September 28, 2009
So I received my first package today from HOME! After I got back to the English Classroom from lesson-planning with Christina in her office, Anne told me, “Davis, I think your package arrive”, hah. I felt such a rush of happiness because I know how much trouble mom went through to mail this thing to me, and how worried she was that it wouldn’t make it through customs! But alas, it made it safe and sound, thank god.
Anyways, I open the package at school because I can’t wait to open it at home, and I read the IRS document that is supposed to exempt me from paying income tax while over here. Well, uhhh, looks like it may not be that easy! Either I’m really stupid and filled out the initial form wrong, or the IRS is even more stupid because they’re the ones who told me how to fill the damn thing out over the phone! Either way, I don’t have the form I need yet, and it looks like I’m going to have call the IRS and get this straightened out ASAP. I’m a little pissed right now, mainly at the IRS. They even deposited my check for this form, yet didn’t give me the form! Not cool.
However, on a more positive note, the package is great and couldn’t have come at a better time! I can’t wait to open the brownies and the icing and the sprinkles, oh my god! And the Mexican food!! And the marshmallows. And the chocolate! Thank you so much mom!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Getting to meet my co-teacher's family
September 24, 2009
Both of my co-teachers (Anne and Christina) are extremely nice and hospitable, and are usually looking out for me and my well-being over here in Korea. I really don’t think that I could ask for much better co-teachers as I hear horror stories from other native teachers like myself. However, Anne and Christina have almost taken me under their wings and have invited me into their lives with such embracing arms. Take for example the following:
Christina’s husband, whose English name is Lion (he chose Lion because his favorite baseball team is the Samsung Lions, hah) apparently really wanted to meet me and “practice his English.” So he had invited me out to baseball game in Seoul with him. However, due to the teams that were playing (his team wasn’t playing apparently), he no longer wanted to go, haha. Christina then invited me over to her house (well, actually her mom’s house because that’s where she’s living right now because of her 1-year old baby boy) to meet her family. I had no opposition to this.
We take the subway from Bugae down like 7-8 stops to where her mom lives, and we literally just have to walk like a minute from the subway stop to the apartment complex (talk about easy and convenient). Once we get off the elevator and start walking towards her door, I see her mom outside the door, cleaning some food in like a plastic bowl. Interesting. Her mom doesn’t speak any English, of course, but is the nicest Korean grandmother ever, haha. We then go inside the apartment, and find her baby (his name translates into “Kind”) asleep on the floor in her bedroom. The cutest thing I’d seen in a long time! Christina and I then just sit in the living and talk about life for awhile, waiting for her husband to get home. Her husband, Lion, works for the court in Seoul, and while I tried to ask him a few times what exactly he does in the court, I never got a straight answer, haha. Anyways, Lion’s English is probably on par with Christina’s, which is far better than I was expecting when I first got over here. Lion also apparently served in the US Army for close to three years in an area called Yongsan (I think that’s in/near Seoul). Anyways, the three of us just continue talking, and I almost feel like I’ve known them for far longer than just the one month I’ve been here. It was an eerie feeling almost.
The baby, “Kind”, decides to wake up, and started crying the first time he saw me, haha. Great! He finally warmed-up to me after like 30 minutes of scoping me out, and by the time we went to dinner, he wasn’t afraid to touch me, hah.
All of us (Christina, Christina’s mom, Lion, “Kind” AND Christina’s very preggers sister who also can speak good English) go to a traditional Korean BBQ restaurant for dinner. While there are literally thousands of this type of restaurant everywhere in Korea, each one is unique and prepares its meats in a slightly different way, which makes each dining experience different. Lion and I shared a few beers and bottle or two of soju (he informed me that since he works for the government he drinks a lot, haha) while thoroughly enjoying our bulgogi and kalbi, and kimchi of course. We finish off the meal with some very spicy ice-noodles (you’ll have to try some when you come over).
After dinner, we head back to her mom’s house and literally just sit on the living room floor and play with “Kind.” They even call me “Uncle Davis” (sorry Alli ). It was by far one of the most fun nights I’d had since coming to Korea. While I’m half-way across the world from my family back in North Carolina, I felt like I was part of Christina’s family here in Incheon, and it made me feel soooo much better about missing home.
Both of my co-teachers (Anne and Christina) are extremely nice and hospitable, and are usually looking out for me and my well-being over here in Korea. I really don’t think that I could ask for much better co-teachers as I hear horror stories from other native teachers like myself. However, Anne and Christina have almost taken me under their wings and have invited me into their lives with such embracing arms. Take for example the following:
Christina’s husband, whose English name is Lion (he chose Lion because his favorite baseball team is the Samsung Lions, hah) apparently really wanted to meet me and “practice his English.” So he had invited me out to baseball game in Seoul with him. However, due to the teams that were playing (his team wasn’t playing apparently), he no longer wanted to go, haha. Christina then invited me over to her house (well, actually her mom’s house because that’s where she’s living right now because of her 1-year old baby boy) to meet her family. I had no opposition to this.
We take the subway from Bugae down like 7-8 stops to where her mom lives, and we literally just have to walk like a minute from the subway stop to the apartment complex (talk about easy and convenient). Once we get off the elevator and start walking towards her door, I see her mom outside the door, cleaning some food in like a plastic bowl. Interesting. Her mom doesn’t speak any English, of course, but is the nicest Korean grandmother ever, haha. We then go inside the apartment, and find her baby (his name translates into “Kind”) asleep on the floor in her bedroom. The cutest thing I’d seen in a long time! Christina and I then just sit in the living and talk about life for awhile, waiting for her husband to get home. Her husband, Lion, works for the court in Seoul, and while I tried to ask him a few times what exactly he does in the court, I never got a straight answer, haha. Anyways, Lion’s English is probably on par with Christina’s, which is far better than I was expecting when I first got over here. Lion also apparently served in the US Army for close to three years in an area called Yongsan (I think that’s in/near Seoul). Anyways, the three of us just continue talking, and I almost feel like I’ve known them for far longer than just the one month I’ve been here. It was an eerie feeling almost.
The baby, “Kind”, decides to wake up, and started crying the first time he saw me, haha. Great! He finally warmed-up to me after like 30 minutes of scoping me out, and by the time we went to dinner, he wasn’t afraid to touch me, hah.
All of us (Christina, Christina’s mom, Lion, “Kind” AND Christina’s very preggers sister who also can speak good English) go to a traditional Korean BBQ restaurant for dinner. While there are literally thousands of this type of restaurant everywhere in Korea, each one is unique and prepares its meats in a slightly different way, which makes each dining experience different. Lion and I shared a few beers and bottle or two of soju (he informed me that since he works for the government he drinks a lot, haha) while thoroughly enjoying our bulgogi and kalbi, and kimchi of course. We finish off the meal with some very spicy ice-noodles (you’ll have to try some when you come over).
After dinner, we head back to her mom’s house and literally just sit on the living room floor and play with “Kind.” They even call me “Uncle Davis” (sorry Alli ). It was by far one of the most fun nights I’d had since coming to Korea. While I’m half-way across the world from my family back in North Carolina, I felt like I was part of Christina’s family here in Incheon, and it made me feel soooo much better about missing home.
Monday, September 14, 2009
N'Seoul Tower -- I think Seoul kicks Incheon's ass
Sunday September 14, 2009
Today, I went to N’Seoul Tower (just Seoul Tower from now on) with Anne, Ryan and one of Anne’s teacher friends Sally and her Native Teacher Liz (a Korean-Australian who speaks no Korean). Most of us met at Bupyeong Station at 11, and we caught the train into Seoul. We stayed on Line 1 all the way into Seoul, and got off at Jonggok Station or something like that (I’ll look at that later). We spent some time in one of the big book stores in Seoul (YB), and then explored the area a bit. I know that where we were is not really the main center of Seoul, but it feels like Seoul may be just one sprawling city, with no clear downtown. Either way, the area was pretty cool, and not too crowded when we got there around 12 or so.
We then walked to an area/road called Insadong. Anne described it as being a “traditional Korean street”, and it basically just turned out to be a pedestrian walking mall/tourist hangout spot. It was fun to go to once, but I don’t think I’d go back again. We did get to see a festival/parade going on in the streets, and it reminded me of the closing ceremonies we had in
Jeonju with EPIK.
We then hop back on the subway, transfer a few times, catch Bus No. 2 and rode it up to Mt. Namsan to see Seoul Tower. Seoul Tower is definitely NOT in the center of Seoul…it’s removed from all the hustle and bustle, and is actually located on the top of a small mountain. It was my first experience dealing with buses in Seoul, and they are perhaps more jerky than the ones in Bangkok (although much newer). Maybe it was because I was standing and not sitting, but I felt a few times that I was about to topple over and make a fool out of myself.
We make it up to Seoul Tower, and it too is a very big tourist attraction. There were lots of what I suppose to be Koreans, but I also saw more Westerners than I’d seen in a long time! We just walked around the premises, taking in the massive views of Seoul, and taking lots of pictures (thanks to Sally’s persistence, hah). Sally was absolutely hilarious—every like 2 minutes, she would whisper in my ear (with a smile), “it’s time for a photo, do you want your photo taken?”. It was almost as if she was trying to be sneaky about it, but it just came off very flirty, hah. I have a few more stories about her later…
One cool thing about Seoul Tower: married couples come here to place a lock on one of the many fences and throw the key to their lock over the edge of the mountain, symbolizing ever-lasting love. It was really cool to see the thousands of locks everywhere, and it put a huge smile on my face. It’s stupid, but I love that kind of stuff (reminded me of the pole at the top of Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo where you can leave something personal forever).
We don’t actually go up the Seoul Tower which kind of bummed me out a bit, but I guess you have to pay to go up and I don’t think they wanted to do that. I just kept my mouth shut! Gives me something to do with mom when she comes, hah.
