The good, the bad, and the Korean

I thought this week I would just give a few musings of life in Korea, as well as show a few pictures of things going on in.  Let us begin with the musings...

I knew that coming to Korea would mean some awesome experiences but also some true challenges.  I guess that is true of life in general, regardless where you go and what you do.  I think the interesting part is what I find myself struggling with... for instance, I thought the language barrier would be the most frustrating part of being in Korea.  And for sure it's difficult.  I do wish I could talk to my students or read street signs.  Yet in my day to day life I have developed enough "survival Korean" phrases or at least have developed a pattern with certain stores and places that I can basically communicate that I want that cup of coffee or the purple yarn on the left or an order of tuna kimbap.  Instead what I have found the most frustrating on a day to day basis are things like not having a clothes dryer or being freezing cold in my classroom or the sweetness of all tomato sauces (whether that is on pizza or the pasta sauce they sell at the grocery store) or not being able to drive.  I have definitely taken for granted certain conveniences and brands in Canada. 

Another interesting thing is the relationships I have with the people I work with.  I mentioned in my last post that I found the "honeymoon period" of teaching to be over.  This is still true.  As it is with any job, you seem to have a certain grace period and then the bar is risen of expectations.  And really and truly I appreciate the challenge in my job.  I like having projects to work on that are difficult and I like trying to think of creative ways to teach prepositions or phonics.  What is more challenging, however, is understanding how to work with my fellow colleagues.  I'm finding it really interesting to decipher if a certain challenge is due to a cultural barrier, language difference, or personality clash.  Sometimes it's a combination of all three!

This past week I was told that of the 22 classes I teach every week, 18 of them are going to be split between me and my co-teacher, so I will now solo teach most of what I do in a week.  The only classes that Jenny and I will co-teach will be grades 1 and 2 (two classes of each).  This can be a daunting thought. What it means, for example,  is that when I have a classroom of 5th graders who really only speak Korean, I have no Korean translator.  It really challenges me to explain lessons and thoughts as simply as possible.  Sometimes when I think I have explained something as simple as I possibly can and the students still do not understand instructions, I have to come at the problem from a different direction.  I have to make better use of visual aids and examples.  It really challenges me to be more creative than I would be if Jenny was there with me for every class ready to communicate in Korean.

Another fascinating aspect of being in Korea is the obsession I am seeing in the Korean English teachers toward their weight.  I have heard every single one of the women complain that they are too fat, they need to lose weight, they wish they had a six pack, or they should stop eating.  This is a daily occurrence.  It is fascinating because they are all so little!  Moreover... I have been complimented many times on my small face.  MY SMALL FACE!!!!  One woman at the knitting shop even told me in broken English that she liked my pretty little head!!!!!  I have NEVER been told I have a small head!!!!!  In fact if they knew half the time I purchase hats in the men's section in Canada I doubt they could say that!  But it's just their cultural perspective.  They see themselves as having large faces and heads and always, permanently overweight and they see this white girl (me) as having a smaller face with big eyes.  I may be white, and I may have big eyes, but the rest... well... lets just say it's fascinating!

I feel so blessed in Boeun with the friends I have already made.  Whether it's walking to the gym with Laura or going out with Angela or having a games night at Chris and Betty's (who continue to be awesome neighbours!!)... I'm having a great time!  Even though I definitely did NOT win playing Apples to Apples on Friday night.  Today (Sunday) I even went to church with Julie in Choengju!  It was wonderful to first of all be at church and great to be there with someone from my town.  Julie was the person who I replaced at Samsan Elementary School who is back in Boeun teaching at another school.  She's definitely great to have around because if I have any questions regarding the school, she's actually been there!  Such a great help to have that insight available.

Speaking of the gym, I thought I'd show a couple pictures of what the gym I go to looks like (at least the outside).  The gym is in a fairly new building that has a work out room, a pool, outside fields, an outside track and other things like a ping pong playing room (where I'm a little intimidated to go... even though, thanks to James, I have had experience at a ping pong club before...).  The walk to the gym from my house is around 10-15 minutes, plus up a crazy steep staircase that provides a crazy warm up before a work out and a place where I cling to the railing for dear life when I'm done working out and I precariously make my way down...

