November: Let's recap, shall we?

Well, this month, like all other months, flew by. There have been some big developments in November, though.

I had my golden birthday last week, which I was pleasantly surprised had not been forgotten. I didn't forget it, of course, but some of my students actually remembered it as well (I guess I mentioned it at the beginning of the semester). So I got surprised with a cake, and I had a few dinners with different people of the course of the week to celebrate. It was pretty sweet, as in precious and as in cool.

Finishing the week of big dinners was a Thanksgiving celebration that I had with some of the exchange students from Dallas Baptist University and some Korean students. We were able to have the dinner in the DBU students' friends' apartment, which was huge and immaculate. And it had a full kitchen (which the three guys living there never use--what a waste) that I was jealous of. We tried to get a turkey (I wrote a question to Ask the Expat about it--you can read the reply here), but weren't able to, so we just had chicken. But we were able to make mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing, and some other things, and we actually got pie! Yummm.

I have joined not one, but two choirs this month. I'm singing most of Handel's Messiah with a newly formed community choir, and it is awesome. Being in a choir has filled a major void in my life here. Singing is one of the most natural things to me, so I really missed the opportunity to share it with other people. There are a lot of cool people in the choir, too. Many people my age, also teaching English, also interested in music. I've also gotten to like Indian food (maybe I just didn't give it enough of a chance before, maybe my tastes have changed), and tried hookah with some of them. The hookah was kind of nice and not really like smoking, which I don't care for. Probably the nicest thing about it, though, was the fact that the hookah bar was much quieter than a bar bar, so we could actually talk.

Korean classes are going well. My private tutor is leaving for Brazil (!) next year, but I think I'll be able to find a new conversation partner once she leaves. My speaking is starting to get decent. My Korean students tell me I have good pronunciation, but there is so much that I want to say that I don't know how to say. Plus, my listening comprehension is terrible. I need more listening practice for sure.

It's slowly getting colder here. Actually, the temperature outside has yet to catch up with the temperature in the classroom buildings here. This is a Korean thing that many Westerners complain about: during all times of the year, Korean schools leave their doors completely open, and sometimes the windows, too. The classrooms are individually heated, but once you step out of them, you'd better wear your coat or you'll at least be cutting glass. Anyway. . .

I've discovered some new Korean foods I really like. Actually, both of them are soups, and one of them is really Japanese. The Japanese one is shabu-shabu, which is kind of like a make-your-own soup. You sit at a table with a burner on it, and then you heat up a pot of water on the burner in front of you. Then, you put thinly sliced meat and vegetables in the boiling water. It's fun to see the meat cook in front of you. The broth gets really delicious by the end, and you put yummy noodles in at the end as well. I think I'm going to be eating that a lot this winter. The other soup (actually Korean) is kalguksu (칼국수), another noodle soup with some seafood in it. It's actually savory, not spicy like most Korean foods. And I do love savory. A resturant just outside the front gate of LTU makes this soup for a pretty cheap price, so I might be sick of kalguksu by the end of winter, too. Unlikely. I freaking love soup.

Let's see, what else . . . this is the last week of university classes. Finals are next week. I have one more week of kids and TESOL classes after that, and I cannot wait for a break from the kids. I'm getting tired, they're getting tired, and I think they're listening to me less these days. I also have one class where one of the students is the odd one out or something. He's always in conflicts with the other kids, or the other kids pick on him. So I'm trying different ways to deal with that. I don't want to draw attention to the conflicts, so today when I came in and he was crying, I tried to give the other students a game to play while I talked to him and the boy he was fighting with separately and quietly. It's hard to mediate a conflict with a language barrier, but I think it worked semi-decently today. I like the kids, but I'm finding that I like them better individually than as a whole class. Any other teachers/mentors care to comment on this?

I have a full break in less than three weeks, and most of my family will be here in four weeks! Yaaaaayyyy!

Pepero Day

So, today is Pepero Day. Pepero is a kind of cookie. It's not that great, actually. It's kind of a very skinny and flavorless cookie stick halfway dipped in chocolate. Some of you might have had it before, of have had the Japanese brand, Pocky.

