My Life as an English Teacher

Imagine walking into to work every day among a sea of brightly clad children talking and screaming excitedly in a language that you cannot understand. Imagine having to take off your shoes, put them in a cupboard, and change into another pair of 'indoor' shoes. Imagine walking into the school building and saying "hello" about 50 times in 5 minutes. Imagine walking into your office and bowing to your boss and co-workers. Imagine hearing your boss scream his head off all the time while never knowing if he's angry or not. Imagine sitting next to someone at your desk with whom you've never exchanged more than a "good morning". Imagine walking into a classroom of 35-40 students all staring at you and scrutinizing your every move. Imagine trying to teach these children a language that half of them already know and half don't care to know. Imagine working with three different co-teachers, all with different rules, teaching philosophies, and personalities. Imagine having to be called "Jackie Teacher". Imagine eating lunch with a table full of people and only half of them can communicate with you. Imagine trying to force yourself to eat food that is strange, spicy, repetitive, and sometimes tasteless every day. Imagine being the last one to know anything, always. This is what my daily life is like at my job. It can be grueling, to say the least, but I am trying to make the best of it and learn from this teaching experience what I can. I long for the day with my own classroom again, students who are well behaved, can understand me, and will laugh at my attempt at jokes...... but until then, it's kai-bai-bo (rock, paper, scissors) and PPTs (Power Point presentations). Sigh*

My sixth grade students are a real treat. They are not all bad, and sometimes they can even be kind of funny. I teach one class during the week that always comments on my clothes, 'strange' jewelry (who, me? never!), and asks me personal questions. The other day a student asked me "Jackie teacher, do you like to drink? You know, alcohol?" Me: "No, not right now." Student: "Then why is your face all red today?" Lovely.

One thing that amazes me about my students is that they are all bi-lingual. Well, ok, not all. Some. And some are even learning other languages as well. Korean public schools have it right I think- the students are all required to take English class. They are also required to learn Chinese characters. I even have one student who is taking Spanish lessons and we practice basic Spanish together when I see him. It is really impressive to me that most of these kids are not even twelve years old and can speak two languages or more. I long to be bilingual.

Whenever someone answers the phone at my school they say "yobosayo" which means "hello" (on the telephone). Every teacher in the school is called "sonsaengnim" (teacher). The students, other teachers, and the principals call every teacher this. When someone is one the phone somehow they always know who it is just by hearing their voice because they never use each others' names. It is kind of slightly amazing to me. I have no idea how they do it.

I have mentioned my teachers' class that I teach two times a week. The other day during class one of the teachers asked me if my face was my "real face or make-up face"? I said "well, it's my make-up face because I have make-up on, but I don't wear a lot to school." They all kind of 'ohhhed' and 'ahhhhed' for a minute. I told one of my co-teachers about this afterwards and she told me that they probably meant "make-up" as in plastic surgery, not face powder. Great. Now they probably all think that my face has been constructed by a doctor.

Namaste

3, 2, 1 Bungee!

So I decided to do another crazy stunt this weekend with some friends- bungee jumping! There is a small park in Bundang called Yuldong Park where there is a beautiful little lake and a bungee platform over the water. You can jump from the platform, scream your head off, and fly through the air Mission Impossible style all over the cost of a mere 25,000 won (about $22). This was my second time throwing myself off some sort of surface into the air, but it was much different than my first bungee experience. This time they attached my harness around my shoulders and waist instead of around my ankles. I also went solo this time. Last time Sam and I held on for dear life together. I really loved this bungee. The platform was 43m (141 feet) up in the air and it had a gorgeous view of the park and surrounding Bundang. After we got suited up, we hopped into the elevator that took us up to the top. Once we were up there, there was no turning back. Sam decided that I needed to go first so I worked up the courage to walk to the end of the platform. The man working up there tightened my straps and then asked me if I was ready. I said "no". He was like 'well, too bad'. Then he counted down 3, 2, 1 bungee! and I closed my eyes and jumped. I felt like a rag doll flying through the air and wasn't sure which way was up and which way was down for a minute. When I finally figured out which way I was I looked around to see the lake below me and spectators to the side of me. I bounced around in the air for a few minutes until my cord settled down and then they lowered me into a boat, unhooked my harness, and took me back to the ground of the platform area. The rush I felt was amazing and I had such a good time bungeeing!

below the bungee sign

jump for bungee!

the bungee group

Check out a video of my bungee jump here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100193739261829&ref=mf

My friend Hyun-jin had her senior recital this weekend at her university. She plays the gayagam, a traditional Korean stringed instrument. She has been studying music and playing the gayagam for years. There were 9 parts to the recital and Hyun-jin performed in 3. She wore a different hanbok each time and looked absolutely gorgeous. The music was beautiful and it was a real treat to hear.

