After only being here a month our largest Summer break was already ahead of us. We were about to have a six day vacation, which was actually just 4 days plus the weekend, but whatever.
Alex our boss was concerned that we didn't have plans and gave us information about the great city of Kyeongju (I believe spelling it with the G is more proper, however the K is how you pronounce it...or KGy.) So Kyeongju just happens to an ancient capital of Korea when some dynasty ruled for like 100s of years, I want to say 500, but I am probably wrong. The city is rather small now, but it is a tourist site with tons of history. You can just walk around and see amazing historical sites like 500+ years old. It is quite awe inspiring realizing that there is so much preserved history in the country. The United States just isn't old enough to have anything like this.
The first day we arrived at around 2:00pm, and right when we got off the bus we ran into another traveler named Sharron who was on vacation by herself. We found the hostel together, which had individual rooms ( I don't know if that is normal for a hostel) and was overall a pretty nice place to crash. Then we left for the Gyeongju National Museum. This place was huge and quite nice for seeing all sorts of pottery, old swords, armor, and just all sorts of random things to get a glimpse of how people lived thousands of years ago. I went camera crazy in that place, but decided to delete many of the photos because it was just too much.
Next we walked around this flower garden called The Rape Flowers. I am not making that up, but I do feel perhaps something was lost in the translation perhaps. But on everything we saw it was labeled Rape Flowers in English, so whatever. The gardens had beautiful yellow flowers and we walked throughout them taking pictures of them and the nice burial mounds. As I said everywhere you looked just seemed to be steeped in history. Eventually we made our way to the Cheomseongdae Observatory one of the oldest builds built in Korea for observing the stars. It was dark and it just seemed appropriate but you couldn't see any stars because of the cloudy sky and lights all around. Besides, they didn't like you into the structure.
The next day, Sharron went her own way on a bus tour and we decided to see the temples in the mountains which meant much hiking. We stopped at the first temple which was overly crowded, but nice to go through. The architecture and art is still so new to me I find each temple beautiful even when overcrowded by tourists. The pictures can tell much of the story at the temples. But, we decided to take a hike up the mountain to the second temple. It was a well constructed path of stone steps and well packed dirt trail but going up those stairs was exhausting. It was probably about 1.2 mile hike up to the next temple. This temple was much smaller but it housed a giant Buddha statue that was built in a cave. It was quite amazing. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures of the Buddhas at the temples (at least the main Buddhas) so we didn't get any pictures. But, as an art form they were quite amazing.
After the second temple Miranda and I were exhausted. But, we drank some spring water from the temple and refreshed ourselves for the final hike up the mountain. It was about another 1 mile hike up the mountain. The information guide warned us about the foggies up in the mountain, but we wanted to try to get to the peak anyway. The foggies were actually quite thick...in that foggies is actually just fog. As we hiked we noticed the air felt lighter and it was noticeably cooler up in the mountains. As we hiked up we saw fewer people, apparently it wasn't the touristy thing to do. We finally made it to the peak and it was breathtaking. Dragonflies by the dozens were flying all around us. We saw the tips of the trees as we were standing higher than all the trees on the mountain. We looked out and saw the other mountains, and the city below it was awe inspiring. The most amazing thing was seeing clouds pass by you at eye level. This was one of the most visually stimulating experiences of my life and I didn't want to leave. However, we needed to finish the hike down.
Going down was easy and what took so long to hike up took less than half the time to hike down. On the bus trip back to our hostel for a break, we noticed so much more to do. A lake with an amusement park and water park was available, and hot air balloon rides, and much, much more. This was the high end tourist trap locations of the city, but there was less culture and history in these traps.
The next day (Friday) was our last day and we only had til 4:00pm to really see the sights. We first went to a nice Folk Art Village where the artisans created crafts in the same methods they used years ago. Many of the crafts were quite beautiful and it was amazing to see such craftsmanship being practiced in the same traditional methods. Then we went to a small pond and just sat for awhile. I think at this point we realized just how exhausted our bodies had been from the previous days hiking and exploring for 7+ hours. We just sat and enjoyed the scenery and peacefulness of the pond and tried to ignore all the other visitors in the area.
On the bus trip back we crashed and slept for awhile, and watched a Korean concert on the bus television. We already recognize the popular Korean Pop songs. Then finally we were home again.
The vacation was nice, and it really helped my confidence about living in the country and visiting other cities easily. Gwangju still doesn't "feel" like home yet. But we still get lost in downtown and can easily become overwhelmed by the amounts of people all around. Though, coming back to something familiar was definitely a relief.
Friday, July 31, 2009
New Photo Slide Show Added
We just added some new photos from our 3 day vacation from Kyeongju.
There are over 100 photos in the set, so the slide show may not be the best means to view them, but you can click on any photo and go to our photo bucket album, from there I think you can see all of them.
I will be updating Facebook and Blogger soon with stories from the vacation. It was pretty amazing...I think the best part was hiking up a mount, all the way to the peak. It was amazing and beautiful.
But more stories soon.
There are over 100 photos in the set, so the slide show may not be the best means to view them, but you can click on any photo and go to our photo bucket album, from there I think you can see all of them.
I will be updating Facebook and Blogger soon with stories from the vacation. It was pretty amazing...I think the best part was hiking up a mount, all the way to the peak. It was amazing and beautiful.
But more stories soon.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Random food from Gwangju
So Steve and I were cruising the town the other night (by foot of course) trying to figure out what we should eat. We've pretty much lived at Kim bap nara for the last month, so we were trying to find something a little different. I finally have enough Korean under my belt to make some very sad attempts at communication out here, and we've been a little braver about our food selections. So we decided to kinda scope out this funny fish restaurant that we always walk by. The major draw of this restaurant is the giant blow up cartoon tuna that guides you to the front door. He's giving you the thumb up while wearing his giant chef's hat, so you know that when he goes to cook himself, he'll do it right.
As we walked up to the building, attempting to look in the windows to see what they served, one of the waitstaff basically told us to go inside. This kinda happens a lot here when you're a lost looking American. I don't know if they just get a kick out of us because we don't know anything, or if they feel sorry for us 'cause we look so confused. Many of them regard us with what I think a mixture of sympathy that would probably be better used on a lost 5 year old. "Awww... look it's an American, I think she's lost. Maybe we can feed her. Oh, I don't think she knows how to eat this, maybe I'd better go do it for her... Poor thing can't even speak decent Korean." Mind you this is not exactly a complaint, because there have been many times that this interference has helped me out significantly, but it is mildly comical to see the expressions on their faces when we don't use the correct dipping sauces and what not, it's like they're embarassed for us... I've decided it's the same for them as it would be for us if a Korean came to America and ordered a hamburger, only to take the bread off and cut the meat with a knife while dipping the french fries in mustard. Or so I think.
So anyhow, he grabs us and takes us in, and we immediately realize that this is a little nicer restaurant than we wanted to eat in. So I'm trying to ask if we can split a meal. I said "ok" at some point because I was trying to remember the different counting sufixes and they thought it was hilarious. They all laughed and said "ok, ok". Maybe it's a cuss word? Anyhow, so I managed to explain the sharing (it was rather easy in the end. They have different suffixes for numbers depending on what your counting so I told him the number 1 for a thing and then pointed at us and said the number for 2 people, God bless him for understanding) So we got a cheaper price for splitting a meal, and we're thinking that if the meal is too small we'll run by the convenience store and get some Kimbap on our way home. So we get escorted to a private room, and they even turn the fan on directly at us so it was blowing stuff all over the place.
And then began what I can only describe as an hour of straight eating. I don't know if they kept feeding us because we were foreigners or if they didn't have anything to do, or if everything they fed us really was supposed to be part of the meal. We started with Marsh snails and two types of soup. One was the rice Juk, and the other was just a broth. the marsh snails were very clammy, but you had to fish them out of their shells with a tooth pick, and that was little questionable in our book. After that came some salad and sushi, and some type of squash. The waiter identified it as squash by pretending to be a farmer and harvest squash, I kid you not. Then came the whole plate of different types of tuna sashimi. It was huge. And it had different cuts of meat from different tunas, and the chef brought it out and managed to explain most of the cuts very well to us. They also brought out fresh seaweed to wrap the fish in, or we could use the dried laver (also seaweed) that was on the table. At this point I was sure that we had gotten our money's worth, and was feeling pretty good about our meal. Then one of the waitresses came in and asked something about our soup and salad. I don't know what she asked, but we smiled and nodded that it was good, and three minutes later we got another salad with a different dressing on it. They also had pickled garlic and radish and ginger. We ate all of that with the tuna, and they brought us out a huge bowl of the stuff.
At some point the chef comes back in with more fish (I don't know why exactly) and began dropping it onto our tuna plate. He meticulously explained what each piece was and then was gone. It was like 6 more pieces of tuna sashimi. And then they brought out the vegetable omelet things, and the fried onions, and the random fried meat things. Then they brought out some type of teriyaki pork with lichens. We keep eating as well as we can, but I was beginning to run out of room for the tuna, of all things, and Steve was slowing down as well. Finally we thought that the food was over, and we could just muster our courage and eat the last of what we had been brought, and go home almost clean plate members... and then they brought another salad, with a new type of dressing. Just one though, I don't know about their salad set up, they always brought them out in single serving sizes, I'm sure there was something else we were supposed to do with it, but who could tell.
And then they brought out the bowl of rice, the kimchi, the onion kimchi, the fried anchovies, and a sweeter kind of kimchi that I haven't had before. That was when we decided that we wouldn't be finishing everything. Each time they brought things in they would smile at us, and Steve and I began to wonder if they had a bet running on how much the fat Americans could eat.
But here's the crazy part, we only paid 25,000 for the whole meal. That's less than $25. And that was for both of us. It was crazy. So needless to say, we'll be going back there the next time we get paid.
