 'Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.' What do Korean children treasure more than the ability to swim (while living on an island)? What puts more sparkle in those tiny black eyes than a brand new 10,000W bill fresh from the mint? What causes more animosity, treachery, deceit, competition and tears than anything else in the modern Korean child? No, it's not a new bike. It's not a computer game. It's not even Pokemon cards. It's a simple glittery sticker no larger than the eraser on a pencil (which is actually rare here in Korea...) that comes in the shape of a star or heart. As a form of positive reinforcement, I have my students compete on workbook assignments. Clawing tooth and nail through the tedious "I would like some, thank you." sentences as well as the more difficult "I went to the store yesterday to buy some veggies, an apple and juice." these kids will scribble nearly unintelligibly, simply scrawling whatever seemingly correct Engrish seeps from their skulls, all in the hope of ascertaining that beloved and revered sticker. Once the child has garnished his/her finger tip with the new bedazzled plastic, it is put on a particular sheet of paper containing numerous circles, sometimes representing balloons or cookies. Every 2-3 months, on Sticker Party Day, these treasures are totaled, allowing for the leading student to get a 'Certificate of Achievement' while the others sit around feeling sorry for themselves saying things like, "Muggahsah Teacha, 3 too" (I needed 3 sticker to tie the winner) or "Mong Teacha, nehgay, joosayo". (Four more please) These stickers, upon being tallied by the official representatives (myself and my coteacher) are turned into Dollas, which the kids will spend purchasing Dakboji, snack mix, pb&j, juice, or playing the raffle to maybe win some Pogs (yes, they are still ridiculously popular here) or maybe some Pokemon cards or even a soccer ball, a couple highlighters or a 'ball-pen'.
 Sticky rice noodles, Ketchup, Sugar, Spicy Vinegar Paste and Onions. The sticker party is also one of the most boring days for Meaghan and me. We sit around, doling out old food and damp snacks, while kids attempt to talk to us in Korean, even though we know they can at least say numbers in English. On the other hand it's a good chance for us to take some candid pictures of the good, the bad, and the ugly in their natural habitat. On that note, enjoy the following: (Notice that some of these children have bigger heads then even me.)
 Munsom Bay This past weekend I ended up staying in Seogwipo to dive. I woke up Saturday morning to pouring rain and decided it was a good idea not to camp. Apparently the rest of the group had the same idea and nobody went to Udo. Oh well, there's still time. Anyway, I ended up doing 3 dives. I had two daytime dives in Munsom Bay where the visibility was 18m+, and there were tons of fish. At one point I had stripeys (little yellow and black striped fish) following my hand as I went around in circles. They'd even get bold enough to try and take a nip at my finger. Another time I ended up being surrounded by thousands of silver fish with yellow lines going down their backs. Every where I turned, there were fish as far as I could see. It was really amazing and still so peaceful and quiet. There were just three divers in our group; myself, Tanja (assistant dive master) and Marcel from Germany, a trained dive instructor. Needless to say, I was the least experienced there, but still we were all considered experienced divers and could have a little more freedom and less worry in the water.
The night dive was just as incredible as before. Definitely more Octopi this time, but no stone fish or lion fish. I did get to see some squid and scorpion fish, a large box fish and a puffer fish. The box fish was so chill, he swam right along my finger as I held it out. After diving we all gathered with Ralf in the dive shop and bs'd over a few pitchers of Max and some snacks, discussing diving spots all over the world (which I know nothing about), cheese and German culture. It ended up being a great day that kept me away from home from 9am till midnight. And Ralf said he'd like for me to help at the shop when Tanja leaves to go back to Germany. It'll be a great way to get some more experience in diving, and maybe one day it will all come in handy. I mean, what else am I going to do in October?
School is still the same old. I think I'd really enjoy it, or at least be able to appreciate it more if we just had some vacation time. One of my co-teachers asked me what it would take for me to stay on for another year. My response was: Lauran would need to move here, and I'd have to be guaranteed at least two weeks in winter off and two weeks in summer. I'm so jealous of all my EPIK (public school) friends going to Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan, while I sit in school teaching kids that don't really even want to learn English. Some of my kids I love, others I detest. I really didn't think you could dislike a young child so much, until I met Dexter. He is just the epitome of everything you hope your child does not become. He picks his nose and either eats it or puts it on somebody else. When he sneezes, if we're lucky enough for him to cover his mouth, we usually see some white seepage from his Korean snot rockets firing through his fingers. When Candy is teaching the kids a new dance to go along with some music they are learning, he chooses instead to do roundhouse and sweeper kicks with the occasional right-hand chop, typically whilst wearing a cape. Today when we were coloring flags of English speaking countries, he decided to color the American flag with a yellow box and pink stripes. Pretty close, right? The Canadian flag was brown, and Australia came out purple. No, he's not colorblind, he just sucks. Dealing with Dexter has definitely taught me some patience, which I'm thankful for, but I'd give it all up to be rid of him once and for all. His mother even came in to talk to me (through a translator) about her troublesome child, and even though I told her he does not pay attention and distracts other children, his behavior has not changed at all.
