HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

It's the eve before new years eve and in Korea, my moms birthday is almost over! Back at home, she still has a full day to celebrate. So... for those of you forgetful ones... consider this a reminder ;)
Happy birthday Mom!! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you... enjoy the last of the warm-ish Florida weather and I hope you have an amazing birthday with the family! I love and miss you!

So not too much has happened since my last entry but I can think of a few stories you may find...amusing, since that pretty much defines my life out here. There is a new restaurant in Gwangju that serves juicy American burgers (a rare find in Korea... typically the bun is white bread and the meat is a chunk of SPAM; if you can even call that meat). Word spreads fast among the foreigners here, especially if it involves a new dining experience! The diner is called Lemon Table and I have already tried it out. I ordered the "onion ring mountain" and it was pretty delicious! Anyways, my co-worker Ryan's experience was anything BUT. Him and a friend went to eat there Monday night and instead of getting the usual (onion ring burger) he decided to try something different this time. As per usual, the menu was all in Korean and the only reason I knew to order what I did, was because someone told me it is the second option under the third page. When Ryan's meal arrived he was prepared to dig right in, however the lettuce was stacked up to the ceiling and he could not fit the burger in his mouth. Naturally, he removed the top bun and started taking some of the lettuce off the burger and onto his plate. Just as he was about to take a bite, he noticed something in the corner of his eye and on the edge of his plate looking up at him. A HUUUGE slug (with antennas and black beatie eyes) had crawled its way out of the lettuce Ryan had just removed from his burger and was doing laps around his plate!!!!!!!!!! He immediately called over the waiter and did not even need to explain in words as the slug was now bathing in the bowl of ketchup! Strange enough, the waiter did not even seem surprised!? Actually, Ryan said it was quite the opposite reaction... he smiled at Ryan and pointed to the menu. Still unsure of what was going on and why Ryan was still watching this slug dance around his plate, the waiter finally took his meal and replaced it with a new one. After that ordeal, we realized that the English translation for the burger he ordered was "Bugs Burger". Coincidence or play on words? YOU decide. Apparently slugs are protein. Gross! I guess it's fair to say he felt kind of sluggish after that meal.. ha ha ha. Don't think I will be eating there ANY time soon.
Something else I heard this week is that Korea has some really great nail salons. I see them all over the place but I don't get my first pay check until January 7th, so I think I'll save the extracurriculars for when I have the extra-cash. Anyways, one particular nail salon they have here specializes in pedicures... but not any kind of pedicures... FISH pedicures. I'm sure it has another name but I'm not too sure what they call it. Basically, you put your feet in a large tub of water and handfuls of little fish swim around, biting off all your dry skin! My co workers really want to try it... but something about feet and fish with teeth, doesn't sit well with me.
So I went to my first feature film in Korea last weekend and saw Sherlock Holmes. The movie itself wasn't great but I was happy to experience it in Gwangju. Unlike at home, you can't just sit anywhere you please. You first must order the tickets in advance and then choose your seats on a screen (from what is left). It's actually not a bad idea because then you can show up JUST before the movie begins (since all the Korean previews really aren't that thrilling to us foreigners) and you are guaranteed a spot. The movie theatre itself has 6 floors with about 2-3 theatres on each floor. They do have popcorn at the movies, but its not by any means fresh! I ordered a bag and the lady behind the counter pulled it out from under the sink?! Wonder how long it was down there for...
Also, I found it funny that the food personnel were wearing sars masks AND spit covers! haha! When I was in Seoul, Suzy and I walked through the food court of the mall and saw the staff wearing sars masks with a clean plastic square coming diagonally out of the bottom and ending just above their nose. After thinking of different possibilities for its use, we figured that they are used to catch a sneeze or a spit ball. I guess they have upgraded! Makes sense... I mean, who wants a booger in their food? A slug on the other hand.....
Lastly, work has been going well. the only unfortunate part is that our hours have changed from 1-9pm to 9am-7pm!! This will only be for the month of January though since the kids are on winter break from their public school. They still have to come to us though, which really sucks for them. I promised them no homework for this month (what a nice teacher I am... haa). I think I have told most of you this but everyday we have a period where we need to do telephone interviews with the kids. This means calling each child at home and having a conversation with them (about their day, etc) and quizzing them on what I taught in class that day. I seriously have NEVER been hung up on more in my entire life!! I would say about 92% of the students parents don't speak ANY and I mean ANY English, so I have quickly learned how to say hello... but once I ask to speak to their child, I either get a parent trying to have a conversation with me (me being silent on the other end) or them hearing English and immediately hanging up. It's getting quite annoying but I was thinking about it today, and I guess if that were me, and I picked up my phone only to hear someone saying "Hello" in a terrible accent and then speaking Chinese...or worse... asking to speak to their child named "Michael Jackson" or "Boom boom", I would most likely hang up on them too!
Speaking of odd names, I got a new student today... he did not have an English name so it was up to me to come up with something on the spot. He's a chubby, round Korean boy with crazy hair. I decided to call him Troll. The only problem is that now when I read attendance and call out "Troll" I literally start laughing out loud. The kids have no clue whats going on... and I had one student call out today, "Teacha teacha, Troll ate my candy!!" haha I love how easily these kids keep me amused day to day. That's all for now!