On other strange food news, about half way through our day today, they announce that because of the break, and the heat, they've bought chickens for everyone. So that was strange, but whatever. Then, the president of the company holds a meeting in between classes to let us know that he wants us to stay healthy over the break, and please enjoy our chicken, and thank you for your service and please stay safe over the break. They continually tell the foreign teachers to stay safe, and often ask us to take our temperature regularly to make sure we're not getting sick. So then we all pick up what we assume is a chicken that has been carefully wrapped in a black plastic bag that's reminiscent of a good old American liquor store bag. The Korean teachers got big Styrofoam containers, but I didn't think to ask why they had different packages. So later in the afternoon I find out that we haven't been given a chicken, but instead chicken ginseng soup, and the Korean teachers have actually gotten a cooler with a full chicken in it. This actually makes a lot of sense because we don't have an oven in our apartment, only a stove.
What's really funny about this is that it's not the first time we've been given random food at school. One time a teacher got married and bought everyone hamburgers. All the time I come in and there's a crate full of fruit of some sort that parents have bought and dropped off for the teachers. They bring rice cakes (not the diet kind but the Korean kind, their big gooey balls of cake filled with random things), donuts, plumbs, grapes, you name it. And then when I mentioned today that this was the most random gift I'd ever received from work, they told me that it wasn't unusual at all, and that if I waited, I get all sorts of gifts like this. So here's to Korea, the country that keeps trying to feed me till I burst, and still makes me loose weight.
On a completely separate note, I think we'll be spending our vacation time in Gyongju on the east coast, so be looking for new pictures after next week. I'm told it's full of temples and lots of free tourist attraction places.
As we walked up to the building, attempting to look in the windows to see what they served, one of the waitstaff basically told us to go inside. This kinda happens a lot here when you're a lost looking American. I don't know if they just get a kick out of us because we don't know anything, or if they feel sorry for us 'cause we look so confused. Many of them regard us with what I think a mixture of sympathy that would probably be better used on a lost 5 year old. "Awww... look it's an American, I think she's lost. Maybe we can feed her. Oh, I don't think she knows how to eat this, maybe I'd better go do it for her... Poor thing can't even speak decent Korean." Mind you this is not exactly a complaint, because there have been many times that this interference has helped me out significantly, but it is mildly comical to see the expressions on their faces when we don't use the correct dipping sauces and what not, it's like they're embarassed for us... I've decided it's the same for them as it would be for us if a Korean came to America and ordered a hamburger, only to take the bread off and cut the meat with a knife while dipping the french fries in mustard. Or so I think.
So anyhow, he grabs us and takes us in, and we immediately realize that this is a little nicer restaurant than we wanted to eat in. So I'm trying to ask if we can split a meal. I said "ok" at some point because I was trying to remember the different counting sufixes and they thought it was hilarious. They all laughed and said "ok, ok". Maybe it's a cuss word? Anyhow, so I managed to explain the sharing (it was rather easy in the end. They have different suffixes for numbers depending on what your counting so I told him the number 1 for a thing and then pointed at us and said the number for 2 people, God bless him for understanding) So we got a cheaper price for splitting a meal, and we're thinking that if the meal is too small we'll run by the convenience store and get some Kimbap on our way home. So we get escorted to a private room, and they even turn the fan on directly at us so it was blowing stuff all over the place.
And then began what I can only describe as an hour of straight eating. I don't know if they kept feeding us because we were foreigners or if they didn't have anything to do, or if everything they fed us really was supposed to be part of the meal. We started with Marsh snails and two types of soup. One was the rice Juk, and the other was just a broth. the marsh snails were very clammy, but you had to fish them out of their shells with a tooth pick, and that was little questionable in our book. After that came some salad and sushi, and some type of squash. The waiter identified it as squash by pretending to be a farmer and harvest squash, I kid you not. Then came the whole plate of different types of tuna sashimi. It was huge. And it had different cuts of meat from different tunas, and the chef brought it out and managed to explain most of the cuts very well to us. They also brought out fresh seaweed to wrap the fish in, or we could use the dried laver (also seaweed) that was on the table. At this point I was sure that we had gotten our money's worth, and was feeling pretty good about our meal. Then one of the waitresses came in and asked something about our soup and salad. I don't know what she asked, but we smiled and nodded that it was good, and three minutes later we got another salad with a different dressing on it. They also had pickled garlic and radish and ginger. We ate all of that with the tuna, and they brought us out a huge bowl of the stuff.
At some point the chef comes back in with more fish (I don't know why exactly) and began dropping it onto our tuna plate. He meticulously explained what each piece was and then was gone. It was like 6 more pieces of tuna sashimi. And then they brought out the vegetable omelet things, and the fried onions, and the random fried meat things. Then they brought out some type of teriyaki pork with lichens. We keep eating as well as we can, but I was beginning to run out of room for the tuna, of all things, and Steve was slowing down as well. Finally we thought that the food was over, and we could just muster our courage and eat the last of what we had been brought, and go home almost clean plate members... and then they brought another salad, with a new type of dressing. Just one though, I don't know about their salad set up, they always brought them out in single serving sizes, I'm sure there was something else we were supposed to do with it, but who could tell.
And then they brought out the bowl of rice, the kimchi, the onion kimchi, the fried anchovies, and a sweeter kind of kimchi that I haven't had before. That was when we decided that we wouldn't be finishing everything. Each time they brought things in they would smile at us, and Steve and I began to wonder if they had a bet running on how much the fat Americans could eat.
But here's the crazy part, we only paid 25,000 for the whole meal. That's less than $25. And that was for both of us. It was crazy. So needless to say, we'll be going back there the next time we get paid.
On other strange food news, about half way through our day today, they announce that because of the break, and the heat, they've bought chickens for everyone. So that was strange, but whatever. Then, the president of the company holds a meeting in between classes to let us know that he wants us to stay healthy over the break, and please enjoy our chicken, and thank you for your service and please stay safe over the break. They continually tell the foreign teachers to stay safe, and often ask us to take our temperature regularly to make sure we're not getting sick. So then we all pick up what we assume is a chicken that has been carefully wrapped in a black plastic bag that's reminiscent of a good old American liquor store bag. The Korean teachers got big Styrofoam containers, but I didn't think to ask why they had different packages. So later in the afternoon I find out that we haven't been given a chicken, but instead chicken ginseng soup, and the Korean teachers have actually gotten a cooler with a full chicken in it. This actually makes a lot of sense because we don't have an oven in our apartment, only a stove.
What's really funny about this is that it's not the first time we've been given random food at school. One time a teacher got married and bought everyone hamburgers. All the time I come in and there's a crate full of fruit of some sort that parents have bought and dropped off for the teachers. They bring rice cakes (not the diet kind but the Korean kind, their big gooey balls of cake filled with random things), donuts, plumbs, grapes, you name it. And then when I mentioned today that this was the most random gift I'd ever received from work, they told me that it wasn't unusual at all, and that if I waited, I get all sorts of gifts like this. So here's to Korea, the country that keeps trying to feed me till I burst, and still makes me loose weight.
On a completely separate note, I think we'll be spending our vacation time in Gyongju on the east coast, so be looking for new pictures after next week. I'm told it's full of temples and lots of free tourist attraction places.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Welcome to Random News from Korea
Hi to everyone who stumbles across this page. This is a random place to write an introduction as there are piles of post already up, but I wanted to take a second to explain what's going on with this blog. My name is Miranda New and my husband Steve and I are currently living in South Korea. We want to be able to document our journey through the new culture for ourselves and our friends and family, hence this blog. We have been posting all of this on Facebook, but wanted a place where we could post side by side, because I don't think either of us does a good job explaining the whole story without the other one. So we'll try this out. We'll try hard to label who's posted what, and hopefully you will get a better understanding of how Gwangju looks to us. The posts that come before this post were originally Facebook Notes that I've cut and paste into the blog, so some of the Chronological order is a little screwy, but they covered our first impressions of this big crazy city, so I wanted to make sure they were in here. Hope you enjoy our rants and rambles!
Miranda New
Miranda New
Thanks a lot Blanket Lady......... NOT!
I got racial stereotyped today!!!
Yeah, we were at Kumo World, this giant electronics store that also carries a lot of other strange things and I noticed a couple of booths selling blankets. Now for reasons I cannot ascertain, we only got comforters when we moved in, and it doesn't seem common for people to have normal bed sheets. You can buy them, but there's not a huge selection, which is totally cool. But we only got really thick comforters, so I was hoping to buy some thinner ones today. Now a major part of our first problem was language. We are working on learning a lot of things, but we haven't learned how to talk money. Usually the vendors are used to foreigners and write out prices or put them on the cash register screen, or type them out on a calculator. I've had plenty of vendors who speak enough to tell me the price in English. This woman apparently did not want to do any of those things. I asked her for the price, and wrote out a little won symbol and a question mark next to it and she told me a price in Korean. No problem, I still had paper out so I asked her to write it down. She wrote down 5,000 won, as far as I could tell. I'm thrilled cause I'm thinking that I can get one for each bed for under $10.00. I reach into my wallet and give her 10,000 won and she shakes her head at me. She tells me the price in Korean again, which clearly won't work as I've already had to bring out paper to get her to write it out. I again hand her the paper and ask her to write it out. Again with the 5,000 won. I think maybe she's telling me that they're two for one, so I offer her 5,000 won. Now she gets angry with me and chews me out in Korean. Finally I tell her I'm sorry in Korean and good bye in Korean. She glared at me and Steve as we walked away and I was annoyed because I really wanted those blankets. We get to the next stall that we find that sells blankets, and try to approach the woman there about buying a blanket. She pretty much refused to talk to us and sent us out of her store. She refused to give us prices and refused to talk to us. So tonight I will be sleeping again under my ridiculously thick comforter. Tomorrow I'm going to one of the blanket stores near the school. There's several, and one of them must be willing to sell a blanket to a white person who's just tired of being hot at night... So I've officially been the victim of racism. It was very strange because even here usually people accept the fact that we don't know what the crap they're saying and seem to find it novel to try to communicate with us.
On the up side I managed to order our lunch with out much help from the picture menu today. I asked the waitress to bring us two bowls of the soup with sushi please. She did confirm it on the menu with me, my accent must still be pretty thick, but she pointed at the right picture. So take that blanket lady. I didn't want your blanket any how... ok I really did, but now I'm glad I didn't buy it from you... at least until I go to sleep.
Good night everyone.
