Boseong

On Thursday and Friday, we had a teachers' workshop thingymajiggy in Boseong, which is known for its green tea. That is what this above picture is of. Yup yup! Surrounded by fields of green tea! I love it! Anyhoo, the workshop thingy made up two days; the first day was classes, about 4 of them, and then afterwards there was an activity of your choosing - either a hot seat tournament or a pub quiz. I opted for the pub quiz because I didn't know what the hot seat tournament would entail. In the end, I found out it was a taboo style game, which could've been fun. The classes I took were pretty much useless. I learned from people who haven't been teaching for long, or if they have, it didn't show. Not to say that the workshop was all a waste, I did found some things valuable. During the first day, we had a break time of about 1.5 hours and Maggie and I decided to go bike riding...tandem bike riding. I sat in the back because of the front seat was too high for me and the back seat was too low for her, haha. We were riding through the rice paddy fields and we were going rather fast at one point and my foot slipped off the pedal and it kept spinning and hitting the back of my leg. At first, I was like, "Ow, ow!" but I just kept riding, it was OK. Then after several seconds, I was like, we have to stop, this hurts way too much. I looked at my leg and my skin was falling off and there was a little blood. It was horrible, but I was able to ride back to our accommodations. By the time I got there, it was pretty painful, but we had a class to go to. We weren't late though because it started late. Then we had to go to a FAQ session, which was alright. I saw our coordinator and I asked if there was a nurse because I didn't want my injury to get infected. Then I got led to the lobby and there was a first aid kit and a couple ladies helped me disinfect it and they put some sort of gel on it..without gloves. That was a bit strange. After that, my leg was just in pain. I had to limp around because the skin was taut and would hurt when I walked. It has since bruised and started to heal, though I think my leg is still swollen. Blah.




Anyways, on the second day of this workshop, we had cultural experiences! My favorite! We went to the green tea fields first. It was an amazing sight! So gorgeous! There was a little bit of a hike and I endured the pain in my leg to try to get as high as I could. I didn't make it all the way to the top because it was starting to rain, but I made it to the second highest point (I think). It was still beautiful. We also had green tea ice cream. I've had it before, but it was a nice treat after the short hike.




After the green tea fields, we went to Songgwangsa, which is a temple. In my experience, after you've been to one temple in Korea, you've practically been to them all. They're all just so similar to one another. However, this one has definitely been my favorite because it actually looks old whereas the other temples look very restored. However, this one is in the process of being restored, I think. At least some parts of it I saw some scaffolds and stuff. A couple of almost-monks also gave us a little information tour around the place. That was really nice. I learned a lot about Buddhism from that.

I have my Korean test soon! Tuesday! EEP! I'm first!!!!! Wish me luck!

한국어 공부 해요... 시험있어요!!

Okie dokie, I've got a few updates....

I went to a foreigner/native dinner last weekend. I was super duper late, but it didn't matter because everyone was broken off into their little groups. It was Jarrod, Sonia, Okailey, and a Korean at our table. She was actually one of Okailey's student's mom. Such a small world! We had coffee with her afterwards and we plan on meeting up again soon. I definitely want to go to another one of these dinners to meet more Koreans who can speak English. I invited my co-teacher along as well and she seemed reluctant. She doesn't feel confident with her English, but she's so good! I'm definitely dragging her along next time!




Jarrod, Sonia, and I recently went to Gwangju Park. I saw it in one of my tourist books and it looked rather nice, so we went. It was a way's away, and it wasn't that worth it. We had a mini snack picnic and it wasn't even scenic. At least now I know. However, there was a 5-story pillar thingy. It has some sort of history behind it. Before we went to Gwangju Park, Jarrod and I had to wait for Sonia to arrive, so we went to the Confucian Temple across the way. It was really nice and the volunteer there was really informative. It was a really nice place...such a historic place. It's about 200 years old, I think he said.


