Its been a while since I have done any blogging, but things are starting to get normal now and I'm finding it more difficult to get motivated to write. But, I just got back from China a few days ago. I was there for two weeks and had a pretty good time. But....
We spent the first 7 days there in Beijing, and that was way too much. The entire 7 days we spent there were some of the hottest days I have ever experienced. Everything you did and everywhere you went you would immediately start dripping in sweat...multiple times I could actually wring my shirt out from sweat. And if this isn't annoying enough, the streets are lined with beggar/vendors who try to sell you crap toys all day long. Even if you refuse they will lower their price until you actually scream in their faces to stop. It was incredibly annoying. And if this isn't enough, garbage lines all the streets and everywhere you go. Its amazing. I understand that you could make this argument about any big global city, but it only added to my disappointment with China's capital city. Oh and I got my haircut in Beijing for 30 yuan, or just under $5. And I think its a great haircut too.
But outside of all of that there is plenty to do. All of our days were full of stuff to do and we got plenty of culture in us. Some of the highlights included seeing:The Summer Palace;Tiananmen Square (probably the most important location in recent Chinese history); the Silk Market (a place where tons of foreigners go to bargain for knock-off goods); and the night market. At the night market there are all sorts of weird foods on display for people to eat. Its a pretty good tourist attraction. They had seahorses, cicadas, scorpions, all sorts of other bugs on sale. I actually tried the scorpion and it was decent. It didn't really have a whole lot of natural flavor cuz it was dipped in oil and salt, but its cool to say I have eaten scorpion nonetheless.
The silk market is absolutely insane. Its a big bargaining market with tons of booths where people try and sell knock-off goods and clothes. If you even look at something the vendors will immediately get your attention and ask you "you wan' buy bag/watch/shoes"? You have to be really careful how to bargain with the people. I got a sick pair of vintage knock off Jordan's for like 45 bucks. I actually paid a lot more than I should have, but that was me as a rookie haggler. There are also nice (enough) Polos and jeans and any other kind of accessories or clothes or bags you need. And everything is about the haggle, which makes it that much more nuts. Most prices start out at triple what they will usually sell for. If you even express a little interest in something and then change your mind or try to leave they will grab your attention and say something like "ok wha price? wha you lows price?" For instance, I was interested in a pair of polo shorts but the price was too high. I tried to leave but this very aggressive woman grabbed my arm and asked me what price. I dropped my price and tried walking out but she again asked me what price. When I completely rejected her price she finally accepted it. I gave her my 100 yuan for the shorts and tried getting my change but she wouldn't have it. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't give me my change, then she pointed out that there were actually two pair of shorts in my bag: the ones I wanted and another pair which I had barely touched earlier when browsing. Ok, whatever, I got two pair of knock off Polo shorts for 100 yuan (15 bucks). They will do WHATEVER it takes to make a sale. Oh, and I was browsing the jerseys one time, and fortunately they had a ton of Hawks jerseys. They literally had every pro team, all with pro's names and numbers on the backs, but I'm guessing there were so many Blackhawks ones because they just won the Cup. So, I'm checking out the jerseys and I see Niemi (who's now gone, apparently?), Toews, Hossa, Kane....and a Steve Larmer number 28 jersey complete with a fight strap and everything!!!! It was a dream come true, and I ended up paying just under 30 bucks for it. It was undoubtedly produced in some illegal sweatshop somewhere, but nobody has to know that. I'm very satisfied with my purchase.
We also went to the Great Wall at Mutianyu one day. It is about an hour trip outside of Beijing. There are a number of different locations to visit the Wall but at Mutianyu you start with a 15 minute cable car ride up the mountains. Once we got up there we walked up and down it a bunch. We got some really cool views and took lots of pictures. Then on the way down the mountain you have the option to cable car it down or take this toboggan. We obviously decided to take the toboggan down, and it was definitely the coolest part. You sit on these little metal sleds and have a simple brake and can just fly down the mountain. They tell you to slow down, but I just pretended to not understand English (not for the first time, might I add). It was pretty cool.
One night we went to a good restaurant with our Italian roommate couple. The male of the coupe, Giordano, spoke pretty good Chinese and suggested we go to this Peking duck place with them. It was awesome. The chef brings out this roasted duck and slices it up in front of you, getting absolutely everything out of it. Between the four of us we barely finished one duck...thats how much meat the chef was able to cut off from it. The duck there is unlike any duck I have eaten before...just really well cooked and with lots of sauces and veggies to eat them with. To properly eat it, you put pieces of duck into this little pancake and put the sauces and stuff in there, roll it up and eat it. It was soooo good.