Happy New Year to all!

Write more in '10...

Signing off,

Gillian

Snow Tires

Me eating a cocoon... read blog for further explanation

Bowl of seaweed and cocoons....mmm (not really)

Galbi

Our Chrisrmas party dinner!

Me and my friend Katie shopping downtown. Katie is from South Africa and this was her first time seeing snow!

Sars masks for kids!

So Christmas eve is just around the bend and even though not all Koreans celebrate this momentous holiday... it is really just another excuse to drink! I just returned home from my schools annual Christmas party and had a blast! We finished work today around 10pm and headed out for some authentic Korean food called Galbi. You sit at a long table with two holes in the middle and the waiter brings over a grill and a plate of raw meat that you cook yourself. You are also given a plate of onions, mushrooms, fresh garlic and of course...kimchi. You are then given a plate of romaine lettuce and with your chopsticks, take one of each type of food, wrap it up and shove the lettuce wrap in your mouth. For dessert, we were given rice soup (which basically taste like water with rice in it) and clementines. All in all, it was a great meal and all my Korean co-workers showed up which was awesome. There were endless bottles of beer and soju being passed around and it also happened to be my co-workers birthday, so we celebrated throughout the evening. Once dinner was finished, we moved our party to another bar (not sure of the name) to eat and drink some more. So you know how at a typical bar in Canada, they would have some nuts or chips on the table to munch on? It's the same sort of idea here in Korea, however instead of nuts they serve canned corn, pieces of fish and... wait for it....... COCOONS!?!? Yup, you read that correctly. There was a bowl of these small brown sluggish looking things (that I actually thought looked like cockroaches) but after my inquiry, I was told that they were cocoons... from a caterpillar! After MUCH and I mean MUCH persuading I decided, what the heck, I would try one... when in Rome, right?! It defiantly was not tasty... a bit salty but I can't really compare it to anything I have tried before. Very odd to say the least.

My co worker Leigh actually told me a funny story to do with food that happened to her around her first week of living in Korea. She had a sore throat and went to the grocery store to buy salt in hopes of going home and gargling salt water. Well, she found the isle of salt (or so she thought) and purchased it, thinking she is soon going to be relieved of her sore throat. She arrived home, poured the "salt" in a glass, filled it with water and took a huge gulp. She IMMEDIATELY gagged and spit out the disgusting liquid into the sink. Later that day, after speaking to a Korean co worker, she found out that she had just gargled msg!!! Apparently in Korea, they advertise msg like its a good thing! You will walk into stores and a sign will read "we sell msg :)". haha!

Anyways, the other day I was in a cab going to meet my friend downtown for lunch. It was a Sunday morning so I was feeling kid of "sick" due to the night before. When the cab saw that I was a foreigner he tried speaking to me in English, however the only two words he knew in English were "snow tires". So I guess the guy was trying to explain to me (in broken English) that his car had snow tires. But nooo that wasn't enough... he wanted to PROVE to me that his car had snow tires and literally sped up and then SLAMMMMMED on the brakes!!!!!! When I yelled out "NO NO NO" I guess he thought I was saying "YES YES YES" because in Korean "Nay" means "Yes", so he kept slamming on the breaks showing off his snow tires which made me 10000 times more nauseous. It was brutal!!!

On another note, the teaching part of being here is going pretty well. The kids are getting used to me and I am becoming much more comfortable in front of the class. The other day I was attempting to teach my grade 2's how to tell time. For the most part, they understood anything that ended in "o'clock". So from 1:00 to 12:00 they understood. I drew a clock on the blackboard and chose students to fill in the time that I asked. Once it seemed like they had all fathomed the idea, I tried to move onto 1:15, 1:30 and 1:45. They understood that 1:15 was a quarter after, and 1:30 was half past one, but they could not for the life of me understand that 1:45 was a quarter to 2. I kept getting, "TEACHA TEACH, WHY NOT 45 AFTA!?" haha.. I was kind of stuck. How do you explain something that just... IS?! I tried my best but I don't know how well they really got it.

