My Apartment!

At long last, and after much patient waiting, I made it to my apartment yesterday! And I have to say, even if it is less convenient to get to my schools the views make up for it! Instead of just walking a few blocks to each of my schools, I have to get on a bus for about 20 minutes then walk about 10 minutes to my schools. Not terribly inconvenient, but the buses here are very crowded and I have to pay the fare (which is only 1000 won [about $1], but it's the principle of the matter). But then again, this apartment is in a much nicer area (I've always been a country girl at heart). And I'm not going to miss seeing the call cards on my door step every day.

Instead, this is the view from the windows in the hall my room is in. I still can't believe that I can see the ocean everyday! When I tell people that before coming here I had never even seen the ocean they're always shocked. I haven't made to the beach yet, but that's something I plan to remedy very soon. The breezes that come in through windows smell like the ocean. Maybe the ocean will seem real when I standing in it...

 

This is the sports area attached to the Foreign Language High School next door to the apartment building.

This is the view up the mountain from my balcony. Again, mountains aren't really a thing at home and I find that between the ocean and the mountains the landscape is just so majestic here.  It's very moving, nearly to tears.

These cute homes made me think of the Alps and Heidi, but here they are in South Korea halfway up the mountain behind our apartments.

There are lots of Guest English Teachers living in this dorm, and they have all been very welcoming! John, the nice Aucklander next door stopped by to tell me that (for a small fee) I could just piggy-back off of his wifi service rather than have to pay for the installation of my own router. That makes everything so much easier!! It's like a little western haven here. Not exactly what I had booked on when I was preparing to come here, but it does make dealing with any culture shock easier.

So here is a brief tour of my apartment:

The front entry way. Culture dictates that you take your shoes off and leave them here. The bathroom, which is quite large but a little dated, is through the door on the right.

The main part of the room. Still in some disarray from moving in. I've now added some maps and pictures to the walls to make it a bit more homey. The computer works better than the one I have at school. The bed isn't as bad as the others I've used here, that means it's more like sleeping in a sheet of plywood rather than a slab of concrete. Koreans also don't use the sheet sets that we do. There are instead layers of blankets and comforters. I tend to use the extra blankets and such as mattress pads and use a sheet that I brought with me to cover myself since it's so warm here. And of course I brought Ruby the Kangaroo with me! My brother bought me that (under coercion and I paid him back, but still it's the thought that counts?). Unfortunately, the TV doesn't work. I'd have to pay for teh service, and with the existence of the internet the TV is obsolete. Now I just have to find a place in the room to store it. The glass door wall leads out to my balcony. It's enclosed in windows that con be opened. It's about 12 feet long by 3 feet deep. Probably one of my favorite features of Korean houses is that the vast majority of them have these balconies.

In to corner by the front hall/entrance is the kitchen/laundry hybrid area. Behind the fridge there's a stove top that works very well, apparently.  The sink is huge. I don't know why. And next to the sink is the laundry machine. At the end of a cycle it chines a charming little song that's about a minute long. Much friendlier than the harsh beep of the machines at home. Where's the dryer? They practically don't exist here. Everyone uses a drying rack to air dry their clean clothes. I have to go and purchase one in the net few days.

So that's the apartment. In the next couple days I'll post pictures of my schools, the kids, and my co-teachers. Tomorrow is my first day to work with a large group of kids. Monday is 2nd and 3rd graders day, so things should be interesting. Wish me luck!

Life in Jeju City

Again, it's been a while. But this may be the last chance I have for a while to do one of these because I'm moving into my actual apartment (and out of this motel) tomorrow, so no more free internet. So, even though it's 4:30 am, I will continue to work.

Not much has happened since last time. But at the same time, my whole world has changed. I am now living on Jeju Island in South Korea. Holy cow. The flight here was no problem, even if hauling my bags around was laborious. That day, Monday, was really hectic. We sent a lot of time on a minibus going from place to place. We also got to meet our co-teachers. All of the Guest English Teachers ([GETs] myself included) were put into a big room with all of the co-teachers and we didn't know which one was ours. After a long speech from the Provincial Supervisor our names and schools were called. My co-teacher is one of very few male elementary teachers. I was really surprised to see that he was dressed in worn jeans, a band tee-shirt, and a baseball cap. We chatted for about three minutes, then he left. Everyone else was having long conversations with their co-teachers, but I was alone. It was sort of off-putting. But, as I quickly found out, my co-teacher, Moon Byeongon (Moon being his surname), is totally awesome! He's really nice, very friendly, laid back, honest, and the students love him. He tells me that he gets angry at them sometimes and yells, but I can't imagine it. Together, we've been working with a group of 6 advanced 6th graders reading a simple version of the Merchant of Venice. I have to say I'm impressed with them and their rapid progress. And they're adorable in a rabid kitten kind of way. Before working with them I never considered how I pronounce things. It just came naturally. But when I'm asked how to pronounce words like 'interest' and 'important' properly, I find myself thinking that this is how I would pronounce it, but elsewhere they might say interest with 3 syllables instead of 2. It's quite perplexing.