Then another day we took a trip to this gorge. We hopped on a boat with this other group of foreigners whom we'd just met and cruised up and down the river for awhile. We had heard about a chance to bungee jump into the gorge and were all excited to do it. I was nervous about doing it, but slammed a beer and quickly got over it. So I went up to the jumping platform with 3 other people in our group, tightened my shoes, paid my fee, and stepped on the scale. That's when these Chinese men started screaming at me and pointing at the scale. You need to be under 90 kilos in weight to jump...and I was about 100 kilos. So I couldn't go. I was really pissed at the time. It only would have cost about $25 to do it there, and I'm pretty sure bungee jumping prices in the states are much higher. So I was bummed. Bad day, right? Well as we were leaving the gorge waiting for our bus, a Chinese man asks me to hold his child and pose for a picture. Before I go on, I need to add that most Chinese children wear very limited clothing during the summer months to stay cool. A lot of them have slits in the crotches so that they can pee and poo without trouble. Or, some parents just let their toddlers walk around completely ass naked. This particular boy had nothing but a bib on covering his front and front of his crotch, and yet his dad insisted that I hold him for a picture. (We were asked to pose for about 1-2 pictures per day by random Asian people with their families.) I could not stop laughing while holding this little kid. And when I turned to give him back to his dad he grabbed my shirt and held on. His dad finally got hold of him and the baby started crying. It was hysterical.
Another night we searched for over an hour for this Mexican place called Mexican Wave. It was pretty good but a little pricey. I guess margaritas are pricey anywhere you go though....
When we finally left Beijing, we took an overnight train to Xi'an in central China. The 11 hour ride was ok until my tummy started rumbling. I ended up spending roughly half of the time in the bathroom. It was a miserable ride. Anyway, Xi'an is a really really old city and is famous for its terra cotta warrior army. Sometime in the 1970's some Chinese guys were drilling for water or oil or something and cracked open this pit which had been covered for over 2000 years. Two more pits were found in the next few years. Inside the 3 total pits there are over 8,000 life-sized terra cotta soldiers and horses that have been standing there for millenia. Its obviously a huge tourist attraction, which kinda reduced the authenticity a little bit, but it was still really cool. Theres plenty of info on the internet if you're still interested. One of the exhibits showed chrome-based sword enamel, which wasn't created in the modern world until WWII. I guess the chrome prevents corrosion or something...but the point is that these people had developed technologies like that years and years ahead of the western world. That night we rented bikes and rode around the city walls. I don't know how long it is, but maybe like 10 miles in total. The old Xi'an was held within the city walls. It has since expanded a ton past the walls, but they are still there and in pretty good (although no doubt they have been renovated) condition. Anyway, I got real tough and decided to ride down some stairs as fast as I could. I got to the bottom and was flying along when my chain came off and I ate it all over the place. Fortunately not too many people saw it and I only had a few cuts, but it was a wipeout if I've ever had one.
The next day we went to a neolithic village on the outskirts of town. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. There were almost no tourists there and was really different. It was called Banpo Matriachrical village or something. Again it was discovered by people drilling in the 50's. Whats different about this one, however, is that it is a 6000 year old village! You can see where these people made their houses and how they cooked and stayed warm and even buried their deceased. It is not in the best shape, what with it being so old and all, but you can really see how people lived waaaay back then. It was really cool to see and experience.
The next night we took another overnight train from Xi'an to Hangzhou. This was maybe the worst trip of my life. I was still having stomach problems, and this coupled with the unbelievable amount of people on the train made it terrible. The train was packed...all the aisles had people standing in them. Thats right, people stood for the entire 19 hour ride from Xi'an. There was this one guy next to me who kept spraying when he talked and didn't ever shut the hell up. And then the air conditioning would go off and on and to even get to the bathroom it would take 10 minutes just to get there because you had to walk through so many people. And it was a squatter toilet, per usual in China. If you don't know how to use one, well, you're in big trouble. You need to be limber (I'm not), and of course be quick with your business (no way). And the bathroom on the train was disgusting, as it was located right next to the cigarette smoking area. That's right you can smoke on these trains, its terrible.There was no food or drink provided. These people would not shut the hell up, and everybodys seat was facing each other, so Laura and I were face to face with two guys the whole time. But eventually we made it to Hangzhou.
When we finally arrived in Hangzhou, which is about 100 miles from Shanghai, we were completely lost and had no idea how to get around. We finally got to our hostel and searched the area. The city revolves around the West Lake, which is this man made lake with really cool vistas and stuff. You can spend all day walking around the lake checking out parks and stuff. We actually ran into these two girls at this one pagoda in Hangzhou who we kind of knew. They were on our same train from Beijing to Xi'an about three days ago, and also happened to be leaving for Shanghai that night, on our same exact train! It was soooooooo nice to be in a clean, odorless, friendly pretty area for a change. It was honestly the complete opposite from Beijing. But we only had one night there before we left for Shanghai...
When we arrived in Shanghai we were lucky to have been on the same train as those girls because one of them knew the Shanghai subway system fairly well and the other spoke Mandarin. We would have been pretty lost if we hadn't have run into them. One of the nights we went clubbin' with them...it was interesting. But the whole concept of a 'club' is just way beyond me. Don't get me wrong, we had a lot of fun, but thats only because I can cut a rug like its nobody's business.