Yeah, we were at Kumo World, this giant electronics store that also carries a lot of other strange things and I noticed a couple of booths selling blankets. Now for reasons I cannot ascertain, we only got comforters when we moved in, and it doesn't seem common for people to have normal bed sheets. You can buy them, but there's not a huge selection, which is totally cool. But we only got really thick comforters, so I was hoping to buy some thinner ones today. Now a major part of our first problem was language. We are working on learning a lot of things, but we haven't learned how to talk money. Usually the vendors are used to foreigners and write out prices or put them on the cash register screen, or type them out on a calculator. I've had plenty of vendors who speak enough to tell me the price in English. This woman apparently did not want to do any of those things. I asked her for the price, and wrote out a little won symbol and a question mark next to it and she told me a price in Korean. No problem, I still had paper out so I asked her to write it down. She wrote down 5,000 won, as far as I could tell. I'm thrilled cause I'm thinking that I can get one for each bed for under $10.00. I reach into my wallet and give her 10,000 won and she shakes her head at me. She tells me the price in Korean again, which clearly won't work as I've already had to bring out paper to get her to write it out. I again hand her the paper and ask her to write it out. Again with the 5,000 won. I think maybe she's telling me that they're two for one, so I offer her 5,000 won. Now she gets angry with me and chews me out in Korean. Finally I tell her I'm sorry in Korean and good bye in Korean. She glared at me and Steve as we walked away and I was annoyed because I really wanted those blankets. We get to the next stall that we find that sells blankets, and try to approach the woman there about buying a blanket. She pretty much refused to talk to us and sent us out of her store. She refused to give us prices and refused to talk to us. So tonight I will be sleeping again under my ridiculously thick comforter. Tomorrow I'm going to one of the blanket stores near the school. There's several, and one of them must be willing to sell a blanket to a white person who's just tired of being hot at night... So I've officially been the victim of racism. It was very strange because even here usually people accept the fact that we don't know what the crap they're saying and seem to find it novel to try to communicate with us.
On the up side I managed to order our lunch with out much help from the picture menu today. I asked the waitress to bring us two bowls of the soup with sushi please. She did confirm it on the menu with me, my accent must still be pretty thick, but she pointed at the right picture. So take that blanket lady. I didn't want your blanket any how... ok I really did, but now I'm glad I didn't buy it from you... at least until I go to sleep.
Good night everyone.
Buses Buses Buses
Today we woke up for church and were running a little late. We missed the 98 (our bus to downtown) and decided to take a chance with the 50 bus. We were hoping that it would take us downtown and make it to church.
Instead it took us to an E-Mart we thought was at the bus terminal so we got off. It turned out we weren't any where the thought we were (save for E-Mart.) So we decided to look around...and buy some Roman Noodles.
Since its rainy season it meant that it was raining and we were of course without our umbrellas. We stopped at a sandwich shop to each lunch/breakfast Alice et Lucy. They served American style sandwiches and Miranda got a Ham and Cheese and I got a Chicken Salad Sandwich with nuts and raisins. It was delicious (as our kids would say.) It tasted like the best sandwiches we both have had in months...perhaps it was only because how nostalgic it was, but it was fantastic. The lady making our lunch even spoke English.
From there we hitched a ride on another bus 45 that we believed would take us to downtown...and it would of, except we were worried we hit it wrong it was going to the greenhouses that it dumped us at yesterday. We ended up at the Gwangju World Cup Stadium. We walked around a park, and saw a golf range with 3 stories. But we weren't were we needed to be, so we decided to move on. We jumped onto another bus.
The 47 bus was going to take us whether it lead, and we were riding it to the end, unless it hit downtown, which as we watched the city go by felt unlikely. It finally pulled up to a place we recognized. The Bus Terminal. So we jumped out and explored the terminal, then went to a place I would call Wayne heaven: KUMO WORLD. Kumo World is basically a 6 stories Fry's Electronics. It has Computers, Cell Phones, Musical Instruments, Electric Fans, Video Games, Sound Boards and pretty much anything electric. Kumo World was amazing but there was nothing for us there, and we soon needed to go find our way home.
We ate and quickly jumped on the 9 bus to downtown. We knew this bus would get us to our destination and we were happy to get going. Arriving downtown we felt that we should look around some more and eat dinner. While we were out we saw several note worthy sights, but my favorite was a store called YO! Black Secret...which was a small clothing boutique.
We didn't have a camera with us, so we missed opportunities to share the sights, however we learned a few good points about Gwangju bus system. It is bigger than we ever knew, and we shouldn't just take random buses if we have a place to go. I regret missing church and I regret not doing some more work around the house. But, I enjoyed today...it was a great adventure.
Instead it took us to an E-Mart we thought was at the bus terminal so we got off. It turned out we weren't any where the thought we were (save for E-Mart.) So we decided to look around...and buy some Roman Noodles.
Since its rainy season it meant that it was raining and we were of course without our umbrellas. We stopped at a sandwich shop to each lunch/breakfast Alice et Lucy. They served American style sandwiches and Miranda got a Ham and Cheese and I got a Chicken Salad Sandwich with nuts and raisins. It was delicious (as our kids would say.) It tasted like the best sandwiches we both have had in months...perhaps it was only because how nostalgic it was, but it was fantastic. The lady making our lunch even spoke English.
From there we hitched a ride on another bus 45 that we believed would take us to downtown...and it would of, except we were worried we hit it wrong it was going to the greenhouses that it dumped us at yesterday. We ended up at the Gwangju World Cup Stadium. We walked around a park, and saw a golf range with 3 stories. But we weren't were we needed to be, so we decided to move on. We jumped onto another bus.
The 47 bus was going to take us whether it lead, and we were riding it to the end, unless it hit downtown, which as we watched the city go by felt unlikely. It finally pulled up to a place we recognized. The Bus Terminal. So we jumped out and explored the terminal, then went to a place I would call Wayne heaven: KUMO WORLD. Kumo World is basically a 6 stories Fry's Electronics. It has Computers, Cell Phones, Musical Instruments, Electric Fans, Video Games, Sound Boards and pretty much anything electric. Kumo World was amazing but there was nothing for us there, and we soon needed to go find our way home.
We ate and quickly jumped on the 9 bus to downtown. We knew this bus would get us to our destination and we were happy to get going. Arriving downtown we felt that we should look around some more and eat dinner. While we were out we saw several note worthy sights, but my favorite was a store called YO! Black Secret...which was a small clothing boutique.
We didn't have a camera with us, so we missed opportunities to share the sights, however we learned a few good points about Gwangju bus system. It is bigger than we ever knew, and we shouldn't just take random buses if we have a place to go. I regret missing church and I regret not doing some more work around the house. But, I enjoyed today...it was a great adventure.
Random things in Gwangju
Well, it's Saturday again. The morning started with an excellent Korean lesson, that left me feeling like I might actually be learning this language a little. I can sound out Korean writing now, and as many have told me there's a lot of English in the Korean language. They call it Kongalish out here. Now I have a pretty functional arsenal of Korean words that make navigating day to day life fairly easy. Not to say I can have big conversations with anyone, but I was able to let them know that I don't eat Kogi today (that's beef and pork) at the restaurant we ate at this evening.
We continue to wander around the city looking for new things we haven't seen yet. For having been here for about a month, I feel like we have a pretty good grasp of the city. We can ride the buses to the two or three places we need to go, and we can get in a taxi and go where we want to go and make it home most of the time. I know several of the street name now and understand where they go and how the meet up with each other. Each week we find something new that we hadn't seen before.
Today we got to meet up with some of our new friends after our English class. We caught lunch at a great mandu place in down town, and wandered the streets after looking at different stores. I really need to take pictures of the shirts that we find out there, I didn't have the camera today or I would have. Some of them are pretty funny. One of my favorites today was the one that had the simple silhouette of the Mikey Mouse head above the pocket, and the words "Black Mouse" written right above it. It's what you call to the point. Or the ones that try to use random English phrases as a catch phrase. Sometimes... well, sometimes they don't really understand what they're writing. The F word apparently makes pretty regular appearances on the shirts. I'm told it sometimes shows up on the kids shirts at the school. Today we found one that gave the directions for washing the shirt. (You know the ones, on the tag of the shirt). That was what was decorating the front of the shirt. Wash in cold water and air dry, or something like that.
Steve and I went on a little bus adventure this afternoon as well. We jumped on a random bus and rode it to where it dead ended. That was pretty far from where we lived, but we managed to find our way home. I'm beginning to understand what the buses do and where they go. It's pretty exciting.
So anyways, we're doing pretty great out here in Gwangju. Hope everyone is having a great time in Texas.
Miranda
We continue to wander around the city looking for new things we haven't seen yet. For having been here for about a month, I feel like we have a pretty good grasp of the city. We can ride the buses to the two or three places we need to go, and we can get in a taxi and go where we want to go and make it home most of the time. I know several of the street name now and understand where they go and how the meet up with each other. Each week we find something new that we hadn't seen before.
Today we got to meet up with some of our new friends after our English class. We caught lunch at a great mandu place in down town, and wandered the streets after looking at different stores. I really need to take pictures of the shirts that we find out there, I didn't have the camera today or I would have. Some of them are pretty funny. One of my favorites today was the one that had the simple silhouette of the Mikey Mouse head above the pocket, and the words "Black Mouse" written right above it. It's what you call to the point. Or the ones that try to use random English phrases as a catch phrase. Sometimes... well, sometimes they don't really understand what they're writing. The F word apparently makes pretty regular appearances on the shirts. I'm told it sometimes shows up on the kids shirts at the school. Today we found one that gave the directions for washing the shirt. (You know the ones, on the tag of the shirt). That was what was decorating the front of the shirt. Wash in cold water and air dry, or something like that.
Steve and I went on a little bus adventure this afternoon as well. We jumped on a random bus and rode it to where it dead ended. That was pretty far from where we lived, but we managed to find our way home. I'm beginning to understand what the buses do and where they go. It's pretty exciting.
So anyways, we're doing pretty great out here in Gwangju. Hope everyone is having a great time in Texas.
Miranda
Fun on the Weekend
So Saturdays (and Sundays) tend to become our social days here. Since we go out to Korean lessons in downtown, we met up friends and eat lunch and do whatever they are doing. We have nothing pressing to do on Saturdays so why not just go with the flow.
