Hope you are all enjoying the holiday cheer!
I have uploaded some more recent pictures to my flickr photo stream. Sorry if you want more. As you probably know, I'm terrible about remembering to take pictures, unskilled when I do so, and selective on what pictures I deem worthy of sharing.
In the upcoming months I will have a very relaxed time. One week Christmas / New Years vacation, followed by two weeks of winter camp which is a half load of teaching hours for me, plus the class is only top students (by far the easiest and most fun to teach), followed by three weeks of vacation (some travel - details still undetermined), followed by one week of normal school which officially finishes the current school year, finally another two week vacation before the next school year starts with March.
It is a good time for a quarterly report, as Christmas day was precisely 3 months into my year contract.
1. The work- A few pleasant developments for the new year: Both schools are building new "English designated classrooms." I'm not sure of the details, but this will be a slightly larger classroom with seats that are easier to manipulate for group work, as well as having a richer variety of multimedia options for my lessons to exploit. More importantly, in the boys high school I get my wish of classes differentiated by proficiency.
As I've mentioned, I used the first couple months to feel out the skills and needs of the students and to try a variety of different lessons to try to learn how to teach English. I often feel like I've pulled a slick one on this country as they are paying a totally unqualified person an unreasonable amount of money to do something he has no training or experience in doing. Indeed to make up for this I will be using some of my free time in the weeks to come to take an online TESL (teaching English as a second language) course. This should give me some better ideas for class, and also will pay for itself with a salary bump if I stay for a second year (incidentally, it is likely that I will).
So, you may be curious what actually happens in class. Here's a sample of some classroom activities I've used:
1. To commemorate our lame duck in chief I collected some of his grammatically erroneous quotations from over the years and had the students correct them. Generally if it was something simple like a tense or singular vs plural conflict they were able to find and fix it, but anything more complicated was too hard.
2. One fun class was when I removed the captions from a bunch of Calvin and Hobbes. They had to make their own captions, then, given the text separately, match the words to the correct comic.
3. Listening comprehension: First I described a map of a town to see if they could draw it and give me directions from one building to another .. this was too hard.
4. Pronounciation: This is quite difficult for Koreans since their language lacks many of the common connsonant sounds of English. Therefore, tounge twister challenge! I memorized a Korean tounge twister too .. it was hard.
Well, let me know if you want to hear about more lessons we've had. Next year I hope to have more of a comprehensive game plan for the year.
2. Learning Korean. I'm up to a good 500+ word vocabulary at this point, but I still have to search my brain for a second for most words, so I can write, read and speak only very slowly. The best is when a Korean person has English level about equal to my Korean level. In this case we both speak in the foreign tounge with atrocious grammar and just barely understand each other. The accent, coupled with the plentitude of suffixes for every part of speach and a limited vocabulary make listening comprehension still next to impossible for me. One particular troulbe is that the region I live in has a very strong accent. Imagine you are from Japan, studied Oxford English for a few months by yourself, then found yourself in the middle of Alabama .. Nevertheless, I am encouraged by the progress I've made in the first 3 months, and maintain hope that I will be conversational by the year's end.
3. Social. Well, I'm having still having a good time for the most part, but I won't deny that I've been pretty homesick at times as well. Of course I miss all you, but from leaving my hometown to go to college, to moving to a city where I didn't know anyone for grad school, I've the experiance to cope with it.
But, in the words of Dick Proenecke, "This was to be a more thourough, and lasting examination." For example, going to badminton club is probably my favorite thing to do. Of course I have fun with the sport and interacting with the horde friendly and diverse club members, but I sometimes find myself sitting in the bar afterwards, nursing my soju and listening to a conversation that I understand 2 words/sentence of, and wondering what the hell I am doing here. And when I am successfully conversing it is more draining than you might realize to have to chose your words and sentences so carefully to be understood, as well as to have to focus so hard to piece together meaning from the mispronounced, ungrammatical English I have to deal with.
I have plenty of friendly acquaintances, but what I lack is a truly close friendship. Someone with whom I can have a truly free-flowing conversation (that occasionally touches on mature subjects). Well, in town there are only about 4 fluent speakers of English, but one is a recluse, one is a tool, one is nice enough, but older and married with toddler, and the other .. is me.
I'm not saying it's impossible for me to form a close relationship with a Korean, but it will take more time.
End rant. Things aren't as bad as the last two paragraphs make it seem, but as this blog is a rare outlet for me to vent, you have to suffer for it.
As I mentioned above, if I had to say right now, I would say it is more likely that I will stay here another year. One reason is I think by then end of one year I will still be learning how to teach English, and hopefully good enough at Korean to not feel as isolated. Finally, with all the adjusting I've done I haven't found enough time yet to figure out exactly what I will do next, but at my current income - cost of living at about $20,000/year I can afford to wait another year as long as I am still having a good time over here.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
It's the little things that make the difference
Some of the little things that are by now commonplace to me, but may seem interesting to an outside observer.
In Korea we don't have V8 vegetable juice drink. We have V19!
You don't pay a monthly fee for trash collection. You pay by the bag, having to buy special orange trash bags at the store. From the perspective of economic theory this type of use based taxation is more efficient and leads to less excess household waste disposal costs.
The literal translation of the formal greeting and goodbye in Korean is "Are you at peace?" and "Remain peaceful" respectively.
The home heating comes through hot pipes beneath the floor rather than a radiator. This decentralized heating makes the room seem cozier, and nicer for the obligatory shoeless foot.
On a related note, it makes the traditional eating posture of sitting crosslegged on the floor more comfortable. Actually this practice seems to be paying off - before when cold I could just barely touch my toes, and when warmed up get a knuckle or two on the ground. After just a few months here I can almost touch my palms to the floor.
TV - USA wins this battle overall, but I do have about 50 channels of cable including CNN, and a channel that shows some English movies as well as CSI. The sports channels show a lot of soccer, golf, and baseball. They show Korean league basketball, but very little NBA which is too bad because the Korean league is about 1/2 step beneath college ball. Some sports that don't get much press time in America but are common to see over here include billiards (we're talking no pockets, 3 balls), indoors volleyball, table tennis, and baduk - there is actually a dedicated baduk (go) channel. The other channels of regular Korean programming are hard for me to watch, but I will have to try when Korean progresses to the point that I can understand a little of it. They have two kinds of shows - crappy reality / game show, and drama which might not be bad but I don't know enough yet to judge.
Intercity transportation is cheap. A 1 hr train ride to the local city Jinju is about $2. A Taxi can get you anywhere in the city for less than $4. All the way to Seoul, at the opposite corner of the country, is about $30 (and 5 hrs) by train.
More to come ..
In Korea we don't have V8 vegetable juice drink. We have V19!