Oh! The day before that, I had gone to Mudeungsan by myself. I wanted to go hiking and see Wonhyosa Temple. Jarrod was

supposed to come, but he got out of school late that Saturday. It took me about an hour or an hour and a half to arrive there. I thought it would be a bit of a hike to the temple, but it only took me about 5 minutes because it was really close to where I got dropped off from the bus. That place was gorgeous. It was amazing. I even did a little praying there. I saw it and I thought, "My mom would want me to pray here." It was really nice! After that, I wanted to do some hiking, but it was just paved road connected to more paved roads. Not even a narrow paved road...it was a huge cement road where 2 lanes of cars could drive comfortably. It was not the type of hiking I wanted. I decided to walk it anyway because I had taken so much time to get there. I found a little dirt path and decided to venture off the asphalt. It was really narrow and my legs were being brushed by plants that I continually wished was not poison ivy/something I was allergic to because I didn't bring my antihistamines (though I did find them later in my bag!). As I was walking, I was so in love with the nature. It was amazing to be surrounded by all the green. I was also hearing rustling noises from afar..maybe some birds or small animals. I continued walking along...then I heard a rustle from right next to me! It freaked me out and I let out a girly scream! I would've been embarrassed if people were on this trail; thank goodness no one was there. Then I hurried back because I was hearing a storm coming my way and decided to go back home. That was when I went to the native/foreigner dinner...

Oh last week, Jarrod, Sonia, and I went to Chosun University because they were having a rose festival there. It was cool, but nothing too spectacular. Just like any other rose garden you've ever been to. It was nice though..


Next week, I have my Korean test!! We had the drawing today to see the order in which we are to be tested...and I got lucky #1 out of 17! O_O I'm a bit nervous. Why couldn't I have gotten #2??? Meh, I'll be OK! It won't be the end of the world, and I think I can do pretty decently...I hope! "I'll keep my fingers crossed" as my students would say.

Tomorrow, I will be on my way to a workshop thingy with all the other March/April teachers as well as the September teachers. We are going to Boseong, which is known for their green tea. I'm really excited to be meeting all the other teachers; there are a lot of people I have yet to meet, so it'll be nice! I'm not even looking at this like it's a workshop, it's more like a vacation/getaway.

AND Sonia just purchased our tickets today to see USHER in concert on July 3rd in Seoul!! I'm excited! It cost me a pretty penny, but it's alright! It's his first time playing in Seoul, so I decided that I shouldn't miss it! It'll be killer!

Slippers only @ work?

I think I've mentioned this before, but when you arrive at work, you change into your work slippers. No more heels for you, lady. Put on those slippers! These are meant to be worn only in school. Or at least that's what I thought. However, over the past several months, I have seen the other teachers walk outside, in the dirt and rain and all, to get to the cafeteria, then back into the school again. That defeats the purpose of even wearing these slippers. They're getting dirty when you walk outside. Don't you want to keep the school clean? Isn't that why you have this slipper rule?

I have accepted that we have to walk outside to get to the cafeteria. It would be too much of a hassle to have to change into your regular shoes every single time you leave the main building. So, I thought, these slippers are only meant for the campus grounds. This is also not the case. The other day, my co-teacher and one of the adminstrative dudes came to my apartment during lunchtime. As we left the main building, they didn't change their slippers! I asked, "Don't we have to change our shoes?" My co-teacher said, "You can if you want to." I felt wrong, so I changed into my regular shoes. They walked allll the way to my apartment, 5 minutes away, on the STREETS. Now, that really boggles my mind! These slippers are meant for school, not outside street walking! Why don't we just wear regular shoes then??

TGIF!

The dinner with my coteacher and the HOTET wasn't too bad. She was bearable. She had a list of things to talk to me about. She gave me some teaching tips and told me of some upcoming things that I'm gonna have to do at school, like "interviews". I'm gonna have to talk to the kids! If they can hold a conversation with me, then I give them some sort of certificate. I'm actually quite excited for it. I would like to talk to these kids more on a one-on-one basis, but that is simply impossible in our regular classes with 40 students in each class. So this is gonna be great, though I'm only going to be talking to about 40 students...whoever signs up to do this. I don't have to do all 900+ students, but I wouldn't mind!