So I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but there is CCTV in every single classroom (mostly used as a scare tactic) but it actually seems to work. As I was in the middle of explaining a theory to my grade six class, Mr. Ryu (the principal) came on the speaker and said something in Korean. All of a sudden my entire classroom sat up straight and removed their hats and hoods. I was stunned. I asked the class what was said, and one of my students explained that Mr. Ryu announced he was watching the class and saw the students slouching and wearing hats (which is against the law at my school). Personally, I don't reprimand my students for wearing hats, but I guess I need to start. I just thought that was very strange, but kind of humorous.

So a big difference I noticed between Korean and North American children, is not only their mentality, but their different ideas of what is considered funny or creative. For example, I played a game with my grade 6 class and asked them to come up with team names. One team was Microsoft and the other was Windows XP........ seriously?!

And last but not least, I was teaching my grade 5 students about Amelia Earhart and then asked them to write a couple of sentences explaining where they would fly to if they were pilots and what they would bring along. One of my students presented her paragraph in front of the class and said, "If I were a pilot and could fly anywhere in the world, I would fly to Canada so I could see what it is like to live in an Igloo. I would bring lots of blankets and green tea to stay warm".

Definitely got a kick out of that one!

Write more soon,

Happy holidays!

Signing off,

Gillian

Cheesy Sushi

And I'm back! It's Thursday night (Dec 17th) and I've made it through yet another week in Korea. The days/weeks seem to be going by faster now as I become more and more comfortable with my life out here. Yesterday though was kind of a pain. We didn't have to teach (which was nice) but instead we were confined to a small desk with a computer and typed up about 50,000 tests!!! (Not actually... but it felt that way)!! Around 6pm we took an hour off for dinner and my co workers decided to take me for sushi since I had not been yet! Now, I'm not sure if WE (North Americans) are the ones that have it wrong, but don't know any better because our sushi is what we're used to... or if the Koreans have it wrong. You would think that because the Koreans are only a short boat ride over to Japan, that they would have been able to brush up on their sushi making skills. Well I'm not really sure that is the case. Since the menu did not have ANY English on it (which is a clear sign that the waiters/waitresses are not going to converse with you in English either) you pretty much have to choose your favourite picture (or most appealing to you). I really don't know how picky eaters would survive under these circumstances because half the time I literally have NO IDEA what I am putting in my mouth. haha. Anyways, I chose a couple of rolls and hoped for the best. The first roll I ordered was shrimp tempura (I think) but my second roll looked kind of... off. I just COULD NOT figure out what kind of fish (or so i thought) was wrapped around the outside of my roll. It was a light orange color and very thin and flimsy. It actually didn't look like fish at all. Being as daring as I am with food, I decided to go for it and hesitantly put the roll in my mouth. It tasted... alright... but you know when you are expecting to eat something and it is something completely different? Like if you think you are about to gulp a glass of water and it's really vodka? (okay, that's an extreme) buttt the so called "fish" was not fish at all.... they were slices of Kraft singles wrapped around my sushi rolls!!!! That was probably the last thing I was expecting in my sushi. Strange.
Anyways, I noticed something I did today subconsciously which means I have really adapted quickly to Korean culture. As I walked out of the elevator, my Principal was walking in and instead of waving or saying hello, I simply bowed. Of course, he bowed back and that was probably the most trivial part of his day, however it made me realize that I am slowly but surely becoming accustomed to the Asian everyday life. Just thought I would share that with all you.
So today I got a new student... which means a new English name! Almost all of you i speak to from home ask me about my students names so i though I would let you know the next time I need to name a student. It was a girl this time and after thinking for a little while, I thought Matilda would be satisfactory. Reminds me of my childhood (great movie)!
It's funny because as much as I teach, I am also learning a lot about things I probably learned in elementary school but disregarded as I got older, and I am also learning a lot about myself. Before coming here, I really couldn't picture myself being a mean teacher... but I really don't have the patience to deal with annoying shit disturbers (excuse my language). Today one of my students called another girl fat and I immediately kicked him out of the class. When he came back in, he continued to disrupt the class so I made him give me 20 stickers (trust me, that's actually a legitimate punishment) and then made him do 25 push ups in front of the whole class. Look whose laughing now! muahaha.
I have probably mentioned this before but the kids at my school value stickers soo much! The school even made a sticker market once a month where the kids are able to purchase things with their stickers, which is why they try to collect as many as possible (hey, it works)! Anyways, my co worker Ryan was explaining the concept of interest to his class one day (he majored in finance, go figure) and so the next time he had that class, he gave one of his students 2 stickers because he got an answer right. As soon as Ryan handed him the 2 stickers, the kid gave them directly to his friend. Students do not share stickers so Ryan thought that was odd and asked the student why he did this. The student told Ryan that he owes him INTEREST on his stickers. Basically, one student lent the other 10 stickers and then the student had to give him 10 back, as well as 2 more because it had been over a week. haha! These kids are pretty damn smart.
Oh, and how could I forget... it snowed today!! That's right, when I left school around 9pm to walk home, there was some snow on the ground! I mean not even enough to make a snowball out of... but it still felt like it was the holiday season. It was kind of funny though because like i said before, Korean drivers here are NUTS! But today, with it being our first snowfall, drivers were actually OVERLY cautious and drove about 4 mph! I was in shock... there wasn't any ice or even enough snow to make an impact on ones driving, but I guess they are not used to snowy winters because it was actually laughable to see the cars, buses and cabs driving so damn slow! They even stoped at red lights AND i noticed most drivers were wearing their seat belts... typically they are just an accessory.
Well that's all for now. I'm sure I will have more stories after this weekend. Miss you all!