We then walk down the mountain (remember, we took a bus UP) because Sally insists that we get really good views doing so, and we really did. And we were walking DOWN the mountain, so it wasn’t that hard at all. Sally takes us to an open-air market really close to an area called Meyongdong. The market had every type of imitation name brand imaginable. Reminded me of the JJ market a little bit (though much smaller). In fact, it was just like any other major Asian city I’ve been to—they all sell rip-offs for incredibly cheap prices.
We then work our way over to Meyongdong, which is famous for its shopping and is a very popular hangout spot for university students. It was like a Franklin St on steroids, and I’ll definitely go back to that area with some of my friends in Incheon. We don’t buy anything other than ice-cream from the street, but just taking in the whole vibrant atmosphere and chaos was so much fun! We ended up eating in some Korean restaurant on the second floor of a building, order some spicy chicken dish that was really hard to eat with chopsticks hah, and I have my first BEER with my colleagues! It was soooo nice to actually have a drink with them for once, for two reasons. One, I’ve heard a lot of the other Native Teachers have gone out with their coteachers to drink before (while I hadn’t), and two, my colleagues are always telling me how they DON’T drink and how they are so Christian! So I felt like it was a minor triumph for me! Now I just have to get ready for norebang (karaoke) on Friday night with them (I’m hoping booze will be involved with that too, hah).
After dinner in Meyongdong, we decided to call it a night and head back to Incheon. We get back around 7:30 or so, and that was it. It was a very good, and I’m so happy that Anne invited me to join her and her friends.
Okay, a few funny things about Sally (Anne’s teacher friend). She came off as very flirty, and she ALWAYS whispered things in my ear, with a smile. I just think that’s how she is though, because she said some of the most ridiculous stuff. For example, on the subway back to Incheon, she asked me why do blacks have “white” palms but black arms, hahahaha. She of course whispered that in my ear though, and then proceeded to laugh after asking me, as if she knew it was a funny/ridiculous question. Also, she told me that when she first met me a few days ago, she was very excited because I had some facial hair (I hadn’t shaved for about a week…) and that she really likes that on guys (she told me her “ideal guy” is someone with lots of hair). I decided that I should shave for Sunday so I’d look nice, but apparently Sally was wanting to see me with the facial hair, hah. I also got a haircut on Saturday, so that really threw her for a loop. At first, she said she was “disappointment” (haha), but then she corrected herself and said she liked the way I looked. And then, when we were at dinner, she once again whispered in my ear, “I need a beer, you want a beer?”. I of course said yes, and luckily Anne and Ryan joined in on the fun as well. Overall, Sally just seemed a bit more fun, outgoing, and just plain more out-there than the teachers at my school. I wouldn’t mind hanging out with here more, as I found myself laughing a lot more than I already I do at her questions and comments.
Today, I went to N’Seoul Tower (just Seoul Tower from now on) with Anne, Ryan and one of Anne’s teacher friends Sally and her Native Teacher Liz (a Korean-Australian who speaks no Korean). Most of us met at Bupyeong Station at 11, and we caught the train into Seoul. We stayed on Line 1 all the way into Seoul, and got off at Jonggok Station or something like that (I’ll look at that later). We spent some time in one of the big book stores in Seoul (YB), and then explored the area a bit. I know that where we were is not really the main center of Seoul, but it feels like Seoul may be just one sprawling city, with no clear downtown. Either way, the area was pretty cool, and not too crowded when we got there around 12 or so.
We then walked to an area/road called Insadong. Anne described it as being a “traditional Korean street”, and it basically just turned out to be a pedestrian walking mall/tourist hangout spot. It was fun to go to once, but I don’t think I’d go back again. We did get to see a festival/parade going on in the streets, and it reminded me of the closing ceremonies we had in
Jeonju with EPIK.
We then hop back on the subway, transfer a few times, catch Bus No. 2 and rode it up to Mt. Namsan to see Seoul Tower. Seoul Tower is definitely NOT in the center of Seoul…it’s removed from all the hustle and bustle, and is actually located on the top of a small mountain. It was my first experience dealing with buses in Seoul, and they are perhaps more jerky than the ones in Bangkok (although much newer). Maybe it was because I was standing and not sitting, but I felt a few times that I was about to topple over and make a fool out of myself.
We make it up to Seoul Tower, and it too is a very big tourist attraction. There were lots of what I suppose to be Koreans, but I also saw more Westerners than I’d seen in a long time! We just walked around the premises, taking in the massive views of Seoul, and taking lots of pictures (thanks to Sally’s persistence, hah). Sally was absolutely hilarious—every like 2 minutes, she would whisper in my ear (with a smile), “it’s time for a photo, do you want your photo taken?”. It was almost as if she was trying to be sneaky about it, but it just came off very flirty, hah. I have a few more stories about her later…
One cool thing about Seoul Tower: married couples come here to place a lock on one of the many fences and throw the key to their lock over the edge of the mountain, symbolizing ever-lasting love. It was really cool to see the thousands of locks everywhere, and it put a huge smile on my face. It’s stupid, but I love that kind of stuff (reminded me of the pole at the top of Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo where you can leave something personal forever).
We don’t actually go up the Seoul Tower which kind of bummed me out a bit, but I guess you have to pay to go up and I don’t think they wanted to do that. I just kept my mouth shut! Gives me something to do with mom when she comes, hah.
We then walk down the mountain (remember, we took a bus UP) because Sally insists that we get really good views doing so, and we really did. And we were walking DOWN the mountain, so it wasn’t that hard at all. Sally takes us to an open-air market really close to an area called Meyongdong. The market had every type of imitation name brand imaginable. Reminded me of the JJ market a little bit (though much smaller). In fact, it was just like any other major Asian city I’ve been to—they all sell rip-offs for incredibly cheap prices.
We then work our way over to Meyongdong, which is famous for its shopping and is a very popular hangout spot for university students. It was like a Franklin St on steroids, and I’ll definitely go back to that area with some of my friends in Incheon. We don’t buy anything other than ice-cream from the street, but just taking in the whole vibrant atmosphere and chaos was so much fun! We ended up eating in some Korean restaurant on the second floor of a building, order some spicy chicken dish that was really hard to eat with chopsticks hah, and I have my first BEER with my colleagues! It was soooo nice to actually have a drink with them for once, for two reasons. One, I’ve heard a lot of the other Native Teachers have gone out with their coteachers to drink before (while I hadn’t), and two, my colleagues are always telling me how they DON’T drink and how they are so Christian! So I felt like it was a minor triumph for me! Now I just have to get ready for norebang (karaoke) on Friday night with them (I’m hoping booze will be involved with that too, hah).
After dinner in Meyongdong, we decided to call it a night and head back to Incheon. We get back around 7:30 or so, and that was it. It was a very good, and I’m so happy that Anne invited me to join her and her friends.
Okay, a few funny things about Sally (Anne’s teacher friend). She came off as very flirty, and she ALWAYS whispered things in my ear, with a smile. I just think that’s how she is though, because she said some of the most ridiculous stuff. For example, on the subway back to Incheon, she asked me why do blacks have “white” palms but black arms, hahahaha. She of course whispered that in my ear though, and then proceeded to laugh after asking me, as if she knew it was a funny/ridiculous question. Also, she told me that when she first met me a few days ago, she was very excited because I had some facial hair (I hadn’t shaved for about a week…) and that she really likes that on guys (she told me her “ideal guy” is someone with lots of hair). I decided that I should shave for Sunday so I’d look nice, but apparently Sally was wanting to see me with the facial hair, hah. I also got a haircut on Saturday, so that really threw her for a loop. At first, she said she was “disappointment” (haha), but then she corrected herself and said she liked the way I looked. And then, when we were at dinner, she once again whispered in my ear, “I need a beer, you want a beer?”. I of course said yes, and luckily Anne and Ryan joined in on the fun as well. Overall, Sally just seemed a bit more fun, outgoing, and just plain more out-there than the teachers at my school. I wouldn’t mind hanging out with here more, as I found myself laughing a lot more than I already I do at her questions and comments.
First haircut in Korea, phew
Saturday, September 12
Got my haircut! Cost 17,000 won (about 15 USD). I was very hesitant to get my haircut because I’ve heard of horror stories, especially here in Korea, when foreigners who can’t speak Korean go to a hair salon and get a horrible haircut. However, I think I chose a pretty nice, up-scale salon, and although they didn’t speak ANY English, I was able to get a decent haircut, along with wash and styling, hah. I’ll probably end up getting this done like once every three weeks cause it’s so cheap and it’s fun to get a little spoiled, haha.
Later that day, a few of us saw the movie “Nine” in the Lotte cinema. The cinema was nothing to ride home about (it wasn’t even as nice as the ones back home, and was far less impressive than the ones in Bangkok). It was good to see an American movie though, hah.
Got my haircut! Cost 17,000 won (about 15 USD). I was very hesitant to get my haircut because I’ve heard of horror stories, especially here in Korea, when foreigners who can’t speak Korean go to a hair salon and get a horrible haircut. However, I think I chose a pretty nice, up-scale salon, and although they didn’t speak ANY English, I was able to get a decent haircut, along with wash and styling, hah. I’ll probably end up getting this done like once every three weeks cause it’s so cheap and it’s fun to get a little spoiled, haha.
Later that day, a few of us saw the movie “Nine” in the Lotte cinema. The cinema was nothing to ride home about (it wasn’t even as nice as the ones back home, and was far less impressive than the ones in Bangkok). It was good to see an American movie though, hah.
Dealing with Korean accents...
Friday September 11
During one of the exercises, a student asked me how to spell “curry rice.” However, because Koreans roll their “r”s, I thought he asked me how to spell “colored lights”, so I wrote “colored lights” on his sheet of paper. He probably thought I was crazy. Woops. I felt bad afterwards, but maybe this way the students will learn NOT to roll their "r"s, haha.
