A Korean Surprise: The Teacher's Trip

I was walking to school today when I just happened to meet up with two of the other English teachers at the cross walk before the school . As we crossed the street and walked towards school, one of the teachers asked me "You know we're going to a temple today?"

What? No. And clearly not, which in retrospect is probably why she was asking. I was wearing a maxi skirt and sandals.

Apparently exams were only going to go until 12, and after that we were going on a field trip for teachers.  SURPRISE!!!

Not that I was disappointed. I am down for sightseeing, especially since I have basically no responsibilities at school this week as the students take their exams.

Of course, initially I thought we were just going to a temple, so I didn't really think my wardrobe selection was going to be a big problem.  But around 12:30 one of my co-teachers came over and asked if I knew about the trip.  I told her I didn't know until the morning and she said "Your fashion is no good."

What I got from the following conversation was that there was going to be a lot of walking involved and my sandals were not going to be practical.

So I rushed back to my apartment to change my attire, went back to school, and got on the bus with the rest of the other teachers.

As I was sitting on the bus one of the other English teachers came on and asked if I would ride in her car with her.  She is probably one of the nicest people I've met in Korea, so of course I agreed.  She likes getting to talk to me because it's an opportunity for her to practice her english.  Many of the English teachers here have said the same thing--they want to talk to me because so much of what they do is teaching grammar and reading so they can read English and comprehend everything, but when they try to speak it's difficult for them to pull out the words they want.  Obviously I get it, and it's my job to talk to people, so I hopped in her car and we continued in her car behind the bus.

We got to our first destination where we got to see a really cool temple.  I wish I remembered the name, but as is typically the case with Korean words, I was able to repeat is a few times, and now the name is gone from my memory.  It's apparently a really old temple, and they usually only let people visit it on Buddha's birthday.  I was really amazed by the temples because the detail was absolutely breathtaking.  I really wish I would have had my nice camera with me because my pictures don't even begin to show the intricate details of the temple.  I saw tons of pictures of temples before I came to Korea, but I can honestly say they are a million times more impressive in person.

 

There were Buddhist monks and other people inside of the temple, so I didn't get any pictures of the inside, but it was also really amazing.  There was a huge Buddha, as well as some other statutes.

After we saw the temples, we walked up a path through the woods (which was fun because it rained this morning and I was only wearing my Tom's), until we reached a waterfall, a stone Buddha, and some stones with Korean written on them, which was apparently done by some historical figure.  The language barrier pretty much prevented me from getting a full explanation of that one.

After that, we got back to the bus, and in my case the car, and we continued on to our next destination.  This time we hiked (again, fun in my Tom's) and we got to another little waterfall, which apparently is connected to a legend of a dragon, but I don't get it (and the explanation I received didn't really make much sense).

After that the teacher I was driving with headed home because she is a vegetarian and the next stop was dinner. We went to a small place with an amazing view of the mountains and were served a selection of pork and goat meat.  I stuck to the pork.

As we were waiting for some people to finish dinner, I got a chance to talk to some of the younger English teachers.  It was actually really good because I don't get to talk to them often, and they by far have the best English of any of the teachers in the department so we could joke around and laugh a bit--something that is hard to do with the large language barrier with some of the other teachers.

We got back on the bus and we were all really tired....a group of teachers went to noraebang, but we decided to head home.

All in all, it was a totally unexpected, but interesting day.  When I woke up this morning I never would have thought that I would end up visiting temples, but Korea is keeping life interesting, and I'm appreciating that.

Random thoughts

Random thoughts/updates

--Being in a country where you don't understand the language gives you a lot of time to think.  I sit through a teacher's meeting every Monday morning, unable to understand a single thing that is being said.  I sit in the teacher's office all day and I have absolutely no idea what the other teachers are saying to each other.  I go to lunch and I haven't the slightest clue what the conversation is about.  

As a result, I get a lot of time to think. I often feel like I am in my own little bubble because I am alone with my thoughts all day.  It's strange, but  I should probably appreciate the opportunity to have so much me-time. 

--My students have been randomly drilling me on their names. I'm terrible at learning names in the first place, but it is infinitely harder when they all have the same color hair, eyes, glasses, and they all wear uniforms.  Never mind the fact that most of their names are ridiculously similar.  I really want to be able to remember them all....but damn, it's hard!

--I've really been enjoying getting to know the other teachers in Jeomchon.  I've been lucky to spend a lot of time with the other teachers over the past week, and I've had some great conversations with some people.  I'm going on a trip with a few people this weekend, and I'm really excited for that as well. It's really cool to hear about everyone's past experiences and plans for the future.  We have many different places that we're coming from and going, but our lives have intersected for this short, unique period in our lives. 