Write more soon.

Signing off,

Gillian

When in Rome

So here I am again... day... 17 I believe and I just returned home from my much anticipated trek to Seoul! I left my apartment Saturday morning at 730am to catch the 8am bus that took me into Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The 3.5 hour bus trip went by pretty fast since I slept most of it away but also had a bus partner which made things more enjoyable. His name was Ashley and I was introduced to him by a mutual friend the night before. After speaking for a couple of minutes we came to the realization that we were both headed to Seoul the next morning (also decided we probably should not have been out that night since we needed to wake up only 4 hours later).. but besides that, we planned to meet at the bus terminal at 7:30am. Once we arrived in Seoul, Suzy and her sister Sherry were there to meet me. Ashley was staying at his Korean friend's house and she (Erica) was also waiting his arrival. So Suzy, Sherry, Erica, Ashley and myself decided to go for lunch downtown. Seoul is a huge city and has become pretty westernized over the past couple of years. So we all agreed that going for some authentic Korean food in Seoul involved eating... Mexican!! We went to a delicious restaurant called Dos Tacos and scarfed down tacos and burritos! Yum!! Soon after the 3 of us split up from Ashley and Erica, did some shopping and touring around Seoul and headed back to Suzy's apartment to get ready for her birthday dinner.
For those of you who did not know, Sherry (Suzy's sister) came in to SURPRISE Suzy on her birthday which was Thursday Dec 10th. Sherry previously sent me an email, which I forwarded onto Suzy's co-worker, who then got in touch which her Korean co-worker who secretly picked Sherry up from the airport and brought her to the restaurant Suzy was having her birthday dinner at Thursday evening. Suzy's co-workers blind folded her and gave her a large gift bag with crumbled up pieces of paper and told her to dig through the paper to find a tangible object. While Suzy was being distracted, searching for absolutely nothing, Sherry walked into the restaurant, pulled up a chair and sat right beside her blind-folded sister. Once Suzy became frustrated with not being able to find anything in the bag she took off her blindfold to see her sister sitting next to her, on her birthday, in Korea!! What a surprise! Suzy was absolutely stunned! It worked out PERFECTLY!
Anyways, Saturday night we had reservations at a Turkish restaurant in Seoul which was actually quite good. There were about 20 of us eating dinner together and after about 2 hours of eating, drinking and chatting, we headed out to the 7/11, picked up some more soju (Korea's version of vodka) and then continued on towards the bar scene. We all had a great night in the city and even popped by a karaoke bar for some end of the night "singing"......or screaming... defiantly would not call it singing (alcohol+singing= bad idea).
Sunday morning we woke up early (kind of) to have a full day of shopping at the largest mall in Seoul called the Cotex mall. It has some really cute stores and the prices were very reasonable. However, I did find that where I live is significantly cheaper than living in Seoul (in terms of food, cabs, etc), I guess because it is a much larger/populated city than Gwangju. For lunch, Suzy took us to this great little pancake house called Butterfingers which is a very popular restaurant amongst foreigners here as we noticed that foreigners made up half of the restaurants patrons and there was a half an hour wait! Seoul also has A LOT more foreigners than Gwangju so it was strange for me not to be starred at on the streets or not to befriend the first foreigner I see. But nonetheless, both Seoul and Gwangju have their pros and cons I suppose.
After a full day of shopping I decided it was time for me to head home, back to my little house in the country. I took the subway one stop to the bus terminal and seemed to find the ticket booth quite easily. However, once I tried to purchase a ticket from Seoul to Gwangju the woman gave me a strange look and pointed to the doors leading outside. I was a little confused because I thought that I was already IN the bus terminal... why would I need to step outside?! I questioningly walked to the doors and saw only buses, a busy street and another building in the distance. I walked back inside, looked around and felt uneasy and confused. All I saw were Korean's walking at a fast pace minding their own business. I realized not only am I the only Caucasian person in there, but NO ONE spoke English. I just wanted to yell out "Does anyone speak English here???" Suddenly, I saw something very rare and foreign to Korea..... I saw blond hair!! haha! There was another foreigner in the house!! With her help, as well as two other very sweet Korean girls, we figured out that I needed to cross the street and enter the other building where apparently buses that go to smaller and farther away cities, depart from. So now I know for next time!
I am now back home in my apartment safe and sound, ready to catch up on some much needed sleep! Even though I have been here for over 2 weeks now, there are still little things that I forget to pick up on. For example, when I used the bathroom in the bus terminal I reached for the toilet paper and noticed that the stall did not even have a toilet paper dispenser in it. Some washrooms you are supposed to take tissue out of a dispenser before you go in.. and that is something I always forget to check for. Another thing, which I have mentioned before are Koreans excessive use of chopsticks!! The other day I brought a soup with me to work so I could eat it on my break. When I pulled out my spoon to begin eating the soup, my Korean co-workers literally laughed in my face as if I were trying to eat potato chips with a fork! My co-worker immediately gave me a new set of chopsticks and told me this would be a better way to eat it. I smiled and said thank you. When in Rome, right?!

