"Engrish"

Hi again! Well I gotta say, I am pretty impressed with my steady blog entries! I believe this will be my 12th entry in... just under 2 months! So if I am not mistaken, that is about 1-2 entries a week! Hopefully you are all reading and enjoying these because I do enjoy writing them and depending on the feedback, they will only continue!
So I guess I should begin with the most recent event that occured a mere 2 hours ago. After work my co worker and I decided to grab some groceries, and instead of walking home with heavy bags, we naturally decided to take a cab home. We hopped in and the cabby started driving recklessly (which would be strange if he DIDN'T) and long story short, slammed on the breaks just in time for a van to crash into us!! I was officially in my first (and hopfully last) car accident in Korea! Groceries went flying and my neck's a little sore, but its nothing serious. Definitely shook us up a little! Sorry parents if you are hearing about this for the first time... but we are all good and from now on I promise to wear a seatbelt in a cab! eeeek.
Anyways, Friday night my co workers band Feed the Boats, performed at a bar downtown Gwangju and just about EVERYBODY I have met since my first day here, came out. It was a great night!! There are 4 of them in the band and they all met each other here in Korea. 3 of them are English teachers and one guy (the drummer) is Korean. They have been together for the past year and are all extending their contracts to continue playing together. I posted a short clip I took of them on facebook if you want to check them out. Their band name "Feed the Boats" actually derives from Korea's hilarious use of "engrish" aka terribly translated Korean into English. There are many shops around town that sell clothing (mostly t-shirts and sweatshirts) with the most ridiculous "engrish" sayings on them that makes absolutely NO SENSE but you want to buy it because it is just that funny. So getting back to the band, Joanna (my co worker) was shopping downtown one day and saw a shirt that read "DON'T FEED THE BOATS". It was complete nonsense and she loved it. After they formed a band they decided to go with Feed the Boats... flowed a little better.

So while we are on the topic of engrish, I thought I would post some pictures of what I have seen myself, as well as some pictures on engrish.com that are too funny not to post.

The literal translation is "Urinating here is prohibited"...

mmm Bee puke and tissues... what a meal!

hmm..

Do you think its a real "J-Lo" purse?? lol..

And my very own purchase..."Bitchez betta have my money"... not even the weird robot design makes any sense?!

I've also seen a sweatshirt with an Italian flag that read "Canada"... but the worst I think I've seen here is a tshirt that said in bold letters, "Abortion Doctor". You just have to laugh... they are so ridiculous and really aren't intended to offend anyone!

Also, this weekend was the first time I saw a non-smoking sign here!! I'm sure I've mentioned before that people (men) smoke EVERYWHERE (airport, bus station, restaurants, bars, salons...you name it!) So I was pretty surprised to see a non smoking sign... with good reason! However it happened to be in a bathroom. And that's not the funny part... if you look closely at the picture, there is an ash tray directly across from the toilet...with ciggarette butts in it! lol... oh Korea..

Moving on... Sunday during the day some friends and I decided to check out a different neighbourhood, a town close by called Sangmu which has a huge, beautiful temple in it (I think that's all the town is known for). So we walked around a bit, grabbed a bite to eat, and then toured around the old temple. It really was beautiful! This particular temple is known for doing "temple stays" which i think would be a really neat experience... I'm just not sure if the 'Jewish' thing is going to be a problem...lol. Anyways, here are a couple of pictures I took when we arrived...

It was a very relaxing Sunday and we left just as the sun was setting.

So as you already know, today after work I did a big (and much needed) grocery shop (which ended in a sore neck).. but nevertheless, it feels great to finally have a stocked fridge! Now all I need to buy is a chef and ill be set! haha! Since last night I was still with no food, my friend Jimmy and I decided to go for a nice Korean dinner in our area. We chose a Korean restaurant and since I couldn't read anything on the menu (Jimmy is half Korean) I told him to order for me, so long as its not live octopus or dog, I'm fine with trying new things! He had already been to this restaurant and recommended the "Pork spine soup"... sorry dad (I can already see you shaking your head). It may sound unappealing but it was actually quite delicious! Rather than painting a picture for you, I took a photo during dinner for you to see. It was a pretty large bowl of soup with a pigs spine poking out of it. Apparently that's what gives it the flavour!

