I think the title is a little more to Shannon than to me, as she's off for her first day of school already, but it still feels as though we've been tossed head first into the mix of things here in Korea, and no amount of orientation can really prepare you for starting to live on your own.
We arrived in Mokpo yesterday after concluding our orientation in Gwangju. It was a very strange end to the week, which almost made it feel pretty good to get out of there. Things were winding down, I was quickly running out of clothes to wear (it's hard to keep up with laundry when you're doing it in the bathtub and have nowhere to dry things), and some of our group was getting a little restless. But then, things got almost out of hand at the closing ceremonies when a couple of English teachers tried to see just how far they could push the envelope in terms of being inappropriate.
Two people from our group decided to do a thank-you from ourselves to all those who helped arrange the week of training. While it seemed a little out of place, it was overall a nice gesture, until the unusal thank-you's began, which included thanking one of the group members for being Mexicain, and thanking Confucianism for helping with one of the speaker's marriage. It was all a little too tongue-in-cheek, given that most of the audience was Korea, spoke little English, wouldn't understand the humour, and probably wouldn't be impressed even if they did. The two speakers managed to top it all off with a brief story about girls farting, hinting about mooning local Koreans, and then handing out soju to everyone for a toast. I think even for the Koreans it was too early in the morning for soju.
But I really shouldn't dwell on that, we got through it, and Shannon and I are now down in Mokpo, living in our new place and sweating more than I knew I was capable of ever doing. The humidity in this city is amazing! and neither of us were hardly able to sleep last night. It didn't help that we accidentally left the floor heating on all night, which kept our apartment at a balmy 25+ degrees all night long.
Our apartment is huge, especially for Korea. We have three bedrooms, a full bathroom plus on ensuite bathroom, a nice kitchen and large, open living room. Unfortunately, the mess left in here was terrible.and we spent 3 hours cleaning last night and will probably need to put in another 3 or 4 before we can get rid of the smell of mold and animal grease. Our lack of skills when it comes to garbage are also hampering our abiltiy to keep a clean house at the moment - we took out a bunch last night, but seeing as we didn't properly sort it, the garbage we took out is still sitting on the street. There's been a lady on and off a megaphone this morning talking about something (I can understand her say "Thank you"), and I'm worried she's looking for who left the pile of un-sorted trash on the street. What a wonderful first impression we're going to give the neighbours.
We had dinner last night with a number of Shannon's co-teachers and a VP and Parent Leader from mine. Compared to earlier meals, dinner was rather good, but now that we're eating with Koreans, it's a little harder to pick and choose what to eat. Shannon sat next to the man with the best Engish (Mr. Yeun), who may have been the head of the table as well, and he put at least 3 giant pieces of beef on her plate throughout the night. He then had the rest packed up for us to take home for breakfast, but it seems to have been forgotton at the restaurant, which neither Shannon nor I am really worried about.
Shannon started school today, while I begin on Friday. My first trip to the school was a little bizarre - it's one of the oldest schools in town, many things were in a state of disrepair, and nothing in my classroom worked properly, though it may just be that no one knows how to work them and my lack of Korean prevents me from trying. I'm anxious for my teaching to begin, but I think I'll be a little better off after hearing about Shannon's day.
That's all for today, I think my fingertips are starting to sweat, so I should go take another shower perhaps. I'll be back with an update on how school went, as well as whether we can ever remove that smell from the kitchen.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Stereotypical Stereotypes
The oddities of this country are definitely starting to become more and more apparent. There are so many times that things here seem almost like home, then suddenly it reverts back to the stereotypical asian culture that people are so familiar with.
Shannon and I have made a few trips to downtown Gwanju now, a city of 1.4 million people. On our first walk into the edge of town, we nearly got a guy killed. This poor Korean guy was trying to cross the road, when he caught sight of us and started staring at the two strange foreigners behind him. An oncoming car came within a few feet of tearing his legs out from under him, after which I'm fairly sure the driver took a moment to gawk at us as well.
The city here is like a giant amusment park without any rides. Lights are flashing at you from every direction, there 101 different pop- and techno-music songs always within earshot, and billboards assault your English skills with strange slogans like "Happy Awesome 100" or "Ace Perfect". It's never really wrong, it just feels so far from being right.
The food is definitely something that will either take some getting used to or simply have to be avoided. The vegetarians in our orientation group are having a bit of a struggle finding full meals to eat while maintaining a bit of diversity in their diet. If you can handle Kimchi - pickled vegetables in hot pepper sauce - you're in okay shape, but if not there's not a lot of options. Yesterday they served us a western dinner in the restaurant we eat at for orientation. It looked promising at first, with a plain salad and clam chowder soup served to us. But the main course was a bit of a disaster. Again, vegetarians were hung out to dry after being served with a big hunk of steak. There was a baked potato to go with it fortunately, but it seems the cook mixed up "sour cream" with "whipped cream". That was by far the sweetest potato I've ever eaten.
