Classroom Incidents

           What do you do when someone in your class says, “What the f*&%?” in the middle of class and very loudly? There are a couple of options. You could ignore it and hope it doesn't happen again, make a giant deal about it and shame the student into crying, or you can do what I did and look at my co-teacher with a giant deer-in-headlights kind of look. When my co-teacher finally looked at me, she asked, "Is it okay?”

What I was thinking: Are you crazy? No it’s not okay for a fourth grade girl to use “What the f*&%?” in her classroom skit!

What I actually said:  “No, that’s a pretty bad word in English.”

My co-teacher then proceeded to relay this information to the entire class in Korean. I have no idea if that was the best way to go, but that’s how it went down. Thankfully all I heard after that were some whispers and “ohhs" and none of the boys decided to test out their own pronunciations of the phrase in question.

Later, the girl motioned me to come over and she said, “Sorry teacher, I didn't know.”              

Good girl.

The funny part about this, is that if this girl had been an adult, and not in this class, it would have been hilarious because they were listening to a fairy tale-like story, similar to Cinderella where the poor female character is forced to do all this manual labor and the fairy comes to save her. So, the girl inserted her, “What the f*%?” at a perfectly logical place in the skit. It was right after her two stepsisters gave her a giant list of work to do. I was so shocked that this sentence popped of her mouth that I was stunned into silence, hence the crazy look I gave my co-teacher, but if I had been watching it on TV, I probably would have laughed hysterically.  It's probably wishful thinking, hoping that this incident stays isolated, but these kids are such gossips that it might have already made it to all the fourth grade classes by now kind of like when I brought in some really delicious organic lollipop candies from the US.  I don’t even think it took two days before all the sixth graders were asking me about my “secret candy". I’m still not sure why they refer to it as “secret candy.”

 Oh, the things these Korean kids say.

Busan for Buddha's Birthday

A group of friends and I decided to make a trip to Busan for Buddha’s birthday with a few specific destinations in mind:  beach, temple, and rocks. Just getting to Busan from Gyeongju was, in itself, an adventure.  Two of us were leaving from Gyeongju and two were coming from outside of Daegu so we made separate travel arrangements. My traveling companion and I wanted to take the bus because it only took about an hour to get there, but as we didn’t read enough Korean, we couldn’t decipher the Korean website enough to order tickets online. There was an English version of the website, but when I plugged in our information, it only pulled up a list of available times and spots left with nowhere to actually buy tickets. So, all in all, it wasn’t very helpful. The night before we were supposed to leave, I checked the website and all the tickets for the bus we wanted to take seemed to be sold out. So, instead of taking a chance, we bought Korail tickets ( 2 hour ride train ride and an English language site). The whole bus system in Korea really baffles me. I probably will never completely figure it out.

We made it to our hostel without getting lost, due to my friend’s prudent planning. I did no planning whatsoever( which I don’t recommend).  A Korean friend actually cautioned me from staying in a hostel. His thought was something like: “Well, you might find some hairs on your bed,” and he followed his remark with a grimace. He also recommended not drinking the hostel water. So, bracing for the worst and thinking of my one interesting hostel experience in Vancouver, Canada, I followed my friend to the Blue Backpacker’s Hostel.

I was pleasantly surprised.  We stayed in a four bed, dorm-style room. Everything seemed to be immaculately clean, comfortable and cute. The bed there was probably more comfortable than my own bed in my Korean apartment. The bathroom was spacious and spotless. There was a kitchen area ( probably the dirtiest place and it wasn’t that dirty)  and outside rooftop seating.

 My only gripe was the pair of mosquitoes that somehow sneaked their way into our room through the screen and took turns snacking on the four of us. I woke up in the middle of the night with an itchy elbow and thigh, freaking out thinking, "Oh crap! Are there bedbugs?"  because of my friend's cautions. That only lasted until we heard the unmistakable buzz of at least one of the mosquitoes.
  

 Unfortunately, we didn’t think about turning on the fan to disrupt the insect's flight paths until the following evening, during which I hunted down and killed at least two of them. I caught one on the ceiling and smeared a bright red stain across the top of it. I was too caught up in my mission to care about what it might look like to the next residents of our room. With the fan on, we escaped bites for the following two nights.

For Buddha’s birthday, we went out to Haeundae and walked around, enjoying the great weather. May 17^th also happened to be Norway’s Constitution Day, so when I spotted the flags and folks dressed up in traditional-looking clothes walking past, I hastily dug into my bag for my camera, but I only ended up with pictures snapped from phone. I have a friend whose husband is from Norway so I sent the pictures later that night, just in time to say an early “Happy Constitution Day” for them in the US.

This is one of my favorite pictures because of the look on the ajumma's face.

After spending the afternoon in Haeundae, we trekked out to find a temple. After a cab ride in traffic and several wrong turns later on foot, we followed a large crowd up a giant hill to Samgwangsa Temple. My co-teacher mentioned before I left on Thursday that you could go eat free bibimbap at the temples for Buddha’s birthday. We didn’t end up finding or eating any, but when I texted my friend back in Gyeongju to see how she was enjoying her day, she said that five temple visits later, she was still in the car with her co-teacher’s family and that she never wanted to eat bibimbap ( Korean dish mixed with various vegetables, usually some beef, sometimes an egg, rice, and gochuchang sauce)again.  I know it was a bit of an exaggeration, but that much bibimbap would have made me want to shun the dish for some time as well. I think she has a particularly kind and attentive co-teacher who doesn’t like her to feel left out.