One day in Shanghai we went searching for the cheapest way to get to a really tall building to see the city from above. We had met a German couple in Beijing who told us about some place where the ride up is free but then you have to get a drink or something once you reach the top. Laura was extremely persistent on finding this one particular place, since the options we had looked at before cost about 150 yuan (25 bucks). But her persistence paid off, and we found out that you can go up to the top of the Hyatt building for free. But being up there you need to spend at least 120 yuan at the restaurant or bar which, obviously, wasn't a problem at all! So we went from possibly having to pay 150 yuan (to only go up to the top of one building and then leave), to actually paying 120 yuan for a) a view that was higher than any other building in Shanghai, b) getting three Jameson on the rocks, and c) relaxing in the air condition on a comfy sofa. It was a great deal.
Our final day in the trip was spent at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. Tons and tons of people from all over the world go to the expo, which runs from April to October. We were lucky to have been in vacationing in the host city this year. Anyway it was this ginormous park with tons and tons of pavilions for each country. We went at night to get a cheaper ticket and avoid lines, and its a good thing we did cuz the lines during the day were nuts. We made it to the USA, Chile, Caribbean, Australia, and a few other ones. Its basically just a chance for countries to sell themselves to the world and give reasons why people should travel there, invest there, etc. It was definitely something that I am proud to have gone to, and learned a lot about other countries. Well, thats all for now. Zai Jian.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Fear the Reds
Words for the week: snorkel, partly cloudy
So a few times a week the 5th grade teachers, (whom I'm apparently a part of) get together and eats Korean snacks. Its usually some pretty different stuff, but I eat it anyway. One afternoon the teachers came back with this ice cream-type stuff with rice cakes and kidney beans in it. It was ice on top of a smoothie and then the beans and rice cakes at the bottom of it. I don't know what it was called, and I don't know how its sold regularly. It wasn't great, not terrible but not great, and it reminded me why you don't mix beans with ice cream.
Oh and I was recently introduced to how Korean children signify their admiration of someone. One day I was wrasslin around with the kids before class, like I always do, and this one kid came up to me and put his hands together in the shape of a handgun, ran behind me, and stuck it into my butt....Uh...What?!?! I had no idea how to react..I mean what the hell just happened? It was sooo weird. I told the kid "no, no you can't do that", but all he did was smile at me and run away. I've since blocked repeated attempts at my rear end, and am obviously much more vigilant of the kids at all times. I brought this up to some friends and found out that this type of thing happens often, but only to guys. It means they like you, so I guess I got dat goin' for me. What a weird cultural concept.
I finally had an orientation Monday through Wednesday of the past week. We went to this convention center where over 200 foreign teachers in my province (Gyeonggi) alone are currently teaching. It was pretty cool...I learnt a lot about teaching and made a lot of friends who live near me. What was particularly cool was meeting people from English-speaking countries all around the globe--New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the UK, Ireland, Canada, and all over the United States. So that was cool. And we were able to have some beers at night which made it all that much more fun.
Last weekend I went to a place called Muuido, which is an island off of Incheon (which supports Korea's largest international airport). To get to the island you need to take a ferry, and round trip was like 3,000 won, or less than $3. Real cheap. We then went to this area called Hanagae which is nothing more than a little strip of beach with all sorts of gondolas along the beach, each at 10,000 won a night. Again, very cheap. It was pretty much spring break, just hanging out on the beach all weekend long and eating shellfish and other local marine wildlife. The tides there are pretty outstanding, and I even went out as far as maybe 500 yards one time where the water had been just a few h
ours ago. It was pretty cool, and again there were lots of English speakers all over the place.
One of the things that I have really noticed since being here is how well Koreans can save space. There are around 50 million people here, all crammed into an area roughly the size of Indiana. So there's not much real estate to work with, and so Koreans have become experts at saving space. For example, many bathrooms' showers consist of nothing more than a shower head poking out of the wall in a bathroom, with everything in the bathroom being waterproof. It's also rare, as I've noted before, for Koreans to have dryers. And there are lots and lots and lots of buses (I still think that word should be spelled busses), and they are usually pretty full. A lot of people ride them, and therefore either don't have a car or have only one in their family. Another space-saving example is in my school. With over 1700 kids, one would think that the cafeteria might be a central room in the building. But actually, there is no cafeteria. The lunch ladies bring food up in these huge carts on elevators and each class eats in their homeroom, and then spends time cleaning up afterwords. Its kinda interesting to see these ways that people have learned to deal with too many people in not enough space.
Prior to my leaving for Kor
ea I was told that people might stop me and ask for my autograph. This hadn't really happened to me, and I figured I wasn't tall enough to be thought of as something like a basketball player, and so it wouldn't happen to me. Well on Fridays, just before lunch, I have my favorite class, 3-5 (a third grade class). I like it because there are two really good English speaking boys who lived in the US for a time, and I can use them to help some translation issues. I also like it because there are some of the most adorable little girls, like the one with a mustache (incidentally the only facial hair I've seen in Korea), or the one who is a little heavier and stares at me with her little smirk for 5 straight minutes before every class, pointing her finger at me and rubbing the hair on my arm. (I guess body hair isn't too common around here.) So Friday they all were really rowdy for some reason and all started asking me for my autograph. Let me tell you what, it was absolutely bonkers. There were shoving these pieces of paper in my face like I was a Korean pop star or something. I mean at first it was funny, then it got to be really annoying. Eventually I just started signing alternate names like "Barack Obama", "Jack the Ripper", and "Marty Dertz". Can't wait til these kids realize what was really going on. I got a good laugh out of it.