Our orientation is going well, though from all the stories I'd heard about teaching overseas, this seems above and beyond what you go through with any other group. Steve (my step-brother for non-family members reading this) spent six months in Taipai teaching English, and from what he told me it sounded as though his job was more to look pretty, play games and teach the occassional phrase for the kids to repeat back to their parents. Teaching was left to the Taiwanese teacher, and their wasn't really any work to it. It seems that Korean children are worked half to death at school, and while English class is a chance to take it easy and not have tests, they are still required to follow the lesson plan and ciricullum we work with and behave in class lest they get a whack with the stick. Each class requires a lesson plan put together by us, and there's a growing movement in the Korean school system to have good English teachers, as the slackers and babysitters of the past few years have started to upset the system that demands so much from the children.
I've finally found out about the school I'll be teaching at. I'll save writing about it in great detail till I actually see and experience it, but I've found out that there are no English speakers at the school and that I have no co-teacher to aid me in classes and living in Mokpo. This could prove challenging, though Shannon's co-teacher said she would help out where ever she can. By next Monday, I should know what it will be like, so I'll be sure to write again after then.
Shannon and I have made a few trips to downtown Gwanju now, a city of 1.4 million people. On our first walk into the edge of town, we nearly got a guy killed. This poor Korean guy was trying to cross the road, when he caught sight of us and started staring at the two strange foreigners behind him. An oncoming car came within a few feet of tearing his legs out from under him, after which I'm fairly sure the driver took a moment to gawk at us as well.
The city here is like a giant amusment park without any rides. Lights are flashing at you from every direction, there 101 different pop- and techno-music songs always within earshot, and billboards assault your English skills with strange slogans like "Happy Awesome 100" or "Ace Perfect". It's never really wrong, it just feels so far from being right.
The food is definitely something that will either take some getting used to or simply have to be avoided. The vegetarians in our orientation group are having a bit of a struggle finding full meals to eat while maintaining a bit of diversity in their diet. If you can handle Kimchi - pickled vegetables in hot pepper sauce - you're in okay shape, but if not there's not a lot of options. Yesterday they served us a western dinner in the restaurant we eat at for orientation. It looked promising at first, with a plain salad and clam chowder soup served to us. But the main course was a bit of a disaster. Again, vegetarians were hung out to dry after being served with a big hunk of steak. There was a baked potato to go with it fortunately, but it seems the cook mixed up "sour cream" with "whipped cream". That was by far the sweetest potato I've ever eaten.
Our orientation is going well, though from all the stories I'd heard about teaching overseas, this seems above and beyond what you go through with any other group. Steve (my step-brother for non-family members reading this) spent six months in Taipai teaching English, and from what he told me it sounded as though his job was more to look pretty, play games and teach the occassional phrase for the kids to repeat back to their parents. Teaching was left to the Taiwanese teacher, and their wasn't really any work to it. It seems that Korean children are worked half to death at school, and while English class is a chance to take it easy and not have tests, they are still required to follow the lesson plan and ciricullum we work with and behave in class lest they get a whack with the stick. Each class requires a lesson plan put together by us, and there's a growing movement in the Korean school system to have good English teachers, as the slackers and babysitters of the past few years have started to upset the system that demands so much from the children.
I've finally found out about the school I'll be teaching at. I'll save writing about it in great detail till I actually see and experience it, but I've found out that there are no English speakers at the school and that I have no co-teacher to aid me in classes and living in Mokpo. This could prove challenging, though Shannon's co-teacher said she would help out where ever she can. By next Monday, I should know what it will be like, so I'll be sure to write again after then.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Day 1 - Sort of...
To title this as day 1 is a bit misleading, as it's now Monday in Korea, and we left Saturday from Calgary. However, two days of travelling have finally taken us to our temporary residence in Gwanju, South Korea, capital of the province Jeollanamdo (which I believe can also be referred to as simply "Jeollanam").
Travelling here was long, but of course I guess that's inevitable when going overseas. The fact that Shannon and I were up till the time we had to leave for the airport on our depature day (4am), cleaning and moving out of the house, didn't help our ability to travel at all - we both slept on the one hour flight from Calgary to Seattle, which left us nearly incapacitated and unable to function at all once we arrived, forcing us to sit down for 10 or 20 minutes before even trying to find the correct gate for our next flight, and then curling up in a corner to sleep on the floor for the next three hours.
The flight from Seattle to Gwanju was delayed for an hour and a half. At the time I really didn't mind this at all, I had started reading the Lonely Planet travel guide for Korea, Shannon was sleeping, so a little extra time to enjoy the ample leg room was appreciated. 11 hours later however, when it dawned on us we were going to miss our connecting flight to Gwanju, I wasn't so pleased with the delay. We tried to make a mad dash from Incheon airport to the domestic, Gimpo airport, but even with the effciency of the Korean shuttle drivers, we were much too late (until now I'd never even heard of an airport shuttle that didn't wait for 20 minutes after loading your bags then make 8 or 9 stops before leaving the airport to go to your hotel or other location. We had hardly sat down before this one peeled out of the airport and drove straight to where we needed to be).
