FIRE!

By Karl

Ok so it's been a while since any postings. Largely becasue Jenn has left and that makes me sad. That's not to say she left me. She left her miserable scam of a job at the "prestigious" Foreign Language High School (take special note of the sarcastic quotation marks there).  At any rate, something happened today I felt I absolutely MUST tell you all about. FIRE DRILL!

This was not your standard alarm-ringing-stand-in-line-orderly-walk-out-the-school fire drill. They used real fire! Ok ok, not fire IN the school but still....fire!

So yesterday I noticed the grounds keepers trimming dead branches from trees and generally cleaning up the shrubbery around the front of the school. They've been clipping and pruning recently (the roses are coming up beautifully and I really need to get some pictures) so I figured it was just part of the maintanence. They piled all the branches and dead brush at the far end of the large field in front of the school. I assumed this simply made for easier collection. Little did I know it would be set ablaze.

Today, during the first class, my co-teacher Y informed me that the school would be having a fire drill during third period. Now I assumed this would mean an alarm would sound and we would all march out single file to the field, wait the necessary amount of time, and come back in with a hearty congratulations from the vice principal for being orderly and not trampling any of the 1st graders. However, during second period I did notice some sort of display being setup with two inflatable dummy flames and three fire extinguishers. "Funny," I thought. What I failed to notice was the fire truck, the other fire extinguishers, the can of gasoline, or the table setup with a lovely cloth covering, which is always used for cermonial occassions.

About 5 minutes after what should have been the start of our third period class, I noticed that the students were absent. "Oh right," I thought, "fire alarm. Guess they do it with their normal class teacher." Suddenly the omnipresent, and unintelligible, voice of our vice prinicpal sounded throughout the halls. He seemed a little worked up and excited about something and I naturally assumed it was the drill. Then the alarm went off and he continued talking. "I guess even fires are scheduled so he would know to be ready on the intercom when a real fire broke out." Then I got up and looked outside just in time to see the piles of brush produce wonderfully tall flames and billowing grey smoke that smelled a bit like spent fireworks. "Wow what fun!" was the first notion that popped into my head.

I watched from the window as students gather near the end of the field, skirting the outside border, and staying well enough away from the actual fire. Then the fire truck started up it sirens, drove the 100 yards to the brush fires, and began playing with their hoses, much to the delight of the kids. Two male teachers ran towards the now much smaller flames and valiantly assisted the firemen by spraying the remaining flames with fire extinguishers. I'm not sure if it was meant as a serious demonstration to the students or if they just wanted to have some fun, too. I suspect more the latter. The truck then used it's main fire cannon to finish off the second brush pile. The kids absolutely LOVED that. And so did the firemen as they then turned the hose towards the students in a long arching shower that misted the kids and teachers watching. The whole time I'm thinking to myself  "my God, fire drills in U.S. schools SUCK!" A production like this would never be allowed. People would complain "oh the kids could get hurt," "someone could get burned," "they'll be drowned by the fire hoses, " "the children will be traumatized by seeing a real fire," "the kids might actually learn something." And the kids here did learn something.

After the initial pyrotechnics, the 5th and 6th graders were gathered to where the three fire extinguishers and the inflatable flames were setup. An instructor from the fire department then proceeded to *gasp* teach them how to properly use a fire extinguisher. After his initial demonstration and verbal instructions, the kids were allowed to walk up, three at a time, and take a practice shot at the dummy flames. And they must have been paying attention because they all properly aimed at the base of the fire (which is proper since you want to smoother the burning material rather than trying to make the flames smaller by spraying at them). School administrators, as well as someone official looking from the fire department, observed everything from the official covered table. When all was done, all the students gathered and the vice principal made an unintelligble, but certainly very grand, speech about the success of the fire drill. The official from the fire department also said a few words and afterwards all the students joined in a school spirited cheer and were led back to their classes.

The remaining brush piles were relit and the fire department watched over as they were reduced to smoldering ashes. I guess the city doesn't pick up bulk yard waste here in Gunsan.

***Edit*** PICTURES!

Turns out the "firework" smell was from this smoke flare above the school entrance.



"WALK BRISKLY KIDS! SAVE YOURSELVES!"

 

"Hey Kim, did we remember to bring the marshmallows this time?"



*WOOOOSH - FSSSSSHHHHHH*

 

"Hey this reminds me of the last riot. 'Course the students are much younger here."
"And smaller. They go down a lot faster when the hose hits 'em."
"Yeah...Hey look at that bunch over there!"

"I bet there's a test for this."