You don't pay a monthly fee for trash collection. You pay by the bag, having to buy special orange trash bags at the store. From the perspective of economic theory this type of use based taxation is more efficient and leads to less excess household waste disposal costs.
The literal translation of the formal greeting and goodbye in Korean is "Are you at peace?" and "Remain peaceful" respectively.
The home heating comes through hot pipes beneath the floor rather than a radiator. This decentralized heating makes the room seem cozier, and nicer for the obligatory shoeless foot.
On a related note, it makes the traditional eating posture of sitting crosslegged on the floor more comfortable. Actually this practice seems to be paying off - before when cold I could just barely touch my toes, and when warmed up get a knuckle or two on the ground. After just a few months here I can almost touch my palms to the floor.
TV - USA wins this battle overall, but I do have about 50 channels of cable including CNN, and a channel that shows some English movies as well as CSI. The sports channels show a lot of soccer, golf, and baseball. They show Korean league basketball, but very little NBA which is too bad because the Korean league is about 1/2 step beneath college ball. Some sports that don't get much press time in America but are common to see over here include billiards (we're talking no pockets, 3 balls), indoors volleyball, table tennis, and baduk - there is actually a dedicated baduk (go) channel. The other channels of regular Korean programming are hard for me to watch, but I will have to try when Korean progresses to the point that I can understand a little of it. They have two kinds of shows - crappy reality / game show, and drama which might not be bad but I don't know enough yet to judge.
Intercity transportation is cheap. A 1 hr train ride to the local city Jinju is about $2. A Taxi can get you anywhere in the city for less than $4. All the way to Seoul, at the opposite corner of the country, is about $30 (and 5 hrs) by train.
More to come ..
a quick update
Just to wish you all a belated Happy Thanksgiving, and an unusually early Happy Chanukah. It doesn't start until Dec. 21st this year!
Not too many adventures or new experiances to share with you this time. Last weekend was the first snow of the season, just a dusting. I went with a friend to a cozy little green tea shop in a small town about 10 min from here. To our surprise we were joined by a group of about 8 Buddhist monks who came down from a local temple. They were a lively group: cracking jokes and ripping some of the loudest farts. but the tea was delicious. Did you know this region of Korea is famous nationwide for its green tea. There is a big festival for it in the Spring that should be a lot of fun.
I am sitting at work, but bored today because it is exam week for the students, so I don't have much to do. I didn't even have to help write the exams or anything, although I volunteered my typing services since it was painfull to watch how slowly my co-teacher's english typing is (I practice typing in the Korean alphabet sometimes so I can certainly empathize.) The Korean is progressing, still slowly, but perceptibly.
The other purpose of this post is to solicit ideas. I have a vacation coming up and would like to do a little traveling. If anyone has done so in this part of the world and has an idea for something you think I would really love, let me know please!
Not too many adventures or new experiances to share with you this time. Last weekend was the first snow of the season, just a dusting. I went with a friend to a cozy little green tea shop in a small town about 10 min from here. To our surprise we were joined by a group of about 8 Buddhist monks who came down from a local temple. They were a lively group: cracking jokes and ripping some of the loudest farts. but the tea was delicious. Did you know this region of Korea is famous nationwide for its green tea. There is a big festival for it in the Spring that should be a lot of fun.
I am sitting at work, but bored today because it is exam week for the students, so I don't have much to do. I didn't even have to help write the exams or anything, although I volunteered my typing services since it was painfull to watch how slowly my co-teacher's english typing is (I practice typing in the Korean alphabet sometimes so I can certainly empathize.) The Korean is progressing, still slowly, but perceptibly.
The other purpose of this post is to solicit ideas. I have a vacation coming up and would like to do a little traveling. If anyone has done so in this part of the world and has an idea for something you think I would really love, let me know please!
Friday, November 21, 2008
What do you do after work?
One of the teachers asked me this. She was worried that I am lonely living in a small town where I don't speak the language. Well, luckily there is something to do every day where I can use my love of the international language of games to get by without deep conversation. I have discovered the baduk (go), taku (table tennis), and badminton (badminton) clubs in town, and I can go to whichever one I want almost any evening I choose. There are some seriously high quality players at all three, not that I like to generalize by race, but the Koreans do seem to take their hobbies quite seriously, and are surprised by how various my interests are (I had to teach them the phrase Jack of all trades, because I didn't want them to call me "know it all"), but there are also some people I can evenly compete with, and some beginner as well. I guess there is not much to say about it, but suffice to say that I don't worry too much about having free time. Indeed, it is a great place to live for me if only I could fluently communicate, have a job that I was sure had the potential for long term satisfaction, and was closer to my friends and family. Uh yeah, so maybe it is only a great place to live for a year or two, but my point stands.
Ultimate in Korea
I took a trip to play an ultimate tournament a few weekends ago. It was a lot of fun. Nice fields, good quality games that left me walking stiffly early the next week. It was great to get the chance to play, and also nice to meet some more young native English speakers. It is a drawback to living in a remote smaller town that I cannot do either more often, but I knew what I getting into, and don't consider that something to regret .. yet.
After the games on Saturday there was a party at a bar downtown. Being the day after Halloween it was a costume party. I should have taken more pictures because there were a lot of really good costumes. Perhaps the best was a couple who came as Obama and Palin. The costumes were very realistic; this girl makes as good as Palin as Tina Fey ever could, and never have I seen a more tastefully done blackface. Anyway, what put them over the top was a little skit where Palin offered Obama a little "Alaskan hospitality." So she blindfolded him and then stripped off his pants. With a flourish she tore off his shirt and an Arab gown unfurled as the blindfold turned into a turban and the outer layer of his "Yes we can!" campaign sign was stripped away to reveal the socialist truth behind this secret muslim. Good luck America, I'll be over here until we get Sarah to pull us out of this mess in four years.
However the weekend was not all fun and games. I had some struggles getting home. The games were done, and I was ready to head back from Deajeon to Hadong, at about 5:00. It is a two hour bus ride to Jinju, and another hour home for me, so I assumed I should get home at a reasonable hour. Unfortunately most everyone who came to the tournament traveled by train, so I could not split a taxi. Well, they are not too expensive, so it is no big deal. What was a big deal was my lack of knowledge of the city. It turns out there are two bus stations on opposite sides of town, and one of them only travels to Seoul (which is in the wrong direction for me). So even though I thought I explained to the taxi driver that I wanted to go to the bus station to go to Jinju, maybe he only heard "bus station" and couldn't understand the rest of my feeble Korean. At least the cashier at that station spoke English and could explain to me the problem, and what, exactly to tell the next cabbie.
Unfortunately, by now it is almost 6 o'clock, and I have to get across town during Sunday rush hour, yes such a thing apparently exists. After interminable idling, I told the taxi driver I had to get there by 7. He took an illegal u-turn, sped down some streets closed for construction, then weaved at high speed through some lighter traffic, and eventually I made it to the station just in time to catch the 7 o'clock bus.