Shannon and I seem to be travelling very well together, though we have a very different way of going about things, especially when it comes to language barriers. I get a little embarrassed at not speaking the language of the country I'm in, and I don't like the expectation that it seems so many English speaking people have that other countries should all speak English. So, I mutter, stammer, and have so far avoided conversation with a lot of gestures, pointing and, welll... getting Shannon to speak. She's to the point, persistent, and while at times bordering on rude, she gets the job done. So when we couldn't find the shuttle for the hotel we now had to stay in, I tried to go back and ask where and when it was coming. Of course, every Korean lady who I see looked the same, I couldn't find the lady we spoke with before, no one knew what i was talking about it seemed, and I quickly left, a touch embarrassed. Shannon returned to talk to them all a moment later, and the entire group of women had a good laugh as she came to do the job I just failed so badly at.
We're in Gwanju now, after catching a connecting flight the next morning. Shannon is ill already, though we're not sure from what as we've both eaten all the same foods so far. We started our teacher orientation today (boring!) and she had to leave at least 3 times to be sick in the bathroom. She says she's a little better now, hopefully that's the case.
Some interesting things I've leanred so far:
Women's washrooms have an etiquette button - if you're going to be making "noises" while on the toilet, push it, and an array of chirping birds and ocean waves will ensure no one is the wiser.
Just because you order vegetables doesn't mean a pig didn't get cooked up and served with it.
There are people from Saskatchewan who have never been anywhere in the world except Saskatchewan. It's quite a mind-trip to meet one of them here in Korea (this girl is going to:
1) see the mountains for the first time
2) see the ocean for the first time
3) see another country for the first time
and all of this on the same trip. You'd think a person would take some baby-steps, but hey, why not just throw yourself into it all like this.
Well, I think I just fried my power adapter, which could quickly become a giant pain if I can't get another one. But for the moment, I'll have to get off it before the battery dies, so this brings an end to my first blog ever. Lee, this has been done on your request so I hope you've enjoyed it!
Rich
Travelling here was long, but of course I guess that's inevitable when going overseas. The fact that Shannon and I were up till the time we had to leave for the airport on our depature day (4am), cleaning and moving out of the house, didn't help our ability to travel at all - we both slept on the one hour flight from Calgary to Seattle, which left us nearly incapacitated and unable to function at all once we arrived, forcing us to sit down for 10 or 20 minutes before even trying to find the correct gate for our next flight, and then curling up in a corner to sleep on the floor for the next three hours.
The flight from Seattle to Gwanju was delayed for an hour and a half. At the time I really didn't mind this at all, I had started reading the Lonely Planet travel guide for Korea, Shannon was sleeping, so a little extra time to enjoy the ample leg room was appreciated. 11 hours later however, when it dawned on us we were going to miss our connecting flight to Gwanju, I wasn't so pleased with the delay. We tried to make a mad dash from Incheon airport to the domestic, Gimpo airport, but even with the effciency of the Korean shuttle drivers, we were much too late (until now I'd never even heard of an airport shuttle that didn't wait for 20 minutes after loading your bags then make 8 or 9 stops before leaving the airport to go to your hotel or other location. We had hardly sat down before this one peeled out of the airport and drove straight to where we needed to be).
Shannon and I seem to be travelling very well together, though we have a very different way of going about things, especially when it comes to language barriers. I get a little embarrassed at not speaking the language of the country I'm in, and I don't like the expectation that it seems so many English speaking people have that other countries should all speak English. So, I mutter, stammer, and have so far avoided conversation with a lot of gestures, pointing and, welll... getting Shannon to speak. She's to the point, persistent, and while at times bordering on rude, she gets the job done. So when we couldn't find the shuttle for the hotel we now had to stay in, I tried to go back and ask where and when it was coming. Of course, every Korean lady who I see looked the same, I couldn't find the lady we spoke with before, no one knew what i was talking about it seemed, and I quickly left, a touch embarrassed. Shannon returned to talk to them all a moment later, and the entire group of women had a good laugh as she came to do the job I just failed so badly at.
We're in Gwanju now, after catching a connecting flight the next morning. Shannon is ill already, though we're not sure from what as we've both eaten all the same foods so far. We started our teacher orientation today (boring!) and she had to leave at least 3 times to be sick in the bathroom. She says she's a little better now, hopefully that's the case.
Some interesting things I've leanred so far:
Women's washrooms have an etiquette button - if you're going to be making "noises" while on the toilet, push it, and an array of chirping birds and ocean waves will ensure no one is the wiser.
Just because you order vegetables doesn't mean a pig didn't get cooked up and served with it.
There are people from Saskatchewan who have never been anywhere in the world except Saskatchewan. It's quite a mind-trip to meet one of them here in Korea (this girl is going to:
1) see the mountains for the first time
2) see the ocean for the first time
3) see another country for the first time
and all of this on the same trip. You'd think a person would take some baby-steps, but hey, why not just throw yourself into it all like this.
Well, I think I just fried my power adapter, which could quickly become a giant pain if I can't get another one. But for the moment, I'll have to get off it before the battery dies, so this brings an end to my first blog ever. Lee, this has been done on your request so I hope you've enjoyed it!
Rich
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