Soccer games in Korea are a big deal, and so being here for the World Cup has been really cool, especially since Korea has had success. On game days/nights, local towns organize these huge gatherings of people and have a big screen available for viewing. Saturday night I went to "city hall" in Seoul with a bunch of people and watched the game. It was nuts. I couldn't even guess how many hundreds of thousands of people were there. It was a total mess because right before the game it started raining and didn't stop the whole time. But this was just an absolute party... prior to the opening kickoff there was a concert with all of Korea's most popular bands. The best part about it was that it was all free. It was such a cool experience, seeing people support their country and everything. I don't really have anything to compare it to in the US because while instances like the 2010 Olympics were great and did a lot for national pride, there were still people in the US who didn't really care about it. EVERYONE here is a die-hard soccer and Korea fan. All game long people sing and cheer and dance..even in the rain.
After Korea lost we went to Itaewon (a section of Seoul basically designed for foreigners) to watch the USA-Ghana game. Now keep in mind that the Korea game started at 11:00 PM. The US game started at 3:30 AM. These bars were all open and tons of people were hanging out, it was really cool. Because of the times I ended up getting home around 10:00 AM. I hadn't pulled a legitimate all-nighter since Tony Hawk 2 came out and Slick Willy was in office. But it felt good, made me feel like I'm still in college.
So a few times a week the 5th grade teachers, (whom I'm apparently a part of) get together and eats Korean snacks. Its usually some pretty different stuff, but I eat it anyway. One afternoon the teachers came back with this ice cream-type stuff with rice cakes and kidney beans in it. It was ice on top of a smoothie and then the beans and rice cakes at the bottom of it. I don't know what it was called, and I don't know how its sold regularly. It wasn't great, not terrible but not great, and it reminded me why you don't mix beans with ice cream.
Oh and I was recently introduced to how Korean children signify their admiration of someone. One day I was wrasslin around with the kids before class, like I always do, and this one kid came up to me and put his hands together in the shape of a handgun, ran behind me, and stuck it into my butt....Uh...What?!?! I had no idea how to react..I mean what the hell just happened? It was sooo weird. I told the kid "no, no you can't do that", but all he did was smile at me and run away. I've since blocked repeated attempts at my rear end, and am obviously much more vigilant of the kids at all times. I brought this up to some friends and found out that this type of thing happens often, but only to guys. It means they like you, so I guess I got dat goin' for me. What a weird cultural concept.
I finally had an orientation Monday through Wednesday of the past week. We went to this convention center where over 200 foreign teachers in my province (Gyeonggi) alone are currently teaching. It was pretty cool...I learnt a lot about teaching and made a lot of friends who live near me. What was particularly cool was meeting people from English-speaking countries all around the globe--New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the UK, Ireland, Canada, and all over the United States. So that was cool. And we were able to have some beers at night which made it all that much more fun.
Last weekend I went to a place called Muuido, which is an island off of Incheon (which supports Korea's largest international airport). To get to the island you need to take a ferry, and round trip was like 3,000 won, or less than $3. Real cheap. We then went to this area called Hanagae which is nothing more than a little strip of beach with all sorts of gondolas along the beach, each at 10,000 won a night. Again, very cheap. It was pretty much spring break, just hanging out on the beach all weekend long and eating shellfish and other local marine wildlife. The tides there are pretty outstanding, and I even went out as far as maybe 500 yards one time where the water had been just a few h
ours ago. It was pretty cool, and again there were lots of English speakers all over the place.One of the things that I have really noticed since being here is how well Koreans can save space. There are around 50 million people here, all crammed into an area roughly the size of Indiana. So there's not much real estate to work with, and so Koreans have become experts at saving space. For example, many bathrooms' showers consist of nothing more than a shower head poking out of the wall in a bathroom, with everything in the bathroom being waterproof. It's also rare, as I've noted before, for Koreans to have dryers. And there are lots and lots and lots of buses (I still think that word should be spelled busses), and they are usually pretty full. A lot of people ride them, and therefore either don't have a car or have only one in their family. Another space-saving example is in my school. With over 1700 kids, one would think that the cafeteria might be a central room in the building. But actually, there is no cafeteria. The lunch ladies bring food up in these huge carts on elevators and each class eats in their homeroom, and then spends time cleaning up afterwords. Its kinda interesting to see these ways that people have learned to deal with too many people in not enough space.