But this was not enough. It arrived at Jinju at 9:03, just minutes after the last bus to Hadong has pulled away. Not sure what to do now I decide to check the train station; I thought the last train was also 9:00, but maybe it is 9:30. But two or three taxis outside the bus station play dumb and refuse me service. So I decide to use a public phone to call some co-workers to see what they suggest, maybe they even have a coach or guest room I can crash on. But I can't get the phones to work! they seem to be the same as one's I have successfully used in the past, maybe just broken. I'm starting to think I'm stuck here when I see a Westerner, a girl with blond hair, come out of the phone booth I tried using a short while ago. I explain to her my troubles, but she just looks at me with a blank face and says "Russian .. no talk English." My fate sealed, I find a cheap motel.
After the games on Saturday there was a party at a bar downtown. Being the day after Halloween it was a costume party. I should have taken more pictures because there were a lot of really good costumes. Perhaps the best was a couple who came as Obama and Palin. The costumes were very realistic; this girl makes as good as Palin as Tina Fey ever could, and never have I seen a more tastefully done blackface. Anyway, what put them over the top was a little skit where Palin offered Obama a little "Alaskan hospitality." So she blindfolded him and then stripped off his pants. With a flourish she tore off his shirt and an Arab gown unfurled as the blindfold turned into a turban and the outer layer of his "Yes we can!" campaign sign was stripped away to reveal the socialist truth behind this secret muslim. Good luck America, I'll be over here until we get Sarah to pull us out of this mess in four years.
However the weekend was not all fun and games. I had some struggles getting home. The games were done, and I was ready to head back from Deajeon to Hadong, at about 5:00. It is a two hour bus ride to Jinju, and another hour home for me, so I assumed I should get home at a reasonable hour. Unfortunately most everyone who came to the tournament traveled by train, so I could not split a taxi. Well, they are not too expensive, so it is no big deal. What was a big deal was my lack of knowledge of the city. It turns out there are two bus stations on opposite sides of town, and one of them only travels to Seoul (which is in the wrong direction for me). So even though I thought I explained to the taxi driver that I wanted to go to the bus station to go to Jinju, maybe he only heard "bus station" and couldn't understand the rest of my feeble Korean. At least the cashier at that station spoke English and could explain to me the problem, and what, exactly to tell the next cabbie.
Unfortunately, by now it is almost 6 o'clock, and I have to get across town during Sunday rush hour, yes such a thing apparently exists. After interminable idling, I told the taxi driver I had to get there by 7. He took an illegal u-turn, sped down some streets closed for construction, then weaved at high speed through some lighter traffic, and eventually I made it to the station just in time to catch the 7 o'clock bus.
But this was not enough. It arrived at Jinju at 9:03, just minutes after the last bus to Hadong has pulled away. Not sure what to do now I decide to check the train station; I thought the last train was also 9:00, but maybe it is 9:30. But two or three taxis outside the bus station play dumb and refuse me service. So I decide to use a public phone to call some co-workers to see what they suggest, maybe they even have a coach or guest room I can crash on. But I can't get the phones to work! they seem to be the same as one's I have successfully used in the past, maybe just broken. I'm starting to think I'm stuck here when I see a Westerner, a girl with blond hair, come out of the phone booth I tried using a short while ago. I explain to her my troubles, but she just looks at me with a blank face and says "Russian .. no talk English." My fate sealed, I find a cheap motel.
Hiking
I was hoping to go on a serious hiking trip up a local mountain, but my guide, a Japanese teacher with a lot of knowledge of the parks, had to cancel at the last minute because his father was sick. So, having nothing to do that Saturday I hopped on my bike and headed out with no plan in particular.
I followed the river north for about an hour then turned off towards the hills. Passed through a tiny town then chose a road that seemed to go straight up the mountain. 30 min, and maybe 5 km later (yes it was steep!) the road has changed from asphalt to concrete and I am getting passed by a little truck with two horned goats in the bed. The driver saw my red perspiring face and gave me a big grin and a thumbs up, so I guessed I was near the end of the road.
Indeed, a short while later there was a collection of a handful of houses, and just beyond them the path changed from concrete to dirt. This is where the picture "bambootrail" was taken. As I climbed the foliage and terrain changed, see "trekkingtrail." It was quite a nice hike, some rocks to climb in a nice steep trail with footing that definately made it a hike rather than a walk; some good views too. I had almost forgotten how much I like hiking. Even though there are options around LA, I rarely took advantage of them, and when I did never really appreciated the desert climate anyway.
So I will take that trip to the bigger mountains some time soon, I hope. Maybe once before it gets snowy at the top, and again afterwards.
I followed the river north for about an hour then turned off towards the hills. Passed through a tiny town then chose a road that seemed to go straight up the mountain. 30 min, and maybe 5 km later (yes it was steep!) the road has changed from asphalt to concrete and I am getting passed by a little truck with two horned goats in the bed. The driver saw my red perspiring face and gave me a big grin and a thumbs up, so I guessed I was near the end of the road.
Indeed, a short while later there was a collection of a handful of houses, and just beyond them the path changed from concrete to dirt. This is where the picture "bambootrail" was taken. As I climbed the foliage and terrain changed, see "trekkingtrail." It was quite a nice hike, some rocks to climb in a nice steep trail with footing that definately made it a hike rather than a walk; some good views too. I had almost forgotten how much I like hiking. Even though there are options around LA, I rarely took advantage of them, and when I did never really appreciated the desert climate anyway.
So I will take that trip to the bigger mountains some time soon, I hope. Maybe once before it gets snowy at the top, and again afterwards.
Traditional korea villages
The remaining pictures are from some trips I took to local traditional style villages. One interesting thing about Korea is the speed with which it has become a developed nation. So these villages are like a Colonial Williamsport in that they display a historic architecture and way of life, but they are preserved by the living memory of the older generation for whom this was simply the way of life. It was interesting to tour around, hopefully you can get a decent idea of what it was like from the pictures.
Since it didn't fit into any of my other posts, let me also use this one to tell you some bad news. My first attempt to make some beer ended in failure. It seemed all the Korean websites that sold brewers yeast were sold out, except for one. But when my order showed up this dehydrated yeast had an expiration date of Oct 2007. I didn't really have any other options, so I cooked up the hops and grains and hoped for the best .. turns out the expiration date is to be trusted in this case, so I wasted some time and some ingredients. More importantly, I don't know where I can get good yeast from now.