In other news, it is World Cup season and if you don't already know, soccer is one of Korea's loves. Koreans live and breathe soccer! I watched their first match at a bar in downtown, Speakeasy. It was pretty good. I've never watched so much soccer in my life. I just never got into it, which is strange because I love all types of sports. Korea beat Greece in that match, 2-0. After that, we went to Bubble Bar for some dancing. I was gonna go home around 2 am, but somehow ended up back at Speakeasy for the USA-England match at 3am. I got super sleepy, so I left at halftime to sleep!

Last night was the Korea vs. Argentina game. I had Korean class but we were let out early because of the game. My teacher was so funny; she was like, "Class is over!!" and then she started rushing to pack up her things and she stormed out of the classroom! Koreans love their soccer, I tell you. Anyways, I watched the game at Jeonnam University, which is where my Korean class is. The game was projected onto a white screen and there were A LOT of people there to watch the game. Lots of lit up red horns and red shirts. When Korea made their first and only goal, everyone simultaneously stood up and started cheering. It was an amazing thing to experience! Such national pride!

I am so glad it is Friday. The week was pretty good; my classes went well. I need to learn how to manage my time in class. We always run out of time for the game. Well, actually, we just have too little time for the game. Class always ends very soon into the game. It's a shame because I really want the kids to play! I really like my students SO much! They keep me wanting to go to school! I hope I keep them wanting to go to school. :)

HOTET Hate

Sooo, y'all already know that I don't like the HOTET. Well, last Thursday, she came and hijacked my after-school-class when I still had half an hour left. I guess I didn't mind; it meant I didn't have to teach. haha Anyways, she talked to them for the remainder of the class and I didn't understand a word she said, but a couple students nearby told me that she was talking about how summer school would be working. Something about a night class and a day class...4 hours a day...I'm still not sure and the HOTET hasn't even told ME anything. But I have dinner with her today, so maybe she'll inform me about my work schedule. That would be nice..the teacher knowing before the students. Oh, only in a perfect world. Anyways, after she talked to them, she talked to me and said, "Sorry, but I have to check your class because the principal has been complaining about the high number of absences." Then she said that my satisfaction rate is 20%. I asked her, "What does that mean?" and she said, "Well, the total is 100%." Oh, really? I didn't know that, you freaken moron. Then I asked, "What is it based on?" and I think she said the students or something...because they want more games. Blah blah blah. I already know that. In Korea, you're not supposed to talk back to people higher than you, but since I am already not fond of her, I did, but in the most polite way I could possibly do it. I said, "You have to understand that the material you give me is REALLY boring. REALLY. BORING." Then I had a packet that I was teaching that day and I pointed to it, "This is REALLY boring. I get bored! I would rather not teach this stuff, but I have to because you guys said I have to." Then more blah blah, and I said, "Tell me how to make this fun" and I handed her the packet. She looked at it for a good 30 seconds in silence. Then I said, "Yeah, it's really boring." Then she said, "Well, like I said, you can use more pictures." Oh great, the solution to all my problems - pictures. Yes, that'll do the trick, I'm SURE. Ugh, she's such a know-it-all and I hate people like that. It's so annoying. We'll see how dinner goes tonight. EEK!