On another note, (Gog you will appreciate this), we were teaching the kids how to greet people in a few languages. Japanese, Hebrew, English, Maori, and German. One kid asked 'Muggs Teacher, why American and no Korean?', to which I replied, 'Because without America, there would be no Korea.' Obviously too young to understand the (kind of) joke, and the fact that the Americans fought to preserve a South Korean in the early 50's and have since stationed over 20,000 troops in the country just so Kim Jong-Il doesn't go a little too stir crazy and change the Republic of Korea into his Democratic (Ha!) Peoples Republic of Korea. Despite that the elderly and less educated here will still spat at us or talk trash as we walk by and are offended hearing us speak too much English at a bar where they are yelling in Korean and coughing up lungs. Yeah, so I hope that wasn't too stereotypical 'Amurcan', and no I won't be getting any tattoos with of a bald eagle holding a rose in its' mouth in front of a billowing Ol' Glory. As many problems as America has, and it sure has plenty, it's still a pretty great country. Especially because I can buy real cheese and turkey there.
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So after weeks of gray, the epitome of summer has finally arrived, and not a day too late. We suffered through weeks and weeks of no color, thousands of tourists, annoying 'lifeguards' which can only help you during times of duress by blowing their whistles. Koreans love whistles so much that while Paul and I were surfing a deserted beach just west of Sanbang-san, two random Koreans pulled their cars over, one broke out a whistle and decided to wave us in. Obviously they weren't going to do anything else besides wave, and I'd put good money that they couldn't even swim. So Paul and I ignored it until it was actually time to get out and head to school. We had about a week to two week period of amazing surf here from typhoons, but I can barely remember it. It's been about 3-4 weeks with nothing. I mean Lake Linganore flat. During the typhoon swell I had my biggest waves of my life out west of town. Had a couple good days, but on the last one, the sheer power of the head and a half high surf snapped the tail off my board. The next day it took Paul's nose from his board. Prior to that it was a rush. Huge drop-ins, ridiculously hard paddles and intimidating waves.
After that, there has been nothing. It's been so flat that I ended up having time to get my advanced scuba cert. I think I did 6 or 7 dives in 3 days including a night dive. I went down to 30m, and also learned the basics of underwater navigation. The night dive was by far the coolest part of the experience. I was definitely nervous about it before being submersed, but after that, it was sheer exhilaration. We began by putting all our gear together in the shop and doing a pre-dive briefing, and then we headed to the harbor. We loaded up all our gear and hopped on the boat which dropped us of on a little cove on Munsom Island. After suiting up and doing all our safety checks, we hopped in the water, being careful to time it right so we didn't hit a shallowly submerged rock. In the water it was pitch black with a blue tint if we looked up towards the surface. Immediately upon entering the water, our guide Ralf saw a squid flashing it's defense colors, squirting and swimming away. During the dive we must have seen a dozen scorpion fish, 3 octopi, some catfish eels, file fish, lion fish and a huge stone fish. The stone fish I actually found by accident. If you don't know what it looks like, I suggest you google it. It's a poisonous fish that blends in really well with its environment, and you don't really want to mess with it. I found it b accident as I was about to plant my feet on the ground so that I could take a look at a few scorpion fish. As I looked for a suitable place to land, I noticed a strange looking rock. I got in a little closer and realized that it had eyes. I signaled for everybody to come over look at it, at which point Ralf gave us the 'danger' signal. All-in-all it was a pretty incredible dive.
With this beautiful weather, I've been trying to camp more, and have spent the last couple weekends away from home. I went the Chuja-myeon, a set of some 40 islands about two hours north west of Jeju-si and camped on a secluded pebble beach. Followed that up with two nights at the Caribbean-esque Gimnyeong with Rob and Marion and eventually Justin. I even had a the opportunity to go sailing in between Gimnyeong and Hamdeok (both on the northern side of the island.) Gimnyeong was stunning with it's white sand and crystal blue water. We were the only people camping in our little area under some pine trees and had a great time.
Since the last post I've also purchased a bike. Granted it's a pretty crappy mountain bike, but there aren't many options here and it was less than $50. I've been trying to ride every other morning, at least from here to Supsom island which is only a 30 minute round trip. It's short, but hilly like you wouldn't believe. That ride is also gorgeous. On one side I've got the pacific and the islands off Seogwipo, and on the other side there are tangerine fields and the volcano towering over everything.
Other than those updates, nothing big has happened. Unfortunately we've been losing a lot of good people off the island. The toughest departure had to be Dave and Anna, but I have a feeling I'll see them again in the future. It comes with the job and my lifestyle; you make friends only to leave them within weeks or months, maybe to never see them again. But it's worth it getting to meet so many interesting people. Really helps me see the world differently.
This weekend I might go camp on Udo, but there's a night dive Saturday night, so I might skip the camping and stay and dive.