Write more soon,

Signing off,

Gillian

Who stole the toilet??

Eating Macaroni with chopsticks...mmm

Behind us is the mountain we climbed... all the way up!!

At The German Bar for Suzy's "Birthday"

It is now Sunday night and Suzy just left to go back to Seoul. We had a great (and interesting) weekend together! Friday night I picked her up from the Gwangju bus terminal, took a cab back to my apartment and started getting ready to go downtown. The first bar we went to is called The German bar and a very outgoing Korean man named Song, owns the bar. Since it is Suzy's birthday on Thursday, we thought we would celebrate it early in Gwangju. As soon as Song heard this he pretty much fed us free shots the rest of the night. What a sweet man! I mean, he might have had other intentions (to bring Suzy home with him) but nonetheless, it was money less spent! Did a little bit of karaoke and bar hopping, and then headed home around 5am.

Saturday we woke up bright and early to ensure we had a full day of shopping at the Lotte outlets about 15 minute walk from my apartment. We had planned to go hiking on Saturday but it actually started to SNOW a little, so we thought we'd save it for today. As I have mentioned before, Koreans are very anal about germs and staying healthy (some think that Kimchi can cure cancer, and hence why all my students where masks). One of the stores we shopped in had clear disposable plastic bags to put over your head while trying on a shirt... so no germs come in contact with their clothes.

After our shopping excursion we relaxed at my place, watched a movie and decided to go for a nice romantic dinner at an Italian restaurant near my apartment. The video pretty much says it all (you can check my facebook page, it wouldn't let me upload it on here - maybe thats a good thing though..). If anyone knows me, you know I am more than willing to try just about anything!! I love seafood and thought the seafood risotto would be an appropriate choice for me... that was until I saw a tentacle poking out of the rice. When I moved the rice out of the way, the sight I saw was almost horrifying. I will try and paint a picture for you. Think of a live octopus with a round black oval shape head and EIGHT tentacles with little bumps on each one coming out of its body. Well that is exactly what was on my plate... six of them! The thought of even poking my fork in its head to pick it up out of my plate made me quiver! I ended up eating the accompanying soup and salad and picked up a roll of sushi at the 7/11. It's kind of amusing to witness how some Koreans spell English words... especially on a menu. At dinner, Suzy and I had a choice of soup... either cream or Vag (Vag=Vegetable).