Eunpa Park Excursion

Over the weekend, we went to Eunpa Park, which is really just a trail around a big old lake in the southern part of the city. We had been there twice before, but the first time we went, the heat index was well over 100 F and we were sweaty balls of nastiness by the time we got there and really weren't up for a stroll. The second time we went, we tried to take what looked like a shorter route to walk there, of course got it wrong, and were too tired and hot to walk around by the time we got there.

However, this time, we chose a breezy, partly-cloudy day and took our time walking there (on the real shortest route) and found ourselves with enough energy to mosey around a good chunk of it. I'm really glad we did because there's some pretty decent scenery there considering we're in Gunsan. Plus I miss being near water. Even though Gunsan is a coastal city, it has zero beaches. Every inch of the waterfront is dominated by nasty old docks or nasty big industrial complexes. I REALLY would have liked to dive in the water but I already attract too much unwanted attention when I'm behaving normally. Koreans don't swim (read: don't know how to) so I think doing that would make people freak out.

Anyway, we had a lovely walk. There's a long bridge that spans part of the lake, with pavilions along the way.

In one of the pavilions was something called the "sphere of love" with a little explanation that said if you and your loved one put your hands on the sphere, you will have a long, happy life together. So of course we had to test it out  :)

At one end of the bridge, there's a little touristy area which is mostly snack stands and Korean versions of diners, selling cheap noodle dishes. There's also a cool zone at the other end, where you can walk through cool mist being sprayed along a little path. Of course that area was packed, so we didn't go in.

I thought that it was weird that at the entrance to the park that we came in, there was a seemingly random little cemetery. I wonder who is buried there...

Did I mention that you can rent peddle boats shaped like swans at the lake?

There were also various monuments at the main entrance to the park, which is where we exited. I couldn't tell you what they were monuments of, though, because my Korean is limited to ordering food, communicating with taxi drivers, and talking to pharmacists. It looks important, though, so I took a picture.

All in all it was really a fun day. We ended up walking for over 3 1/2 hours nonstop, but we popped into a convenience store for ice cream and water, which certainly helped! When we got back we curled up with a sleepy Tama.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Things that make me smile

by Jenn

The following are things that have made me smile recently.

 
Coffee that's happy to see you.

The dog at the home gym store. Sorry he's blurry here!

This.

Kittle love.

Happiness is a Warm Desk

By Karl

Deskwarming. That's what it's called here. And that's all it really is. Keeping the desk warm.

So, during the "Summer Vacation," while many of the students are enjoying the summer weather (if you can really enjoy it) and many of the teachers are...well they're not here... there are days when foreign English teachers are still expected to come in like any regular paid work day. Now, there are Koreans who come in too, but they are given specific tasks. As a foreign English teacher I'm expected to "deskwarm." In reality this means using my time to plan lessons for the coming semester. Except I'm at an elementary school and let's face it, there isn't a whole lot I can bring to the table. Really, how many variations of Bingo can I use? And it's not like I can give them a research project.

Coming up with lessons for 5th and 6th graders can be a bit tough when lessons are limited to conversational language. Since they don't learn grammar it's hard to teach them rules (since I can't explain the rules because they don't learn grammar). This means I spend about an hour trying to come up with fun activities that will help them learn. This leads to longer periods of headaches (usually from hitting my head repeatedly on the top of my desk). This then leads to searching online for any new ideas that I can re-engineer and take credit for. Which leads to more head pounding and more headaches. After a while I just surf around online and try to amuse myself. All the while ensuring that my desk stays nice and warm.

Beach bummin'

by Jenn

Since I had the day off and Karl got out at lunch time, and it was a gorgeous day outside, we decided to hop on a bus to one of the closest beaches. After eating a quick lunch, we took a taxi to the bus terminal. Taxis are so cheap here that it costs the same amount for us to take a bus to the bus terminal, so I see no point in denying ourselves a little luxury. Anyway, we got to the terminal right after a bus to Buan, our destination, left. Of course. So we found ourselves with an hour and a half to kill before the next bus left. Not to worry, though, there is a Family Mart right across the street from the bus terminal with a well-stocked ice cream freezer and tables in the back. 

I took some pictures of the bus terminal because it just looks like something from a much poorer country than Korea. Korea has all of these super high-tech things like the KTX (Korea's version of the bullet train) and crazy fast internet and neat cars, but some things are really stuck in the past. The bus terminal is small, grimy, not air-conditioned, and has no screens or even doors. It seems like something from a Chinese village or maybe one in the Philippines.

 

I would have taken some pictures of the inside where you buy tickets, but it's constantly packed with people and I don't really have the guts to whip out my camera and start taking snaps of random people. They will spit in your face here without restraint, and I wasn't in the mood for it. By the way, the construction you see in the above picture that looks like a Greek church or something is actually a huge wedding hall. The most extravagant structures we've seen in Korea have been, hands down, wedding halls. Weddings are big business in Korea. If you think Americans spend too much and get too frivolous with their big day, you ain't seen nothin'!