Anyway, Pepero day is a holiday invented by the company that makes Pepero (or by some girls at a middle school in Busan, according to Wikipedia), and it is November eleventh, because: 11/11 looks like four Pepero sticks. Right?! And you celebrate this holiday by: buying a lot of Pepero and giving it to people. Only, it just becomes a big swap because everyone else does the same thing.

So . . . kind of pointless holiday. About the same as Valentine's day, except more exclusively for kids.

And that was Wednesday.

Also, I'm super excited, because I'm going to have a voice lesson on Friday! I've had time recently to think about how much I've neglected my voice, and then I really tried to sing in a choir and actually heard how much I've been neglecting my voice. It's possible that my voice has atrophied, and I was really sad and worried about that for a couple of days.

But then, I was trying to find choirs to sing with online, and I ended up looking on craigslist and finding a voice teacher through it, and scheduling a lesson. He seems pretty cool so far. He's got great credentials (even appearing on the "Slutty Pumpkin" episode of How I Met Your Mother!). I'll probably wait for a few lessons to ask him if he met NPH.

I'm getting my voice back! It's a Pepero Day miracle!

This is not really about Korea, but . . .

I'm coming off high excitement from watching the season finale of Mad Men. It's always been a fantastic show, and last week's episode (surrounding the assassination of JFK) was honestly some of the best television I've ever seen. I don't know if this week's episode topped it, but I really loved it anyway. And it was the first time watching that show that I could actually say I felt gleeful. If you haven't watched the show, I'm not going to get into spoilers here, but I will say two things that made me totally happy: 1. Pete's wife Trudy is a character I've gotten to like more and more. She's just spunky, and a pretty strong person. She's probably the best person on that show. Unless, of course, that title really belongs to 2. Joan! I have missed Joan a lot this season. She hasn't been around much for the second half, and her storylines made me so sad. But, it looks like she'll get to be back in the spotlight for the next season, and I couldn't be happier. Oh, and one SPOILER: I just hope they work Sal back in as well.

Okay, that's all I'm going to say about Mad Men, since I don't know if most of you have even seen an episode of it before. I just had to get my glee down in words.

On something that a little more Korea-related, I'm going to get to celebrate Thanksgiving! Tonight, a few exchange students from Dallas, some Korean friends, and I decided to have our own Thanksgiving celebration. We're going to have it on Friday evening, though, since we don't get Thursday off, obviously. But I'm going to help cook the food! I'm pretty excited to find out what we can come up with here. A trip to CostCo is involved.

Stay tuned.

Short post (finally)

Tonight, I was watching the most recent episode of 30 Rock, which mentioned the Winter Olympics, and I realized that I would get to see the Olympics outside of the U.S.A.

That's kind of exciting.

Late-night thoughts

I really don't know what to write about right now, but I feel like I should put up some sort of update.

The semester is over halfway done! I really do feel a sense of it being downhill until winter break now. Which is sort of nice, but also kind of a trap that I shouldn't fall into.

I'm having a good time with the students here, and getting to know quite a few of them better. I actually went to a movie with my smallest class last Friday, and got to talk more one-on-one with the few who are more shy about speaking in class. I hope they'll be more comfortable with it now.

I, on the other hand, am still wary of my own skills speaking Korean. But I've been getting better since taking Korean conversation classes. I am understanding little by little the things that people say to me, and it's always cool when I can read something and understand it. I've got a long way to go, though, before I can carry on a conversation.

Things seem to be getting serious with the H1N1 virus. I've heard that Obama declared a state of national emergency in the U.S., and things are similar here. Apparently, the Korean Medical Association recommended that all schools be closed next week, but I haven't heard any follow-up on what the government had decided to do about that. I really hope that school doesn't get closed next week. It would be a big pain. We'd probably have to extend the semester for a week at the end, and I'd probably get stir crazy with no work to do for a whole week. I'd probably end up going to Seoul a lot and spending too much money.