Since it didn't fit into any of my other posts, let me also use this one to tell you some bad news. My first attempt to make some beer ended in failure. It seemed all the Korean websites that sold brewers yeast were sold out, except for one. But when my order showed up this dehydrated yeast had an expiration date of Oct 2007. I didn't really have any other options, so I cooked up the hops and grains and hoped for the best .. turns out the expiration date is to be trusted in this case, so I wasted some time and some ingredients. More importantly, I don't know where I can get good yeast from now.
More pictures
check out my flickr stream for an undate with some more photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48705722@N00
I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya, but it's been because I've been busy rather than having nothing to say. So to increase my post count, I'll turn this update into several topical posts instead of one long catch-up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48705722@N00
I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya, but it's been because I've been busy rather than having nothing to say. So to increase my post count, I'll turn this update into several topical posts instead of one long catch-up.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Learning Korean II
I should also mention that on the plus side, although it is tough for a native English speaker, Korean is easy!
1. An almost completely phonetic alphabet. There are some occasional exceptions to the rule, but the number of sounds is small compared to most other languages. Unfortunately there are some tonal things where a native english speaker cannot distinguish or make some sounds (example: ryeo - one syllable; and two different hard "O"s I can lip read, but not hear the difference between them!) the only downside to this simplicity is that it makes it too easy for a native speaker to speak too quickly
2. Regularity. Much fewer irregular verbs. And even those that are "irregular" only seem to differ in one extra syllable and one different vowel compared to a regular verb.
3. Some things are just amazingly efficient and easy. Some of my favorite examples: water = mool, meat = gogi so fish = moolgogi ; neck = mok , hand = son so wrist = sonmok. so easy!
1. An almost completely phonetic alphabet. There are some occasional exceptions to the rule, but the number of sounds is small compared to most other languages. Unfortunately there are some tonal things where a native english speaker cannot distinguish or make some sounds (example: ryeo - one syllable; and two different hard "O"s I can lip read, but not hear the difference between them!) the only downside to this simplicity is that it makes it too easy for a native speaker to speak too quickly
2. Regularity. Much fewer irregular verbs. And even those that are "irregular" only seem to differ in one extra syllable and one different vowel compared to a regular verb.
3. Some things are just amazingly efficient and easy. Some of my favorite examples: water = mool, meat = gogi so fish = moolgogi ; neck = mok , hand = son so wrist = sonmok. so easy!
Learning Korean
I'm not gonna beat about the bush - I'm struggling. There are a lot of chips stacked against me. Foremost is the extreme difference between Korean and English; for those of you who have only studied European languages it is hard to explain how much more difficult it is to deal with the completely different phonetics and grammar. At first, even when I could get the speaker to slow down to a syllable at a time, I could could not distinguish the sounds they were making; even after a month+ of total immersion I still have trouble simply hearing and repeating regardless of if I understand or not.
Another difficulty is my position as English teacher. Most people who talk to me are quite eager for the rare opportunity to practice their English often to the extent of overriding / ignoring / not understanding my requests for Korean translations or to help me practice listening by speaking Korean slowly. Part of the problem is that when I try to speak Korean my accent is so heavily English, and their understanding of English so poor that most people assume I am speaking English words that they don't understand; so it is hard to get lots of feedback of my book learned pronounciation.
That being said, I think I'm finally starting to hit the first point of inflection on the learning curve. Within the last week or two my listening cognition has been skyrocketing and I've been better able to convince the people that know me of my earnestness to learn how to speak the language.
My goal is for my last blog post to be a summary of my year, written in Korean!
Another difficulty is my position as English teacher. Most people who talk to me are quite eager for the rare opportunity to practice their English often to the extent of overriding / ignoring / not understanding my requests for Korean translations or to help me practice listening by speaking Korean slowly. Part of the problem is that when I try to speak Korean my accent is so heavily English, and their understanding of English so poor that most people assume I am speaking English words that they don't understand; so it is hard to get lots of feedback of my book learned pronounciation.
That being said, I think I'm finally starting to hit the first point of inflection on the learning curve. Within the last week or two my listening cognition has been skyrocketing and I've been better able to convince the people that know me of my earnestness to learn how to speak the language.
My goal is for my last blog post to be a summary of my year, written in Korean!
Monday, October 27, 2008
teaching English
I want to write about some of the challenges I have found in teaching. But keep in mind that I've only been here a month, so these are still first impressions subject to change.
One of the worst things, and also one of the easiest things for the school to improve, is that the classes are not differentiated by proficiency. So in each grade there are 6 or 7 classes (I teach two different years, equivalent of HS sophmores and juniors), but each class has students who don't care at all mixed with some students who try, but aren't very strong, and the handful of students who are good enough to carry a conversation (given a little patience). Some of the teachers agree with me that it would be better for every student if they break up the classes, but they tried to do this (all over the country) about a decade ago. The result was that the teachers complained about tripling the amount of preparation they had to do, and the parents complained if their kid was not in the top class, so they scrapped the system. Too bad because now my class is over the heads of some students and too slow for others at any given time.
One of the worst things, and also one of the easiest things for the school to improve, is that the classes are not differentiated by proficiency. So in each grade there are 6 or 7 classes (I teach two different years, equivalent of HS sophmores and juniors), but each class has students who don't care at all mixed with some students who try, but aren't very strong, and the handful of students who are good enough to carry a conversation (given a little patience). Some of the teachers agree with me that it would be better for every student if they break up the classes, but they tried to do this (all over the country) about a decade ago. The result was that the teachers complained about tripling the amount of preparation they had to do, and the parents complained if their kid was not in the top class, so they scrapped the system. Too bad because now my class is over the heads of some students and too slow for others at any given time.
This was not explained to me until after my first couple classes. When I was asked what I thought of the students I mentioned that some were quite good and many seemed like they had never studied English! Lack of preparation before starting the job is definately a bit of a set back for me. I thought I was supposed to get a 1 week training course when I arrived, but did not because I came after the start of the semester. I thought my Korean co-teachers would give me more input on how to design my classes, but they all said I am the expert and immediately approve any idea I suggest without question or improvement. I feel bad for the kids I teach on Monday because I tweak the content and presentation of every lesson and get so much better by the later classes. By now I am starting to get a better idea of what kind of things will work, and what the students need to learn, but it seems kind of weird to have been learning on the job, experimenting with some kids educations.
Another problem with the system these kids have learned in is that the focus is almost exclusively reading comprehension because that is what is tested on the national college exams - in the Korean system they take exams like SATs every year of highschool, and the exams cover every subject. It is good in that it is standardized across the nation and gives each child, in principle, an equal chance at any college, but it is all multiple choice questions so in all subjects the students focus on memorization and test taking skill rather than creativity and deep understanding. The English questions are usually something like reading a paragraph and fill in the blanks of a few missing words. The students have almost no practice with writing or speaking, and limited listening comprehension.
