Once upon a time it was a Sunday, which means that this Seoul Survivor Chick had church to look forward to as well as an invitation to eat with the Pastor and his wife, and a trip to Costco. It was going to be a full but productive day.
Let's just start from the beginning. I got up and got ready for church. I met the Coleman's and Chris downstairs and we followed our normal Sunday routine of walking to the subway, riding the subway to Nogyang, which is in Uijongbu, and stopping at Tom n' Toms to get a morning coffee for those that want it. If we wait for the next train after that, we can't make it to church on time, so we always have a little time to spare. After leaving Tom n Tom's we walk to Uijongbu Community Church. This morning Chris went to the Catholic church that is on our way to our church. Church was good, we had a baptism on this morning.
The baptism was interesting. First let me say this, our church is on the third floor of a building that is connected to many other buildings, much like a strip mall or something like that. I'm sure at one time it was some other business, so I said all that to say this, it doesn't have a baptistery built in. It does, however, have a portable baptistery. Picture a rectangular hot tub, and you might have a good idea of what it looks like. There is certainly not enough room for two people, so the pastor stands outside of the baptistery while the one being baptized climbs a ladder and gets in the water. Now, I am not sure how this all goes down at your church, but I the few churches that I have been to (besides this one of course) the one being baptized changes into some clothes that are okay to get wet, or a baptismal clothes that are provided by the church. Not so here, the guy getting baptized just climbed over side and got in the baptistery with all his clothes except his shoes. Khackis, polo shirt, belt, socks, etc. After the baptism, he climbed back out of the baptistery, soaking wet, and was given a towel, which he used on his face, as he walked down the aisle soaking wet. It was interesting to say the least. This I will say, though, it was very evident that he had the joy of the Lord on his face. I didn't know him before he got saved, but I have little doubt that he is saved. This guy, whose English name is Tom, love to sing during worship, is attentive in the service, very friendly, and just seems to be soaking it all in every Sunday. After the baptism, he just seemed satisfied. It was a great thing to witness as funny as all the other things surrounding it were.
After church we went to eat at the Pastor's house. We walked from the church to their apartment, of course, and their apartment complex is like a little village. It has its own restaurant, mini grocery, convenience store inside the gates. Quite an interesting set up. It reminded me a little of Pecan Plantation, that has its own bank, grocery store, gas station, etc. The difference being, of course, Pecan is nice houses over lots of land, this was lots of apartments over not nearly the same amount of land. But in a place where you walk everywhere, it is not to not have to walk so far to get the essentials. It was also surrounded by many more different restaurants and shops, and is not too far from a McDonalds. Bonus! McDonalds in Korea, is like your favorite restaurant back home. It makes you feel like your back home. It tastes like, the McDonalds back home, except there is not Dr. Pepper. Anyway, I didn't eat there on this day, so I am not sure why I am talking about it. Oh yeah, they live near a McDonalds. Anyway, back to dinner at the Pastor's house. Sharon had already told us that we were having Taco soup, which automatically makes me miss home because my sister-in-law Kerri makes the best taco soup. Kathrine and I helped her get the meal ready, while Brock and Caleb talked with her son and his friend, and later Pastor Mike and another man from the church. The taco soup was delicious! The fellowship was great! The dessert was genius. Waffles with ice cream and hot fudge. Definitely need to do that back home. I really enjoyed my whole time there.
Pastor Mike drove us all to our next destination. Brock was taken to Nogyang station to go back home, the Colemans and I were dropped of at Shinsegae, which is a big mall connected to Uijongbu station. I was going to meet Ciara there and we were going to go to Costco, while the Colemans were going to the movies to see X-Men. We split up to go to our prospective places. I went to the subway station to wait for Ciara. I sat down on a bench in the station to wait for and read a book, but had to move because two men sat down who, I think, were a little drunk and smelled like cigarettes and poop (sorry Mom). So I went to stand somewhere else and I was approached by a Korean couple who wanted to take a picture with me. I didn't know what they were asking, until I was posing for a picture with the girl, while the guy took a picture. After that was done, a guy just nodded at me and said "blond and American" I nodded and said, "what are you gonna do?" I mention this because, I just had a conversation with some random person in Korea in English. That is rare! Then I was approached by someone who did not want to take a picture with me, but did however want to give me some literature about the world can be getting better for you. I have started calling this getting "Jdubbed." Just in case I haven't mentioned this before, the Jehovah's Witness are very active here. Anyway, he failed on his mission to convert me, but I succeeded in getting one tract in the trash! After the man left, the guy from earlier told me that the JW had gotten him earlier. Anyway, I started talking to him for a little bit. He was also a teacher, working in Yangju, and meeting a friend at the station. He is from Michigan. I don't know his name, because his friend showed up too soon, but it was great to talk to someone outside of our group and our church and that wasn't talking to us to practice their English.
Ciara showed up shortly after he left with this friend, and we headed off to Costco. It had begun to rain when we headed back outside, so we hurried off to the bus stop to catch bus 35 to Costco. We waited and waited and waited. We would see bus 35 go by on the opposite side of the road, then we would see it go by on our side of the road, but never stop. The Coleman's had said that they came in on the other side, so we tried to walk to the bus stop on the other side of the intersection, but it wasn't that stop either. So we finally stopped at the a tourist information center and found out that bus 23 also goes to Costco and that one stops at the bus stop we were near. So we headed back to the bus stop we started at and waited in the rain. Ciara at some point said, "It would be horrible if it was closed today, after all this." You might be thinking, closed, why would they be closed. Well, I would have been thinking the same thing, except about a month earlier, Ciara and I went to E-mart and they were closed. Appearantly, all the big stores, like E-mart and Costco and Lotte Mart (which I haven't mentioned before) must close on certain days to let the smaller stores have a chance to make some money. So now you know how we could be a little a worried about that. Back to my story, we are waiting for our bus, Ciara is jinksing us, and we are getting wet. The bus finally shows up and we are on our way to Costco. In the subway, on the trip it tells you what your next stop is, the bus does the same thing. But on the subway it also tells you the next stop in English, whereas the bus only says it in Korean. Ciara can read Korean, if she has time, but it shows up on the screen for like 3 seconds and goes to another scene. So we are just hoping that we are going in the right direction and on the right bus. About 30 minutes later (seemed like an hour) we see Costco, it doesn't look as crowded as the last time we came, there aren't cars lined up waiting to find a parking spot or waiting to pick up customers coming out, but we are pretty far out still. The bus doesn't turn toward Costco and we start to get worried so we decide to get out the next stop and walk to Costco from there. It wasn't that far. So, we get off in the rain and as we get closer we notice that there really aren't many cars at all. Like maybe 10. So we really start to think that it might be closed. Ciara is still holding out hope though. She decided that we need to walk closer to make sure. About this time we see bus 23 stop at the bus stop that is much closer. And we start to laugh. She walks closer to the building and some one crossed their arms, which in Korean means "NO." So we laugh some more and walk to the bus stop that we saw bus 23 stop. When we get there, another couple also come to wait. So maybe they were going to try to go to Costco too and wasn't just the silly Americans. As we are waiting - in the rain- a man walks up to us in broken English and tells us to go to the other side of the street to get on the bus. The bus doesn't stop here. We had seen the bus stop here, but we listened to the guy anyway and walk back across the street to the bus stop on the other side-in the rain, Then we saw a bus pull up to that bus stop. HMMMM! Ciara yells, "hey, there's a bus!" He motioned for us to stay. I guess he understands more English that we thought. When we walked back to the bus stop there was a taxi and we considered taking but the other couple that I mentioned before took it instead. So we are waiting for our bus-in the rain-an laughing! Our bus finally shows up, and it is the same driver that we had before. We were embarrassed for about 5 seconds, then started laughing again. About 30 minutes later we see familiar territory and decided to get out and go to Papa Johns because we weren't able to get Costco pizza we wanted. Papa Johns was delicious! We had our leftovers put in a box tied with ribbon and I had lunch the next day!