Oh, one other thing, I might not be going on my surf trip post-Korea now that Pav might have to take classes. Any suggestions on what to do? I feel like I really should see something else over here before I depart. One thought was going to a free diving camp in Thailand where they teach you to dive over to 30m with no mechanical equipment, and hold you breath for over 4 minutes! Could be pretty incredible.
 I got a little dawn patrol surf session this morning. Woke up about 4:45 (insomnia pays off sometimes) and texted Paul till he woke up. We hit the road shortly after 5:00 and were in the water around 5:30am. We surfed near the point at Jungmun with 3 South Africans that are great surfers and pretty nice guys. The break we were surfing was in about 3 feet of water over top of reef and lava rock. It's a little sketchy surfing in shallow water, knowing that if you mess up, you could have a rough landing, but it was worth it. 99% of the waves coming in were lefts, and I'm not too confident going in that direction, so it was definitely a good chance for me to improve my abilities. I only had a couple wipe-outs, that weren't too bad. One wave, I got close to sneaking into a mini-barrel because I had a late take-off, but the lip just threw over me quickly, and I kept going outside. I also had one of my best lefts ever. It ran for about 75 meters, shoulder high, making a connection onto another wave that was curling around the point and the entire time I could see through the wave to the grey/white/black coral and stone beneath. It was really gorgeous, and I feel so fortunate to be able to surf at such a beautiful spot with a good crowd. I watched the sunrise over the architecturally-stunning convention center, saw the haze burn off of the neighboring cliffs and Oreums (mini-volcanoes that dot the island) and surfed in crystal blue water. Does it get much better than that?
 Jungmun before sunrise
I'm sure the title of this post will baffle most at first, and intrigue many. Before I begin, I'd like to evoke an immortal series of lines from Seinfeld: (Or Steinfeldt as my Grandmother Mary refers to it)
Let's see, (thinking) how shall I put this.
Just put it.
He took it out.
He what?
He took (blows on her glasses twice to clean them) it out.
He took what out?
It.
He took It, Out?
Yessiree Bob.
He couldn't.
He did.
It?
It.
Out?
Out.
And yes folks, that happened to me at work yesterday. During a little phonics building activity known as the 'Pink Box Game' (ironically enough), a student we refer to as 'Dexter' decided I had been in Korea way too long without having seen my first Korean penis. Keep in mind, I'd made miniature corndogs for the cooking class, so I was pretty sure I'd gotten the gist, but apparently that was just not satisfying enough for young Dexter.(Please also keep in mind that I lived with a toddler and his family for a month or so, who's counting, when I moved to Florida, and I never once saw his membrum virile despite sharing a bathroom with the little guy. His father is a different story...) During our Pink Box Game as I asked kids to identify cards with pictures of a Boat, a Book, a Bat, and a Ball on them, Dexter began tucking in his shirt. Or so I thought. The child rarely pays attention to any lesson, even the ones that somehow strike basic interest in the congregation, and this exercise was no different. Perhaps Dexter interpreted my 'Please answer this question correctly so I don't feel like I'm talking to a wall with a bad haircut' look as a sign of genuine curiosity into the workings of the young Korean anatomy. Unfortunately for Dexter, he could not have been more wrong. My member is the only one I do not mind seeing. And that is being generous. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) If I am forced to see the minor extremities of another male, I would pray it not be that of an adolescent, let alone a neonate.
So there I was, face-to-little-purple-phallus and stunned. Dexter sat there with a sly grin on his face, that I read as 'Yep, take it all in, this ain't no Gimbap roll'. I'm not exactly sure of my word usage during the proceeding 10 seconds, but I believe it went something like this;
'Dexter! No! Ahni! Hajima, hajima!!! Go, get out! Are you kidding me? Put that thing away!" (Ahni means NO and Hajima is basically Don't Do That)
Unfortunately, my wonderful Korean co-teacher named Candy speaks only very basic English and does not know the English word for 음경. So there I was, escorting Dexter into the hallway (Candy was already out there disciplining/talking to a student that had been misbehaving) and attempting to play charades to let her know that young Dexter had whipped out his wang in front of me and the whole class. All she could do was laugh, as I walked back into the classroom, trying to refocus and clear that disturbing and minuscule image from my innocent mind.
Dexter was spoken to, and sent back into class shortly thereafter, with the same sly look on his face. I guess I can chalk all this up to cultural differences. I mean, the kids here will try to poke you in the anus if you bend over, poke you in the fly if you are standing up in front of them and will smack your butt just for fun. I've even learned that elderly Korean women will often ask to see the penis of a vernal youth because it is considered very cute when it's that young and immature.
Perhaps that's why I get all those propositions on the street late at night...
Here's to cultural relativism!
First of all, thanks Niall for the postcard all the way from Ghana. Very impressive.
In reference to the title, there's a little sarcasm involved. On the weekends, I actually think about how happy I am to be here and how gorgeous this island can be. I love walking down to the park overlooking the harbor and playing basketball with some friends and the local Korean kids. I'll never get sick of visiting the 'touristy' sites around the area. There is so much natural beauty here that it's some times mind-boggling. Once it warms up (it's already consistently in the mid to upper 50's with the rare 60F day), I'll be able to snorkel, swim in the ocean, cliff dive, and have bonfires on the beach accompanied by drum music from our Senegalese friends. Once the snow melts off Halla-san, I'll be able to hike and not freeze/get soaked and the waterfalls will be even more impressive. Lauran will be here in just over a month, and I am counting down the days for her arrival and trying to plan out perfect itinerary for the duration of her trip.
