New year's Eve!

It's currently 10:41pm December 31st 2008. I am sitting in the teacher's room for the Suncheon Winter English Camp. I am sipping bokbunjajoo (delicious raspberry wine). The rest of the foreign teachers are sitting behind me, but casual conversation is no longer enough to keep my eyes open. Although the conversation between nine exhausted foreigners can be HILARIOUS.

For example, public school teachers are allowed 26 paid vacation days in February. Public school is not in session during January either, but it is up to each school's discretion to decide if the foreigner must go to school or not. Fortunately I don't have to go for MOST of January. Just the 5-7th where I need to plan a day camp for grade three students. No biggie. NORMAN however, has to teach grade 1 and 2 students music and KOREAN LITERACY. I laughed for fourteen minutes straight.

Dean is flying his remote-control helicopter in the foyer. That also makes me smile.

This camp has been an EXPERIENCE so far. I was really scared to teach middle school students. I know how catty the students were when I was in middle school. I didn't know how I would handle adolescent students.

The first day we had to take a group of sixteen students and make a team cheer and poster. I was like 'oh Lord, I can't make a cheer! And this is EXACTLY the kind of thing I HATED to do in school'. But it was fine. And as much as they whine you can tell they enjoy it.

I am sharing a room with Ali:) We have a single bed each and a bathroom (with no tub of course, we shower all over the bathroom, the toilet and sink get soaked). The students are sharing rooms the same size as the one Ali and I are sharing. However, they have 4-7 people to a room, and no beds. They have to cuddle on the floor :S

We work our BUTTS off from 9-9. And after nine, the students are pretty much left to their own devices. At the moment the Korean teachers have all left the premises (which some foreign teachers are a little bitter about, but I don't care) and the nine foreign teachers are hanging out two floors below their bedrooms. There are two security guards in the foyer (which as far as I know only covers 1 out of 3 possible exits to the building).

If I was facing the same situation in Canada, the 7th and 8th grade students would be off the walls. I think ten of them would be having sex, three smoking pot, eleven of them drinking alcohol, seven of them escaping and going into town to get into trouble, four of them hanging out in a cemetary, and the next day half would be missing, a quarter would be hungover, a sixth would be bleeding and a tenth would be on fire. (one kid could possibly be dead)

This morning the Korean teachers were upset because five of the boys had had....

A DANCE PARTY

They turned on their music and DANCED.

And THEY are the 'bad kids' in the camp.

Nothing

Today has been exceptionally annoying.

I got permission from all of the homeroom teachers to watch a movie with their students today. And didn't the internet cut out for our ENTIRE school. Of course, I only found out I couldn't show my movie ten minutes before my first class. Fortunately hangman was almost as low maitenence as a movie would have been (I had the students doing the words at the board).

All this week has been cakes and cookies and junk. Just now I had a large piece of cake put in front of me. We also ate cake yesterday morning around 11am. I don't know why.

I must gain some willpower over the holidays. Or maybe even the Korean term for, 'no thank you, I'm full'. Or MAYBE just tell them I'm on a diet??

I had another really good conversation with my favourite Korean lady today (henceforth fkl).

Her children are six and eight years old. The keep asking her what presents Santa will bring them. She told me, 'I sit them down, and I SWEAR to them, that Santa is just mommies and daddies, but they will not believe me! So I told them that Santa cannot come to Korea this year because of the economic depression'.

Koreans don't have chimneys either. My tour guide at the palace in Seoul told me THAT'S why Santa doesn't come to Korea. Either way, Korea is getting gyped.

My tonsils of doom,,,

have finally caught up to me.

I knew it was coming. They require me to feel miserable at least twice a year.

I went to the ear nose and throat specialist 20 minutes ago, but they told me to come back in forty minutes. It took me a while to understand this. I'm sure they are dreading interacting with me as a patient!

Ah well, I know the two most important things...

cheon mogi apayo (my throat hurts)

And

cheon penishillin ae allergiga isseoyo (I'm allergic to penicillin).

Hopefully the rest comes out in the wash.

______________________________________


This morning on my way down in the elevator, I had to ride with an older couple, along with their heaping tub of huge fish (probably about a foot long, and almost circular in shape, like a big decompressed blowfish). Most of the fish seemed dead, but a couple were still opening and shutting their mouths. When we reached the ground floor, the man started dragging the tub behind him, allowing the other end to scrape along on the floor. The now sloped tub presented an opportunity for one of the huge fish to wiggle out onto the elevator floor. As soon as the fish escaped the elavator doors shut trapping me, the woman, and the flopping fish in the elavator.

I hate flopping fish.

And when I say flopping, it was REALLY giving'er. Just thrashing all over the elevator. The lady and I were both hopping and squealing, 'EEE' "EEEEEE" and trying to avoid being touched in the 4X4 space we had. Finally she had the presence of mind to hit the door open button. I would probably still be in there screaming now.

When we escaped from the elevator, my fellow captive turned to me with an apprehensive look on her face. I smiled at her, and she smiled her big, nearly toothless grin back at me.

All in all it was a pretty exciting way to start the day.

AND I have no idea why they had all that live fish in a tub in an apartment building. One of life's unsolved mysteries I guess.

Whining again...

I've officially lost all motivation.

I NEED VACATION.

I've watched 'Merry Christmas Mr. Bean' nine times over the past two days. I am hoping the teachers at my Thurs/Fri school will be okay with watching a video.

Right now I am drinking (here goes the spelling neighbourhood) chrysanthanum (close?) tea. I am trying to fight off this annoying cold/sore throat I have. I can actually see the flowers in the tea bag.

They also sell chrys.. in grocery stores, in little see-through containers. Tree bark is also available. Probably also for tea purposes.

I don't have a day off until the 25th. Then I work an overnight camp for middle schoolers from the 29-2. Then I work a day camp for grade threes from the 5-7. Then from Jan 8-approx March 1st I have vacation. I am YEARNING towards the eighth with every ounce of my being.

I am exhausted. It's really not surprising that I'm a bit under-the-weather. I was pondering going to Seoul this weekend. But now I think vegging is necessary. I shouldn't complain about how much there is to do. Most of it's fun. But when you're CONSTANTLY doing SOMETHING blargh.

Also, shivering constantly is probably also detrimental to your health. The principal visited my classroom today. Apparently we were dying of air stagnation. He insisted all the windows be opened immediately. My students brought out their 'Hello Kitty' blankets and snuggled in. I feel bad for them. Few of them have any body fat at all. Their little lips are turning blue and they're bouncing up and down trying to stay warm, trying to hold pencils while they are wearing mittens. It's pretty brutal sometimes.

This past weekend Ali and I went to Wando to visit Suze. It was a really good trip. Wando is a remote island with a population of 9995 Koreans, and 5 foreigners. There were nine of us on the island this weekend (almost doubling the foreign population). It was kind of cool. We could look around and say 'every foreigner in Wando is currently in this bar, eating birthday cake, singing like a fool, etc, etc'. Adrian is a Mississippian living in the even remoter island of Nohwa. I don't know the Korean population of Nohwa but the foreign population is: one. Adrian comes to Wando every other weekend to socailize with other 'native speakers' (that's what the education office calls us).

I don't think I've ever met anyone from 'the deep south' (his words) before. I didn't realize how thick the accent was! I honestly don't know how his students understand him when I had trouble! (I asked him this actually. He replied, Aah haaav to taaaak laike aah aaaam deuumb). I can just see his cute Korean kids learning family names (brutha, motha, sista, fatha).


Anyway..

Things I hate:

1. Songpyeon and it's ilk.

Gag me with a stick. A lot of Korean food sounds gross, but is actually delicious. For example, pork spine soup and octopus soup are both dishes that had me blanching at the sound, but groaning with pleasure at the taste.
Songpyeon is supposed to be DESERT. I can't even tell you how gross it is. Chewy, smushy rice cake, rolled around sugary red-bean paste. Takes five minutes to get out of your mouth and into your belly, and every second is extruciating.

2. How it's disastrously impolite to refuse songpyeon.

I KNOW I hate songpyeon. Yet, if the secretary offers me songpyeon, it's obligatory. I'm eating some right now, trying to keep the disgusted look off my face. Yuck.

3. How the high schoolers on the bus with me talk about me EVERY SINGLE DAY. Young children saying "hello" to get a thrill doesn't bother me (often) but sitting there having them chatter about the waygookin (foreigner) pisses me off and makes me feel like the bus is a moving zoo and I am the exhibit.

4. Making stupid cultural mistakes.

I've been in Korea for almost four months now. There are certain things that I should know. However, when one of my co-teachers asked me if I had eaten yet, I stupidly responded, 'oh, not yet, I'm just about to go to lunch'. I'm pretty sure the only answer to this question is 'yes'. They're not asking because they care. It's just another way to say hello. It would be like us saying 'good morning' in Canada, and having the other person respond with the details of their breakfast.

This co-teacher is my favourite Korean lady ever. Instead of trying to make me feel bad, or letting my mistake go uncorrected, she smiled and said: "My foreign friend once asked me why Koreans are always asking, 'have you eaten'. It goes back to times of famine, but we are not actually asking that question." She said it in the sweetest way though. She is tact personified. And she is hilarious. One day she was telling me about her children. She said (in the most dramatic tone):

Everyday day I ask my God WHY? am I such a terrible mother? I don't like cleaning or cooking...In fact I feel sorry for my children to have me as a mother. I don't even want to eat what I cook. It's such a waste of my time. The grocery shopping, the preparing, the clean up. And it doesn't even taste good!