I realized that the restaurant we ate at was the first eatery to offer us utensils (rather than chopsticks). The other day at work, my head Korean teacher gave out slices of cake...with chopsticks. That was definitely a first for me! I'm not going to lie... it's kind of fun eating random foods with chopsticks! Suzy and I made Kraft dinner the other night and thought we would try it out...! Today we decided to go on our hike up one of the larger mountains just behind my apartment. It took us about 40 minutes to climb up and the view was phenomenal! Afterwards we walked around the resevoir and stumbled upon a pretty waterfall as well as an outdoor gym/playground for adults. They have a bunch of cool work out contraptions and they also have a stack of hula hoops that surprisingly enough, nobody steals! Sadly, that impressed me the most. It was a perfect day out today and we took full advantage of it!

Anyways, Friday was my first full day of teaching and it went pretty well. I met a couple more students with more interesting names... such as Michael Jackson (it's too weird to call him that so I just refer to him as M.J), I also have a Lady gaga in my class as well as Elvis. Apparently I am a teacher to an eclectic group of well know (and long dead) pop stars. My co-workers and I were joking around that we should give one of our class old lady names such as Beatrice, Doreen, May, Ronda, and so on, just to amuse us! haha

So weirdly enough, Friday was the first time I needed to use the washroom at school. I walked in, opened the stall door and was shocked by what I saw (or didn't see). My first reaction was that I had accidentally walked into the boys bathroom! I quickly stormed out to look at the sign once more. When I realized that I had made no mistake and that I was in fact in the ladies washroom, I felt even more confused! It literally looked like someone had stolen the actual toilet and all that was left was a hole in the ground!!!! (You can view picture number one again and use your imagination) So... I did my best. Lets just say camping in the forest has really paid off... the only difference is I don't need to bring my own toilet paper to school.

Write more soon.

Signing off,

Gillian

"New teacha"

The resevoir at night...sort of hard to see but the water sprays up with lights. It's really nice in the evening

The street my school is located... my school is just to the left of the long orange sign near the left hand side of the photo

My neighbourhood

The resevoir across the street from my apartment

What I see when I walk out my front door. There is a bigger mountain around the back of my apartment.

So it's almost the end of week one and it feels like i've been gone for weeks already!! My apartment is already beginning to feel like home and I've become pretty acquainted with my surroundings so now I feel comfortable walking to the 7/11 on my own, or grabbing a coffee from the "Starbucks" down the street (it's not really starbucks but its Korea's version... basically an overpriced coffee shop where students hang out with their laptops, etc...only difference is that there are no Jews inside haha).

So before I came to Korea I thought it would be nice to buy something that highlights Canadian identity... and what better than bringing little glass bottles of maple syrup?? Yesterday I gave them out to my head teachers and principal. For the most part, they all had the same reaction... they smiled said thank you and asked what exactly they do with it. Apparently maple syrup is a rare commodity here in Korea and one of the teachers thought I had given her a bottle of perfume!! Just thought that was kinda funny... but they do know what pancakes are... and that pretty much sealed the deal.

Anyways, yesterday I had a full day of just shadowing, where I sat in the back of the class room and observed class after class after class. Each teacher whose class I observed, introduced me and had the kids ask me one question each. So you think I would have been asked the basics, like... what is your name? or Where are you from? or even How old are you? Oh no. These kids are a lot more daring and asked me questions like, "Why does new teacha have strange hair?" and "What is your favourite exercise?" and "What is your husbands name?" or my favourite was... "How much do you weigh?" haha! They are all adorable... but just don't really get it..

Not sure if I've mentioned this before but most students have English names, however those who do not get to choose any name they want us to call them, and that will be their name for the remainder of the year. So I have some students named Picachoo, George Washington (this kid is OBSESSED with American presidents.. he wanted Obama, but that was already taken), there is also Nala and boom boom... they do get pretty creative.

So today was my very first day of teaching!! I shadowed 4 classes in the morning and taught 1 in the afternoon. It was a grade 5 class and they were all very well behaved... all 6 of them! This would be my smallest class which is why I think they started me with them. I showed them a short movie (about 5 minutes) and while the movie was running, asked them to write out 20 key words that were longer than 3 letters that they heard while the movie was running. Then I asked them to make sentences with 3 of the words they chose. I also got them to repeat a few sentences after me and then they got into groups and did some Q and A with each other. Each class is 45 minutes but the time really flys by!! The class ran smoothly and I felt pretty good about it. Tomorrow I teach 3 classes and then Friday is a full day!! Most of my classes are grades 2-5, however on Friday I have a grade 6 class which I am DREADING. The grade 6's are learning about Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address... things that were wayy over my head when I was that age! These kids study soo hard it almost makes me appreciate my childhood. Since the academy I teach at runs from 1-9pm, the kids go to a public school in the morning and then come to us! So they have double the (home)work... its nuts. I'll defiantly try not to assign too much homework... I really feel for these kids.