"With Christmas just a few days away the tree that jsut yesterday demanded full attention from the room with its sparkles and twinkles now cowered in the corner like a dark shadow."
Compare this to one of the better writing samples I have collected from my students -
"Sir former teacher thinks, sleep is not so much. because the that hobby was uncertain, I answered so. Well, morning nap will try a lot of things to I do not doze class although it is true."
The biggest challenge for me in this regard is the students reluctance to speak in class. There are a variety of reasons for this reluctance: a traditional view of the classroom as a place where the teacher lectures and the students listen, simple shyness (especially with the girls), and a deep fear of making a mistake (however small) and losing face with their classmates - they take the advice of "be silent and assumed a fool rather than speak and remove all doubt" to a whole other level.
Well, I am trying to break them down so that I can build them up again in my own image. A little later I'll post again about work and let you know how my actual classes have gone.
Friday, October 24, 2008
flickr link
it comes to my attention that the link to the photo album I made a few posts ago is broken.
just copy / paste the website as written instead of clicking. It should work.
just copy / paste the website as written instead of clicking. It should work.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sports and exercise
Plenty of opportunities on this front. Both schools have a weekly staff volleyball game which they take pretty seriously, they even have one teacher act as referee. Actually there is a tournament amongst the local school, which the boys highschool team won last year. They are indeed quite a bit better than the team of teachers at the girl's highschool. On the latter I am probably on of the top 3 players, but there are a handful of experts at the boy's school. Anyway it is fun to play even though I prefer sand to indoor court.
Also, there are several tennis players that I can hit around with. I don't know if it will be too cold in the winter, but for now it is fun to try to adjust my play to the clay courts they have here. I try to slide but my feet just stick, maybe I need flatter soled shoes. If it is impossible to play tennis in the winter I can always take up the slack with badminton. It is very popular here; I have played once so far. It is a lot of fun to lay-out for a drop shot on the smooth hardwood floors.
Speaking of laying out, it looks like I will even get a chance to play some ultimate frisbee. There is a small sized, but fairly well organized community in the country that seems to include a lot of Americans. Unfortunately it doesn't look like I will get a chance for any kind of regular pick-up game; I would have to live in a big city for that. But in a couple weekends there is a tournament in a city about 3 hrs away which I think I will be able to join up with: hooray!
Around town there is also a very nice path along the river where I can go running, or I can just set off through the rice fields and keep my self amused with some strange looks from the farmers. Also, as I've mentioned there are some excellent places to take bike rides in all directions from town. Last weekend I went to the Southern tip, to Namhae bridge, and back, a nice ride of about 50km with a lot of elevation change. you can see some pics on the flickr.
Also, there are several tennis players that I can hit around with. I don't know if it will be too cold in the winter, but for now it is fun to try to adjust my play to the clay courts they have here. I try to slide but my feet just stick, maybe I need flatter soled shoes. If it is impossible to play tennis in the winter I can always take up the slack with badminton. It is very popular here; I have played once so far. It is a lot of fun to lay-out for a drop shot on the smooth hardwood floors.
Speaking of laying out, it looks like I will even get a chance to play some ultimate frisbee. There is a small sized, but fairly well organized community in the country that seems to include a lot of Americans. Unfortunately it doesn't look like I will get a chance for any kind of regular pick-up game; I would have to live in a big city for that. But in a couple weekends there is a tournament in a city about 3 hrs away which I think I will be able to join up with: hooray!
Around town there is also a very nice path along the river where I can go running, or I can just set off through the rice fields and keep my self amused with some strange looks from the farmers. Also, as I've mentioned there are some excellent places to take bike rides in all directions from town. Last weekend I went to the Southern tip, to Namhae bridge, and back, a nice ride of about 50km with a lot of elevation change. you can see some pics on the flickr.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Bugs!
Hi everyone,I've finally uploaded some pictures which you can view at my flickr account www.flickr.com/photos/48705722@N00/ . More to come but I didn't want to overdo things right away.
Should I explain the title of this post? I've been fighting a war with several bugs recently, let me explain. As I've said my apartment is quite nice in a number of regards: but shortly after I moved in I was beset by insects. First the mosquitos - the cultivation of rice fields requires kilometers of standing water irrigation and the Koreans don't use pesticide therefore mosquito breeding heaven. The problem is that my house is not well sealed, cracks at the windows and doors allow them to flock in at night. So I got a candle which was supposed to repell them, but woke up the next morning with an itchy bump on my eyelid. Enough is enough, time to nip the problem in the root so I bought tape and other sealing products and went to work. So far so good.
Hopefully this will take care of my other problem as well - cockroaches. They say for every one you see there are 100 you don't, which means at least 2000 live in the building. Some are tiny and cute, but some are big and fat: maybe 3/4 of the size of my thumb. I hope they are climbing in under my door and don't actually live in my apartment. I have reason to believe this because I have seen so many in the entranceway. So I have sealed the entrance doorway as best I could with foam - I would have to do this to keep winter heating costs down anyway eventually - and put out some raid poison traps in case they have set up nests in my home. I've been seeing less each day since then, hopefully these trends continue.
But some entrances in my apartment are not too obvious. For example, one morning I saw a drop of bird poo on a book I was reading, and wondered how it got there. Then I heard a rustle in the kitchen, and went to find a little sparrow flying around my house, bouncing off the walls. Eventually he found his way out a window I opened for him, but how did he get in? Turns out there was a sizeable gap around the hole in the wall for the vent for the stovetop fan.
Also a family of wasps decided to live on the light above my front door. Dozens of them clustered toghter. I noticed them the first time when I opened the door to check the weather and got divebombed by a few - they are much bigger than American wasps. I told my co-teacher about them and she said, "Oh, we call them horse bees. They can kill a person." So I used an insect spray and they flew away. A few days later they came back. The cycle has repeated about three times now. They have build no structure, so I don't know how strong their bond is to my home, but hopefully they will learn to find a new meeting ground soon. If this is my last post .. now you know why.
I saw the mantis on a country road. He looks at me like that because I almost ran him over on my bike.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Food and Drink
A typical (by typical I mean absolutely every one I've had) Korean meal is family style. It will consist of several vegetable dishes, each of which is seasoned with lots of red pepper and usually garlic too, or is pickled vinegary, sometimes both as is the case for the ubiquitous kimchee (basically fermented spicy cabbage for those of you who have never tried it. I find it quite tasty but could easily understand someone who doesn't). The exceptions to this rule of seasoning include some types of seaweed, and the rare sweet potato I've seen served in a light syrup.
Along with the vegetables there is a bowl of rice (always white and sticky, sometimes with a few beans thrown in "rice and friends"), and almost always a bowl of thin spicy soup.