Koreans and Kimchi

If you've ever been to Korea (and you are a foreigner), chances are that you have been asked, "Do you like kimchi?" Korea is known for their kimchi. That is their national food. All Koreans must like kimchi, right? During the couple months that I've been eating lunch in the school cafeteria, I've noticed that all the other teachers would always put kimchi on their tray. Always. Even if it's just one slice of cabbage. I have also noticed that at the end of their meal, they haven't taken one bite out of that kimchi. They just throw it out! My hypothesis is that Koreans don't really like kimchi at all. Younger kids would say, "I don't like kimchi" but that's just their youth speaking. Koreans are all about saving face. How could a Korean NOT like kimchi? They must say that they like it even if they don't. As for me, I am not a big fan of cabbage kimchi, but I love radish kimchi and sesame leaf kimchi!

retrospectacles

So much has happened since my Busan trip. Let’s see…one night, Okailey, Jarrod, Sonia, and I stayed out until the wee-wee hours of the morning. We had “breakfast” at around 5 or 6 am. No, we didn’t have pancakes or waffles. We had some grilled chicken and beer at a restaurant downtown. Okailey had snagged her (and all of us!) a sugar daddy for the night/morning. I didn’t particularly have a good first, second, or third impression of this guy. He was talking about how he kills people. No no, he doesn’t kill them. He tells his “lawyer” that he doesn’t like someone and the “lawyer” somehow gets these people killed. Don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t like killing people, he said. It also turns out that this guy had a girlfriend!!! And he was kissing up on all the girls in the club, including me! Well, he didn’t KISS ME, KISS ME, he kissed the side of my head. Gross. Omigosh, this guy was a complete moron, but I couldn’t say anything to his face because, well, he paid for everyone’s meal. Anyways, I got home around 7 or 8 that morning after a very long bus ride home. I didn’t feel like taking the subway even though it would be faster because I would’ve had to walk 15 minutes to get back to my place. It was way too cold to be doing that. It was also way too early and I was way too sleepy. I would’ve collapsed and slept on the side of the road. After this night, I said that I would never do this again. Then, the following weekend, I did the same thing, but I got home after noon, about 1230pm. Granted, I did sleep for several hours at Sonia’s place. Oh yeah, and this was after sitting on some guy’s roof just chatting and seeing the sun rise from 430 to 530am. We were all getting sleepy, so we went to Sonia’s and I was gonna stay awake and wait for the bus, but a little before 6, my eyes grew heavy and I had to sleep. I hate going out late because it ruins the next day for me. I just sleep the entire day and/or am groggy and lazy.

Last weekend, Okailey and Jarrod went to Seoul, so Sonia and I went to Family Land because I am her mom and she is my daughter. Family Land is an amusement park and I thought it would be silly to go, but it was my idea to go anyway just to check it out. It was rather expensive for such a tiny park. It was 24,000 won for full access to everything in the park. You can ride the rides as many times as you want and take the train to and from the entrance. It sounded pretty good, so we got that one. There were also tickets that were limited, like you can only ride 5 rides. Anyways, we go into the park and I realized that the rides were SOOO kiddish. They were not fast, not scary, not tall, not anything. Basically, it would be fun for anyone under 8 years old. However, there were a few VERY scary ones. There was one ride called Chaos, and boy was it anything but pure! At first, it wasn’t scary, but once you get rocked back and forth and you’re facing the ground from a seemingly high altitude, it is ridiculous scary and adrenaline rushing. It made me sick too.

Then the next ride was called Dragon Chaser. It was a roller coaster and it lasts about 10 seconds. It’s sooo fast, barely any ride. The wait for the roller coaster to start is even longer. Speaking of waits, there are virtually NO lines at this park. Maybe because it’s so kiddish, no one goes. You just walk right through and you’re at the ride, get in, and go. There was also a water ride, a log ride, like the one at Knott’s Berry Farm back home. I love that ride. We went on it a couple times. We only went on 3 rides for a total of 6 times. We had to get our money’s worth! We had to ride more than 5 times! haha We went on Chaos once, Dragon Chaser 3 times, and the log ride 2 times.
The rides were kiddish, but Sonia wasn’t feeling too good after the first time we rode the Dragon Chaser. She even paid the restroom a visit for a little bit of toilet hugging. After we finished the last ride, it started sprinkling a little bit. Then it started to rain. Then it started to pour. Then it started to MONSOON! Omigosh, the rains here are freaken crazy. Sonia and I got stuck at a GS25 in front of the park. We wanted to get snacks so we went there. As we were shopping around, we looked outside and were in complete and utter shock at how the rains had gotten worse. We got an umbrella and left to the bus stop. By then, the rains had subsided and during my hour long bus ride home, it had stopped completely…only to start again later that night.