Today I told her she looked nice (she really is beautiful, she's 35, so she looks late-twenties to me, and she just glows).

She grabbed my arm, turned me to face her and said:
'Do you swear from the bottom of your heart?

I said 'yes'.

She said 'oh, that is so good to hear, you know my husband always tells me VERY VERY truthfully what I look like'.

I love her.

I am glad this entry turned into a 'things I love post'.

It's heeeerrrreeeee

Well almost anyway.

This weekend starts in 3 hours and 48 minutes!

Friday there is a mandatory meeting for all of us native crazies with the JLP (Jeollanamdo Language? program).

My snuggler(see previous post) and I are shacking up in a love motel in Gwangju tonight. If we were to leave for Gwangju tomorrow we would have to get up at balls o'clock in the morning.

Yesterday morning I had two free periods in a row, yet Winnie had two classes. I hid in the room with gym equipment, comfy chairs, and a space heater*. An older man who works in the administration office, violated my sanctuary (I'd previously been alone) and sat beside me. He is probably 60 but in EXTREMELY good shape, he wears tight black clothing and he always wonders around the school throwing roundhouse kicks.

He looks at me, seems at a total loss of what to say, blurts out 'I love you' and leaves. okay...

Afterwards we had the presentation class. I got a little nervous DURING the presentation. It is a little unnerving to teach with 15 other teachers watching you, filming you, taking videos of you...but on the flip side the kids were FANTASTIC:)

(their fantastic-ness probably had SOMETHING to do with the extra 15 adults in the room breathing down their necks, and the fact that Winnie snuck up to their room earlier and made them practice the tricky parts of the lesson).

Afterwards, as per usual, most of the teachers went and played volleyball. Winnie and I never go (using my penchant for fracturing bones as an excuse). Today they were serving clams around four and Winnie BEGGED me to go. BEGGED.

"You never show your face!"
"The other teachers REALLY want to talk to you" <----------lies
"You are a ghost!"

"ALLRIGHT I'LL GO". Jesus.

The teacher I smashed in the face still thinks I'm not playing volleyball because of that incident. And while that plays a large part....I also happen to SUCK at volleyball and they are super competitive!

She told me that when we 'hurt we need to GROW up!' which I THINK was her way of telling me to jump back on the horse so to speak.

Gah...my excuse for not playing volleyball is wearing out..

*It was hovering around zero degrees yesterday. And STILL I had to BEG my co-teacher to turn the heater on in our classroom. The heat is individual to the rooms in the school, none of the hallways are heated at all. We're all (teachers and students) wearing our coats, and snuggled up in blankets, but it's a BATTLE to have the heat on (The heater makes too much noise Jennifer...me-->It's a low HUM. Oh, so dry Jennifer me--> I'd rather be dry then FREEZING) AND when I FINALLY convince her to turn on the heater, the freaking kids open the windows. ARGH. They are REALLY paranoid about "fresh" air here. Gah.

Another lovely evening in Jeollanam-do

Last night I met my friend Lindsey at the octopus soup restaurant. (It gets better EVERY time)

After dinner Lindsey and I returned to our aerobic dance class.

At the gym my other friend pointed out a man who wants to be introduced to me (her boyfriend and this man are both ginormously muscled so they are friends of a sort).

He is 40+ (which is weird because Korean people only date other people who are their same age, or MAYBE one year older or younger) divorced, and wears a muscle shirt with straps that cover his nipples.I told her I would incinerate her if her or her boyfriend introduced us.

Anyway, after our communal shower, Lindsey and I parted ways. I settled in at home to read a book and chill out before bed. Around 10:30, just before I jumped into bed, my newcomer friend came knocking on my door.

She was slightly befuddled (ie tipsy toddled) after another 'fun hike' with her Korean co-teachers. (Word to the wise: Fun hikes=no fun). She had left the school at 1pm to hike, so she assumed she would return to the school and pick up her things.

HAHAHA

Rookie mistake!

After dinner (complete with shots of soju) and noraebang, she escaped from her teachers(who wanted to continue drinking) and returned to our apartment complex, only to remember her keys were in her bag, left at her school some 9.5hrs previously.

So I got a snuggler for the night:)

In approximately one hour, my co-teacher and I will teach a demonstration class. We are teaching our best class (grade five students) and any teacher willing, plus the vice-principal and principal are going to sit in the back and watch us. It's going to be fine. HOWEVER my perma-panicky co-teacher has been ESPECIALLY panicky leading up to this class. I want to shake her and say reLAX!

I'll let you know how it goes...

Those blissfull two days.

As someone who has never worked a 9-5 job before in her life, I've really never appreciated the phrase 'working for the weekend' before.

Now, those blissfull two days are the very essence of my being.

Friday night, Ali, Lisa, Amanda and I ate at our favourite kimbap nara. The meal cost us $15CDN total (my fridge contains eggs and soju PERIOD because of how cheap it is to eat out).

Later on that night we headed to another friends apartment for a few drinks.

Saturday I woke up craving something more than eggs and soju for breakfast. I texted my friend who lives directly above me. We both went to our patios and had a conversation hanging out of the 13th and 14th floors respectively. I told him I was hungry, he said he had cornflakes. So up I went in my pajamas. (It definitely feels like rez here!)

At 11:30 we met with four of our other friends and hiked up the mountain by our apartment building. It was 19 degrees celsius on November 15! I was wearing a t-shirt and sweating!

That night was ladies' night, but I was tired, so I watched a romantic comedy by myself and went to bed early.

Sunday, I reprised my role as a fifth wheel in their marriage and Dean, Mandy, Dante (their dog) and I went to Suncheon Bay. Not very many Korean people have pets, so their reactions to Dante are hilarious. He is a small cocker spaniel, he can't weigh more than 15lbs. Yet, grown men were throwing themselves against the railing of the boardwalk to get as far away from Dante as humanly possible. 'Oh...BIG dog!'.

After experiencing fresh air, we went to my new favourite restaurant in the WHOLE world. Octupus soup. I'm being %100 serious. This is my new favourite food. Weird.

That night, Lisa had a pasta dinner at her house. Between her kitten and 9 clumsy waygooks, we managed to spill pasta sauce over her entire living room. But she forgave us. Then we went to Jodie's for our bi-monthly book swap. Patti brought REAL cheddar cheese!!

Today is Monday and I am still stuffed from this weekend.

And my favourite moment of today?

We are practicing writing invitations in class. We give them a formula, and most kids write something like the following *the parts that they have to fill in are in paranthesis*:

Dear (John)
Hi (John)
(Thursday) is (Christmas)
I will have (a Christmas party)
Would you like to (come to my house)?
From (Jennifer)

One kid wrote:
Dear Spirit
Hi Spirit
Thursday is my funeral.
I will have a funeral ceremony.
Would you like to come to my tomb?
From Scrooge.

Not only was it morbid, funny, and written with perfect grammer and spelling, he also wrote it in CURSIVE writing. Most Korean people aren't even aware that cursive exists! He must be going to a VERY top-notch English academy after school!

Stressed and crying (don't worry the title isn't about me)

Yesterday (Thursday) I was really really really REALLY dreading going to school. I wasn't super prepared, and after last week when the grade six teacher told me I find it 'very difficult to teach her students' I wasn't particularily motivated either.

Sighing and moaning and dragging my feet, I didn't make to school until 8:40am (I'm usually there five minutes earlier). I had a lot of photocopying to do, so I was anticipating a stressful 20 minutes before my 9:00 start. Ha.

I noticed as I was entering the school that I wasn't seeing kids anywhere, but I thought they were already locked up in their classrooms for the day. Nope. Thursday school didn't start until 10:00am due to the Korean version of the SATS. Of course no one bothered to tell me about this in advance.

'You are first' says the janitor when I walk in the door.

Oh well, I got all of my photocopying done in time!

Sidenote: In one of my previous entries I wrote about how stressed our helpful Korean friend was about his job interview. After living here I find it hard to believe that all Koreans don't have humongous ulcers. Their lives are STRESSFULL.

It begins as soon as they are old enough to go to school, this sifting between the intelligent and the medicore. In ELEMENTARY school I have students who attend up to three private academys every day after school. They are ELEVEN years old, and they attend school from 9am-8pm (some of them, not all). Plus, all of the students go to school every other Saturday. One Friday was a national holiday. All of the kids were excited to have a day off.
'What will you do?' I asked. 'Study' was the overwhelming reply. In Grade SIX!!

Then in grade six, they test to get into the best middle schools (can you imagine competing to get into grade seven?) My grade sixes tested for four hours straight last Thursday in Korean, math, science, and social studies. (Not to mention the three hour exercise session they had to pass to get into middle school).

Middle school is more of the same intense study, along with their equivalent of grades 10 and 11, all the while building and building towards grade 12.

Grade 12 is HELL year. The students go to school from 7am-11pm and have loads of homework to do on top of that. The SATS they wrote on Thursday lasted from 9am-6pm. Their scores will determine whether they can get into university (and the calibre of the university they can attend). The university (and calibre thereof) that they attend will determine the kind of career they can apply for. If they are incapable of securing a good job, they will be forever second-class citizens. Trades and manual labour jobs are NOT respected (or paid-well) here.

They can take this test once a year. And there is definitely a stigma attached to taking the test a second time.

So to recap, starting in ELEMENTARY school you have to bust your balls to study for ONE test or else you will be unsuccessfull for your ENTIRE LIFE. (this is a bit of an overstatement..but it is also how high school students are encouraged to view this test. Unfortunately, I've heard of many cases where high school students commit suicide either directly before taking the test, or upon receiving their results).

