Parts of Life

I get to experience city life here, although it's relatively low key. In other words, I rely on public transportation, live in an apartment building, and I'm within walking distance of stores, restaurants, and bars. It's nice to get to stuff just by walking. It's also nice to take the bus, just to throw some headphones on while waiting for the right number to show up, walking on and swiping the pre-paid card, and sitting for a little bit with no immediate responsibility or action required. There's also a minor pride in figuring out the bus routes and parts of town. I don't have it all down, but it already feels natural.

There's no clocking in or out, but there is showing up to do your part. Apparently taking a sick day is nearly unheard of. It's a cultural thing to show up to work through hell and high water. So, the temptation of calling in sick to take a 3 day weekend is one that I should always consider off limits.

There have been so many moments of unnecessary generosity. Getting off the bus today in the rain, standing under the bus stop for some quick shelter while I put my ipod away, a woman I didn't recognize offered to walk me to the school under her umbrella. Of course, I didn't know what she was saying to me, but I understood her body language well enough to accept. I guess she works at the school, maybe in administration.

And my Jocheon co-teacher giving me a box of tissues as a house-warming present. Not to mention the many other ways she has helped me settle into life here. She works really hard, it must be tough. She works hard at school all week, then goes to Seoul every weekend to study traditional Korean music. That's definitely her choice, but that's incredibly hectic to put on yourself. Dealing with crazy elementary kids all day, going to Seoul every weekend, lesson planning and grading, then repeating. I appreciate her a lot so far.

And Sue at Songdang giving me a ride every Thursday and Friday, taking me out to dinner, showing me sights. She's a little crazy in some ways, but she's occasionally hilarious and always very welcoming. She's also helped me many communicate on the phone with various Koreans, and I appreciate it every time.

I went with a group of friends to Monsters University this past Sunday, because it seemed like a nice rainy day activity. We had seen another English movie in the theater before, so it seemed like a good option. Waited around for half an hour, got some popcorn and a drink, finally settled down and watched the Pixar short (which had no dialogue). Then the movie started. And it was dubbed in Korean. That totally made sense in hindsight, because little kids who would enjoy the movie probably can't read subtitles, at least that quickly. So, we got out of there and got refunds. Except one of our friends who came late and had a separate seat from us. She didn't see us leave and didn't get our text messages. She sat through the whole thing. Which I still can't believe. Hilarious.

I won the equivalent of $0.90 at a horse race. Lucky number 8 came in 3rd place, so I won big. At the horse track, they also had fun family activities going on. This included a weird version of golf that used one club and a tennis ball sized hard ball. At one point there were a bunch of older Koreans watching me and my friends play. I was near the hole on one of them, and I hopped over the ball and swung the golf club between my legs while mid-air. I got the ball in the hole, and the Koreans flipped out. I got thumbs ups and was told that I was the champion. It was amazing.

Looking forward to specific things makes the week go by slower. But the week still goes by. If only I can find ways to have fun while teaching! It's not impossible. Learning how to do it. Sometimes it is fun. Planning on things being fun and then the kids not responding is a little depressing, though. Finding that balance still.

Walked through the hall yesterday and a stray little Korean boy gave me a huge smile followed by a hug. At Songdang, on my 2nd real day there, a group of 2nd grade girls all repeatedly said, "Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!" while hugging me. And the kids calling me Lion because they can barely pronounce the "R" sound. Being called "Lion King" daily is pretty cute.

Drinking coffee to wake up in the morning, drinking coffee to get energized during the day, drinking a bunch of water to counteract the coffee, drinking beer to celebrate the school day finishing, not sleeping well presumably because of drinking too much coffee or thinking too much, then repeating the cycle.

The songs that I sing to myself lately:

http://youtu.be/AsWSdr_yG-U

http://youtu.be/2gwrjAKnYhQ

http://youtu.be/nyxUS_KnhfE

September 26 - Posted Late

I have several days of stuff that I've skipped over. This whole blogging thing hasn't been a priority for me, which might be for the best. Here's something from 9/26.