Today we explored a strange dollar store, a crazy T-shirt shop, and more good Korean food. Then we experimented with the bus system taking random buses to see where it would take us. The first bus did not give us the desired results at all. We dead ended at the bus terminal and had to pick up another bus all the way back to downtown. By then we were tired, so we just rode our 98 bus back home.
Plenty of strange sights to be had. First, were the crazy T-Shirts with bad broken English. One such Shirt had a silhouette of Mickey Mouse's face and under it said "Black Mouse." After the previous note I posted you can see why this if funny.
The broken English here is amazing, I could try to write down everything we see, but there is so much. It is quite a unique experience here for an English speaker that is for sure.
We are going out to finish walking and talking pictures for our next photo gallery. So be looking forward to that.
Love you all,
STEVEN
Today we explored a strange dollar store, a crazy T-shirt shop, and more good Korean food. Then we experimented with the bus system taking random buses to see where it would take us. The first bus did not give us the desired results at all. We dead ended at the bus terminal and had to pick up another bus all the way back to downtown. By then we were tired, so we just rode our 98 bus back home.
Plenty of strange sights to be had. First, were the crazy T-Shirts with bad broken English. One such Shirt had a silhouette of Mickey Mouse's face and under it said "Black Mouse." After the previous note I posted you can see why this if funny.
The broken English here is amazing, I could try to write down everything we see, but there is so much. It is quite a unique experience here for an English speaker that is for sure.
We are going out to finish walking and talking pictures for our next photo gallery. So be looking forward to that.
Love you all,
STEVEN
Harry Potter and Taxi Rides
So we got to see Harry Potter tonight with a bunch of teachers from school. Aside from the fact that the movie was just so so, it was a pretty good night.
As we were exiting the theater I definitely heard a girl complaining about the movie and it went something like this "I'm so pissed about the movie. Don't get me wrong, I'll still go see it again, but not 6 times like the other ones." Rough day for her apparently. Other than that, I won't get into the movie because 1. Erin has already threatened us and I don't want to die (although I don't know how she'd kill me, her being in another country and all, and she's already read the book, it's not like I can spoil the basic plot- You already know what's going to happen Fii) 2. It really wasn't that note worthy, other than there is popcorn in Korean movie theaters, but it's tiny, and they put lids on the sodas that have two straw holes in them so you and your sweetie can share a drink without giving each other swine flu... although I feel like you might still be swapping germs. Also, it was only 10,000 won for both of us, and we had to choose our seats. You actually have to do that when you buy your ticket. And the movie theater had 5 stories. I thought that was strange too.
While exiting the theater Steve and I also had the exact same experience, we both went from feeling like we were just out with some friends on a normal night in Texas to suddenly remembering that we were in a foreign country. It might have been when all of the Korean people were shoving us out of the way to get out of the theater. There's a lot of shoving here... probably because of the crowding. But it was a very odd experience.
No one should misconstrue this by the way to mean that we are sad or homesick, it is certainly not that at all. While we have missed all of you terribly, we are not sad here, or looking for ways to forget where we are. We are actually loving it here... but it's nice to have something familiar. It was like a little vacation from Korea. And it only cost me 5,000 won. (Which is less that $5.00.) Take that Cinemark at the Parks.
But I would say the funnier parts of the night took place after exiting the theater. (Some of which may stem from the fact that it was like 1:45 AM out here when we got out) (Oh and for all of the people worrying about us leaving a theater so late, it was with a big group, and was certainly safe.) The first one happened as we walked toward the door and realized that it was pouring rain. My umbrella, which I brought not because it was raining when we left the apartment, but because it rains off and on all throughout the day, was definitely still in the theater... 5 stories up, and through a throng of pushy Koreans who don't understand when you say "I'm sorry, excuse me" or they do, but choose to ignore you and keep pushing... the jury's still out. I decided to call it a loss. It was like 5,000 won, and I have another one. Steve and I huddled under his, each of us keeping one side of our bodies fairly dry. After walking for a while we hailed taxis. There were 8 of us, so we should have had room in just 2 cabs, but one pulled away with only 3 people in it. Steve and I got into our own taxi, and after a few tries I got the cabby to understand where I wanted him to take us. I thought that I was doing well, but when he repeated the address back to me I said "ane- yoh", which definitely means "no". The poor cabby then began to speak to me in an elevated voice, but all in Korean of course, and repeated the address. I carefully parroted back to him what the Korean teachers had told me to say, and he repeated it to me, and received the same "ane-yoh". At some point he just said our address and started driving. I'm sure he chalked it up to a Stupid Weihguke and went on his way. We pulled up to the apartments, and he asked me if I wanted him to turn in or go straight. I didn't realize that we were already at the apartments because it was so fast in a cab and we're used to walking. I told him to keep going straight, and then 4 feet in, realized that we were where he was supposed to turn in and told him to stop here. The poor cabby stopped, muttered at us in Korean, and took our won. We then had to walk through the rain up the hill to the apartment and it slowly dawned on me how the conversation had gone down, and why the cabby had been so confused... perhaps not my finest Korean moment...
On a random note, my kids have been fascinated with my eyes over here. They get right up into my face and stare at them, and when they ask me what color and I explain hazel to them they get very excited and bring more Korean kids to look at them. Either I'm amazing to them or a freak. They then point to their eyes and explain to me that they have black eyes, and ask me again what color my eyes are. Or so was my experience today. One of the children also climbed on my back while I was trying to grade papers and called me mamma... They have some very cute moments...
So it was a great day today, and was by the way, about 70 degrees through the larger part of the day, getting up to 75-80 only for a few hours in the late afternoon. Sorry to everyone in Texas.
Have a great week!
Miranda
As we were exiting the theater I definitely heard a girl complaining about the movie and it went something like this "I'm so pissed about the movie. Don't get me wrong, I'll still go see it again, but not 6 times like the other ones." Rough day for her apparently. Other than that, I won't get into the movie because 1. Erin has already threatened us and I don't want to die (although I don't know how she'd kill me, her being in another country and all, and she's already read the book, it's not like I can spoil the basic plot- You already know what's going to happen Fii) 2. It really wasn't that note worthy, other than there is popcorn in Korean movie theaters, but it's tiny, and they put lids on the sodas that have two straw holes in them so you and your sweetie can share a drink without giving each other swine flu... although I feel like you might still be swapping germs. Also, it was only 10,000 won for both of us, and we had to choose our seats. You actually have to do that when you buy your ticket. And the movie theater had 5 stories. I thought that was strange too.
While exiting the theater Steve and I also had the exact same experience, we both went from feeling like we were just out with some friends on a normal night in Texas to suddenly remembering that we were in a foreign country. It might have been when all of the Korean people were shoving us out of the way to get out of the theater. There's a lot of shoving here... probably because of the crowding. But it was a very odd experience.
No one should misconstrue this by the way to mean that we are sad or homesick, it is certainly not that at all. While we have missed all of you terribly, we are not sad here, or looking for ways to forget where we are. We are actually loving it here... but it's nice to have something familiar. It was like a little vacation from Korea. And it only cost me 5,000 won. (Which is less that $5.00.) Take that Cinemark at the Parks.
But I would say the funnier parts of the night took place after exiting the theater. (Some of which may stem from the fact that it was like 1:45 AM out here when we got out) (Oh and for all of the people worrying about us leaving a theater so late, it was with a big group, and was certainly safe.) The first one happened as we walked toward the door and realized that it was pouring rain. My umbrella, which I brought not because it was raining when we left the apartment, but because it rains off and on all throughout the day, was definitely still in the theater... 5 stories up, and through a throng of pushy Koreans who don't understand when you say "I'm sorry, excuse me" or they do, but choose to ignore you and keep pushing... the jury's still out. I decided to call it a loss. It was like 5,000 won, and I have another one. Steve and I huddled under his, each of us keeping one side of our bodies fairly dry. After walking for a while we hailed taxis. There were 8 of us, so we should have had room in just 2 cabs, but one pulled away with only 3 people in it. Steve and I got into our own taxi, and after a few tries I got the cabby to understand where I wanted him to take us. I thought that I was doing well, but when he repeated the address back to me I said "ane- yoh", which definitely means "no". The poor cabby then began to speak to me in an elevated voice, but all in Korean of course, and repeated the address. I carefully parroted back to him what the Korean teachers had told me to say, and he repeated it to me, and received the same "ane-yoh". At some point he just said our address and started driving. I'm sure he chalked it up to a Stupid Weihguke and went on his way. We pulled up to the apartments, and he asked me if I wanted him to turn in or go straight. I didn't realize that we were already at the apartments because it was so fast in a cab and we're used to walking. I told him to keep going straight, and then 4 feet in, realized that we were where he was supposed to turn in and told him to stop here. The poor cabby stopped, muttered at us in Korean, and took our won. We then had to walk through the rain up the hill to the apartment and it slowly dawned on me how the conversation had gone down, and why the cabby had been so confused... perhaps not my finest Korean moment...
On a random note, my kids have been fascinated with my eyes over here. They get right up into my face and stare at them, and when they ask me what color and I explain hazel to them they get very excited and bring more Korean kids to look at them. Either I'm amazing to them or a freak. They then point to their eyes and explain to me that they have black eyes, and ask me again what color my eyes are. Or so was my experience today. One of the children also climbed on my back while I was trying to grade papers and called me mamma... They have some very cute moments...
So it was a great day today, and was by the way, about 70 degrees through the larger part of the day, getting up to 75-80 only for a few hours in the late afternoon. Sorry to everyone in Texas.
Have a great week!
Miranda
Awesome Weekend Trip
Today totally rocked.
On a scale of 1 to 10, today was like a super high 7. (Come one 9 and 10s need to reserved for the amazing.)
We started our Korean lessons today. I wish I could say that Rosetta Stone gave us a huge head up and we were ready to tackle anything, but the truth is we are starting from scratch. So no freebies. However, we meet several new friends at the lessons.
We meet 2 people from the church we visited on Sunday, and 2 more people that were taking lessons. We were the new couple, as everyone else already knew each other. We went to eat at TGIFs which is in the main bus terminal of Gwangju. This is important because it was our first Korean bus trip. It was wild, made even more wild by the fact it was raining. People were holding on to the handrails and sliding on the wet floor. It was very much like a roller coaster ride...the passengers fought for the good seats while braver people stood up and held on for dear live.