Anyways, later that night, Stephen and I went to a pool hall to learn how to play pool Korean-style. Korean pool is played on a different table, with no pockets, and three balls (white, red and yellow). Say I was the white ball, and Stephen the yellow, then it’s my job to hit both the red and yellow balls by hitting the white ball. This style of playing pool involves much more angles and calculation than the regular pool we’re used to back home. However, I still kicked his ass.
During one of the exercises, a student asked me how to spell “curry rice.” However, because Koreans roll their “r”s, I thought he asked me how to spell “colored lights”, so I wrote “colored lights” on his sheet of paper. He probably thought I was crazy. Woops. I felt bad afterwards, but maybe this way the students will learn NOT to roll their "r"s, haha.
Anyways, later that night, Stephen and I went to a pool hall to learn how to play pool Korean-style. Korean pool is played on a different table, with no pockets, and three balls (white, red and yellow). Say I was the white ball, and Stephen the yellow, then it’s my job to hit both the red and yellow balls by hitting the white ball. This style of playing pool involves much more angles and calculation than the regular pool we’re used to back home. However, I still kicked his ass.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
2 things...
1. My co-teacher Anne called me her "son" yesterday. She went on explaining how if we were in dynastic times, she would have loved to have had a "son" like me, hah. This simply sprang from me helping her move some test papers from the third floor to the fourth floor. Also, she told me her age, voluntarily, even though when I first met her she told me she would never tell me, haha. I think she's starting to really trust me and we're becoming good friends now. It's a good thing!
2. Every day, when I get back to Bupyeong Station and I walk to my apartment in the underground mall, I always walk past the same stores and same people. And there is always this one really cute girl, probably around my age, who is sipping on her iced-coffee while just waiting for customers to come into her store. Whenever I walk by at like 4:55, she always waves and says "hiiiiii" and smiles at me. One of these days I'm going to stop at her store and buy something from her, haha.
That's it! I hope everyone has a good Friday, even though it's 9/11. It's weird being in Korea for this day, and it'll be interesting to see if anyone over here even notices it's 9/11...
2. Every day, when I get back to Bupyeong Station and I walk to my apartment in the underground mall, I always walk past the same stores and same people. And there is always this one really cute girl, probably around my age, who is sipping on her iced-coffee while just waiting for customers to come into her store. Whenever I walk by at like 4:55, she always waves and says "hiiiiii" and smiles at me. One of these days I'm going to stop at her store and buy something from her, haha.
That's it! I hope everyone has a good Friday, even though it's 9/11. It's weird being in Korea for this day, and it'll be interesting to see if anyone over here even notices it's 9/11...
First try at going to a Korean baseball game
So someone started a facebook thread about going to a baseball game in Incheon this week. I knew that baseball is pretty big here in Korea, so I really wanted to experience at least one game while over here. One of the guys decided it'd be best to go on Wednesday because he saw that the Incheon team was playing home that day. I thought, "perfect, I'll have just enough time to go back to my place, change, and make it to the stadium by 5:45 and then watch a baseball game!". WRONG.
First off, I had my first experience with the Incheon Subway (I always use the Seoul subway line because my school is located off that line). So navigating the incheon line was a little more tricky simply because I'd never used it before! And it turned out to be a real subway (The Seoul Line 1 is more of a "train" because it's above-ground). Anyways, I thought I got off at the right stop, but as it turns out, I got off one stop too soon somehow. So I end up having to walk like 30 minutes until I could finally see the stadium. Literally as soon as I'm across the street from the stadium, I get a call from one of the guys I was meeting up with to watch the game, and he informs me that there is in fact no game today. You gotta be kidding me! I mean, I guess I should have been a little concerned when I noticed a severe lack of people walking to the stadium, but it never really crossed my mind that there was no game.
So I'm right by the stadium, and I see the subway stop that I should have gotten off at. I think, great, I'll just catch the subway here instead of walking back that 30 minutes to the other subway stop. WRONG again. I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to cross the road to get to that fucking subway stop. I feel like some parts of Incheon are very pedestrian friendly, and other parts couldn't care less, and this was one of those spots. Defeated, I head back to the wrong subway station, catch it back to Bupyeong, and of course I somehow manage to exit the Bupyeong station in a direction that I was totally unfamiliar with. It just seemed like if it could go wrong yesterday, it did go wrong. I realized I'm pretty much out of the "honeymoon" stage by now, and I'm getting annoyed much easier by certain things (ie my inability to effectively navigate the city using public transportation). I may just start using cabs more often now...haha
First off, I had my first experience with the Incheon Subway (I always use the Seoul subway line because my school is located off that line). So navigating the incheon line was a little more tricky simply because I'd never used it before! And it turned out to be a real subway (The Seoul Line 1 is more of a "train" because it's above-ground). Anyways, I thought I got off at the right stop, but as it turns out, I got off one stop too soon somehow. So I end up having to walk like 30 minutes until I could finally see the stadium. Literally as soon as I'm across the street from the stadium, I get a call from one of the guys I was meeting up with to watch the game, and he informs me that there is in fact no game today. You gotta be kidding me! I mean, I guess I should have been a little concerned when I noticed a severe lack of people walking to the stadium, but it never really crossed my mind that there was no game.
So I'm right by the stadium, and I see the subway stop that I should have gotten off at. I think, great, I'll just catch the subway here instead of walking back that 30 minutes to the other subway stop. WRONG again. I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to cross the road to get to that fucking subway stop. I feel like some parts of Incheon are very pedestrian friendly, and other parts couldn't care less, and this was one of those spots. Defeated, I head back to the wrong subway station, catch it back to Bupyeong, and of course I somehow manage to exit the Bupyeong station in a direction that I was totally unfamiliar with. It just seemed like if it could go wrong yesterday, it did go wrong. I realized I'm pretty much out of the "honeymoon" stage by now, and I'm getting annoyed much easier by certain things (ie my inability to effectively navigate the city using public transportation). I may just start using cabs more often now...haha
SEAFOOOOOOOOOOD!!
Wednesday September 9, 2009
Last night, a few of us ventured away from the mainstream restaurants and went out to a very local seafood restaurant in Bupyeong. The menu was only in Korean (which really isn’t that uncommon over here), but there weren’t many pictures for us to point to! So communicating and knowing what we were ordering was extremely difficult. In fact, we really had no idea what we ended up ordering—the “waitress” simply counted out 5 on her hands (for 5 people), smiled and left. And that was our ordering.
Food started coming out in like 2 minutes (no lie), and we weren’t exactly sure what to do with a lot of it, hah. There were some snails, some shrimp (with their heads still on, of course), some sea-flower thing type of deal, and some other random small bowls. Oh yes, quail eggs and some sort of tasty omelet with squid in it. And then they brought out a whole fish, Asian style. The WHOLE fish! See pictures. And then they finally brought out the raw fish for us to make our lettuce wraps with. It was almost like making our own sushi. Extremely tasty, extremely fresh, and extremely local. It was awesome, and despite not knowing exactly what we ate, I’d do it again in a heartbeat (I didn’t even get sick afterwards, haha). In fact, I’ve yet to have any stomach problems over here. Knock on wood.
We ended the meal by going to Baskin Robbins and having good ol’ American ice-cream! Classic.
Last night, a few of us ventured away from the mainstream restaurants and went out to a very local seafood restaurant in Bupyeong. The menu was only in Korean (which really isn’t that uncommon over here), but there weren’t many pictures for us to point to! So communicating and knowing what we were ordering was extremely difficult. In fact, we really had no idea what we ended up ordering—the “waitress” simply counted out 5 on her hands (for 5 people), smiled and left. And that was our ordering.
Food started coming out in like 2 minutes (no lie), and we weren’t exactly sure what to do with a lot of it, hah. There were some snails, some shrimp (with their heads still on, of course), some sea-flower thing type of deal, and some other random small bowls. Oh yes, quail eggs and some sort of tasty omelet with squid in it. And then they brought out a whole fish, Asian style. The WHOLE fish! See pictures. And then they finally brought out the raw fish for us to make our lettuce wraps with. It was almost like making our own sushi. Extremely tasty, extremely fresh, and extremely local. It was awesome, and despite not knowing exactly what we ate, I’d do it again in a heartbeat (I didn’t even get sick afterwards, haha). In fact, I’ve yet to have any stomach problems over here. Knock on wood.
We ended the meal by going to Baskin Robbins and having good ol’ American ice-cream! Classic.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday
My kids absolutely love me, both inside and outside of the classroom. They actually listen to me when I'm talking, whereas they more often than not will ignore Anne (my co-teacher). And they look at me and pay attention. I must be such a novelty to them, hah.
And then, after lunch, one of the classes that I taught earlier in the morning was outside having PE class. So Anne said I could go out and interact with them, and they just loved it. They especially like shaking my hand and giving me high-fives (with either one hand or both hands at the same time). They will ask to shake my hand, and then laugh right after they do it. So it's funny. And I've definitely noticed all the little girls that like me. It's too cute. Sometimes, one of the girls' friends will blatanly tell me that she likes me and thinks I'm cute, haha. I just laugh and smile and they do the same. Oh Korea...
And then, after lunch, one of the classes that I taught earlier in the morning was outside having PE class. So Anne said I could go out and interact with them, and they just loved it. They especially like shaking my hand and giving me high-fives (with either one hand or both hands at the same time). They will ask to shake my hand, and then laugh right after they do it. So it's funny. And I've definitely noticed all the little girls that like me. It's too cute. Sometimes, one of the girls' friends will blatanly tell me that she likes me and thinks I'm cute, haha. I just laugh and smile and they do the same. Oh Korea...
My weekend--Seoul and Chinatown
So on Saturday, one of my colleagues who lives in Seoul offered to show me around a little bit. While some of the other EPIK teachers had already planned to go into Seoul on Saturday, I decided to go with my colleage, Ms. Kim, because I thought she'd know of some better places to take me!
