I got my ARC a couple days ago. It is hilarious to compare it to my drivers license. My face looks noticeably older, probably from dealing with teenagers for the last five years. My beard is magnificent, if I do say so myself, as compared to the days when I could barely grow one at all. It's a pretty nifty looking card, all holographic and stuff. Before we go any further though, you know the drill, we need to get you a K-pop fix. This one is distinctly saturated with waygook culture. You can see the non Koreans all over the club and even the feel of the song is a little more hip-hop styled. Notice the choreographed dance moves. Gotta love it. Bust some of those out next time you go dancing.
Anyway, as my English friend Graham would say, I "got my phone sorted" the other day after school. My co-teacher has been totally awesome with this stuff. He got in there and negotiated the deal for me at about 5:30 and it took till 6:30. He is part of a carpool and had to make them wait. Also he helped me pay the initial 20,000 won payment because I had no money. It turns out phones are way cheaper over here, same with phone plans. The one I have is pretty awesome. Hopefully I can bring it back and use it in America. We will see. Maybe I'll never come back ;)
My friend Nate had a run in with eastern medicine the other day. He twisted his ankle or something, doesn't actually know what he did to it, but he went to a medicinal clinic and they guy put needles in his ankle then sucked the blood out into a bulb. The next time he went the guy just jammed a needle in till it hit bone then set fire to the end with a barbecue lighter. Kinda makes me glad that I haven't had a run in with that.
Had a much needed talk with my father last night. Wish I could have spoken to my mom also but she had left for work. This time difference makes talking on the phone kind of awkward, but it was definitely worth it to hear a familiar voice. I have a video that I want to post of my apartment, but I cant do it till I get internet at my place. It's too difficult to do it on this computer that has all the dialogue boxes in Korean.
My after school classes are ok. It's just me with a bunch of kids. No Korean co teacher to help translate for me or help me control the class, but that's not really a problem considering how good these kids are. Even when they are acting up it's just a bunch of girls looking at their own reflections while applying make up. Hardly the high school boys that you can't turn your back on without them making crude jokes. I found a document on my computer when I was looking for some lesson plans that I did that had been left by the guy who was here before me. He wrote a letter to the governor of Chungbuk tendering his resignation. First off, the governor has nothing to do with our employment. Second, if he resigned, it either happened at exactly the half year mark, or right before the end of the year. He didn't get his severance pay, and says that the reason he left was "unsatisfactory working conditions." I have to say, this school is effing awesome. I have only been here a week, but man, this place is great. Compared to teaching high school back in the states, I have never had more off time and less responsibility. My only fear is that I will get used to it and return soft to my old profession when I come back. The classroom management isn't really up to me, because I can't understand what they are saying anyway. All the things that they shouldn't be doing, like using a phone or opening an umbrella in class (someone did that yesterday) all you have to do is look at them, or point at them, and they stop. If that doesn't work I can just bring them to the PE teacher. He is quite the yeller, and I am sure that anyone in this school would be scared at the sound of his name. Right now he has some girl doing pushups next to his desk while he is brushing his teeth and speaking sternly to her. The teacher before me apparently became very upset because of an incident involving a student saying something like "yeah, If I had to take something to my dream island, I'd take your wife." but now I'm recounting a story that was recounted to me by someone who heard it form a girl who heard it from a student. So who knows what actually happened. What I do know is that if you can't handle a little sass from students, you probably shouldn't be in a position of authority over them. I mean, that insult wasn't even that creative. That being said, when I was having my major back pain, I was pretty emotionally fragile from the lack of rest/comfort. There were some days when I just couldn't make it through the whole day and had to take a half-day for fear that someone would say something mean and I would just start bawling. That was like 90 percent me and 10 percent student though, and the 90 percent me was not in a good place. Now that I am back in top form, I can't really imagine these students saying anything that would get me mad. They would be like "Teacher! Teacher! Girlfriend!" "Yes? Do you mean my girlfriend?" "Yesuh! I take your girlfrienduh!" "No no no. I would take your girlfriend. Repeat after me. I." "I uh" "would" "wooduh" "take your girlfriend" "I would take your girlfrienduh!" "Good job. Class, repeat after me, I would take your girlfriend." Teachable moment, right there. You have to take that jackasstical teenage energy and harness it, much like the mighty Fremen riding a giant sandworm on the planet Arrakis.
The food here is delicious. I have said it before and I will continue to say it. My favorite game is "whats in the soup." It's a very complex game involving soup, and trying to guess what is in it. Today was mushroom. I don't even like mushrooms and I ate a whole bunch of them. The meat dish was squid tentacle stew. I was kinda grossed out until I ate one. Then my whole rule of not eating anything with more eyes or limbs than me was immediately thrown out the window. Boy do they know how to cook squid. About once a week we get bibimbap. It is still by far my favorite. I suggest you look it up if you don't know what it is. If you know what it is and haven't tried it, you should, cause it's freaking awesome. There is always a massive portion of rice, and some kimchi, as well as other assorted side dishes. Today we had some sort of dried salted seaweed and a little thing of yogurt. It was good.