I'm glad my students are still young enough that they aren't TOO stressed yet.

Although...

They are young enough to have some awkward moments!

Today in my grade four class we were playing a team game. It was really close, and one boy said the wrong answer, effectively costing his team the game. He laid his head down on his desk and WEEPED these huge GASPING sobs. I felt TERRIBLE and I didn't know what to do! Thankfully three little girls stood up and started patting his back. He stopped crying. We finished the game in a sombre mood, and I skulked from the room, determined to do something REALLY good next time.

Conflicted

Not that I want to get political or offend anyone, but I just want to share an experience from my classroom.

In the grade 5 and 6 classes I show animated clips with the same characters every class. The clips pertain to the lesson, are very short, and I ask questions about them. There are two Korean characters, a few white characters (one of which is obligingly chubby and stupid), and one black character named Peter. Peter has freakishly large clown lips and always wears basketball shorts.

In today's lesson, Peter is listening to his walkman, getting his groove on, and wearing his sunglasses inside.

Usually when the kids see Peter, even though they know his name, they yell out Micheal! My co-teacher informed me they thought he looked like 'Micol' from a Korean tv show, who was modeled after Micheal Jackson.

Today when they saw Peter, they mentioned Obama.

Progress?

Seoul:Round two-Saturday

Morning.
10:30am
While wondering around looking for watercolour paintings (which we failed to find) we were yelled at by an old lady. I have to mention that we were doing nothing considered offensive by Korean standards. We were all suitably covered from neck to toes, and not speaking loudly. However, she had MAJOR problems with us and let us know by SPITTING at us. Luckily we weren't hit. I have never wanted to punch an old lady before. At least, I can't recall a time like that at the moment...

10:32am
We find a random park (I found out weeks later that this was an UNESCO world heritage site) and wonder around. I accidentally walk on the path reserved for spirits, but the park official is very kind and gracious when she asks me to get off of the path.

The rest of the day was reserved for shopping, and therefore there is nothing major to report.

6:00pm
We decide it's time to go to Cirque de Soliel. It doesn't start until eight, but we are in a huge city and are not precisely sure where it is located.

7:50pm
We eventually get to the proper stadium.

8:00pm
The show begins. And blows my mind.

The end. for now

Seoul: Round two-Friday

This past weekend Trampy Suze, Ali and I went to Seoul to see Cirque de Soliel. I feel like writing this entry in diary format, so here we go.

Friday
5:00pm
I called Ali, and she assured me she would be at the bus station by 5:30 to catch the express for Seoul (Suze calls Wando home, so she was going to meet us in Seoul. She also brought her friend Dan, but he only stayed with us Friday night, Saturday he met up with his other friends).

5:45pm
Ali gets to the bus station. I wasn't mad after she explained why she was late...same thing has happened to me! (kidnapped by well-meaning Koreans)

6:40pm
We get on the bus to Seoul.
We didn't really talk the entire time, because Korean people HATE people who talk on the bus! We got told off really badly when we went to Yeosu the previous weekend.

11:30pm
We get off the bus in Seoul. (Incidentally this is when we had promised to meet Suze at Jongno samga, a metro station. We were late, but Suze had my cell number so we were confident we would meet her).

11:31pm
We realized we were going to have to use the scary machines to buy our metro tickets.

11:32pm
I decided to stare over the shoulder of a nice looking man while HE used the machine, in hopes that he would help us.

11.33pm
It worked! Turns out he was only going a stop away from us, so we chatted with him for the half hour it took to walk to the platform and travel to our respective stops. He was in his senior year of university. He was in Seoul to complete the longest job interview process I've ever heard of. He was really nervous. He said that questions could be really difficult, for example; how many gas stations are there in Korea? I really hope he got the job! He said that he had previously 'failed' at the fourth interview stage so he was super tense. But so sweet. Oh, lately I've just wanted to hug everyone I see.

12:00am
Ali and I arrive at Jongno samga. We had decided to stop at this random metro station, and then meet Suze and Dan aboveground. We were aware that subways generally have more than one exit, so we were prepared to look across the street to try and find Suze and Dan. We were NOT prepared for this particular stupid random metro station to have SEVENTEEN exits, spanning three city blocks. Opps. Oh well. Suze had our number. So Ali and I exited the subway in search of accomodations for the night, and something to eat as we had skipped supper.

12:05am
Ali and I realize we are quite possibly in the most sketchy, dangerous area of Seoul that ever existed. We exited the subway in a dark circle, with small roads and alleys jetting out from every which direction. We stuck our thumbs up our noses and stared until we were approached by a tall drunk man in a business suit.
"May I help you?"
"What kind help you need?"
Ali and I told him we didn't need any help, and resolved to stop looking like stupid tourists. We set off purposly down the widest alley with the most neon.

12:10am
Realize our surroundings have gone from sketchy to supersketchy. With the exceptions of Ali and myself every single person on the street is a drunk Korean male wearing a black business suit. And when I say drunk..I mean staggering, puking, yelling
D R U N K.
oops.

12:15am
Ali and I quickly backtrack. We eventually find the main road, and somewhere to eat. We walk into the restaurant. The manager looks TERRIFIED. Obviously not a lot of tourists come to this area. I didn't think he was going to let us in at first. He says: "Ah....Table...Very VERy small". Well, ok. We'll take a small table...

12:20am
After looking over the menu (that was in Korean and English), and veto-ing options like: 'gizzard and vegetables', 'spicy chicken feet', and 'silk larvae'. We decided on a spicy seafood soup and blended strawberry soju. Thankfully, Suze and Dan called, so they were able to join our feast.

1:00am
We decide finding a hotel room is a good idea.

1:05am
After walking a short way into another neon alleyway, we check out the Sky motel. The Sky motel is a love motel, about the only kind of motel we can afford. Love motels are just what they sound like. We might call them HOtels, and it's very clear you can rent a room by the hour. However, they are perfectly safe, and relatively cheap, so that's what we did.

1:10am
We checked into our rooms. Thoughtfully the motel provided us with giant bottles of lotion, hair gel, a comb and brush (used, of course) and bathrobes. We went to sleep immediately, and roasted as our rooms were heated to a sexy 25C.

Hodge-Podge

It's Friday again!

Last night I dragged one of my friends to Korean aerobics class with me. It was a blast. We steamed up the mirrors, we laughed, and we danced. It was perfect.

I want to talk about a million things, so I'm going to resort to point form. I'm sorry!

1. After dance class my friend and I took advantage of the bathhouse type area in my gym. You have to take your clothes of in the change room, and then you walk into this humongous steaming room. (oh and no modesty allowed. Korean towels are the same size as hand towels back home). In the very middle of the room is a massive hottub, that usually has about ten women lounging inside (and the hottub-type thing is still mostly empty). On the left-hand side, there are rows and rows of sit-down showers (maybe 60 women were using these). There are only about 10 stand up showers, which is what we used. Little kids were running around (and falling, considering the slippery nature of wet tile), women were doing their laundry in these tubs, catching water from the stand-up showers (I literally had women standing behind me to catch the excess) and yet the over-all feeling was one of hushed serenity. My friend and I were the only foreigners, so we were being HARD-CORE stared at...but whatever. I was okay with it.

2. I went to my first Korean nightclub a couple of weekends ago. WHOA.

Korean nightclubs ARE NOT remotely similar to Canadian nightclubs. There is a dancefloor, but there are also rows and rows of tables, 2 couches to a table, 3 people per couch. You have to rent a table. For four of us girls it cost 40$CDN. Included in this price we also received 3litres of beer, and a snack tray. We were sat with two Korean men who couldn't have been less thrilled with our appearence at their table (I THINK that men have to pay more for their tables, and if they send drinks to women, the women are obligated to sit with them? But I don't know for sure). The waiter asked me how old I was, and I told him. Then he told me he was taking my purse. I said 'no' (it was a really small purse). He made a disgusted noise at me and stalked off.

In relative order, the entertainment consisted of:

-Korean pop played from loudspeakers.
-The same, but with dancers (usually two males on stage)
-A live band being lowered from the ceiling (they played for maybe half an hour)
-A male stripper who stripped down to NOTHING (I really wasn't expecting full-frontal male nudity, just so you know)
-A female stripper who took a shower on stage (yet managed to keep her underwear on).

At one point a Korean man asked me to sit at his table. I did (he was really nice). But one of my friends whose been here for a while thought it was sketch and made me leave. She said it was probably fine, but potentially volatile. Awesome/weird night in any case.

3. I had my first (and most DEFINITELY last) Korean massage. My only advice:

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S GOOD IN THIS WORLD DON'T DO IT!!!

It was the most painful half hour of my life. Maybe even worse than getting a tattoo. At one point she started PUNCHING my SPINE. She also covered me in oil, then covered me in a skratchy towel and started vigioursly scrubing me. I was aftraid I wouldn't have any skin left. And it was not the case that I felt really good when it was over. I couldn't sleep on my back that night because it felt so bruised!

I think that's all the time I have to share my new experiences with you. I am off to see cirque de soleil in Seoul tonight!

C'est l'Halloween, C'eeeesstt L'Halloween

Weeelllll it is if you're in Canada anyway.

Here in Korea it's ACE day!!

Yay!

A-number one!

so.... What the heck is ACE day?

A better question would be: What is ACE?

I'll tell you.

ACE is the brand name for a kind of...




wait for it...




wait for it...




cracker.


A little anti-climactic? It gets worse. There is nothing special about ACE crackers. Absolutely NOTHING that warrants a day being named after them. ACE crackers are just like Ritz crackers, except less salty, more square, and owned by geniuses.