I'm thinking of starting another blog solely dedicated to food. You all know how much I love food, and writing about it would be even sweeter! I will let you know if that ends up happening...
On another note, work has been going well. This is my last week of working these crazy hours (9am-7pm), so starting Monday it's back to my ideal afternoon hours! Can't wait! My student evaluations are just about finished (those were pretty entertaining) and tomorrow is TEST DAY! This means us teachers basically get to distribute tests to our students, and then sit around and do... nothing! Woohoo! My classes are all routine here so I'm taking it upon myself to do something different and make it more appealing for the students. I now begin every one of my classes with a "riddle of the day". The kids love it and it really gets them thinking! Of course, I also bribe them with stickers (10 stickers for whoever can answer it correctly) but hey, it works! The only problem I've encountered with doing these riddles, is that the students here are VERY particular. For example, one riddle I told them goes like this, "What is white and black and read all over"? Well apparently, newspapers are GRAY!! They weren't too happy with me....! Another one reads, "What can move back and forth, can't walk, talk or crawl and comes in different shapes, sizes and colors"... the answer is a door, however I should have re-thought that one since all the doors in my school are sliding doors lol.. again, they weren't impressed! I also got a kick out of my student's answer when I asked them, "Which city has no people?"... the answer being 'electricity', one student yells out "Canada!" Ohh boy. I am always looking for more riddles, so if you know of any feel free to post some under comments!
Well this entry is longer than I wanted it to be, so I will leave you with this... unfortunately I can't copy and paste the link but if you go on youtube and type in "Where the Hell is Matt" watch his dancing video. It's about 4mins long and will hopefully put a smile on your face... it did for me! Let it load and then watch it in HD... this guy is my travelling inspiration. Hope you like it!

Write more soon.