After eating, we went to this computer store which was basically a 5 story building filled with small vendors selling anything and everything. It felt like an antique mall meets a huge Fry's Electronics. We were able to find our American plug converters there. They cost 500 won each, which equals to about 50 cents. I don't even want to think about how much they would be in America.
The end of the day we went to information to take buses back home...we were going to have to hop buses because there wasn't a direct bus. So we had to watch and jump off at the right stop. I was somewhat worried, but it worked out perfectly, and now we know that bus 98 can take us to downtown and save money. We also know that bus 9 will take us to the Gwangju bus station if we are downtown. So that means we can get around most of where we need in Gwangju AND the bus station is our gateway to anywhere in Korea. With more practice we can be visiting other cities in no time.
We also have new pictures to load up for you all...but we may wait until we can have a few more than the 3-4 that we have. Most of these pictures are from the local art you can find all over. I have a desire to get a few more shots before uploading...but at least you have something to look forward to.
On a scale of 1 to 10, today was like a super high 7. (Come one 9 and 10s need to reserved for the amazing.)
We started our Korean lessons today. I wish I could say that Rosetta Stone gave us a huge head up and we were ready to tackle anything, but the truth is we are starting from scratch. So no freebies. However, we meet several new friends at the lessons.
We meet 2 people from the church we visited on Sunday, and 2 more people that were taking lessons. We were the new couple, as everyone else already knew each other. We went to eat at TGIFs which is in the main bus terminal of Gwangju. This is important because it was our first Korean bus trip. It was wild, made even more wild by the fact it was raining. People were holding on to the handrails and sliding on the wet floor. It was very much like a roller coaster ride...the passengers fought for the good seats while braver people stood up and held on for dear live.
After eating, we went to this computer store which was basically a 5 story building filled with small vendors selling anything and everything. It felt like an antique mall meets a huge Fry's Electronics. We were able to find our American plug converters there. They cost 500 won each, which equals to about 50 cents. I don't even want to think about how much they would be in America.
The end of the day we went to information to take buses back home...we were going to have to hop buses because there wasn't a direct bus. So we had to watch and jump off at the right stop. I was somewhat worried, but it worked out perfectly, and now we know that bus 98 can take us to downtown and save money. We also know that bus 9 will take us to the Gwangju bus station if we are downtown. So that means we can get around most of where we need in Gwangju AND the bus station is our gateway to anywhere in Korea. With more practice we can be visiting other cities in no time.
We also have new pictures to load up for you all...but we may wait until we can have a few more than the 3-4 that we have. Most of these pictures are from the local art you can find all over. I have a desire to get a few more shots before uploading...but at least you have something to look forward to.
GIC
So, today has been an interesting day; don't worry it was a good day.
First Miranda and I went to the Gwangju International Center. We became members and signed up for Korean classes. They have 7 week sessions meeting every Saturday for 7 weeks. The levels are Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. I imagine that the classes are much like the dance classes that my parents were/are taking. What I mean is I imagine that you may need to take levels more than once to truly grasp everything they are teaching...even with constant practice.
I am beginning to realize what a real office job must be like...not one which doesn't have enough stuff for you to do, but one where there is constantly something to do, and you must keep yourself on task to achieve it all...and when you think there is nothing else to do, that is when you better find something, or you will be behind later. It is quite stressful, but I taught myself bad habits at work and I became lazy. I have several things I wanted to get done this week and I have not yet completed them...I am working on it though.
As for teaching, I am getting a hang of it. Everyone has there own style of teaching, but I feel I haven't truly found mine yet. I go directly by the book as much as possible. We do 2 pages a day (mostly) but this is deceiving because we also have workbooks, storybooks, write it writes, vocabulary and so much more to get done. I honestly feel it is impossible to do everything needed in the allotted time. I try very hard not to give homework, but I feel I am going to have to start. I also realize that I am going to have to become more strict in my classes, and now is the time to do it because the new teacher honeymoon stage is wearing off with the kids. I already feel myself learning more and more about how to teach, it isn't natural for me, but I am coming along.
Another interesting note is different perspectives on life. In America, everyone is paranoid about North Korea and their nuclear missiles however in South Korea it is a minor concern. South Korea's perspective is simply this...North Korea is not going to risk a nuclear attack against any country or countries ally that can wipe them out. Unless, said country/ies decide to force them into action with sanctions or whatnot. I don't know if I truly believe this line of thinking. It seems like you are ignoring a potential problem on the belief it will never become a problem, and that is foolish. On the other hand, it brings up a good point, the United States should probably not be the police force for the world. We should continue to carry our big sticks but perhaps back off from the parenting. Personally, I question American Foreign Aid programs at all...why are we sending billions of dollars over sees to supposed aid countries that just the money to build up their military and feed their soldiers? Does Good Will in politics ever achieve your true goals?
First Miranda and I went to the Gwangju International Center. We became members and signed up for Korean classes. They have 7 week sessions meeting every Saturday for 7 weeks. The levels are Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. I imagine that the classes are much like the dance classes that my parents were/are taking. What I mean is I imagine that you may need to take levels more than once to truly grasp everything they are teaching...even with constant practice.
I am beginning to realize what a real office job must be like...not one which doesn't have enough stuff for you to do, but one where there is constantly something to do, and you must keep yourself on task to achieve it all...and when you think there is nothing else to do, that is when you better find something, or you will be behind later. It is quite stressful, but I taught myself bad habits at work and I became lazy. I have several things I wanted to get done this week and I have not yet completed them...I am working on it though.
As for teaching, I am getting a hang of it. Everyone has there own style of teaching, but I feel I haven't truly found mine yet. I go directly by the book as much as possible. We do 2 pages a day (mostly) but this is deceiving because we also have workbooks, storybooks, write it writes, vocabulary and so much more to get done. I honestly feel it is impossible to do everything needed in the allotted time. I try very hard not to give homework, but I feel I am going to have to start. I also realize that I am going to have to become more strict in my classes, and now is the time to do it because the new teacher honeymoon stage is wearing off with the kids. I already feel myself learning more and more about how to teach, it isn't natural for me, but I am coming along.
Another interesting note is different perspectives on life. In America, everyone is paranoid about North Korea and their nuclear missiles however in South Korea it is a minor concern. South Korea's perspective is simply this...North Korea is not going to risk a nuclear attack against any country or countries ally that can wipe them out. Unless, said country/ies decide to force them into action with sanctions or whatnot. I don't know if I truly believe this line of thinking. It seems like you are ignoring a potential problem on the belief it will never become a problem, and that is foolish. On the other hand, it brings up a good point, the United States should probably not be the police force for the world. We should continue to carry our big sticks but perhaps back off from the parenting. Personally, I question American Foreign Aid programs at all...why are we sending billions of dollars over sees to supposed aid countries that just the money to build up their military and feed their soldiers? Does Good Will in politics ever achieve your true goals?
Welcome to your New Home
Miranda and I have finally moved into our apartments. Today was the first day, and it has been crazy. We spent close to 150,000 won buying supplies like pillows, cups, shower curtain, clothes hangers and much more. But, now he have almost everything we need.
Last week was our first week of work. We had only 2 days of observation which wasn't nearly enough time. There was so much to learn and to process that I feel like I am clueless about what is going on.
Once in the classroom the teaching is easy and pretty exciting. There are a few classes that are harder than others either because of age (5-7) or disciplinary problems (pre-teens to junior high). The school has a good education plan and system in place, but learning the odds and ends takes a lot of time. I am sure this first month will be filled with craziness trying to fit in and learn how to be the best teacher possible.
All the foreign teachers here are friendly and I believe we will have a great time with them. The Korean partner teachers are most friendly as well, however I haven't gotten to meet all of mine. I must come in 3 hours before class starts for the first month for lesson plans and self training...I hope after the first month I am more prepared for the teaching.
Now, that we are in our apartments I feel life is settling down and we will be having a much easier time of things. Just being able to unpack everything and not live out of your suitcase is stress relieving. We are also only 5 minutes (or less) walk from our work. Our internet is working great in the apartments so we should be able to skype with friends and family now.
We figured out most people send packages directly to ECC office addressed to them. I want to find the address so care packages can be sent out...if so desired...I am not asking for any, because we don't need anything.
Last week was our first week of work. We had only 2 days of observation which wasn't nearly enough time. There was so much to learn and to process that I feel like I am clueless about what is going on.
Once in the classroom the teaching is easy and pretty exciting. There are a few classes that are harder than others either because of age (5-7) or disciplinary problems (pre-teens to junior high). The school has a good education plan and system in place, but learning the odds and ends takes a lot of time. I am sure this first month will be filled with craziness trying to fit in and learn how to be the best teacher possible.
All the foreign teachers here are friendly and I believe we will have a great time with them. The Korean partner teachers are most friendly as well, however I haven't gotten to meet all of mine. I must come in 3 hours before class starts for the first month for lesson plans and self training...I hope after the first month I am more prepared for the teaching.
Now, that we are in our apartments I feel life is settling down and we will be having a much easier time of things. Just being able to unpack everything and not live out of your suitcase is stress relieving. We are also only 5 minutes (or less) walk from our work. Our internet is working great in the apartments so we should be able to skype with friends and family now.
We figured out most people send packages directly to ECC office addressed to them. I want to find the address so care packages can be sent out...if so desired...I am not asking for any, because we don't need anything.
Teaching in Korea
So I thought I take a second to talk about my new job in Gwangju.
The teaching has been a bit of a change for me. Not only am I dry and in a classroom, but instead of 4 kids max I'm teaching classes of 10-14 kids. Also, the ages seem to be significantly older than I'm used to. Most of my kids are between 8-12. But the kids are interesting to say the least. Here are a few things I've encountered so far in the classrooms.
1. Apparently there are several words in the English language that sound similar to Korean curse words. It took me quite a bit of time to figure this one out. The one that made my kids laugh was "huh". I use it all the time. I never did find out what it means, but I spent several days thinking I just had a giggly class. Every time I said "huh", which I learned was quite frequent, the kids would ask me to say it again and burst out laughing. After a couple of days they slipped and let me know that it was funny because it was also some type of dirty word.