On a more personal note, it feels kind of isolated over here. I feel like friendships are drying up. I don't get to talk to my friends much, and when I do I don't really know what to talk about. Life is so different now. Perhaps my new group of friends will be just as satisfying as my old one. There is a lot of potential over here, but it's hard to buy potential a beer. There are no movie theatres here, which I find totally weird. Also the affection. It is not considered weird here to see men holding hands or hugging, or to see women holding hands. The little punches that friends gave to each other back in the states, it's like that but exponentially more intense. They sit there in class and massage each other or hold hands or whatever. This is the guys too, not even the girls. They told me the other day that they had some policy where the students in high school aren't allowed to date. Not at all. I find that kind of weird.
I was gonna finish the blog off but had to include this story. We were playing password or taboo, where one kid stands with his back to the board and tries to guess the written word while other kids describe it in english. The word on the board was "Alone" so one of the kids is standing up there with his back to it and the other students start shouting "You! You! You are this!" and then just stop shouting things. The kid then proceeds to guess "Pig. Stupid. Crazy." The class was rolling on the floor laughing. Me and the co-teacher couldn't help but laugh also. Eventually they referenced a Michael Jackson song and he got it. Guess the king of pop would be huge in a country known for K-pop. The girls class that I just taught was observed by the assistant principal. He is the same guy who invited me to dinner for early October. Lets just say I am a little intimidated and leave it at that. He is a very VERY nice guy, I am just so totally worried that I am gonna forget to take my shoes off or eat my rice with chopsticks or some other faux pas that I won't even realize I committed until his kids are laughing, his wife is crying, and I am being pushed towards the door by a red faced angry boss. Anyway, he totally observed my class and I was demonstrating how to fist bump. He sat there and watched while we changed activities to password, and he got picked by one of the students. His first word was "tired" and the kids tried explaining what it meant, but it was too difficult. I then gave him the word "moon" and he valiantly guessed sky and sun and clouds. Apparently the clue that gave it away was "star friend" and when he got it, everyone cheered. Then the funniest thing in the world happened. He turned, looked at me, and extended his fist towards me. As I fist bumped by confucian superior, he locked it up. Probably the best moment I have had yet as a teacher in Korea. On the way back from class, while I was still riding that high, a bunch of kids saw me and were like "What's up teacher? High five!" It totally made my entire week. I am going to infect this school with American culture and enthusiasm, and by the time I am done, they will all be begging to see America, and fist bump real Americans. So if you ever see a Korean who looks like he just arrived try and give you a fist bump, just be like "Jeffrey teacher? Bearded American?"
Finally I wanted to show this video. Watch it again a couple of times. It really does get funnier every time. It highlights what is wrong and right with the Korean education system. What is right is that the kids take their schooling very seriously, and the teachers do the same. What is wrong is that they are under SOOOOOOO much pressure. Some of them go to school all day, until well into the night, then at night go to a Hagwon, or "cram school" where they basically try to fit as much book learnin' in as you possibly can. Everyone wants to get into what are called "Sky" universities. Those are kind of like Ivy League universities. The funny thing really comes in this video though. That is what the difference between high school and college is. Look at a couple more of those if you can. The original one went viral and spawned a whole mess of other ones about military life, teachers lives, the usual responses.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
It's hard to use electronics without opposable thumbs.
This one is for the Dunlop crew, who is constantly encouraging me to post new stuff. Thanks ya'll. It's kinda lonely out here and I enjoy hearing that people at least think this stuff is funny. Hopefully when I come home we can have a beer and I can tell you all about it in person, till then here's some music for you to blast and jump around to. :) I was kinda feelin' the stress last night, and here's why:
I have no freedom of communication. It's not like Korea is a bunch of communists or anything, they are actually very nice and quite open and empathetic people. What is not convenient though is the fact that I do not yet have my Alien Registration Card. My ARC is needed for me to do anything, almost like a social security number in the states. In order to register for a phone, I need an ARC. In order to get cable at my apartment, I need an ARC. In order for me to get internet, I have to slaughter ten rams and walk in between them signifying what would happen to me if I was to break the pact then burn them in a holocaust to the lord. OK, so that last one was a lie inspired our biblical father Abraham, but I do actually need my ARC for internet also. I went to the immigration office my first week here and registered to have it delivered, but I still do not have it, and I am kind of hamstrung without it. Luckily we opened a bank account during orientation otherwise I would be seriously screwed in a few days when my first paycheck is supposed to hit. So communication is kind of hard. The only places I can access the internet are here at work where I do most of my blogging, and at a PC bang, where I am surrounded by a bunch of Koreans playing games that I can't even figure out how to access. So I am connected to people at work, but with a strong filter on what I can and can't see. If I haven't made plans by the time I leave, it's either Graham knocking on my door, or me alone for the rest of the night. I do obviously have the option of making the fifteen minute walk to a PC bang, but I don't really like those because they cost about five bucks for a couple hours, and they are very smokey. Apparently no smoking is just a suggestion here. Same with traffic lights, as I almost got ran over the other day while crossing the street when the little green safe to cross light was on. Dude just decided he was gonna run a red light out in front of a school as if it was goin' out of style. So beyond the random facebook chats I have with people, and the several nights out a week I have with the English teachers in my building, it is quite difficult to communicate with people. I do have a phone, and it does text message, but the cost is something exorbitant like half a dollar for one text, so I reserve those texts for family or close friends. That being said, that's about the only stress I am feeling, and I do believe I will be getting my ARC soon, so it's not like it's permanent. It will just be a lot nicer when I don't have to walk for a quarter of an hour to a smokey room where I have to pay to see if anyone left a facebook message for me.