Let me just say, I am glad that Ciara, my awesome roommate, can laugh at the situation, instead of get mad and frustrated about the whole thing!
So that was my Sunday, how was yours?
PS - we just went back to Costco, they are closed on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of every month.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Day something of something
It has been a while since I blogged, not because there is nothing to blog about, but because there is too much to blog about.
I recently found out that one my favorite students is going to be going to FWC, starting in August. This makes me happy and sad. I more recently found out that he is planning to do the remainder of his schooling there. Which means he will not be coming back. That makes me so sad. He is very gifted and very smart. FWC will be blessed to have him. Its a huge loss for FWCI. He just invited me to a concert that he will be having before he leaves us for good. He wanted to know if I had a recommendation for him to play in the concert, classical or contemporary, any suggestions????
We just went to a lantern parade, in celebration of Buddha's birthday, and while it was beautiful and way better than the 4th of July parades we have in Granbury, it made me sad. There were all these people there, without Christ, celebrating the life of their dead religious leader. Where is the parade for our RISEN SAVIOR. I bet there were thousands of people in the parade, holding lanterns, and probably a third of them were Buddhist Monks. It was sad, if you thought about it. On a less serious note, Caleb Coleman, our fearless leader, bought a glow in the dark toy that you throw up in the air and it glides back down, this made him giddy!
We had dinner with ladies from the church I am going to and another Christian school in Uijongbu. It was good to be around people other than our little group that spoke English and understood some of the cultural difference. Most of them, however, had been here for a lot longer than any of us. I met one lady, who used to go to the same Bible Conferences that I did growing up. Her father went to Bro. Johnson's funeral. She noted how Bro. Johnson used to step to the side of the pulpit and amen himself. He SO did that!. She knew the Daughtery's and lots of other preachers that I knew. It was a crazy connections, that I still can't get over. I wish we had had more time to talk. I'm sure we will get to again. BTW, we also watched Divergent, LOVED IT! Gonna read that book soon!
Easter Sunday, we had a potluck get together after church. There were hotdogs!!!!! They were delicious!!!! There was lots of other things too. I made potato salad! Everyone that eats potato salad said they liked it! I couldn't make any of my specialties, because you can't get all the ingredients. I guess everyone is just gonna have to trust me on the greatness of my sausage pinwheels, cause I just don't see those happening here.
Ciara, my roommate, has had visitors twice now. I have loved having them all. Love her mom, and her best friend and husband, who in fact, are leaving today. But it really makes me anxious for my visitors to come. I can't wait! I am starting to figure out all the things we are going to do while they are here. We could spend the whole week in Seoul and not see everything it has to offer, but I want them to see other parts of Korea too. Whatever we do it will be fun and tiring!
Just so you know, before I left I thought I would stay for at least 2 years, well, I really hope I get to stay on at least another year! My prayer will be that they will ask me back for the next year. I hope you will join in, in that prayer with me. This place, these people, they have my heart right now. Everyday, I learn a little more, do a little more, and love it a little more. It doesn't hurt that I work with awesome people. I am so thankful for the every single one of the teachers that I work with day in and day out! I don't know how we could have a better team. God worked it all out, like He always does, according to his great wisdom.
I know it has been a long time since I posted, I will try to be better about that.
The Seoul Survivor
I recently found out that one my favorite students is going to be going to FWC, starting in August. This makes me happy and sad. I more recently found out that he is planning to do the remainder of his schooling there. Which means he will not be coming back. That makes me so sad. He is very gifted and very smart. FWC will be blessed to have him. Its a huge loss for FWCI. He just invited me to a concert that he will be having before he leaves us for good. He wanted to know if I had a recommendation for him to play in the concert, classical or contemporary, any suggestions????
We just went to a lantern parade, in celebration of Buddha's birthday, and while it was beautiful and way better than the 4th of July parades we have in Granbury, it made me sad. There were all these people there, without Christ, celebrating the life of their dead religious leader. Where is the parade for our RISEN SAVIOR. I bet there were thousands of people in the parade, holding lanterns, and probably a third of them were Buddhist Monks. It was sad, if you thought about it. On a less serious note, Caleb Coleman, our fearless leader, bought a glow in the dark toy that you throw up in the air and it glides back down, this made him giddy!
We had dinner with ladies from the church I am going to and another Christian school in Uijongbu. It was good to be around people other than our little group that spoke English and understood some of the cultural difference. Most of them, however, had been here for a lot longer than any of us. I met one lady, who used to go to the same Bible Conferences that I did growing up. Her father went to Bro. Johnson's funeral. She noted how Bro. Johnson used to step to the side of the pulpit and amen himself. He SO did that!. She knew the Daughtery's and lots of other preachers that I knew. It was a crazy connections, that I still can't get over. I wish we had had more time to talk. I'm sure we will get to again. BTW, we also watched Divergent, LOVED IT! Gonna read that book soon!
Easter Sunday, we had a potluck get together after church. There were hotdogs!!!!! They were delicious!!!! There was lots of other things too. I made potato salad! Everyone that eats potato salad said they liked it! I couldn't make any of my specialties, because you can't get all the ingredients. I guess everyone is just gonna have to trust me on the greatness of my sausage pinwheels, cause I just don't see those happening here.
Ciara, my roommate, has had visitors twice now. I have loved having them all. Love her mom, and her best friend and husband, who in fact, are leaving today. But it really makes me anxious for my visitors to come. I can't wait! I am starting to figure out all the things we are going to do while they are here. We could spend the whole week in Seoul and not see everything it has to offer, but I want them to see other parts of Korea too. Whatever we do it will be fun and tiring!
Just so you know, before I left I thought I would stay for at least 2 years, well, I really hope I get to stay on at least another year! My prayer will be that they will ask me back for the next year. I hope you will join in, in that prayer with me. This place, these people, they have my heart right now. Everyday, I learn a little more, do a little more, and love it a little more. It doesn't hurt that I work with awesome people. I am so thankful for the every single one of the teachers that I work with day in and day out! I don't know how we could have a better team. God worked it all out, like He always does, according to his great wisdom.
I know it has been a long time since I posted, I will try to be better about that.
The Seoul Survivor
Friday, March 28, 2014
Day 20 - 24 of 293
It took me a long time to post this time, because there was a situation that I was debating on whether I would post about it or not. I have decided not to. I don't want this blog to be a space where I might offend people, so it will not be going in this blog. The only thing I will say, for those of you who are wondering, is that what I am leaving out, is not a cultural idiosyncrasy of Korea, in fact I have experienced something similar in the US. So posting it would not help you understand what it is like here, and so therefore, not worth offending others to discuss.
That being said, back to the week. I am learning every day what to do and what not to do. I still don't have it all figured out. One of the interesting things that you realize while teaching here, is the lack of context,even the best English speaking students have. For instance, one of the math problems I gave, wanted them to find the error in the way either Courtney or Chris worked the problem. While the students, got the right answer, that it was Courtney that worked out the problem correctly. Every student called Courtney a "he." I examine myself, and when I look at Korean names, I wouldn't know which one was a boy or a girl either. I am pretty sure that if I guessed, I would be wrong 98.99999999% of the time. There are many different things like that that happen everyday. When I am planning lesson plans, I cannot begin to even guess what word they won't know. And because I am teaching math, the words are only defined by math terms, which in turn, demand a definition. Like, how do you define the word "precision"? Here is what I did, I said, "it's like exact." They said, "what is exact?" I said, "maybe a better way to put it would be - specific." They said, "What is specific?" I said, "You know like broad and narrow." They said, "No??? I said, "nevermind this how you find the precision point." So, how would you explain that to a group of 9th graders???? If you have a suggestion, they kids still want to know.