Anyway, finally our bus arrived and we hopped on. The ride was to a small city about an hour south of us, and then we hopped on a local bus for a 30-minute ride to the actual beach. The rainy season has come to an end at long last, so the countryside looked pretty today. The rice fields are just so green!

That last shot is from the outskirts of our city. Again, I'm just surprised at how dirty everything looks. It's like things fall into disrepair and they just let them stay that way. Is it a money issue or just that no one cares?

Anyway, after what felt like a very long time, we made it to the beach. It was beautiful! The sand was really squishy, more like a lake, since the west coast of Korea is mostly mud flats. There were so many tiny crabs (about the size of ants!) and minnows and shells. Some dead jellyfish, too, yikes. There weren't many other people there at all, and only a handful of them were swimming. Now, I know that most Koreans can't swim (which is strange to me, but that's another story) but there were tubes and life jackets for rent, so I wonder why it was so empty. Jellyfish, maybe? There were even two lifeguard boats out. Then we started to wade into the water and realized that it just didn't get deep! We went out quite a ways and it never got past our knees. I wonder how far you would have to go to do some real swimming?

So, we amused ourselves by walking around and splashing and checking out the rocky areas jutting into the sea.

We came back feeling a little worn out even though we didn't do much. The heat from the sun and the humidity here just seem to sap your energy if you're out for very long. Luckily, we were able to walk to Subway near our apartment and get a sandwich to revive us. It's comforting that you can order a spicy Italian or a meatball marinara all the way over here. Even if the salami is more like bologna.

On a cooler day, we'd like to go back to Buan and take a local bus to a nearby area because the beach itself and the mountains behind it are part of Byeonsan National Park. Apparently there is a nice day hike in the mountains that has a waterfall and a temple. I'd like to tackle it once the leaves start turning. And when it's not, you know, a hundred degrees. Call me a wimp if you must.

Hot weather? Cool down with hot soup. Obviously.

by Jenn

The most popular food by far this week here in Korea is samgyetang, a chicken and ginseng stew that also has jujubes, sticky rice, garlic, and other ingredients. When I first heard about this dish, I thought "oh, that sounds like a nice meal for winter to warm you up." Imagine my surprise when I found out that it's used for just the opposite- to cool you down in the hottest days of summer. The theory is that hot soup inside your body will make the outside of your body feel cooler. I'm not sure I buy this, and, judging from the throngs of Koreans I see eating ice cream and cold noodle dishes, I'm not sure they do either. However, samgyetang is also supposed to replenish nutrients lost from sweating too much, and it's supposed to treat the lethargy that often accompanies these dog days. I prefer the Japanese idea of fighting summer fatigue with barbequed eel. Thank goodness they sell that here too!  Anyway, seeing as how we're in Korea, we decided to do what (some) Koreans do and fix a pot of samgyetang from a kit sold at our local grocery store. I enjoyed it. But maybe that's because the air conditioning made me a little chilly before I dug in...  It's tasty to be sure, but it certainly won't replace ice cream, watermelon, potato salad, or hot dogs as summer foods in my mind.


The past week has been pretty tough. We have been dealing with the bureaucracy of two offices of education since our schools are not under the same one. Yes, I know that makes no sense as we're in the same small city. As with so many things here, Western logic need not apply. One of the major problems we've been having is the fact that we're not really allowed to talk to anyone at either office directly despite the fact that they speak English; instead, we are supposed to ask our co-teacher something, who then asks the head of their department, who then relays it to the principal, who then contacts however many people at the respective office of education. It's a frustrating game of telephone, and someone, or several someones, don't seem to want to answer our questions. I have asked the same question three times and it is still unanswered. There are many other specific problems we're having that I'm not going to get into on here, but I will say that this has been an immensely stressful week. 


Adding to that stress is the existence of racist, "foreigner"-hating Koreans working within this system. The Korean government wants at least one native English speaking teacher in each public school throughout the country, but there are many people in the individual offices of education who are, well, racist. And they make sure you know it, too. Jackasses like that need to find another job. Can you imagine someone in the U.S. telling another person in their company "No, I'm not doing that because I'm sick and tired of being a f*ing slave to all these f*ing foreigners."  And all we asked was something that is promised as part of our contract. I've never been treated with such unmasked racism in Asia. Frankly, I don't know whether I'm more astonished that so many of these people are in positions where they work with "foreigners" (note: I hate that word.), or that it's completely acceptable.
 

Teacher! Teacher!