Can you imagine having RITZ day in Canada?

So what happens on ACE day?

You give all your friends packages of ACE crackers. And you're really excited about it.

"Teacher! Today is ACE day!! Here! I give you ACE!!"

I received five boxes of ACE crackers today.

I did not give any boxes of ACE crackers as I was unaware that cracker holiday exsisted.

However, I DO have advance warning about Pepero day, which is on November 11th.

What is Pepero?

Chocolate covered cracker sticks.

Yesterday I put the word love on the board and asked the grade sixes what words they associated with love.

Pepero Day was often the first thing they called out.

I am now eating a persimmen. It is delicious. I don't think I've ever eaten one before living in Korea.

Having an "I love Korea" moment.

The expat community where I live (and maybe elsewhere, I don't know). Has this saying, that you either love Korea, or hate it, and it changes weekly! Right now I love it.

Mon-Wed was pretty sketch.

Sometimes ten more months here feels like an ETERNITY.

Sometimes I'm already dreading going home!

Last night I had a dream that I went back to Canada. I broke my contract after 2.5 months and went home.

However, I had to live with my mother and step-father, because I was broke, and my little brother was in the same situation!

So my little brother and I were living at home again, and my mother felt like a failure, because she raised two children who refused to work and she still had to support us.

The dream was pretty convincing that I should stay here for a full year!

(Not that I've ever seriously considered leaving early, I knew from day 1 that I couldn't afford to break my contract. I won't either, unless something dire happens, like North Korea decides to do whatever, or something bad happens at home).




Today as a warm-up game, I played 'guess how many coins are in my hands' with the grade 3's. I had ten coins, I'd put some in my closed hands, shake, and ask the kids, 'how many?'. I was expecting a medicore response to this, I just wanted to say the phrase 'how many' and have them use numbers, but THEY LOVED IT.

I was like, really?

'3 coins teacha?'
'higher'
MEMEMEMEMEME!!!! (all raising their hands, jumping out of their seats)
'2 coins?' (a student not getting the 'higher' concept even though I'm POINTING UP)
'AHHHH NOOOOO NOOOOO (all the other students)
MEMEMEMEMEMEME
'4 coins?'
'higher'
'5 coins?' (They would only go up by one, they were so scared to miss the number)
'higher'
'6 coins'
'that's right'
YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I can't even express how extravegent their reactions were compared to the lameness of the activity we were doing. It might even have been the most successful game I've ever played! We ended up playing for ten minutes longer than the original two I had alloted this activity. When I finally moved on, they were broken-hearted.

Man, they're cute!

I know it makes me a bad person...

But I can't help but laugh hysterically at my grade sixes right now.

They are in PAIN.

Today we usually teach the grade sixes, but we taught the grade fives instead (I didn't question this change, my schedule hasn't been exactly what it's supposed to be yet!).

However, we do have to teach the worst grade six class after lunch.

My co-teacher explained that they would be very tired today, and would probably not want to study.

I asked 'why?'.

She explained that they had just completed three hours of physical exercise.

I asked 'where?' (thinking they had been climbing a mountain, the normal reason why students would get that much exercise).

NOPE (do you notice a trend in these entries?)

They had in fact been running their little legs off to complete a physical education test in order to GRADUATE elementary school!! (Their school year starts in March, so they are relatively close to graduating).

I asked my co-teacher what happens if they fail. She said they do not fail. One female student said she was 'not used to physical exercise' and so she was 'exhausted'. (and I thought in my head, a have a student who knows the word 'exhausted?' weird). Anyway, they are all walking around hitting their thighs and looking very sad.

ALSO something finally made sense to me today.

I had one grade five class before that was talking to me about Micheal Jackson. So when I saw the girl who was doing most of the talking at lunchtime, I smiled and said 'Hi Micheal Jackson!'. She looked at me with the most stunned expression, and stared at me unmovingly until I became uncomfortable and walked away.

But TODAY, I had the grade five classes in a different order than usual. This girl was sitting in group 2 in the THIRD grade five class I taught...AND she was sitting in group 2 in the FOURTH grade five class I taught. Or rather her identical twin was.

Glad that's cleared up...

Question?

Today one of my co-workers took the same bus to school that I take. We walked to school together from the bus stop. She is a really sweet lady. I think it's just taking me longer to warm up to this school BECAUSE the lauguage barrier is so much higher. It's often easier for us to ignore each other rather than battle to make ourselves understood.

She told me that she is taking English lessons twice a week, which is AMAZING considering how busy regular teachers here are. (as opposed to irregular teachers like me, I'm fairly busy, but I manage to leave work at work for the most part, which is a huge blessing).

On the way to school she pointed at her face and said 'yellow skin' and at my face and said 'white skin' and then she said 'question'. So I knew she was asking me a question about white and yellow skin. And that was as far as my knowledge went. It's really hard to formulate relevant answers when the question is that vaque. I told her that I was caucasian and that she was Asian, and that seemed to satisfy her.


Also, I mentioned in an earlier blog that I thought I might have to do something this Thursday. I got to school today and was told that my classes were canceled, but if I wanted I could come to the 'garble garble' centre with grades 3-6. I decided to go, because the four hours I spend with the vice-principal on a regular day is enough thank you!

I heard agricultural centre. I was picturing us looking at exhibits of farms or something, while maybe the children did a project, discovery centre style.

Nope.

(I'm NEVER right!)

It was actually the 'cultural' centre (no agri). One of my students asked me my seat number on the way there. So I'm thinking 'movie?'.

Nope.

It was an event which maybe 15 elementary and middle schools attended. Each school had a group of students performa different act.

These acts included:
-Elementary school boys performing skipping manuevers with hula hoops and ropes. Some of their stuff was pretty good, but their OUTFITS killed me. (white leg warmers, black knee-length spandex shorts, with a sparkly blue stripe up the side, and a small racer-back belly shirt. That's right. Boys wearing belly shirts. It was especially cute on the little boy with the potbelly!

-AMAZING drumming. Mr Beeler (my high school band teacher) would probably have given a limb to have any one of those kids in his percusion section (not that I'm dissing my high school percusionists, I dated one:) Anyway 30-40 of them would get on stage, facing fowards, with NO condutor, and just be so in unision and SO perfect, and play 15 minute songs, with no sheet music or anything. I was completely blown away. They make drumline look like amateur night, and they're ten.

-Little grade three girls wearing really slutty outfits and belly dancing. It was actually kind of sickening. I'm thinking, 'somewhere, some lady, is saying to these little girls, 'and thrust! and gyrate! and swivel your hips like you want to...' well you know.

During the show, the grade fours were getting restless.

"When finished teacha?"
"Hungry teacha! When is lunch"

They ask, looking at me with sad little faces. HA, like I know! I thought we were going to build mud huts or something.

I just need to express my indignation

Today at a teachers' after-volleyball snack event I stuck my chopsticks into a plate of red saucy stuff. And this male teacher whom I've never seen before shoved my hand away and into a different plate.

I'm not ALLOWED to eat red saucy stuff?

I don't get it.

AND my vice-principal poured me soju into a tiny cup. I said stop and motioned with my hand when he was at about 1oz. He ALSO pushed my hand away, laid his nasty chopsticks over my glass (as a deterent to me making the 'stop' motion?), and continued pouring soju until the cup ACTUALLY overflowed.

FINE

If people keep touching my hands during snack time I WON'T GO ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Korean Aerobic Class

I feel like I could just post the title and have a self-explanatory post, but I will elaborate..

Last night was the first night I mustered up the courage to attend an aerobics class at the gym. I've been to the gym a few times to lift weights and use the cardio machines, but at heart, I am an aerobics girl.

Korean culture is fairly conservative when it comes to how much skin women can show on the upper halves of their bodies (on the bottom half however, daisy dukes and belt skirts are completely acceptable).

It's strange that I can walk down the street and practically be able to see buttocks all around me, yet be chastised by old women for showing my shoulders. Most Korean women wear shirts/dresses that cover their shoulders and never dip below collarbone level. Cleavage is a four-letter word here.

HOWEVER when these semi-conservative women go to the gym they turn into 80's flashdancers of ill-repute!

I wish I knew how to post pictures here, because the outfits I've seen at the gym would literally cause your mind to explode.

I've seen:
- enormous pleather bell-bottoms with slits up to hip-bone level (sometimes the slits are on the front of the thighs, sometimes on the side)the bell-bottoms can be neon, adorned with sparkles, jewel-toned, tiger/leopord print or all of the above.
-short shorts (sometimes jean, sometimes neon) worn with nylons underneath, and leg warmers
-and most confoundingly given the culture OUTSIDE the gym, sparkly bikini tops (always paired with the above-mentioned bell-bottoms)!
I've also seen:
-halter dresses worn over mini tube tops
-and well I could go on. The sexier the better, because what's more sexy than having sweat pour down your backless ruffled pink shirt, into you butt cleavage carefully enhanced by the hole right above your butt crack in your matching pink-trimmed navy blue bell-bottoms???

Not ALL the women dress like this. Some are legitimately there to sweat, and they wear the outfits the gym provides (I tried this outfit once, it's just a grey t-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts, but I found the t-shirt made of the hottest material ever invented, and the elastic band on the waist of the shorts irritated me).

But I don't get it! There are still men at the gym! So why is it okay (and downright NORMAL) to dress like a retro 'lady of the evening' at the gym and yet I can't wear a dress my GRANDPARENTS bought for me outside the gym?

Anyway, as I was saying,

Last night was the first night I went to aerobics class. I stood in the very back, in the middle of the room, so the post would hide my from the rest of the gym (the rest of the studio is windows into the free-weight section).