Also, every single kid in the school walks around wearing a sars mask (don't know how else to describe them... but you know what I'm talking about). Since they are soo popular in Korea (i mean EVERYONE wears them... even in the steets), some of the kids have BEDAZZLED them!! Like they buy cool fabrics at the store and some beads and decorate their masks!! It's soo funny!! It's also kinda difficult to understand them when there's a mask covering their mouth, but I make due.

Yesterday my head teacher went out and bought me a cell phone! (if you haven't already seen my facebook status). I was super happy about that because I didn't think I would get one for at least a month! Makes it a lot easier to get to know people out here when you have a cell.

Well I think that's about it... i decided to bring my camera to school with me today so I could take some pictures on my walk. Hope you like them!

Write more soon.

Signing off,

Gillian

Medical Exam!

So today was a pretty fun filled day... well, minus the fun. I walked to school with my coworker Joanna to meet up with Mr. Ryu who then drove me over to a Korean hospital. In short I got a blood test, pee test, went to the dentist, optometrist and did some strange other test which included holding my breath for as long as I could (I'm sure there's a word for it I'm just not too sure what it is). This whole medical exam took about 2 hours to complete and each test was done in a separate building so Mr. Ryu and I literally RAN from building to building as if we were contestants in the Amazing Race. At least I got all that over with... now I await the results... hoping I pass with an "A"!
Once that was all finished with, Mr. Ryu ordered me some lunch to the school. I had a big soup with 5 different kinds of meat in it, along with a bowl of rice and some kimchi on the side (Koreans LOVE their rice and kimchi). By the time I was done it was about 6pm and I was scheduled to shadow Joanna's class from 6:45 to 7:30pm. I sat in the back of the classroom and watched as Joanna took attendance and got the kids in order (you have to be pretty strict with them or they will walk all over you). Also, I just found out that in Korea it is normal to hit kids. Mr. Ryu told me that if the children are misbehaving I should send them to the office to learn their lesson. The korean teachers at the school walk around with sticks popping out of their pockets and they hit the kids on their rists and behind their calves. I seriously don't think I would be able to sleep again if I sent a kid to "the office".
Now, if you think that's twisted, listen to this... as soon as the kids stopped talking they all raised their arms anxiously awaiting to be chosen. Joanna chose a girl first and she jumped up in excitement, walked to the front of the class... and started doing............ push-ups?!?! Joanna counted to 10, and then the next child ran up and continued the scheduled work out. It was VERY strange to say the least. After that things got somewhat back to normal. She played a 5 minute movie clip, had the kids answer some questions about what they saw, and did some reading comprehension. Each class lasts for 45 minutes and we have 10 minute breaks in between. I only shadowed one class today (grade 2's) but tomorrow I have a full day of shadowing, so I'll be able to write more about my observations. Typically I will be teaching from around 2pm to 9pm, but the first week I get to leave around 7pm, which is great!
Going for coffee with a new friend tonight, so gotta get ready.
p.s the shower really isn't as bad as it looks!!

Write more soon.

Signing off,

Gillian

Thanksgiving in Korea

My bathroom- notice the shower head in the left hand corner of the room

My kitchen!

This is basically the gist of my apartment...sorry about the mess!

On our walk to the Supermarket

The 2 Korean men who wouldn't stop taking pictures with us... infront of "street meat" outside of the bar

Downtown Gwangju

I have officially left the building!! That's right, I built up enough courage to actually leave my quaint apartment and tour around my neighbourhood. I'm glad I did because I had no idea that there was a gorgeous resevoir down the street and a huuge mountain in my backyard!! That's right, I live just beneath one of Koreas largest and beautiful mountians that has become extremely popular to hike up! It's so nice to wake up, walk outside and see a mountainous view... I love it!