Our last big adventure in Busan was bouldering ( climbing on rocks without a harness and ropes). We took the subway out to meet a British expat friend of my friends, then we boarded a bus and wound our way up to Mount Geumjeong. We spent the afternoon sitting under the trees, snacking and playing on the rocks. Some of the problems were a little too tough for the gals, but we enjoyed getting out of the city to get our hands and shoes dirty.

The bus ride back was an entirely different story. If you ever want an alternative way to strengthen your abdominal muscles, get on a small Korean bus heading down a mountain with winding roads and passengers filled to the max. All you have to do is grab a bar on the wall or one from the ceiling to the floor and hold on for dear life. We survived, though!

 All in all, Busan is a fantastic city to visit. There’s a ton to do from shopping and eating, to outdoor adventures. The subway is much more foreigner friendly ( if you can read English, Japanese or Mandarin, I believe) than the buses and the stations and cars are much cleaner than other metropolitan cities I’ve heard stories about. I will be going back soon.

Anapji Pond and Surrounding Area

       Here's a little historical background on Anapji: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264367&nearBy=site

        Four of my students participated in a speech contest and they included Anapji in their list of historical places to visit. If you visit Gyeongju, I highly recommend checking this touristy place out. When I went, again,  my friend and I  had to avoid hoards of elementary school students who were out with their schools, but it was still worth it. Seeing all the lights at night makes for some amazing pictures.

Lanterns out for Buddha's birthday

Korean Home Edition

Though it's a little late, here's an entry about my Korean apartment. I figured I should make it pretty clean before I show it off. I even hand washed the floor.

 As an EPIK teacher, I am really lucky that rent is included in my contract. I just pay for the utilities. I’ve checked out several teacher’s apartments and they really all vary in both looks and features. Mine is relatively small compared with others I’ve seen, but I don’t mind since it means I have less space to clean. I’ve seen some with balconies and others with only one room, including the kitchen. I’ve seen one apartment with two rooms and I’ve seen apartments with the washing machine in the bathroom. There’s no one-size-fits-all apartment for EPIK teachers.

The first thing that’s both neat and different about my apartment, is that it has a key-less entry. It’s nice to not worry about losing my keys, but for the first month I was here, I kept freaking out about the lack of keys to meticulously manage every time I left my door.

  

 My apartment is basically a studio with a separate kitchen/laundry area.  I lucked out with a big bed and a pretty nice television. Though I have cable, I don't really watch it much. I usually connect my computer to the tv and watch Korean dramas with subtitles or movies I brought from home. The cord for the tv only cost 5,000 won.

When you enter the apartment, there's a storage cupboard to the left that I use for shoes, towels,  and supplies, etc. 

 I have a pretty small refrigerator, but I have a toaster oven and a microwave, both of which were left by the previous EPIK teacher. He also left speakers, lots of dishes, a rice cooker, an electric teapot, tissues, toilet paper and cleaning supplies. It made my first few days here much less hectic than they could have been. Some teachers had to start from scratch.

I have a pretty tiny eating table, but I make it work. I worry about my poor friend's sore butts since I don't have any floor cushions to sit on. I have to work on that one, but I haven't seen anything that calls my name as far as seat cushions go. Maybe I need to just look more carefully.

Next is the bathroom, which is by far the most different room when comparing it to American bathrooms.  I have seen one apartment with a bathtub, but most have just a drain in the floor with nothing separating it from the rest of the room.  The shower head is connected to the sink and you have to flip a knob in order for the water to go to it. This actually was incredibly helpful when I had stitches in my arm. I was able to avoid getting the bandage wet most of the time. This style of bathrooms also makes it easy to clean. You just scrub everything down then, turn on the shower head and wash everything down the drain. Because the entire bathroom gets pretty wet, there are usually a set of shower shoes in each bathroom so you can keep your feet dry if someone has just showered.

 The one bad thing is that the drain is a bit slow, though the previous tenant was a guy, so I don't think it's because of hair. I make sure to capture all my little fly away hairs and I use a drain cover

The kitchen is a bit awkward because there is hardly any counter space so sometimes I set things on the washing machine when it's closed. Yep, the washing machine is in the kitchen. And interestingly enough, so is my clothes closet instead of the refrigerator. I think it's because the lack  of electrical outlets. The washing machine seems to take up all the outlets in the kitchen. There aren't any on the walls at all. The only extra one is hidden above the stove inside the cabinet and it took me a good couple of weeks to figure that one out.

Take note of my sticky tabs. I had to translate my washing machine buttons before I could use it. I still haven't figured out what most of the buttons say. Also, the metal rack  next to the washer is for drying clothes since Koreans don't really use dryers...at least I haven't come across any while I've been here.

The sliding door encloses the kitchen.  My tea  pot has to sit on the floor because that's where the extra outlets are. 

Overall I'm extremely pleased with my living situation. I can even keep my bike in the entry way of the downstairs which is a relief since there's no elevator. My poor co-teacher almost died when she tried to help me carry my two 50 pound suit cases up two flights of stairs. She's tiny. If I decide to stay another year, though, she won't have to help anyone else haul them up the stairs. We'll see what happens!