즐거운 추수 감사절*

*Happy Thanksgiving

Escape from Seoul

I got out of Seoul for my first time last weekend. While I love the city, I had been anxious to experience some of Korea's country side so I jumped at the offer by one of my Korean friends, Banff, to travel to the east coast of the country for two days. The east coast is famous for their beaches, and since it is winter, we got an awesome deal on a 2 bedroom, beach front condo, called a pension. Heres how the trip went:

Banff (actual name Sunphil but he studied in Banff, Canada), myself, my friends Sahar and Phil, and the girl I have been dating, Jenna, left Seoul at 2am Friday night so we could arrive at the coast in time to see the sun rise. The drive was easy enough, almost no traffic or police, but since Korea is one of the most technologically advanced countries on Earth, they have installed speed detection cameras, that actually work, about every 5 miles. So, we'd be going along at a comfortable cruising speed, but then have to abruptly put on the brakes so Banff would avoid getting a speeding ticket in the mail. These cameras have eliminated the need for a lot of police on the expressways, but not the desire to maintain the illusion that they are there. To do this, they literally take the blue and red lights from the top of the cop car, bolt them to a pole, and turn them on. So, in addition to slowing for the cameras, we also had to pop the brakes every time we came around a corner and saw flashing lights, only to pass them and realize there was no car attached.

The drive took a little less than 4 hours and we arrived at a Buddhist temple to watch the sun rise over the ocean. The only problem was that is was cloudy that day, so we only got to see the day get lighter, but no sun. The temple we were at was beautiful though, definitely worth not sleeping for. There were also free noodles to be had if we stayed around until lunch time but we were too cold to stick around.


On the way to the pension, we decided to stop at this place called Unification Park where you could tour a decommissioned ship from the Korean Navy and a captured North Korean submarine. Ive never been one to advocate stopping at roadside attractions, but this was definitely worth the 2 dollars we paid to get in. The ship was huge and almost all of it was open to exploration; there was also a lot of interesting history about the naval conflicts between the North and South. On the other hand, the North's sub was cramped to say the least, we all had to wear hard hats because it was not possible to fully stand up. Either the North are all midgets or the people who served on the sub were being punished because there was barely room for two people to walk side by side.


After that, we made it to our pension, which was great except it was 'ondol' style meaning there werent any beds. There were pads though, and it is common for Koreans to sleep on the floor because their heating system is designed to rise from the floor and fill the room. So, it would have been tolerable, except the heat stopped working a few hours after we got there. It actually wasnt that bad since we had a lot of blankets, but obviously would have been nice to have heat. Once there, we just relaxed, walked on the beach, grilled out, and jumped in the ocean. When I found out we would be on the beach, I vowed to get in the water one time. I originally thought Id be the only one, but it turned out I wouldnt be the only bad ass on the trip. In the end, it was me, Banff, Phil, and Sahar that froze for those few seconds of glory in the water.

The highlight of the trip had to be Saturday night, where Banff put on a display to rival any Valentine's day decorations in the history of the holiday. No, it wasnt Valentine's day, but heres what happened (Let me first say that all Koreans are extremely over the top when it comes to showing affection towards friends, what would seem strange to us is normal for them, as you will see): After dinner, Banff left to use the phone, but was gone for close to an hour. When Sahar went to look for him, Jenna said not to interrupt, he was on an important call. Ok, we thought, we were drinking beer so we let it slip to the back of our minds once again. A little later, Jenna gets a text and says lets go find Banff, so we walk outside and Banff has set up about 100 candles on the beach in a heart design. In the middle of the heart was a stuffed bear and two plastic hearts, each about the size a fist; the hearts had the words "From Banff" and "I love you (in Korean)" printed on them. I didnt know what to say, but if I was a single girl, I certainly would have fallen in love with Banff that night. He proceeded to say how much he appreciated us coming and even though hadnt known any of us that long, he was really glad we were all friends. It was really nice, but definitely over the top considering the circumstances. Still, the highlight of the weekend for me.


We left the next day and made it back to Seoul in time for a well deserved nap before my language exchange. Thats right, Im learning Korean and on track to be the first trilingual person you know, more on this to come.