So last night my co-worker Ryan who lives just above me in my apartment came down to say hi and showed me how to use the shower, stove, etc. You wouldn't think a shower is that confusing just to turn on! He also told me that there was a big party tonight because of Thanksgiving and that I pretty much had no choice in the matter... I was going. I took a quick nap, got dressed and headed downtown with both Ryan and Leigh (another co-worker of mine). They are both super nice and literally did not let me pay for a thing! They kept saying that I would need the money because I won't get paid for the first 5 weeks!! eek!! Anyways, we stopped for some authentic Korean food...KFC! haha. There is also a Berger King, McDonalds and a starbucks! I was definately happy to see some familiar restaurants! Once we finished eating we headed to a bar called "Songs" where all the foriegners hang out and that was where I was introduced to a lot of other native teachers. It was nice to meet so many other people in the same position as you! Right off the bat, you have something in common.

The bar scene in Korea is definately more wild then I thought! Technically, last call is at 4am, but when we left at 6am, I'm pretty sure we were being served beer haha. Naturally, I was hungry after we left and my co-teachers decided I should try some Korean street meat... MUCH different from home. I was served fried vegatable tempora, spring rolls and kimchi... cooked right in front of me in the middle of the street! Yum! As Leigh and I were waiting for our food, 2 Korean men came up to us and started taking pictures of us with their camera phones... it was soo strange! I guess since I'm tall with curly hair and Leigh is blond we definately stand out in a crowd! Oh well, it was kinda funny at the time. After our delicious "street meat" we hopped in a cab to go back home. Cabs are ridiculously cheap here! Our 15 minute cab ride cost 6,000 won ($6)!! Also, I figured out quite quickly that Korean drivers are NUTS!! Let's just say a red light is merely a suggestion!

So today i conqured a Korean supermarket and actually bought myself some groceries! The grocery store is right beside the Olympic stadium, so we went on a little tour around the area... it's really pretty! The grocery store itself was kinda hard to manouver around since the signs in each isle are Korean, I basically weaved in and out of each one trying to find something somewhat familiar to eat. They also have loads of samples so lunch was extra cheap today :)

Anyways, I just got back to my apartment and I have to unload my groceries and finish/start unpacking... I keep procrastinating my unpacking... it's just too overwelming!!

Write more soon!

p.s- My tv has 1 english channel...CNN! So i'm keeping myself up to date on the politcal and economic world! Dad, you should be proud!

Signing off,

Gillian

The first 24...

WOW where to even begin? Well after I endured 2 long plane rides and a 4 hour bus ride I finally made it to the place I will call home for the next year; Gwangju, Korea. I guess you can say my adventure really began when I got to the Incheon airport in Seoul. I got my 2 huge suitcases and wheeled them around on a trolly until I found the Transportation Information center where I purchased a one way ticket from Seoul to Gwangju. The nice lady at the counter let me borrow her "hand phone" so I could call the Principal of the school who was going to meet me at the Gwangju bus terminal. We had a quick conversation, telling him I arrived safely and was boarding the 5:30pm bus which means I should arrive by 9:30pm. The woman at the counter urged me to move fast as the bus was departing in exactly 3 minutes!! I ran as fast as I could with the trolly, loaded up my bags under the bus and sat down with a sigh of relief... I was finally finishing the last part of my journey!! Suddenly, something clicked in my head... how the hell was the Principal going to find me at the station? We did not come up with any meeting spot and I was told that the termial was huge! I started to worry a little... that was until I loooked around the bus and realized that I was literally the ONLY caucasion person there. Clearly the principal would have NO PROBLEM finding me. Once I arrived, Mr. Ryu (the principal) helped me with my bags and drove me directly over to his school (which he kept referring to as his "institution") so I could email my family and let them know I arrived alive. He then dropped me off at a motel which was literally 1 block away from the school, since the teacher I am replacing did not move out until this morning. I woke up around 6am (jetlagged) and decided to watch a movie on my laptop. My Ryu came to pick me up around 10am, we had a bite to eat at the school and then he dropped me off at my new home!! I can't really complain... I means yes, its small, but it pretty much has all the necessities (bed, stove, oven, washing machine, tv, microwave, fridge, etc..). However, the bathroom is a whole other domain that I haven't tackled yet... the shower head basically rests ontop of the toilet so the seat must stay down while I shower or its soaked! Ill let you know how that goes once I try it out...
Anyways I think I pretty much filled you in on everything so far... i'm going to start unpacking and then take a nap! I'mn still unsure of how I feel... there isn't one emotion that is surfacing more than the other... just a range of emotions I guess. I am really excited about what's to come though! Another foreign teacher at the school lives just above me so he is going to stop by later tonight and we may go out with some other foreigners... its thanksgiving here so big parties tonight!! Write more soon...

Signing off,

Gillian