All of the women in the front rows were wearing their 80's flashdance gear, while the ladies in the back with me were wearing the gym-provided outfits.

My expectations for this 50 minutes class were as follows:
-a warm up with stretching
-and then a workout, consisting of, oh I don't know, jumping jacks, some simple chreography, some jumping around, you know, normal stuff
-a cool down with stretching

What I got:
45 minutes filled with as many songs as you can fit into 45 minutes. Intense chreography for every song, that completely differed from every other song. And all of the ladies (and men), bikini-tops to sweats, knew every single intricate dance move to every single song. There were spins, and jumps, and hip-hop hand movements, and MOST of all, hip-shaking, pelvis-thrusting, gyrating moves (which the men performed completely un-selfconsiously. In fact, some men arrived a little bit late, so they stood directly in front of me, as I inched closer to the back wall).

OF COURSE I was completely lost. But whatever, I was still sweating to death (this may be because in 24C weather they refuse to open the windows, or even turn on a fan). So I just tried my best. Which was fine when we were facing the front. However, every so often we'd turn (or more specifically, they'd turn, and I'd turn 3 seconds later) so that the people in the back were now at the front. I think you know how that turned out.

Oh and the last five minutes? It was a cool-down...I suppose...We humped the air for five minutes straight, sometimes pointing at the ceiling, sometimes pointing to the left/right, and sometimes rolling our heads as fast as possible.

And the weirdest thing?

I'll probably go again.

A sharing culture

I have heard this phrase over and over regarding Korean culture.

And in my short time here (two months and counting!) I have found it to be true.

No one eats unless EVERYBODY eats. Why on earth would you come to school with a personal snack? It borders on rudeness not to offer food to others if you are eating.

One of my friends brought a fruit-to-go to school (sent from Canada, they don't sell them over here). For those of you unfamiliar with fruit-to-go's, they are maybe 3x8cm of dried fruit. Not my idea of a good time, but anyway. Lisa offered a piece to her co-worker. Her co-worker immediately took the fruit-to-go, tore it into ten miniscule pieces, and gave every teacher in eyesight a scrap of Canadian food. Lisa was told, 'In Korea, we share'.

I see examples of this everyday. Students consistently offer me candy in the halls and if you give one child a candy, they either ask for another for their friends, or try to somehow share what they have been given (well I've heard about this, I don't personally use candy in my classroom).

Still, last night at the noraebang I was slightly taken aback when one of my co-workers took my personal 500mL water bottle from the table and poured himself a glass!

Noraebang with the teachers.

Yesterday (Monday)I was a tired piece of garbage, barely able to lift my head up long enough to say 'repeat after me'.

Of course, last MONTH I had promised to go to dinner and then a noraebang with the grade six teachers. So right after school Winnie and I drove to a restaurant.

It was the same group of teachers as the last dinner. Two of them were late because they'd missed a turn and were on their way to the next town.

Trying to find your way around Korea is RIDICULOUSLY difficult, even for Koreans! For one thing, none of the streets have names unless its a main road, and even then, barely anyone will know the name. So if you want to go somewhere you have to tell the taxi driver a place he will know. This could be a district (and then when you get to the district you can give specific directions, or you can get out and try to stumble upon where you want to go) or a 'landmark'. Landmarks in Suncheon include: McDonalds, a few other restaurants, the cinema, any apartment building complexes, usually schools, etc. If you go to a restaurant you really like and want to find it again, you take a business card. Then the next time you want to go to the restaurant, you can give the business card to your taxi driver. If the taxi driver does not know the restaurant, he will call the restaurant and get directions.

Sidenote: My taxi driver yesterday asked me to go to dinner with him. I pretended like I didn't know what he was saying:)

At the teacher's dinner, I was the only female drinking alcohol. They were very worried I would be hungover. After three shots of %20 alcohol. I told them (truthfully) that I'd be fine!

Dinner was kimchi mandu (love love love) and seafood soup. The soup came in a huge cauldron and you had to scoop it into smaller bowls. There wasn't a lot of seafood in the soup, but there were lots of long, fat, slippery noodles. It took me about 45 minutes to eat one small bowl! I had to pick up a noodle with my chopsticks, and then coil it into my spoon so I could eat it. However, the coiling thing is kind of hard with those slippery jerks.

So maybe I did get a wee bit tipsy considering my food to alcohol intake. I actually found the Korean conversation much easier to follow that way. Not that I understood any words..but it's easier to get a sense of the conversation when you are totally at ease. For example I understood when Winnie was telling the 6-4 homeroom teacher about the little boy who came in saying 'hey baby' and when I said 'what?' 'hello cutie'. I was laughing on the inside, but I got mad on the outside (although Winnie says I'm not very scary when I'm mad).

Then we went to a noraebang. I think I broke their eardrums with Bohemian Rhapsody. AND freakiest thing ever! I have this friend (a fellow 'native speaker') who sings 'Don't Stop Me Now' EVERY time we do karaoke together. And wasn't the last song that Will (who is Korean, but that is his English name) picks! And I had to sing with him! (Will also sang a rousing rendition of 'Livin' the vida Loca' I appreciated it as all of the other songs were Korean, with the men belting them out, and the women doing that odd shaky thing with their voices. They're ALL good singers, don't get me wrong, but I needed a little Ricky in my life).

Classtime!

Jailbirds?

Can someone please tell me why wearing black and white striped clothing in now the height of Korean fashion? I feel like I'm teaching in a prison sometimes because of the way my students are dressed!

Bowling and a walk

I have three hours to kill before the end of the day...so I might as well update this (for you mom:)

Friday night some friends and I went bowling.

Did you know, fellow east-coasters, that nobody else bowls like us? I was TRYING to tell the Americans and the Ontarions that bowling should be done with a small ball, and ten pins.

AmerOntr People: Oh, you use five pins.

Me: No...ten...(love you guys!!)

I'd only ever seen this kind of bowling on tv before, the kind where you have to put your fingers in the holes in the ball. I definitely felt like I was going to break my fingers every time I threw (heaved the fifty pound) ball with all my might.

AND as you might expect, I was TERRIBLE. But I DID get a strike!! (Which brought the score for my first string up to a whoping 34 points!)

Korea has been treating me pretty well lately. I am totally adjusted to my mon, tues, wed school (where I have a lovely co-teacher to team teach with) and am SLOWLY settling in to my Thurs-Fri school.

But MAN no one tells me ANYTHING unil the last possible second!

Today (Thursday) at the start of recess, a teacher asked me if I wanted to go for a walk (using mainly charades mind you).

She is probably in between 50-60 years old and she was DECKED OUT! She had white gloves on, a tracksuit, and a huge visor that obscured most of her face (it's very important not to EVER let the rays of sun hit your skin! Although...they may have something with that, considering how slowly Korean people wrinkle...hmmm...).

Since no one ever invites me to do anything at this school I said 'sure, I'll go for a walk with you' thinking that if I was late for my class after recess I'd just blame this lady.

I was a little curious as to where we were going to go, for how long, and what I was supposed to talk to her about using her limited English and my ten words of korean, but whatever.

So we go outside and she starts talking to her class who are all holding ginormous skipping ropes. They're not long enough for two people to hold the ends and turn the rope for the other kids, but they're WAY to long for these teeny children.

Suddenly, all of the students in her class are standing in two rows facing us.

I don't know why I still bother trying to figure out what is going on when random things like this happen, but first I thought, 'she is going to check their skipping ropes' then I thought 'she is going to make them speak English'. (sidenote, one time when I was teaching her students she said something sharply and they all raised their hands. She looked at me expectiantly. The students looked at me expectantly. I had no idea why their hands were in the air.)

Of course my guesses about the reason behind these mystery rows were completely wrong.

The teacher gestures for me to walk... and the class follows us in their rows. Ok, her class is coming for a walk too. Then the grade four class gathers from the four corners of the playground and lines up too. Suddenly the whole school is en route to a mysterious destination.

Guess I didn't have to worry about being late for my next class if we're all coming!

We all trip along merrily to who-knows-where. I notice all of the other teachers, the vice-principal and the principal, are all wearing tracksuits and have whistles hanging around their necks. I am dressed in business casual.

The students are very good and stop at road crossings. When the green man turns on, they RUN across the street as fast as their little legs will carry them (which is probably a good thing considering the fact that red lights are not deterents to motorists).

Ten minutes later we arrive at our destination. A non-descript area, that is very similar to the school playground.

The students skip with their ropes. Ten minutes later we return en masse to the school.
It seemed like a very short trip to necessitate full-on gym gear on the teachers' part. Oh well.

On the walk home a chain of five grade five girls links arms with me. We are soon walking forward in a very haphazard way, as one of us is always directly in the path of a post, tree, or fire hydrant. I don't have the heart to disengage myself.

Period three starts ten minutes late as we were all just getting in from our lovely, pointless walk (and it really WAS lovely, it must be around 25C today, which feels pleasant to me now).

The teacher in this room tells me 'vacation tomorrow, you know?'. I had no idea but I'm not complaining. I asked her whether I had no class or no school (sometimes when we have no class we still have to come and look foreign). She told me she didn't know. So through some extensive charades I asked the vice-principal. I THINK he told me to stay home. So I am going to. And I hope that I am understanding everything correctly!

I also think:
That the grade five teacher doesn't want me to do games with the students
That I am going on a school trip to the aquarium in Busan next Friday
That SOMETHING is happening on Thursday
and that I should maybe try and learn Korean!!!

It boggles my mind...