Hyun-jin at her recital

Hanging out and drinking with friends, eating good food, enjoying the nice weather, and shopping in Insadong completed my weekend.

sparklers at the bar

Namaste

Scouts Honor

There was a ceremony for the scouts at my school today. The kids were awarded with pins and recognized for being part of the organization.

Here I am with a couple of my students. I don't know if i mentioned it or not before, but I teach over 750 students a week. It's strange how many of them I don't know and how many of them I can now recognize when I see them.

This is one of my teachers' classes I teach during the week. I have to teach 2 classes per week. We focus mainly on phonics skills, story book activities, and conversational and classroom English.

Sometimes teachers don't show up or they cancel class on me last minute because they are so "busy". I completely understand being that busy- I was a real teacher last year too and I was that busy, believe me, but if my boss told me I had to attend a class once a week, you better believe I was there on time and attended regularly. It is extremely frustrating to me that the teachers can be so unprofessional like that at times.

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, but I'm afraid that all the rain in the forecast is going to wash away the petals before I know it. Enjoying them while they last.

Namaste

Bundang in Busan

Some friends and I ventured to Korea's southern tip, Busan, this past weekend for a little much needed get-away. The weather was warm, the drinks cold, and the company awesome. I had a great weekend.

Friday night my friend Becca and I took the KTX train, Korea's high speed train, to Busan. It only took around 3 hours and was a really smooth ride. When we got into town we met Becca's boyfriend and his friends at a bar to celebrate his birthday. The bar was in a high rise building (on the 14th floor) overlooking the sea. We enjoyed drinks, beer pong, and flip cup. My other friends Sara and Jen joined us later that night and we went to another bar where they played our K-Pop requests and the bar tenders even made us balloon animals. Around 5A.M. everyone decided to call it a night.

at the KTX station

I stayed in my first ever 'love motel' this weekend. Actually, I stayed at two different love motels this weekend. This is quite an interesting concept in Korea. I will be frank about it in order to give you an idea of what they are and why they exist in this country. Most young Koreans (young meaning in their 20's) live with their parents until they get married, especially women. Most young Korean women even have a curfew set by their parents. They have nowhere to be alone with their boyfriends or significant others. There are love motels and DVD bangs that cater to these needs. Love motels are motels where couples can come for the night to 'be alone'. They are usually kind of seedy and filled with everything from mood lights, huge whirlpool tubs, body lotions and oils, condoms, and porn. People do not have to provide a credit card upon check-in and they are cheap, so often times tourists and other people besides couples use them. (i.e. poor English teachers like us) DVD bangs are private rooms you can rent out with couches and a large screen TV in order to watch DVD's. Again, couples use these places to 'be alone'. Although the love motels were quite funny and cheesy, they were clean and provided us with what we needed; a safe place to stay for the night. Not too bad in my opinion.

The next morning a couple other friends, Aly and Chris joined us. After lots of water and Tylenol, some burritos and morning cocktails, we made our way to the beach. Haeundae Beach is the most famous beach in Korea. It's well known for it's touristy area and the cliffs in the background almost remind you of the Mediterranean. Beautiful. Aly bought a kite and we all took turns flying it. The weather was perfect- not too cool or hot and the sun was shining. I got to stick my feet in the sand and I was more than happy to be near open water.