Today in class we went through American culture and basic expressions. First I taught them about common American greetings: "Hello! Hi! How are you? Whats up?" I got one of the classes to say "Howdy!" to which I responded "What's up?" and they said "Nossing!" Gotta love it. Had a kid stop me the other morning and say "Teacher. Free hugs" and give me a big hug. Good times, good times. After we finished the greetings, and I explained to them that these were things you do with friends, not with bosses or those of superior station, I showed them how to high five. Most of them had done it before, but some were pretty shy to be highfiving a teacher. That quickly left. After highfiving I showed them the turkey. They were pretty amused by that so we moved on to fist bumping. They loved the fist bump. Especially the snail, the snowman, the squid (also called the jellyfish), and of course, locking it up. They loved this. All the kids were eating it up, and the teachers were just laughing away as the kids practiced amongst themselves. We then did some basic question and answer stuff where I asked them what they wanted to do when they got older, and what their favorite music and bands were. I even had time for a little new american music. When that was all over I asked them what American music they wanted to listen to, and the resounding answer from boys and girls alike was "Justin Bieber - Never say never." I thought for sure I had gotten away from him when I left the states, but to no avail. I think my favorite part was when a few of my students answered the favorite music question with "Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven" and another with "Metallica - Master of puppets" and the final one with "AC/DC - Thunderstruck." I was seriously impressed with their knowledge of rock.
So the town keeps getting smaller and smaller. I always forget if I have told you about certain things yet, so stop me if I have. There are these things called toast sandwiches here. In my town alone there are two of them within about a block from each other. Sukbong toast and I think the other one is called Double toast. Well they are delicious. They toast up two pieces of bread, and then throw some egg, cheese, sausage, ham, veggies, whatever you want, depending on your order. Well I would guess I average about 1 to 1.5 of these delicious concoctions a week. I went in to one last night and the lady served me, then spoke to me in Korean because I was the only one in there. "I haega andwayo" (i dont understand) I said. But the she said something I did understand. "Maegoe Seonsingnim" (Maegoe teacher). "Nej! Chonin seonsingnim Maegoe!" Maegoe is the name of the girls school I teach at. It was then only a short leap to understand that apparently I teach this womans daughter in one of my classes. Perhaps even two. I think also from my limited understanding of the conversation that her husband owns the other toast sandwich place at the other end of that short road. I can only imagine the conversation that went on when she found out it was me who had come in to her store. "Mom! I met Hagrid today!" "That's nice dear." "He teaches me English!" "Wait. Is he huge, and has a beard, and ravages bee-hives for their honey?" "Yes! That's him!" "Oh my gosh, I served him a toast sandwich the other day and he devoured it. I am lucky that he was not hungrier, and that he did not decide to turn his appetite upon me!" At least that's how that conversation went in my mind. I have made friends with the local "buy the way" convenience store clerk. He is quite intelligent. Here from China, he speaks Chinese, Korean, and quite a bit of English. He is very kind, and apparently the reason he is here is because he is a Tae Kwon Do master. I bet that kid eats his kimchi every day.
I try and bow to everyone around here that makes eye contact with me. EVERYONE. This means that I am bowing on average thirty or forty times a day. I once heard someone say that if you are polite and say hi to everyone that you will get a good reputation as being respectful. I desperately want this reputation, because even in the week I've been here I know that I have made soooooo many faux pas already (not to be confused with faux paws, which as a bear I do not condone.) I have shaken hands with only one hand, even with the principal/priest *cringe*. I have turned down things when people have offered them to me. I have turned down invitations to coffee because I don't drink coffee. I must look like a giant uncouth bastard to these people. I am hoping they realize though that I really just don't know much about etiquette. Already I have changed to grabbing my forearm when I receive things or give things, as this is considered just as acceptable as receiving or giving with both hands on the object. Sometimes the object is too small or hot or something and you can't grab it with both hands. Anyway, I am trying, and hopefully that will be reflected in my attitude.
I figured it would be nice to tell you about my bathroom too. It's a funny setup by western standards. It is a big tile room with a mirror and sink and toilet. There is no shower, just a nob attached to the sink that goes to a removable shower head in the corner. The water has two temperatures: arctic winter and molten lava. There is no in between, but I have recently found out if I don't let my water heater pre-heat the water, the lava is a lot more manageable. I have to watch out where I am pointing the spout, because the other day I accidentally sprayed a roll of toilet paper making it useless till it dried, and there is an electrical outlet hanging precariously about a foot and a half from where I stand to shower. I am not to crazy about this hanging electrical outlet, but I don't really want to go grabbing at it or anything, so I guess it's just gonna chill out for a while right where it is. Strangely enough I haven't even come close to spraying it with water. The same heater that I use for my shower is apparently going to be used for my apartment heating when winter comes. There are pipes that run through the floor, and you put hot water into them to heat your apartment from the bottom up. It's kinda cool I guess. The air conditioning is not a central unit, so in one corner of my ceiling there is this big box that I turn on with a remote control. I do have double windows and a very small studio, so it's not like there is a whole lot to cool. I can make the place go from sauna to ice box in about ten minutes with the help of the giant rotating fan my co teacher bought me the first day.