Prior to my leaving for Kor
ea I was told that people might stop me and ask for my autograph. This hadn't really happened to me, and I figured I wasn't tall enough to be thought of as something like a basketball player, and so it wouldn't happen to me. Well on Fridays, just before lunch, I have my favorite class, 3-5 (a third grade class). I like it because there are two really good English speaking boys who lived in the US for a time, and I can use them to help some translation issues. I also like it because there are some of the most adorable little girls, like the one with a mustache (incidentally the only facial hair I've seen in Korea), or the one who is a little heavier and stares at me with her little smirk for 5 straight minutes before every class, pointing her finger at me and rubbing the hair on my arm. (I guess body hair isn't too common around here.) So Friday they all were really rowdy for some reason and all started asking me for my autograph. Let me tell you what, it was absolutely bonkers. There were shoving these pieces of paper in my face like I was a Korean pop star or something. I mean at first it was funny, then it got to be really annoying. Eventually I just started signing alternate names like "Barack Obama", "Jack the Ripper", and "Marty Dertz". Can't wait til these kids realize what was really going on. I got a good laugh out of it.Soccer games in Korea are a big deal, and so being here for the World Cup has been really cool, especially since Korea has had success. On game days/nights, local towns organize these huge gatherings of people and have a big screen available for viewing. Saturday night I went to "city hall" in Seoul with a bunch of people and watched the game. It was nuts. I couldn't even guess how many hundreds of thousands of people were there. It was a total mess because right before the game it started raining and didn't stop the whole time. But this was just an absolute party... prior to the opening kickoff there was a concert with all of Korea's most popular bands. The best part about it was that it was all free. It was such a cool experience, seeing people support their country and everything. I don't really have anything to compare it to in the US because while instances like the 2010 Olympics were great and did a lot for national pride, there were still people in the US who didn't really care about it. EVERYONE here is a die-hard soccer and Korea fan. All game long people sing and cheer and dance..even in the rain.
After Korea lost we went to Itaewon (a section of Seoul basically designed for foreigners) to watch the USA-Ghana game. Now keep in mind that the Korea game started at 11:00 PM. The US game started at 3:30 AM. These bars were all open and tons of people were hanging out, it was really cool. Because of the times I ended up getting home around 10:00 AM. I hadn't pulled a legitimate all-nighter since Tony Hawk 2 came out and Slick Willy was in office. But it felt good, made me feel like I'm still in college.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Drankin Henne$$ey
Words for the week: Alligator, koala bear, turtle.
The lunches lately have been ok. One particular day we had this chicken-like thing that tasted pretty good. I asked what it was, and they told me "oh, dang". So I looked it up, and this is what I was eating:
It is fish batter somehow put together, and with a bunch of sesame on it it tasted great. I usually eat a ton of lunch, and this particular day was no exception. But this really wasn't fish...it was really good. It was mixed in with quail eggs, which are also good. Never thought I would eat any of those before, but I guess now I can add that to my list.
Some people in Korea wear glasses without any lenses. Its their sense of fashion. I don't understand these people.
Last Monday I woke up at 5:45 to a mosquito buzzing around my face. I usually sleep with a fan on to ward off any mosquitos, because it has been a problem in the past, but this one was determined to eat me. I couldn't sleep after that, and when I finally got the the mirror I had 7 large bites on my right cheek/neck. Try explaining that to a bunch of Korean kids. What a nightmare. Some of them thought I had zits, while others just said "Tighe teacher mosquito face". It was really cool NOT. My coat is black NOT. Anyway the swelling went down about 2 hours later and I got some spray to prevent such episodes in the future.
Korean table manners are something else. I have my opinions, but a quick Google search will tell you what you need to know about them Lets just say that they aren't the same as Western standards. At all.
There are two types of schools where teachers like myself work: hagwon(s) which are private English institutes, or public schools. When I was applying for jobs over here I was going through two separate recruiting agencies, one private and one which sent teachers to public schools. The ONLY reason I eventually went with the agency who was affiliated with a public school was simply because they offered me a job first. The private agency said I was in and that I had passed the interview but they were looking for placement, more or less. And its a great thing I went public. Many of the foreign teachers whom I've met work at hagwons, and they do a LOT more work per day and work longer hours than public school teachers, and work weekends. Not to say that I don't enjoy the work (which I do), or that I would prefer to do less than an acceptable amount of work. It just that public schools allow for much more flexibility and, at least in my eyes, a more enjoyable teaching experience. If I want to solely lead a class I can, but if I want to share responsibilities with my co teacher then that is fine too. But thats just my opinion. And hagwons are often run as late as 10 or 11 PM. Yeah no thanks.
This past week I showed a powerpoint about how to say "he/she is ____", with various Korean celebrities as pictures. The students would look at the picture, raise their hands and then say "he is Tighe teacher/she is Kim Yuh-Na", for example. Then I showed a picture of Barack Obama. I called on this little girl to answer the question. She stood up, hesitated for a second, then immediatly started bawling in front of the whole class. I'm talking immediate tears and lots of power behind it. I mean I voted for McCain too little girl; but that's no reason to cry when you see his picture! What a great GOP ad that would have been...classic.