Speaking of which, I saw two movies this weekend: District 9 and Inglourious Basterds (which finally got to South Korea this weekend!). I was particularly excited about the latter, and was not disappointed. However, I think I'll see it again before I form a full opinion on it. I haven't seen a Tarantino film in a while, but out of the ones I've seen, this one mashes up genres and conventions the most. And every time I watch one of his movies, I wish I knew a lot more about film than I do. I do love old WWII movies, and Inglourious Basterds had a lot of the fun, glorified violence of say, The Dirty Dozen, as well as the intensity and suspense of Where Eagles Dare. And no doubt countless other, maybe less obvious films provided inspiriation, probably more than the ones I mentioned. [Edit: I just read this quotation from Tarantino: "It's] my bunch-of-guys-on-a-mission film. [It's] myDirty Dozen or Where Eagles Dare or Guns of Navarone kind of thing." So, I guess I did get something.] But that's what I was able to see as influence, anyway. The nonviolent scenes of intense conversation were the best part of the film for me, particularly a confrontation in a basement tavern between a group of undercover Basterds and a Gestapo officer. Anyway, I'm rambing now, but it's late. And I should just leave this at that for now anyway, since I said I wasn't going to form an opinion now.

And I'm so tired, I can't even begin to talk about District 9, other than to say I thought it was good.

Okay. Going to beg. I mean, bed.

You have made some tremendous strides today

Heh, I want to watch some Arrested Development sometime.

I'm coming off a high from having a successful lesson today, as well as being almost done with classes for the week!

This was my first week of real classes. What's that you say? I thought you had class last week! Well, yes, last week was the official first week of classes. However, it's apparently a Thing in Korean colleges (or at least this one) that students don't think they have to come to the first class. You know, because it's just going over the syllabus and grading and other important stuff. Oo, do I sound bitter? That's not what I'm going for. Just sarcastic.

One of my classes was entirely absent the first day, and a few others only had two students show up. Other classes had more students, but by then, I wasn't expecting much, so I just planned for some introductory getting-to-know-you things and going over the syllabus. And then the students who came to those first classes seemed to expect more. So the first week was annoying.

This week also had it share of snafus, but it definitely taught me to be prepared for anything. The first class of the week, to which no one came last week, had eight more students in it than I had on my class registry. And no one in that class was actually on the list that I had. That taught me to just send around my own attendance list, and it's worked well ever since.

Another thing that has been a challenge has been planning for and having three-hour classes. Seriously. This is an unfortunate scheduling for everyone, really. It's one thing to have a three-hour lecture course. Not my choice, but I'd do it if I had to in college. But taking a three-hour class in a foreign language is a headache for the students. So by the third three-hour class (that's right, I have three of them), I think I've gotten to a decent place for planning and teaching. It's definitely going to take some more finessing, though.

So last week was the first week of classes, but this week was for reals. And next week, teaching kids' classes will be thrown into the mix! Woohoo!

I didn't do anything really cool last weekend, except for going to church in Seoul and having lunch with a couple new friends there. We went to a pretty decent Korean restaurant by church, and ate dolsot bibimbap, which is served in a hot stone dish. It was delicious, and pretty cool, because there's a raw egg in it that cooks in the dish when you mix it with all the other food.

Oh! And I went to Hongdae the weekend before that. I'm no night owl normally, but I met up with my friend from church, and we and her friends from her school stayed out all night. It was really exciting, actually. Hongdae is a popular night life spot because it's by a university. Like I said, I don't do night life much, so to me, it was amazing to be a part of that culture with so many other people. And there were a ton of people out. There were a lot of Korean college kids there, but also a lot of foreigners, and the energy and diversity of the place was awesome. I've only stayed out all night once or twice before, and it's something I wouldn't want to do very often (I felt pretty sick the next week), but it's a huge rush when I do.

This weekend, I'm going to have dinner with the English majors and some exchange students from Dallas Baptist University. On Saturday, I'm having a Korean dinner with my walking buddy/colleague, and she's actually going to teach me how to make it! I like kimbap, so I think we'll have that.

Phew. I think I've come off the high now. I wish I could just kick up my heels, but I'll have to wait until I'm done with my last class this evening. But maybe I can go for a mountain hike this afternoon.

Is summer over yet?

I'm feeling more comfortable with living and getting around now. A few successful trips to Seoul have straightened me out.

I can't wait for school to start, though. I always imagined that one of the perks of an educator's life was the extended breaks. This one was only two weeks, and maybe it's just because I'm new here, but I went through several days being pretty bored. When I think about the camp time, I know it was stressful, but it was really great to have a busy routine. I'm looking forward to that now.