The variety from meal to meal is the protein element, which is sometimes incorporated into the soup to make it hearty. For example I've had a spicy crab soup, quite tasty, with locally caught mudcrabs, extrememly spicy, and a little difficult to eat because the crabs are still in the shells and without many tools at your disposal you must resort to a crunch and suck technique to get any crab meat. The famous Korean meal is probably bulgogi, Korean bbq where you are served raw meat and get to cook your own on a grill in the middle of the table. The meat is sliced thin and tender, and since it is served raw you can inspect the marbling before you order and cook, a nice touch i think. I've had one or two sushi meals here as well, but unfortunately I have to say the fish has not been up to the standards I've grown accustomed to in LA - little variety and flavor and a chewier texture. They make up for this by wrapping the sashimi in a lettuce leaf with hot sauce garlic and veggies to make a tasty mouthful.
I have also eaten some unusual things including: a fermented fish head - a full bite of crunchy skull and brains, very salty and a little bitter, I would eat one again, but just to be polite. live octopus - ok, not really alive, it was cut into pieces but so freshly cut that like a headless chicken the pieces still wriggled and the suckers stuck on the inside of your mouth, fun to eat and tasty if you like octopus, which I do. I have also finally for the first time intentionally eaten a big fat insect - when it was offered I pretended it was a plump raisin and didn't confirm my suspision until after it was swallowed; it was roasted and warm, it tasted gross.
The second biggest culinary disappointment is lack of variety - most of the dishes are similarly seasoned and it is quite difficult to find non-Korean style food, especially in my small hometown. The biggest is drink: certainly there is a normal selection of beverages including juices, milk, and Coke. Also some things that are tasty are harder to find in the states such a rice drink which is basically horchata without the cinnamon, and a pulpy aloe based drink that is quite nice. But the state of alcoholic beverages is backwards in the godforsaken country. You options are soju - it would be hard to distinguish between this drink and watered down vodka, a cloudy rice wine - this isn't so bad, it is a little sweet though and I can't really see myself drinking more than a small glass, and beer - I use the word in its loosest sense. There are three big breweries in the country and almost no microbrews (maybe a couple in Seoul, but I would never see their products down here). But there may as well be just one as they each produce a brew I would have a hard time distinguishing from Bud in a blind taste test. I saw some imported beers in a convienence store the other day - Bud, Corona and Heineken, due to tariffs about twice as expensive as the native beer. On the other hand, you can buy malted grains, hops and yeast; so I have determined my new hobby - homebrewing!
Along with the vegetables there is a bowl of rice (always white and sticky, sometimes with a few beans thrown in "rice and friends"), and almost always a bowl of thin spicy soup.
The variety from meal to meal is the protein element, which is sometimes incorporated into the soup to make it hearty. For example I've had a spicy crab soup, quite tasty, with locally caught mudcrabs, extrememly spicy, and a little difficult to eat because the crabs are still in the shells and without many tools at your disposal you must resort to a crunch and suck technique to get any crab meat. The famous Korean meal is probably bulgogi, Korean bbq where you are served raw meat and get to cook your own on a grill in the middle of the table. The meat is sliced thin and tender, and since it is served raw you can inspect the marbling before you order and cook, a nice touch i think. I've had one or two sushi meals here as well, but unfortunately I have to say the fish has not been up to the standards I've grown accustomed to in LA - little variety and flavor and a chewier texture. They make up for this by wrapping the sashimi in a lettuce leaf with hot sauce garlic and veggies to make a tasty mouthful.
I have also eaten some unusual things including: a fermented fish head - a full bite of crunchy skull and brains, very salty and a little bitter, I would eat one again, but just to be polite. live octopus - ok, not really alive, it was cut into pieces but so freshly cut that like a headless chicken the pieces still wriggled and the suckers stuck on the inside of your mouth, fun to eat and tasty if you like octopus, which I do. I have also finally for the first time intentionally eaten a big fat insect - when it was offered I pretended it was a plump raisin and didn't confirm my suspision until after it was swallowed; it was roasted and warm, it tasted gross.
The second biggest culinary disappointment is lack of variety - most of the dishes are similarly seasoned and it is quite difficult to find non-Korean style food, especially in my small hometown. The biggest is drink: certainly there is a normal selection of beverages including juices, milk, and Coke. Also some things that are tasty are harder to find in the states such a rice drink which is basically horchata without the cinnamon, and a pulpy aloe based drink that is quite nice. But the state of alcoholic beverages is backwards in the godforsaken country. You options are soju - it would be hard to distinguish between this drink and watered down vodka, a cloudy rice wine - this isn't so bad, it is a little sweet though and I can't really see myself drinking more than a small glass, and beer - I use the word in its loosest sense. There are three big breweries in the country and almost no microbrews (maybe a couple in Seoul, but I would never see their products down here). But there may as well be just one as they each produce a brew I would have a hard time distinguishing from Bud in a blind taste test. I saw some imported beers in a convienence store the other day - Bud, Corona and Heineken, due to tariffs about twice as expensive as the native beer. On the other hand, you can buy malted grains, hops and yeast; so I have determined my new hobby - homebrewing!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Long Overdue update
I let a few days slip by waiting to get internet at home, but still do not. Hopefully by the end of the week, or at worst early next week it will be convenient for me to upload some photos. I've had two weekends and my first week of work since arriving, so I will write about some of my impressions.
First about the teaching. They have me teaching quite a light load. Although my contract calls for up to 22 hours in the classroom, I am only slated for 13 each week, and am being paid overtime for an evening class with some of the schools top students - probably the most enjoyable of all the classes. The regular classes may be a bit of struggle as the level of English is a bit lower than I expected. At least, their skills are skewed towards reading comprehension. I think many students have a decent vocabulary, but their pronounciation is so bad that it takes several tries, and sometimes they have to spell for me before I can understand what they are trying to say. Well, I guess that is why Korea is hiring so many native speakers to come over and teach English. I hope I can help, but I must note that many of my highschool freshman students were taught by a native speaker in middle school. The man's name is Nick, a nice guy in his 30's from South Africa (I wonder if the students are affected by, or even noticed, the change of accent).
Nick is at the beginning of his 2nd year, so although I haven't had a chance to speak with him at length it is at least nice to know that someone liked it here enough to sign up for a 2nd year. Last weekend he set me up to meet two other English teaching in the area. Middle aged guys teaching at elementary schools, one is Kerry from Wisconsin. He has been teaching in Korea for 9 years, the last 3 in the Hadong area. So he must like it quite a bit. He seems like a nice enough guy; I'm not sure what his life goals are yet, but then again I could say that about myself just as well. I asked him how hard he found it to learn the Korean language, and to my surprise his answer was that he has not even tried. He has picked up a hunderd or so words, but only a basic tourists and teacher's phrasebook, no real ability to carry out a conversation.