Signing off,

Gillian

Sex dolls and day spas

It is now mid January (I believe it's the 19th) and I am starting to fall deep into routine here in Gwangju. My hours of work will soon change again though and go back to our late afternoon, working days, which I am extremely excited for! This entails sleeping in, going for a nice lunch and then finishing work around 9pm... just in time to meet friends at a bar downtown! Pretty ideal if you ask me!
Anyways, this past weekend I went to go visit Suzy in Seoul again. I left Gwangju Friday night around 7pm and arrived in Gangnam-Yok, Seoul around 11pm. Once I got off the bus I hopped in a cab and met Suzy along with some of her friends at a hookah bar. The hookah bar was really neat and much different from the ones at home (if you have been to one before). It is all indoors where you sit on the floor, listen to music, order drinks, etc. There were a bunch of foreigners there which didn't surprise me in the least since it is not acceptable here for woman to smoke in public... however, since Koreans think that foreigners are already corrupt, we can get away with it! The rest of the weekend was a lot of walking around Seoul during the days, and partying at night. There was an Andy Warhol exhibit at the art museum downtown, where about 30 of Warhol's original paintings were brought into Seoul. However, by the time we found out about it, it was closed. Too bad... that would have been really neat to see! Instead, we walked into some random interactive outdoor art display. I still have NO CLUE what we were looking at, but it was pretty cool to see. So after a long weekend of being tourists in the big city, we thought we would have a relaxing Sunday and experience for the first time, a gymga-bong. A gymga-bong is a VERY POPULAR "communal spa" here in Korea. Some people go to these "spas" once a week to refresh and relax. Now, I have "spa" in quotations because it is not like any spa I have EVER SEEN. Suzy and I were both very overwhelmed when we walked in and didn't really know what to do exactly. Basically, you pay 6,000 won ($6) and you are given a locker key (for your belongings), a towel and shorts and a tee-shirt. You then walk into the change room, get dressed (actually, the getting dressed part is completely optional as most people there were fully naked) and then you walk up a set of stairs to a huge open space. Within this space, you see Koreans of all ages (and shapes and sizes) sitting on the floor either reading, eating or sleeping. By the way, this 6 dollar entrance fee allows you access to the spa for a full 12 hours. So when you are travelling around Korea, rather than paying for an expensive hotel room, some people sleep at a gymga bong! You would literally be sleeping in a communal space on a mat using your scrunched up towel as a pillow, but hey, what doesn't hurt you makes you stronger! Then again, you may have a sore back in the morning...
Nevertheless, we walked up to this communal space and noticed about 10 different doors around the room with a certain temperature written above it. The first room we walked into was a steam room and was sweltering HOT! The heat varied from room to room and there was also a freezing cold room which was actually quite refreshing after sweating your brains out! Another room we saw was filled with little rocks and we noticed people in that room covering their bodies with the rocks as if they were on a beach, burying themselves in the sand. All in all, it was kind of a crazy experience! Of course, Suzy and I were the only 2 white folks in the whole spa so the looks on our faces of utter shock and confusion, was mirrored by the Koreans looking at US! haha!
So on the way home from Seoul, I decided to use my "foreigner status" to my full advantage. When you purchase a bus ticket you are also given a specific seat number which you must attain. I pretty much got the WORST seat on the bus... if you walk straight down the isle to the back of the bus and sit down... that was my seat... so I had one person on either side of me and if the bus were to make a sudden stop, I would be doing summer-salt's down the isle!! Well, since I was the first person on the bus I made a quick decision and sat by the window to the right of my pre-assigned seat, shoved my earphones in and pretended to sleep. In the corner of my eye, I saw a Korean man look at me, look at his ticket, look at the seat beside me, look at me once more, sigh, and then sit down. He wasn't going to dare try and speak English to me.. so he settled with my rejected bus seat. The bus took off and all was well... until I tried to turn on my DEAD ipod... it was a LONG 4 hours home! Karma's a b*tch!
So for those of you who didn't get the memo, I FINALLY got paid!! That's right, I now have 2.1 million....won... in my bank account! Woohoo! It feels great to have money in the bank and naturally, the first thing I did was book my flight to Vietnam! An old co-worker of mine from the CN Tower is originally from Hanoi and she is going back to visit her family for 2 months and invited me to come stay with her! The timing worked out great and I'll have my own personal tour guide which is even better! I'm going for a week and leave February 27th. Definitely looking forward to that!
Anyways, recently I have been looking into getting my hair cut but trying to find a hairdresser that will actually do it, is a mission in and of itself! My co workers friend Kirk is from Australia and he met a Korean girl here who he is now living with and who happens to be a hair dresser in Gwangju. Ryan, Kirk his girlfriend and I met for drinks last week and I was excited to talk to her about finally getting my hair trimmed. When i introduced myself to her the first thing she asked me was if my hair was permed. When I told her it was natural, she seemed pretty surprised which wasn't the best sign. Then I asked her if she would be willing to cut my hair for me one day... her response was literally a laugh, viciously shaking her head NO!! She was my only hope!! But at least she was honest..
Moreover, work has been going smoothly. Nothing really to complain about! The only annoying thing we have to do this month is evaluations (aka report cards). We have to give our students grades on listening, reading and writing and then post a comment about the students progress and improvements. Now it's bad enough I have 14 classes with approximately 5-12 students in each class, but what the hell am I going to say... "Harry Potter is a very bright student, participates in class but needs to use his broom more effectively". haha. These should be interesting...
I also got 2 new students in grade 3. One is a really sweet kid, always bringing me candy and tells me I'm "beautiful teacher". I decided to name him Prince Charming, or Charming for short. The second little guy has big hair and always runs into class late.. I named him Kramer. Oh and I almost forgot! Yesterday I was trying to have a conversation with my grade 2's (it's hard to get them speaking English, so once they try and tell me something, I really listen and attempt to have a back and forth exchange).. so one of my students raises his hand and what I heard was "Teacha, I have sex doll!" Okay, usually I am pretty good at figuring out what they are really trying to say... but I was stumped! "Excuse me?" I said. Again he yells, "I have sex doll!" I started to laugh and told him to use his hands to explain what he is saying. Then, for the last time, he shouts, "I have sex doll!!" (holding up six fingers). Ooohhhh, you have "six dolls"!! Phewf!

Miss you all!

Write more soon,

Gillian

"That dog was delicious!"

My official Alien card

Celebrating New Years eve with "Ryan teacher" and Jiho

Lee, myself and Jiho at a bar on New Years (my first two Korean friends)... Jiho is joining the army next week as it is mandatory for all men aged 20 to join for a minimum of 2 years.

So this is my first official entry of 2010 which means it would only be proper to begin with a Happy New year!! I don't know about you but I decided to opt out of making any new years resolutions this year, mainly because I always seem to disappoint myself. I figured this year, being in a new environment with new people and new surroundings, I just need to have an open mind and not take anything too seriously. Just enjoying life right now.. or at least trying too.. but this snowfall we got last night is starting to feel like I'm back home in the cold and I DO NOT like it one bit! I remember a couple months ago before I really knew anything about Korea, I thought it was a tropical place with an all around warm climate.. and when I "googled" images I saw people skiing and was in absolute shock! It's still not as bad as home.. but I am not very happy about it. Apparently Seoul got the most snow its had in 70 years!!! Since Gwangju is more South, we just got the tail end of the storm but just to put things into perspective for you the "snowstorm" in Seoul would not even come close to a school at home closing its doors for the day! Our principal actually let us leave an hour earlier yesterday because he heard the snow storm was coming and (like I said before) Korean driver are EXTRA cautious on the roads, he knew it would be a while for those teachers driving home.