I think about all that wonderful stuff rapidly approaching, and then I have a day like yesterday that drags me right back into reality. Teaching here really has it's ups and downs. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. The kids can be really cute and fun, or they can be little devils that you would rather never see again. Yesterday was one of those down days. We just switched up our students and classes to coincide with the school year change, and everything is in turmoil. Our morning class numbers have nearly doubled, and the kids know drastically less English, making them harder to control, and slowing down all lessons, while raising the teachers' stress levels. The afternoon classes have even grown, and kids are sometimes being haphazardly thrown in there without a ton of consideration as to their educational level. I have 2 students who can barely even sound out the letters of the alphabet, but have been moved up from their remedial class, to the next step because it is a new session. It doesn't matter that they slow the entire class down. It doesn't matter that they are trouble-makers and need constant supervision. It doesn't matter that the kids have legitimate learning disabilities and can barely learn Korean, as long as their parents are paying money. Often times parents refuse to acknowledge that their kids are behind or have problems because they are too proud. There is very little educational assistance or even psychiatric assistance, for that matter, around here. Many Koreans suffer because of that, and will be looked down upon in society, when different avenues could have been taken to guide them in the right direction. I have had a vast majority of students without books, chairs or other educational utensils because of a lack of preparation on the schools' part. I've had to leave little kids to destroy a room, while I explored others for their old books that we needed for class. The school worries about having everything prepared for when parents come for orientation, but don't seem to be as concerned with whether or not the kids are in a positive learning environment. It's all in the appearances. So anyway, yesterday was just miserable. The kids were acting up, not listening, were not prepared, were ahead of or way behind the rest of the class, didn't have their books, didn't have English names (which are basically required at school), and we didn't even have paper to make copies of text books or make word-searches/crosswords to keep them occupied. It definitely took it's toll on all the teachers; Korean or Western, and raised stress levels to monumental levels. Things just piled up until we were all at our breaking points. Plus we were promised no more than 8 students in our solo classes, but are magically getting 9+ with only a brief 'I'm sorry, but you'll be fine".
On top of all that other stuff, my bathroom had a leak from the ceiling, and smells like smoke if I turn the fan off. Plus it's just depressing in here. The prositute nextdoor that wakes me up at 4am (not from having sex, but from TB type coughs) doesn't help my attitude or my insomnia. In addition, I thought I ordered chicken fingers at a street-meat stand the other day (I even asked if it was chicken in Korean, and was told yes) only to bite into the fried treat to pull out an octopus tentacle. Not really that appetizing for me anymore. Meaghan, Paul and I went out for lunch at a local sushi place that was really nice, but we couldn't read the menu at all. I ended up with some sort of hard conch-like meat that I couldn't bite through, clear potato noodles, octopus tentacles, and some other random sea creatures which I didn't recognize. Really not helping out my spirits at all. Then, my package from my parents was dropped off on Monday, and they forgot to ask for the COD that I was told about. Awesome, right? Nope, they just came back the next day and told me to pay. I was going to refuse, I mean, what can they do, take back the delivery? But the Korean director paid, and now they will be taking it out of my paycheck. Ugh... Just so much crap that stressed me out, and it kept adding up higher and higher. I was not going to drink at all this week. I thought it would be good to improve the health of my liver, and keep my money in my pocket. Tuesday ruined that. I stopped and picked up a 1.5 litre Cass Red (higher alcohol percentage beer) for 4-5,000Won and a bottle of Scotch. Upon arriving home I got a really sweet message from Lauran, which made me feel much better, so I ended up only having half the beer, and 2 Scotches on the rocks. Plus of course the dried seaweed that I love so much. I seriously eat 2-3 packs a night. I was so frustrated, I intended on consuming the entire vat of beer, and bottle of Scotch. Thankfully that was avoided. Oh, and I grabbed dinner at Paris Baggette. A nice little coffee and pastry shop around the corner where I used to steal internet to talk to Lauran and have tea in the morning. Last night I grabbed a doughnut, some other pizza type pastry and a delicious apple pie type streudel thing.
Today was a little better, I had a couple of classes that I really like. One makes a serious effort at speaking to me in (broken) English, and they subsequently help me learn a new Korean word every now-and-again, and improve my pronunciation. (They even told me that I pronounced 'chicken' correctly in Korean, and thought it was hilarious that I received octopus instead. Most of them love it, and eat it alive. Not like sushi, like still moving.) On the way home I stopped at my (now favorite) street-meat stand, picked up some REAL chicken fingers, and a kabob looking thing with mouth-watering sweet and sour sauce for less than 4,000Won. (Around $3.20.) The place is right across the alley/street from my hotel, so it is quickly becoming a reliable alternative to cooking.