Some of the kids look at me with blank stares when I ask them to open their books...

and some of the kids know such random difficult words.

My grade fives were talking about Micheal Jackson, and one of them said 'plastic surgery is bad'

Really? You can't answer me when I say 'what is your name?' but you know plastic surgery?

The best one was today.

I had them filling out sheets that looked like this:
_________ is stronger than_________
__________is older than__________ etc.

Most kids were putting:
My mother is older than me_ or whatever. However one little boy wrote:
?????? (I didn't understand this word) are older than homosapiens.

I laughed in my head for a long time. Homosapiens??

Wow.

I love the kids, I really do. I don't know if teaching is for me (pretty sure it's NOT since it's a 9-5 which is too much work for me) but I do enjoy them.

Seoul

I got back from Seoul a night earlier than planned, but I couldn't keep up with my crazy friends! I wasn't in much of a party mood, and they sure were.

However, even though I cut my trip short so I could lay in bed and sleep (and read this WICKED book)[I'm lame] I had a great time in Seoul.

Where I live is about as far away from Seoul as you can get (it's a four hour bus ride, South Korea is 100x smaller than Canada, with twice the population).

I live in a very traditional area with hardly any foreigners. I get stared at ALL the time. I'm such a circus freak.

But in Seoul no one batted an eyelash! Because I wasn't the most abnormal girl to ever breathe!

There were black people and white people and all kinds of people and at least 50% of the people spoke English completely fluently and EVERY single korean person I talked to could understand me! (even the hookers; who knew hooker hill would be so full of them? Why did I go to hooker hill? Total accident. I'm not used to big city living haha).

Although, on the flip side, I'm getting way too comfortable in Suncheon saying exactly what I think all the time because no one can understand me. I would say stuff in Seoul and be like 'oh no, did I just offend someone? Think Jennifer!!'

But to conteract any negative benifits of being understood.....there were western restaurants!! I had alfredo pasta and nachos with REAL CHEESE and refried beans and guacomole and a frozen margarita and quesadillas and I didn't even feel SLIGHTLY guilty about ANY OF IT!!!

All in all I'm glad I'm living in Suncheon, but it was so nice to get in taxis and have them take me exactly where I wanted to go, and receive exactly what I wanted in restaurants.

Seoul was a great break from the Korea that I know. I know I will go back soon!

Almost the end of the day!!

I still have no idea what I'm doing for my grade fives tomorrow, and only the vaguest idea for the 3's and 6's, but I'm happy today is over. This week has FLOWN by. Friday is a Korean holiday (not ENTIRELY sure why...A grade six boy explained it to me...something about the sky opening and the first country being created). But the WHY is not important. The IS is important. Friday IS a holiday and I am leaving for Seoul Thursday night. YAY!

Ok.

I KNOW you're bored with me talking about the weather.

But I have to say.

It's 25C today.

And I am wearing a sweater and wool pants.

And I am totally comfortable, with NO AC or even a fan.

How sick is that?

Does THAT tell you how HOT i was for an entire MONTH.

The correct way to get your teacher's attention (as a grade five male student)

A) TEACHER!! TEACHER!!
B) JENNIFER!! JENNIFER!!
C) COME ON BABY!!

Haha, definitely had C happen today.

I'm sorry Koreans

I have to admit, I thought the Korean people were being a teeny tiny hugely ridiculous in their expectations of the weather.

After Chusok (thanksgiving) it was still boiling hot-sweat through your clothes weather. All of the teachers at my school were SHOCKED.

"After chusok it is normally quite cool"

"Korea USED to have FOUR seasons, 'summer, fall, winter, spring' now there are only two, summer and winter"

'Are you kidding me?'

Chusok ended TWO days ago, and because it's not immediately cool we've LOST FALL??? Take two days out of a season and it's obselite???

However...

Four days ago it was business as usual, sweating through my clothes, taking six showers a day, yadayadayada,

and three days ago it became fall. The air is crisp, it's dropped at least fifteen degrees, I need to wear sweaters, and I FINALLY understood what my teachers were talking about.

It's the most UNgradual season change I've ever witnessed in my life.

Weird.

So sorry guys, I really thought you were nuts!

YOOOOUUUUU'REEEE OUUUUUUUUUUTTTT!!

Again, and again, and again.

This weekend the Jeollanamdo gang went to Gwangju to watch a baseball game.

It turned out to be a 'battle of the pitchers'. This means nothing happens. Nothing. Wim assured me it was a poetical game. However, after 10 innings with NO runs (and maybe only two times when ANYBODY got to third base), all of us except Wim had had enough!

So what do you do for three hours when nothing is happening on the field?

You watch the crowd of course!

We paid 20$ instead of 6$ to sit in a VIP area. This was supposed to include pizza and pop. It ACTUALLY included black bean theara-tea and krispy kreme doughnuts. Fair enough...

Anyway, we were sitting directly behind homeplate so we had a REALLY good view of the crowd.

My goodness. They are very very well organized. Every single person had two inflatable clappers. A man with a whistle stood at the front and at his single the crowd would start cheering complete with choreography with their clappers. Their were AT LEAST five different regular cheers.

And then special ones for special occasions. For example, when our pitcher whacked the opposing side's batter in the knee, the crowd starting cheering (in English) WE HOPE YOU LIKED IT. Good sportmanship?

Also, at one point the crowd put away their clappers, and brought out balloons that had been completely hidden for two hours. There was a VERY long balloon cheer that ended with everyone untying the end's of their balloons and letting them WHISH away.

Do they go to training to be in these crowds? How do they know what to do!?

Also during this game we witnessed grown men violently pushing small children out of the way to catch foul balls AND ten grown women skipping together on a ginourmous rope for a count of fifty hops. (When they reached fifty the crowd went wild, and the women all hugged each other for five minutes).

However even the excitment of watching the crowd grew thin after three hours, so we left before anyone scored a point.

We went to a karaoke bar with a drum kit and a piano. I rocked the drums for a while.

And this may surprise some of you, but I also have developed an affinity for karaoke rap songs. It's very very strange.

xoxo

New plan!

Well, I haven't updated in forever because I'm just TOO busy to make well-thought out posts. So my new plan is to write UN-well thought out posts.

Here goes...

Last night I had my first teacher dinner. I've heard many many stories about other native speakers' teacher's dinners. They're supposed to go on forever and end up with someone being ridiculously drunk (and perhaps at a noraebong aka a private karaoke room).

Mine was VERY tame. There was only eight of us, 3 males, 5 females. Just the grade six teachers, with no principals. Only one bottle of soju was consumed (for reference, I can drink an entire bottle and just be comfortably drunk, it's a fairly weak spirit). AND it only lasted for one hour and 20 minutes.

HOWEVER I was grilled like a cheese sandwich.

This was some of the grade six teachers' first interaction with me.

I was asked at various times throughout the dinner:

-Do I have a boyfriend?
-Do I have a boyfriend in Canada?
-Have I ever had a lover? (At the look on my face, Winnie modified this to boyfriend)
-Could I explain maple syrup? (This is RIDICULOUSLY difficult. I said it was like maple-flavoured honey)
-So maple syrup is not a drink?
-What are the traditional folk songs of Canada?
-Do you know 'The Beatles'
-Your eyes are very beautiful, glasses are not good on you. Why do you wear them?
-What do you think of Korean men?
-Do you like freckles? We think freckles are ugly. (When I pointed out the moles on my face and arms I was scrupiously ignored).

ALSO even though I've always heard it's totally inappropriate for co-workers to date here, I can't help but feel as though they are trying to set me up with the 25 year old male teacher.

Examples:
-OH!! You are BOTH single?
-Sit next to him SO YOU CAN TALK!!
-TALK TO HIM!!!
-You like noraebang? HE likes noraebang!
-Haha! You are BOTH single? (again)
-He asked you if you like alcohol? He ask you on a date!!!
-TALK TO HIM!!!
-You are both YOUNG! You can be friends!!!!

I've told Winnie in passing that I think it's totally inappropriate for co-teachers to date.

BUT I could totally be misreading this because he is also one of the four teachers here who can speak English at a reasonable level. So maybe they just legitimately want me to have a friend.

Well the first class of the day is here.

Annonghi Gyesayo (Stay in peace, as in you are staying, I am going)

Fun Stuff!

1. I went to Yeosu again Saturday night. We went to a beach party. There was a big fire with a log across it, and a man was walking back and forth on the log (a small log mind you) through the fire!

That was cool to watch, but even COOLER was the ocean!! I went wading at about 10pm. The water was really warm, and when you moved it lit up neon green! I guess there is some sort of glow in the dark algae or something? I can't explain it! I'm not a scientist! But it was SO wicked.

Then I finally got to noraebang (karaoke in individual rooms). That was also wicked.

2. Gumdo. It's a sword-fighting martial art. But you don't get a real sword until your black belt. I just have a wooden one. It's awesome. Youtube it!

3. For Chusok (this weekend). I'm off Thurs-Wed AND I'm going to Jeju island and renting a scooter!

4. And I MIGHT buy a motorcycle.

All in all. Life is great.

School number two: Samsan. Aka no-englishville

At SAMSAN I have never been more confused in my life. In the form of a teeny-tiny 10 year old girl I had a 'manager' (their words) who didn't speak a word of English telling me what to do.

"12:30" she writes on a piece of paper. 'luncheetime' She smiles and rubs her stomach. She gestures me to follow her with that perculiar motion they use (the way we beckon someone forward is only used on dogs here, and considered VERY rude to use on a person). I follow her into the cafeteria, she shoves kids out of the way so I'm first in line, and takes my tray for me. She seats me in the EXACT middle of the cafeteria. All of the students are sitting on the left, the teachers on the right, and I am in no man's land, sitting all by myself surrounded by five empty tables in all directions.