Totally out of order, but it was also a couple of our April EPIK teachers’ birthdays recently – Austin & Joe’s. For Austin’s, we went to a couple bars and ended the night at a noraebang. We hadn’t gone to a noraebang in a while, so it was long overdue. For Joe’s birthday, we met up at Tequilaz, had some food, had some drinks, then it was off to Pump. There, I met some other EPIK teachers from September. I even met someone from UCLA! It was great! It was rare for me to meet anyone from California, let alone Southern California, let alone the same school! He even graduated the same year and we have mutual friends! It really is a small world after all. After Pump, some of us headed to Bubble Bar. It was pretty empty because it was a Tuesday night and everyone was at Pump. It was nice to have some space in there though. It also wasn’t as stuffy and hot as it usually is. I hate that about Bubble Bar. Oh yeah, this was the night I got home after noon.

In other news, I bought a bike and got new glasses. My bike is nice, but I like my bike at home more. When I left the store, I was riding it and I realized that it was way too small for me. I was thinking, “Oh crap, I wonder if I can return it right now.” I stopped, sat on the side of the sidewalk, and started to adjust the handlebars and seat. It worked! It fits me! However, I think that it’s hard to control. The bike is all over the place, not very stable. I don’t like that because I can’t ride without any hands or else I’d fall on my face. The roads here are also very bad and bumpy, so it’s tough to ride. And the drivers here are crazy! I almost got killed when I rode the bike home. For real. The brakes on this bike are different than the one I have at home, so I wasn’t quite used to it at that time, but it was still the driver’s fault because they didn’t look.

As for my new glasses, I went back to my old thick black frames. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I had to take the eye exam in Korean. Thank goodness I learned my numbers! However, there was one part on the test where there was a red box and a green box. I thought she was asking me which box looked clearer so that’s how I answered. I still don’t know what the question was though. My glasses aren’t as clear as I’d like them to be, but I can still see. It’s just not as sharp when I look far away. Maybe I have astigmatism. The eye exams here are FREE, but I can see why. They’re not as extensive as the ones back home. They last about 2 minutes whereas the ones at home are like 5 minutes. “One or two? One or two? One or two? One or two?”

So, summer vacation is coming up soon…in less than 2 months. In my contract, it says I should get a total of 18 days official vacation for both summer and winter vacations. Usually it is broken up where you get 8 days for summer and 10 for winter. I decided to go with the usual breakdown and take 8 days for summer. My co-teacher asked me how many days I wanted. I told her and then later on in the day, the HOTET asked me as well. I told her and we were looking at a calendar and she proceeded to count 8 days, INCLUDING WEEKENDS. Oh no she didn’t! I decided NOT to bite my tongue and said, “I don’t think weekends count.” and she said, “In Korea, we can count the weekends as part of our vacation.” That pissed me off and I didn’t say anything and I didn’t look at her or anything. I really hate her. A LOT. She gets on my last nerves. Today, my co-teacher asked me when I wanted to take vacation. I told her the date and she counted the weekends as well. I told her that the weekends don’t count, but she put it in the system as including weekends and counting 8 days. If you’re going to count the effing weekend, then count it as 6 days, not 8. Omigosh, it pisses me off that they’re trying to rip me off of my vacation time. Seriously? If I’m not on vacation, I have to come to school and just SIT HERE and do what? NOTHING! Why are you wasting my time? It makes no sense. I hate the HOTET, and she wants to have dinner on Monday. Ugh. I can’t say no. I hate their system. SO much.