Well, I think I might just finish my Cass Red, have some seaweed, watch a movie and go to sleep, all the while hoping that tomorrow will be a better day. It's always one day closer to my first visitor!
**Notice: I did way too much stream-of-conscience here, so you might want to skip about half-way down for stuff more relevant to my experiences here in Korea**
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Well, I've officially been out of America for over a month now. It doesn't really feel like it's been that long, and I can't say that I'm missing it a whole lot. Sure I miss friends and family plenty, but at least I can still keep in touch with them on a regular basis if they are so inclined. And I've really appreciated all the feedback I've been getting on this website. It's been another beautiful week here in Seogwipo, and it's made it that much more enjoyable, but it's also brought back memories from the States. I miss waking up at my place in Florida, laying in my hammock (in my bedroom), walking down to the beach for sunrise, going surfing with dolphins and sea turtles, having a drink and reading on a lazy afternoon on the beach, riding dune buggies with Rob, or just hanging out over at the Saunder's Casa. I miss playing with Opie, our family dog. I miss going over to Billy's to beat him in hockey on Playstation, eat some ice cream, then watch some of the Office. I miss those 60-70 degree days that would pop-up when I was living in Charleston, and we'd dust off the grill, grab the season's first Coronas and cook up some dogs and burgers. I miss working out at Magnolia with the DeeJ, and walking the gardens after work as the Plantation is losing the tourists, but the flowers continue to bloom. I miss seeing my family, although living with them may be a little much. I miss being able to see my grandparents and cousins, uncles and aunts whenever I want to. I miss those afternoons with Dan when we'd finish work for the day and get to chill on a cart on the course somewhere having a beer, smoking a cigar or just BSing. I miss having a drink over at BP's (or the Turtle) to escape the house, and playing with Sean and Gabby. I kind of even miss watching football over at Pete and Christian's Sty. (Probably my convos with Christian more-so) I miss talking to my little sister, and Amy whenever I want. I miss riding around the county on my bike with Jesse. I miss a nice lunch and a drink with Doc to talk about anything and everything, and a chance to have him convince me that I'm actually making good decisions in life.
No matter what I've done in my life, I've pretty much always thought it through. And I've analyzed every angle. I've figured out how it was the worst decision of my life, and also how it's the best decision of my life. I've figured out plans for the next 5, 10, 15, and 20 years, only to abandon them within days or weeks. It's a blessing and a curse. I've annoyed my friends (that still listen) to no end about what's going on in my life. But I'll always be there for them to vent to. No matter where in the world I am. I worry about everything. I can empathize with anybody. But I can also let things go now. It's taken 26 years, but I've finally learned to just not care. To leave the worrying to somebody else. No problem has ever been solved by worrying alone, and some times all you need is a walk, a drink, a swim, a surf or a sunset, and everything fades away. Doc can attest more than most about my worrying. He saw it near it's peak in high school dealing with girls, college(s), grades and anything else that I could think about. And he always helped me to get through it. He's a big reason I'm here right now. It's just not in my destiny to lead a boring life. I can't just stay in the States and bump from job to job, trying to find something to keep me happy. I need adventure, I need change and I need something to keep me interested and excited. Something like a new girl, or a new country.
Belize was definitely an eye-opening experience for me. As much as college or anything else had been before then. It was the first time I immersed myself in another culture (outside of America), with no safety net and loved it. The friends that I've made in Belize in the past three years have come and gone, but there are a few that I don't think will fade anytime soon. Alex, Celine, Christina, Rene, Gil, Nas, Oscar, (maybe Lorenzo), my favorite drinking partner; Eva the Gibnut, my first love; Mat Saunders, my brofriend; Boone. The illusive Christophe. All these people have definitely had big impacts on my life. Mat is the reason I began teaching. The reason I moved to Florida. The reason I don't hate little kids anymore. The reason I love Wii. The reason why I'll continue to exercise for the rest of my life. (Have you seen that belly recently?) The reason I found true and utter dominance in Ultimate Frisbee. The reason I met great people like Josh, Clark, Roger, Sue, Linda, Bill, Priscilla, Rob, J'net, Danny and Kerry. And I'll never forget all the others from Belize that have left quite an impression on me. The Drunk Jill, (especially my conversation with her friend at 3am in our house and the ghost her, Chris and I saw at Baking Pot), Julie, Myka, Jaime, Raf, Chris, Jim, Christy, Viona, Vicky and Ray, Luke, Lauren (the hole) and many others that I wish I could talk about for hours. It's because of the Belizean experience, the nights at Pooks, the times in Caulker, the CPV, Faya Wata, and all those people that this summer, no matter how great it is, and no matter how much I experience, I'll still feel like something is missing. I'd do anything to be able to be in both Belize and Jeju this summer.
No matter how much I miss things I don't have here, I'm still so happy to be here, and it makes it all worthwhile making all these new memories, and meeting friends that I'll be writing about in the years to come.