By Karl

So it's been about 4 weeks into my teaching career and I think I'm beginning to get the hang of it. I think I mentioned once before in a post that teaching seems to be kind of hit or miss. Sometimes you think something will work and it doesn't. You figure out what went wrong and make the necessary adjustments so that if you ever try the same thing again, it'll work out better. This happened to me the first time I tried playing a game in one of my classes. This post will be long enough already so I'll cut to the chase on this part: the way I explained it the first time wasn't so great, nor was the way the game was executed. So during the next class I made a few adjustments to the flow of things and it worked out a little better. The class after that went even better than the second one.

I would like to think it did have something with the way I explained and executed the game but then again, it could just have been the mood of the class. I've done bingo now several times with classes and sometimes they are really into the game, sometimes not so much. So I do what I can and if it doesn't work, well, there is always tomorrow.

At any rate, all in all I think I like my job. It's certainly no dream occupation but compared to previous jobs it ranks pretty high. I'll probably feel a lot more comfortable next semester. I think I'll feel more like I'm working with the students right from the beginning instead of coming in as an interloper. Plus it'll allow me to set some ground rules of my own. This isn't so much a problem at DE My Co-teacher (Co-Y) can be kinda strict and really seems to have a handle on the students. Even the 6th graders don't pose a problem. At GE, the story is a little different.  My Co-Teachers teach alternating classes. So Co-B teaches 3rd and 5th while Co-J teaches 4th and 6th. Kids at Ge tend to be a little more roudy and excitable. And the 6th graders can be a tough crowd. Some of them have attitudes coming to the surface and they seem to like to push it a little. They know they're above the elementary school mentality and they're ready to move on (which is why in the U.S. we put the little brats 6th graders in Middle School). In fact, last time I was with Co-J I had to bring the hammer down. And it worked.

This is one of the 6th grade classes. I snuck the shot while they were busy doing a workbook activity. Anyway, out of frame is one particular young man who thinks he's way better than this stuff. So when we started playing a matching card game towards the end of class, him and his buddies decided they were going to goof around. When I asked them to play it correctly, they faked it long enough until I walked away. Co-J even went over to have a word with them but they wanted nothing of it. They were going to do what they wanted, even if it was folding the cards and throwing them around. So I told them, "If you don't want to play the game, I will give you a test." Co-J even translated to make sure they understood but they seemed to think I was bluffing. So I sat at the computer and typed out a quick 5 question quiz and printed off a few copies. Unfortunately, class was almost over so I really couldn't administer the punishment. Instead, before class left, Co-J announced to the class that I had something to say. I congratulated those that had fun playing the game and admonished those who wanted to goof off. Then I told the class, "The next we play a game, if you don't want to play it the proper way, I will give you a test." As I held up the copies of the tests I printed the class got very quite and their jaws fell open and their eyes got wider. Co-J, I think, was trying not to giggle at the site of the shocked faces. I was quite stern in my tone and I repeated myself saying, "next time someone wants to misbehave during the game, everyone will take a test." I looked at the kid and his friends who started the shananigans and so did everyone else. They got the point.

We'll see if they remember it this week since I have another game for them. But that's part of being a teacher. WG (a Professor from BGSU) told me that when he first started teaching he quickly realized that it was easier to "bring the hammer down" right from the start and then ease up as the semester went on. It's a lot harder to be the nice guy from day one and then try to be a hard ass when things get out of hand later. I definitely agree with his philosophy and it works the same with children as it does with college students. So at the start of next semester, I may just have to bring down the hammer on day one. Especially with those little brats  6th graders.

This is the hallway of the English Adventure! classrooms at GE, with Co-J's classroom to the right and Co-B's classroom behind me and to the right (which you can't see because the camera only faces one way).










Here is my classroom at DE. You can see the grey cubicle wall, on the right side of the picture, that hides my office.

Here standing outside my "office" you really can't see much except for the storage closets. But one inside....

I have my own little hideaway. I just need to get something for the walls. It's pretty stark at the moment.

Sometimes I do get tired on the walls around me so I'll stand and look out the classroom windows for a while and day dream.


But not during class of course.

Sick & tired of being sick & tired

by Jenn


Something my grandma used to say, and that's definitely how I feel today.

Our apartment isn't air-conditioned, which is really beginning to get to me as the dog days of summer set in. We finally caved and bought a fan, which helps. However, it's been so hot all the time that we had typically been sleeping with the window open- the window being basically the whole wall that our bed is pushed up against. Last Sunday night, we slept with it open, and it got cooler and windier than usual, and I woke up with a sore throat. The next day it was still there, and my voice started disappearing. Of course throughout the rest of the week, I was feeling progressively worse. One of Karl's co-teachers even sent some medicines home for me! How nice is that? Unfortunately it didn't do much, so I ended up going to the pharmacy to see if they could recommend any OTC medications. I was nervous about doing this since hardly anyone in our little city speaks any English at all.