What kind of manager IS this?

She pulls out my chair for me, so I obligingly sit down, then she dissapears, leaving me all alone to consume my lunch.

I eat a mushy green bean.

It's not a mushy green bean.

It's the hottest pepper I've ever eaten in my life.

Now I'm sitting all by myself convulsing! in the middle of the cafeteria giggling and snorting to myself while tears run down my face. I found it funny. Although come to think of it, maybe foreigners acting like lunatics is WHY I had to sit a good 10 metres apart from everyone else?

A few minutes later one of the teachers comes over and beckons me to sit at her table. I eat in total silence with them. Everytime my chopsticks go to my tray, three pairs of eyes hover about an inch away from my chopsticks. Maybe they are evaluting my skills? It's unnerving whatever they're doing. I wanted to shoe those eyes away, but I was worried I'd fracture their bones again, so I refrained.

Oh I forgot. There was some talking when I ate two mushroom slices in a row. Lots of talking. Lots of questions directed at me. In Korean. I smiled.

Later I looked at the kids trays and THEY didn't get the hottest peppers ever. Lucky little snots. (Just kidding they're REALLY cute).

After lunch my 'manager' takes me to this lonely little room on the top floor. No one else uses the room, or the ENTIRE FLOOR as far as I can tell. It's becoming clear to me that it's VERY important that I have VERY minimal human contact. The room contains, a couch, a fan, and a fridge. Here I am to (from what I got from her mimes) sleep, sit staring into space, or do prep work. For FIVE hours Thursday and Friday!!!

But I'm not complaining. I like all the prep time!

Teaching is also much harder in Samsan. Winnie really likes teaching so she does most of the work at YeongDang. I fought her a bit about it (shouldn't I do SOMETHING besides the game? Isn't that why I'm here?) but I gave up. If she wants to do the lion's share of the work, more power to her.

SAMSAN however, I go to their classrooms, and the homeroom teacher stays too. I don't have a 'co-teacher' persay. The kids are a lot better behaved because their teacher is there, but I don't think they understand a word I say. Neither do the teachers. Oh well.

Volleyball Update AND TGIF!!!

Winnie called me last night. My ARC has arrived (like a green card in America) so I am an official alien!

Winnie told me the lady I hit was JUST fine! I was SO relived. Winnie went on to say the lady kept asking Winnie about me (the volleyball incident happened on Wednesday, and I go to a different school Thursday/Friday) and that I should really call her to tell her I'm okay (however I was not provided with her phone number).

So I'm feeling pretty pumped that I haven't maimed this woman when Winnie continues:

'Oh yes she is just fine! Her face only hurts when she moves it, but its fine when she doesn't move'

Okay.

How often do you move your face? Especially when you're a teacher and everything has to be animated! And of course she was back to school the next day, people don't have sick days in Korea. If you're REALLY sick you come to school and sleep in the nursing room.

THEN Winnie says:

'Her bone isn't even broken it's ONLY fractured' AND all of a sudden I'm no longer feeling so good about the whole thing.

I, Jennifer Doucette, have fractured a bone. In a woman's FACE.

I'm hard.

Watch out world.

Get in my way and I'll crack your bones.

And for the first time since my mother gave birth to me

...today I sent someone to the hospital.

The teachers were playing volleyball at school (we do this EVERY Wednesday from 2:30-5:00, good way to combat humpday blues but I am NEVER participating again!!) and I creamed yeung-hyeun in the eye with my elbow. She was running around bumping into things, clutching her eye, clearly disorientated. A couple of teachers ran after her. I teared up immediately. All the other teachers were like 'ok back in the game Jennifer!'. I said 'no' and went to the bathroom and cried.

Winnie followed me a few minuted later and said 'everyone was VERY worried about me'. I'm thinking, shouldn't they be worried about yeung-hyeun? But no. Volleyball accidents happen all the time. Grown-ups crying is apparently much more serious.

Winnie and I hung out in the English classroom for a while, when she asked if I'd go back to they gym for some food. I didn't want to, but she repeated, everyone would be VERY worried about me if I didn't go. So now I'm feeling AWFUL about hitting this woman, but also SO embarrassed for crying about it (I wasn't hysterically sobbing or anything I swear, tears just came into my eyes, I don't even know if they leaked out!)

I go back into the gym and on the stage are six newpapers spread out on the floor with: concord grapes (delicious!) broiled octopus to dip in red spicy sauce (allright, really. I surprise myself everyday by eating this stuff) and rice desserts? maybe? they just tasted like mashed rice dusted with flour. Not my idea of desert...

So Winnie and I scope out the seating situation (in my school it's important that men and women are divided ALL the time, and also you prefer to sit with the teachers in your grade). So we joined a newspaper with women. They assured me through Winnie that Yueng-Hyeun's actual EYE was fine (what a huge relief!) but the bone beside it was sore (my ELBOW hurt from this collesion by the way). They also said they were VERY worried about me and wanted to comfort me but didn't know what to say.

I always feel mentally challenged in this country!

THEN they bring out bottles of beer, and I'm like OH YES. I don't enjoy beer but I wanted a drink SO BAD. But of course! I forgot something VERY important. I don't have a penis. Duh.

My newspaper wasn't offered beer.

Later on a teacher receives a phone call from Yueng-Hyeun. She is in the hospital waiting for her x-ray results because they were worried her cheekbone was FRACTURED (I might have hurt someone's BONE!!). She was just calling to say she was VERY SORRY she couldn't come back to school to see me and make sure I was okay, but she HAD to wait at the hospital.

I can't even describe how ASTOUNDED and CONFOUNDED all of this makes me. I am in freaking lala land and I don't know the rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why is everyone worried about me??? AND first impressions are SO important here. Am I now written off as a hysterical weakling (BONE HURTER)???

In other news, I taught four grade five classes this morning and they are ADORABLE. Wish I had them everyday. When I asked for volunteers they chorus of "ME!ME!ME!TEACHER!ME!JENNIPUR!!ME!!ME!!" was totally deafening. I loved it!! They are really into participating which makes me job SO much easier! Yet, a mere four months later they'll be grade sixes and pratically ambivilent. I wonder why?

Well now I have to make lesson plans.

Hope I can get through this without electrocuting anyone, or inadvertently tripping someone and breaking their legs, or .............

Recess!!

Soooooo the culture shock is definitely setting in. Yesterday was the first day of school but I didn't have any classes. I had to give a speech in front of 40 teachers who had NO idea what I was talking about. Winnie translated. Then I had to stand on stage for an assembly, straining with all my might to hear the Principal say my name so I wouldn't miss my cue to step forward and bow.

It was when I was leaving school at 5 when it really hit me though. I mean HIT ME. Just...how different everything is, really. These aren't just surface things, it's an entirely different way of life. It sunk in for the first time when I saw the hen coop outside my school. My school keeps ROOSTERS!! I don't know why but that just did it for me.

I waited for the bus home with a group of 40 high school boys (me handsome boy, you face very very small-this is apparently a good thing) . They knew where I lived!! I mean, the fact that I live in Shidae is pretty obvious because all of the foreigners live there, but they knew my building number!! Creepy. And yet not, because I stand out like a red kite in the blue sky.

Then I got home and called Haydar about taking tae kwon do lessons with him. I've never met him before, a friend gave me his number. He asked me if I knew where his school was, and when I said no, he said 'ok, i'll be there in ten minutes to pick you up on my bike' click. Wow. I'd been home for ten minutes, and now in ten more I had to be ready to get a scooter ride from a total stranger on my way to TKD class. wow. (it turned out pretty well)

Today is my first day teaching classes (i'm on lunch right now). I did four classes from 9-1210. I have one more after lunch, then Winnie and I have three hours to do prep for the next lesson. Teaching is interesting....I had one HORRIBLE class, but the rest are pretty darn cute.

At the cafeteria some of the younger boys surrounded me (literally 20 of them) and started asking me questions. One boy pointed out my moles (thank you) and asked 'why?'. I said I was born with them like my green eyes. 'YOU HAVE GREEN EYES????' So now I had 20 9 year olds excitedly peering into my eyes, saying 'whoaaaaaaaaaaaa'. haha, it was pretty cute. I don't mind the attention at all really. The ones who ignore me kind of dissapoint me. I like being a novelty. Maybe that's why I'm here. (In one of my classes they clapped when I said 'hello' in Korean.

I have students arriving so bye for now!

Trampy Sue comes to Suncheon!...

AND a whole lot of other Jeollanamdo-ers are coming too! Tonight is 'newbie night' but also 'reunion night' for those of us who trained in Gwangju, and apparently it's also 'farewell night' to foreigners I've never met. There's only one foreigner bar in town (Elvis's of course) so I guess we'll all be there! Friends from Mokpo, Wando (that's Suze), Gwangyang, and Yeosu are all coming.

Hopefully Suze we'll be here within the next 20 minutes, and then hopefully she's up for going on a walk (a VERY long one) to the Duck-e boats! (peddle-boats). Something about peddling up and down a Korean river in a Duck-e boat completely appeals to me.

It's been pretty lax for me since my Yeosu trip. Thursday night Dean, Mandy, and I drove to Gwangyang to have dinner with Kerry and Nicki, Vietnemese style. Then LAST night I called Ali around supper time and BEGGED her to have ANYTHING not Korean with me!! I love Korean food but it is KOREAN.