When I'm not bored, I am:

-Planning for classes (although there are a lot of wrenches thrown into that . . . that's another post, though).

-Walking around my neighborhood, including the mountain trails next to campus.

-Going to Seoul to walk around

-Shopping for groceries/other necessities

I've also started walking around the soccer field on campus every night with the director of the TESOL program here. She's very kind, and even though we have to bring our dictionaries to communicate with my broken Korean/her broken English, the company is great.

Tonight, I'm going to meet up with a couple of American teachers in Seoul, and we're going to go to Hongdae, a university area, for some barhopping and noraebang (karaoke in your own room). I'm excited and nervous, 'cuz I don't dance . . . but there's a first time for everything. I'll let you know how it goes. I've also been warned of the dangers of soju.

Some small victories in the creature comforts department:

-I found fresh parmesan cheese the other day, and actually had a cheese grater in my apartment. The chicken parmesan I made with it is delicious!

-Two nights ago, I learned that How I Met your Mother is on at night here. I was so happy, I almost cried. I had to send imaginary hugs to NPH and Jason Segal. That is my comfort show!

This was awesome. Two days ago, I made a friend in the neighborhood. We were just walking down the sidewalk, and it was drizzling. This woman smiled at me and said, "We don't have umbrellas." And actually, I did have an umbrella, so we shared it and walked together. She lives in one of the apartment complexes in the neighborhood, and invited me to come over any time. I just thought it was so cool that a complete stranger opened up to me so genuinely. That's how most of the Koreans I've met are, actually. They are gracious and welcoming and generous. If you make a friend in Korea, many times they will have a small gift for you the next time you meet, like some fruit, or coffee, or anything that you've mentioned in passing that you need (that you plan to get yourself), or even something that they've just noticed you don't have and need. It's totally selfless, and it seems like it's just they way they naturally think. I really need to start treating people that way.

Classes begin on Monday, and I will probably soon be bemoaning how busy I am, haha. But for now, I say bring it on!

Korea 1, Susanna 0

Hehe, well, today I am defeated.

I got up this morning with the plan to go to Seoul to finally register at the U.S. embassy. I figured out the bus and subway routes the night before, and was feeling pretty good about taking on the Big City solo. All I had to do was to put some more money on my transit pass, which my guidebook told me I could do at a subway station, since there would be ATMs that take foreign cards.

The last part turned out to be not true. I had enough money to take the bus into Seoul, but when I got to the subway station, the ATMs weren't accepting my cards. A Korean woman stopped to help me, and she was very generous with her time. I think we were trying to figure out how to get me some transit money for about 15 minutes. Maybe 10. She finally, in another at of kindness, lent me 1000 won, in addition to the less-than-1000 won I had, to get me back to Yongin so I could start over. We exchanged e-mails after that, so I sort of made a friend from the whole thing. But by the time I was out of the station, it was too late to go the the embassy.

I decided to check out the area by the station, and by hilarious chance, I found an American Apparel store. Man, after trying to navigate the bus and subway systems and ATMs in Korean, I was so happy to see anything with "American" in the title. And that happiness transitioned to an impulse buy of a neat green dress that I think looks awesome on me.

With renewed confidence, I caught the bus to go back to Yongin, back home, where I knew where to find an ATM (which is kind of a long walk, otherwise I would've gone there this morning). Alas, the bus I caught was a slightly different route, the 5001 as opposed to the 5001-1. And so I ended up in an entirely different part of Yongin. For being a "small town," it sure has some sprawl.

At this point, I was on a bus going in a direction I had no idea about, in a place I had never seen, with no money left to use to take another bus. And I don't speak Korean. Luckily, I had my phrasebook with me, which if I hadn't had, who knows if I'd be home right now.

I eventually decided to get off the bus, since from what I could gather, it was moving away from the area I had the slightest familiarity with. Then it was phrasebook time. And if you have to get lost in a country where you don't speak the language, you could do a lot worse than Korea. The people were so patient with my broken Korean, and when I asked them for help, it was like they dropped everything to help me. I am so thankful to all of those strangers! To the girl in the convenience store who showed me the ATM and tried to figure it out with me when my card was rejected, and then pointed me in the direction of the bank. To the bank greeter, who told me where I could find a foreign exchange when my card didn't work at the bank ATM. And to the women at the Paris Baguette, where I bought a treat to break the 10,000 won I got at the ATM at the foreign exchange (finally). They told me what buses would take me back to the Shingal neighborhood where I live.