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Now that I look back, that seems like way too much stream of conscience, and the few of you that read this regularly have probably tuned out already. So for a quick summary, this past weekend, I had a nice trip to see the two upper pools of the Cheonjiyeon system, and the bridge and temple which I think are dedicated to the 7 nymphs that inhabit the area. They were all stunning. The temple and it's color and symmetry. The magnitude of the falls, and how close they are to my house. The top pool, how blue the water is and how amazing the basalt columns are. It all just took my breath away, and I definitely annoyed my companions by taking way to many pictures, and running from place to place like a little kid.
I also took a bunch more photos of my students that I'll be posting. Since Weebly doesn't seem to have a photo tagging system, please ask if you have any questions about them.
Today I got my first Korean haircut, and I was definitely nervous about. I didn't want the 'Korean Fade' where they trim right around your ears and neck very tight, and then fade very quick to the top. I think it's a pretty common haircut for people with Downs as well. And that's not a joke, but for some reason whenever I see this fade, that's who it reminds me of. So the haircut happened. They also washed my hair for about $7US. I'm content with it. I think my brother Kory gave me a better one back in December, but I can't really complain. I also definitely like the Korean custom of never tipping. It makes life so much easier. Fair cab fares are common. Restaurant service is not that great, but you use a 'bell' system to contact them and bring them to your table. No tipping. They'll even chase you down in the streets to give you the money you 'forgot'. Refreshing, but I'm assuming they make a little more hourly than the F&B people back in the States that bust their asses for $2.13/hr and $0.00 paychecks. (If I mentioned all my friends from Charleston, I'd be writing for another couple hours)
Other Korean customs I love/hate:
- The affection between boys, and it not being considered gay: I've had boy twins kiss in my class, I've had guys play a kiss-on-the-cheek tag.
- The fact that if you are invited out by a Korean for an evening of food and drink, you don't have to pay unless you insisted ahead of time.
- When you are walking around, you'll get bumped into, sometimes hard, and the other person just keeps on walking.
- How people will hand you things with their right hand while holding their wrist with their left hand as a sign of respect/dating back to days when they wore robes that they had to keep closed.
- How people will take things/hand you things with 2 hands to show respect.
- How I can't take a bottle of water into my classroom because parents may find it rude...
- How I constantly hear people coughing up lungs and spitting in the streets and in the adjoining rooms like it's nothing.
- The way girls/women cover their mouths when they are laughing or embarrassed.
- How people actually wait for the light at cross walks
- The way kids draw pictures of themselves always winking or with half-moon eyes.
- The peace-signs and face-framing in pictures
- The way you have to take your shoes off before entering many traditional restaurants, schools, buildings and homes.
- How it's pretty common to see men and occasionally women fall-down drunk, stumbling through the streets.
- How I often get pointed at or stared at in the streets, and how much that will increase when I have my visitor in about 8 weeks...
That's about it for now. Thanks to everybody that made it through all that, and thanks to everybody I mentioned, and those of you I forgot because it's been a long day of school.
As of last night, I was ready to quit this whole thing. Seriously. It's not that Korea isn't a great country, or that I don't enjoy the city and how beautiful everything is on the island. It's the fact that I've been sick more often in the past 2 weeks than I have been in the past 10 years. I get the occasional minor cold which I usually fight off pretty well with vitamin-c and zinc, but that's about it. In the 20 days I've been here, I've had Sinusitis, Upper Respiratory Infection, and food poisoning. They've all been pretty nasty; with the constant runny nose or congestion and the rough couch. The food poisoning was the worst though. Constant trips to the bathroom, running out of TP and switching to aloe Kleenex (thank God) I had them, nasty stomach cramps, vomiting, severe body aches, you name it. And guess where I got it from... Not school. Not the delicious street-meat corndogs that I indulge in quite frequently. It was the chicken nuggets at 'Hite Beer Plus'. A seemingly westernized bar/restuarant that is super clean and pretty nice. Yes it was those chicken nuggets that came with polynesian dipping sauce and honey mustard that are the apparent culprit for my immense pain that lasted from about 4am Tuesday till about 6am Wednesday. I went to bed early last night to hopefully recover and put an end to all this nastiness. I slept pretty well (slightly medicated), but unfortunately missed an extended Skype call that would have been a great surprise. It was nice to get the call one way or another, and at least I got a few minutes to talk.
My classes today went pretty well. No problems, and I had my favorite class consisting of Ellen, Sarah, Emily and Gloria. They are the cutest little Korean girls. They are fairly well behaved, but they do like to joke with me. And they're so funny giggling all the time, Ellen with her little dimples. I ask them questions in English like 'do you like seaweed', and if they don't know what the word is, I always hear 'Mugga Teacher, what is that' or 'Mugga teacher, what is seaweeda'? (They aren't very good at ending words with consonants here. And they often get letters mixed up. L's and R's are big ones, G's and C's, too. Today one girl said 'I like cum', instead of 'I like gum'... It's always an adventure, and a challenge keeping a straight face. I'm sure my Korean would be even worse than their English though. So anyway, after today, I don't want to leave Korea. I'm happy, I feel fine. We're finally back to the normal temperature for this time of year (40's and 50's). It was nice and sunny today and Halla-san looked gorgeous. I can't wait till spring!
