Summer Break

A week off for Summer Break and I spent it... Guess where!  In Seoul!  I stayed with a couple of old friends and saw a few new sites in the suburbs of the big city.  You can read the rest in pictures...

(Click to enlarge)

Road to Seoul 

 The city that once housed my everyday life --
 reflecting while riding in on the bus. 

Suwon

 Out the window of a university friend's apartment.  Somehow,
 the view seemed so similar to the first apartment I stayed in. 

 Hiking up the hill to a UNESCO World Heritage site,
 the Suwon Fortress. 

 Peering out as we stopped for a shade break. 

 A sign saying how many km away we
 were from several major cities all over the world.
 I think New York was around 11,000 km. 

 And a bell to ring.  3 rings for a dollar. 

 Back down in the city, some interesting wall art. 

 A decorated side street. 

 These two warriors were doing some sort of sword
 fighting demonstration when they paused for "Photo Time."
 I tried not to get too close.  

 Kids playing hard on a sunny afternoon. 

 An E.T. mural.  Is it just me or does this picture
 have some similarities with the one just before it? 

Bundang 

 Hiking a mountain, seeing the city. 

 Also seeing an ancient fortress. 

 Seoul

 I stopped by one of my favorite places in the city, Olympic Park,
 near where I lived for the longest, before heading home.  This
 photo was taken while riding a rented bicycle in the rain.
 Good to think back on old times.
 Nice to continue on with new. 

Thanks for reading :)

English Kamp

Last week, first semester finished and English Camp begun.  Not entirely sure what was expected of me, but knowing that I was expected to plan a three-day event, I put together a mix of activities, including Cooking, Reading, Movie Watching, Singing, Sports, and Card Games -- all under the general theme of "Cultural Experience."  Overall, it seemed to be pretty good fun for all involved... myself included! 

 Mixing up Blueberry Pancakes! 

 Helping students measure out their ingredients. 

 Looks good, right?! 

 Reading "Pocahontas" 

 We made Tuna Melts another day. 

 Out playing Ultimate Frisbee! 

 UNO! 

 Group photo on the last day!  If my co-teacher (in a gray t-shirt
on the right) and I look a bit tired, it's probably because we were!
A lot of time and energy went into prep and organization, but
I think we were both happy to see the students active, learning,
and enjoying themselves all at the same time! 

Thanks for reading :)

Little Things and Larger

Before traveling overseas, I studied a spiky graph titled, The Stages of Culture Shock.  The line soared upward toward bliss, tumbled downward approaching hate, and then began to climb up again before cascading down one more time.  In the ideal end, the line flattened out as if parallel with the floor, presumably depicting some sort of well-adjusted medium.

And thus, soaring and tumbling lines were what I saw in the darkness of my mind, as my closed eyes shut out the light, and I attempted to visualize the culture shock that I'd heard I would inevitably experience upon traveling to a foreign land.  

Since my initial arrival in Korea, however, I have spotted not a single such line.  I haven't sensed a season of glee followed by dreary despise.  I don't know if I'm climbing up or falling down, and I wish I knew, but instead only wonder, whether or not I am beginning to become parallel with the floor.  

That being said, I wouldn't say that I haven't experienced culture shock. 

 October 3, 2011: The day before I boarded my first international flight. 

- After about a day and a half of surviving off the oatmeal and granola bars that I'd stashed in my suitcase, I was invited to dinner by my new supervisor, only to be caught up in confusion as I stared at the table: one large pot of chicken boiling in red, spicy-looking broth in the center, an array of random and indiscernible mini-dishes scattered about seemingly everywhere, and thin, metal chopsticks next to an empty, white baby-sized plate in front of me.  I knew neither what this meal was, nor how to consume it.  (October, 2011)

- Ready for my second day of on-the-job training at an elementary school, I answered an incoming call, was told that another teacher had gone on vacation so I would be taking his place, teaching full-time for 6-weeks at a middle school down the road, and that, since the first class was to start in 45 minutes, I should come over immediately to prepare.  I thought that position changes usually took closer to a week and never imagined one happening in under an hour.  (October, 2011)