group shot on Haeundae Beach

the beautiful view

the sea

lovin it

After exploring the area around the beach we grabbed some drinks, claimed a plastic patio set outside on the sidewalk, and hung out for the better part of the afternoon. We had a great time just chatting and people watching. We joked that we should have put out a tip cup because nearly every Korean person that walked past us just stared and stared. After cleaning up a bit at our motel we ate some dinner and made our way to another bar to begin round 2. After a long game of Kings Cup and some expensive cocktails we hopped into some cabs and went to another area of Busan to check out the night life. We went to a bar called the Fuzzy Navel, where the bartenders were out of control. I have never seen bar tenders this crazy before. They were all jumping around, doing shots, dancing, singing, and they even did a fire show. The night ended earlier than Friday because we were all so tired.

fire show at Fuzzy Navel

the girls

After getting some much needed sleep, we woke up Sunday morning and packed our things and headed into the downtown area of Busan. We grabbed some lunch and then went to the famous Busan fish market, the Jagalchi Fish Market, to check out the strange sea foods and take some pictures. The streets leading up to the fish market were lined with little vendors selling all kinds of bizarre things. There were live fish, live sea creatures, dead fish, dead sea creatures, and all kinds of vegetables and seaweed too. Once we got inside the actual fish market building the stench of fish was overpowering. There were vendors lining the building with tanks and tanks of live creatures. The workers were dressed in long rubber aprons, rubber boots, and gloves. They were all calling out in Korean trying to sell their products. Some of the people were skinning dead things like eels. There were lots of fish guts too. I wasn't really grossed out, but the craziest thing I saw was this larger tank filled with decent sized octopus just gliding around in the water and sticking to the sides of the tank. Eek! The back exit doors led to a deck that overlooked the ship yard. There were tons of older people outside with blankets on the deck having little picnics with Korean treats and soju. We left the fish market after our noses couldn't take it anymore and enjoyed some afternoon shopping in one of the shopping districts.

fish market

inside the market

on the deck

just fishin'

fish heads, anyone?

outside the market

Check out some videos of the fish market here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100190385597599&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100190385597599&ref=mf

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Busan and head to the train station to catch our train back to Seoul. After about 4 hours of travel I made it home safe and sound. I can't wait to venture to Busan again in the summer for the real beach season.

Namaste

Shhhhhh...

Gave me a laugh...... I know all you fellow educators out there will have a laugh too.

www.postsecret.blogspot.com

Namaste

Live Octopus, First Impressions, and Bar Crawling

So I have been craving some craziness in my life. It's like Seal sang "no, we're never gonna survive... unless we get a little crazy." Every now and then I get this urge. It's the same urge that has led me some some of the coolest experiences in my life such as jumping off a 300 foot bridge with my feet wrapped in towels, riding on the back of a motorcycle with the wind in my face, hitch-hiking through Africa, throwing myself off the high dive at Camp Tecumseh, living in a sorority house with 100 women, letting an Israeli man stick an inked needle into my skin in Amsterdam, sneaking my car out of my parent's garage on a school night in high school, white water rafting the Nile's 5 class rapids, living with no electricity or running water for 2 months, jumping out of a plane at 13,000 feet in the air... some might say stupid. I say crazy. So what crazy thing did I get myself into this time? I decided to eat octopus. No biggie, right? Did I mention that the octopus was still ALIVE?! Yep, that's right. Friday night Sean and I ventured to a Korean restaurant that specialized in, you guessed it- octopus! We ordered a few types of octopus dishes to try including the live octopus tentacles. I had been psyching myself up all day long and was feeling pretty confident, but when the server brought out the plate my stomach dropped a little. There were tons of tentacles all cut up into small pieces just squiggling and squirming around on the plate. I really couldn't believe how much they were moving and I began feel like backing out was a smart option. After watching Sean successfully finish his first taste, it was my turn. I gathered up the nerve at picked out a good piece. First I dipped it into the sesame seed oil and then into a hot sauce. After a small struggle to keep it between my chopsticks, I was able to plop it into my mouth. The only thing on my mind was 'chew, chew, chew' so that's what I did. I focused on chewing the whole piece before I swallowed. Apparently if you do not chew it all the way the tentacles can suction to your throat or esophagus and you can choke. By the time the first piece of octopus was making its' way into my stomach, I was feeling good and even tried a few more pieces. We tried some of the other side dishes and a seafood pancake and then decided it was time to hit to road and have some 'real' dinner, so we went to our favorite Mexican spot and grabbed some avocado burritos. I would definitely recommend live octopus to anyone in living in or visiting Korea. It was not as bad as you might think it might be, and I didn't even really mind the taste or the hot sauce. An experience to remember.