PS Please leave comments! It makes me feel like I'm not writing this in vain!
17 January 2009
It’s now about 5pm here on Jeju, and I’ve only left bed once or twice. And to be honest, it’s kind of nice. About 2 days ago I started getting a sore throat (which I thought came from talking/yelling during class) and it has progressively gotten worse. I woke up yesterday (Friday) every two hours with a fever, chills, body-aches, congestion, the whole gamut. I contemplated not going to work, but realized how much I need the money. I thought about being nice and not infecting the kids, but it was those brats that gave me this sickness anyway, so let them deal. Joking… Bud judging by how dirty they are, they have almost definitely have built up an immunity to this cold anyway. Plus, all new people get sick here within the first month or so. I ended up just taking a steam shower in my little apartment and some Excedrin and left a little early for work, hitting up a pharmacy (where I didn’t purchase anything because it’s ALL behind the counter) and then Paris Baggette for some tea and a Skype session.
I felt like death most of the day. I pounded tea to soothe my throat like it was going out of style, and even went to the local grocery store to get some fruit juices to help ease up the symptoms. Jeju has some delicious local OJ, but the honey-ginger beverage was somewhat strange. The day went OK, all considered, and my horrible little pre-schoolers were somewhat tolerable. I was told I would be working with 3 and 4 year olds in addition to my other kids (up to ages 10/11) and was not that worried about it because of my 3 year old neighbor Sean back in the states who is apparently the coolest 3 year old in the world. Sean can tell time, make up incredible stories with a small vocabulary and apparently is quite the dragon slayer. My 3 year olds can climb on tables, pick their noses, not notice the snot caked to their upper lip, scream at high volumes in the couple English phrases they know, lick the floor, lick the table, lick the wall; but apparently not the electrical socket... The kids were so wild, I had to have one of our Korean co-teachers yell at them before class, and then our director came up during class to tell them to behave. It’s fairly tough for me to discipline them when the only English they know consists of “I am here; I am fine/good/so-so/; Freezy Song; and Hello/Goodbye Muggs Teacher!” Life would definitely be a lot easier without them, but I least I only see them for 50 minutes 2-3 times per week. My other classes are getting better. They are realizing that I will discipline them, but I am fair. I don’t sing and dance, but will put on the ‘Freezy Song’ (the basically run around while the music is on, and stop when it says ‘Freeze!’) if all goes well. As time goes on, I’ve grown to like a few of the kids, picking up on the similarities that are apparent in kids all over the world, and appreciate the differences between them and American kids. The little girls crack me up when they giggle (always covering their mouths if the joke has something to do with me) and the boys have a strange touchy-feely kind of affection for each other that you wouldn’t necessarily find in the states. I do my best to teach these kids some level of English competency, but I’ve decided to teach the brats that the letters ‘L’ and ‘R’ are pronounced the same.
Outside of school, things have been going well. I still go out to dinner with Paul and Meaghan most nights since it is just as cheap and probably easier than cooking at home. A group of us went out Thursday night to nice dinner (I can’t remember the Korean term) where we all sat down around these kettles of boiling broth and cooked our own 3 course meal. It was delicious and extremely filling, but sitting on the ground for a couple hours is not the most comfortable thing in the world for me. It was nice finally meeting some of the people I’d been in contact with online and good to hear more advice from people that’d been here in Seogwipo for awhile. I’ve decided I’m definitely going to be getting a motorbike as soon as I have the money so I can explore the island. I just need to find a way to strap my boards onto it and get to the beach. On other food notes, I discovered Korea’s version of the corn dog, and have been eating at least one a day for the past week. The vendors are pretty much on every street corner, and the dog is only $1. Delicious. One can only eat so much seaweed soup, rice and kim-chi for lunch.
I should have the internet in a week or so, and that will be great. It’s really been a pain having to go to shops or Paul and Meaghan’s place in order to talk to people or check email. I barely know what’s going on in the world, besides the fact that Bush will FINALLY be out of office in a couple days. So many people from around the world have told me how excited they are for a new president in America. They think it’s a chance for America to work its way back into world favor and take some steps in the right direction. I don’t really want to get too political, but I am very excited about what Obama can do in the next 4-8 years.