- Attempting to eat like the locals, I brought a bowl of plain white rice for lunch, only to be informed by room full of elementary school students that man cannot live on rice alone, but that rice must always be accompanied by, at the bare minimum, kimchi and kim (dried seaweed).  I didn't know that rice specifically required side dishes.  (November, 2011)

- Looking forward to finishing my shift at 10:00pm one ordinary Wednesday evening, my co-teacher turned to me and said that we'd be staying late to rehearse the choreography for a song, which another teacher had written (mostly about the greatness of our school's founder and a bit about the greatness of our school), and which we'd be performing, while wearing large, red rose headbands, in front of more than 400 other teachers at a regional conference the next morning.  Yikes.  (April, 2012)

- Simply out to stock up on some face lotion, I waited in a rather long line and watched as an aproned employee spoke with the first person, looked down at her clipboard as she moved to the next, looked up again and spoke with the second person, looked down at her clipboard as she moved to the next, looked up again and spoke with the third person, looked down at her clipboard as she moved to the next, looked up again, met my eyes for not more than a moment, and hastily looked down again as she moved to the next.  I was used to fitting in, not to being purposefully passed by.  (December, 2012)

- Having gotten my tray-full of cafeteria food and sat down at a long table with the four Korean teachers I'd come with, I was just over half-way finished eating when I noticed that the three oldest teachers had finished already and I saw the other one hurriedly scraping her remaining food into a pile as if to appear finished and I noticed that the four of them began subtly glancing back and forth from me, to each other, to my tray -- I supposed to see when I'd fall in and do the same, thereby permitting the group to rise and depart.  So much for me eating my lunch and you eating yours.  (March, 2014)

 June 15, 2014: I've now lived in Korea for a grand total
of 24 months.  Sorry I still took a picture with the
wrong side of the map! 

Looks, 

words, 

feelings, 

everyday events.  

While I haven't felt myself bumping distinctly up and directly down like the spikes on a stegosaurus' back, I have been shaken by the slightest things, at the most unexpected times, in the normal-est of places.  And that's what I now think must be what makes up the larger rises and falls on the graph of The Stages of Culture Shock -- not big business, like I had initially imagined, but instead, all sorts of little things -- little things that take turns as they softly whisper the weighty words: here is a whole lot different than there. 

* * * 

Thanks for reading :)

What About Work?

If you've been reading my posts so far, you know a whole lot about my life outside of work, but not much about my work life.  The aim of this post is to add a bit of weight to the not-so-heavy side of the scale.

I teach 10th and 11th grade girls.  There are roughly 30 students per class.  The students stay in the same classroom (it's the teachers who come and go in and out), with the same class, all day, for the whole year.  Each student has their own desk and locker (closer to a cubby, really) in their classroom.  At the little school that I work at, there are 3 classes in each grade, meaning that I (teaching two grades), have about 180 students in all.

  A basic classroom. This was Movie Day. 

I see the 10th graders for one 50 minute class per week, and the 11th graders for three.  There is a huge range of levels in each class, but on the whole, the students' language level is significantly stunted compared to those that I saw in Seoul.  In time with trend of Korean English-learners, too, their knowledge of grammar, theory, and how-to-pass-tests is vast next to their timid attempts to actually talk.

There's a lot, to say the least, of pressure on students in Korea.  They have to be good students so that they can go to good universities and get good jobs.  Unfortunately, "good" is a relative term.  From my standpoint, 99% of the students I teach are good students.  You'd think it the great ones, then, who'd stand out.  Well, I'd consider a whole half of them to be great, so even they don't really stand out.  The ones who really stand out are the ones who approach perfection.

 Out cold... pencil in hand... shortly before midterms. 

For the most highly-motivated students, anything less than 100% is a cause for serious concern.  By the same stretch, when teachers make tests, one teensy error can tarnish their teaching career.  Grades are everything.  And any good student who wants to go to any good university and get any good job must measure herself according to the answer key.  Talk about pressure.