In Canada the food is so diverse and influenced by so many countries. But here the food involves rice, kimchi*, spice, meat, tofu or bean sprout soup, and millions of side dishes of veggies. Maybe you bbq your meat at the table, or maybe it comes pre-cooked, maybe you mix stuff in with rice, or maybe you wrap it in lettuce leaves, but it is all basically the same formula. After living with variety for so long it's hard to eat the same thing for lunch and supper every day. (and Korean people even eat spicy kimchi and rice for breakfast!)

Anyway Ali was SO with me! So we went to the grocery store and made the best meal we could with the random food we came across. We ran into Mike, so he came too for random food. We also tried to get an ice cream bar each. They were sitting in the freezer individually packaged. But when we took them to the checkout, the cashier made a big X with her arms (this means NO, making a circle over your head with your arms means YES) then she flashed 9 fingers at us. And mimed a box. What? I didn't see any boxes. And if you need to buy 9 (random number) at a time, why aren't they packaged like that? So..no ice cream for us!

*Kimchi is the national dish of Korea and they eat it at EVERY meal. It's cabbage that's been fermented with various vegetables and probably oyster juice, plus something that makes it spicy. It's served cold. So to re-iterate, Kimchi is cold, spicy, fermented cabbage, that tastes fishy .Korean people can be VERY offended if you say you don't like Kimchi, as they equate Kimchi with Korean culture (I've never made this mistake, I've just heard). They believe Kimchi is very very good for health. The person who created the Jeollanamdo Language Program casually mentioned that the reason Korea never got SARS is because they all eat Kimchi.

En route to Joellabelle and Tan-Tan in Yeosu!

Now I am in the PC Bang drinking what I thought was pineapple juice, but is actually pineapple pop. It's kind of gross. But maybe it will grow on me. I never thought I would enjoy corn water...

Anyway, Monday morning I woke up bright and early to a clean apartment and not much to do. (I might add, I arrived in Suncheon Friday, and it took 3 INTENSE days of cleaning to de-contaminate my apartment. The teacher who was here before me cleaned NOTHING her ENTIRE year here, and left all of her stuff as it lay! So before I could UN-pack MY suitcase, I had to DE-pack the closets and all the drawers, it was so ANNOYING!! Winnie was with me when I walked into my apartment for the first time, and first she thought someone still lived there, and then when I assured her it was the right apartment, she asked me if I felt like crying. She said SHE would cry if she were me haha).

So back to Monday, I called Joelle and asked her if she'd be up for a sleepover Tuesday night. She said yes, so I went downtown to try and find the bus terminal and work out when the buses departed for Yeosu the following day.

I was barely ten steps out of Shidae (my apartment complex) when I ran into Dean. Dean did a presentation at our orientation in Gwangju because he and his wife have lived in Korea for five+ years. He assured me that buses run to Yeosu every 15 minutes, so I didn't have to go to the bus station. We went for tea instead.

A note on the weather: While we were out for tea, I was completely DRIPPING with sweat, the way I always am here. Dean asked me if I'd like to sit inside the slightly breezy tea shop, or outside, directly in the 32C BLAZING sunshine with 90% humidity. I was like 'is this a real question?' And HE said, 'ah, this is cool to me, I forgot you weren't here in June/July'.

Apparently, in June/July (which is monsoon season, so it rains almost everyday) temperatures hover around 38-39 centigrade, with 100% humidity due to the near constant rain AND school is in session right into August AND while many schools have air-conditioners, they usually don't turn them on!!!

I'm trying not to dread something that is ten months away, but I'm SO hot all the time NOW!! I thought I could deal with humidity since I'm from Halifax, but I DIDN'T KNOW it could BE like this!!! I wish I could put everyone in a box with the kind of temperatures I'm dealing with now, and then tell them it's worse! Far worse!! Two whole months of the year! I'm scared.

But anyway...Tuesday I got up and took a taxi to the 'bus-e station'. I get to this street with one lonely bus parked outside a store. I looked at my taxi driver questioningly, and she yelled at me for a few seconds, until I decided to chance the sketchy looking bus terminal. (It really doesn't help to raise your voice at someone who doesn't know your language. I can tell you this from first-hand experience).

So I walk up to a man in a uniform who is lazily smoking on the sidewalk. I say 'yeosu?'. He flashes 3 then 5 fingers at me, so I hand him 3500 won (about $4 CAD). He saunters over to this high-tech scary machine, feeds my money in and then hands me a ticket. I suppose this is a do-it-yourself ticket machine but HAHAHA like I could figure it out. Then he sort of meanders around, takes a few more puffs of his cigarette, and then picks up my bag and BOLTS onto the ONE bus there. For a second I just stared after him (nothing in his demeanor had indicated ANY kind of rush up to this point). Then I unfroze and ran onto the bus myself.

Suffice to say, I got to Joelle and Tanya's apartment safely, quickly, and cheaply, yet I was SO confused the entire trip!

(I've now been here for two months, and everytime I've asked the taxi drivers to take me to the bus-e station, I've been driven to the bus station, I've never seen that side of the road again!)

Sent to the Principal's Office

I arrived in Suncheon Friday afternoon after spending a week doing orientation in Gwangju (it's about an hour's drive away).

My principal came to pick me up, along with my co-teacher Winnie (after Winnie the Pooh, who, Winnie informed me, is Canadian like me).

In South Korea they follow the Confucian heirarchy system, which basically means I am the dirt on the bottom of your shoe as an unmarried, relatively young woman (although I AM 24 or 25 here, I haven't quite worked out how they count age, but in any case I'm older then my actual 23 years!)

And the PRINCIPAL is KING OF THE SCHOOL. We were told this repeatedly by foreigners and Koreans. On the first day of school I have to bring him a present (I'm going with whisky, apparently it goes over well) and my vice-principal a slightly smaller present (smaller bottle of whisky).

So I have to give this man STATUS which means low bows, receiving anything he gives me with two hands (even if he's just passing me a piece of paper or something, it's hard to ingrain in my western mind, especially when it happends quickly!) and when pouring him alcohol I have to have my left hand on my right arm (which is standard when pouring alcohol for ANYBODY, but for him my left hand should be around my elbow, instead of by my wrist because it's closer to my heart).

He is super important and I have to make sure he knows I know that. AND he doesn't speak ONE word of English. So I have to reley on Winnie to translate. Her English is very good, but not perfect. I was trying to tell my principal (his name is yum bae kim, but I have to call him principal, kyo cham song sang nim) that my luggage was VERY heavy. So I was acting like I was carring heavy luggage.

Apparently I'm not very good at charades.

Winnie and Mr. Kim chat for a bit, then she turns to me and says 'yes, he is a little bit fat, but you probably shouldn't have told him that'.

WHAT!!?

Haha, great first impression Jennifer! I made Winnie tell him I was talking about luggage butI was REALLY embarrassed for the rest of the day! (I also had a talk with Winnie about perhaps checking with me before translating things that might be potentially volatile).

After the hour long car ride to Gwangju (during which I was asked to explain multi-culturism in Canada, yikes) we went directly to the school, before I even went to my apartment. I sat in the vice-principal's room for an hour and a half. The vice-principal and some other teachers watched the olympics in Koreans and chatted about me (I heard Jen-ni-pur a lot) but no one actually talked TO me, so I was very confused as to why we were waiting there. I still have no idea. One positive aspect of the visit was that I received my textbooks. Although they are largely written in Korean and I have to use the pictures to guess what I am meant to be teaching. Thank Goodness I have this week off!!

Super long first entry! Read at your own risk!

Well, after many promises to family and friends back home I am FINALLY writing a blog.

I decided back in Canada not to get a computer because I was worried I'd spend too much time in my apartment if I had one. So right now I am sitting in a pc bang (bang=room) drinking sunkist 'muskat' that has real grapes in the can!

I've been in South Korea for a week and a half now and it's completely impossible to summerize my time here so far. When EVERYTHING in your life is totally different it's hard to write it all down in one entry!


The weirdest things for me in South Korea so far are:

-Being sort of a semi-celebrity. I've HEARD about this, but it's hard to imagine when we don't have an equivalent in Canada. In South Korea, if you are not Korean you can NEVER be anonymous. I suppose this makes sense as Korea has the highest concentration of one race in one country. Little kids will stare, tug at their parents hands to get them to look at you, run after you yelling 'big feet! big feet!' (well this has happened to me...I'm not sure about anyone else though:) say 'hello' in English OVER and OVER again, and (most annoyingly, or adorably depending on the kid) try to speak English (this usually consists of them making lalaalalaellel sounds at you). Men our age will come up to you and tell you you're beautiful/handsome depending on your gender. It's not meant as a come on, it's just something they do. One of my friends had a Korean male serenade her with 'You are so Beautiful...to me'.

-The driving!!! Again this is something I'd HEARD about, but thought it MUST be an exaggeration. Nope. I was very. very. wrong. Korea has the second highest mortality rate due to traffic accidents in the world. I am surprised they are not first, and while I don't know which country is, I hope I never go there! For example, during my training week in Gwangju we took a cab that BARRELED down the left side of the street (they drive on the right here) pull up in FRONT of cars stopped at a red light, and proceed through the red light. Red lights are considered optional by many many drivers, yet they will NOT turn left on a GREEN light unless they have the protective arrow, no matter what! And if you're a pedestrian?? Just understand that crosswalks are meaningless, and even the sidewalk is unsafe as people driving scooters often ride on the sidewalk.



* I seriously recommend anyone who wants to teach in the province of jeollanamdo consider going through Canadian Connection. It's the only place I've heard of that offers an orientation, which is very helpful for meeting people (foreigners mostly) througout the province