2. Korean kids usually get hit in their classes, so being the teacher without a stick can be a little frustrating. They don't seem to respect the Foreign teachers as much because they know the worst we can do to them is send them in the corner, or send them to their Korean teacher, who will then yell at them and hit them. It is a viable threat, but somewhat difficult to carry out. Mostly I put kids in corners. Today I had three kids in the corner at one time. They wouldn't stop talking Korean, which is a big no no here. Other than that, usually after one kids goes into the corner, the other kids know you mean business and they shut up. If not, the next kid has to go to the corner holding a trash can. You can make them do a squat position in the corner as well. I haven't tried that yet, but may have to in the near future.
3. Korean doesn't use the same sentence structure or word usage as English (obviously). It makes for some very interesting sentences because they try to speak Korean to you using English words. I get a kick out of some of the things they write. At some point early on we must teach them the word Suddenly because it shows up in papers in the weirdest places. "Suddenly I opened the door" "Suddenly it was Saturday".
4. One of my new favorite sounds is confused Korean children. "Whaaaaaaa????" I hear it continually. "Teacher, whaaaaa????" "Teacher, are you Kurazzy?" They get very excited about all of it. Sometimes when we're doing difficult words or concepts I can get the whole class to do it. I may have to record it because it makes me laugh every time.
5. Most Korean kids are looking to be teacher's pets. The kids here share much more than in America, and continually share their snacks with me. I've pretty much always eaten what they give me, but occasionally I eat something they've handed me and then watch them lick their fingers and put them back in the Ramen bag or what not and question my decision. Mostly I just think it's cute that they want to share with their teacher. I did have to ban Spicy Ramen from my class the other day. They couldn't stay focused because their mouths were burning.
Mostly the kids are pretty good, although pretty rowdy. I do think it's a disadvantage that they can speak a language that I can't but I'm remedying that as fast as possible. It's also unfortunate that they know there's not much I can do to them other than send them to someone to beat them. But for the most part I can clap my hands and they quiet right down. They're very smart children.
Some interesting side notes.
This morning I went for a hike by myself. I didn't think about it, but it was the first time I'd been out by myself. Usually when Steve and I go out, no one does much more than stare a little too long at us. We rarely get approached by strangers. When I was out by myself, probably 10 people approached me to say "hello". One time it was a car full of very old men and when I waved and said "hello" back, they started to laugh and giggle like school girls. I found it highly amusing. I guess they don't feel comfortable approaching people in a group, but when there's just one of me, they want to say hello. Before any one gets nervous, it was all harmless attention. They weren't really interested in anything other than my skin and eye color. It was strange, but funny.
I got some very funny papers today on Global Warming. The Korean teachers talked to them about the effects (well I did too, but I guess they went over it with the Korean teachers as well, because I saw stuff in the papers that I hadn't taught them. The thing that cracked me up was that most of them think that the world is ending. Several of them think that islands and countries are sinking under the water. One of them stated that Korea is going to sink under water and while some people might say that we can all go up to the mountains, she doesn't think that this will work because she thinks the water level will cover the mountains as well. One of them said all of this and added that it's too late to do anything except curb it's effects, but we're stuck with a screwed up planet. But the thing that they all agreed on was that global warming is killing polar bears, and we need to stop it. Let me tell you that it got Steve a little riled up.
Anyhow, so far so good.
Hope everyone has a great evening!
Miranda
The teaching has been a bit of a change for me. Not only am I dry and in a classroom, but instead of 4 kids max I'm teaching classes of 10-14 kids. Also, the ages seem to be significantly older than I'm used to. Most of my kids are between 8-12. But the kids are interesting to say the least. Here are a few things I've encountered so far in the classrooms.
1. Apparently there are several words in the English language that sound similar to Korean curse words. It took me quite a bit of time to figure this one out. The one that made my kids laugh was "huh". I use it all the time. I never did find out what it means, but I spent several days thinking I just had a giggly class. Every time I said "huh", which I learned was quite frequent, the kids would ask me to say it again and burst out laughing. After a couple of days they slipped and let me know that it was funny because it was also some type of dirty word.
2. Korean kids usually get hit in their classes, so being the teacher without a stick can be a little frustrating. They don't seem to respect the Foreign teachers as much because they know the worst we can do to them is send them in the corner, or send them to their Korean teacher, who will then yell at them and hit them. It is a viable threat, but somewhat difficult to carry out. Mostly I put kids in corners. Today I had three kids in the corner at one time. They wouldn't stop talking Korean, which is a big no no here. Other than that, usually after one kids goes into the corner, the other kids know you mean business and they shut up. If not, the next kid has to go to the corner holding a trash can. You can make them do a squat position in the corner as well. I haven't tried that yet, but may have to in the near future.
3. Korean doesn't use the same sentence structure or word usage as English (obviously). It makes for some very interesting sentences because they try to speak Korean to you using English words. I get a kick out of some of the things they write. At some point early on we must teach them the word Suddenly because it shows up in papers in the weirdest places. "Suddenly I opened the door" "Suddenly it was Saturday".
4. One of my new favorite sounds is confused Korean children. "Whaaaaaaa????" I hear it continually. "Teacher, whaaaaa????" "Teacher, are you Kurazzy?" They get very excited about all of it. Sometimes when we're doing difficult words or concepts I can get the whole class to do it. I may have to record it because it makes me laugh every time.
5. Most Korean kids are looking to be teacher's pets. The kids here share much more than in America, and continually share their snacks with me. I've pretty much always eaten what they give me, but occasionally I eat something they've handed me and then watch them lick their fingers and put them back in the Ramen bag or what not and question my decision. Mostly I just think it's cute that they want to share with their teacher. I did have to ban Spicy Ramen from my class the other day. They couldn't stay focused because their mouths were burning.
Mostly the kids are pretty good, although pretty rowdy. I do think it's a disadvantage that they can speak a language that I can't but I'm remedying that as fast as possible. It's also unfortunate that they know there's not much I can do to them other than send them to someone to beat them. But for the most part I can clap my hands and they quiet right down. They're very smart children.
Some interesting side notes.
This morning I went for a hike by myself. I didn't think about it, but it was the first time I'd been out by myself. Usually when Steve and I go out, no one does much more than stare a little too long at us. We rarely get approached by strangers. When I was out by myself, probably 10 people approached me to say "hello". One time it was a car full of very old men and when I waved and said "hello" back, they started to laugh and giggle like school girls. I found it highly amusing. I guess they don't feel comfortable approaching people in a group, but when there's just one of me, they want to say hello. Before any one gets nervous, it was all harmless attention. They weren't really interested in anything other than my skin and eye color. It was strange, but funny.
I got some very funny papers today on Global Warming. The Korean teachers talked to them about the effects (well I did too, but I guess they went over it with the Korean teachers as well, because I saw stuff in the papers that I hadn't taught them. The thing that cracked me up was that most of them think that the world is ending. Several of them think that islands and countries are sinking under the water. One of them stated that Korea is going to sink under water and while some people might say that we can all go up to the mountains, she doesn't think that this will work because she thinks the water level will cover the mountains as well. One of them said all of this and added that it's too late to do anything except curb it's effects, but we're stuck with a screwed up planet. But the thing that they all agreed on was that global warming is killing polar bears, and we need to stop it. Let me tell you that it got Steve a little riled up.
Anyhow, so far so good.
Hope everyone has a great evening!
Miranda
First weekend in Korea
This weekend was amazing,
We went to see the Buddhist Temple in Gwangju with our boss Alex. It was up in the mountains and beautiful. You were required to hike throughout the temple to see the 92 Buddha statues throughout the temple, at one time there was reported to be over 900. Unfortunately we forgot the camera so no pictures. I can say it was like walking through a museum except instead of man ripping the artifacts out of the its environment and bringing it to you, you go see it in its home.
For dinner we ate at this great restaurant and ate Hair Tail fish, it was quite good, but very bony.
Sunday we went hiking again, and then went to downtown and it was crazy. Each building was 3 stories and each story had several different stores. Street Vendors were out selling crazy wind up toys, dried octopus tentacles, and much more. We found a Burger King, Krispy Kreme, Outback Steak House, Pizza Hut, and finally a street vendor selling Pizza in a cup.
Our vacation is over though, work starts tomorrow, and that means new challenges. I can't wait to see what that brings.
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I forgot to mention about the language. Korean uses character blocks, these are like words of sorts, but each block is one syllable. The blocks contain no less than 2 letters and no more than 3. Each block contains a vowel, but vowels can never stand alone, so there must be either one or two consonants. It makes writing and reading fairly easy once you understand of to pronounce the letters. My goal is to learn this as quickly as possible and then work on my vocabulary.
We went to see the Buddhist Temple in Gwangju with our boss Alex. It was up in the mountains and beautiful. You were required to hike throughout the temple to see the 92 Buddha statues throughout the temple, at one time there was reported to be over 900. Unfortunately we forgot the camera so no pictures. I can say it was like walking through a museum except instead of man ripping the artifacts out of the its environment and bringing it to you, you go see it in its home.
For dinner we ate at this great restaurant and ate Hair Tail fish, it was quite good, but very bony.
Sunday we went hiking again, and then went to downtown and it was crazy. Each building was 3 stories and each story had several different stores. Street Vendors were out selling crazy wind up toys, dried octopus tentacles, and much more. We found a Burger King, Krispy Kreme, Outback Steak House, Pizza Hut, and finally a street vendor selling Pizza in a cup.
Our vacation is over though, work starts tomorrow, and that means new challenges. I can't wait to see what that brings.
--------------------------
I forgot to mention about the language. Korean uses character blocks, these are like words of sorts, but each block is one syllable. The blocks contain no less than 2 letters and no more than 3. Each block contains a vowel, but vowels can never stand alone, so there must be either one or two consonants. It makes writing and reading fairly easy once you understand of to pronounce the letters. My goal is to learn this as quickly as possible and then work on my vocabulary.
Strange Moments in Korea
Strange moments here in Korea. After a week and a half, I now feel comfortable wandering up to strangers and pointing and using 1 word phrases in Korean until they understand me and point me in the right direction. Most of the time it works marvelously. Every now and then they just stare blankly, and in those moments we just move on to a sharper Korean.