The other is a Brit named David, who just arrived in Korea a few months ago. Before that he was teaching in Thailand for 3 years which means he must have moved very quickly with his Thai wife and 27 month old son. His first impressions of Korea is that the pay is much better, but the social life much worse than Thailand, but maybe it is hard for him to tell with a toddler to take care of. We went to Jinju, an hour by train to a good size city, and he showed me a few good places to shop - some large department stores, places I can get some Western goods if I need to, and also a bustling market area, very crowded with people and boutiques. Then we met up with Mr. Kim, a friend from school, an electronics teacher, to check out a festival that was going on in the city that holiday weekend - it was Korean National Day on Friday. I guess it is best to save a description of that event for when I can upload some pictures - a common refrain no doubt
What else? I got a bicycle recently. It was a little difficult. There are three tiny bike shops in town, but they all only carry mountain bike and cruisers, so I did some internet shopping for a bike. They say that if you buy cheap you will end up buying twice - I think that will be the case. I got a Korean brand road bike I chose to avoid the high tariff, but it is not of good quality. The bearings in the crank are already clicking right out of the box. At least I can see that there are many scenic trips to be taken around this town with its hills and valleys, and I can bike up to the foot of some mountains that are good for hiking. Again this will be better illustrated with photos.
Go in Korea? I have to remember to call it baduk over here. But it is nice to have a wide variety of people to play with, most of whom will whup my butt. At least I can hold my own to earn some respect - most of them are surprised to know that an American even knows the rules.
I've got to go now and teach these Koreans about American volleyball skills. More stories, and finally pictures, next time.
First about the teaching. They have me teaching quite a light load. Although my contract calls for up to 22 hours in the classroom, I am only slated for 13 each week, and am being paid overtime for an evening class with some of the schools top students - probably the most enjoyable of all the classes. The regular classes may be a bit of struggle as the level of English is a bit lower than I expected. At least, their skills are skewed towards reading comprehension. I think many students have a decent vocabulary, but their pronounciation is so bad that it takes several tries, and sometimes they have to spell for me before I can understand what they are trying to say. Well, I guess that is why Korea is hiring so many native speakers to come over and teach English. I hope I can help, but I must note that many of my highschool freshman students were taught by a native speaker in middle school. The man's name is Nick, a nice guy in his 30's from South Africa (I wonder if the students are affected by, or even noticed, the change of accent).
Nick is at the beginning of his 2nd year, so although I haven't had a chance to speak with him at length it is at least nice to know that someone liked it here enough to sign up for a 2nd year. Last weekend he set me up to meet two other English teaching in the area. Middle aged guys teaching at elementary schools, one is Kerry from Wisconsin. He has been teaching in Korea for 9 years, the last 3 in the Hadong area. So he must like it quite a bit. He seems like a nice enough guy; I'm not sure what his life goals are yet, but then again I could say that about myself just as well. I asked him how hard he found it to learn the Korean language, and to my surprise his answer was that he has not even tried. He has picked up a hunderd or so words, but only a basic tourists and teacher's phrasebook, no real ability to carry out a conversation.
The other is a Brit named David, who just arrived in Korea a few months ago. Before that he was teaching in Thailand for 3 years which means he must have moved very quickly with his Thai wife and 27 month old son. His first impressions of Korea is that the pay is much better, but the social life much worse than Thailand, but maybe it is hard for him to tell with a toddler to take care of. We went to Jinju, an hour by train to a good size city, and he showed me a few good places to shop - some large department stores, places I can get some Western goods if I need to, and also a bustling market area, very crowded with people and boutiques. Then we met up with Mr. Kim, a friend from school, an electronics teacher, to check out a festival that was going on in the city that holiday weekend - it was Korean National Day on Friday. I guess it is best to save a description of that event for when I can upload some pictures - a common refrain no doubt
A bit to my chagrin, it seems that I will have ample opportunity to play golf in Korea afterall; wish I had brought my clubs. My co-teacher at the girl's school is a family of golfers. Her husband, son, and I went to a local small course. It was 9 holes, one true par 5, and couple holes played as par 4's by virtue of a club rule that men can tee-off with no more than a 7-iron. Again pictures coming .. but I should tell the story of the beginning of this round. Joing the family was another boy of the same age as the son, about 11. He was introduced as the best junior golfer in the neighboring province. His mother joined to walk the round with us. On the 2nd hole the kid sliced his tee-shot, and his mulligan too, to a lesser extent, then took 2 chips and 3 putts to get up and down. His next tee-shot was short and right as well. For his mother, I suppose she felt she had lost face and enough was enough. An angrily barked correction to her son punctuated his followthrough. As we were walking down the fairway my co-teacher, Mrs. Lee, explained that the boy was unhappy and would be quitting the rest of the round. He may well have been unhappy, but the fact that his mother had to wrestle the club from his hands with a foot to the stomach leverage and a little verbal abuse for good measure indicated that he would have preferred to keep playing. I'm not sure if I should have done anything with respect to the scene, but uncomfortably followed Mrs. Lee's example of leaving the mother alone to deal with the son who will be a huge disappointment to the family when he fails to become a professional golfer. Not to overgeneralize, but I do think the Korean families do seem to put extra pressure on their children to perform.
Go in Korea? I have to remember to call it baduk over here. But it is nice to have a wide variety of people to play with, most of whom will whup my butt. At least I can hold my own to earn some respect - most of them are surprised to know that an American even knows the rules.
I've got to go now and teach these Koreans about American volleyball skills. More stories, and finally pictures, next time.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Just taught my first class
But I will not talk about that just yet. I will just write about my first day for now.
I have a lot to write about since this is my first post from Korea. I am writing on the office computer, and I cannot upload pictures right now so please be patient and wait for the next post for that. I have to wait until I am issued some type of residency card before I can get an internet hookup in my apartment, but by this time next week I should be posting pictures and skyping.
My trip over was long and mostly uneventful. The first leg, the flight from LA to my stopover in Beijing was quite nice. The plane was huge and undersold so I had an empty seat next to me. I was able to doze a good portion of the 12.5 hrs away. At the Beijing airport I had a small scare. The security officer checked my bag manually and carelessly sliced his finger open on my razor. There was a big hub-bub and milling about, but ultimately nothing came of it; they even let me keep the razor (the blade of which I disposed, of course) and the corkscrew that I didn't even know I packed.
The flight to Busan was short and sweet. I was seated in the midst of some type of China national sports team. Aparently there is something called the tre-X games going on in Busan, but I couldn't figure out exactly what it was.