Well, I just wasted another 45 minutes of my day, and I better go do something. I at least need to run to the corner store and look for some detergent so hopefully I can get a little wash done, now that I have a washing machine. The washing machine was thoughtfully placed directly under they shower-head in my bathroom by the delivery men, leaving me no room to shower. I had to push it a couple feet to the other wall, stretching out the cords/pipes and making it so the floor will probably flood. Awesome. But I can’t complain, at least I have the option to do laundry now. As for drying, I’ll probably hang up my wet clothes in front of the heater fan and let it go to town on oscillation mode. Oh, I almost forgot. The director of the school got wind that I wasn’t crazy about my apartment and said that she’ll get a new one for me by June, which is a plus. Maybe I won’t have to hear the TB patient down the hall or smell drying squid every morning, but that’s just a pipe dream. This is Korea, and they love their seafood…
11 January 2009
It’s 4:30, and I’m now half way through my third day here in Seogwipo. The weather is pretty crappy again, cold and windy, but it’s not supposed to last long. Thanks to the help of Meaghan and Paul (once again) I’ve begun to find my way around the city a little better. At least now I can figure out how to get back to my own apartment that we generally refer to as ‘The Closet’. I’ve learned my first 2 Korean phrases. Hello/goodbye (anasayo) and thank you (komsaymehda). Most of my meals have been consumed with Paul and Meaghan, largely in part for the company and because cooking is expensive and I don’t have many options in my closet. We can go out, get a beer and a meal for $10. Not a bad deal, and it definitely fills you up. Since I’ll be getting free lunch at school, I can probably just have a small breakfast and then go out and grab street meat or hit up a small restaurant for dinner.
Last night we went to ‘Home Plus’, a multi-level Walmart type store. It had a pretty impressive selection, and good prices on a lot of things. One problem though I’ve noticed is the Korean workers stalk you like Gap/American Eagle employees. They basically shadow you until you purchase something, walk away or mess something up so they can come and fix it. (Last night after the bar, we stopped at a corner store, and the worker came and cleaned the glass after I pointed to something on one of the shelves. Keep in mind I didn’t even touch the glass.) Back to Home Plus; I spent well over $100 but picked up some useful stuff. Jelly and bread that I can combine with my peanut butter, some chicken, sauces for the chicken, a tiny green floor table that I can eat upon, some shampoo, a couple baskets to hold my small dresser items, a bunch of hangers, some Soju (a Korean rice alcohol which has virtually no taste and costs about $1 for 10oz.) and even some Johnnie Walker Black with 2 signature glasses ($35). Oh, and I got a bunch of dried seaweed for snacks. It’s pretty good, and I assume healthy for you since there really aren’t any ingredients. Everybody was right about the deodorant situation, and it’s good I brought some or I’d be buying aerosol, which I don’t even know how well that works. I forgot to get tacks or tape or anything, so I ingeniously used board wax to hang the pictures of Lauran and me up around my apartment.
I met some other English speakers the other night at a foreigner bar called Gecko’s which is just a short cab ride away. It was pretty nice, decent drink selection, pool table and darts. As some of you may know, I enjoy throwing darts a great deal, and am better than the average American. (Mostly because nobody every throws darts in the states) Unfortunately the best I did all night was getting 2nd place in one of the final games when everybody was all sauced up. In all fairness, these people have been doing the same thing nightly/weekly for months/years here in Seogwipo. Gecko’s even had wifi and I made attempts at sending out some emails (which I’m not sure if they went through or not) and got on AIM so I could text Lauran’s phone. (The first contact we’ve had since I got settled) Tonight I plan on going over to M&P’s place with my computer to Skype my parents and whomever else since I won’t have the internet here for a couple weeks. I haven’t noticed any international calling cards, so I don’t even have that option at the moment.
School starts tomorrow, and I’m pretty excited about it. It’ll give me something to do for most of the day, and I think it’ll be entertaining. Hopefully some of my co-teachers can help me learn some more Korean. Plus, I’m in dire need of that paycheck, which won’t even come till February.
I stopped by a gym today which was pretty nice, and not crowded at all, and had a beautiful view of the harbor. Unfortunately it was $60/month to join, or if I went with a year contract it would be $450 for the year. Not terrible, but seems a little too pricey for Korea. I’m going to keep looking around and see if there are any better deals, but that might be my best bet. Plus there is a bouldering wall attached to it, but owned by somebody else. Guess that means I’ll be paying more for that too.
Lunch this afternoon was interesting. It’s tougher than I expected getting food, but I guess I didn’t think that much about it. At the street vendors, we can pretty much just point to something and pay. At restaurants, we need picture menus (which occasionally contain English words) and then typically we roll the dice and hope it’s good. The “western restaurant’ we ate at today, also had a great view of the harbor and the islands, but the food wasn’t my favorite. I ordered a seafood curry, and wasn’t disappointed, but there was just too much octopus in there for me. I like most seafood, but octopus is just too chewy.
Now that I’m back at my place, I’ll probably just be reading, watching random movies on TV or napping. We do have 2 English channels with show action movies from the past 10 years. It’s basically just background noise most of the time. I am looking forward to calling home though, and getting the chance to finally talk to Lauran as well.
To finish up, here’s a list of things I’m glad I brought from the states:
-Sheets (so much more comfortable than the Korean stuff)
-Heavy coat (weather has been unseasonably cold)
-My Crazy Creek chair (It folds flat and makes it easy to eat at my tiny table)
Things I’ll need from the states: (Hint Hint)
-Granola bars
-ORBITZ SWEET MINT GUM!!!!!!!!!!
-Foreman Grill (although I haven’t really looked for one here yet)
-Orbitz sweet mint gum
-Clear Care contact solution
-Visitors (JLR)
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