 Showing off their super-duper math skills.  Students here do
calculus by hand (logarithms, square roots, and who knows what
else). Their plea to me when we took this picture was, A) tell the
world how hard they have it in hopes of starting a "calculate
with  calculators" movement and, B) tell everyone in America
how crazily smart they are in hopes of making foreign friends. 

Here betwixt the rice patties, that pressure seems to be a bit more narrowly spread.  My Korean co-teacher has commented that the students at our school lack motivation and don't have the drive they need to succeed.  While that may be the reality that forcibly faces the citizens of this country, I have a hard time not feeling happy when I see a couple of students sitting cross-legged on the lawn, smiling, or catch the same group of girls playing a silly sort of hide-and-seek in the English room on every one of their beloved 10-minute breaks.

Being in the countryside, there seems, somehow, to be slightly more space for bits of childlike beauty.

Thanks for reading :)

Days Off

Working at a private school in 2011-2012, I was allowed ten vacation days (and two sick days) per year.  I worked all national holidays (excluding only Chuseok and the Lunar New Year).

Working at a public school this year, I've already had three days off... and it's only been two months... and it's not even summer break..... yet!

Thanks to those days off, this last weekend ended up being 4 days long, so three fellow English teachers -- who also live in Yanggu (and in the same apartment building, for that matter) -- and I boarded the bus bright and early Saturday morning and headed six hours South to Korea's second biggest city: Busan.

The rest of the story I'll share in images.  (Click to enlarge)

Day 1: Arrival and Taejongdae

Hiking up to the Taejongdae -- a park famous for its steep cliffs
and striking views.

There's a striking view now. 

Back in town, a quick photo after a late dinner.  It was fun to
catch up with a few friends that I'd met in Portland over the
summer, but this time in their hometown -- not mine! 

Day 2: Hike to Seokbulsa 

Taking the cable car up to start our hike -- a great view of the city. 

The destination: a temple made of rock... and another beautiful view.

A bit tired, but we all made it up!  Interesting side note: Our
traveling group included (from left to right) a Californian,
an Oregonian, an English-woman, and a South African. 

Colorful lanterns strung up to create a "ceiling." 

Candid self-photography success. 

Day 3: Bathhouse and Beach

I got up bright and early and went for a soak at a
public bathhouse that's known for its vast view of
the beach below.   (Yes, you can see this while
you bathe.  No, this can't see you!)

Then I went down to the beach myself!

It was fun having a trusty local guide to follow around for the afternoon.

I don't know about you, but I rather liked the umbrellas.

Thanks for reading :)

Ferry Tragedy

 Photo courtesy of independent.co.uk 

Four days ago, the Sewol, a ferry traveling from Incheon (in the northwest, near Seoul) to Jeju Island ("Korea's Hawaii," south of the mainland) listed and capsized.  I'm sure most of you have heard by now.  There were nearly 500 people on board, many of whom were high school students on their way to the island for a school field trip.  As of now, 174 people have survived, 58 have been found dead, and 244 are still unaccounted for.  This is four days after the initial incident.

Divers have been going down as often as possible (which isn't often due to bad weather and a strong current) with the hope of rescuing those who may have survived in air pockets in the ship.  They have been faced with bad weather and zero visibility, though, and haven't been able to get inside the ship until today, when the weather cleared up a bit.  Today, divers recovered the first 20 bodies from inside the sunken ship.

Meanwhile, parents and relatives of the students are grieved and enraged.  They've been camping out at a gym near the scene of the accident, waiting for news, but haven't gotten much.  Several reports of parents physically attacking officials have surfaced.  The vice principal of the high school has hung himself.  Police barricaded a bridge as parents attempted to cross it; they intended to march several hundred kilometers to the Blue House (Korea's version of the White House) and demand to know why "nothing" is being done.

The Korean news constantly covers the accident, but hasn't had much to say since the day the capsizing occurred.  They replay footage of the ferry sinking, show clips of parents camping out and scenes of students holding vigils; they compare this accident to previous ferry accidents; they show the hospital and the morgue; they attempt to interview the Captain, continuously casting the brunt of the blame on him for reportedly instructing passengers to stay seated before the sinking; they show models of the Sewol and explain possibility after possibility in immense detail.