So I met her at Bugae station, which is where my school is, at 1:00, and it took us about an hour to get into Seoul because we couldn't catch the express train for some reason. The train just kept getting more and more crowded the closer we got to Seoul, and by the end of it, I was ready as all hell to get out and explore.
Our first stop was Samesung station (sp), which is where Coex Mall is. Apparently it's one the nicest and biggest in Seoul, but it pales in comparison to Siam Paragon in Bangkok. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed in it. I mean, it was nice, it just wanted anything to ride home about...Anyways, we walked around the area for awhile, and talked a lot about Korea and its relationship to (North) Korea. It was very interesting to hear a South Korean's perspective on this issue. To her, there is no issue, and it's basically just fabricated by the press.
We then travel to the National Museum of Korea, and again, I'm a little let-down. It just seemed to be lacking SOMETHING that thailand didn't. I feel like I need to go into Seoul on my own and see the things that I want to see in order for me to have a better understanding of this city. I was impressed by the subway system though, haha. There are 9 lines, and you can get to basically anywhere. And it's extremely cheap...
Then, on Sunday, a girl named Natalie from CT, Stephen and I decided to head into Chinatown and explore that area a bit. Chinatown is located at the end of the Incheon Line 1, and it only took us like 20 minutes to get to. It was pretty sweet though. The moment you walk through the "paeru" or "gate", it feels like you're walking in China (hence Chinatown, hah. wow....) We grabbed some traditional black noodles which were delicious, and just walked around the streets. We saw Confucious too, which was pretty sweet.
We then decided to head to Wolmido, an area by the sea. There's an amusement park and boardwalk there. The rides looked a little old, but definitely fun, hah. AND you guys won't ever believe this. There was this "ride" there that like catapults you into the air and you do like flips and shit like a hundred feet in the air. And guess who did it?!? Stephen and I. It was by the far one of the best things I've done in a long time. It was so exhilarating and I about pissed my pants when we were first launched into the air. But the views we got were incredible and frightening at the same time. It also felt like we were free-falling multiple times, which I'm guessing is what bungee jumping feels like. That's the next thing on my list to do while in Korea, hah.
All-in-all, the weekend was a success. Got to travel into Seoul, explored Chinatown, and did something I never thought I'd do! Wow.
So I met her at Bugae station, which is where my school is, at 1:00, and it took us about an hour to get into Seoul because we couldn't catch the express train for some reason. The train just kept getting more and more crowded the closer we got to Seoul, and by the end of it, I was ready as all hell to get out and explore.
Our first stop was Samesung station (sp), which is where Coex Mall is. Apparently it's one the nicest and biggest in Seoul, but it pales in comparison to Siam Paragon in Bangkok. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed in it. I mean, it was nice, it just wanted anything to ride home about...Anyways, we walked around the area for awhile, and talked a lot about Korea and its relationship to (North) Korea. It was very interesting to hear a South Korean's perspective on this issue. To her, there is no issue, and it's basically just fabricated by the press.
We then travel to the National Museum of Korea, and again, I'm a little let-down. It just seemed to be lacking SOMETHING that thailand didn't. I feel like I need to go into Seoul on my own and see the things that I want to see in order for me to have a better understanding of this city. I was impressed by the subway system though, haha. There are 9 lines, and you can get to basically anywhere. And it's extremely cheap...
Then, on Sunday, a girl named Natalie from CT, Stephen and I decided to head into Chinatown and explore that area a bit. Chinatown is located at the end of the Incheon Line 1, and it only took us like 20 minutes to get to. It was pretty sweet though. The moment you walk through the "paeru" or "gate", it feels like you're walking in China (hence Chinatown, hah. wow....) We grabbed some traditional black noodles which were delicious, and just walked around the streets. We saw Confucious too, which was pretty sweet.
We then decided to head to Wolmido, an area by the sea. There's an amusement park and boardwalk there. The rides looked a little old, but definitely fun, hah. AND you guys won't ever believe this. There was this "ride" there that like catapults you into the air and you do like flips and shit like a hundred feet in the air. And guess who did it?!? Stephen and I. It was by the far one of the best things I've done in a long time. It was so exhilarating and I about pissed my pants when we were first launched into the air. But the views we got were incredible and frightening at the same time. It also felt like we were free-falling multiple times, which I'm guessing is what bungee jumping feels like. That's the next thing on my list to do while in Korea, hah.
All-in-all, the weekend was a success. Got to travel into Seoul, explored Chinatown, and did something I never thought I'd do! Wow.
Friday, September 4, 2009
FRESH food!
So as I was walking to Bugae Station to catch the subway to Bupyeong, I got a whiff of the freshest smelling fish ever. Bugae isn't the nicest of areas in Incheon, and it certainly isn't even close the sea, but the food here on the streets is so incredibly fresh it's ridiculous! Honestly, I didn't even see the fish, I just smelt it as I walked by, and I stopped dead in my tracks and then found the fish in "tanks" or open-aired bowls. It's amazing, and one of these days I'll get up the courage and actually buy/eat one, haha.
Regarding street food--it's not as common as it is in Bangkok, and therefore I haven't really tried any yet, hah. I'm a little nervous to go up to one of the stands, just point to something that I really don't know what it is, and then figure out how much it is to pay for. The language barrier here is also a lot higher here :( It's very, very strange, and it deserves its own post, hah.
Okay, that's it. Just wanted to entice you guys to come visit me because not only will you make my week by doing so, you can also enjoy the freshest seafood EVER! I'm off to Seoul today with a co-worker, Ms Kim. She apparently lives in Seoul, so she will hopefully show me all the good spots today :) I love you all, and miss you guys so much. Hope you all have a great Friday night!
Regarding street food--it's not as common as it is in Bangkok, and therefore I haven't really tried any yet, hah. I'm a little nervous to go up to one of the stands, just point to something that I really don't know what it is, and then figure out how much it is to pay for. The language barrier here is also a lot higher here :( It's very, very strange, and it deserves its own post, hah.
Okay, that's it. Just wanted to entice you guys to come visit me because not only will you make my week by doing so, you can also enjoy the freshest seafood EVER! I'm off to Seoul today with a co-worker, Ms Kim. She apparently lives in Seoul, so she will hopefully show me all the good spots today :) I love you all, and miss you guys so much. Hope you all have a great Friday night!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Second day at school...
September 1, 2009
Co-taught with Christina, grade 4 in elementary school (11 years old [in Korean years, so really only 10 years old]).
Introduced myself using powerpoint. Kids seemed to really like me and showed lots of interest.
4 periods back to back from 9-12:10, so I did the same presentation 4 times in a row. Got repetitive, but it was fine I guess.
Christina is just getting back into teaching from maternity leave, and she told me she was very nervous about it, hah.
The students in the 4th grade class were much more rambonxious and wild than I remember being. There are about 30 students in each class, but Christina only had a handful the students’ attention. I kind of felt bad for her, and at times I wanted to get up from seat and get the students’ attention by clapping my hands or raising my voice to let them know to pay attention, but I didn’t want to step on Christina’s ground, so I just let her handle it the way she wants to. When I teach, I’ll be sure the students know that they can’t goof off like they when Christina is teaching. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to be like some mean dictator up at the front of the classroom, but I’ll make sure the students are paying attention to me and not (a) falling asleep (b) talking to their neighbor or (c) drawing on the table. That’s just unacceptable, and I’ll let them know in a very kind, yet firm way, hah.
The school cafeteria is apparently still not finished, so one of Anne’s coworkers ordered in food for the rest of 5th grade teachers (Anne is a 5th grade teacher, so she (and therefore I) eat with them). They had ordered some bibimbap and some other soups, and it was all going fine until Ryan (the other guy who helped move me in when I first got into Incheon) to me that I “have to give him 4,500 won”. He told me this in front of the rest of the 5th grade teachers, and caught me really off guard and made me feel super awkward. Also, everything that I’ve read and even heard about at the EPIK orientation led me to believe that if I were eating out with my co-teacher/colleagues, they would ALWAYS pay for it because that’s Korean culture. WRONG! I didn’t know how to react to it. And then Ryan proceeded to ask me if I were rich. WTF? He also told me that 4500 won isn’t much for lunch, insinuating it wasn’t much for me. I did not appreciate any of his comments today at lunch. And this is after I gave him a Carolina Nike hat for helping me move in, when I was explicitly told that presents aren’t necessary. I’m starting to feel like my colleagues are trying to take advantage of me a little bit, so I have my guard up when I’m around them.
The afternoon is once again spent on my computer doing nothing really. I don’t have my own computer at school yet, which means if I want to use the internet at school, I have to share it with Anne. Apparently, I’m getting my own computer on Thursday, thank god. Anne said it won’t be new, so I wonder just how old it will be. It better not be some shitty, slow computer.
We are allowed to leave the school at 4:40 every day, so Anne and I left then to go to shopping with the government’s money! Yay! The government has given every co-teacher 2 million won to spend on their guest English teachers in order to help us settle into our new apartments. Anne had apparently spent only half of it already, so we have about 1 million won to spend on “apartment things.” We head to a furniture store, a buy a red dresser/coffee table type of thing, and then a new flat-screen 29 in TV. That cost about 350,000 won. We then head over to Lotte Mart to buy some other things, and by the end of the day, I still have around 150,000 won to spend. So I have to think of what else I want for my apartment, because I don’t want that money to go to waste! I still need to get curtains because the ones I wanted were out of stock, and the only other ones were god-ugly. We bought a fan, but I can’t figure out how to assemble it, so it’s currently just sitting in parts in a corner of my apartment. Woops. You guys know how I am with putting things together…
Head out to dinner with Stephen and a girl named Sophia from Texas. We go to a restaurant called “Party”. I’m sure we’ll go back there soon, and I’ll be sure to take pictures next time. We all had the “pasta set”, and it wasn’t bad at all. Nice surprise for sure. And the total bill for all three of us was like 18,000 won, which is like $15. It was insane because it was a pretty nice restaurant…I guess that’s Asia for you.
