When Amy met Soju

Spot the difference anyone??? 

Oh yeah, one is a place where you go to watch cute dolphins jump through hoops and the other is where you eat them!

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I get spam on my front door EVERY day.  I think most are takeaway menus (oh, to understand what they said), but I haven't a clue what the others are.  A strange, yet I assume effective, advertising method.

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This type of animal cruelty, I am sad to say, is something I have seen very often over the last week.  Do you think this dog (which is probably a he) LIKES having a strawberry dyed into the fur on its left butt cheek?? I think not.  Please also note the pink dye spots on its cheeks (face cheeks this time) and the fluorescent orange and pink dye on its legs... don't even get me started on the jacket!!

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Trees wrapped in straw... I guess it's to keep them alive during the winter or something, but I really don't know.  Any suggestions?

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Pretty teapots in Gangnam, Seoul.

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Me, Ellen and the great potato spiral.  Deep-fried spud with tasty sprinkles of cheese, onion and chili salt. mmmm....

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I survived my first week as an English Teacher!!!  I feel like a bit of an impostor standing up there at the front of a classroom... I'm paranoid that at any moment someone will realise that I shouldn't be here - given I can hardly speak the language myself let alone teach it to people who are paying good money to learn!  I'm particularly nervous since I discovered that on of the girls in my kinder class is the daughter of my boss...  I wonder what type of feedback a 5 year old can give her parents???  

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Anyway, I'm having a great time and I'm learning so much along the way! Like, did you know that when choosing an English name to go by, approximately 33% of boys in Korea choose Kevin?  Ok, well that is an entirely fabricated statistic, but I sure seems like just about every boy I teach is called Kevin... Perhaps the Wonder Years has made a comeback in Korea?

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On the topic of names, I think I've caused a bit of damage with a few kids and wouldn't be surprised if they come to school sporting new ones tomorrow... On Monday I told a student (Eric) that he had the same name as my grandfather and as a consequence he has been taunted by the others about being an old man for the entire week.  Obviously I don't say Peter like the Americans do and therefore it sounds like Peeta, and when I speak to a student named Hans (it's 'Germany' he tells me), I say it like 'Han(d)s' instead of 'Hahns'.  I know accents can be funny at times, but geeze, I feel terrible that mine has caused a case or two of bullying! I've never heard kids chant mockery quite so loudly before...

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On Friday night after work I went out with a couple of other foreign teachers.  That's when I met Soju.  We were introduced by a mutual friend and were immediately attracted to each other.  We went out on the town and spent the night together, then woke up in the morning and didn't like each other anymore.... I guess that now would be a good time to mention that Soju is a Korean alcohol made from rice (sorry if I scared you there Mama).  It tastes similar to vodka and has much the same effect - possible side effects of soju may include dancing, singing, slurred speech, lack of balance and impaired motor skills.  If I told you that the night involved a) many games of twister, b) hours spent in a Norabang (karaoke room), c) a 5am dumpling run, and d) the most painful, nasty headache in the morning, could you guess how many of these side effects were in action? Yes, all of them.  Good times.

I have a loyalty card at the local coffee shop. That means I officially live here right??

It's something like minus 10 degrees outside and to me, that's pretty bloody cold!!  I have never felt cold like it before but while it's very, erm, cold, it's not entirely unpleasant.  Although in saying that, I'm pretty sure my boogers froze while I was walking to work today... well, maybe not quite, but the disgusting globules of spit that dot the streets of Youngtong have certainly frozen.  I learnt this as one crunched under my feet on my walk home. Gross.

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I haven't even been here a full week and yet it feels like forever... and I mean that in the best way possible.  Somehow it just feels right.  I'm surprised at how easy it's been to slot in here so far, and while I am sure there will be a reasonable period of adjustment ahead, it feels like everything is as it should be. That I am where I should be at this point in time.  

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This week has been filled with a million new experiences - new country, new language, new apartment, new job, new friends, new food, new money, new rules, new weather...  Granted, everything is new and exciting right now, but sometimes new is not always exciting... sometimes it is just plain scary.  Surprisingly, this really hasn't been scary at all - it's just been really, really fun! I'm having an awesome time!

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I woke up for my first day at work to a city that was covered in a blanket of snow. It was beautiful...  What wasn't beautiful was that the front steps to my apartment building had morphed into an invisible back-breaking ice-slide that required the skill of a figure skater and the agility of a monkey to descend (why anyone would think that shiny granite is a suitable material for step-building in a country that rains and snows is really beyond me). Thankfully I was forewarned about the step issue and was able to not-so-graciously make my way to the bottom without serious injury. 

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The following photos were taken on the way to work, in the winter wonderland (aka: a park) 

right near my apartment.

Not the pyramids of Suwon, but the centerpiece of a fountain in the middle of the park.

Above is the bridge I walk across to get to work (which is located in the building on the right).  Very Korean-y no??