Many of the students that I meet are clearly curious about me, but I haven't yet been given the Spanish Inquisition by them (I'm expecting that next week once classes really start). I get a lot of stares around the city, especially when I ask for directions. Therein lies my biggest problem: speaking the language. I know I have a lot of vocabulary stored away in my brain, but when the chance comes to use it I speak English instead. And the problem is in confidence. I lack it. I made a new friend tonight and talking to him in Korean was a lot easier. Gundam and I are going to exchange language lessons. I'll teach him English and he'll teach me Korean. I hope it works out because I could really use a tutor.

Lots of people have asked me if I'm homesick. And the easy answer is yes, but not so much as I had imagined. It's the small things that comfort me the most; the many construction sites around, the barking of dogs, the smell that wafts out of the dozens of bakeries. They make me think of home even if very little looks or sounds familiar. This weekend I'll be spending a lot of time with other GETS. Tonight we had a night out on the town. Tomorrow some friends will help me move. Sunday we're making a day trip to the south side of the island to Seogwipo to see a soccer match, apparently the last one of the season. I'm really excited. It still doesn't feel quite real to be here. It hasn't fully registered yet. I'm pretty sure it'll sink in on Monday when 30-odd faces are staring at me with eyes full of curiosity and brains full of questions. Bring on the Inquisition, I'm expecting it. I just wish I knew my bloodtype...

Seoul Trip

So it's been a while since I've done one of these, and a lot has happened since then.

On Thursday we went to Seoul! It's an amazing city, beyond words really. All I could think was 'Look at all the humanity.' I don't think that I would ever be able to live in a place like Seoul. I got some really good pictures, which I'll share. I wish I had taken more, but silly me forgot to check and see if my camera was charged. So I only had one bar of battery to make last. I don't think it was a bad thing though because it made me think and be choosy as to what to take pictures of. So below are the best pictures. More can be found on facebook (eventually).

First we went to Korea House. We saw 5 different Korean traditional performances. The first was a drum performance. The five women each had five drums arranged around them. They were in perfect sync the entire time.

This man played a traditional Korean flute. It was my favorite act of the group. Because the flute is made of bamboo, wood, and cloth the sounds it produces is really haunting. You can't get the same sounds from a western flute. 

The next act was an ensemble of fan dancers. They were all very beautiful. The woman in the red skirt was the main character. They moved like birds, floating across the stage, fluttering the fans like feathers and wings.

 These guys were hilarious. They wore traditional hats with long ribbons or feathers attached. It's hard to see, but the entire time they were playing their drums and symbols they were also twirling the ribbons on their heads. It was quite amusing.

After Korea House we went around the corner to a traditional Korean village. The architecture style is called Hanok.

From teh village you could see Nam San Tower.

 These are traditional Kimchi jars. Instead of letting your kimchi ferment in a fridge, you kept it in these jars in the sun until it was edible, then buried the jar to keep it cool.

 They also had these little bows and arrows to play with. The target was about 20 feet away. I managed to hit it, but the Canadian friends I was hanging out with weren't so skilled.

 We had bibimbop for lunch at Korea House and it was really tasty!

A statue of Great King Sejong who invented the Korean alphabet.

We also visited the biggest royal palace in Seoul. It was originally built about 500 years ago but has been rebuilt several times. The architecture was really majestic, especially with the three mountains that surround it.

The house with the blue roof behind the palace is the Blue House. It is equivalent to our White House; it's where the Korean president lives and houses foreign ambassadors.

So tomorrow I leave for Jeju. Word is is that the kids are still on break so it may be another week before I'm actually teaching. I'll be teaching at Hancheon and Jungang elenentary schools in Jeju City. I'll keep you all updated.

Annyeong!!

Climbing Mountains and Kung Fu

I finally made it to Korea. After a long, tedious flight from Chicago (14 hours). Getting through Incheon International Airport was actually easier than O'Hare. I got my first cell phone ever, made it to Daejin University for a week of orientation, made a call home, and went to sleep.

First thing today was a Korean style breakfast, which was tasty. Then we had a tour of the campus which was great, except that campus is on the side of a mountain so we spent a lot of time and energy (in 90 degree weather with 80% humidity) climbing the mountain. It's very beautiful though. After the official tour I went with some of my new friends to look around and take pictures. The following are some of those.