Karl and I walk in, and the conversation goes something like this:
K: Hello, do you speak English?
Pharmacist: Ah..... little bit.
Me: I need medicine for my throat. My throat hurts, and my voice...
Pharmacist: Ah... cough?
Me: Yes, coughing, a little bit.
Pharmacist: *turns around and looks at several meds on the shelf, picks one and puts it on the counter* This medicine for throat. It is.. anti-inflammatory. Two pills, three times. *writes down instructions*

He put the box in a bag and tossed in several strawberry-flavored lozenges and we paid a whopping W2,000 for the whole kit. About $1.75. Wow!

I took the medicine and it seemed to help a little, but this cold or laryngitis or whatever it is still hasn't gone away. And the cough is definitely more than "a little bit" now, keeping me up at night. I'm sure my mood hasn't helped since I feel homesick, but I've been trying to be positive and I've been doing yoga almost every day. Who knows, maybe the yoga has been too much for my body this week. I don't know, but I'm worried that I will need to see a doctor if this doesn't go away in a couple of days as it's going on a week now. No insurance yet + probably non-English-speaking doctors = nervous Jenn. I assume that since the pharmacy and vet's offices are so darn cheap that even without insurance it wouldn't be that expensive, but like so many things here, maybe my Western logic won't apply. Cross your fingers this thing goes away.

On the bright (?) side, we've officially completed one month of our sentence adventure. And we had a cheese pizza last night to celebrate. It didn't even have any corn! You know you've found a good pizza place in Korea when they don't put corn on by default!

Korea runs on Dunkin's

We went to Daejeon last week, which is the nearest "big" city to us. Even though it's big to us, it's still only the 6th-largest in Korea- in other words, nothing compared to Seoul or Busan. But those cities are adventures for another day. Anyway, one of the things that strikes me about Daejeon and Korea in general is the plethora of American brands. Behind the subway station in the picture above, you can see that Korea runs on Dunkin's too! There seems to be a Baskin Robbins on every other corner, 24-hour KFCs all over the place, and we've also spotted Krispy Kreme, Papa John's, Pizza Hut, Popeye's, Subway, McDonald's, and of course Starbucks. I've seen so many more American brands here than any other country I've been to (well besides Canada and the U.S. duh!). The ones I've been to here-- McDonald's, Subway, Baskin Robbins, KFC-- all seem to have the American standard products and some Korean twists as well. Like McDonald's. You can get a Big Mac or McNuggets and fries, and the fries mercifully taste the same here, or you can get a bulgogi burger. It's delicious, trust me! McDonald's even has 1,000 won sundaes, which is so awesome to us because we have made many a $1-sundae run, especially in the summer in SC. They have McFlurries, too, but here they have a green tea flavor. I have yet to try it, but I'm certain I will. If you know me you know how much I love green tea-flavored treats!

Here's a typical Korean lunch from a food court when you don't opt for the American brands. I have some sort of bibimbap going on there with pickled side dishes and a soup that didn't look to bad but smelled like feet. Karl wouldn't even touch it, so I took a pass. The main dish and pickles/kimchi were great though. Karl got a Japanese-style lunch: Omurice and tonkatsu, with salad and soup. However, the omurice had kimchi fried rice inside rather than the ketchup or plain kind you get in Japan.

One thing that is specific to Daejeon from what we've seen, although this is probably the case in other big cities too, is these bike rentals. All the bikes are the same and parked at little stations like this. Nearby there is an electronic kiosk where you enter your information and voila! you have a bike for the day. Not that it would be anywhere near that simple if we actually wanted to figure out how to do it, but it's nice that the option is there.

I found myself kind of wishing we lived in Daejeon. There is so much more to do, and the people just let you live there. By that I mean that we didn't get gawked at, and I don't think one single obnoxious person heckled us with "HELLO HELLO." I would estimate that 30% of the people I pass here where we live do one of the two, and often both. So many people here treat non-Koreans like mascots instead of people, and I'm sick of it. I might be able to understand if this was the 1960s and they had genuinely never seen a non-Asian before, but that's absolutely not the case. But I guess this is one of the things I have to put up with if I want to get the nice paychecks and live rent-free here.

Anyway, we did decide to explore more of our own city, starting with one of the biggest city parks in the country, Wolmyeong Park. It's really more of a network of trails criss-crossing some large hills on the north side of town, but it's covered in forest and you do feel as though you're in the wilderness rather than the city. I really enjoyed it. The only thing I didn't care for was the little convenience store/noodle shops that were along the trail every so often that each had music playing and a crowd of older people sipping soju. They're convenient if you didn't bring water, like us, but I think the park would be nicer without them.