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As I walked into the school I saw a bunch of cute kindy kids running around. Then they saw me. Suddenly I was surrounded by a dozen little faces all expressing various degrees of excitement, bewilderment, shock and curiosity.  "What's your name? What's your name?" they yelled out.  "My name is Amy", I replied. "Oooohhhhhh Amy Teacher, Amy Teacher!" they chorused, and in a babble of Korean they ran away. Hmmm... interesting.

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Considering I'm new to the school and that I've never taught before, I was pretty sure that my first day, if not my first week, would be spent observing classes and learning the ropes.  Wrong!  After observing only 2 kinder classes I was handed a stack of text books and left to teach the next 5 classes on my own (and with most of my students being kids from about 7 - 13 years old, the kinder observations weren't exactly relevant)! At least I didn't have time to get too nervous, but talk about being thrown in the deep end!!!

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The first 10 minutes of my first class felt a little weird, but after evoking some tricks of the trade learnt in my TESOL training, I began to relax into it a little more.  Apparently the kids did too...  They were told to be on their best behaviour for the new teacher - a piece of information that eluded some of the boys about 20 minutes into the class.  As I was doing my very teacherly duty of writing a sentence on the whiteboard an almighty crack rang out across the classroom.  I turned around to see two boys lunging at each other fighting over a pencil.  The crack, as it turns out, was the sound of one boy slapping the other across the face.  TESOL did NOT cover this.  After separating them, reorganising the seating arrangements and inspecting a perfect, scarlet, hand-shaped welt on the poor kids cheek, I gave them my best cross face (whilst really trying to hold back a laugh) and was able to complete the rest of the class incident-free.  Phew. I guess it could've been much worse... and at least there were no tears (from me or the victim of pencil-stealing rage). 

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My work hours are laughable really... especially compared to what I was expecting. At the moment I'm working 25 hours per week including class preparation time -and because I'm on contract, I get paid the same amount as I would if I were working the maximum 35 hours a week! The longest day I have is a whopping 6.5 hours and the shortest is 1.5 hours.  My work day begins at 2 or 3pm and ends at either 5.00, 6.30 or 8.30pm depending on the day. New timetables will begin in March, so this dream schedule may not last beyond that, but for now I'm considering myself very lucky!!

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Currently, I have 7 different classes of various ages and English levels that I teach 2 or 3 times per week. I like them all for different reasons, but the most entertaining would have to be the class of just three 8 year old girls that I teach three afternoons a week. My physical appearance seems to be a constant source of fascination and amusement for most of the students (the kinder kids love my hair for some reason and stroke or relieve me of strands of it every chance they get), but these three girls are definitely the most vocal about it.  

Here are some of the questions and comments I've fielded from them over the last 4 days;

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Monday.

Candy/Sally/Sabrina : Amy Teacher, your nose is very pointy.

Amy Teacher : Really? O.K. Thanks.  Anyway, let's keep correcting your homework...

C/S/S : Yes, but Amy Teacher... Your neck is very long. Long like a Giraffe.

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Wednesday.

Amy Teacher : OK, so let's open your workbook to page 23.

Candy/Sally/Sabrina : Amy Teacher... your neck is still very long.

Amy Teacher : Well, yes... it would still be long.

C/S/S : But why?

Amy Teacher : Well guess that's just how I am... Maybe my mother has a long neck. I dunno... let's keep working.

C/S/S : But Amy Teacher! Wait!... Is your mother pretty?

Amy Teacher: Of course she is!

C/S/S : Is SHE a giraffe??

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Later Wednesday afternoon

Candy/Sally/Sabrina : Amy Teacher. Take of your glasses!

Amy Teacher : Why?

C/S/S : Oooh! Puuurrreeeessseee!!!!

Amy Teacher : OK (**take off my glasses**)

C/S/S : (**fits of laughter followed by intense staring into my eyes**) Amy Teacher, look up... look down... look this way... look that way.  Oooh. Your eyes are very blue... very beautiful!

Amy Teacher : Erm, thank you... 

C/S/S : Yes Amy Teacher... They are very blue and beautiful... and big... like a fish.

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Great. I'm a pointy nosed giraffe fish.  I'm told it's a compliment.  Whatever it is I don't care.  It's hilarious and I can't wait to see what next week brings!

First Impressions

Greetings from Happy Suwon!! (that's actually the town motto)

 In the 24 hours I've been here my senses have been overloaded with an array of new sights, smells, sounds and tastes (yes, I've tried Kimchi and I think I like it!! This is a good sign for my survival here).

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 First of all here are a few pics from around town...

Downtown Yongtong

Etiquette bells - just what every toilet needs

More Youngtong ...

 After a great send off on Friday I slept through most of the 11 hour flight to Korea (hangover was present but not oppressive - I think the exhaustion of the last week finally kicked in though...) 

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 After arriving at the airport in Seoul I boarded a mobile disco to Suwon.  Ok, well maybe it was a bus and not a mobile disco, but the flashy green and orange lights that lined the inside of the bus, coupled with the cheesy Korean pop music blaring from a fellow passengers headphones sure made it feel like a mobile disco. 