I then head to a PC Bang to check email/facebook, catch up with some people, thank god, and then head back home around 10 or so. I’m not tired, so I actually cook for myself! And I took pictures of I what I cooked. I was so impressed with myself, haha. I made eggs and toast! And it was yummy. I then put on some “How I Met Your Mother”, hopped into bed, and eventually fell asleep.
Co-taught with Christina, grade 4 in elementary school (11 years old [in Korean years, so really only 10 years old]).
Introduced myself using powerpoint. Kids seemed to really like me and showed lots of interest.
4 periods back to back from 9-12:10, so I did the same presentation 4 times in a row. Got repetitive, but it was fine I guess.
Christina is just getting back into teaching from maternity leave, and she told me she was very nervous about it, hah.
The students in the 4th grade class were much more rambonxious and wild than I remember being. There are about 30 students in each class, but Christina only had a handful the students’ attention. I kind of felt bad for her, and at times I wanted to get up from seat and get the students’ attention by clapping my hands or raising my voice to let them know to pay attention, but I didn’t want to step on Christina’s ground, so I just let her handle it the way she wants to. When I teach, I’ll be sure the students know that they can’t goof off like they when Christina is teaching. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to be like some mean dictator up at the front of the classroom, but I’ll make sure the students are paying attention to me and not (a) falling asleep (b) talking to their neighbor or (c) drawing on the table. That’s just unacceptable, and I’ll let them know in a very kind, yet firm way, hah.
The school cafeteria is apparently still not finished, so one of Anne’s coworkers ordered in food for the rest of 5th grade teachers (Anne is a 5th grade teacher, so she (and therefore I) eat with them). They had ordered some bibimbap and some other soups, and it was all going fine until Ryan (the other guy who helped move me in when I first got into Incheon) to me that I “have to give him 4,500 won”. He told me this in front of the rest of the 5th grade teachers, and caught me really off guard and made me feel super awkward. Also, everything that I’ve read and even heard about at the EPIK orientation led me to believe that if I were eating out with my co-teacher/colleagues, they would ALWAYS pay for it because that’s Korean culture. WRONG! I didn’t know how to react to it. And then Ryan proceeded to ask me if I were rich. WTF? He also told me that 4500 won isn’t much for lunch, insinuating it wasn’t much for me. I did not appreciate any of his comments today at lunch. And this is after I gave him a Carolina Nike hat for helping me move in, when I was explicitly told that presents aren’t necessary. I’m starting to feel like my colleagues are trying to take advantage of me a little bit, so I have my guard up when I’m around them.
The afternoon is once again spent on my computer doing nothing really. I don’t have my own computer at school yet, which means if I want to use the internet at school, I have to share it with Anne. Apparently, I’m getting my own computer on Thursday, thank god. Anne said it won’t be new, so I wonder just how old it will be. It better not be some shitty, slow computer.
We are allowed to leave the school at 4:40 every day, so Anne and I left then to go to shopping with the government’s money! Yay! The government has given every co-teacher 2 million won to spend on their guest English teachers in order to help us settle into our new apartments. Anne had apparently spent only half of it already, so we have about 1 million won to spend on “apartment things.” We head to a furniture store, a buy a red dresser/coffee table type of thing, and then a new flat-screen 29 in TV. That cost about 350,000 won. We then head over to Lotte Mart to buy some other things, and by the end of the day, I still have around 150,000 won to spend. So I have to think of what else I want for my apartment, because I don’t want that money to go to waste! I still need to get curtains because the ones I wanted were out of stock, and the only other ones were god-ugly. We bought a fan, but I can’t figure out how to assemble it, so it’s currently just sitting in parts in a corner of my apartment. Woops. You guys know how I am with putting things together…
Head out to dinner with Stephen and a girl named Sophia from Texas. We go to a restaurant called “Party”. I’m sure we’ll go back there soon, and I’ll be sure to take pictures next time. We all had the “pasta set”, and it wasn’t bad at all. Nice surprise for sure. And the total bill for all three of us was like 18,000 won, which is like $15. It was insane because it was a pretty nice restaurant…I guess that’s Asia for you.
I then head to a PC Bang to check email/facebook, catch up with some people, thank god, and then head back home around 10 or so. I’m not tired, so I actually cook for myself! And I took pictures of I what I cooked. I was so impressed with myself, haha. I made eggs and toast! And it was yummy. I then put on some “How I Met Your Mother”, hopped into bed, and eventually fell asleep.
First day in the classroom! this is what i travelled half-way across the world for!
First day in the classroom:
Monday August 31st:
I set my alarm for 6:30 am, knowing that I should be out the door by the latest 8 am. I don’t get out of bed until 6:45, then I stumble around for a bit. I forget that I have to turn on the water heater in order to have hot water in the shower, so I push that button as soon as I remembered that needed to be done, hah. I guess I always took having hot water for granted. Never again.
I take a shower in my Korean-style bathroom, shave (of course), then decided to wear just khakis and my carolina-blue dress shirt and red and blue tie. I definitely felt like I was dressing the part of a teacher. I gather everything together that I thought I’d need for the first day of class, head out of my apartment a little before 8, stop at 7-11 to grab my starbucks double-shot espresso, and then walk underground. The underground mall at bupyeong is literally just one huge maze, and I have absolutely no idea how people know where exactly they’re walking to. Luckily, I just have to follow signs that say “subway”, but of course I chose to turn at the wrong “subway” sign, hah. Instead of turning at the Seoul subway line, I turned at the Incheon one, and then I wonder around a bit and I realize I’m not in the spot I need to be at. I then ask one of the employees, “Seoul?”, and he points me in the right direction, thank god.
I wait for like 5 minutes before the train comes, I hop in with the hundreds of other Koreans heading to work, and just listen to my music. Luckily, my school is only one stop away, which translates into like a 3 minute subway ride. Not bad at all. I get off, head to the exit 1, and walk towards my school! Nerves are sky-high by now, because I have no idea what to expect. Of course, I get to school wayyy early (even earlier before my co-teacher got there), so I hang around outside. There, a bunch of Korean students are smiling at me and saying “hi, how are you”…I immediately fall in love with it. I give them all high-fives before heading upstairs to the English classroom to meet my co-teacher, Anne, who has finally arrived by like 8:50.
I meet my other co-teacher Christina (or I think that’s her name!). I think I got lucky having only two co-teachers, because I’ve heard of other people having like 6-8 co-teachers, which would make things much more complicated logistically. Christina’s English is just like Anne’s, very broken and basic, but we can at least communicate on a low-level. Communicating effectively and efficiently is going to be the hardest thing this year I think.
Anyways, Anne then tells me we have to go meet the principal, and I about shat my pants. We walked into his office, and stereotypically it was furnished in the nicest furniture and TVs and pictures. He gets up from his desk, doesn’t really smile at first, I bow and say “anyong ha-seyo”, bow again, and then he sticks out his hand to shake mine. We shake for a good 20 seconds, while just muttering broken Korean/English at each other and smiling. Very awkward moment, haha. Eventually, I think I broke the principal’s tough façade, because he finally starting smiling and laughing with me, and he tried out his English which was nice.
He then went on the school comm system which includes video to every classroom, and proceeded to award certain students for certain things (today was the first day of second semester for Koreans, so it was only a half-day for the students). After a lot of awards, I get a nudge from Anne saying it’s my turn. I walk into the room next to us, and find a fucking camera broadcasting everything to the whole school. I was not prepared for this to be video taped!! So after the principal says “Davis James Hunt” in his Korean accent, I step up to the podium and give my little welcome speech. I could see myself on the screen, and all I remember is me like smiling so much and thinking this can’t really be happening. It was a little surreal.
I somehow end after like 3 minutes of just spewing out words and thank you’s, and everyone is so happy with me. Remember, I’m the first native English teacher this school has had, so they don’t know what to expect from me either. However, I feel like I’m doing a really good job at representing myself, my family, and the US. I’ve made a huge concerted effort at making friends with all my colleagues and getting to know them and show them respect, and I think it’s already paying dividends. I’ve been invited to go into Seoul with Anne, and I think I have an invitation to go to some big temple in Seoul with one other English teacher and her husband.
Anyways, after my speech, Anne and I head back to our English room and we basically do nothing until lunch, no lie. I was invited to go out to lunch with Anne and the 4 other 5th grade teachers (Ryan, Amy, Rocky, and some other girl who I never got her name). We had some sort of soup/noodle/beef/fried rice meal which was very good. I don’t think Anne understands that I like spicy food though, because she ordered not spicy for me and her, and the rest of the table got theirs spicy. I’ll have to work on that, hah.
Side note, my school is not well-off apparently, and Ryan likes to make that known to me, and it makes me feel really awkward. I don’t think he’s trying to make me feel bad or make me feel obligated to do more/other things, but he’s reminded me at least 3 times now that these kids are low on the social ladder and don’t have much money.
After lunch, just hang out on my computer, show Anne pictures, put together a slideshow for tomorrow…
Meet other EPIK people at 6:30 at lotte mart
Jo’s friend takes us to a cool Korean restaurant in some alley-way, can’t get Stephen there…
Hang out with Stephen.
I put in laundry before heading out for a bit, and when I got back, I saw where some blue of I think my bluejeans bleed into some of my favorite shirts. I was about to shit my pants, but then I decided to remove everything that was blue in the laundry, and run the clothes through just water again. Genius idea! The blue was gone from the shirts, and all was right with the world. I really want to find a person to do my laundry for me though, because I hate not having a dryer and I don’t want to have to worry about clothes bleeding and other shit because I’m not used to Korean washing machines. Ehhh…
Monday August 31st:
I set my alarm for 6:30 am, knowing that I should be out the door by the latest 8 am. I don’t get out of bed until 6:45, then I stumble around for a bit. I forget that I have to turn on the water heater in order to have hot water in the shower, so I push that button as soon as I remembered that needed to be done, hah. I guess I always took having hot water for granted. Never again.