I was pretty tired by then, it being 17 hrs since my 1:30 a.m. departure, but it was only noon in Korea and I had still almost a full day ahead of me. Driving around from the airport to the office of education to sort out some administrative things, and finally a 1.5 hr drive to my home for the next year: Hadong! The long drive was very scenic. The conversation with my driver, who is also one of my English co-teachers, was a bit stilted; we were both a little nervous probably, and his English is not very good. At one point, after a few moments of silence, the 48 year old married man turned to me and said, "You are very handsome." I did not quite know how to respond, so I just said thankyou and let the topic pass. I guess it is not so uncommon a thing in Korea; also since I've been here everyone is saying how handsome I am and things like, "they will really like you at the girl's school." I guess my modest height and tinted eyes are are considered an exotic delight over here. It is nice, but I will try to not let it go to my head.
Once we arrived in Hadong I had a brief visit to each of the two high schools (boys and girls - right next to each other) where I would be teaching. Then I visited my home for the next year. The location is pretty good. On the negative side it is over a main street and fairly close to a train tracks, but it seems the trains don't run at night, and the street quiets down not too late. Besides that, my only complaint is that there was no hot water my first day - we took care of that quickly. The positives are many. I will post some pictures later as well, but to briefly describe it, the apartment is the third (top) floor above a little restaurant. The middle floor is the local go club. Does it get any better? The apartment itself has a bedroom with ample closet space. The bed is queen size, and a very very firm mattress. There is a small living room with a tv and nothing else besides an ironing board. The kitchen is well equiped with two burner stove, full size fridge, microwave, toaster, water boiler. The bathroom has a washing machine in it. The bathroom is of standard Korean style (with western toilet) which bears extra description: there is no separation between shower area and sink/toilet. The whole room is tiled with a mildly conical floor and one drain in the middle. Hopefully this means that it will be easy to keep clean, I will have to nip in the bud any shower mildew.
Then I was treated to my first Korean supper. The food was delicious, but the downside was that we ate in a traditional restaurant which meant sitting on the floor in front of a one foot high table. I am no good at sitting crosslegged for prolonged periods, perhaps it is a flexibility I will acquire in the coming months. The food: very spicy and garlicy, we had an acorn paste that was kind of like tofu, kimchee (of course), spicy potatoes and zuchinni, and a tender beef with sesame seeds and a mildly sweet very light sauce. There was a plate of lettuce leaves, the idea being to load up a leaf with whatever you want and eating it as sort of a green burrito.
After a quick trip to the store for some basic neccesities the day was done. Likely due mostly to the fact that I hadn't had a full night's rest in over 40 hours, my first night in Korea I slept like a babe.
I have a lot to write about since this is my first post from Korea. I am writing on the office computer, and I cannot upload pictures right now so please be patient and wait for the next post for that. I have to wait until I am issued some type of residency card before I can get an internet hookup in my apartment, but by this time next week I should be posting pictures and skyping.
My trip over was long and mostly uneventful. The first leg, the flight from LA to my stopover in Beijing was quite nice. The plane was huge and undersold so I had an empty seat next to me. I was able to doze a good portion of the 12.5 hrs away. At the Beijing airport I had a small scare. The security officer checked my bag manually and carelessly sliced his finger open on my razor. There was a big hub-bub and milling about, but ultimately nothing came of it; they even let me keep the razor (the blade of which I disposed, of course) and the corkscrew that I didn't even know I packed.
The flight to Busan was short and sweet. I was seated in the midst of some type of China national sports team. Aparently there is something called the tre-X games going on in Busan, but I couldn't figure out exactly what it was.
I was pretty tired by then, it being 17 hrs since my 1:30 a.m. departure, but it was only noon in Korea and I had still almost a full day ahead of me. Driving around from the airport to the office of education to sort out some administrative things, and finally a 1.5 hr drive to my home for the next year: Hadong! The long drive was very scenic. The conversation with my driver, who is also one of my English co-teachers, was a bit stilted; we were both a little nervous probably, and his English is not very good. At one point, after a few moments of silence, the 48 year old married man turned to me and said, "You are very handsome." I did not quite know how to respond, so I just said thankyou and let the topic pass. I guess it is not so uncommon a thing in Korea; also since I've been here everyone is saying how handsome I am and things like, "they will really like you at the girl's school." I guess my modest height and tinted eyes are are considered an exotic delight over here. It is nice, but I will try to not let it go to my head.
Once we arrived in Hadong I had a brief visit to each of the two high schools (boys and girls - right next to each other) where I would be teaching. Then I visited my home for the next year. The location is pretty good. On the negative side it is over a main street and fairly close to a train tracks, but it seems the trains don't run at night, and the street quiets down not too late. Besides that, my only complaint is that there was no hot water my first day - we took care of that quickly. The positives are many. I will post some pictures later as well, but to briefly describe it, the apartment is the third (top) floor above a little restaurant. The middle floor is the local go club. Does it get any better? The apartment itself has a bedroom with ample closet space. The bed is queen size, and a very very firm mattress. There is a small living room with a tv and nothing else besides an ironing board. The kitchen is well equiped with two burner stove, full size fridge, microwave, toaster, water boiler. The bathroom has a washing machine in it. The bathroom is of standard Korean style (with western toilet) which bears extra description: there is no separation between shower area and sink/toilet. The whole room is tiled with a mildly conical floor and one drain in the middle. Hopefully this means that it will be easy to keep clean, I will have to nip in the bud any shower mildew.
Then I was treated to my first Korean supper. The food was delicious, but the downside was that we ate in a traditional restaurant which meant sitting on the floor in front of a one foot high table. I am no good at sitting crosslegged for prolonged periods, perhaps it is a flexibility I will acquire in the coming months. The food: very spicy and garlicy, we had an acorn paste that was kind of like tofu, kimchee (of course), spicy potatoes and zuchinni, and a tender beef with sesame seeds and a mildly sweet very light sauce. There was a plate of lettuce leaves, the idea being to load up a leaf with whatever you want and eating it as sort of a green burrito.
After a quick trip to the store for some basic neccesities the day was done. Likely due mostly to the fact that I hadn't had a full night's rest in over 40 hours, my first night in Korea I slept like a babe.
Monday, September 22, 2008
First post, and only one to be written in LA
I'll try to keep this site updated with my trials tribulations and adventures in the Eastern hemisphere over the next year. I am leaving tomorrow night, so by now I have either packed up, donated, shipped for storage (thanks mom and dad), or sold almost everything I own. The best part of that was the knick-knack auction at Ernie's home-brewed wine party, the worst was occasionally feeling that my possessions were a burden / saying goodbye to some of them.
That is all for now. Check back for updates once I make it across. If my blogging does not satisfy your curiosity, try to talk to me over Skype as colin.hinde928 hopefully the time difference does not prohibit this option.
That is all for now. Check back for updates once I make it across. If my blogging does not satisfy your curiosity, try to talk to me over Skype as colin.hinde928 hopefully the time difference does not prohibit this option.
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