A terrible tragedy has turned to hopelessness and chaos.  Continue to pray for calm waters, that good may surface in spite of the bitter badness beneath.

* * * 

Thanks for reading :)

Christmas and My Birthday!

That's the thing about living in a different land... Certain commodities become delectable delicacies.

When these boxes full of Western goodies arrived at the start of this week, I couldn't quite calculate whether it must be Christmas or instead could possibly be my birthday.

In the end, I determined it must've been both!

 Packages from HOME! 

 And look at the CONTENTS!!! 

 These are actually the result of online shopping,
but 3 big ones at about 10 bucks a pop is really a
steal of a deal in these parts! 

 And Mom made cookies!  I could cry............. 

 But I won't!  I'll just eat one instead! 

Thanks for reading :)

In Seoul... again

Last weekend, I decided it was time to step outside of Yanggu -- on my own.  I hopped on a bus as soon as the last bell rang on Friday and, just after dark, was dropped deep back into the heart of my old stomping grounds.

In mid-November of 2011, I moved into a brand new apartment near Olympic Park and began teaching at my "permanent" location.  As it turned out, I was only there for a total of 10 months.  Still, though, that was the first apartment that I moved into without having a move-out date already set.  So, on the 3rd floor of a small "villa," I stayed there for the longest period of time that I've stayed in any one place (in Korea), to date.

 Olympic Park 

A couple weeks after I moved in, a down-to-earth, outdoorsy spirit from Seattle settled on the 2nd floor.  We had a lot of good times together and, when I was shipped off to kindergarten the following August, she stayed.  She has been there since, and that is where I, too, was last weekend.

So, as you can see, by old stomping grounds, I really do mean old stomping grounds.  Several of the stores in the area had changed, but many were still the same.  One delicious little underground restaurant was replaced by a fad diet company.  The small, independently-owned supermarket now had an big business label added to its sign.  The rice cake store, the soup shop, and the bus stop hadn't aged an ounce, and there had been built a brand new, big, bright Starbucks on the corner of the main intersection.  (A welcome addition, if you ask me!)

 Back in old stomping grounds 

Saturday morning, I strolled around Olympic Park and somehow my intuition got me to where I wanted to go to meet a friend who I'd met last summer in Portland.  Over lunch with coffee, her and I got caught up on the happenings of the last few months, cracking jokes about how it used to be and throwing around suggestions for how it will continue.

 Lunch with Sunny 

Now solo, I subway-ed to the heart of Seoul: the shopping district.  I'd been there several times before, but suddenly the buildings seemed taller, the lights brighter, the music louder, and the crowds thicker.  I was suddenly a tourist, an awestruck foreign tourist -- all -- over -- again.  So I wandered the street and bought a snack from a vendor and popped in and out of a few shops, following the beckonings of salesmen and signs and sometimes just swaying with the massive human swarm.

 The subway is to be ridden in style... 

 If you don't know what style is, just look around; they've all got it. 

 Myeongdong: the shopping district 

Finally, evening approached.  Exhausted from a day of chit chatting and mob surfing, I decided that dinner with co-workers (fellow foreigners who had come to the city on accords of their own) didn't sound too appetizing, so I grabbed a slice of pizza to-go, replied, "yes," not realizing that I'd been asked if I wanted it warmed up, and sat down on the subway with a shopping bag, a condensation-covered piece of pizza, and two sore feet that realized they weren't as used to doing all this everyday as they must have been a couple years back.

The following morning, I slept in, sipped a cup of coffee, and boarded the bus back to Yanggu.  Passing through the tunnels and staring at the all-so-similar farmland, I didn't realize, but finally reaching the 3rd floor, dropping my bags on the bed, and opening the window to see one single road and a solitary row of single-story houses, all surrounded by billowing, tree-laden mountains, I realized that this is why I chose to live in the type of town where there's only one bus an hour, and sometimes less.

 The Yanggu Skyline 

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Thanks for reading :)