As I said in the last post, there will probably not be a whole lot to talk about that is new, so I may have to wait till the weekend for another update. We will see. Perhaps I will meet some new character or injure myself in some hilarious way. All in all, this still feels like a paid vacation as Ashley Walton said, and I am enjoying the hell out of this low pressure educational environment. I feel light years away from where I was before. I am sure a lot of it is because I simply am not responsible for any sort of grading, and basically can't communicate with anyone, but it is really nice to just be able to sit back and enjoy life instead of constantly looking over my shoulder to see where the next threat is coming from. That is no way to live, and if you are living that way, I suggest you either come join me in Korea, or try a radical life change of your own.
I have no freedom of communication. It's not like Korea is a bunch of communists or anything, they are actually very nice and quite open and empathetic people. What is not convenient though is the fact that I do not yet have my Alien Registration Card. My ARC is needed for me to do anything, almost like a social security number in the states. In order to register for a phone, I need an ARC. In order to get cable at my apartment, I need an ARC. In order for me to get internet, I have to slaughter ten rams and walk in between them signifying what would happen to me if I was to break the pact then burn them in a holocaust to the lord. OK, so that last one was a lie inspired our biblical father Abraham, but I do actually need my ARC for internet also. I went to the immigration office my first week here and registered to have it delivered, but I still do not have it, and I am kind of hamstrung without it. Luckily we opened a bank account during orientation otherwise I would be seriously screwed in a few days when my first paycheck is supposed to hit. So communication is kind of hard. The only places I can access the internet are here at work where I do most of my blogging, and at a PC bang, where I am surrounded by a bunch of Koreans playing games that I can't even figure out how to access. So I am connected to people at work, but with a strong filter on what I can and can't see. If I haven't made plans by the time I leave, it's either Graham knocking on my door, or me alone for the rest of the night. I do obviously have the option of making the fifteen minute walk to a PC bang, but I don't really like those because they cost about five bucks for a couple hours, and they are very smokey. Apparently no smoking is just a suggestion here. Same with traffic lights, as I almost got ran over the other day while crossing the street when the little green safe to cross light was on. Dude just decided he was gonna run a red light out in front of a school as if it was goin' out of style. So beyond the random facebook chats I have with people, and the several nights out a week I have with the English teachers in my building, it is quite difficult to communicate with people. I do have a phone, and it does text message, but the cost is something exorbitant like half a dollar for one text, so I reserve those texts for family or close friends. That being said, that's about the only stress I am feeling, and I do believe I will be getting my ARC soon, so it's not like it's permanent. It will just be a lot nicer when I don't have to walk for a quarter of an hour to a smokey room where I have to pay to see if anyone left a facebook message for me.
Today in class we went through American culture and basic expressions. First I taught them about common American greetings: "Hello! Hi! How are you? Whats up?" I got one of the classes to say "Howdy!" to which I responded "What's up?" and they said "Nossing!" Gotta love it. Had a kid stop me the other morning and say "Teacher. Free hugs" and give me a big hug. Good times, good times. After we finished the greetings, and I explained to them that these were things you do with friends, not with bosses or those of superior station, I showed them how to high five. Most of them had done it before, but some were pretty shy to be highfiving a teacher. That quickly left. After highfiving I showed them the turkey. They were pretty amused by that so we moved on to fist bumping. They loved the fist bump. Especially the snail, the snowman, the squid (also called the jellyfish), and of course, locking it up. They loved this. All the kids were eating it up, and the teachers were just laughing away as the kids practiced amongst themselves. We then did some basic question and answer stuff where I asked them what they wanted to do when they got older, and what their favorite music and bands were. I even had time for a little new american music. When that was all over I asked them what American music they wanted to listen to, and the resounding answer from boys and girls alike was "Justin Bieber - Never say never." I thought for sure I had gotten away from him when I left the states, but to no avail. I think my favorite part was when a few of my students answered the favorite music question with "Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven" and another with "Metallica - Master of puppets" and the final one with "AC/DC - Thunderstruck." I was seriously impressed with their knowledge of rock.