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 Anyway, so while I'm trying to suppress my desire to dance I see patches of snow dotting the roadside and what seemed like a million apartment buildings. Seriously, for about 10 solid minutes all I could see were high-rise apartment complexes.  These buildings ran at least 10 deep and each would've been at least 10 - 20 stories high... obviously privacy and/or space aren't high on the Korean agenda!!

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 Like in Vietnam, Korea seems to enjoy the marriage of religion and neon lighting... Dozens of flashing red neon crucifixes adorned the tops of buildings - some church looking, others not so much.  Really neon seems to ben all the rage here - EVERY building seems to be covered in it!

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 Although the driving here is not nearly as hair-raising as in some other parts of the world, it would still appear that road rules are a mere suggestion rather than lawful obligation... but what this lacks in safety it sure makes up in funny! At one point, the bus cut off another car causing the driver to retaliate with a blast of his horn... a normal road scenario right? Not when the car horn was an electric guitar sounding version of Mary Had A Little Lamb! Nothing says "Screw you" like a nursery rhyme.

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 I was met at the bus stop by the Director of the school and another Aussie teacher, Ellen, and shown to my apartment (Ellen is a Godsend who has taken me under her wing and is showing me the ins and outs of life in Youngtong). 

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 The apartment is tiny, but all I need for just me really. It's just one room with a bed, desk, TV, wardrobe, fridge and kitchenette.  There's a little detached laundry that doubles as an enclosed balcony and there's also a bathroom complete with a squishy foam toilet seat (!) and a shower (which is just a nozzle on the wall without a shower recess/screen/curtain)... I discovered today that putting the toilet paper in a cupboard before having a shower will be a good idea in future. 

 There are so many strange strange things going on here... for example, today in my wonderings I saw;

• Possums and Hedgehogs for sale at the supermarket (pets not food, thank you)
  
• Dogs dressed in full outfits with their fur dyed pink and orange
  
• Men getting perms. Not just one man, but several
  
• A lot of spitting taking place by the Korean men (national pass-time or dirty habit I'm not sure)
  
• Tom & Jerry toilet brushes (because cartoons make toilet scrubbing much cuter)
  
• Pucca butter (cartoons make butter more appealing to children?)
  
• Paprika flavoured cordial (yes dad, I'll try to remember to bring you some)
  

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Well that's all for now, I should get to bed - I'm starting my new job tomorrow and I'm stuffed full from of Korean BBQ (veeery tasty... will be high on the dinner rotation I think!) Watch this space...

T minus 37 hours to takeoff

 For the last three weeks the biggest thing on my plate has been deciding if I feel like sunning myself at the beach or the park and what pub I fancy a beer at later...  so it's quite an odd feeling to think that this time in 2 days I will be on a Korean Airlines flight about to land in the country that I am going to call home for the next year.

 

After months of waiting around - waiting to find the perfect job in Korea, waiting to get my degree at the extremely boring RMIT graduation ceremony, waiting for said boring graduation ceremony to end (felt like years), waiting for DFAT to put silly stamps on all my original documents, waiting for the immigration department in Korea to process my visa application... my visa authorisation number finally came through early last week and my world was put into a spin!  

 

Here's how last week went.

- Tuesday 8th: Visa authorisation number arrives in my inbox. This makes all this Korea talk real. That's a scary thought. I consider pretending I never received the email. I decide I have talked it up too much to turn back now.

- Wednesday 9th: Send passport and application #2 to Korean Embassy in Canberra.  They tell me I will be contacted the following week for a phone interview and that it will take at least 5 working days to process the visa after that. I am relived at the thought that it may take a while to process.

- Thursday 10th: While trying on clothes in Myer my phone rings.  It's the Embassy calling to conduct my interview (wasn't that supposed to be happening next week?).  In luck that would only befit me, my visa interview is conducted as I stand half naked in a change-room.  I am told to expect my passport back by the middle of next week.

- Friday 11th: The doorbell rings at 8 am. It's the postman with my visa. Again, I thought this was supposed to happen next week.  I begin to think I'm onto the joke about making me think I have time up my sleeve before I go. Apparently it's not a joke.

- Saturday 12th: I check my emails.  My inbox reveals an e-ticket.  The departure information reads Saturday 19th January, 9.40am. I shit myself.

 

Since then I've been running around in a buzz of excitement (ok, so it's been more of a dazed frenzy if there is such a thing) trying to get organised enough to move away for a year.  Oh, did I mention that I'm moving to a winter of well below zero averages?? (-14 degrees the other day I believe... mmm toasty). Boots, beanies, scarves, thermals - I've got them all... now if only I could find a way to fit them in my case. 

 

So that's where I'm at.  All that's left to do is go buy a years worth of deodorant (yes deodorant... I'm told that you can't buy it in Korea... apparently the Koreans don't sweat... or smell.... or something), finish off packing, go drink with my friends tomorrow night, jump on  a plane hungover and navigate my way from the airport to Suwon! Piece of cake!

 Catch yas all from Korea!! 

(Oooh yeah, I'm gunna make a great teacher with english like that!)