 I realize this photo does not adequately depict... but seriously that is one steep staircase!!

 One of the fields at the sports centre.  Plus you can see that the leaves are changing!  I love fall...

 This from the top of the staircase... a different view of my town, Boeun.

 The gym!  And the arena/track/field area.  The main building where the work out room and pool is up on the left.  It's a fairly new facility!  Really nice and clean.

I think the question that is asked of me most consistently from home is what the food is like in Korea.  So I thought I'd start taking more photos of what I'm eating to give you a sense of what the local cuisine is like.  Monday through Friday I have traditional Korean food for lunches in the cafeteria but in the evenings I have a variety of things.  Sometimes I cook for myself, sometimes I get take out, and sometimes I go out with some of the other foreign teachers.  This past week I had food from a "Traditional Korean Porridge Restaurant."  It's basically a kind of rice porridge/stew/soup that you can have cooked with a variety of things like vegetables, beef, seafood, seaweed, etc...  I had the veggie kind.  Also, you get a few sides, like kimchi (of course!), this other hot thing made of radishes and red pepper stuff, some beef that tasted like it was marinated with teriyaki sauce and this other side that I have no idea what it was... so I avoided it.

 Take out!

 All piled in there...

My feast!  I even ate the kimchi!  

You have to understand that I don't dislike kimchi, it's just that kimchi is served every day at lunch and with every Korean meal you will ever have.  In fact I found out that most of the teachers eat it at pretty much every meal in the day, including breakfast.  That blows me away!  Considering my breakfast pretty much is toast (with peanut butter), yogurt, maybe fruit, and coffee everyday.  No kimchi.  And I don't think that's something that is going to change... no matter how long I am in Korea...

Hope that shows you all a bit more of my life in Boeun!

Four weeks and counting

Time is a funny thing.  In some ways it seems to speed by so fast you can barely catch your breath.  Other times it seems to be crawling at a snail's pace.  Sometimes these feelings are simultaneous... which is how I feel about time in South Korea.  In some ways it feels like just yesterday I was at my parents' house in Edmonton, receiving word that I will officially leave for South Korea in a couple days.  In that sense I cannot believe I have been here for 4 weeks already!  In other ways, it feels like I've been in Korea for a very long time. Those are the moments when I miss home.

I'd say for the most part South Korea is still really good.  Living in Boeun and working at Samsan is still exciting and challenging in a way that inspires me.  I'm happy to have a purpose when I wake up Monday through Friday.  I love watching the kids learn.  It's definitely a good experience to exercise some independence and courage I didn't even know I had.  Like when I'm taking a bus somewhere alone or trying to communicate in a country that does not speak the same language as I do.  I'm definitely proud to be here.

I think when it comes to teaching, my "honeymoon" grace period is fairly over.  I'm sensing expectations of my responsibilities and abilities have definitely risen.  The past week in particular brought more difficulties with communicating at school.  But I do not feel discouraged.  Although language and cultural barriers exist, I still welcome the challenge and really do want to take any critique or learning moment seriously to become a more effective ESL teacher.  I find myself baffled at times over the lack of communication within the school, from the administration to teachers, or from one teacher to another.  Yet I was definitely warned by other English teachers that that would be one of the more difficult aspects of teaching in Korea, and it would continue throughout my entire year here.  It has nothing to do with me, it's just the way the school itself functions.

Here are a few points of interest that have happened over the past couple weeks since my last blog post:

- Alien Registration Card: As a foreigner in Korean, I had to apply for an Alien Registration Card, which is my foreigner ID.  One cannot get a cell phone, internet, lots of things, without first having an ARC.  So I went with one of the teachers from my school, Daheye, into the neighbouring city, Cheongju, to apply for it.  When we were going through the process with an employee at the government building, she told me that the passport size photos I had brought along for the ID card photo could not be used because my hair was covering my ears.  So I had to get new photos taken.  Luckily the gov building had a photo booth in the basement for passport photos.  So Daheye and I follow this woman through the maze of the building and finally get to the basement to a photo booth, much like the ones you see in malls in Canada where you pile your friends in to take a funny set of four photos.  When I sit in the booth the woman explains to me, in Korean, that the machine will say "1, 2, 3" and then take my photo so I have to keep my eyes open.  Unfortunately, what she actually said was that the booth says "1, 2," and then takes the photo on "3" so when she started the machine and I was preparing to keep my eyes open for after 3... the photo of me was of my eyes half closed and with a weird half smile.  She got quite upset with me and had to run back upstairs to get a token to make the machine run.  So when she finally came back to me and had to explain how to take the photo correctly I felt quite bad and did not want to repeat the experience.  Instead I decided to counteract the closed eyes and half smile as best I could... so here is the result:

 Surprised, awkward Stephanie is now on my ID card which I have to show so many people in Korea... And they pretty much laugh every time.  It's good thing I have a sense of humour! :)

 Not only that, but I have 6 copies of it!  Well 4 now, because one went to the ID card and the other went to one of the teachers at my school who found it so funny she had to keep it!

But now I have an ID card!  When means I got internet for my apartment, a cell phone, a bank account, a gym membership, so many things!  Basically you can barely sign up for anything without this card.  It's like I actually live in Korea now!

- Spiders.  Ok... if any of you know me, you know that I don't handle living creatures that are not humans very well.  Dogs I do not know kind of freak me out, bugs creep me out, anything kind of creepy crawly I do not like in general.  Korea definitely has different spiders!  And they are large.  And have yellow stripes like a bee.  And one has taken up residence on my little balcony.  I'm just going to let him have it.  He was here first.  But here's what he looks like...

This is for the Schmidt kids who keep asking me if I've seen any cool animals yet...
Also, every morning, almost without fail, I find a weird beetle looking bug in my bathroom.  So I kill it with my shower shoes and pretend like nothing out of the ordinary happened.  I think that's growth.  No need to freak out.  Mom and Dad, aren't you proud?  Only took 26 years...

- Karaoke!  Or Noraebang, as it's called in Korean.  I went with a few of the other foreign teachers in Boeun to this awesome Noraebang place!  You can rent a private room by the hour and sing as many songs as you want, with a great light show, comfy couches, drinks, food, general awesomeness!  It was such a great time!

 Simon and Laura kicked it off.  They're both from the UK.

 Chris, from the States, also being a rock star

 I love going to karaoke with people who love to sing!  Laura is definitely one of those people!

 Chris and Betty, both from the States, are my neighbours!  They have been such a great help to me with so many things!  Plus they love karaoke!  Always a plus with new friends!

 The room comes equipped with tambourines to add a special touch to all the songs.  Laura and Simon are having a go!

 We're such rock stars

 Simon is hilarious and seriously has the best moves

 Group song!

 Singing some Avril Lavigne!

-Skating!  Laura is an avid figure skater and I did grow up in Canada, so last Saturday her and I went to the ice rink in Cheongju.  Unfortunately, the rink did not rent out figure skates, which is what I am used to back home.  Laura fortunately brought hers from the UK, but I had to rent hockey skates at the rink.  Now, although I have skated since I was a kid, I'm far from good.  And then you add trying to figure out how to skate with a completely different kind of skate... well, let's just say I didn't represent Canada very well on the ice.  Haha... but at least I had fun! 

 Hockey skates

 I was very proud of myself by the end!  I got around pretty good and only became more confident as the hour went by.  I'm sure before long I'll be a pro... haha... or hopefully at least be able to stop without falling.  It's good to have goals.

- Starbucks!  I was absolutely excited to also go with Laura to Starbucks in Cheongju!  After skating we hit up the downtown area for some shopping but first stopped in Starbucks so I could get a little taste of home. 

 It's oddly comforting that no matter where you go in the world, Starbucks is the same.  Maybe some people would think that's sad, but I kind of love it.  And I love that it does change the menu a bit depending where you are so each country has a special touch.  I openly admit I was a little too excited about this excursion.

 See Laura is happy too!

Mmmmm... enjoying my Caramel Macchiato.  Splendid!  Also, I knew what I was ordering because part of the sign was in English.  That was really helpful too!

I hope that gives a little but more of a sense of what's been happening with me in Korea.  Thanks again for all the emails, comments, prayers, Skype convos, etc... I really appreciate hearing from people back home!  I'll post more as things happen.