So the town keeps getting smaller and smaller. I always forget if I have told you about certain things yet, so stop me if I have. There are these things called toast sandwiches here. In my town alone there are two of them within about a block from each other. Sukbong toast and I think the other one is called Double toast. Well they are delicious. They toast up two pieces of bread, and then throw some egg, cheese, sausage, ham, veggies, whatever you want, depending on your order. Well I would guess I average about 1 to 1.5 of these delicious concoctions a week. I went in to one last night and the lady served me, then spoke to me in Korean because I was the only one in there. "I haega andwayo" (i dont understand) I said. But the she said something I did understand. "Maegoe Seonsingnim" (Maegoe teacher). "Nej! Chonin seonsingnim Maegoe!" Maegoe is the name of the girls school I teach at. It was then only a short leap to understand that apparently I teach this womans daughter in one of my classes. Perhaps even two. I think also from my limited understanding of the conversation that her husband owns the other toast sandwich place at the other end of that short road. I can only imagine the conversation that went on when she found out it was me who had come in to her store. "Mom! I met Hagrid today!" "That's nice dear." "He teaches me English!" "Wait. Is he huge, and has a beard, and ravages bee-hives for their honey?" "Yes! That's him!" "Oh my gosh, I served him a toast sandwich the other day and he devoured it. I am lucky that he was not hungrier, and that he did not decide to turn his appetite upon me!" At least that's how that conversation went in my mind. I have made friends with the local "buy the way" convenience store clerk. He is quite intelligent. Here from China, he speaks Chinese, Korean, and quite a bit of English. He is very kind, and apparently the reason he is here is because he is a Tae Kwon Do master. I bet that kid eats his kimchi every day.
I try and bow to everyone around here that makes eye contact with me. EVERYONE. This means that I am bowing on average thirty or forty times a day. I once heard someone say that if you are polite and say hi to everyone that you will get a good reputation as being respectful. I desperately want this reputation, because even in the week I've been here I know that I have made soooooo many faux pas already (not to be confused with faux paws, which as a bear I do not condone.) I have shaken hands with only one hand, even with the principal/priest *cringe*. I have turned down things when people have offered them to me. I have turned down invitations to coffee because I don't drink coffee. I must look like a giant uncouth bastard to these people. I am hoping they realize though that I really just don't know much about etiquette. Already I have changed to grabbing my forearm when I receive things or give things, as this is considered just as acceptable as receiving or giving with both hands on the object. Sometimes the object is too small or hot or something and you can't grab it with both hands. Anyway, I am trying, and hopefully that will be reflected in my attitude.
I figured it would be nice to tell you about my bathroom too. It's a funny setup by western standards. It is a big tile room with a mirror and sink and toilet. There is no shower, just a nob attached to the sink that goes to a removable shower head in the corner. The water has two temperatures: arctic winter and molten lava. There is no in between, but I have recently found out if I don't let my water heater pre-heat the water, the lava is a lot more manageable. I have to watch out where I am pointing the spout, because the other day I accidentally sprayed a roll of toilet paper making it useless till it dried, and there is an electrical outlet hanging precariously about a foot and a half from where I stand to shower. I am not to crazy about this hanging electrical outlet, but I don't really want to go grabbing at it or anything, so I guess it's just gonna chill out for a while right where it is. Strangely enough I haven't even come close to spraying it with water. The same heater that I use for my shower is apparently going to be used for my apartment heating when winter comes. There are pipes that run through the floor, and you put hot water into them to heat your apartment from the bottom up. It's kinda cool I guess. The air conditioning is not a central unit, so in one corner of my ceiling there is this big box that I turn on with a remote control. I do have double windows and a very small studio, so it's not like there is a whole lot to cool. I can make the place go from sauna to ice box in about ten minutes with the help of the giant rotating fan my co teacher bought me the first day.
As I said in the last post, there will probably not be a whole lot to talk about that is new, so I may have to wait till the weekend for another update. We will see. Perhaps I will meet some new character or injure myself in some hilarious way. All in all, this still feels like a paid vacation as Ashley Walton said, and I am enjoying the hell out of this low pressure educational environment. I feel light years away from where I was before. I am sure a lot of it is because I simply am not responsible for any sort of grading, and basically can't communicate with anyone, but it is really nice to just be able to sit back and enjoy life instead of constantly looking over my shoulder to see where the next threat is coming from. That is no way to live, and if you are living that way, I suggest you either come join me in Korea, or try a radical life change of your own.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Wrong way.
So as I promised, I have some stories of this weekend. First and foremost, the trip to Cheongju.
Notice that I said Cheongju, and not Chungju. That is because I went to Cheongju when I was trying to go to Chungju. I showed up at the bus terminal and asked the lady when the bus for Chungju was leaving and she said something very urgent and pointed outside to a bus that was pulling out to leave. I said "not Cheongju, Chungju!" and she said "Cheongju!" and I asked her to write it down. She passed me a slip of paper that said "충즈(cheongju)" and I said "No" and wrote down "층즈(chungju)". She said "ney (yes)" and circled my written characters and said "chongju" (she kept changing her pronunciation to mimic mine) and pointed to the bus very hurriedly. I was ushered onto the bus and was leaving the station within two minutes of stepping up to the window. I thought, "she circled my characters, so theres no way she didnt understand me." Apparently there was a way. There was a very huge way in which she didn't understand me. About ten minutes into the bus ride I begin seeing signs for Cheongju out the window. That, and my eagle scout skills told me we were heading west when I should have been heading east. This wasn't the kind of bus that you could just hop on and off of, and it was totally packed with people, so instead of making a fuss or being all upset about it, I resigned myself to my fate. What should have been a thirty minute bus ride was now two hours, and I was pretty far from home. It only cost me a few thousand won, so I wasnt exactly upset.