So my week is filled with little things like that every day. Most of my students took their first quiz this week. It was a mid chapter quiz for most of them, which meant it didn't count as a quiz grade. It is just a chance for both me and them to find out what they are really getting and what they and I still need to work on. I went to bed heavy-hearted on Wednesday, because two of my classes did rather poorly on their quiz. I just couldn't stop thinking about how I had failed them already, what they were going to think when they saw the quiz, how could I help them get better. One of my best students, made a really bad grade. I just couldn't believe it. Neither could he when he saw it. But I think it was a reality check for most of them and me as well. I pinpointed some of the issues. Main points of emphasis for me 1. Help them understand what the instructions say, before they take the quiz. 2. Teach them to learn from their mistakes. 3. Check for comprehension more often. 4 Have them do more work in class, so that I can fix mistakes quickly.
Main points of emphasis for them. 1 Read instructions thoroughly. 2. Skip a problem on a test, and come back to it later. 3. Ask questions when you don't understand. 4. Come see me outside of class time for more instruction. I realized that I can't just teach them like they are little "Meredith's." I rarely would make the same mistake twice, partly because I hate being wrong, which you all probably know, and also because I hated feeling stupid or dumb or like I didn't get it. Both of which, probably come from a pride issue, but we will not talk about that right now. However, most of them are not like me, like I said, so I need to learn from their mistakes and mine as well, right? With many of them, when I really analyzed how they missed problems, it wasn't a lack of understanding, except when it came to word problems and properties, it was a lack of comprehension. Yes, I know, the words are synonyms, but it is true. They knew how to work most of the problems, they didn't know what the directions was telling them to do. It actually gives me hope. At some point we will be past the word problem and properties lessons and on to working out math problems. I think they will do much better at that.
I have some amazingly brilliant students in my class, and some that are not so much. Both groups have endeared themselves to my heart. From the 8th grader who asked me why is the body mass formula referenced in the textbook divided by 3600(actually happened), to the kid who can't say "body mass formula" and didn't know we were even talking about it. I love them both. That's the challenge of being an ESL math teacher in Korea.
One funny story, and then I'm signing off. One of the kids was calling another kid a "loser." I told him not to say that, that it was rude. He said, "Yeah, I heard that is a really rude thing to say to someone in America." I said, "It's rude, but I don't know if I would say really rude." I then thought, why am I trying defend his cutdown....wait, but I don't want to lie to the kid....but it is rude...if I tell him it is really rude, will he say it more, or will he stop saying it....or if I tell him its not really rude, will he say it more, or will he stop saying it....nevermind, the kid not talking to me anymore.
So, thats the week. There is more to tell, I'm sure, but do really want me to teach you math, I doubt it.
날 따라와
(follow me) It will make me feel better.
Your Seoul Survivor Chick
That being said, back to the week. I am learning every day what to do and what not to do. I still don't have it all figured out. One of the interesting things that you realize while teaching here, is the lack of context,even the best English speaking students have. For instance, one of the math problems I gave, wanted them to find the error in the way either Courtney or Chris worked the problem. While the students, got the right answer, that it was Courtney that worked out the problem correctly. Every student called Courtney a "he." I examine myself, and when I look at Korean names, I wouldn't know which one was a boy or a girl either. I am pretty sure that if I guessed, I would be wrong 98.99999999% of the time. There are many different things like that that happen everyday. When I am planning lesson plans, I cannot begin to even guess what word they won't know. And because I am teaching math, the words are only defined by math terms, which in turn, demand a definition. Like, how do you define the word "precision"? Here is what I did, I said, "it's like exact." They said, "what is exact?" I said, "maybe a better way to put it would be - specific." They said, "What is specific?" I said, "You know like broad and narrow." They said, "No??? I said, "nevermind this how you find the precision point." So, how would you explain that to a group of 9th graders???? If you have a suggestion, they kids still want to know.
So my week is filled with little things like that every day. Most of my students took their first quiz this week. It was a mid chapter quiz for most of them, which meant it didn't count as a quiz grade. It is just a chance for both me and them to find out what they are really getting and what they and I still need to work on. I went to bed heavy-hearted on Wednesday, because two of my classes did rather poorly on their quiz. I just couldn't stop thinking about how I had failed them already, what they were going to think when they saw the quiz, how could I help them get better. One of my best students, made a really bad grade. I just couldn't believe it. Neither could he when he saw it. But I think it was a reality check for most of them and me as well. I pinpointed some of the issues. Main points of emphasis for me 1. Help them understand what the instructions say, before they take the quiz. 2. Teach them to learn from their mistakes. 3. Check for comprehension more often. 4 Have them do more work in class, so that I can fix mistakes quickly.
Main points of emphasis for them. 1 Read instructions thoroughly. 2. Skip a problem on a test, and come back to it later. 3. Ask questions when you don't understand. 4. Come see me outside of class time for more instruction. I realized that I can't just teach them like they are little "Meredith's." I rarely would make the same mistake twice, partly because I hate being wrong, which you all probably know, and also because I hated feeling stupid or dumb or like I didn't get it. Both of which, probably come from a pride issue, but we will not talk about that right now. However, most of them are not like me, like I said, so I need to learn from their mistakes and mine as well, right? With many of them, when I really analyzed how they missed problems, it wasn't a lack of understanding, except when it came to word problems and properties, it was a lack of comprehension. Yes, I know, the words are synonyms, but it is true. They knew how to work most of the problems, they didn't know what the directions was telling them to do. It actually gives me hope. At some point we will be past the word problem and properties lessons and on to working out math problems. I think they will do much better at that.
I have some amazingly brilliant students in my class, and some that are not so much. Both groups have endeared themselves to my heart. From the 8th grader who asked me why is the body mass formula referenced in the textbook divided by 3600(actually happened), to the kid who can't say "body mass formula" and didn't know we were even talking about it. I love them both. That's the challenge of being an ESL math teacher in Korea.
One funny story, and then I'm signing off. One of the kids was calling another kid a "loser." I told him not to say that, that it was rude. He said, "Yeah, I heard that is a really rude thing to say to someone in America." I said, "It's rude, but I don't know if I would say really rude." I then thought, why am I trying defend his cutdown....wait, but I don't want to lie to the kid....but it is rude...if I tell him it is really rude, will he say it more, or will he stop saying it....or if I tell him its not really rude, will he say it more, or will he stop saying it....nevermind, the kid not talking to me anymore.
So, thats the week. There is more to tell, I'm sure, but do really want me to teach you math, I doubt it.
날 따라와
(follow me) It will make me feel better.
