doesn't seem to be a big fan of changing! So at mid-night I was rattling around my apartment feeling guilty about the fact that I couldn't sleep and knowing I was going to feel awful in the morning! I wonder how long it will take to adjust to only getting a few hours sleep a night? I wish I was like the Korean kids who can just put their heads on their desk in the middle of a class and go to sleep - they have made an art form of it - and I am slowly getting used to the fact that if I want them to work I just have to poke them and point at the paper in front of them... The last couple of days have passed by pretty quietly, I am still amazed by the fact that there is so much activity at night, its like the city / town comes alive after about 7pm.

Went down for a coffee with my aussie friend from Osan on Monday night at about 8pm and there were people everywhere - but its like that every night - and it's normal to have a really late dinner. My co-teacher told me that she loves that everything is open so late because it means she can have her own life after she finishes work - I can definitely see the value in this - other than the fact that I have had very little sleep in the last 2 weeks! Classes are going really well - the teachers mentioned they thought I was doing too much work, especially for the 3rd graders who dont care about school anymore because they already have the results they need to get into high -school, so they thought I should show some video clips of Mr. Bean and then ask them some questions.

I hesitated about this at first, thinking that it didn't really count as teaching, but when I realized they were serious I was more than happy to oblige - very little work involved for me and I don't have to talk as much! Funny thing is the kids absolutely adore it! They laugh like maniacs through the whole thing like its the funniest thing they have ever seen! Went to the E-mart on Monday night as well - I can tell I have been eating dumplings too often because the taste-testing ladies in the dumpling aisle recognize me... I tried some new ones and liked them, so when I went to grab a bag the lady took some other little bags that had come off something else and attached them to what I was going to buy, basically free stuff! She knows I always try different things, and I asked her for help once, either way I think she feels like she knows me because she pinched my cheeks and said "so cute! Always smiling!" Hehe...free stuff!

 I have also been systematically working my way around the restaurants in Osan, with some very good company, and trying out some different foods - still haven't found that much that I don't like - I may have mentioned that I am not a huge fan of boiled seaweed but fortunately there are not too many places that serve it up - not the places I have been anyway! So, tonight, I am being taken out by the Principal and all the head teachers for a welcome dinner, we are apparently heading out to a restaurant in the country that is really famous in Korea, and very fancy. It will be an interesting night as there is only one teacher going who speaks any English!

I am, however, feeling a lot more comfortable with the Korean chopsticks - can even pick them up and start eating with one hand now, and I manage to make it look like I know what I am doing...most of the time - got a bit distracted at dinner last night and accidentally flung one onto the floor, much to the amusement of my charming dinner companion! (Who I might add spent the next 15 minutes laughing at me... while I went bright red and fervently hoped that the waitress hadn't seen it!) I am supposed to be leaving in about 10 minutes so I should probably go and get organized - will post another update soon!