The hardest part of the journey came next. The bus dropped us off on the side of a city street. There was no bus terminal around anywhere that I could see, and I had no idea where I was, except for the fact that I was in Cheongju. Having been rushed onto the bus that drove for two hours, I was starving. I hadnt eaten dinner the previous night, so I was going on 24 hours without any food. I quickly found a place that looked like it couldnt be too bad, and had some chef fried rice, which was delicious. They barbecued some beef in front of me, and then added a bunch of rice and spicy sauce and vegetables. I sent a couple messages to Roswell, as he always knows what to say to make me feel better, and then I chowed down on my much desired food. That cost me about four fifty. I had a full belly but an empty sense of direction, so I hit my nearest pc bang and tried in vain to communicate what I was trying to say "Chonin odie isoyo" apparently doesnt make much sense, and he couldnt really understand what I was trying to say, so I got a card for a pc, sat down at one, and brought up google. "What is this address?" is the first phrase I tried. The old man who was smoking in the chair next to me while playing some gambling card game said "anejo anejo (no, no)" when I pointed to the map and said "odie" and also repeated the phrase. Then Justin, my friend from Seoul who was on facebook chatting with me said "why dont you ask the guy at the counter?" So I memorized that phrase and went up and asked him. Nothing. He stared at me blankly while I tried to convey the meaning. Finally, resigning to the fact I was a koyo waygook (giant foreigner) I said "Address" and pantomimed writing. He said "Address!" and pointed down. "Yes!" I exclaimed "Address" relieved that he understood English a little bit. We walked back to my computer where he saw the phrase on the screen for "what is this address" and he giggled to himself, so I guess the translation was shady. He typed in the address of the PC Bang and it popped up on the map. I noticed there was a bus terminal near by so I said "Odie bussa terminal?" He pointed in the direction and I quickly payed and exited the building.
It turns out the bus had dropped us off on the opposite side of the street because it didn't want to turn around, and the terminal was there marked "CJ 버스 터미널" (CJ Basu Taminal) So I had to kind of look around to find it. I found it, but instead of going to Chungju on a three hour bus ride, I decided I would visit Justin just south of Seoul. So I go up to the window and ask for a ticket to Seongnam. "Anejo. Seongnam anejo. Nam Seoul?" "Anejo. Kumsamnida" I said, not wanting a ticket to north Seoul. I was very confused by this because I had just checked online at the CJ bus terminal website and they said you could buy a ticket to Seongnam and that a bus left about every half hour. I went to another PC bang and logged onto facebook, where I saw that one of my friends from orientation had tried to get in touch with me. She lived in Cheongju. I was in Cheongju. Score.
I told her where I was and she promised to pick me up to hang out. So we got a rendezvous point decided on and we met up. Kerrie is her name, and she is one of the classiest Irish broads I've ever met. She is engaged to this hilarious guy named Min Seop who speaks fantastic English. So they picked me up and we headed out. They were already taking one of their friends home, and would be only a little ways from where I lived, so they graciously promised to take me home as well. On the way we stopped by the yearly chili pepper festival that was taking place and got to see some artwork. There was a shortage of chili peppers this year, so it was a chili pepperless chili pepper festival. They had a competitions to see who looked most like the chili pepper man, and I almost got pushed up on stage because of my long hair and beard. There were several stands outside, one of which featured a collection of native bugs. It was funny to watch all these kids get through the entire tent squealing with delight, only to have them be totally awestruck by my beard. There were people drinking and eating all kinds of different things at the various stands, and at one of them they had a tank with live squid about the size of my forearm. They would scoop one out, chop off the head, and toss both ends onto the grill.
The funny thing about Korean food is that you never get service. You have to call the server (Yogyo!) over to you so that you can order. There are little bells at the tables that you press when you want them to be summoned, and they don't bring you a check. At the end of the meal you walk up to the front (or the back) and pay the bill. There is also no splitting of the bill. It's all one big lump sum, so if you don't have cash, someone is getting stuck with a pretty big bill. On average you spend about ten thousand won per person, which comes to about ten bucks. If it's good food you may be spending more. If it's cheap food you may be spending less. One popular style of restaurant is the kind where they have a grill in the middle of a table and you pay one flat rate for all you can eat. You pick out all your meat then you throw it on the grill with some onions and garlic and let it fry. After you cook it up, you add some spicy bean paste, some veggies, and then wrap it in a piece of lettuce and go to town on that bad boy. It is seriously delicious, and well worth the 13 bucks it usually cost. Graham, Shaneel and myself went out for some Galbi as its called the other weekend and I picked up some turkey as well as bacon and some beef. It was great! Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single turkey over here. So yeah, it wasn't turkey. And when I cooked it, it turned from a tiny blob of meat, into something puffy and tubular. There were many chicken anus jokes made, and I wasn't about to not eat something I picked out and fried up, so I took a bite. It wasn't bad, but certainly wasn't good. Later Shaneel told me that it was pork skin, but I still find that hard to believe.