What's been striking me recently (like within the last 2 days) is how easily we've fallen into our new life. We moved into our new apartment Saturday afternoon (it was Friday in Texas). We unpacked our 2 suitcases and this place feels like home. I almost feel like I've been here a few months. Already I love the little apartment. It's not huge, well it is by Korean standards, but by American standards it's not that big. But our recent lack of belongings makes the place feel giant. We actually have a room right now who's express purpose for the moment is housing my umbrella. I'm not really even sure what we'll do with the space. I'm beginning to realize how much surplus I had in my old life. The drying of clothes on racks as opposed to in a dryer may take a while to get used to. Basically we'll have to stay up on laundry because there's no way we could do 10 loads over a weekend like we used to in the states. We just don't have enough space to hang it all up. On the up side, we don't have that many clothes any more, so we could probably wash every piece of clothing we owned in 6 loads right now.
Our community out here is fabulous. Most Koreans view us as a strange but not unpleasant oddity. They don't seem to dislike us, but honestly they don't spend a lot of time interacting with us. Save the Korean teachers at our school. Some of them are fairly willing to spend time with the slightly confused and uncouth foreigners. One such teacher went with us to visit an English church service today. I'm not sure if the church is a perfect match for us, but since there's only about 4 English services in Gwangju we may have to make some compromises. Who knows? Perhaps the Lord will use them to give us new insight into Himself.
The foreign teachers are a pretty tight knit group out here. Most of them are at least 2-3 years younger than us, and almost all of them are a little more inclined to the night life than we are, but despite those differences we really like them, and they are very pleasant to work with. They keep telling us that you meet most of the other foreigners in the area at the local bars, but Steve and I have agreed that the bar scene isn't for us, and we're determined to find new friends other ways. We're hoping that getting plugged into a church will help us in that direction.
The new job is pretty ok, although it is funny being the low dog on the totem pole after being at Emler for so long where I didn't really have to think hard or fight hard to do a good job. It's been a real treat to work with Steven as well. It's funny getting to see him throughout the day. It's gone from being a little stressful to being pleasant. Don't take the stressful thing the wrong way, but Steve and I have lived almost separate lives for nearly 3 years, and being around each other 24-7 has taken a little getting used to. I think we're functioning much more like a couple and less like housemates these days.
They told us that homesickness would set in later on in our stay, say 4 months down the road, so while I'm very happy and content at the moment, I am a little nervous about what the future will bring. Korean lessons are a definite. We found out today about Korean classes we can take through the international center here, and I think we'll be setting those up early this week. I'm determined to learn this language.
The only other thing that we've got to learn in a hurry is the bus schedule. We've been way to cowardly to ride the bus as of yet, because we'd heard some horror stories about people getting onto the wrong bus and ending up on the wrong side of town, and such, but taking taxis is going to get too expensive. Plus our cabby who took us to church this morning nearly killed us by trying to turn left into on coming traffic while our light was red. A fairly common occurrence in Korea, but nerve wracking to us foreigners. Despite all of this crazy driving we have yet to see a wreck, or the remains of a wreck. The Koreans are apparently ninja drivers.
I can only leave you for this thought. We keep seeing this commercial on TV that has caused us significant mirth as well as confusion. It's what I would call a normal pizza commercial. Actually the commercial itself is fairly uninteresting, until they put the tag line up on screen. The company's name is Mr. Pizza. Their catch phrase "For the love of women". So we've been postulating on the meaning behind this very random statement (I'd put it up there with Oily Mom, something that was miss translated). Finally at lunch the other day I asked one of the Korean teachers about it, and she explained that Mr. Pizza's marketing bracket is women. So Mr. Pizza is basically the Pizza pimp. Think about that for a while. (Ok, don't really, it's probably only funny to Steve and I.)
So with that I'll leave you with a goodbye. Next time I get a shot I'll write on here about my new students as I've found them to be very funny for the most part.
Much love to all of you!
What's been striking me recently (like within the last 2 days) is how easily we've fallen into our new life. We moved into our new apartment Saturday afternoon (it was Friday in Texas). We unpacked our 2 suitcases and this place feels like home. I almost feel like I've been here a few months. Already I love the little apartment. It's not huge, well it is by Korean standards, but by American standards it's not that big. But our recent lack of belongings makes the place feel giant. We actually have a room right now who's express purpose for the moment is housing my umbrella. I'm not really even sure what we'll do with the space. I'm beginning to realize how much surplus I had in my old life. The drying of clothes on racks as opposed to in a dryer may take a while to get used to. Basically we'll have to stay up on laundry because there's no way we could do 10 loads over a weekend like we used to in the states. We just don't have enough space to hang it all up. On the up side, we don't have that many clothes any more, so we could probably wash every piece of clothing we owned in 6 loads right now.
Our community out here is fabulous. Most Koreans view us as a strange but not unpleasant oddity. They don't seem to dislike us, but honestly they don't spend a lot of time interacting with us. Save the Korean teachers at our school. Some of them are fairly willing to spend time with the slightly confused and uncouth foreigners. One such teacher went with us to visit an English church service today. I'm not sure if the church is a perfect match for us, but since there's only about 4 English services in Gwangju we may have to make some compromises. Who knows? Perhaps the Lord will use them to give us new insight into Himself.
The foreign teachers are a pretty tight knit group out here. Most of them are at least 2-3 years younger than us, and almost all of them are a little more inclined to the night life than we are, but despite those differences we really like them, and they are very pleasant to work with. They keep telling us that you meet most of the other foreigners in the area at the local bars, but Steve and I have agreed that the bar scene isn't for us, and we're determined to find new friends other ways. We're hoping that getting plugged into a church will help us in that direction.
The new job is pretty ok, although it is funny being the low dog on the totem pole after being at Emler for so long where I didn't really have to think hard or fight hard to do a good job. It's been a real treat to work with Steven as well. It's funny getting to see him throughout the day. It's gone from being a little stressful to being pleasant. Don't take the stressful thing the wrong way, but Steve and I have lived almost separate lives for nearly 3 years, and being around each other 24-7 has taken a little getting used to. I think we're functioning much more like a couple and less like housemates these days.
They told us that homesickness would set in later on in our stay, say 4 months down the road, so while I'm very happy and content at the moment, I am a little nervous about what the future will bring. Korean lessons are a definite. We found out today about Korean classes we can take through the international center here, and I think we'll be setting those up early this week. I'm determined to learn this language.
The only other thing that we've got to learn in a hurry is the bus schedule. We've been way to cowardly to ride the bus as of yet, because we'd heard some horror stories about people getting onto the wrong bus and ending up on the wrong side of town, and such, but taking taxis is going to get too expensive. Plus our cabby who took us to church this morning nearly killed us by trying to turn left into on coming traffic while our light was red. A fairly common occurrence in Korea, but nerve wracking to us foreigners. Despite all of this crazy driving we have yet to see a wreck, or the remains of a wreck. The Koreans are apparently ninja drivers.
I can only leave you for this thought. We keep seeing this commercial on TV that has caused us significant mirth as well as confusion. It's what I would call a normal pizza commercial. Actually the commercial itself is fairly uninteresting, until they put the tag line up on screen. The company's name is Mr. Pizza. Their catch phrase "For the love of women". So we've been postulating on the meaning behind this very random statement (I'd put it up there with Oily Mom, something that was miss translated). Finally at lunch the other day I asked one of the Korean teachers about it, and she explained that Mr. Pizza's marketing bracket is women. So Mr. Pizza is basically the Pizza pimp. Think about that for a while. (Ok, don't really, it's probably only funny to Steve and I.)
So with that I'll leave you with a goodbye. Next time I get a shot I'll write on here about my new students as I've found them to be very funny for the most part.
Much love to all of you!
Steve's feelings from his 3rd day
It is nice to finally find a reliable internet connection, but I feel obligated to buy something while we are here and it is expensive, but in the long run it really isn't that big of a deal.
Spending money here is funny, because 10,000 won is equivalent to about $10.00 it just makes you feel like you are spending too much money. I have found that I am being more cost conscientious over here because of the money difference.
Our boss, Alex, is very funny, he likes make word play jokes in English which are somewhat sarcastic and cheesy, but what is more fun is the odd questions we will get from him. For example, because I have hairy arms he asked if I had a very hairy chest and back.
We got a full medical check up the other day X-ray the chest for TB and so on. There is no medical privacy here so our boss knows our weight, height, and that I can't pee on command and after trying for 30 minutes had to go back the next day.
I hope my last note did not sound too grim because we really are having a great time, it is just you definitely feel like a fish out of water (and we aren't even playing Marco Polo.) The food is excellent here. I know it isn't for everyone, I am glad I enjoy seafood, noodles, and spicy Kimchi (which is apparently very healthy.) The meals are all designed with a sort of balance. Hot and Cold portions, Spicy and sweet. The meals are proportioned well and I feel I am eating healthier than I have in years.
Another odd thing I have noticed is that children walk the city alone all the time. I have seen kids the age of 6 or 7 by themselves walking to school. It is something you would never see here.
Finally the Korean television is something to be mentioned. They have about 3-4 channels depending on the time of day that show television in English, however these channels are not dedicated to English television so you can't just leave it on one channel and be ok. However they have a television channel dedicated to Star Craft and other online PC games which are treated like a sport. Then there is another channel that shows GO games all day. This show is oddly fascinating to me because I know somewhat how to play and I can play along with the show.
Spending money here is funny, because 10,000 won is equivalent to about $10.00 it just makes you feel like you are spending too much money. I have found that I am being more cost conscientious over here because of the money difference.
Our boss, Alex, is very funny, he likes make word play jokes in English which are somewhat sarcastic and cheesy, but what is more fun is the odd questions we will get from him. For example, because I have hairy arms he asked if I had a very hairy chest and back.
We got a full medical check up the other day X-ray the chest for TB and so on. There is no medical privacy here so our boss knows our weight, height, and that I can't pee on command and after trying for 30 minutes had to go back the next day.