I take a shower in my Korean-style bathroom, shave (of course), then decided to wear just khakis and my carolina-blue dress shirt and red and blue tie. I definitely felt like I was dressing the part of a teacher. I gather everything together that I thought I’d need for the first day of class, head out of my apartment a little before 8, stop at 7-11 to grab my starbucks double-shot espresso, and then walk underground. The underground mall at bupyeong is literally just one huge maze, and I have absolutely no idea how people know where exactly they’re walking to. Luckily, I just have to follow signs that say “subway”, but of course I chose to turn at the wrong “subway” sign, hah. Instead of turning at the Seoul subway line, I turned at the Incheon one, and then I wonder around a bit and I realize I’m not in the spot I need to be at. I then ask one of the employees, “Seoul?”, and he points me in the right direction, thank god.
I wait for like 5 minutes before the train comes, I hop in with the hundreds of other Koreans heading to work, and just listen to my music. Luckily, my school is only one stop away, which translates into like a 3 minute subway ride. Not bad at all. I get off, head to the exit 1, and walk towards my school! Nerves are sky-high by now, because I have no idea what to expect. Of course, I get to school wayyy early (even earlier before my co-teacher got there), so I hang around outside. There, a bunch of Korean students are smiling at me and saying “hi, how are you”…I immediately fall in love with it. I give them all high-fives before heading upstairs to the English classroom to meet my co-teacher, Anne, who has finally arrived by like 8:50.
I meet my other co-teacher Christina (or I think that’s her name!). I think I got lucky having only two co-teachers, because I’ve heard of other people having like 6-8 co-teachers, which would make things much more complicated logistically. Christina’s English is just like Anne’s, very broken and basic, but we can at least communicate on a low-level. Communicating effectively and efficiently is going to be the hardest thing this year I think.
Anyways, Anne then tells me we have to go meet the principal, and I about shat my pants. We walked into his office, and stereotypically it was furnished in the nicest furniture and TVs and pictures. He gets up from his desk, doesn’t really smile at first, I bow and say “anyong ha-seyo”, bow again, and then he sticks out his hand to shake mine. We shake for a good 20 seconds, while just muttering broken Korean/English at each other and smiling. Very awkward moment, haha. Eventually, I think I broke the principal’s tough façade, because he finally starting smiling and laughing with me, and he tried out his English which was nice.
He then went on the school comm system which includes video to every classroom, and proceeded to award certain students for certain things (today was the first day of second semester for Koreans, so it was only a half-day for the students). After a lot of awards, I get a nudge from Anne saying it’s my turn. I walk into the room next to us, and find a fucking camera broadcasting everything to the whole school. I was not prepared for this to be video taped!! So after the principal says “Davis James Hunt” in his Korean accent, I step up to the podium and give my little welcome speech. I could see myself on the screen, and all I remember is me like smiling so much and thinking this can’t really be happening. It was a little surreal.
I somehow end after like 3 minutes of just spewing out words and thank you’s, and everyone is so happy with me. Remember, I’m the first native English teacher this school has had, so they don’t know what to expect from me either. However, I feel like I’m doing a really good job at representing myself, my family, and the US. I’ve made a huge concerted effort at making friends with all my colleagues and getting to know them and show them respect, and I think it’s already paying dividends. I’ve been invited to go into Seoul with Anne, and I think I have an invitation to go to some big temple in Seoul with one other English teacher and her husband.
Anyways, after my speech, Anne and I head back to our English room and we basically do nothing until lunch, no lie. I was invited to go out to lunch with Anne and the 4 other 5th grade teachers (Ryan, Amy, Rocky, and some other girl who I never got her name). We had some sort of soup/noodle/beef/fried rice meal which was very good. I don’t think Anne understands that I like spicy food though, because she ordered not spicy for me and her, and the rest of the table got theirs spicy. I’ll have to work on that, hah.
Side note, my school is not well-off apparently, and Ryan likes to make that known to me, and it makes me feel really awkward. I don’t think he’s trying to make me feel bad or make me feel obligated to do more/other things, but he’s reminded me at least 3 times now that these kids are low on the social ladder and don’t have much money.
After lunch, just hang out on my computer, show Anne pictures, put together a slideshow for tomorrow…
Meet other EPIK people at 6:30 at lotte mart
Jo’s friend takes us to a cool Korean restaurant in some alley-way, can’t get Stephen there…
Hang out with Stephen.
I put in laundry before heading out for a bit, and when I got back, I saw where some blue of I think my bluejeans bleed into some of my favorite shirts. I was about to shit my pants, but then I decided to remove everything that was blue in the laundry, and run the clothes through just water again. Genius idea! The blue was gone from the shirts, and all was right with the world. I really want to find a person to do my laundry for me though, because I hate not having a dryer and I don’t want to have to worry about clothes bleeding and other shit because I’m not used to Korean washing machines. Ehhh…
First full day in Incheon, and it was pretty useless, hah
Sunday August 30th,
Pretty uneventful. Stephen, a girl named Heyin and I grabbed brunch at a food court in the basement of lotte mart. Luckily, Heyin speaks Korean, so she ordered all of us some really tasty and spicy meals. Then, we tried to meet up with some other people to watch a movie, but that became a huge debacle and we ended up playing in an arcade for like an hour or two. Then, we work our way out to the street, where we proceed to do nothing. I just get a little bored with everyone so I decided to walk the 7 minutes back to my apartment and took a nap.
For dinner, I met up with Stephen, Becca (girl from VA), Julian and Del and we all went to Pizza Hut. Yup, we went to Pizza Hut. Unfortunately, the pizza sent my stomach into like a state of shock, and I was only able to eat one piece before I started to feel sick.
After dinner, Stephen and I decide to play some pool, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I played, hah. I think it’s all the hours playing pool on Wii. I knew it’d come in handy some day…I called it a night around 11 or so I think because tomorrow is my first day of class and I want to make a good first impression!
Pretty uneventful. Stephen, a girl named Heyin and I grabbed brunch at a food court in the basement of lotte mart. Luckily, Heyin speaks Korean, so she ordered all of us some really tasty and spicy meals. Then, we tried to meet up with some other people to watch a movie, but that became a huge debacle and we ended up playing in an arcade for like an hour or two. Then, we work our way out to the street, where we proceed to do nothing. I just get a little bored with everyone so I decided to walk the 7 minutes back to my apartment and took a nap.
For dinner, I met up with Stephen, Becca (girl from VA), Julian and Del and we all went to Pizza Hut. Yup, we went to Pizza Hut. Unfortunately, the pizza sent my stomach into like a state of shock, and I was only able to eat one piece before I started to feel sick.
After dinner, Stephen and I decide to play some pool, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I played, hah. I think it’s all the hours playing pool on Wii. I knew it’d come in handy some day…I called it a night around 11 or so I think because tomorrow is my first day of class and I want to make a good first impression!
Goodbye Jeonju, Hello Incheon!
Saturday August 29th,
So after Ryan and Anne drop me off at my apartment after taking me to Lotte Mart and buying some initial things for the apartment, I was overcome with severe home-sickness and a horrible feeling of loneliness. It was not pretty at all. I didn’t know where I was in the city, I didn’t know where any of my friends were in the city, and I didn’t have internet or TV in my apartment. So I crawl into bed at like 8, turn on some music, and try to fall asleep as fast as I could. Of course, when you want to sleep the most, you can’t, and I ended up just laying in bed for a good couple of hours, just miserable.
I wake up the next morning to the early sun and even earlier construction workers. I have the shittiest view in all of Incheon I think. Literally, right outside my one lonely window, are construction workers working on another apartment building. When that building is done, I will have a wonderful view of whoever’s window it may be. Thanks Anne co-teacher for setting me up with such a nice apartment.
I get up, walk to a starbucks, try to use my starbucks gift card, but the employees tell me they only accept the Korean version of the gift card. Are you serious? And of course they have some weird wireless network there (not the same as the ones back home), and neither I nor the employees knew how to connect to it. Great.
I then just walk around a bit and try my luck at a PC Bang that looks somewhat decent. I had never been to one before, so I didn’t know what the proper protocol is. You’re supposed to just grab a card at the front desk that has a code on it, and type that code in at the computer you chose. However, I didn’t know that. So I try talking with the owner, asking if I can just use the internet. He doesn’t know the word “internet” so finally I said “email” and he recognized that. Phew. Thank god for internet, facebook and gmail. It was so nice to get back in touch with people back home because I really needed it big time.
The rest of the day is kind of a blur. All I really know is that I made about 4 different trips to the Lotte Mart to pick up random items that I realized I didn’t have but needed.
Then, by the grace of god (hah), someone sent me a text message saying that some EPIK people were getting together for dinner and drinks. I didn’t think twice about saying yes. We end up going to a Korean bbq restaurant really close to my apartment, and we ordered so much meat and soju and beer that we were all a little drunk by like 7 pm. I’ve learned to really enjoy the local alcoholic drinks here (mainly soju and hite/cass beer). Soju sells for literally 1000 won in grocery stores, which probably means my liver will hate me after this experience. But whatever.
After dinner, we wonder around the general area, and find so many different bars and clubs. We try a few out, keep ordering beer and soju and the like. Funny story though, we end up at Bennigan’s. Seriously?!? Bennigan’s. I couldn’t believe it, but I wasn’t going to say anything because that was the place the majority of the group could settle on. Whatever. I think we call it a night by 12:00
So after Ryan and Anne drop me off at my apartment after taking me to Lotte Mart and buying some initial things for the apartment, I was overcome with severe home-sickness and a horrible feeling of loneliness. It was not pretty at all. I didn’t know where I was in the city, I didn’t know where any of my friends were in the city, and I didn’t have internet or TV in my apartment. So I crawl into bed at like 8, turn on some music, and try to fall asleep as fast as I could. Of course, when you want to sleep the most, you can’t, and I ended up just laying in bed for a good couple of hours, just miserable.
