Wrapping up the second month...

I decided to venture out and take a yoga class tonight here in Jochiwon. Dear Korea, your yogas is not yoga. But I shall be going back. I've paid for a month and am up for the challenge. More ajuma torture coming up! I'm going to be a rock. And a flexible one at that.


Yesterday, as many people may know due to an abundance of Facebook feedback, I chanfed my hairstyle to something more Korean. Bangs. Perhaps the not most earthshaking of changes to most, but my hair has been the same since 5th grade and I am enthralled at the look of my bangs. The most hilarious thing about the cut is the double take Koreans have given me-- "Ah, Korean hair color and cut, but.. what? Her face is malformed! She's a Miguk! Gasp!" Double take. Also, you may not know that the cost of the haircut was 2000\, less than $2 American.

Yesterday we went to the World Baekje Festival with all of the foreign (Yankees, Brits, Canuks, Africaans) teachers in Yeongi. We went to Gongju and Boreyang. Baekje is one of the three ancient kingdoms of Korea, and the festival pays tribute to Korea's history. The trip was rushed but fun, days off that entail a free trip and food are always welcome.

Chuseok and Mask Festival

Holy moly it's been a long time since I've posted. So, what has happened?

Well, I've started a new romance. It's with this country. I am sort of in love with it. Uh-oh! ^_^

Last weekend, I went to Gongju (about a 30 minute city bus ride) to visit my friend Kayla and genuinely loved it. We went biking down the river and sampled the beauties of the World Bakje Festival which lasts an entire month! Gongju was the old capital of Korea and it is absolutely an enchanting city. We also saw a lot of Korean men singing 80s songs in drag.

Then I worked for one day, Monday. My mentor teacher told me she was quitting. That was a low blow. I am not sure what I am going to do regarding that situation, but I am hoping for the best. <3


Then onto a week-long vacation for the Korean harvest festival, Chuseok! A celebration of family and ancestors and warm loving love! That night, Monday, I went home with one of the parent volunteers at my school and spent the night at her house. She is the mother of four beautiful children and lives in a huge old-style house, not fancy but a very warm house. They are just so happy and awesome. I helped her make a dinner of dukbogi (chewy rice cake, fish and vegetables in a red pepper sauce) and about 10 side dishes. She helped me with my Korean a great deal AND we got to make songpyeon, a rice cake specifically for Chuseok with a sweet grinded sesame seed filling! Yum!

I stayed until Tuesday morning, then hopped on the train to my friend Luke in Suwon, about an hour train ride northwest of Jochiwon. Luke has an amazing loft apartment! We watched old Treehouse of Horror Simpsons episodes! Suwon is a nice little city but the severe rains prevented me from seeing many sights. Sadface. I am thinking of my family and friends back home often and have written letters and bought many gifts.

Wednesday morning, I took off for Waegwan, a 2.5 hour train ride southeast from Jochiwon. There I met up with my super vegetarian friend Corrie and we went to Rangpang Donut, where we were awarded free donuts (because they didn't make new ones and they were day old.) Soon thereafter, Emily and Steph showed up in Waegwan and we reunited a dream team! Baskin Robbins ice cream for starters! Then we slid down the bike ramp. Video to follow, I assure you. Waegwan was chilly and rainy and wet on Wednesday, and I'd forgotten my umbrella.. But friends made it entirely insignificant! We sang songs, made Korean-version smores, and went on an inappropriately-dressed late-night trip to the super market that night. We crammed into one twin bed that night as well. It was pretty amusing.

Thursday we went to Rangpang Donut again, (Oh so wonderful-- I want one in Jochiwon!) and went shopping. I spent about 65,000 won and got a metric asston of clothing, including adorable shoes and Konglish shirts, like "FANGS ARE FNTASTIC" (picture with me and Stephanie) which I bought for $5. For dinner, we had Dominoes pizza in a parking lot, because there was nowhere else to sit. Then we had a fashion show back at Corrie's massive apartment. AND we made macaroni and cheese. Our strainer was a plastic shopping bag with holes poked in it!



Friday, we left for Andong, the place of the annual International Maskdance Festival. We didn't arrive until about 6:00pm, but we were able to see the opening ceremony which consisted of beautiful elaborate dramatic dance. I was starting to feel sick towards the end of the night and ended up making an early night of it. We all stayed at Katelyn's place in Andong, 2 in the bed, 8 on the floor! But the next day we ascended upon the gigantic festival! It was pretty amazing! The masks were beautiful, and though the weather had been very chilly, the sun gave us balmy weather during the day! We made masks, drank slushies, watched shows, got bombarded by 15 paparazzi men, were interviewed by Korean TV, watched fireworks had a grand time!

We hopped the train at 8:20 and I was home by 1:00am. It was an amazing time.

CHUSEOK VIDEO:
http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c278/annunciata/Korea/?action=view¤t=Chuseok.mp4

Productive Insomnia!

I may as well post a blog update while I am lying awake sick!