We took some pictures in the park, but they didn't come out well because it was super hazy that day. There are some places that supposedly offer scenic overlooks of the city and the harbor, but you'd never know it this time of year. There's a haze that hangs over the city every single day, sometimes clearing up in the early evening, and sometimes lasting until dark. I remember southern Japan being like that too in the summer.

We also inadvertently found a Japanese Buddhist temple in town near the park that provided some decent pictures. It's really a beautiful place! It looks like they hold services there frequently. When we were there, there was a group of Japanese tourists there with their kids. The temple representative spoke English, so he explained in English what they were looking at and one of the ladies would ask him some questions in English and then explain to the others in Japanese. For a moment I wanted to jump in, but it looked like they were managing just fine without me. I'll save my mad interpreting skills for another day :P

At the entrance to the temple were these two little turtle statues covered in rocks. Aren't they cute? We couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of them.

And one more thing we've discovered in the past week is that Tama likes Super Mario World! We downloaded it on our Wii a while back and are still working on those final difficult levels. Tama thinks he can help us. I'm not so sure.

Hit or Miss

By Karl


So in my previous post I indicated the adventurousness of eating in Korea. Up to that point, my lunches had been great. Until Monday.

I would never have thought that I would describe any Korean food as bland. Disgusting looking, maybe. But certainly not bland or tasteless. Monday's lunch was all of those things. Never have I been served anything that looked or tasted so unappetizing as I was served on Monday. I will do my best here to describe to you the slop I was forced to endure.

First of all, the rice was plain. No biggy. Rice generally is plain and it's only a pleasant surprise when it isn't. The rest of the meal goes downhill from there. The soup was some kind of shrimpy broth....I think. Shrimp was the closest thing to a flavor I could detect. The rest of the soup was kombu (that seaweed stuff) and a few small bits of potato. That's it. And there was way too much kombu. And it was over cooked. And not tastey. Moving on.

The side dishes were...actually I'm not sure I remember what the side dishes were. The whole damn meal was really so forgettable that I'm not sure what one of the sides was.

.....

Oh yes I do. It was that grey slop! Oh god what were they thinking!? OK, so here is this grey sludge (no kidding, think of the consistency of sludge and that's what this was) with pieces of rice cake in it. It's like Japanese mochi but firmer. I think it's called Tokbogi or something like that. Usually it's made spicy and delicious but instead, there it was in the sludge and the ONLY thing you could taste was ground black pepper! I like black pepper but if that's the only thing I want to taste I'll just pour it in my mouth. Why disguise it as something that should taste good but instead is suspended in grey goo?

I think the other side dish was just normal kimchi but it was very sour. I don't like it sour.

There was something else but I truly can't remember what it was. The main dish, though, is something that will haunt me for a while.

The color was the color of....of...well it was the color of Swamp Thing. In fact, now that I think about it, if Swamp Thing were hunted down, killed, and chopped up and made into a stew, I think that would be a close approximation of what the main dish was like. Swamp Thing might have more flavor, though. This stuff was just a pile of over cooked greens that were then stewed and finally simmered down to it's final state. As added insult they threw in little tiny shrimp which went through the same overcooking process. So instead of being crispy and pink and yummy, they were soft and pale and, frankly, quite disgusting. Their disgusting-ness was the strongest flavor in the whole dish and you could barely even taste that. I tried eating it with rice but it just ruined the rice.

I don't think I ate even half my lunch. I just couldn't do it. What's more, I noticed most of the adults did not finish their lunch or eat much of the Swamp Thing entrée. If the Koreans won't eat it,  you know it's just plain wrong.

Yesterday's lunch was pretty good but it was today's lunch that really got me excited. They served chicken curry! Oh it was wonderful. The soup was a clear broth soup of inoki mushrooms with white and green onions and egg. Yummy! And there was this wonderful side dish of flat rice noodles with shredded carrots, cucumbers, and sesame leaves. It was served cold and tossed in a delicious vinegary, slightly spicy, red sauce. I didn't eat the radish (daikon) kimchi but I certainly devoured the watermelon! The whole lunch was great. In fact, it was also so filling that I couldn't make it through all the curry. I tried my best but I just couldn't bring myself to over do it. Today's lunch certainly more than made up for Monday.

I'm learning that lunch here is hit or miss. Kind of like classes, but more on that later.

Mistakes & Frustrations

by Jenn

When you move to any new place, whether it's within your home country or not, there are always a certain amount of frustrations you face as you adjust, and if you're anything like me, mistakes that you make. When I move to a new city in the U.S., I like to take a day or two just driving around to explore my new neighborhood or city. Here, being in a smaller city with no subway and limited bus service, we've explored our neighborhood completely on foot. We're still not sure what all is within a 1-mile radius of our complex because it takes so long, especially in this heat.