The lunches lately have been ok. One particular day we had this chicken-like thing that tasted pretty good. I asked what it was, and they told me "oh, dang". So I looked it up, and this is what I was eating:
It is fish batter somehow put together, and with a bunch of sesame on it it tasted great. I usually eat a ton of lunch, and this particular day was no exception. But this really wasn't fish...it was really good. It was mixed in with quail eggs, which are also good. Never thought I would eat any of those before, but I guess now I can add that to my list.
Some people in Korea wear glasses without any lenses. Its their sense of fashion. I don't understand these people.
Last Monday I woke up at 5:45 to a mosquito buzzing around my face. I usually sleep with a fan on to ward off any mosquitos, because it has been a problem in the past, but this one was determined to eat me. I couldn't sleep after that, and when I finally got the the mirror I had 7 large bites on my right cheek/neck. Try explaining that to a bunch of Korean kids. What a nightmare. Some of them thought I had zits, while others just said "Tighe teacher mosquito face". It was really cool NOT. My coat is black NOT. Anyway the swelling went down about 2 hours later and I got some spray to prevent such episodes in the future.
Korean table manners are something else. I have my opinions, but a quick Google search will tell you what you need to know about them Lets just say that they aren't the same as Western standards. At all.
There are two types of schools where teachers like myself work: hagwon(s) which are private English institutes, or public schools. When I was applying for jobs over here I was going through two separate recruiting agencies, one private and one which sent teachers to public schools. The ONLY reason I eventually went with the agency who was affiliated with a public school was simply because they offered me a job first. The private agency said I was in and that I had passed the interview but they were looking for placement, more or less. And its a great thing I went public. Many of the foreign teachers whom I've met work at hagwons, and they do a LOT more work per day and work longer hours than public school teachers, and work weekends. Not to say that I don't enjoy the work (which I do), or that I would prefer to do less than an acceptable amount of work. It just that public schools allow for much more flexibility and, at least in my eyes, a more enjoyable teaching experience. If I want to solely lead a class I can, but if I want to share responsibilities with my co teacher then that is fine too. But thats just my opinion. And hagwons are often run as late as 10 or 11 PM. Yeah no thanks.
This past week I showed a powerpoint about how to say "he/she is ____", with various Korean celebrities as pictures. The students would look at the picture, raise their hands and then say "he is Tighe teacher/she is Kim Yuh-Na", for example. Then I showed a picture of Barack Obama. I called on this little girl to answer the question. She stood up, hesitated for a second, then immediatly started bawling in front of the whole class. I'm talking immediate tears and lots of power behind it. I mean I voted for McCain too little girl; but that's no reason to cry when you see his picture! What a great GOP ad that would have been...classic.
Later that day I finally got paid for the first time. What a great day- the best since I have been here by far. I was feeling particularly American, what with Kane scoring the winning goal and all, and so immediately after school I bought some Budweiser and drank it on the way to McDonalds. The McDonalds in Korea are really good. Maybe its because I haven't had it in a while, but regardless it was awesome.
So that night I strolled around and found a place in the Yeoung-tong Dong (I know...thats honestly what its called) area of Suwon and found a "hennessey bar". Now I had only once in my life had hennessey but thought I would check the place out. That was my first mistake. I walked in and was one of two people in the bar. Still feeling American I ordered what I thought was a glass of Jack Daniels. Instead the waitress brought me an entire bottle of Jack. I mean...great lady but I am not looking to party that hard tonight. So she pours me a shot and then a chaser of tea (seriously) and then I want to pay but they don't understand. They do not understand the concept that I wanted to pay. So what does the waitress do? Pours me another shot. I mean at this point I kinda have to rip another one. So I tell the bartender that she should do one too, and she obliges. When I want to leave, I find out that they had run my card for THE ENTIRE BOTTLE OF JACK DANIELS for a price so high that I'm not comfortable sharing it over the internet. I tried explaining I didn't want the whole bottle, but I may as well have been talking to a wall. Now, never in my life would I have been bothered by owning something like that, but I think they were thinking that I would drink it all there. Crap. So I sit down again and the waitress and I do another shot. It was like this for about an hour before I finally convinced them to let me take my already opened bottle and leave that dungeon. But the entire time I sat at the bar, which was maybe an hour total. And for that same duration the bartender sat directly across from me at the bar staring at me. Talk about uncomfortable. I still don't know why she thought it was cool that she stared at me while we had nothing to talk about. Thats the last time I go to any hennessey bar.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Week 3ree
Words for the week: licorice, umbrella, lollipops.
My second and third weeks have been pretty interesting...nothing like the encounters I had week one but still pretty crazy....
I was given a toothbrush because they want us to brush our teeth after lunch. Kind of weird going into a messy bathroom with little kids running around and brushing my teeth, but I am not about to blatantly ignore something as "important" as that is right after I've begun working.