Your Seoul Survivor Chick
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Day 18 - 19 of 293
It's the weekend! One week of teaching and as I mentioned before. I am tired. But do I stay home and catch up on sleep and washing clothes and the pile of papers that mysteriously piled up that need to be graded? No, I head to Seoul again. So far on this trip, I have gone to Seoul 3 times in 3 1/2 weeks. Until this time, I have gone to a new part of Seoul each time. I think I failed to describe what we did last time. They have this huge outdoor market every weekend in Seoul. It has outdoor vendors in the middle of the street and lining some of the streets along with the many shops that are already there. It is crowded, like worse than after Thanksgiving sales in the US. You can find nearly anything. (This will be where I get most of the souvenirs, Can anyone say I Heart Korea tshirts????) This market was where the Alpha store was that I mentioned before. So anyways, when we went before school started, it was hard to know what we needed. Now we have a list. My list included: Notecards, permanent markers, highlighters, and anything else that inspired me. We went to the local Office Depot (Whatever you are picturing, that is not it), it didn't have everything that we needed. The Office Depot is stocked with the equivalent of the school supplies that you would find at the local Dollar Store. Not the Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, or Dollar General, those are a huge step up in the teaching supply department. Its like the Dollar Stores of old, selection wise, not price wise. Remember, I am going to the Alpha store for: Note cards, permanent markers, highlighters, and whatever inspires me. So we know that was not at the Office Depot. So Caleb, Kathrine, Ciara, and I head to Seoul. Caleb is going to leave from there, and pick up the last of us at the airport. Caleb Stokes arrives today! Back to why we are taking this trip to Seoul, Notecards, permanent markers, highlighters, and something inspiring. Notecards??? Notecards??? Notecards???? I know they have notecards in Korea, Kathrine has some. I did not find Notecards. Next item, Permanent marker???? Permanent marker??? Permanent Marker???? "Kathrine, do you know where Permanent markers might be?" Kathrine, "Not sure, but their called Name markers." Me, "Ok." Name Markers???? Name Markers??? Name Markers???? "Random worker, name markers??? Random worker (eyes in a questioning gaze) saying something like "what?" Me, slowly "N a m e M a r k e r s?" Random worker, Something in Korean. Me, more precisely, "NAME MARKERS?" as I write my name in the air. Random worker, who understands sign language, then directs me in sign language to the appropriate part of the multi-level store, by leading me to the department, and then waving his hand outward, like a flight attendant. Me, "Graci, er, Kam sa me dah!" (said in a Texas accent that does not translate correctly) I've looked here before, but this time Ciara is looking with me. She finds them! Thanks Ciara. Highlighters???? Highlighters???? Highlighters???? Ciara, "I saw them on the way up here." Me, Great thanks!" Highlighters???? Highlighters???? Highlighters??? Inspiration???? Inspiration??? Inspiration???? Found a stapler! Picked up the stapler and staples. Went to the counter so they could add up my items and then I could go check out. Don't ask, never mind, I will just tell you. So apparently there are two places to actually buy items in this store. Top floor and bottom floor. In between as you leave that level, you are supposed to have them total you items, so that when you go to the check out points they will know what to charge you. It is much like how we have barcodes on all of our items at home and when you check out, they scan them to find the cost. Actually, its not like that at all. It is like nothing I have ever done before. Not quite sure the efficiency of the system, but it works I guess. When you check out, there are three people behind the counter. One reads the ticket to the person at the cash register to their right, we are moving to the left. They hand the item to their left for them to put in a sack and we pay the middle person. The person on the right hand the middle person the change to give to me because they keep ushering me further left. Like I said, really efficient. Did I mention that when they were pricing my purchases in the middle floors, the staples I picked out that were right beside the stapler I picked out, were no the right size? Well, they weren't. So I put them back. It was very nice of the lady to point it out to me. When I say point, I mean that literally. She said something in Korean, but understand the sign language part, NO MATCH. I signed back. OH! Okay!. Which was a facial twitch of understanding and I am pretty sure I said "Oh, Okay." Which I am pretty sure she understood, because she took the staples and put them aside, out of my basket. I think I was in the store for about 30 minutes, which incidentally, is shorter than it took me to write about the experience.
After we were all done at the Alpha store, Kathrine, Ciara, and I went to eat. Are you ready for another "first'? Ciara calls them "lifecards." I am not sure that this one truly counts as one, but for me it does. We ate...wait for it...wait for it...
Indian Food. Guess how much I love Indian Food??? About as much as I love Korean food. The rice was okay. But let me talk about the Naan. The Naan is amazing! I at all of mine and part of Ciara's. It almost makes it worth going there, almost. Indian food is spicy as well. I have to love Ciara, because she wants me to try food, but she also wants me to trust her. So she took a bite of the chicken something or other, and said "its not spicy, you like it, oh wait, it spicy at the end. You may not like it." She was right, it wasn't spicy when you first put it in your mouth, but as it got to your throat, you began to feel it. I at the rice and I ate the Naan. I hope that they understand, that I know that I am a picky eater, and because of that, I will make do anywhere we go, and I will be fine! I would hate for us to only go place that I like the food, because that would take away the foods that everyone else likes. I have done this my whole life. My family is used to me, my friends back home are used to me, I hope my friends here get it.
We headed back home, and got ready to meet Caleb, Caleb, and Sally at McDonalds, because that is the place to go when new teachers arrive. I for one am thankful, considering the above paragraph. I got a #1, which tastes amazingly like the #1 in the US. Then back home to get something done.
I got nothing done, except, I think, a load of laundry. I was tired!
Sunday, we woke up to fresh snow. Had no idea that was coming. I didn't go to church. I did get a lot done though. Teacher Ready, done! School work, done! Housework, done!
Have people come over to play games! done. LCR is a fun game! We played with warm fuzzies (which Ciara got at the Alpha store for the amazing deal of 20 for 2 cents!) We all plan to get some when we go back. We played for a couple of hours, then realized that we all have to get up for work tomorrow and called it a night! I work with a great group of people. We are all in the "honeymoon" phase, the "dream honeymoon" phase, not the reality "honeymoon" phase.
You'll never guess what happens next, unless I told you, or someone else already told you. Stay tuned!!!!
Never knew I could talk so much about a shopping experience at a store, did you?
After we were all done at the Alpha store, Kathrine, Ciara, and I went to eat. Are you ready for another "first'? Ciara calls them "lifecards." I am not sure that this one truly counts as one, but for me it does. We ate...wait for it...wait for it...
Indian Food. Guess how much I love Indian Food??? About as much as I love Korean food. The rice was okay. But let me talk about the Naan. The Naan is amazing! I at all of mine and part of Ciara's. It almost makes it worth going there, almost. Indian food is spicy as well. I have to love Ciara, because she wants me to try food, but she also wants me to trust her. So she took a bite of the chicken something or other, and said "its not spicy, you like it, oh wait, it spicy at the end. You may not like it." She was right, it wasn't spicy when you first put it in your mouth, but as it got to your throat, you began to feel it. I at the rice and I ate the Naan. I hope that they understand, that I know that I am a picky eater, and because of that, I will make do anywhere we go, and I will be fine! I would hate for us to only go place that I like the food, because that would take away the foods that everyone else likes. I have done this my whole life. My family is used to me, my friends back home are used to me, I hope my friends here get it.
We headed back home, and got ready to meet Caleb, Caleb, and Sally at McDonalds, because that is the place to go when new teachers arrive. I for one am thankful, considering the above paragraph. I got a #1, which tastes amazingly like the #1 in the US. Then back home to get something done.
I got nothing done, except, I think, a load of laundry. I was tired!
Sunday, we woke up to fresh snow. Had no idea that was coming. I didn't go to church. I did get a lot done though. Teacher Ready, done! School work, done! Housework, done!
Have people come over to play games! done. LCR is a fun game! We played with warm fuzzies (which Ciara got at the Alpha store for the amazing deal of 20 for 2 cents!) We all plan to get some when we go back. We played for a couple of hours, then realized that we all have to get up for work tomorrow and called it a night! I work with a great group of people. We are all in the "honeymoon" phase, the "dream honeymoon" phase, not the reality "honeymoon" phase.
You'll never guess what happens next, unless I told you, or someone else already told you. Stay tuned!!!!
Never knew I could talk so much about a shopping experience at a store, did you?
Friday, March 14, 2014
Day 14 - 17 of 293
Tuesday! The first full of day teaching. Not only was it the first full day of teaching, but some of us teachers were covering for Caleb Stokes, who had to wait ridiculously long on paper work. Curse you FBI background checks, as well as, snow storms, olympics, and government shutdown. We probably could have all come together otherwise. But that would have be awkward, because we all didn't have jobs after Mokkdong closed. Anyway, another story another time. Rabbit chased and found its way back home.