I had a lot of doubts about the bus that I got on, particularly because I have a hard time reading the stops and finding them on the route maps posted inside the buses. I think some of the stops must be left off on the maps, since their minor or something. I'm still getting used to hangul, Korean writing, as well. Anyway, the bus finally stopped at I place I definitely knew, and even though it was half a mile away from home, I wasn't going to take my chances that the bus would get any closer. And hey, I got more exercise in that way.

And hey, I just realized! The place where I got off the bus was where the ATM was that I could've used this morning. What an ironic twist!

Lessons learned: Be prepared before setting out for the day. Always bring the phrasebook. Always ask for directions. Get a map of Yongin. Learn more Korean.

I'm going back to Seoul for round two on Friday.

Reflection Time

This post may be a bit too teachery and self-referential for it to be interesting to most of you (except maybe the other teachers), but I'll try to paint some pictures so you don't feel left out. You can skip to the last two paragraphs if you want.

Camp is over! And as soon as it was, I felt like it had barely begun.

Working with kids is pretty fun, and I did learn a lot about it during the camp. I had one class that was easy to work with from the start--the smallest group (three boys and a girl), very smart, fun kids, who usually spoke English in class. They were my last class, so I always enjoyed finishing the day with them. These were kids who quickly caught on to how to do activities, who cracked jokes, and when they did speak Korean to each other, one of them would always translate to me what they said. They loved to play games, but also understood when it was time to work. Consequently, I loved to provide them with games to play.

My other three classes required a bit more experimentation with what worked. The two lower levels, I quickly discovered, had high energy levels that required lots of different activities, including physical. That was exhausting to plan, and to carry out, but the payoff was worth it, because it meant that all of the students were involved more of the time. I especially saw a change in my biggest class (eight students), who ranged from about age 9 to 11. Although that might have been Korean age, because to me they all looked 8 or 9. These kids were tiny, and still really cute. And for 11-year-olds, they were pretty squirrelly. I don't remember squirrelly when I was 11, but I do remember kids being annoying and bratty. That's not really important. The point is, I learned the importance of variety and energy with them. They also had a wide range of abilities, which I tried to balance by giving extra challenges to the kids at higher English levels. That worked to a short extent, but I'll probably have to keep working on that in the future. Any ideas, other teachers?

My highest-level class probably had the biggest range of abilities, and was also the toughest one to get through to. These were older kids, about 11 to 14 years old. Middle schoolers. Not really willing to do games or activities, hesitant to participate. And I think I finally started to figure them out in the last week, when I had them talk about Korean holidays. It was so simple, and it was what I had been taught to do, I can't believe I didn't do it in the first place. Basically, I had them teach me about themselves. Or talk to me about themselves. Gosh, they opened up so much more when it was about them! And I really mean that in a good way, haha. Man, I was following these textbook plans, and they had their value, but I just needed to tailor those plans so that the students led them.

Overall, I felt the camp was successful for me, and I especially felt this when we went on our field trip on Friday to the English Village. I could probably do a whole post about the English Village, but I'll do the skinny version, and the highlights of the day instead. The English Village is a sort of theme park set up like a country village in England, where Korean students go to do activities and play games and see presentations and plays all in English. I think a lot of the activities were a bit low for lots of our students' levels, but they all seemed to be having fun. The best part about it, though, was the bus ride over. I sat in a short bus with almost all of my students, and it was so much fun. It was like, the pressure was off, and the kids just wanted to talk to me in English for fun. If I could just duplicate that in the classroom, that would be golden. I also revealed the few Korean phrases I had learned, including "This is a _____," which opened the floodgate for, "Teacher! This (pointing) in Korean: haendu pon!" 