And bathroom doors are wide open. Anybody can watch a guy pee along the stall wall, which is kinda creepy. The girls' bathroom is open too, but they have stalls to protect themselves from 'peeping Sung-il Jin's'. There is also no form of drying your hands in the bathrooms, and since I always am washing my hands to get childrens' dirt off, its usually a problem. And in Korea soap dispensers are rare; there is only a bar of soap attached to a pole coming out of the wall. Not quite soap-on-a-rope, but awfully close. And you are not supposed to flush soiled toilet paper. You are to put it in a wastebasket next to each toilet. I have yet to do that, though, and if I get caught I'll obviously plead ignorance. But seriously, I think its in the school's best interest to let me flush them. I haven't been able to digest these spicy foods as well as I could have, and I wouldn't want any kids telling on me that I've been stinking up the bathroom. (Oh and I recently found out that there is a bathroom for teachers! Everytime I've needed to use it, however, the door has been locked...)
And as far as I know every teacher eats lunch at the school. The lunch can be hit or miss, I've liked it about 50% of the time...only when they serve something that is actually filling as opposed to a bunch of pathetic seaweed and tofu samples. Gross. And there is kimchi every single meal everyday...which is nothing more than spiced cabbage. I have tried to eat a little bit most meals, but it is honestly one of the grossest things I have ever voluntarily eaten. Radishes are also a huge part of Koreans' diet. But after eating them I understand why neither I nor most Americans regularly eat radishes. They usually taste similar to kimchi, but are a little easier to stomach.
Every morning at my school at 8:45 AM "Let it Be" by the Beatles is played over the P.A. system. I was told that this was because the principle really believes in the students learning English, and so thats one more way to incorporate the language into the everyday schedule. Whats weird is that I am responsible to be the lone native English speaker in the biggest elementary school (over 1700 I found out, larger than Knox) in the biggest suburb of one of the biggest cities in the world...searching for more superlatives...
All persons inside the school are required to wear sandals. They say its for comfort, but I don't buy that, especially when they say I have to get some. I secretly think its a ploy to make themselves feel taller. I'm going to get my very own pair later this week! Hopefully they have sandals made by LUGZ?
For some reason Dunkin Donuts is rarely open in the morning.
After volleyball last week the whole crew went out to eat at a traditional Korean place. I knew I was screwed with the seating again, but fortunately some of the teachers provided a wall that I could sit against so that I could stretch my legs. This was immediately after volleyball, where I had been sweating my balls off. Didn't have time to shower. So we eat, and out comes a few dishes containing a dark nutty looking thing, similar to walnuts I believe. Great, methinks, I can eat walnuts.
When I inquired about what they might be, I was told "pupa". Hmmmmm. When I hear that word I think of some sort of insect larva or something but couldn't quite put my finger on it. They told me it was a great source of protein, and they were all chowing down on this stuff so I figured I would give it a shot. It didn't taste good, in fact it tasted like a combination of poop and dirt. I then asked Kyun exactly what it was, and he typed it into his translator on his phone. "Silkworm pupa" was the result....Oh great! I love worms! Below is what they looked like, except the ones I ate were a lot less plump and soaked in water:
Funny thing is that the taste was dead on! Just as I thought....poop and dirt. Aren't worms the best!?!? I couldn't believe these people.
After dinner all the men ditched the women to go play pool. Except in Korea you don't play normal billiards, you play what is called "four ball":
AwWgDI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4dt2AwWgDI
I had a bit of a hard time adjusting, but I see a lot of potential there for me.
Anyway, that whole scene was weird. So we left there and then after getting a couple beers some of the guys wanted to go to karaoke. I'm not the biggest fan, especially when I am relatively sober, but had no other choice really. So we went in and sat down. At karaoke you go into a building with lots of different small rooms where you can sing and eat and drink and be loud without any interference from other parties. My friends all start singing these really passionate, slow Korean songs. I couldn't tell if they were serious or if they were playing a trick on me. I mean, these guys had good voices and were dead sober---which scared the hell out of me. They asked me to pick a song but there weren't any that I felt comfortable with. I had to choose one at the last minute and went with Metallica's "Fade to Black". Wow, you should have seen the look on these guys' faces. They probably thought I was an absolute nut--especially singing that on the heels of their slow Korean love songs. Fortunately I was able to save my standing with them by doing a rip rousing rendition of Nickelback a few minutes later. Phew, I was back on top.
I was told at the last minute (which is not an unusual form of communication in Korea) on Thursday that I will be the new basketball coach. Out of the blue, actually. So I threw some shorts on, went outside, gave each 4th grader an American name that I could remember, and we played basketball. And I thought it was fun playing against 8th graders at the last school I taught at! The rims here are maybe 9 feet high on a good day. I might start calling myself LeBron for these kids' sake, its ridiculous.
And finally, I have brought "the pound" to the Far East. All these kids love saying "hallo teacher tighe/meester tighe" and giving me high fives, so I introduced the pound and they love it. Saves me a good 2 minutes of high fives between classes.
My second and third weeks have been pretty interesting...nothing like the encounters I had week one but still pretty crazy....
I was given a toothbrush because they want us to brush our teeth after lunch. Kind of weird going into a messy bathroom with little kids running around and brushing my teeth, but I am not about to blatantly ignore something as "important" as that is right after I've begun working.
And bathroom doors are wide open. Anybody can watch a guy pee along the stall wall, which is kinda creepy. The girls' bathroom is open too, but they have stalls to protect themselves from 'peeping Sung-il Jin's'. There is also no form of drying your hands in the bathrooms, and since I always am washing my hands to get childrens' dirt off, its usually a problem. And in Korea soap dispensers are rare; there is only a bar of soap attached to a pole coming out of the wall. Not quite soap-on-a-rope, but awfully close. And you are not supposed to flush soiled toilet paper. You are to put it in a wastebasket next to each toilet. I have yet to do that, though, and if I get caught I'll obviously plead ignorance. But seriously, I think its in the school's best interest to let me flush them. I haven't been able to digest these spicy foods as well as I could have, and I wouldn't want any kids telling on me that I've been stinking up the bathroom. (Oh and I recently found out that there is a bathroom for teachers! Everytime I've needed to use it, however, the door has been locked...)
And as far as I know every teacher eats lunch at the school. The lunch can be hit or miss, I've liked it about 50% of the time...only when they serve something that is actually filling as opposed to a bunch of pathetic seaweed and tofu samples. Gross. And there is kimchi every single meal everyday...which is nothing more than spiced cabbage. I have tried to eat a little bit most meals, but it is honestly one of the grossest things I have ever voluntarily eaten. Radishes are also a huge part of Koreans' diet. But after eating them I understand why neither I nor most Americans regularly eat radishes. They usually taste similar to kimchi, but are a little easier to stomach.
Every morning at my school at 8:45 AM "Let it Be" by the Beatles is played over the P.A. system. I was told that this was because the principle really believes in the students learning English, and so thats one more way to incorporate the language into the everyday schedule. Whats weird is that I am responsible to be the lone native English speaker in the biggest elementary school (over 1700 I found out, larger than Knox) in the biggest suburb of one of the biggest cities in the world...searching for more superlatives...
All persons inside the school are required to wear sandals. They say its for comfort, but I don't buy that, especially when they say I have to get some. I secretly think its a ploy to make themselves feel taller. I'm going to get my very own pair later this week! Hopefully they have sandals made by LUGZ?
For some reason Dunkin Donuts is rarely open in the morning.
After volleyball last week the whole crew went out to eat at a traditional Korean place. I knew I was screwed with the seating again, but fortunately some of the teachers provided a wall that I could sit against so that I could stretch my legs. This was immediately after volleyball, where I had been sweating my balls off. Didn't have time to shower. So we eat, and out comes a few dishes containing a dark nutty looking thing, similar to walnuts I believe. Great, methinks, I can eat walnuts.
When I inquired about what they might be, I was told "pupa". Hmmmmm. When I hear that word I think of some sort of insect larva or something but couldn't quite put my finger on it. They told me it was a great source of protein, and they were all chowing down on this stuff so I figured I would give it a shot. It didn't taste good, in fact it tasted like a combination of poop and dirt. I then asked Kyun exactly what it was, and he typed it into his translator on his phone. "Silkworm pupa" was the result....Oh great! I love worms! Below is what they looked like, except the ones I ate were a lot less plump and soaked in water:
Funny thing is that the taste was dead on! Just as I thought....poop and dirt. Aren't worms the best!?!? I couldn't believe these people.
After dinner all the men ditched the women to go play pool. Except in Korea you don't play normal billiards, you play what is called "four ball":
AwWgDI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?
I had a bit of a hard time adjusting, but I see a lot of potential there for me.
Anyway, that whole scene was weird. So we left there and then after getting a couple beers some of the guys wanted to go to karaoke. I'm not the biggest fan, especially when I am relatively sober, but had no other choice really. So we went in and sat down. At karaoke you go into a building with lots of different small rooms where you can sing and eat and drink and be loud without any interference from other parties. My friends all start singing these really passionate, slow Korean songs. I couldn't tell if they were serious or if they were playing a trick on me. I mean, these guys had good voices and were dead sober---which scared the hell out of me. They asked me to pick a song but there weren't any that I felt comfortable with. I had to choose one at the last minute and went with Metallica's "Fade to Black". Wow, you should have seen the look on these guys' faces. They probably thought I was an absolute nut--especially singing that on the heels of their slow Korean love songs. Fortunately I was able to save my standing with them by doing a rip rousing rendition of Nickelback a few minutes later. Phew, I was back on top.
I was told at the last minute (which is not an unusual form of communication in Korea) on Thursday that I will be the new basketball coach. Out of the blue, actually. So I threw some shorts on, went outside, gave each 4th grader an American name that I could remember, and we played basketball. And I thought it was fun playing against 8th graders at the last school I taught at! The rims here are maybe 9 feet high on a good day. I might start calling myself LeBron for these kids' sake, its ridiculous.
And finally, I have brought "the pound" to the Far East. All these kids love saying "hallo teacher tighe/meester tighe" and giving me high fives, so I introduced the pound and they love it. Saves me a good 2 minutes of high fives between classes.
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