This has been a bit of a long week, but I guess they all have. Chuseok was last week, so I had a full 5 days away from school. Coming back was definitely filled with that familiar sense of dread, but it has been just fine. The dread is worse than the actuality, and that is frustrating. Tuesday at Jocheon was a field trip to the science museum and Halla arboretum, so that was a fun day. No classes or responsibilities on my part, just a free trip to hang out with a bunch of kids. I'm letting Jocheon's special classes freak me out more than I need to, especially since I'm already teaching solo at Songdang anyways. Songdang today came and went, but it was a little like pulling teeth. The kids often look bored and want to just talk to each other rather than pay attention. But, I make it through regardless. Tomorrow is a full Friday, the busiest and worse day of the week. But, the low of the daytime is replaced by the high of being done the second it happens. 

I think I'm learning better how to deal with teaching. Learning to let go a little bit, and not worry too much if the kids like me or are always having a blast. They don't realize that I'm probably having less fun than they are. But, I still want to be fun and effective, so I am learning to not care too much, but also do a good job. Hard to lesson plan, hard to do a good job. But, the more I do it, the less anything will surprise me, and that's a good thing. It's still daunting to think about doing this all year, but I am trying to take it day by day. 

Today is a beautiful cool day. Autumn is either here or right around the corner. I'll take it.

Months

First music attempt with new guitar in South Korea

August 30 - Posted Late

 Yesterday was Friday, went to Songdang and watched Kelli on her last day there. Contributed some to the 1st and 2nd grade classes, but mostly just watched. Ann (teacher, my sort-of liaison to Songdang) invited me to eat dinner tomorrow night, along with Kelli and one other girl I haven't met. Last night I went to dinner (bak galbi -- like Korean stir fry, cooked at the table in front of you) with Oscar and Kate. Then, drinking. Met a lot of foreigners that have been here a little while. Went to Wa Bar, which was kind of like a Korean Applebee's. Then went to Island Stone which is another foreigner bar. Talked to a few Korean guys there, one who tried to teach me Korean. Another one of them does scuba diving here, at least temporarily. I gave him my phone number to see if he'll take me out whenever he goes. Although, I'll probably have a different phone number later, even if he does call me. It got to be around 4 in the morning before I left and walked back to the motel. Late late night. Slept in today until about 1 pm, then headed out to Samyang black sand beach to meet up with a bunch of people. Kind of a long wait and bus but well worth it. Beautiful day, nice to hang out on the beach! Didn't get to swim because apparently the lifeguards prohibited it. Hit a ball around, kicked a ball around, drank a beer and hung out. Good times! Danny came back to my motel to shower, I also showered, then we met up with the same group at an Indian restaurant in the city. Delicious. Then I went to a restaurant place that I forget, it had "beer" in the title. Went with Oscar and Duncan, who I met today. Nice British dude. Drank some beer and watched baseball until soccer came on, which is why we went there in the first place. Oscar and Duncan have been here a while and have some other foreigner friends who came and joined us. Sat around and talked, then now I'm back at the motel now. Last night was too late so I need to hit the hay asap. Don't know about tomorrow other than the dinner in the evening. Hopefully I can get some internet in the morning. Good day despite being so tired!

August 29th - Posted Late

August 29

 Woke up early to get picked up by Songdang teacher "Ann". She got me and we also picked up the girl I'm replace, Kelli-Ann. I am replacing Kelli in her apartment, and in both of her schools. She told me all about the teaching job, and it was a lot to take in, but it seems okay. Songdang is the small school, where the class sizes are about 5-9 students. They seemed intrigued by me, and many of them would smile and wave at me every time I saw them. It was sweet, and I look forward to being around them. I'll have to teach on my own, though, so I'm a little bit nervous. I just want to be good at it! Especially the preparation part of it. I want to make an entertaining class for the kids so that they want to learn, but I also don't want to slave and labor over it so much that I can't enjoy my free time. I'll find the balance eventually, I guess. Today I just sat and watched while Kelli taught her classes, which was only 2 classes because one never showed up and they didn't have after-school classes this week. Next week I will have to lead regular classes AND create 2 after-school lessons! Yikes. After hours of just waiting around in the classroom until Ann was ready to leave at 5:00, I was pretty bored and constantly thinking of the stress this might become. But, at about 4:40 or so, Ann brought in 4 cooked plain potatoes and sat and talked to me and Kelli. I ate a potato on a small fork with Ann, which made me smile and laugh on the inside. It was actually pretty delicious despite being a plain potato. I was hungry, I suppose. Kelli didn't eat one, and so there are 2 potatoes waiting on the teacher desk for us in the morning. Didn't know what to do with them. Ann gave us a ride home, like she'll be doing every Thursday and Friday for me this year. Nice that I don't have to worry about that commute! She seems very sweet. Some communication issues but she's good!