One more thing before I end this - Korean rest stops are incredible. Aside from being stared at like you are the only white person they will see this year, they were really enjoyable and had everything from gas to a food court to batting cages.

New, New, New

As promised, here is a tour of the new school. The audio goes out for some reason, but the tour goes like this: building, reception, my classroom (library), other classroom, gym, offices, teachers room, another classroom, apartment floor, and patio. I think. FYI, the woman you see at the 1 minute mark is my boss and director of the school, Mrs. Lee. Also, my desk is the last one I focus on, at the head of the row.



Along with the new school, I have also received a new class, its E level meaning it meets from 2:30-4:30 every MWF and the kids are about 7 years old. Before this, my biggest class was 7 kids, this one is 12 and they have walked all over me so far.


Also, I have uploaded more than 200 new pictures on my Photobucket page and also some new funny pictures on my Only in Korea page. Links to both are on the right, but heres a preview of the funny ones:
*Note, to get to the new funny pictures, you have to scroll through the old ones for some reason, so dont get discouraged if you recognize the first group.

Ok, Im back

My apologies to everyone for not posting in a while, broken internet paired with a complete lack of motivation forced me to neglect my die hard readers. But Im back now, so lets all try to get on with our lives without holding a grudge.

Things are good in Seoul, winter is fast approaching and I am anticipating the coldest weather I have ever had to live through. Growing up in the South had its advantages like being able to wear flip flops year round and having school canceled at the the threat of temperatures dipping below 32F. However, I am completely unprepared for a serious winter because of it and am not receiving the sympathy I think I deserve. After me, the closest any other teacher has come to living in the South is Chicago, so everyone else is a little less concerned than me and make a point of laughing at my linen pants, Rainbows, and single layer fleece. EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that one of my co-teachers lived in Phoenix for some years and is equally unprepared for the winter. My apologies Robyn, I am confident that we will survive this. The Canadians are even optimistic, preaching that it cant be worse than Canada and that they can survive anything because, of course, they are Canadian. I tell them that personally, I dont recognize Canada as a real country, only a hat that is Americas first line of defense against the North Pole, so shut up.

We have now spent a week in our new school. It is an awesome, completely new building with everything modern and shiny. I, however, must have drawn the short stick and have been downgraded significantly in terms of my classroom. Many of you are probably thinking that it cant be worse than my previous pink room, but trust me, teaching in a classroom that is also the library sucks. Aside from being smaller than my last two rooms, there is no shelf space because of all the books, which consequently prevents any wall space for the things I thought were pretty essential to teaching, like the date and weather posters. My white board has also been cut in half and I am now forced to write on a portable board that is prone to rolling and thereby messing up my calligraphy style writing that I spent so much time learning. Also, since it is the library, other staff and students have the nerve to treat it as such and do not hesitate to enter at any time to look for the latest copy of "Aurthur's Adventures."

Other than my room, the school is really nice. The rest of the classrooms are awesome and the teachers room is huge with a lot of big windows. The first two floors are for the school, but the top floor has about 6 apartments for the teachers. They arent finished yet, but when they are, there will be enough room for 11 teachers which presents a problem because since there are only 15 of us total, the majority of us are going to have to move. While I wouldnt volunteer to move, I wouldnt mind if I had to because like the school, the apartments are really nice with big windows and a a big deck for everyone to enjoy the subzero temperatures. There are also parts of me that dont want to live where I work, but am a little bit excited about going back to the dorms. So, only time will tell, I think we will find out who is making the move towards the end of the month.

Our staff is also finally set for the next few months. Since I got here, I have seen about 8 people leave and 8 new people arrive, but with the departure of two teachers today, there will be no more new teachers until March. For those who are interested, the current total is 6 Americans, 9 Canadians. But do not fear, I have enough red, white and blue propaganda for all of Korea, and guess what, these colors dont run.

Ok, so thats about it for now, expect new pictures and a tour of the new school in the next few days, along with a post about what its like to work in school that puts performance second.

Stay classy, yall.