So back to the first day of school. I felt totally unprepared. In fact, while i was not totally unprepared, I was certainly not prepared to teach a math class, much less 5 math classes and some random other class. Thank goodness, our fearless leaders, knew our plight, and said, "for the first week, just get to know the kids!" Pressure off. Then I thought... How do I manage a class of students for 50 minutes, with no plan." Back to feeling the pressure. So here is where I have to point out that God had prepared me for this situations. Back home, I planned activities for youth at our church, included in those plans were, get-to-know you games, or icebreakers. So I pulled out the ones that I thought would work and used them on every class. I very quickly learned who were the talkers, who were the quiet ones, who were mature, who were not, who liked to have a good time, who thought everything was boring. I was really able to get to know personalities, at least. The first day, I wanted them to get to know me, as well as me get to know them. So, I had a list of questions that I asked each class, and then I would tell them the same things about myself. With the bigger classes, it took up the whole time. With the smaller classes, not so much. I immediately had some students that I really liked and none that I didn't. Good start, huh!
One of the more memorable moments of that day, was when one of the kids stayed in my classroom during lunch and we got to talk a little. He saw my Bible on my desk (Yay! that I get to have my Bible on my desk) and asked me about it. He looked inside and realized it wasn't in Korean. He reads English pretty well, so it wasn't that big of a deal, I just think he is used to it being in Korean, quite a shock. It was a shock for me when I saw it in Korean the other day. Anyway, he asked me what my favorite verse was. I told he it was "Ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." He told me his favorite one was, as he flipped through the pages to find it, "how do you say..." I said, "Psalm." He said "yeah that, 23, The Lord is my Shepherd..." Then I started saying it with him, and then quoted the rest while he looked on. He was amazed! He said, "You didn't miss a word!" I said, "I went to a Christian school, too. We got to learn memory work there." He said, "Do you know the Lord's Prayer, I like that one?" I quoted it to him. He was amazed. Honestly, I was a little too. They just came out. It has been forever since I quoted either of those to anyone. Again, God prepared me for that moment. I was quick to tell him, that I couldn't do that with all the verses that he could pull out, that I just got lucky that those were the ones he asked about. But that is just one of the things that I love about being here. I can talk freely about God's Word. In fact it is appreciated. Needless to say, that kid is one of my favorites. After the conversation, He went and laid on the desk, that I told you about last time. The ones over in the corner of the room. They have a pretty brutal schedule.
After making it through all my classes for the day. I tried decided what to do the next day. The next day was going to be breaking out the games. Except for one class, that I had not done the introduction with, because I do not have them on Tuesdays. Rauni, you will appreciate this. We did the Numbers game. Huge hit. They still want to play it. Every class caught on much quicker than any other group I have taught it to. They actually got me out. (Which sorry to brag, but NEVER happens. That's why I love the game. JK!) Let me just say, that it was because I couldn't understand the number, I thought he said two, and he said twelve. I was twelve. I never actually made it to the beginning. So that was Wednesday. Games and getting to know them. Plus, I was supposed to have 2nd and 3rd graders for one period. They never showed. I also had a 7th grade class, which was fine, because they are my homeroom.
Thursday, we got the instructions that we needed to give out homework. Which was difficult because I had not taught them anything but games. Assignment for the day for all of my classes, Write an introductory paragraph telling me something about yourself that you think I should know. I got some interesting papers. Kids wanted to be everything from dancers to diplomats. One kid even wanted to be a business worker, because some one has to be a worker in a business, so why not him. Many of them wanted to go to University in American, some of them didn't want to at all. A couple of them had been to America, A few had been to other places like China, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, New Zealand, Malaysia, England, and others that I can't remember. One of them, even had a dad that worked in Saudi Arabia, just like my dad. Some of them told me about their bad traits, while more of them told me about their good ones. Needless to say, for the most part. I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. The older they were, the better the paragraph. Partly because they think in English better, and partly, I'm sure, because they have more to say. Two of the more memorable ones were 1. The boy I was talking about earlier, asked me in his paragraph, to watch out for one of the younger kids, because he doesn't know English very well, and he is not smart, and he is slow at learning. He said he loves the kids enough to spend money on him, no problem. 2. Another kid, from the same class, took the time in his paragraph to tell me cultural differences between Koreans and foreign teachers. He didn't want me to get offended by things that they did. I thought both of them were very sweet. I will add, that the second kid, is also one of my favorites.
BTW, they were both on the bus today, going home for the weekend. And I said, I have all my favorites on the bus today, and one of them, was like, do you mean me. I nodded. He beamed. Good ending to a week!
So back to Thursday, I taught all my classes how to play the Couch game. They caught on super quick. I mean, I was impressed with the Number game, I was floored by the Couch game. There were a few that didn't quite catch on, but the majority were amazing! I even tried out the Human Knot game with one class, but they kept letting go of hands, so that game didn't work out so well.
On Friday, I was feeling pretty ridiculous, not having an school work yet, so I quizzed them over what they knew. I, of course, made it a game. I was exceedingly impressed by them. They might not understand all of the words that I say, but they have gotten most of the math concepts to be on level. I played Connect Four with them, because it takes a little more strategy than TicTacToe. I assumed, incorrectly, that they had probably played TicTacToe before. Not one kid, in any of my classes had played it. Even after I demonstrated what it looked like, they had not played. The did, however, like to say TicTacToe. All of the classes caught on to Connect Four quickly as well. I finished the week, by giving out vocabulary and a promise of math class to come.
What a first week! We made it! I am a teacher! I still can't believe it! I have waited a long time for this. 1 week down, 39 to go! I'm tired!!!
So back to the first day of school. I felt totally unprepared. In fact, while i was not totally unprepared, I was certainly not prepared to teach a math class, much less 5 math classes and some random other class. Thank goodness, our fearless leaders, knew our plight, and said, "for the first week, just get to know the kids!" Pressure off. Then I thought... How do I manage a class of students for 50 minutes, with no plan." Back to feeling the pressure. So here is where I have to point out that God had prepared me for this situations. Back home, I planned activities for youth at our church, included in those plans were, get-to-know you games, or icebreakers. So I pulled out the ones that I thought would work and used them on every class. I very quickly learned who were the talkers, who were the quiet ones, who were mature, who were not, who liked to have a good time, who thought everything was boring. I was really able to get to know personalities, at least. The first day, I wanted them to get to know me, as well as me get to know them. So, I had a list of questions that I asked each class, and then I would tell them the same things about myself. With the bigger classes, it took up the whole time. With the smaller classes, not so much. I immediately had some students that I really liked and none that I didn't. Good start, huh!
One of the more memorable moments of that day, was when one of the kids stayed in my classroom during lunch and we got to talk a little. He saw my Bible on my desk (Yay! that I get to have my Bible on my desk) and asked me about it. He looked inside and realized it wasn't in Korean. He reads English pretty well, so it wasn't that big of a deal, I just think he is used to it being in Korean, quite a shock. It was a shock for me when I saw it in Korean the other day. Anyway, he asked me what my favorite verse was. I told he it was "Ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." He told me his favorite one was, as he flipped through the pages to find it, "how do you say..." I said, "Psalm." He said "yeah that, 23, The Lord is my Shepherd..." Then I started saying it with him, and then quoted the rest while he looked on. He was amazed! He said, "You didn't miss a word!" I said, "I went to a Christian school, too. We got to learn memory work there." He said, "Do you know the Lord's Prayer, I like that one?" I quoted it to him. He was amazed. Honestly, I was a little too. They just came out. It has been forever since I quoted either of those to anyone. Again, God prepared me for that moment. I was quick to tell him, that I couldn't do that with all the verses that he could pull out, that I just got lucky that those were the ones he asked about. But that is just one of the things that I love about being here. I can talk freely about God's Word. In fact it is appreciated. Needless to say, that kid is one of my favorites. After the conversation, He went and laid on the desk, that I told you about last time. The ones over in the corner of the room. They have a pretty brutal schedule.