August 28th

 Another day began in New Star Motel in Jeju-Si. Woke up and watched some tv, then gathered some stuff for the day and visited "Tous Les Jours", a bakery which is probably a chain, and it was delicious. Used the wifi on my tablet for about an hour, then went to the bus terminal, finally got a map of the island, and got on a bus that circled around the east side of the island. Was going to get off at Seongsan, which has the beautiful mini island-mountain-thing, but I missed the stop. Got off too late. Waited for an inviting stop afterwards, which was about 40 minutes later. Got off at Namwon harbor because it had some shops, was close to the ocean, and looked pretty. It was a nice place to sit around. Unfortunately I dropped my iPod in the ocean as I was sitting on a weirdly shaped formation. So, that's gone. There goes one of my horcruxes (Harry Potter)! I hope the ocean enjoys comedy podcasts and indie rock. I still kind of can't believe it. Makes me sad, especially since I'm normally so careful. After that I still enjoyed the view, but it was a little tainted. Fortunately I was able to get a bus ride back that was a little shorter than the way in. Cut through the island rather than going around it. So, glad that worked out. Thanks, old Korean lady for your minimal help. I appreciated it. Chilled out in the motel room. Met up with Danny, Natalie, and Ashley. They came in to the city from their living arrangements. We ate dinner at a place that looked nice. Didn't know what to order so we picked randomly, using the price as sort of an indicator. The young waiter showed us some pictures on his phone to help us but we just went with it. We ended up with a plate full of spicy chicken feet, a bowl of slimy egg custard, and a fajita-style metal plate of melted cheese with potato in it. I still feel the burn of the chicken feet. They were hard to eat. The flavor on the outside was good, but it was just a load of cartilage more or less. The egg thing was slimy and strange, although it just tasted like egg. The cheese thing was simply delicious melted cheese, which I enjoyed. Afterwards, we walked down to a little sandwich stand type place so Danny could eat, considering he refused to eat the chicken feet. Walked around for a bit and then they headed back so they could catch their bus. Now winding down, apparently going to one of my 2 schools tomorrow to see what it's like! A little nervous about that. 

 Namwon Harbor

 Dropped my iPod in the water here, no retrieval possible

Illustrated tanks of something 

 At Namwon Harbor

Chicken feet for dinner

Diary Dump

I was in a motel for the first 9 days here, and I didn't really have honest-to-goodness internet. I was recording events and impressions more or less the whole time, but I wasn't posting them here. So, I'll start posting some backlogged entries.

August 27th, 2013

 It's weird waking up in this Jeju motel room, feeling like I shouldn't really be here and that I'm on vacation by myself, a weird dream-like scenario because I am not the type to vacation alone. I had nothing to do today, and I have nothing to do tomorrow. So, I can do vacation things and try to learn my way around a bit. I woke up and showered, then walked to a coffee/bakery shop for breakfast and wi-fi on my tablet. Sat around for a little bit trying to find maps/bus information for Jeju and to contact friends on Facebook. After a while, came back to the motel room and called Oscar because I knew he was free. He's lived here the past 2 years and knows Korean language somewhat to pretty well. Super nice guy to hang out with and helpful for me to sort of figure out my bearings. We went to lunch at a traditional low-table sit cross-legged on the floor type place. Ate back-bone! It was really good. Like a pot roast in delicious broth. I got a T-card for the bus, threw some money on it, and we headed to a small beach with "black" sand, although it is more like a mix of dark grey and normal sand. About a 20 minute bus-ride to the east of the city. Really nice to stick my feet in the water and walk around there. Walked a little further to a Buddhist temple area. Headed back to the city on the bus and drank a beer on the roof of Oscar's apartment building, which is literally right next to my upcoming permanent apartment building. Amazing view of a pretty spectacular city. Ocean ahead and mountains behind. City in the middle. The mountains split the north end of Jeju island from the south end. Very cool. I headed back to the motel with headphones on the perfect soundtrack for meandering around. Went to the roof of my motel, which was an equally amazing view. Perfect weather, great day. Going to take a while to get a hang of the bus because I don't know where anything is or what it's called, especially in the Korean alphabet. But, I feel optimistic about that. Not sure what I'll be doing tonight, but I don't have anything to do tomorrow and I might try to bus on down to the south end of the island by myself. Time will tell!