This is some of the landscape that we drove through in order to get to Daejin University. There were a lot of mountains with little towns tucked into the valleys. 

Dajin University, or Daejin Dae, is a relatively small school with rooms for about 3-5 thousand students by my guess. What it's famous for is the temple here, Daaejoonsinraehae. It was built  in 1968 and was described a belonging to "a pagan group". It doesn't seem to serve religious purposes anymore though. The first picture is the view from my dorm room window. 

This is the plaza and the upper level of the temple which were were not allowed to visit for reasons unexplained.

One of the entrance gates had four blue and gold dragons protecting it and they were gorgeous!

 The temple was actively growing and drying their own hot red peppers to use to make the red pepper flakes that's in practically all Korean food. I thought that they had rolled the red carpet out for my arrival!

 In the afternoon we had a welcoming ceremony. The most interesting part was when the national taekwondo team preformed for us.  There was some traditional moves, lots of shouting, and a dance routine. It was an awesome performance.

This guy did a back flip in order to break the board!

The orientation guidebook has us scheduled to have health exams tomorrow, classes Wednesday, a field trip to Seoul Thursday, and on Friday we're doing taekwondo ourselves!

I've already met a lot of great people and seen a lot of amazing things in my first 24 hours in Korea!

Let the adventure continue!

Leaving on A Jet Plane

I'm all packed (hopefully) and ready to go (mostly)!!! It's going to be an early morning tomorrow, and a long trip, but once I get to Seoul it will all be worth it (probably).
This whole airport/flying thing is way more intimidating than living in Korea for a year. And it's not even that I'm afraid of flying (I think). It's just that the concept of maneuvering through an airport with more people in it than I can imagine (and all going different ways!). The worst part is is that I'm feeling that Chicago's O'Hare is way more intimidating than Incheon International Airport in Seoul. I'm probably not going to get much sleep tonight. Which may or may not be a good thing.

On another note, I walked the dogs for the last time for a year tonight. I got a bit misty-eyed. I wanted to take some time to see the sights and give them lots of attention, but they just wanted to get back to their kennels and the steak bones they knew were waiting for them there. Ungrateful Wretches <3. I think they're what I'm going to miss the most.

On yet another note, although my bags weigh a ton (figuratively), I really hope I'm not forgetting anything. I know I'm going to Korea, not Mars, but I'd rather have everything I need as I need it. I packed, unpacked, and repacked enough times that I think it's all there. But one never knows. I did tie red bows on my bags so I could tell them from amongst the others on the carousel. Hopefully I can find the carousel.

Also, today I taught myself a phrase in Korean that may come in handy: "도와주세요. 길을 잃었어요 (Dowajuseo. Gil-eul ihl-eoss eoyo.)" or "Help me. I'm lost."

A Little Peice of Heaven On Earth

I guess it's about time that I tell you a little bit about where I'm headed. Basically, it's paradise.

Jeju Island, or Jeju-do, is as far south in South Korea as you can get (which made Mom happy). It's also the exact opposite of the place I had preferred on my application. I had wanted to teach in Gangwon Province all the way north near the DMZ. It's a place with lots of mountains, ancient Buddhist temples, agriculture, small villages, and snow. It sounded familiar and comfortable. I thought that I would be able to teach more effectively in a place that was familiar feeling with a similar atmosphere to home.

Jeju, however, is nothing like this. I had never imagined that I might be able to live on Jeju. It is a resort island that caters mostly to wealthy Korean tourists, but it is also gaining international renown. A few years ago there was a worldwide competition to find the most beautiful place on Earth. Jeju Island was one of the 28 finalists. And it's easy to see why.

Jeju Island has the best of both worlds. As an island, about 45 miles long by 40 miles wide, it is removed from a lont of the rush of mainland cities like Seoul and Busan. While there are a half million people on the island, the vast majority of them live on the north coast in Jeju City, which has all the amenities. Other towns and cities are considerably smaller, but they are within easy driving or bus distance from Jeju City. This website is a list of the 40 most beautiful places to visit in Korea. You'll notice that a great many of them can be found on Jeju Island.

 http://travel.cnn.com/gallery-40-travel-destinations-south-korea-742046

Once I get there, late on the 25th of August, I'll visit my school and go to my apartment. I'm certain that I'll be able to live comfortably. I'm really excited to experience all that Jeju Island has to offer. Shopping at fresh markets for seafood fresh from the ocean. Hikes up Mount Halla, a long extinct volcano. Horseback riding. I'll probably also see some Korean actors and idols because Jeju is the place to film music videos and dramas. And I really want to visit Aqua World, an aquarium that boasts the largest single pane of plexiglass in the world.

So, in summary, I didn't want to live in Jeju, but now I can't wait to get there, and now that day is drawing near.