After making it through all my classes for the day. I tried decided what to do the next day. The next day was going to be breaking out the games. Except for one class, that I had not done the introduction with, because I do not have them on Tuesdays. Rauni, you will appreciate this. We did the Numbers game. Huge hit. They still want to play it. Every class caught on much quicker than any other group I have taught it to. They actually got me out. (Which sorry to brag, but NEVER happens. That's why I love the game. JK!) Let me just say, that it was because I couldn't understand the number, I thought he said two, and he said twelve. I was twelve. I never actually made it to the beginning. So that was Wednesday. Games and getting to know them. Plus, I was supposed to have 2nd and 3rd graders for one period. They never showed. I also had a 7th grade class, which was fine, because they are my homeroom.
Thursday, we got the instructions that we needed to give out homework. Which was difficult because I had not taught them anything but games. Assignment for the day for all of my classes, Write an introductory paragraph telling me something about yourself that you think I should know. I got some interesting papers. Kids wanted to be everything from dancers to diplomats. One kid even wanted to be a business worker, because some one has to be a worker in a business, so why not him. Many of them wanted to go to University in American, some of them didn't want to at all. A couple of them had been to America, A few had been to other places like China, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, New Zealand, Malaysia, England, and others that I can't remember. One of them, even had a dad that worked in Saudi Arabia, just like my dad. Some of them told me about their bad traits, while more of them told me about their good ones. Needless to say, for the most part. I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. The older they were, the better the paragraph. Partly because they think in English better, and partly, I'm sure, because they have more to say. Two of the more memorable ones were 1. The boy I was talking about earlier, asked me in his paragraph, to watch out for one of the younger kids, because he doesn't know English very well, and he is not smart, and he is slow at learning. He said he loves the kids enough to spend money on him, no problem. 2. Another kid, from the same class, took the time in his paragraph to tell me cultural differences between Koreans and foreign teachers. He didn't want me to get offended by things that they did. I thought both of them were very sweet. I will add, that the second kid, is also one of my favorites.
BTW, they were both on the bus today, going home for the weekend. And I said, I have all my favorites on the bus today, and one of them, was like, do you mean me. I nodded. He beamed. Good ending to a week!
So back to Thursday, I taught all my classes how to play the Couch game. They caught on super quick. I mean, I was impressed with the Number game, I was floored by the Couch game. There were a few that didn't quite catch on, but the majority were amazing! I even tried out the Human Knot game with one class, but they kept letting go of hands, so that game didn't work out so well.
On Friday, I was feeling pretty ridiculous, not having an school work yet, so I quizzed them over what they knew. I, of course, made it a game. I was exceedingly impressed by them. They might not understand all of the words that I say, but they have gotten most of the math concepts to be on level. I played Connect Four with them, because it takes a little more strategy than TicTacToe. I assumed, incorrectly, that they had probably played TicTacToe before. Not one kid, in any of my classes had played it. Even after I demonstrated what it looked like, they had not played. The did, however, like to say TicTacToe. All of the classes caught on to Connect Four quickly as well. I finished the week, by giving out vocabulary and a promise of math class to come.
What a first week! We made it! I am a teacher! I still can't believe it! I have waited a long time for this. 1 week down, 39 to go! I'm tired!!!
Monday, March 10, 2014
Day 13 of 293
First day of school - This is why I am here and it has finally happened!
Good news first - We didn't have to be to work until 9am! yeah! I enjoyed every extra minute of sleep!
More good news - This day is filled with getting ready for the school year, we finally get to go into our new rooms and set them up for the school year!
The bad news...When we get to school, my computer was missing a cord, we didn't have internet, there was only one whiteboard, and it is off to to one side of the wall, not centered, there is no cabinet, and no TV, no teacher editions to my books, except for Trig, and no school supplies.
The trig teacher edition can go in the good news section as well.
So what do I do, I follow the FWCI motto and "be flexible." I know that I have it much better than some of the other teachers, who either aren't here yet (Caleb Stokes), or just got here the previous weekend (Ciara Smith and Brock Rose). So I begin to arrange chairs, set up my desk, rearrange chairs, rearrange chairs, rearrange chairs. No matter how I arrange them, I don't feel like the students will be able to see the white board from every spot they are sitting. So I leave them alone for a while. One of the main problems is that the outlets, that my desk need to be near are in the middle of the long walls on each side of the room. That means that my desk needs to be in the middle of the room. So I work on some lesson plans. I am really just getting to do this, except for my 10th grade class which we had to intensive work on for the Korean government side of things. I then rearrange desks and finally decide to put the desks against the back wall and only use chairs for the first week. Since the first week is going to be more of a get to know you time and get the students ready for how the class will run. I thought this might work out good. And it did for the most part. My classes range in size from 10 to 20, so I have lots of room and no room in the course of a day. Oh yeah, I decorated my room with the few decorations I brought. I got some good verses on the wall! I am so excited that I get to do that, love teaching at a Christian school!
We had opening ceremony at 3pm. So let me just explain this opening ceremony thing we had. First of all we are sent to our home room kids. I am with 7th graders. These kids stand in lines. I stand in the front of one line and Mrs. Yun the Korean homeroom teacher stands in front of the other line. One of the pastors gets up and I assume welcomes everyone to a new school year at Shema, its in Korean so I don't really know. Its what I would have done. Then we sing a song in Korean, and by we, I mean all the people that know Korean. Then one of the pastors tells us something in Korean. Then we sing a song in Korean, and again, when I say we, I mean all the people that know Korean. This excludes all the American teachers who are standing in front of their prospective homeroom classes just like me. Then another pastor says something in Korean, that ends with something like "Now Caleb Coleman will come pray." Caleb Coleman prays, he does a pretty good job. He does it in English, so I can say that. Then a Korean teacher gets up and says something in Korean. Then Mrs. Yun says something in Korean. Then Pastor Kim and Mrs Riley go up on the stage. Pastor Kim steps forward and two kids walk to the microphone and some stuff in Korean in unison, then bow to Pastor Kim. Then they play the Korean National Anthem, and then sing the Korean National Anthem. This may be the most awkward I have felt up to this point, because I feel like they want me to pledge to the Korean Flag as well. Here we are 8 Americans not pledging while everyone else does. Oh, well, I'm an American and proud of it! So then Pastor Kim speaks for a while in Korean, and finally calls the teachers on stage. He calls out each teacher, we only know this because Mrs. Yun told us to step forward as he did it. Then Mrs. Riley gave a good speech in English! Yay! And finally after a little over an hour of standing we are dismissed. But not really, because we are to take our homeroom students to our classrooms. I didn't know about this, but appearantly we were supposed to watch them while the Koreans teachers did something. My home room co teacher, stayed in the class with me. Shout out! Mrs. Yun. At around 5 pm, it was time for the students to leave the class, and the teachers to head home. The next day would be our first official full day of school! I can't believe it. I am finally going to be a teacher. And what a way to start! I think I am really going to like it here!
Good news first - We didn't have to be to work until 9am! yeah! I enjoyed every extra minute of sleep!
More good news - This day is filled with getting ready for the school year, we finally get to go into our new rooms and set them up for the school year!
The bad news...When we get to school, my computer was missing a cord, we didn't have internet, there was only one whiteboard, and it is off to to one side of the wall, not centered, there is no cabinet, and no TV, no teacher editions to my books, except for Trig, and no school supplies.
The trig teacher edition can go in the good news section as well.
So what do I do, I follow the FWCI motto and "be flexible." I know that I have it much better than some of the other teachers, who either aren't here yet (Caleb Stokes), or just got here the previous weekend (Ciara Smith and Brock Rose). So I begin to arrange chairs, set up my desk, rearrange chairs, rearrange chairs, rearrange chairs. No matter how I arrange them, I don't feel like the students will be able to see the white board from every spot they are sitting. So I leave them alone for a while. One of the main problems is that the outlets, that my desk need to be near are in the middle of the long walls on each side of the room. That means that my desk needs to be in the middle of the room. So I work on some lesson plans. I am really just getting to do this, except for my 10th grade class which we had to intensive work on for the Korean government side of things. I then rearrange desks and finally decide to put the desks against the back wall and only use chairs for the first week. Since the first week is going to be more of a get to know you time and get the students ready for how the class will run. I thought this might work out good. And it did for the most part. My classes range in size from 10 to 20, so I have lots of room and no room in the course of a day. Oh yeah, I decorated my room with the few decorations I brought. I got some good verses on the wall! I am so excited that I get to do that, love teaching at a Christian school!