So, yes. I finally caught a Korean cold. Go me! I got some orange juice before work at the GS25 (convenience store) but was unable to convey that I wanted cold medicine. So, when I arrived at school I went to the school nurse and through extensive pantomime (sick, headache, dizzy, runny nose, cough, medicine) was able to get some cold medicine! It's traditional medicine that tastes like a molasses drink. A few of the 6th grade girls said, "Teacher, sick? Awwww.. Medicine? *point* UGHHH! *stick tongue out*" They hated it. But I like the way it tastes!

Last weekend, I went on an adventure in Daegu in honor of my friend / orientation roommate Emily's 21st birthday. It was about a 2.5 hour train ride from Jochiwon to Daegu. On the way there, I sat next to a particularly smelly young man, and lost my electronic dictionary stylus in a seat cushion. Do'h! Once in Daegu, I met up with Emily and Steph and got some pabingsu. I love it well. We proceeded to get food. went to noraebang (karaoke!), got our bags and danced until about 3:00 in the morning. Here is a snapshot of the lovely Emily and Corrie dancing at noraebang.

Then, we went to look for a "jingibang" or spa to stay in (they're usually about $7 a person to stay the night. First one? A "special" jinjibang marked by a barber's pole. Basically, prostitutes. Ladies are not allowed and I don't think you can stay the night. So, we kept walking. Jinjibang #2: Filled to occupancy, but another lead! Jinjibang #3: A terrifying old building that looks like a haunted house! I think this is cool, others are not so thrilled. We finally check it out, and alas. Filled to occupancy. We try about 3 others with no luck, and end up sleeping on benches at the train station until morning and go home.

Unfortunately, there are not many pictures. Or, maybe it is fortunate? We rotated between soaked, very drunk, and very tired throughout the course of the adventure and probably wouldn't have produced very lovely pictures.

Day to day..

Today was Friday! Hooray! I taught my beginners and intermediates. They LOVE Jolly Pong. It's like kiddie crack! Even the beginner class was trying to impress me with their short sentences. "Teacher! I like Jolly Pong!" *offers hand*


I also taught my adult class today-- they are WAY more advanced than I thought they would be. One of the adults is my mentor teacher! Her English is conversational, but her processing time is just a little slow. I really do not know what I am going to teach. Conversation tags are too low. Debate maybe? Creating their own opinions?

I do not want to stay in Jochiwon this weekend. Last weekend was the first time I felt a twinge of sadness. I was broke and unable to travel, really even too poor to buy groceries and generally grumpy. Luckily my friend and fellow TaLK scholar Will was there to commiserate with me.

Classes are going smoothly. We are setting up a pen-pal system with my mom's gifted class in Florida, and my students are SO excited! They can't wait!

I also discovered something cool about my previous scholars at Sojeong Elementary--- they were two brothers! Kevin came in Summer '08 as a 1st Generation Scholar and his brother Charles came in Summer '09 as a 3rd Generation Scholar. How cool is that?

The good, the bad, and the bizarre.

The good:
I am loving my job. My mentor teacher told me today that I was "awesome," "fantastic," "the best I could be," and that I looked like "a professional teacher." I really love working with the kids and this is striking an amazing balance. My co-teacher, Peppi, will be with me Tuesday and Wednesday which makes me happy. Yay! Today, and every Monday, I will help by teaching the regular classes from 10:30 to 2:30. I taught two 6th grade classes and one 4th grade.. Using the set curriculum was a little different but it worked out really well I think. :3

In my regular classroom, I've set up behavior charts and presented the class with prize incentives to be good and come to class. They love the Starburst and Skittles!


The bad:
I am flat broke; not even a joke. Including in my Korean bank account, I have about $10 to survive me until tomorrow when my $300 settlement fee should come in. I am strangely okay with it, but it leaves me a teensy bit bored. I have noodles, eggs, veggies, TV, and internet. Plus I have Will to keep me company. We're both completely broke and have found quite a few cost-less wandering adventures.

One of our adventures, as pictured here, was finding some Korean dancer ladies walking down the streets of Jochiwon. They were fabulous.



The bizarre:
I had an entire conversation using the smallest possible amount of language possible today with a Chinese man at the train station. What he was doing in Korea, I still have no clue. Then, on the bus ride home, I got a phone call from the mail man and basically said "yeehe motee soyo?" (I don't understand) "ucheguk Jochiwon?" (Jochiwon post office) the whole time. Luckily, he was bringing my Korean/English electronic dictionary. Yay!

First Day of Class!

Hooray! My first day of classes left me pretty drained, but I felt good about the experience! 3rd-6th graders were AMAZING.. but with the little ones, I have my work cut out for me. They need to be active, constantly! There were two boys who were downright naughty. They ran up to the board and erased things, started pulling on the projector, when I pointed to their seats one of them shouted "Aniyo!" and they wouldn't play games according to directions either. It was very frustrating and the language barrier was evident. I am going to go in-depth into rules and consequences tomorrow.

My classes are approximately 40 minutes long and starting at 2:00 to 2:40 I have 1st/2nd grade, From 3:00 to 3:40 is 3rd/4th grade, then from 3:40 to 4:20 is 5th/6th grade. My school is very relaxed about.. everything!



It is a relief I think.. but why am I so uneasy? o.0

I am going to try uploading photos to Facebook now. Others seem curious why my photos don't surface there, and the uploading process doesn't seem to be dreadful right now!