I wake up the next morning to the early sun and even earlier construction workers. I have the shittiest view in all of Incheon I think. Literally, right outside my one lonely window, are construction workers working on another apartment building. When that building is done, I will have a wonderful view of whoever’s window it may be. Thanks Anne co-teacher for setting me up with such a nice apartment.
I get up, walk to a starbucks, try to use my starbucks gift card, but the employees tell me they only accept the Korean version of the gift card. Are you serious? And of course they have some weird wireless network there (not the same as the ones back home), and neither I nor the employees knew how to connect to it. Great.
I then just walk around a bit and try my luck at a PC Bang that looks somewhat decent. I had never been to one before, so I didn’t know what the proper protocol is. You’re supposed to just grab a card at the front desk that has a code on it, and type that code in at the computer you chose. However, I didn’t know that. So I try talking with the owner, asking if I can just use the internet. He doesn’t know the word “internet” so finally I said “email” and he recognized that. Phew. Thank god for internet, facebook and gmail. It was so nice to get back in touch with people back home because I really needed it big time.
The rest of the day is kind of a blur. All I really know is that I made about 4 different trips to the Lotte Mart to pick up random items that I realized I didn’t have but needed.
Then, by the grace of god (hah), someone sent me a text message saying that some EPIK people were getting together for dinner and drinks. I didn’t think twice about saying yes. We end up going to a Korean bbq restaurant really close to my apartment, and we ordered so much meat and soju and beer that we were all a little drunk by like 7 pm. I’ve learned to really enjoy the local alcoholic drinks here (mainly soju and hite/cass beer). Soju sells for literally 1000 won in grocery stores, which probably means my liver will hate me after this experience. But whatever.
After dinner, we wonder around the general area, and find so many different bars and clubs. We try a few out, keep ordering beer and soju and the like. Funny story though, we end up at Bennigan’s. Seriously?!? Bennigan’s. I couldn’t believe it, but I wasn’t going to say anything because that was the place the majority of the group could settle on. Whatever. I think we call it a night by 12:00
Rest of August 20th
· Our Encounter with a Crazed Taxi Driver in downtown Jeonju
August 21:
· No eating after midnight
· Medical checkup at 10 am
o Height ,weight, eye sight, hearing, color blind test, blood pressure (high?), blood, urine (disgusting), xray (bus)
· Class meeting at 2
o Set up bank account!
o Purchased a phone/plan!
§ Details
· 13,000 won basic fee
· 20 won per text message
· 18 won per 10 seconds if call
· Free incoming calls
· Tax is 10% of total bill
· Dinner…
· Watching “Eastbound and Down” with Jessica and Steve, hah.
· Sleep!
August 22:
· LECTURES!
· 4 lectures, each lasting 1.5 hours
o Elementary education
o Teaching listening
o Classroom management
o History/culture
· Nap…
· Our Encounter with a Crazed Taxi Driver in downtown Jeonju
August 21:
· No eating after midnight
· Medical checkup at 10 am
o Height ,weight, eye sight, hearing, color blind test, blood pressure (high?), blood, urine (disgusting), xray (bus)
· Class meeting at 2
o Set up bank account!
o Purchased a phone/plan!
§ Details
· 13,000 won basic fee
· 20 won per text message
· 18 won per 10 seconds if call
· Free incoming calls
· Tax is 10% of total bill
· Dinner…
· Watching “Eastbound and Down” with Jessica and Steve, hah.
· Sleep!
August 22:
· LECTURES!
· 4 lectures, each lasting 1.5 hours
o Elementary education
o Teaching listening
o Classroom management
o History/culture
· Nap…
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Settling in
August 20, 2009
Fighting jet lag is a bitch. I did end up falling asleep around 6 last night, and then proceeded to wake up around 1 am, thinking it was like 8 am. Boy was I surprised to see that it was only 1. Luckily, I was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours, but then got up again around 4, and from that point on, it was a struggle to sleep. I finally gave in and got up around 6:30 or so. It stayed pretty light outside the entire night, which was really strange and kind of annoying.
Anyways, I forgot my toothbrush in one of the bags that I had to leave in storage, so I went down to the 7-11 (yes, the quickie mart store thing), and bought myself a toothbrush! Breakfast was at 7:30 on the third floor of our building, so roommie (Arem) and I went up a little after that only to discover that a lot of people had beaten us to it, haha. The “cafeteria” is extremely nice and brand new, and the food was actually pretty good. Everything seems to be served buffet-style, and we can just pick and chose what we want to eat. Yes, they had kimchi for breakfast, and yes, I did try a little. I can’t remember what else I had for breakfast, but they did have some cereal, but NO, I did NOT have it!
After breakfast, we had some free time until 10, which is when our “campus tour” was. The “tour” consisted of an EPIK employee walking us around to building we had already been to and seen. The tour went like this: “this is the Art Building. This is where you will have welcome ceremony later today. Let’s go to next building.” I mean, I guess it was kind of nice because now I really know my way around the small campus, but it was also really hot and humid (already at 10 am), so by the end of the 30 minute tour, we were all drenched and a little annoyed.
We had free time from 10:30 til 12:30’ish, in which time I was able to go get some things out of my stored luggage and check the internet. Lunch was at 12:30, and it was very very good. Had some pork cutlets (they’re called “tongasa” maybe??), some beef, some KIMCHI, some rice and some potato and broccoli sate or some crap. I’ve been very happy with the “cafeteria” food so far, thank goodness. I had lunch with my friend Jessica, and two guys named Jon and Steven. Jon actually graduated from NC State, haha. And Steven graduated from Berkeley. Steven will actually teach in Incheon too, so it’s good to get to know someone who will be in the same general areas as me. We’re all headed over to our welcome ceremony together soon. This ceremony is going to last a few hours, and we’re all expecting to sleep a little through it, haha. That’s exactly what you want to hear, isn’t mom and dad? I’m just kidding though, we of course won’t sleep through it! Anyways, I need to head down to the lobby to meet them, so I’ll get back to this later.
Just got back from the welcome ceremony and welcome dinner. The ceremony started off with some traditional Korean art/entertainment, which consisted of a professional 5-drum group, a Korean “opera” singer, and then a fan dance. The drum group was amazing, and because we were sitting in the front row, I was able to get some pretty good video of them performing. They played for probably close to 10 minutes, and we were all amazed at how together and in-sync they were. It was truly remarkable. The next two performances were by current EPIK staff, that was pretty neat to see.
After the performances, we were lectured…nothing really interesting there. We just learned about some cultural differences and what to kind of expect as a GET. I won’t bore you with his lectures.
After that, we all walked/ran to the welcome dinner. Unfortunately, as we were walking there, we had a sudden torrential downpour, and we got stuck right in the middle of it without jackets or umbrellas. Oh well, hah. The dinner itself was pretty good. Tons of food. I mean TONS OF FOOD! It was insane. And it was all good. I even tried sushi grade swordfish (I’m 99% sure that means the fish was raw). Have yet to try any local fruits, and I don’t think I ever will, hah. I had a lot more sushi, kielbasa (yes mom, they have KIELBASA here!!), spare ribs, and more yummy stuff. I’ve definitely eaten well here so far, so I can’t complain on that front.
After dinner, we have the night off, so the friends that I’ve made are all going to go out and explore what the night-life is like here in small Jeonju. Apparently there’s a karaoke bar, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit that up sometime tonight. We’ll see…
We have the medical checkup tomorrow morning (my group is at 10 AM), and apparently we can’t even drink water after midnight…Hopefully I’m not too dehydrated and pass out when they’re taking my blood tomorrow, haha. Okay, well that’s it for now I guess. I love you all, and I hope you’re enjoying reading some of what I’m going through right now. I still don’t have internet in my room, but we’ve found a computer room that has way more computers than the dorm lobby, so I don’t to wait in-line to use the internet anymore. Now if I could just find a way to post this damn blog from my laptop! Oh well…love and miss you all.
Today, I began yet another journey in my life when I boarded the plane leaving Charlotte outbound to Seoul by way of Chicago. I knew this moment was coming, but was totally unprepared to deal with it when the time actually came, and I had to say goodbye to my family in Charlotte. I felt such a harsh and sudden realization that I won’t see them again until the earliest January, let alone trying to communicate with them on somewhat of a regular basis so that we can both keep up with each others’ lives. I’m not sure exactly how I managed to do this while studying in Bangkok, or maybe that’s the point and I didn’t keep up with peoples’ lives, but I knowing that I can’t simply call down to mom or call Alli on her cell was and is heartbreaking. I kind of always thought that spending so much time with my family would make me want to leave them more (just because we can at times get under each others’ skin, Graham), but that was totally not the case at all. I think I’ve come to realize that my family is much more important to me than I thought for various reasons, and I miss you all incredibly already, and it’s only been a day L
With all this sentiment aside (sorry, but I had to get it out of the way and out of my system), let’s look at my journey so far! After a delicious last dinner at Cantina with Mom, Dad, Graham and Leah and Erich, we drove to the airport for the inevitable. Luckily, when I checked in at the US Airways counter, they did not charge me for overweight luggage! A smile really does go a long way ;) So after tearful last goodbyes and hugs, I went through security and said goodbye to everything I’ve lived and loved for the past however many years. My flight to Chicago was on time and not full, which left me hopeful that my next flight to Seoul would not be full either. However, once I landed in Chicago and made it almost all the way through security, some airport worker told me that I had to have an Asiana ticket, not a ticket that US Airways had printed for me back in Charlotte. Frustrated, I went back to the counter, was informed that I have a middle seat, and that the flight is overbooked. Sweet. I get a middle seat for a 14+ hour plane ride. I was not a happy camper.