We had opening ceremony at 3pm. So let me just explain this opening ceremony thing we had. First of all we are sent to our home room kids. I am with 7th graders. These kids stand in lines. I stand in the front of one line and Mrs. Yun the Korean homeroom teacher stands in front of the other line. One of the pastors gets up and I assume welcomes everyone to a new school year at Shema, its in Korean so I don't really know. Its what I would have done. Then we sing a song in Korean, and by we, I mean all the people that know Korean. Then one of the pastors tells us something in Korean. Then we sing a song in Korean, and again, when I say we, I mean all the people that know Korean. This excludes all the American teachers who are standing in front of their prospective homeroom classes just like me. Then another pastor says something in Korean, that ends with something like "Now Caleb Coleman will come pray." Caleb Coleman prays, he does a pretty good job. He does it in English, so I can say that. Then a Korean teacher gets up and says something in Korean. Then Mrs. Yun says something in Korean. Then Pastor Kim and Mrs Riley go up on the stage. Pastor Kim steps forward and two kids walk to the microphone and some stuff in Korean in unison, then bow to Pastor Kim. Then they play the Korean National Anthem, and then sing the Korean National Anthem. This may be the most awkward I have felt up to this point, because I feel like they want me to pledge to the Korean Flag as well. Here we are 8 Americans not pledging while everyone else does. Oh, well, I'm an American and proud of it! So then Pastor Kim speaks for a while in Korean, and finally calls the teachers on stage. He calls out each teacher, we only know this because Mrs. Yun told us to step forward as he did it. Then Mrs. Riley gave a good speech in English! Yay! And finally after a little over an hour of standing we are dismissed. But not really, because we are to take our homeroom students to our classrooms. I didn't know about this, but appearantly we were supposed to watch them while the Koreans teachers did something. My home room co teacher, stayed in the class with me. Shout out! Mrs. Yun. At around 5 pm, it was time for the students to leave the class, and the teachers to head home. The next day would be our first official full day of school! I can't believe it. I am finally going to be a teacher. And what a way to start! I think I am really going to like it here!
Sunday, March 9, 2014
11 and 12 of 293
Glad I'm not Ciara and Brock. If I didn't say it before, I'm saying it now, I am so thankful that I got eased into the Korean pace that we call life. Ciara and Brock did not have it so easy. Neither did Mrs. Riley, while I am at it.
Ok, so we woke up Saturday morning and got ready to go to Seoul. Caleb and Kathrine were going to show us around a new part of Seoul and then we were supposed to meet Pastor Kim for dinner at some point. Leaving for the day we had no clue when or where we would be meeting them. We were hoping for an early dinner!!! While Daniel, Christine, and I had already been through a few of the firsts that happen when moving to Korea, the others still had to do some. So they first got to take the walk from the apartment to the Subway. Mrs. Riley knew what she was in for, but the others didn't. Don't forget that Mrs. Riley is still wearing the boot. She was a super trooper! Once at the subway we had to go through the whole process of getting our subway passes. I don't think I have explained the process yet, so why don't I do it know when we have the most people trying to do it. Korea has this awesome system where you can buy a subway pass through a prepaid card, or your credit card, or your phone. Caleb and Kathrine get to enjoy that perk all the time!!! However the only way to use that system is if you have and ARC card first, which none of us have yet. Hopefully this week!! So, if you don't have the ARC card that enables you to then get a prepaid card, credit card account that issues the T-card (Transportation card) or phone service, then you must buy a single trip card every time you go to the subway. If you live in Deokjeong, like we do, then you can not be more than like a thousand won over, or they will not be able to give you change. A subway card, normally cost between 1500 won to 3000 won. American dollar approximately $1.50 to $3.00. Not that bad, and you get 500 won for returning the card each time. So, it is about $.50 cents cheaper than that. I'm sure that is really interesting for you few readers, but it is what it is. So there are 5 of us trying to get our card, and we are all trying to get as close to the right amount as we can, so that we can actually get the card. Sometimes we have to buy two single trip tickets together and pay each other back, so that the purchase amount can be something that the kiosk has the change for. So we then go to the turnstyles, hover our card, and walk through, but wait.... it didn't register right for someone...alert! alert!, so they try again....nope, denied. (You see the trick is that if it doesn't work the first time, you have to back totally out and then try again, otherwise, it will never let you through. I know this because I am an old pro at this point. :)) So, finally they back all the way out, then hover the card, then green means go and they go! We take the stairs to the top and wait for the subway. I know I have discussed the rules of the subway, and if they read my blog they already know them, but Brock, I don't think he read my blog. SHAME! But, maybe he did, and he is just too polite anyway. I will go with the second option, because seriously is has the gentleman-ly thing down. He opens doors for ladies, and everyone really. He lets everyone else sit first. He is just too polite, puts all other guys to shame. He would probably hate that I am even pointing it out. So anyway, I only point this out now, because it comes into play later. So we get on the subway, and of course, there are no seats. So here we are, 9 Americans riding the subway. Eventually seats become available for most of us, but poor Brock, he is just too nice! He didn't really seem to mind anyway. We get to Seoul, and where do we go first, Starbucks! Thats right! Then off to a street market. By the way, let me just describe what this part of Seoul looks like. You should all know what Time Square looks like in New York, well, where we got off in Seoul looks a lot like that main intersection you see that creates that "Y". We go down the crowded market and they have vendors of every kind imaginable. It was hard to even really want to stop because it was just so crowded and full of stuff. We did stop at a few places though, Kathrine and Ciara go some crazy pants, don't really know how else to describe them. Sorry Kathrine and Ciara if that offends you. Christine got some things for grandkids. Ciara and Daniel bought this cinnamon thing, that was pretty good. Then we got to the Alpha store! This is the best store I have seen for teachers, doesn't have everything that you would want, but it has more than anywhere else. It also has lots of other stuff as well. All of us girls bought a few things there, while the boys went off to do I don't know what. All I do know is that they ate Korean food and we ate McDonalds, well everyone except Kathrine who had Smoothie King. After the Alpha store, Kathrine led us to the Palace Station (pic on fb) and then back through the market to do some more shopping. Ciara, Kathrine, and Mrs. Riley all bought some clothes. Then we were all pretty much tired and wondering when we were going to meet Pastor Kim. About 3pm, after being in Sould for about 4 or 5 hours, we back up with the boys and go to a movie, we found out that we were not meeting Pastor Kim til 6:30.
We decided to go see Non-Stop with Liam Neelson, "Mary" from Downton Abby, some guy from House of Cards, and some other people. 7 of us were in front row seats, but I guess as compensation for having to be in the front row, we got these amazing foot rests. I want one!!! It was agreed by everyone that it was just what we all needed. So the movie is in English with Korean subtitles. Nice! right? The only problem, and don't get me wrong, I appreciated the English, the only problem was that there was a lot of texting in the plot of the movie, and all the texts were posted in Korean instead of English, so we never knew what the texts said. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but a big portion of the movie happened through text. Still liked the movie. I didn't totally guess the ending. It still surprised me!
We leave the movie and find out that we are going to a different place, which is further away, to meet Pastor Kim. We get there about 7pm and sit down to a fancy Korean meal. Luckily I am by Sally, who takes good care of me when it comes to Korean food. She lets me know what is or isn't spicy. They had a salad that was amazing, it had a sesame dressing. YUM! Instead of pork, which we usually get, we had steak. The plain steak was delicious. Of course we had all the other stuff, which I did not eat, except for rice. When we got there, we thought we were going to be eating on the floor, but when we actually got to the table, we found that we could let our legs hang down under the table! Thank goodness! Upon leaving, we found out that we got to take food home, each apartment got to take home what we had just eaten to cook at home later (FYI- haven't cooked it yet)
We then took the subway back home, walked to our apartments and crashed for the night.
The next day, we all got up and went to the church that Caleb and Kathrine have been going to. Which required another subway ride, much shorter. Seoul takes over an hour, this was only like 20 minutes. We stopped and had coffee, then walked to the church. It was pretty good. He preached (in English) against compromising with sin. He used Jehoshaphat as the example. It was pretty good, like I said before. Afterward, many of the people talked with us. We were kind of a big group, couldn't just get overlooked. We found out that they have an international school as part of their church as well. I don't think it is all grades like ours, but I could be wrong about that. We then went to eat at a food court in a mall. I got Burger King (the Burger King food I have ever had), everyone else got Korean food. I figure I need to take advantage of the opportunities to eat food I really like when I can. We headed back home after eating and then later went to Caleb and Kathrine's for pizza. Which was pretty good! Kathrine made a chocolate cake topped with strawberries and sugar that was pretty darn good.
We all headed home to get plenty of rest for our first full week of work! School blogs...coming soon to a computer screen near you.
Ok, so we woke up Saturday morning and got ready to go to Seoul. Caleb and Kathrine were going to show us around a new part of Seoul and then we were supposed to meet Pastor Kim for dinner at some point. Leaving for the day we had no clue when or where we would be meeting them. We were hoping for an early dinner!!! While Daniel, Christine, and I had already been through a few of the firsts that happen when moving to Korea, the others still had to do some. So they first got to take the walk from the apartment to the Subway. Mrs. Riley knew what she was in for, but the others didn't. Don't forget that Mrs. Riley is still wearing the boot. She was a super trooper! Once at the subway we had to go through the whole process of getting our subway passes. I don't think I have explained the process yet, so why don't I do it know when we have the most people trying to do it. Korea has this awesome system where you can buy a subway pass through a prepaid card, or your credit card, or your phone. Caleb and Kathrine get to enjoy that perk all the time!!! However the only way to use that system is if you have and ARC card first, which none of us have yet. Hopefully this week!! So, if you don't have the ARC card that enables you to then get a prepaid card, credit card account that issues the T-card (Transportation card) or phone service, then you must buy a single trip card every time you go to the subway. If you live in Deokjeong, like we do, then you can not be more than like a thousand won over, or they will not be able to give you change. A subway card, normally cost between 1500 won to 3000 won. American dollar approximately $1.50 to $3.00. Not that bad, and you get 500 won for returning the card each time. So, it is about $.50 cents cheaper than that. I'm sure that is really interesting for you few readers, but it is what it is. So there are 5 of us trying to get our card, and we are all trying to get as close to the right amount as we can, so that we can actually get the card. Sometimes we have to buy two single trip tickets together and pay each other back, so that the purchase amount can be something that the kiosk has the change for. So we then go to the turnstyles, hover our card, and walk through, but wait.... it didn't register right for someone...alert! alert!, so they try again....nope, denied. (You see the trick is that if it doesn't work the first time, you have to back totally out and then try again, otherwise, it will never let you through. I know this because I am an old pro at this point. :)) So, finally they back all the way out, then hover the card, then green means go and they go! We take the stairs to the top and wait for the subway. I know I have discussed the rules of the subway, and if they read my blog they already know them, but Brock, I don't think he read my blog. SHAME! But, maybe he did, and he is just too polite anyway. I will go with the second option, because seriously is has the gentleman-ly thing down. He opens doors for ladies, and everyone really. He lets everyone else sit first. He is just too polite, puts all other guys to shame. He would probably hate that I am even pointing it out. So anyway, I only point this out now, because it comes into play later. So we get on the subway, and of course, there are no seats. So here we are, 9 Americans riding the subway. Eventually seats become available for most of us, but poor Brock, he is just too nice! He didn't really seem to mind anyway. We get to Seoul, and where do we go first, Starbucks! Thats right! Then off to a street market. By the way, let me just describe what this part of Seoul looks like. You should all know what Time Square looks like in New York, well, where we got off in Seoul looks a lot like that main intersection you see that creates that "Y". We go down the crowded market and they have vendors of every kind imaginable. It was hard to even really want to stop because it was just so crowded and full of stuff. We did stop at a few places though, Kathrine and Ciara go some crazy pants, don't really know how else to describe them. Sorry Kathrine and Ciara if that offends you. Christine got some things for grandkids. Ciara and Daniel bought this cinnamon thing, that was pretty good. Then we got to the Alpha store! This is the best store I have seen for teachers, doesn't have everything that you would want, but it has more than anywhere else. It also has lots of other stuff as well. All of us girls bought a few things there, while the boys went off to do I don't know what. All I do know is that they ate Korean food and we ate McDonalds, well everyone except Kathrine who had Smoothie King. After the Alpha store, Kathrine led us to the Palace Station (pic on fb) and then back through the market to do some more shopping. Ciara, Kathrine, and Mrs. Riley all bought some clothes. Then we were all pretty much tired and wondering when we were going to meet Pastor Kim. About 3pm, after being in Sould for about 4 or 5 hours, we back up with the boys and go to a movie, we found out that we were not meeting Pastor Kim til 6:30.
We decided to go see Non-Stop with Liam Neelson, "Mary" from Downton Abby, some guy from House of Cards, and some other people. 7 of us were in front row seats, but I guess as compensation for having to be in the front row, we got these amazing foot rests. I want one!!! It was agreed by everyone that it was just what we all needed. So the movie is in English with Korean subtitles. Nice! right? The only problem, and don't get me wrong, I appreciated the English, the only problem was that there was a lot of texting in the plot of the movie, and all the texts were posted in Korean instead of English, so we never knew what the texts said. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but a big portion of the movie happened through text. Still liked the movie. I didn't totally guess the ending. It still surprised me!
We leave the movie and find out that we are going to a different place, which is further away, to meet Pastor Kim. We get there about 7pm and sit down to a fancy Korean meal. Luckily I am by Sally, who takes good care of me when it comes to Korean food. She lets me know what is or isn't spicy. They had a salad that was amazing, it had a sesame dressing. YUM! Instead of pork, which we usually get, we had steak. The plain steak was delicious. Of course we had all the other stuff, which I did not eat, except for rice. When we got there, we thought we were going to be eating on the floor, but when we actually got to the table, we found that we could let our legs hang down under the table! Thank goodness! Upon leaving, we found out that we got to take food home, each apartment got to take home what we had just eaten to cook at home later (FYI- haven't cooked it yet)
We then took the subway back home, walked to our apartments and crashed for the night.
The next day, we all got up and went to the church that Caleb and Kathrine have been going to. Which required another subway ride, much shorter. Seoul takes over an hour, this was only like 20 minutes. We stopped and had coffee, then walked to the church. It was pretty good. He preached (in English) against compromising with sin. He used Jehoshaphat as the example. It was pretty good, like I said before. Afterward, many of the people talked with us. We were kind of a big group, couldn't just get overlooked. We found out that they have an international school as part of their church as well. I don't think it is all grades like ours, but I could be wrong about that. We then went to eat at a food court in a mall. I got Burger King (the Burger King food I have ever had), everyone else got Korean food. I figure I need to take advantage of the opportunities to eat food I really like when I can. We headed back home after eating and then later went to Caleb and Kathrine's for pizza. Which was pretty good! Kathrine made a chocolate cake topped with strawberries and sugar that was pretty darn good.
We all headed home to get plenty of rest for our first full week of work! School blogs...coming soon to a computer screen near you.
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