I hope my last note did not sound too grim because we really are having a great time, it is just you definitely feel like a fish out of water (and we aren't even playing Marco Polo.) The food is excellent here. I know it isn't for everyone, I am glad I enjoy seafood, noodles, and spicy Kimchi (which is apparently very healthy.) The meals are all designed with a sort of balance. Hot and Cold portions, Spicy and sweet. The meals are proportioned well and I feel I am eating healthier than I have in years.
Another odd thing I have noticed is that children walk the city alone all the time. I have seen kids the age of 6 or 7 by themselves walking to school. It is something you would never see here.
Finally the Korean television is something to be mentioned. They have about 3-4 channels depending on the time of day that show television in English, however these channels are not dedicated to English television so you can't just leave it on one channel and be ok. However they have a television channel dedicated to Star Craft and other online PC games which are treated like a sport. Then there is another channel that shows GO games all day. This show is oddly fascinating to me because I know somewhat how to play and I can play along with the show.
Miranda's first observations of Nam Gwangju
Well, after a couple of days here in Korea, I have made a few interesting observations about the culture and the community. My first one is that the driving here is very frightening. There must be some kind of unwritten laws about what to do when you're cutting someone off because no one ever gets hit, but I'm on the edge of my seat all the time. They always honk at each other, but it almost doesn't even mean anything because they're all always honking. Most of their side streets are one way, which also doesn't mean anything because there's always two way traffic going down them. Two cars will drive right at each other and just at the last second one will veer off and let the other one pass. A little harrowing to say the least. And we haven't really even been driving with people yet.
Walking everywhere can make you tired. Maybe I'm just old and out of shape, but boy am I tired by the end of each day.
Korean people seem to all be skinny. I assumed it was just a stereotype. It's not. I've seen maybe 3 people here during the last few days who are anywhere near obese, and they were nothing compared to most Americans. I'm beginning to see why though, with all of the kimchi and walking and whatnot, it would be hard to be very heavy out here. We'll see.
Koreans may be the friendliest people in the world. I don't have a lot of world knowledge to know if this statement is actually true or not, but I'm beginning to think it is. They try very hard to accommodate us with our faltering Korean (yes, no, thank you, hello/goodbye) and several of them have come over to us to help us in situations where we were out of our element. Such as, yesterday, we were trying to figure out what to do with our trash at a coffee house; they had a different set up than we were used to; and a gentleman sitting at the table near the trashcan came over and took care of it for us. Later in the afternoon I was eating Bimbop (I think that's how it's spelled) and didn't really know how to get it set up or eat it, so I was doing my best to eat it, and the lady from behind the fast food counter came over to the table, smiled at me, and mixed it properly for me. Mind you she was talking to me all along in Korean, but still, very friendly.
Koreans will talk to you in Korean for long periods of time in Korean after it's clear you don't speak it. I'm not sure why this is, but it's random and amusing.
No one in Korea wears sunglasses. They only use the visors. I don't know why this is, but they look at me like I'm crazy. What they don't know is I am a little crazy.
So that's what I've figured out about Korean's so far. Maybe they'll prove me wrong on some of this, but so far this is what I've seen. Lots of love to all of you out there.
Walking everywhere can make you tired. Maybe I'm just old and out of shape, but boy am I tired by the end of each day.
Korean people seem to all be skinny. I assumed it was just a stereotype. It's not. I've seen maybe 3 people here during the last few days who are anywhere near obese, and they were nothing compared to most Americans. I'm beginning to see why though, with all of the kimchi and walking and whatnot, it would be hard to be very heavy out here. We'll see.
Koreans may be the friendliest people in the world. I don't have a lot of world knowledge to know if this statement is actually true or not, but I'm beginning to think it is. They try very hard to accommodate us with our faltering Korean (yes, no, thank you, hello/goodbye) and several of them have come over to us to help us in situations where we were out of our element. Such as, yesterday, we were trying to figure out what to do with our trash at a coffee house; they had a different set up than we were used to; and a gentleman sitting at the table near the trashcan came over and took care of it for us. Later in the afternoon I was eating Bimbop (I think that's how it's spelled) and didn't really know how to get it set up or eat it, so I was doing my best to eat it, and the lady from behind the fast food counter came over to the table, smiled at me, and mixed it properly for me. Mind you she was talking to me all along in Korean, but still, very friendly.
Koreans will talk to you in Korean for long periods of time in Korean after it's clear you don't speak it. I'm not sure why this is, but it's random and amusing.
No one in Korea wears sunglasses. They only use the visors. I don't know why this is, but they look at me like I'm crazy. What they don't know is I am a little crazy.
So that's what I've figured out about Korean's so far. Maybe they'll prove me wrong on some of this, but so far this is what I've seen. Lots of love to all of you out there.
So we made it! Today (which is Thursday) is the first time we've had internet access which is why no one has heard from us up till now. We got on a plane at 6:00 on Monday morning and landed in Seoul at 9:00 on Tuesday Evening. During the plane rides we had the joy of watching part of Paul Blart Mall Cop, The Pink Panther 2, and part of He just not that into you. Basically we spent about 15 hours in the air in total, and another 6 or 7 in the airports, one of which was in Tokyo. We ate Sushi at that one. We then spent 4 hours on a Limo bus, which is really just a nice bus with reclining seats. Not a giant limousine. My heart was somewhat broken.
When we got to the bus station and our boss was there to pick us up. (Which is exceptionally nice since it was 1:00 AM when we got there. The hotel we're staying at is not bad. It falls under the category of a Love Motel. It's nothing like the Division street hotels that maintain that same definition, it's clean and the staff are not frightening. We did however find a condom in our tray of toiletries, which I must admit was a bit strange.
We had the chance to wander the streets yesterday which was nice, other than getting lost like 5 times and being a little frightened during that time because we couldn't really explain what we needed to the people we were asking for help. When we got back the hotel staff didn't recognize us and wouldn't give us our key. We couldn't speak any Korean, so we spent a good 15 minutes trying to explain that we just wanted our room key. A little frustrating but not bad.
Anyhow, I'll try to get more of this down in the next few days, but I wanted everyone to know that we're alive and well out here in Gwangju. We'll chat with all of y'all later
Miranda
When we got to the bus station and our boss was there to pick us up. (Which is exceptionally nice since it was 1:00 AM when we got there. The hotel we're staying at is not bad. It falls under the category of a Love Motel. It's nothing like the Division street hotels that maintain that same definition, it's clean and the staff are not frightening. We did however find a condom in our tray of toiletries, which I must admit was a bit strange.
We had the chance to wander the streets yesterday which was nice, other than getting lost like 5 times and being a little frightened during that time because we couldn't really explain what we needed to the people we were asking for help. When we got back the hotel staff didn't recognize us and wouldn't give us our key. We couldn't speak any Korean, so we spent a good 15 minutes trying to explain that we just wanted our room key. A little frustrating but not bad.
Anyhow, I'll try to get more of this down in the next few days, but I wanted everyone to know that we're alive and well out here in Gwangju. We'll chat with all of y'all later
Miranda
Welcome to Korea
So today is Thursday morning and it is (as Miranda stated) the first time we were able to find an internet connection.
So far we have been in quarantine which means we are staying in a small motel room for a week while they determine if we are safe (not sick) enough to live in the apartments with the other American teachers. Unfortunately this has meant being somewhat isolated with few people which speak English to help us. That will change next week though.
What I have learned is that the city is quite interesting, and the life style is not much different from what you would expect, minor differences, but nothing shocking. It is easy to walk around the city, however Miranda and I learned we need to be careful about marking our land markets since we can't read. We have gotten "lost" once, but it wasn't as big of a deal as we made it at the time.
In Gwangju it is much harder to find English speaking Koreans, and if they speak English it is usually not very well. It has hindered us slightly because there is a language barrier. However, we consciously chose Gwangju for this very reason. We wanted to get the "full" cultural experience. It is apparent we MUST learn to read Korean and speak it as best we can. This challenge is exciting to me though, because it is pushing me out of my comfort zone.
Prices for goods is interesting. If you go to a more "Americanized" place like this coffee shop we are in then the prices are similar to America's prices. However, you can go to Korean restaurants and eat fairly cheap. You must watch your money as carefully as you do in America...which is different since the Won is so large you feel like you are spending so much buying anything.
The one thing I realize most is how dependent I am on both God and my wife here. Without Miranda I would feel utterly alone, and she gives me a purpose because we are working together to figure this out. As for God, He is my strength and you take for granted how easy life can be. I am not saying it is difficult here for we have had very few challenges as of yet, but I am saying when you facing a world you are a complete foreigner to it is good to know God loves you and is walking beside you.
I am excited and nervous to start school, but I know whatever challenges come my way I will be made stronger in mind and spirit.
I love you all.
Steve
So far we have been in quarantine which means we are staying in a small motel room for a week while they determine if we are safe (not sick) enough to live in the apartments with the other American teachers. Unfortunately this has meant being somewhat isolated with few people which speak English to help us. That will change next week though.
What I have learned is that the city is quite interesting, and the life style is not much different from what you would expect, minor differences, but nothing shocking. It is easy to walk around the city, however Miranda and I learned we need to be careful about marking our land markets since we can't read. We have gotten "lost" once, but it wasn't as big of a deal as we made it at the time.
In Gwangju it is much harder to find English speaking Koreans, and if they speak English it is usually not very well. It has hindered us slightly because there is a language barrier. However, we consciously chose Gwangju for this very reason. We wanted to get the "full" cultural experience. It is apparent we MUST learn to read Korean and speak it as best we can. This challenge is exciting to me though, because it is pushing me out of my comfort zone.
Prices for goods is interesting. If you go to a more "Americanized" place like this coffee shop we are in then the prices are similar to America's prices. However, you can go to Korean restaurants and eat fairly cheap. You must watch your money as carefully as you do in America...which is different since the Won is so large you feel like you are spending so much buying anything.
The one thing I realize most is how dependent I am on both God and my wife here. Without Miranda I would feel utterly alone, and she gives me a purpose because we are working together to figure this out. As for God, He is my strength and you take for granted how easy life can be. I am not saying it is difficult here for we have had very few challenges as of yet, but I am saying when you facing a world you are a complete foreigner to it is good to know God loves you and is walking beside you.
I am excited and nervous to start school, but I know whatever challenges come my way I will be made stronger in mind and spirit.
I love you all.
Steve
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