Yesterday, we had to pick up our alien registration cards from the immigration office (FINALLY. It should NOT have taken this long.) and since Karl's co-teacher was driving him there from school, I was left with the task of figuring out how to get there myself. A quick glance at the city map I have revealed that it would probably be a good 45-60 minute hike up there, and since it was pretty hot yesterday, I didn't really want to arrive all sweaty and red-faced because they might have gotten the wrong idea and denied me my documents. Not really, but I wanted to at least look normal upon arrival. I decided to hop a bus there and then walk back. After doing online research about bus routes that rivaled the amount of research I did for my last term paper in grad school, I determined which bus to take and where to catch it. I managed to get on the correct bus and realized I didn't know which stop to get off at, but this was no problem since the route looked like the bus would go right past the immigration office. Luckily it did, and I hopped off at the next stop. I walked to the immigration office, picked up my ARC and passport in less than a minute (very busy office) and then was faced with the task of figuring out how to get back. I started walking in the general direction of our apartment, but became less and less sure of myself he farther I went. Our city is not laid out in a grid pattern at all, which makes for a lot of interesting diagonal intersections and easily lost sense of direction. Having been blessed with no sense of direction to begin with, this is not a good thing for someone like me. But I kept walking and discovered a little shopping district I'd like to go back to. Then I started seeing some creepy "gentlemen's clubs" and picked up my pace a bit. Finally I saw a major intersection ahead. Great, I thought, I'll recognize something there for sure.

Well, I definitely recognized it. I was right back where I had started, about two blocks down from the immigration office on the same street. Still no issue, though. I had brought more than enough money for two bus fares, although sadly not enough money to check out some of the stores I found. I went right back to the bus stop where I had gotten off to wait for the same bus. The only thing was, there was only one bus an hour, and I don't have a watch. After what I'm guessing was about 30 minutes of waiting, I swore that I would have a watch within the week. I was so relieved to just sit down and finally be on the way back that I just relaxed and took in the sights of the city. Then I realized I didn't recognize where we were. All around us were fields and what looked like villages in the distance. I was positive I had gotten on a city bus, but where the hell was this thing going? Anyway, it would eventually loop around back to my original stop, right?

Wrong.

I found myself traveling through part of the US Air Force Base and onward to the airport, where I hopped off as if it had been my intention all along. It's a good thing I did, because the bus driver parked there. The airport itself was about the size of my parents' barn, and you could tell what a hopping place it was by the group of five taxi drivers lounging on benches, smoking. Thankfully one of them spoke some English, and he was able to convey to the others that I actually didn't want to go someplace on the base, but downtown rather. The downtown-designated driver hopped up and we started back towards town. Finally, I thought, I'm almost back. We can't be that far from the apartment. It had already been two hours since I left for the immigration office and I was ready for some lunch. Well, once again, I was wrong. The airport and the base are quite a ways out from downtown, and the driver had to take the highway to get back. I began to break out in a cold sweat in the backseat as I watched the meter climb at an alarming rate. I had thought that it wouldn't be an issue since taxi rides are so cheap-- usually it's just as cheap for Karl and I to take a cab to one of the big grocery stores we like as it is to take the bus. But taxi rates here are based on distance, not time, and the highway sure made it rise at a nerve-wracking rate. I had about 13,000 won on me, half of it in change, and I began to worry about how I would convey that I had to go up to my apartment to get more money for the poor driver when we arrived. We pulled into the parking lot and I practically shouted "OK OK!" to get him to stop. We came to a rest at 12, 560 won. Whew! I paid and apologized that it was in change, but he just smiled and said "kenchanayo" (it's all right) and didn't even count it! Then he handed me his business card, said thank you in the formal way and we said good-bye. What a nice guy!

Needless to say I pretty much collapsed as soon as I walked in the door. Good lord.

Meanwhile, Karl was facing his own trials. His schools had been withholding his settlement allowance and plane ticket reimbursement until he got his ARC, which seems completely unnecessary to me. They are also holding his June pay until the end of July, which I also think is bullshit. Well, even though he got his ARC, his co-teacher informed him that she wouldn't take him to the bank because the money wasn't ready and that she was just taking him home. She also announced that she had no idea when they would pay it.

I can kind of understand them holding mine since I haven't started work yet, but giving someone a settlement allowance 3 weeks after they arrive kind of defeats the "settlement" part of it, don't you think? We were both so angry yesterday, seeing as how we were told that we would both receive our ticket reimbursement and settlement allowances upon arrival.  The whole reason we moved here is because we can't make enough money in the U.S., so it makes absolutely no sense to me that they just expect us to live off of-- what? our looks?-- for an unspecified amount of time. They also want to make us go to some workshop next week in a city an hour away from here and pay our own way. Karl would be reimbursed, but not me since I'm not working yet. But I "should go" anyway. That's a laugh. I have some ideas about what they should do, too.