Apparently they are starting to get used to me over here. No more traffic jams from old dudes staring at me hardcore. No more kids seeing me and acting totally taken aback. Graham, my teacher friend from Scotland said that some woman asked him if he knew me. He said yes, and asked how she knew me. She said that she had been driving down the road and saw me walking on the sidewalk. She damn near crashed her car because she was trying to look at the giant waygook with the beard. When the four English teachers from our building go out, it is hilarious, because we basically represent every school in the city. We are kind of hard to miss, and seem to be welcome pretty much any place we go. I can't say the same for me going somewhere to eat by myself. I got some kimbap yesterday, and felt very out of place. Kimbap is the korean version of a sushi roll, the difference seems to be the ingredients inside: some sort of pickled pepper and some kimchi mixed with the meet you want, with a layer of rice, then the seaweed paper wrapped around the outside. It's very good though. Soooo very good. I don't care if I feel welcome there or not, it was delicious and I am going back for some of that sweet sweet kimbap. They make it right in the front window, so there is no way they can mess with it, and I don't think they would risk doing that to the towns single bearded patron. They all seem to know that I live at the panksap bonrum (i think thats the name of the building) and that I teach at Maegoe girls school. The small town feel of this place is starting to shine through, which should be a good thing more than a bad. I don't think there is even a slight chance I will get messed with by anyone, and I don't plan on doing anything to tarnish the reputation of the school or EPIK in general. If I do have to have a weekend where I go all out, well hey, that's what Seoul is for. Go to a city where even I won't stand out. Even then, I just don't think me being a jackass is a real possibility. Even the twenty four year old Scotsman said "This guy drinks so fast its ridiculous." And everyone keeps telling me about these epic nights they have that leave them drained the next day, but I have yet to experience one. We will see. I think it would be really fun to go out drinking with the principal and vice principals here. They seem like guys who would know how to have a good time within the Confucian norms.
Anyway, cue "The Entertainer" to mean that my free time is over and it's time to get a move on. I'll be updating soon, but probably not for a couple days as I don't really see this week as being anything hugely different.
Notice that I said Cheongju, and not Chungju. That is because I went to Cheongju when I was trying to go to Chungju. I showed up at the bus terminal and asked the lady when the bus for Chungju was leaving and she said something very urgent and pointed outside to a bus that was pulling out to leave. I said "not Cheongju, Chungju!" and she said "Cheongju!" and I asked her to write it down. She passed me a slip of paper that said "충즈(cheongju)" and I said "No" and wrote down "층즈(chungju)". She said "ney (yes)" and circled my written characters and said "chongju" (she kept changing her pronunciation to mimic mine) and pointed to the bus very hurriedly. I was ushered onto the bus and was leaving the station within two minutes of stepping up to the window. I thought, "she circled my characters, so theres no way she didnt understand me." Apparently there was a way. There was a very huge way in which she didn't understand me. About ten minutes into the bus ride I begin seeing signs for Cheongju out the window. That, and my eagle scout skills told me we were heading west when I should have been heading east. This wasn't the kind of bus that you could just hop on and off of, and it was totally packed with people, so instead of making a fuss or being all upset about it, I resigned myself to my fate. What should have been a thirty minute bus ride was now two hours, and I was pretty far from home. It only cost me a few thousand won, so I wasnt exactly upset.
The hardest part of the journey came next. The bus dropped us off on the side of a city street. There was no bus terminal around anywhere that I could see, and I had no idea where I was, except for the fact that I was in Cheongju. Having been rushed onto the bus that drove for two hours, I was starving. I hadnt eaten dinner the previous night, so I was going on 24 hours without any food. I quickly found a place that looked like it couldnt be too bad, and had some chef fried rice, which was delicious. They barbecued some beef in front of me, and then added a bunch of rice and spicy sauce and vegetables. I sent a couple messages to Roswell, as he always knows what to say to make me feel better, and then I chowed down on my much desired food. That cost me about four fifty. I had a full belly but an empty sense of direction, so I hit my nearest pc bang and tried in vain to communicate what I was trying to say "Chonin odie isoyo" apparently doesnt make much sense, and he couldnt really understand what I was trying to say, so I got a card for a pc, sat down at one, and brought up google. "What is this address?" is the first phrase I tried. The old man who was smoking in the chair next to me while playing some gambling card game said "anejo anejo (no, no)" when I pointed to the map and said "odie" and also repeated the phrase. Then Justin, my friend from Seoul who was on facebook chatting with me said "why dont you ask the guy at the counter?" So I memorized that phrase and went up and asked him. Nothing. He stared at me blankly while I tried to convey the meaning. Finally, resigning to the fact I was a koyo waygook (giant foreigner) I said "Address" and pantomimed writing. He said "Address!" and pointed down. "Yes!" I exclaimed "Address" relieved that he understood English a little bit. We walked back to my computer where he saw the phrase on the screen for "what is this address" and he giggled to himself, so I guess the translation was shady. He typed in the address of the PC Bang and it popped up on the map. I noticed there was a bus terminal near by so I said "Odie bussa terminal?" He pointed in the direction and I quickly payed and exited the building.