My favorite part of the whole day, though, was when we were getting on the buses to go back home. This little boy from my biggest class was rather shy and sensitive through the whole camp. He was resistant to talk, and would only answer questions when I asked him quietly and not in front of the class. Which is fine, but the whole day at the English Village, while he was walking around silently, he kept walking up to me, standing for a second with his mouth open, and walking away. Finally, as we were walking to the bus, I asked him how he was doing. He didn't say anything, and kept walking. A couple seconds later, he said softly (but loudly for him), "Hot. Happy." Best moment of the entire camp.

Written on Friday, posted on Tuesday

I have finally made good on my once-vague plans to move to Korea! I am teaching English at Luther Theological University (LTU) in the city of Yongin , about 45 minutes outside of Seoul.

I have been here since Tuesday, and I have been teaching since Wednesday! I am writing to you during my first real break since arriving, and I feel quite at peace right now.

My family came with me to the airport on Monday morning, where I boarded a plane to Chicago O'Hare to connect with Korean Air. The flight from Chicago to Seoul (Incheon) was over 13 hours. I have mentioned to several people that I hate airports and long flights, but this flight managed to be fairly relaxing. I got a few hours of half-sleep (which is the most that I can manage on a plane). The flight attendants were extremely gracious, and I even had some pleasant conversation with my seat neighbor, a man in the army stationed in Cheongju, I believe.

I got through customs easily, except for the fact that it was very difficult to wheel around my two large 50-lb suitcases. I was also able to find the bus I needed to take with no trouble. I took the "red line" to Suwon, a city neighboring Yongin. The ride was about an hour and twenty minutes, and I spent most of the time looking out the window. On the highways, the main features I noticed about Korea were lots of tree-covered hills and mountains, and lots of apartment complexes.

The Head of the English Department at LTU picked me up from Suwon at around 6:00. He took me to dinner for kalbitang, a soup with beef ribs in it. Very tasty. I also tried ddukguk, which is rice cake soup. Not rice cakes like we eat in the U.S., but more like chewy rice dumplings. I kinda like them, especially the texture.

I woke up at 6:30 on Wednesday, partly due to jet lag and partly to get more planning in. I met some of the other teachers at the ESL camp. There are Korean teachers, who teach only English classes like I do, and there are also American volunteers and another (American) professor at LTU teaching English classes as well as Bible classes to a different set of students than I have. I have a Korean teaching assistant who is very sweet and very helpful.

I survived the first day of teaching pretty well, I think, and it's been getting better and easier every day. I've never taught children before, so I've been getting used to how they learn and what keeps them interested. 

When I'm not teaching and planning, I've been meeting the people around LTU, trying lots of new food, and settling into the apartment where I get to stay.

I went to dinner on Wednesday with the American volunteers, and the American LTU professor. We went to a Chinese restaurant (Chinese done Korean style, I guess?). Anyway, it was delicious. If you visit me, I would take you there.

Last night (Thursday) I went to dinner with the LTU President and his wife and son. They were all very nice, and I learned some more about the history of LTU as well. We got pizza, at Pizza Hut, actually! Pizza Hut pizza in Korea is different from in the U.S., as you might expect. Some toppings are the same, but the featured toppings are quite different. We got a spicy chicken pizza with pineapple and peppers. Pretty good. Pizza is pizza, I say. The most surprising difference, though, was the smell. Namely, there wasn't any smell in the Korean Pizza Hut. Which probably meant that it was cleaner than an American Pizza Hut. I'm not gonna lie, though, I kinda love that smell.

On trying food, I also eat Korean food every day for lunch in the cafeteria with the other teachers and teaching assistants. I haven't tried anything I don't like yet. Still, I was really happy to get my own Western food to eat in my apartment for dinner. Dinner tonight was a peanut butter sandwich, milk, and barbecue potato chips. It was heaven. :D

And on settling into the apartment, it's been quite easy. The apartment is plain and functional, but it's clean, the bed and couch are comfortable, and there's a TV, which I find very relaxing at the end of the day. It's fun to watch the Korean programming, actually, to guess what's going on. Earlier this evening, I watched Kung Fu Hustle in Cantonese with Korean subtitles. That was really fun. That movie is so visual and stylish, it's awesome even without translation.

That brings us up to speed! Finally!

I realize the post was loooong, so I'll try to write on smaller topics in the future. :)