--It's just starting to feel like fall here.  It was only over the past week that it started to become cooler at night.  Until last week we still had highs in the low 80s during the day.  This week is about mid 70s, but I still haven't needed to wear my fleece when I go outside.  It's a little strange that it's basically October and still so warm.  Of course, I'm not complaining because I know winter will be long and brutal, so I'm trying to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.

--It's really weird to think that it will still be so long until I am home. Before coming to Korea I had never lived outside of NH, never mind America, so when I think about the fact that I still have 11 months to go before I come home, it is kind of hard for me to comprehend.  

I love Korea, but of course I miss the comforts of home as well.  When I was in college, I was only 45 minutes away, so whenever I wanted to have the comfort of home I could go home for a night or two, eat some home cooked food, and take a ballet class.  But now that option isn't there, and it won't be there for a long time.  

When I look at facebook or skype with people back home, I am sad for everything that I am missing.  I'm glad that I'm here, and I wouldn't change it because I am having an amazing time, but it doesn't mean that I'm not sad about missing out on a year with my friends and family as well.

The resolution of the ATM situation

As some of you know, when I tried to use the ATM the other day I entered the wrong pin number a few times, and was consequently locked out of my account.

Naturally, I was dreading having to go to school and tell my co-teacher about what I had done.  First of all, my co-teachers have all taken a lot of time out of their busy schedules to help me with things like opening my bank account and helping me with my cell phone.  The last thing I wanted to do was be a burden....again. Especially right before mid-terms. Plus, forgetting your pin number is just plain stupid, so that's also embarrassing.  

However, I knew I was going to have to suck up the pain of admitting my stupidity because the bank is only open until 5, so I can't ever go after I get out of work.  I also can't speak Korean, so trying to communicate with a banker wouldn't work.  Also, I need to pay bills, and I need to be able to get into my account for that.  

So, I went into school totally dreading the conversation with my co-teacher, but after I told her she said she would get someone to help me.  

During one of my off periods, one of my co-teachers came up and told me she would take me to the bank.  I was relieved when I saw which co-teacher it was because it was because although she intimidated me at first, she has been the most helpful and kind to me over the past few weeks.  

We went to the bank and quickly got everything taken care of.  After we were done we still had about 20 minutes until the next class so she looked at me and said "Let's go get a coffee?"  

Of course I agreed, and we went over the the nearest coffee shop.  The crazy part is that after she took time to help me with MY stupid mistake, she WOULD NOT let me pay, regardless of how many times I insisted to treat her. 

Have I mentioned that Korean people are ridiculously kind?  

Anyway, my stupid ATM mistake actually turned out to be a great part of the day because we not only got a break from school, but we also got coffee and got to talk a little more.  

The lesson of the day: sometimes we dread things that we shouldn't. Sometimes what we think will be a bad thing turns out to be great.  

Korea is definitely not America.

This week I was teaching my students about some idioms that we use in English.  The specific lesson that I did focused on idioms that refer to colors.  As a class activity, they had to create a dialogue using an assigned place, situation, and two idioms.  Here is what I got from two of my male students:

A:  I think think we need to break up.
B: What? Why?
A: I'm gay.
B: What?  That is out of the blue.
A:  Really, I am gay. This is my new boyfriend (as he points to another student)
B:  Well now you have shown your true colors.


Many of the dialogues were hilarious, but this one easily takes the cake.  There are many things that happen in my classes in Korea that would NEVER happen in America.  For example, this dialogue happened in a class of all boys. I can't imagine any of my students back home ever volunteering to even pretend to be gay for even two seconds.  Don't get me wrong, I think being gay in America is WAY more acceptable than it is in Korea, but the dynamics between the students are different.

It's not uncommon to see members of the same sex holding hands as they walk down the street in Korea.  In fact, in Korea, this is a symbol of friendship, not one's sexual orientation, and I often see it between my students.  During class I'll often see my male students rub each other's shoulders, especially when one of their classmates has fallen asleep and they need to wake them up.  It's always interesting to see, and has made me realize that America is really a "hands-off" culture.

Korea has its own gender roles and social norms, and some align with those in the US, but some are strikingly different.  For example, when I was on my class field trip Everland a while ago, as we were standing in line, the woman in front of us took out her compact powder and started applying make-up to her boyfriend.  And while it surprised me at first, as I thought about it, I realized that many of the Korean heart throbs are not macho, tough looking guys, but they are actually feminine looking.  I've noticed that Korea seems to have the same standard of beauty for both men and women.  It's really interesting that in America women fantasize about men with muscles and ripped abs, but I haven't seen any of that marketed in Korea.

Also, on a somewhat different note, on Friday I put on a Taylor Swift song for my all-male class while they were completing an assignment. And they loved it.  And they sang along.  I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I tried to imagine what would happen if I ever put on a Taylor Swift song on for a classroom full of American boys.  HA!

Andong Maskdance Festival

This weekend I went to one of the major festivals in Korea--the Andong Maskdance Festival.  Andong is about an hour away from Jeomchon, and a city that has many cultural sites.  The Maskdance Festivals is an international festival, and attracts people from all around the world. I remembered seeing things about the Maskdance Festival when I originally found out I was placed in Gyeongbuk and started researching the area, so I was excited to get to check it out this weekend.

I went to the festival with a few other people from Jeomchon.  Once we were there, we met up with some other people and started to make our own masks.  The mask-making was pretty entertaining, as it was essentially a tent full of children...and then the table of foreigners. As we were sitting there making our masks, one man came over with his daughter because he wanted to take a picture of her with us.  I thought he was just going to put her in front of us, but he ended up sitting her right on my lap.  No complaints here...she was completely adorable.  It was a pretty great start to the day.

It's no secret that I love children. I have been babysitting since middle school, and I kept many babysitting jobs throughout college.  I even kept a few babysitting jobs when I was teaching last year because as I tell people, I need to get my nuturing out of my system.  I have no desire to have children of my own for years, but I love going to festivals and other outings around Korea because there are adorable children EVERYWHERE.  And of course, I think they are adorable because I don't have to deal with their temper-tantrums, but still, these kids are pretty stinking adorable.

We spent a while making our first masks.  Mine did not come out as well as I would have liked, but now I know, and if I am in Korea again for the festival next year, I'll definitely have a better game plan.  Regardless, it was great to get a little crafty--there just aren't enough opportunities to be crafty when you teach high school!

After we made our masks, we got some lunch and spent some time walking around the tents that had food, souvenirs, and games. The merchants were selling just about EVERYTHING from socks and pantyhose to heating pads, to mops.  You name it, they were selling it.  We also enjoyed the games that they had available.  Many of the prizes for the games were not just over-sized stuffed animals, but alcohol.  Oh, Korea, you know how to get our money. I didn't play any of the games, but one of my friends wanted a bottle of wine and tried a few times.  Of course, he didn't end up with a bottle of wine, but a back scratcher and a yo-yo. Oh well. Overall, the Omija Festival we went to last week was minuscule in comparison to the amount of things that were at this festival--we spent a considerable amount of time just looking around at everything.

We eventually stopped by a maskdance performance.  They were short little stories that were performed wearing traditional masks and clothing alongside traditional Korean drumming.  Of course, I had no idea what they were saying, but we got the general gist of the performances.  It was definitely interesting to say the least, and I'm glad we stopped for at least a little bit to see some of the performance.

Korea has developed astonishingly quickly over the past 60 years.  At one point we were walking around the festival and saw a bunch of photographs from the Korean War displayed along a walkway.  The pictures were amazing and showed not only the suffering of people during the War, but also showed a country with dirt roads and very little development.  Today, Korea has some of the most modern cities in the world and it can be easy to forget that this is a country that in fact has a very old and unique culture.  It would be very easy to live in Korea and not learn about the history or traditional culture.  However, I hope that throughout my time here I can learn more about this traditional culture, because I feel that failure to do so would prevent me from experiencing an important part of the heart of this country.

We spent the rest of the day walking around a bit more, then we stopped to make our second masks--this time they were made out of Hanji--the traditional Korean paper.  I'm glad we stopped for our second masks, because I was much happier with how my second one turned out.

One of the more entertaining parts of the day was when we encountered these little carts pulled by little robots.  The robots pull the carts around and it is just the most hysterical thing to watch.  Oh Korea, always thinking of the most clever things.

After taking our turn with the carts, we met up with some other friends and went to a different part of Andong for dinner.  One of my friends used to live in Andong, so she led us to a little hole in the wall type of place.  We were in the main market, and we had to walk through some hallways into a back room to get to our dining place.  The room was actually really cool because there was writing all over the walls...it was definitely a different feel from the other Korean restaurants I've been to.

Dinner was absolutely delicious.  We had jjimdalk, which is Andong's specialty food.  It was chicken cooked with a bunch of different vegetables and noodles in a spicy sauce.  Definitely delicious, and when I'm in Andong again I will definitely have to go back! It also doesn't hurt that dinner only cost $8.  Eating at restaurants in Korea is definitely WAY more affordable than it is in the US.

After dinner we had some time before our bus, so we did some walking around in the different stores.  We ended the night by stopping in a bakery and getting some espresso and dessert.  Definitely a perfect ending to a great day.

I had a great time at the festival, and I'm really glad I got to go.  I spent more money than I had wanted to, but it was well worth it for a day of great good, fun, and culture.

I'm a millionaire!

In won of course, but it's still exciting to finally get paid!  And it looks like so much money on paper...it's a great feeling until you remember the conversion to US dollars...

Of course, when I went to the ATM, I entered the wrong pin number a few times, and now I am locked out. Good job, Sarah.  Definitely feeling like the stupid American tonight.

(But seriously, I have way too many numbers floating around in my brain and I opened the account a month ago in the midst of the whirlwind of moving to a new country, town, and job.  I should get more than two chances to get the right number!)


In other news, today I was talking to a group of boys in the hall before class and one of them looked at me and told me he was very "surprised" by my eyes because he had never seen someone with blue eyes before.

Moments like these are always kind of shocking to me.  In America there is so much diversity, and we (or I should say I) don't typically think anything of it. Living in this homogeneous society has made me realize how truly unique the United States is. When I was growing up, it was totally normal to have kids at school who spoke Spanish to each other.  It was totally normal to have kids in our class who celebrated different holidays. I never thought anything of the fact that kids in my classes had different eye, hair, or skin color.  It was just the way it was.

Korea is quite the different place in terms of all of these things, at least in the smaller towns.  I imagine it's different in the city where people encounter more diversity.  However, moments like these remind me that I'm not only here to teach English, but also to be a cultural ambassador to people who may not otherwise have ever met anyone from the western world.

Chuesok Part 2: Omija and Grasshoppers

I was totally exhausted when I got back from Ulsan on Friday.  I spent the rest of the night taking it easy because the next day I knew I wanted to go to the Omija festival.

Omija are fruit that are native to Mungyeong (which in case you've forgotten, is the area I live in). If you read anything about Korea, you'll quickly learn that Koreans love festivals.  When I was first researching life in Korea, I was amazed at the number of festivals that are held here throughout the year.  Every area has it's signature foods and items and to celebrate these things, they have festivals where they have tons of food, beverages, and souvenirs.

I went to the Omija festival with some of the other teachers from Jeomchon.  It was about an hour bus ride (well, it actually took us longer on the way there because we hit so much traffic) and we rode through some pretty rural areas that I had not seen yet. It was quite the contrast to the city life I saw in Ulsan.  The cities in Korea are some of the most modern in the world, but there are still many extremely rural areas...it's quite the mixture of lifestyles.

Once we got to the festival there were tons of food stands where you could buy pretty much anything.  We had just grabbed some food and omija beer when we got stopped by some people from a tv station. Obviously the group of waygookins stood out, so I guess that we were good subjects for a quick little interview.  It was pretty entertaining, but apparently this happens at pretty much every festival.  Gotta love being the foreigners!

After our tv experience, we continued on and ate and drank more.  All in all, I had a really good time at the festival and I can't wait to go to more!

When we got back to Jeomchon, some of us decided to stay out and hang out for a bit longer.  We ended up going to a place that serves grasshoppers....and we got a nice big plate of those bad boys.  I don't think eating grasshoppers is particularly common in Korea, but when I decided to come to Korea I knew I had to willing to try (just about) anything.  So, I figured this was one of those times when I had to take the opportunity to do something completely different.  I mean, when else will I ever get the chance to eat grasshoppers?

The grasshoppers were really crunchy, but didn't taste bad at all.  They were cooked in plenty of good stuff so they were really pretty tasty.  Never try, never know.

Such a kodak moment. 

After the grasshopper adventures, we stayed out for a while longer...ok, a lot longer.  We went to noraebang and on our way out the lady that was working there stopped the other girl we were with and myself to take pictures with us....seriously, being a foreigner in Korea is unlike anything else.

After noraebang we hung out for a little longer. I don't even know what time it was once I actually got to bed, but I slept until 2:30 this afternoon, so I know it was late! Yikes!

All in all, I had a great Chuseok break.  I am absolutely loving getting to see and do so many new things.  I obviously came to Korea to teach, but I also came to travel, and I'm really glad I got to see some of the country this weekend. 

Korea isn't usually at the top of most people's lists for places they'd like to go visit, but the more I see of this country, the more I am amazed by how beautiful it is.  The mountains are everywhere, and they are breathtaking.  Never mind the coast, rice fields, and temples that you see on the regular in this country that are just as amazing.  People don't tend to think of Korea as a "must-see" country, but I'm feeling incredibly blessed that I AM seeing it with my own eyes because as many pictures as I take, I can't quite capture the beauty of this country.  It's sometimes frustrating that the pictures I take can't really capture what I'm seeing...but then I remind myself that is part of WHY you travel.

I know I'm still in my honeymoon stage of living in Korea.  I have done my research into culture shock, and I know it doesn't really hit until about 3 months into your time in the country.  However, I am currently loving the honeymoon stage for all its worth.  I know it won't take long until the things I find intriguing about this culture start to annoy me.  However, for now I just want to take in the constant awe that I've been experiencing.  I know it won't last, but that's all the more reason to take it all in and enjoy it while it's here.  

Beautiful mountains...they are everywhere in Korea!