It turns out the bus had dropped us off on the opposite side of the street because it didn't want to turn around, and the terminal was there marked "CJ 버스 터미널" (CJ Basu Taminal) So I had to kind of look around to find it. I found it, but instead of going to Chungju on a three hour bus ride, I decided I would visit Justin just south of Seoul. So I go up to the window and ask for a ticket to Seongnam. "Anejo. Seongnam anejo. Nam Seoul?" "Anejo. Kumsamnida" I said, not wanting a ticket to north Seoul. I was very confused by this because I had just checked online at the CJ bus terminal website and they said you could buy a ticket to Seongnam and that a bus left about every half hour. I went to another PC bang and logged onto facebook, where I saw that one of my friends from orientation had tried to get in touch with me. She lived in Cheongju. I was in Cheongju. Score.
I told her where I was and she promised to pick me up to hang out. So we got a rendezvous point decided on and we met up. Kerrie is her name, and she is one of the classiest Irish broads I've ever met. She is engaged to this hilarious guy named Min Seop who speaks fantastic English. So they picked me up and we headed out. They were already taking one of their friends home, and would be only a little ways from where I lived, so they graciously promised to take me home as well. On the way we stopped by the yearly chili pepper festival that was taking place and got to see some artwork. There was a shortage of chili peppers this year, so it was a chili pepperless chili pepper festival. They had a competitions to see who looked most like the chili pepper man, and I almost got pushed up on stage because of my long hair and beard. There were several stands outside, one of which featured a collection of native bugs. It was funny to watch all these kids get through the entire tent squealing with delight, only to have them be totally awestruck by my beard. There were people drinking and eating all kinds of different things at the various stands, and at one of them they had a tank with live squid about the size of my forearm. They would scoop one out, chop off the head, and toss both ends onto the grill.
The funny thing about Korean food is that you never get service. You have to call the server (Yogyo!) over to you so that you can order. There are little bells at the tables that you press when you want them to be summoned, and they don't bring you a check. At the end of the meal you walk up to the front (or the back) and pay the bill. There is also no splitting of the bill. It's all one big lump sum, so if you don't have cash, someone is getting stuck with a pretty big bill. On average you spend about ten thousand won per person, which comes to about ten bucks. If it's good food you may be spending more. If it's cheap food you may be spending less. One popular style of restaurant is the kind where they have a grill in the middle of a table and you pay one flat rate for all you can eat. You pick out all your meat then you throw it on the grill with some onions and garlic and let it fry. After you cook it up, you add some spicy bean paste, some veggies, and then wrap it in a piece of lettuce and go to town on that bad boy. It is seriously delicious, and well worth the 13 bucks it usually cost. Graham, Shaneel and myself went out for some Galbi as its called the other weekend and I picked up some turkey as well as bacon and some beef. It was great! Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single turkey over here. So yeah, it wasn't turkey. And when I cooked it, it turned from a tiny blob of meat, into something puffy and tubular. There were many chicken anus jokes made, and I wasn't about to not eat something I picked out and fried up, so I took a bite. It wasn't bad, but certainly wasn't good. Later Shaneel told me that it was pork skin, but I still find that hard to believe.
Apparently they are starting to get used to me over here. No more traffic jams from old dudes staring at me hardcore. No more kids seeing me and acting totally taken aback. Graham, my teacher friend from Scotland said that some woman asked him if he knew me. He said yes, and asked how she knew me. She said that she had been driving down the road and saw me walking on the sidewalk. She damn near crashed her car because she was trying to look at the giant waygook with the beard. When the four English teachers from our building go out, it is hilarious, because we basically represent every school in the city. We are kind of hard to miss, and seem to be welcome pretty much any place we go. I can't say the same for me going somewhere to eat by myself. I got some kimbap yesterday, and felt very out of place. Kimbap is the korean version of a sushi roll, the difference seems to be the ingredients inside: some sort of pickled pepper and some kimchi mixed with the meet you want, with a layer of rice, then the seaweed paper wrapped around the outside. It's very good though. Soooo very good. I don't care if I feel welcome there or not, it was delicious and I am going back for some of that sweet sweet kimbap. They make it right in the front window, so there is no way they can mess with it, and I don't think they would risk doing that to the towns single bearded patron. They all seem to know that I live at the panksap bonrum (i think thats the name of the building) and that I teach at Maegoe girls school. The small town feel of this place is starting to shine through, which should be a good thing more than a bad. I don't think there is even a slight chance I will get messed with by anyone, and I don't plan on doing anything to tarnish the reputation of the school or EPIK in general. If I do have to have a weekend where I go all out, well hey, that's what Seoul is for. Go to a city where even I won't stand out. Even then, I just don't think me being a jackass is a real possibility. Even the twenty four year old Scotsman said "This guy drinks so fast its ridiculous." And everyone keeps telling me about these epic nights they have that leave them drained the next day, but I have yet to experience one. We will see. I think it would be really fun to go out drinking with the principal and vice principals here. They seem like guys who would know how to have a good time within the Confucian norms.
Anyway, cue "The Entertainer" to mean that my free time is over and it's time to get a move on. I'll be updating soon, but probably not for a couple days as I don't really see this week as being anything hugely different.
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