So I board, and I see an older Asian woman sitting in the window seat, I don’t know if she speaks English or not so I politely do a little bow and mutter “hi.” Turns out she is Filipino and speaks perfect English, haha. I sandwiched between her and a young Korean guy who was nice and polite when I had to get up and walk around and stretch. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much sleep on the flight at all because the Filipino likes to talk, A LOT. We talked about death, about being happy and content, about her coming to the States for nursing school and working in the ER, about cultural differences and unique experiences we’ve both had living abroad. But the constant need to bring up the fact that death is inevitable and that she would be happy if she were to die right now was not needed! She had some really good insight and advice to give, but she was definitely a little in left field with a bunch of her ideologies. But it was very interesting, and sometimes exhausting, to talk with her. While she was asleep, I was probably watching “17 Again” for the third or fourth time (I can only take so much of Zach Effron playing basketball in yet another movie…), or dozing off for periods of about 20 minutes. All in all, I probably got about 2 hours of sleep the entire trip over, which is not what I wanted!
We land in Seoul around 4:30 am, step off the plane, and have our temperatures taken by security. They are scared shitless about the swine flu over here, it’s a bit ridiculous. Anyways, I then make it to the baggage claim area, where I see people similar to me, and I think to myself, they must be with EPIK too, and sure enough, they were! So we do the weird introducing ourselves, and we all realize we’re all in similar situations, so we can all relate to each other on some level. We all grab our baggage, go exchange our money, go through customs, and then go find our gate where the EPIK bus would take us to Jeonju (where the orientation is). Unfortunately, no one from EPIK showed up for about 2 or so hours after we go to that gate, so there was a bunch of sitting around, socializing, and wanting to be back home with my family.
I somehow make it onto the first bus to go to Jeonju, and I make friends with some people on the bus, thank god. One girl in particular is really cool (I automatically knew we’d get along because she has a few tattoos, and you know…). Her name is Jessica and is from the Midwest and I think went to Purdue. She’s actually half-Korean, so she can speak a little Korean which is cool. And she’s very sarcastic, which is perfect for me. And then there’s another girl Jessica who’s doing this for a second year, a girl named Liz who went to University of Chicago and was a finalist for the Fulbright, and a guy named Ian from the Midwest too. No southerners L . I’m determined to teach my students “ya’ll” though, haha.
We finally make it to Jeonju University after like 4 hours in the bus, we check-in some luggage, do a quick little registration, eat lunch, and see our dorm room. Our room is extremely nice and brand new and I love it. I’m rooming with a Canadian named Arem (spelling?!?!) who is Korean. He’s an interesting guy—who flat out asked me certain questions that I wasn’t really prepared or expected to answer, hah. He also pronounced “epitome” in the strangest way possible, and I had to hold back from laughing at him in his face. It was bad.
So anyways, no real culture shock yet at all…the food at lunch was extremely spicy and eating with metal chopsticks is infinitely more difficult than wood ones. We’re not sure what we had at lunch, but we did have some kimchi and I can tell you it wasn’t half bad! I took a picture of it for you guys back home!
Tomorrow we have a campus tour, and then a big welcoming ceremony and dinner. Until then, I’m skipping dinner and just staying in the room because I’m starting to get very tired and I’m sure I’m about to pass out soon, at 6:00 pm. Not cool. So that’s that. I love you all, and I hope you’re all doing great. ‘til next time…
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Bought my plane ticket!
After following the prices of plane tickets for a few weeks now, and watching them steadily increase ( :-\ ), I finally decided to pull the plug and actually purchase MY ticket! When I first started looking at them, I thought it'd be fun to spend a few days in Bangkok before heading to Seoul for orientation, and I found a very reasonable price for that ticket, BUT for some reason I decided to wait in hopes that the price would decline even more. WRONG! The very next day, the price jumped like $200, and out went that idea. Oh well...
So now, I'm leaving August 17 at 10:00 pm from Charlotte. I fly to Chicago, and leave there at 1:00 am on the 18th, and get into Seoul at 5:00 am on the 19th. Just a mere 14 hour flight, no big deal, hah. I've never had any trouble with the trans-Pacific flights, and I expect this time to be no different. I'll sleep a lot, do a few sudokus, read the guide book, maybe learn a little Korean, and watch a few movies...could be worse.
In the meantime, I'm almost done studying for the GMAT which I take TOMORROW, Aug 5! I'm ready for it to be over and to have a score that I can report to grad schools. Hopefully it's a score that I can be proud of, but I've heard of people taking the GMAT like 4-5 times...YIKES. I just gotta give it a go and see how I do and then go from there. The ball is rolling...
So now, I'm leaving August 17 at 10:00 pm from Charlotte. I fly to Chicago, and leave there at 1:00 am on the 18th, and get into Seoul at 5:00 am on the 19th. Just a mere 14 hour flight, no big deal, hah. I've never had any trouble with the trans-Pacific flights, and I expect this time to be no different. I'll sleep a lot, do a few sudokus, read the guide book, maybe learn a little Korean, and watch a few movies...could be worse.
In the meantime, I'm almost done studying for the GMAT which I take TOMORROW, Aug 5! I'm ready for it to be over and to have a score that I can report to grad schools. Hopefully it's a score that I can be proud of, but I've heard of people taking the GMAT like 4-5 times...YIKES. I just gotta give it a go and see how I do and then go from there. The ball is rolling...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The long-awaited decision...
As I'm sitting here on the deck of the house at Bald Head Island (BHI), taking in the unobstructed views of the ocean, dunes and learning the true meaning of a "relaxing vacation", I've decided to attempt my second blog, this time of a little different nature though.
For all those "in-the-know", forgive this quick recap of my life the past few months. I just graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a major in business administration (concentrations in finance and international business) on May 10 (mother's day!). My whole family was able to come up to Chapel Hill (minus Alli :( ) and we were all able to celebrate my past four years at Carolina. I really never thought that I'd grow to love Carolina as much as I did, but having lived in Chapel Hill for almost 4 years, you can't help but fall in love with the small-town feel and amazing atmosophere associated with the basketball power-house school that is Carolina. I look forward to the day that I step back onto campus (whether it be as a grad student or as a devout and supportive fan and advocate of Carolina). Anyways, I graduated, without a job, much to the surprise of my family and more of a suprirse to me. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would graduate from college without a job (especially having done pretty well in school...), but alas, there I was, an unemployed college graduate. So what did I get to do upon graduation? You guessed right--I moved back HOME! And while I can't complain in the least at living at home in Charlotte with my amazing mom and dad and sometimes unappreciative younger brother, and being close to my friends and having ample time to do basically whatever I want, being unemployed sucks! So here's what I did...
When push came to shove and I realized that I couldnt' live at home forever, I found an Americorps program called City Year. It's basically a year of service (typically in an inner city) where you get paid a very meager weekly stipend. I applied and was accepted to City Year New York (I chose NY because it's always been a dream of mine to live and work in NYC for a multitude of reasons, and I felt this would be a great opportunity to do so.) If you're interested, check out the CY website (http://www.cityyear.org/index_ektid13309.aspx or http://cityyearnewyork.blogspot.com/). At the same time that I was pursuing this option however, I was also exploring going back to Asia and working over there.
Everyone knows that there's a pretty big demand for native English teachers in Asia since most Asian countries are putting a premium on English education. I did some research, and found a government run program in Korea (that's SOUTH Korea) called EPIK (English Program in Korea--very creative, I know). It's sort of modeled after the JET Program in Japan which has been a huge success. (Un)fortunately because I started looking into this option so late (teaching English abroad), I missed out on certain deadlines and was only able to find this program in Korea was still accepting applications. Of course, I could have pursued teaching in a private school in Asia or a language institute, but I am much more interested in working in a public school and interacting with the students in that type of setting. Regardless, it was a pretty long and drawn-out process with a lot of paperwork, but I was accepted into the EPIK program and actually got my first location choice (well, my first choice was really Busan, but all the positions were already filled by the time I was applying, so my next choice was Incheon which is right outside of Seoul). A few weeks ago, I got my contract for teaching in the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education, I read it through carefully, was very pleased with it.
So I basically had two options to chose from: giving a year of my life to service in NYC (East New York, Brooklyn to be exact) or teaching English in Incheon. Two options that I really never thought that I'd have to chose between, but two that I had found for myself and were interested in. After careful consideration and lots of talks with mom and dad and other friends about it (thank you to all who have given me input and insight into this decision), I finally made up my mind a few days ago. I will be teaching English in a public school in Incheon starting in mid-August, and I could not be more happy and excited about it. Having traveled to Asia two times before (once with Lovell to China and Tibet [thank you, again], and once when I studied abroad in Bangkok, Thailand) I realized that I have an affinity for Asian cultures and people (as well as travel). I absolutely love being completely out of my "comfort zone" (I'm learning I don't really have a comfort zone, or mine is very large in some respects) and I love learning about different ways to live a happy life. We get so easily caught up in the materialistic things here in the US, and I find a respite in the more simple way of life over there. Some hate it, some find it too much, some can't deal with it, but for me, it offers a chance to continue to grow as a person and further my personal aspirations. And while this is not what neither I nor my family had really envisioned me doing after graduating from Kenan-Flagler Business School, we all realize that I am still very young and have the rest of my life ahead of me to develop a more professional career upon my return to the States.
So this blog will attempt to accurately protray my experiences teaching English to a bunch of young Korean students. I'm sure it won't be the easiest thing in the world, but I'm sure as hell that it'll be rewarding for a lot of reasons. I can't wait to touch ground in Korea (one of the countries I have NOT yet been to over there) and experience first-hand all that it has to offer, from the craziness that is Seoul to the amazing mountains and remote islands. I'm ready to hit the floor running!
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