live octopus

nervous smile

chewing away

Check out some videos of the live octopus action here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100184498545299&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100184723549389

Saturday night Sean and I went to Gangnam to meet his grandma, aunt, and cousin for dinner. We met at a shabu shabu place owned by one of Sean's aunts. Needless to say I was super nervous meeting some of his family, but Sean helped me feel comfortable and told me to relax and be myself. His aunt and cousin spoke a bit of English and everyone was trying to get his cousin to practice speaking with me, but she was really shy. She's a freshman in high school and studies English with a foreign teacher also named Jackie. His family was very kind and made me feel a little more at ease with compliments and smiles. I tried my best to make a good first impression and think it went over well. The meal was delicious; once again I ate octopus (cooked this time), and other seafood like squid, clams, mussels, and fish cakes. After dinner was over we said goodbye and Sean and I headed to Apujeong to meet some friends.

Sean and I before dinner

My first Korean "bar crawl" was a success. Our friend Graham arranged the whole thing and everyone met in Apujeong at Wara Wara Bar for some soju and fruit drinks. After that it was onto a small hole-in-the-wall bar for some vodka tonics. We left that bar and went to Ho Bar for some beers and shots. Then we moved to Monkey Beach, a crazy crowded club that serves buckets of alcohol. Wearing brand new shoes out for a long night is never a good idea. My feet looked amazing, but felt like hell, so a few of us decided to leave and find another bar where we could sit down. We ended up at the "Crazy Wine Bar" across the street. That was the name- no joke. Gotta love Korea for their outrageous restaurant/shop/bar names. There was no one else in the bar, so the servers let us pick the music and do whatever we wanted. My friend Aly and I were line dancing with the servers and we proceeded to do rounds of beers and shots. This last well until 5A.M. when we decided it was time to call it a night. I went home with a major headache, black feet (from dancing bare foot in the bar), and lots of incriminating photos. Great friends. Great night.

at bar #2

Chris, me, and Aly

the ladies

Monkey Beach

breaking it down

Sunday was a chill out day. Just needed some time to relax and cure my hangover. Sean and I went to see Green Zone at the movies and ate some Korean BBQ for dinner afterwards. Sunday night BBQ is slowly becoming our tradition and I don't mind one bit. I love BBQ!

Spring has finally arrived on this little peninsula and the cherry blossom trees are beginning to bloom. They will only last for a few weeks and I am trying to enjoy as much of them as I can while they are here. The little pink flowers are so dainty and beautiful. I just love the volume and shape they give to the trees. I was really surprised at just how many cherry trees there are around- I never knew when they were brown and bare in the winter time. I snapped a few photos this weekend, but believe me, there will be more to come!

cherry blossoms

Namaste

Yogiyo!

There is something I realized the other day that I have not mentioned yet. People in Korea do not tip. You do not tip your cab drivers (no matter how fast they get you there by driving like maniacs), you do not tip your servers at restaurants, you do not tip your hairdresser, you do not tip the bell boy. There is no tipping. This is one of the things I love most about Korea. (And will probably be one of the hardest things to remember to do again when I get home to America.) There is never the awkward moment at the end of the meal trying to figure out how much to leave your server based on their performance and/or the food. There are no tip calculators! Korean people would probably think you are nuts if you asked where you can find one on your cell phone. You would think that with the lack of tipping the service would be terrible, but people here take their jobs seriously and the service is really wonderful. You can even yell at your server in a restaurant. The phrase "yogiyo!" is used to get your server's attention and means "over here!". All you have to do is yell it and then someone appears to take care of your every need. It's brilliant, but if you are like me and just can't shake the western thought that somehow 'shouting loudly across the restaurant at your server is not the most polite restaurant etiquette' then there is a magical little button on the table I like to call the "yogiyo!" button. You can press the button and it serves the same purpose as the "yogiyo!" without the yelling. The button just buzzes behind the scenes in the server station. Again, brilliant.

Namaste