Anyway, we brought money to get set up here, but that's it, which means we are quickly running out. Luckily our recruiter is stepping in after we sent a frantic e-mail to her yesterday evening. I am trusting and hoping that she will straighten it out today. I just don't understand what these people expect us to do. We're not here on vacation, even though by the title of our positions, "Guest English Teachers," you'd think we were. Maybe they think we are. I don't know. I am so angry about this and the whole thing is leaving a really sour taste in my mouth before I even start working here. I will probably make a bad impression by not attending this workshop next week, but I can't afford to go all the way over there on my own dime when they're withholding pay. It can't be helped.

If you're coming here to teach, you better be prepared to bring several thousand dollars in the event they try to pull this crap on you, too. Even though you're here to make money. And if you can afford to bring thousands of dollars, then why are you doing this in the first place?

Coffee shop hunting ~part II~

by Jenn

3rd time's a charm?
 

Yes yes, this is coffee shop hunting part 2, but this little gem above is actually the 3rd place we went to. Having decided to continue our search last night, we planned to stop at a fairly large chain, Angels In Us, that we've seen in Incheon, Daejeon, Jeonju... everywhere, really. There are several large coffee chains here in Korea, and Angels looked most inviting, particularly the location nearest our apartment. We stepped in, enticed by the shiny promotional posters in the windows, only to back out with our jaws agape. I'm all for atmosphere, and even paying a little extra for it from time to time, but 5,300 won for a coffee drink is outrageous to me. That's about $5 for you guys Stateside; in other words, about $1.50 more than the fanciest drink I used to order at Starbucks or Joe Mugg's when I happened to go there. No thanks!

So we decided to mosey on over to another part of our neighborhood where we thought we may have seen a coffee and gelato place. But by happy accident, on the way to it, we discovered Bean & Bean, which is definitely our new favorite coffee place/ hangout. The whole interior is done in dark wood, with plush deep red booths and 19th century British relics, including a huge wall of chintz cups and saucers- which they actually use to serve the hot drinks!

The place almost has the feel of an old train station or pub. It's wonderful! The menu board is all in English, which was quirky but convenient, and the prices were much better than Angels at around 4,200 won for the most expensive drink. I went for the iced cafe vienna, and Karl had an iced caramel macchiato. The barista even spoke a little English, which made us feel even better.

The quality of these pictures is admittedly terrible- my camera takes beautiful shots outside in the daylight, but it freaks out at night. Maybe it's afraid of the dark or something. I did what I could, but I'll take more pictures when we go back during the day. It's been so nice in the afternoons and evenings that we've been taking walks as it gets dark. Here's a neat shot of our building that I took coming home from Bean & Bean:

Ours is the one with the big window. Lovely, no?

Tomorrow we have to trek back to the immigration office to finally pick up our ARCs, hurrah! It's only been a week, but it feels like so much longer because we're prevented from doing so many things without one, like getting internet service and cell phones. I loathe the picture that will be on mine because they informed us the day we arrived here that they were taking us to get passport-size photos for the ARCs. Nice. Thanks for the warning, guys. I'm definitely still jet-lagging in mine and I need a shower, but other than that, nice. Anyway I'll just be relieved to have it. The number on it and the fact that I have it will definitely outweigh the nasty picture. Maybe I'll just put a Hello Kitty sticker over the photo part. That's it.

Glamour shot of us in front of our beloved Lotte Mart (think upscale Target):

I'm holding a bag of Skin Food brand products-- highly recommended! My skin started freaking out with the change in weather and lack of air conditioning here, so I decided to try switching to something local. I'm glad I did because it really seems to be working. I got a seaweed extract cleanser that guarantees to leave your skin squeaky clean, and I'd say it lives up to its word. The other one I got is an exfoliant scrub, which sounded really nice, "black sugar scrub," but which turned out to be for men. So now I smell a little manly after I wash up in the morning, but I can deal with it since it makes my skin so smooth. But the best part in my opinion about this brand is the free samples that come with it! I only bought those two things and they gave me five awesome samples! You have to spend something like $100 at Sephora to even get their samples, but this stuff they just freely hand out. They even had some samples sitting around the display in the store. Love it!

Tama is getting big so fast, and more hyper each day. He's also gotten a little picky about his food- he only wants to eat the imported American brand wet food, not the dry food. Who'd have thought such a kitten would be finicky? It's amazing to think how sick he was just over a week ago. These days I get my exercise in by playing chase with him!