It's pretty amusing to me how Koreans deal with winter here. I guess, like everything else, they have their own ways of going about things, such as sitting on the floor of restaurants to eat your meal or eating literally everything with chopsticks, but their winter coping methods are somewhat unique. When it snows, almost every person walking outside is holding an umbrella! Not only that, but I have seen people wearing ski goggles too! On my break yesterday I wanted to leave the building and grab some sushi at the 7/11, so my Korean co teacher told me to take her umbrella. Without even thinking, I just assumed it was raining outside and when I realized that it was BARELY even snowing I felt REALLY STUPID holding an umbrella to guard me from.... little white snowflakes!? I started to second guess myself and thought that maybe people at home do use umbrellas when it snows?! Do they??? I think I'm losing it...

Another comical image I witnessed was a man "shoveling" his driveway...with a broom!! You know those old school wooden brooms that would fit perfectly with a child's Halloween witch costume? Well it was one of those... and it was quite a funny sight to see! I wish I had my camera on me for that one!

Okay, so you are probably curious about the title of my blog. Let's just get one thing straight... I DID NOT eat dog! haha. Basically, I was teaching my grade 3 class today and the story was about owning pets. Like usual, I asked them each to make a sentence with a different animal I had chosen. When I asked one student to make a sentence with the word "dog" for example, "that dog is cute", he sat there for a moment and responded with, "that dog was delicious"! Now back at home, that would probably be a funny (or sick) joke... however there was not one laugh in the class and I knew he was being serious. I mean, grammatically yes, that is a proper sentence.. but morally that is just WRONG. I was pretty disturbed after that one..

Another story I did with them had to do with multiculturalism and how everyone is a unique individual. I had to come up with an activity for this story and asked the class to partner up, and write down 3 differences between one another. Okay, I will admit, that might not have been the best activity to do with all Korean children considering how homogeneous this country is, but I thought asking for 3 differences was cutting them some slack. After about 2 minutes of complete silence, a student raised his hand and said, "Teacha teacha, we all look the same!!?!" haha! I laughed so hard I couldn't contain myself. The activity quickly turned into the students each finding 3 differences between them and I!

Something I learned from my students is that rings (you wear on your fingers) are a very rare commodity here. They just don't sell them... other than wedding rings of course. So those of you who know me well, know that I always have 3 rings on my fingers (my initial ring and 2 of Joannes). Almost every one of my classes I get a student who asks me if I am married! I just thought they asked me that because.. well why not?! Remember, they also asked how much I weigh and why my hair is strange.. so asking me if I was married was an upgrade. Today, when I was speaking to my Korean co teacher, she also made a comment about my rings and then informed me that in Korea, the only ring a woman should wear (and does only wear) is her wedding ring. I thought that was kind of interesting.

Another interesting/frightening part of my day was watching one of my students get punished by a Korean teacher. He was being so disruptive in class so I sent him outside and made him stand facing the corner. The students really do not like being sent out of the classroom because if a Korean teacher happens to be walking by and notices them in the hall, they get in big trouble (typically resulting in discomfort for the child). Since the students learned fast that the foreign teachers would never lay a hand on them, the Korean teachers tend to take charge of the harsher punishments. Anyways, as you probably already guessed, a Korean teacher saw the boy standing in the hall and from the classroom, I watched the teacher pinch the students ear and twist it.. holding it low to the ground for a good 2 minutes. Ouch! I still find it so surprising by the way in which students in Korea are reprimanded for their actions. It's something I do not think I will ever get used to.

On a brighter note, I am now an official member of Korean society! I have an Alien card (similar to a drivers license or piece of photo i.d) and a Korean bank account! Everyday I feel more and more at home here and I still look forward for what's to come!

P.s- Got another new student... he's in grade 1 and barely understands a word of English! He is also extremely hyper and tends to jump up every time he wants to say something. I find myself yelling "SIT!" or "BE QUIET" way too often!! Decided it would be most appropriate to name him after my dog Tai.

Write more soon.

Signing off,

Gillian