Why South Korea?

I guess I'll answer the question that everyone keeps asking: "Why South Korea?"  Well, it's quite simple really.

Winter break, sophomore year of college, three a.m., and surfing around on Youtube for no apparent reason I stumbled across a Korean pop (KPop) music video. I didn't know that's what it was at first, or even right after watching it, but it's amazing what you'll find in the maze of the internet. Shinee's 'Lucifer' was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Here's the link if you're curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dww9UjJ4Dt8 . I don't know what possessed me to watch the whole thing, but it was probably my undiagnosed OCD that makes it nearly impossible for me to stop a song halfway through. After watching it my exact thought was, "Huh. That was interesting" then I went to bed and thought nothing more of it. Until a few days later when it was stuck in my head. At that point I had never heard a word of Korean, nor did I know anything about Korea other than that it existed as North and South after the Korean War. I had to find that song again. And it took longer than it should have, but I did it. Then I got hooked on the language. It's quite pretty to listen to and languages have always fascinated me. I started to listen to more KPop to help learn a bit of the language just for fun. Then, once I was solidly addicted to the music, I decided to learn more about the country and it's culture. The rest, they say, is history.

It took me a long time to realize/admit that I wanted to go to this far off place, way outside of my comfort zone, and spend a significant amount of time submersed in this completely foreign culture. Except the culture didn't feel foreign. I'm not sure why but planning my escape to South Korea was a guilty pleasure. I didn't mention anything to my parents until the end of my junior year of college. And that was to tell them that it was a back-up plan in case I didn't get accepted into the grad school that I wanted. With some good advice from a great friend, I decided that Korea was going to be my Plan A rather than Plan B, which my parents found less than appealing. I never applied to any grad schools. And I haven't taken the GRE. Basically, I had no intentions to go to grad school right after Albion, I wanted to chase my dreams and passions halfway around the globe.

For a long time I explained it to people backwards. I told them that I wanted to take a year to travel and teaching English was my vehicle. I said that I had chosen South Korea because it was exotic, friendly, had an interesting culture and good food. I had actually decided that I wanted to go to South Korea long before I had any thoughts on how to get there or how to finance the trip. One of my cousins has seen the world through teaching English, and I thought that that was something that I could do too. So I surfed the web, applied for a Fulbright, got denied, then hitched my wagon to the EPIK star. After a lot of effort and paperwork, I got accepted. I think I was happier when I got my acceptance and placement email for Korea than when I got a very similar notice to attend Albion. It does prompt much bigger changes of locale and in lifestyle. I think I'll say more about EPIK and my placement on Jeju Island another day and elsewhere.


Someone once said of me that I would never amount to much. They said that I would never be able to escape the ugly, rural towns of Stockbridge and Munith. They said I would be perfectly happy to waste the rest of my life there doing nothing significant. They're cruel words. Even crueler when said by someone who had been a friend. And I am perfectly happy to prove her wrong. I don't feel like I'm escaping, because I will be back and this will always be home and part of who I am. And I am going to do something important. It might seem simple but I am going to teach children to speak English and that is no easy feat. I am going to a place where dreams come true, including mine.

There's a First Time for Everything

So I've never written a blog before, and I've never been any good at keeping to a daily journal. But I guess now is as good as any other time. I'm not going to make any promises about the quality of the content posted herein and foreverafter. I am writing this both for me and for you. I want to be sure to remember this adventure, so I'll tell about some of the many experiences that I'm sure I'll have. I also want to make sure that those of you who are curious about what life is like in South Korea have an answer.

  
There's a song that keeps getting stuck in my head. It's by a local folk group that I hard once at the local library and I had to buy the CD. The group is Iron River and the song is 'Make the Break.' I've yet to find a way to add the soundtrack here, but here are some of the lyrics. I'm finding that they apply quite well to my own self right now. (The bold text is the chorus).


"Don't you know it's time to make the break, 
get out of that rut, and pull up your stakes.
'Cause this is your moment and the timing is right
get out of that chair and stand up and fight.

"All your life you've waited for dreams to come to you.
If you really want it, only you can do it.
So move it or you lose it, let's get it in gear.
There's only so many chances, dreams are nothing to fear.

"Chorus

"The last thing you want when you're old and grey
is to think about the dreams that you let slip away.
So now that you're moving, gotten rid of that load,
let's burn all our bridges and get this show on the road.

"Chorus x3


 This artist's music has always struck a chord with me, but especially now it feels like this song was written for me. I've waited a long time for my dreams to come true, but now, instead of waiting, I'm going and accomplishing them for myself. It's been a lot of stress and hard work, but this is going to be the adventure of a lifetime and I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest!