Oh the Views!

I just wanted to post some pictures of the view from the roof of my apartment building. It's pretty cool. With city and mountains, it can't get much better than that! The pictures don't do it justice.

More New Experiences

So I'm a bit delayed on posting my week 3 recap. I need to get better about writing on here. The week started out relatively slow. Wednesday night I was in the grocery store and another co-worker came in. We bought our groceries and walked home together. As we were walking home, we met another co-worker in the alley and decided to go for a drink. What started as a
"Let's grab a beer" turned into a rather fun night. We wander off to "Beatles"--a neighborhood bar which still plays vinyl records and can find almost any "old song" you can dream of. As you can see in the pictures, they pin up the songs that have been requested over the years on the wall in the bar. Have a mentioned that this place rocks?

We were recapping our day and talking about the our worst children we teach. A Korean man came up to our table and said in broken English, I've overheard your conversation and I'd like to pick up your tab. We argued with him and told him it wasn't necessary but he walked away offended. The teacher who spoke the most Korean determined that they guy really wanted to buy our drinks. We then moved to the table with him and his brother and ended up having a great time. He ordered us a plate of squid jerky and began talking. (I don't recommend it. I ate it until I got to the tentacles and then had to stop!). We would try to throw out the random words of Korean that we know and they would get mad and tell us "No, no Korean. English only!" We lasted until 3 a.m. and then decided we better get home since we would have classrooms full of children waiting for us in the morning. It was a lot of fun to mingle with the locals! We all took pictures with them. I don't look so great but what are you gonna do?

My Saturday was rather uneventful. I deep cleaned my apartment and wrote evaluations for my kids. I've found the part of the job I don't like. It's writing these evaluations. I'm hoping that it becomes easier as I get to know the kids more but after two weeks of teaching on my own, I feel like I don't know enough about them to write these, but I gave it my best shot. Oh and being me I of course checked the internet out to find a tool to help me. I found one and the process became much easier. God bless the internet!

Sunday, I ventured out with my friend Carina and a group of her friends. We all met up in Hungdae (one of the college areas of town). We ate at a great Indian restaurant and took pictures in front of these random cement blocks that we painted with crazy things. They all decided I needed my first experience in a Korean Photo Sticker booth. You can easily get five people in the booth, you dress up however you want, pick the backgrounds you're going to be in front of, and act like you're five again. It was super fun! I chose a ratty red wig as my accessory. Once you're done taking the photos, you get to add even more designs like glasses, bows, stars, food, etc., to them with a computer. I've attached some photos.

We then were on to a DVD Bong another awesome thing Korea has that is not in the US. So you go to this DVD bong everyone pays 5000 won (like $3.00), pick a movie you want to see that is out on DVD, and you get you're own private room with a big projector screen to watch it in. It has super comfortable couches that you can relax and watch the movie. Talk about cheap entertainment. We watched "The Life of David Gale." If you haven't seen this, it's definitely worth your time. I attached a picture of Carina and I in front of the big screen.

There you have it Week number 3!

Week Two = Many Firsts

Week two has now officially come to an end. I have made many accomplishments although many of them are small, I am still proud of them.

To begin, I taught the entire week by myself. The class of five year olds continue to be my daily challenge. Someday, I hope they can learn to behave. On an exciting note, my oldest, most advanced class just finished our Western Cultures book and I get to chose the next thing I teach them. My supervisor said that I can chose because if the teacher isn't teaching something they're are passionate about, the kids won't learn as much. I pitched Government/American Politics to the kids. They seemed interested and my supervisor thought it would be a good idea. I'm super excited to be able to teach this. These kids have already asked me many questions about Obama so I think it will be great. My supervisor also told me I'm doing a great job so that is always good to hear.

I also ate traditional Korean BBQ this week. When you enter the restaurant you take off your shoes, leave them at the front door, and you sit on the floor to eat. They bring hot coals and stick it in the table in front of you and start grilling the meat. It was amazing. When you eat the meat you take it from the grill, place it in some sauce that's supposed to take the fat off of it, and then eat it. I will go back for this!

This weekend there was a St. Patrick's Day Festival. In previous years, it has been much bigger but I guess due to lack of corporate sponsorship it wasn't as good as previous years. I can officially say that this is the greatest amount of true Irish (really from Ireland) I have celebrated St. Patrick's Day with. It's crazy to think that I have this experience in South Korea. Overall it was fun to see the many cultures celebrate this event. There was free Guinness and live Irish bands. There's something to be said about a little Korean boy dancing with a stuffed Guinness bottle. You have to love the clash of cultures!

Another first I'm proud of is successfully navigating the subway system by myself. I went to pick up a friend of Sebastian's down in Gangnam and brought him up to the St. Patrick's Day festival without making any mistakes. I have to say his subway line is super cool because you get to cross over the river and get an awesome view of the city. Next time, I'll take pictures.

After being able to navigate the subway system by myself, I decided I would tell my friend that has been here for a year and a half that I'm here. She was super surprised and on Sunday we went and visited Gyeongbok Palace which was beautiful. We spent the afternoon catching up and exchanging teaching stories. She's so cool. We went to a coffee shop and I found my first representation of Colorado which warmed my heart a bit and I of course had to take a picture!

One thing I've learned about Korea is you never know what you're going to encounter. On the subway ride to the palace I had to transfer from my line to another line. I walked down the station and I was doubling checking if I was headed the right way on the train. This older Korean man walked up to me and asked me if I was Canadian and I told him "No, American." He asked me where I was going and I told him. His English was limited and my Korean is even more limited but he was genuinely concerned about me. He confirmed I was headed in the right direction and told me I had two stops to go. In Korean culture, it is customary for younger people to give up seats to their elders. A few younger Korean guys got up and offered their seats to him and he pointed at me and I think he told them he needed to make sure I got to where I was going. We established that I was here teaching English and he asked me if I was from New York. I told him Colorado but he didn't know it, so he started naming every major city he could think of and tried to get a Korean girl to help him figure out where I am from. When I came to my stop, He said, "Here and bye, bye." It was so cute. I told him thank you in Korean and left. I wish I could have communicated more with him.

Being a foreigner here, it's hard to blend in. You get stared at a lot especially by older people. It was so nice to see and older man who was interested in me and where I came from and was genuinely concerned that I made it safely. Those moments make everything worth it.

So here I am growing, teaching, learning and finding myself in....South Korea.

P.S. I've started a Picasa album so you all can see all of my pictures. Check it out!

http://picasaweb.google.com/christinestroup

A Day in the Life...

First, Here's a picture of my street. I live to the right of here. It's literally ten steps from my the entrance of my apartment to this street. One block down is a huge main thoroughfare with a big 12 or 13 story department store that has a grocery store in it too. It is called Bauhaus.

I will attempt to recap a day in my life as an ESL Teacher. I arrive at school around 1:00 p.m. From 1:00 to 3:00 I have planning time to get my lesson plans ready. The school has an on site cook that prepares us lunch and dinner everyday which is awesome (one less thing I have to spend money on).

My first class I see every day of the week. They are the youngest group I teach and by far the hardest. These kids stick pencils up their noses, fight over each other's erasers and drive me nuts. Usually you reward kids with stamps in their stamp book for good behavior. These stamps turn into SLP (school) money that they can spend at the SLP Market. I give the whole class 5 stamps at the beginning of class and if one kid screws up the whole class loses a stamp. It's the only way to make them sit down and be quiet. I'm hoping as the time progresses they will get easier. One of the little girls in the class always touches my hair when I am grading her homework. I'm the only blond foreigner at the school.

My other classes I either see on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday. MWF I teach six classes, two of which are the same class just at different times and TTR I teach five classes two of which are the same just at different times. The majority of the classes I teach are "Hi Kids" classes which are students who are at various levels of English and are assigned to a class accordingly. In these classes we do a lot of flashcards and "What is it?" "It is a train." My favorite story from these classes is we were practicing parts of the body and I pointed to a flashcard of a hand and asked them "What is it?" They responded, "It's a hand." I then pointed at the index finger on the hand and asked them, "What is one of these called?" This kid puts up his middle finger and yells, "In Korea, this means F*** You." It took everything I had not to bust out laughing. I just told him we can't say that I moved on.

My favorite class is the Aim High class. This is a class of 3 older kids who are the most advanced kids in the school. It is so nice to carry on a real conversation. I get to teach them Western History and read real novels with them! They also have to write essays and the topic I gave them was "Why do you want to go to college?" One kid wrote, "I want to go to college to learn about things I will need as an adult. Like how to get a girl friend, drink beer,..." and then he listed some stuff that is actually related to school. It cracked me up! He's only 14 and has is figured out.

My other classes are called Fly High which are classes for older kids with little to no experience with English. I have to draw (poorly) lots of pictures to explain what different words mean. They are fun though. They are always trying to come up with a way to get a party. Tonight, they asked me if we could have a "Welcome Christine Teacher to SLP Party." They wanted me to order pizza and have it delivered to the school. Nice try girls. It's not like I could even begin to figure out how the hell to order pizza in this country. I like these classes though because they are eager to learn.

So there you have it--a typical day in my life. I'm sure there will be many more funny stories to follow. I'll keep you updated.

Recap Week One

I was able to see a bit of the nightlife scene here in Seoul. I keep having to remind myself that I'm living in one of the largest cities in the world.

I've been able to try lots of authentic Korean food and it's all been amazing. Most of the meals aren't over 5,000 won like $3.00 US.

The kids are much more enjoyable and easier to communicate with than I expected. I have a class that has turned my name into "Christmas Teacher" which is hilarious. I'll post another blog about teaching another time.

There's a bar across the street from my apartment called Beatles which plays Oldies from the 60's and 70's. If you want to drink wine or liquor, you have to buy a full bottle. It's a nice relaxing place to unwind.

We also went to a place called the Log Cabin something or other. They serve pitchers of beer in a log cabin shaped pitcher with dry ice in the bottom to keep it cold and it constantly bubbles while it's sitting on the table. It's pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen! There's a picture at the top of my co-worker Jay pouring from it.

I also went to a place in Itaewon which is like the America and Canada thrown into one. There's hardly any Koreans there. We went to a bar called the Rocky Mountain Tavern which I was excited about but it's a Canadian bar. It had an awesome live band that played oldies and even let one of my fellow teachers jump on stage and play guitar with them. I almost felt like I was at home in Denver. I don't think I'll go to this area too often unless I'm missing home. It's not authentic.

We then went on to Hundae which has a nice mix of Koreans and Westerners. When we got out of the cab a group of high school girls screamed at us, "Hello, welcome to Korea!" The first bar we hit up was Vinyl. They literally serve mixed drinks out of ziplock bags! We went on to another bar and had drinks and danced. Time sure gets away from you here since the bars never close. We didn't get home until 5:00 a.m!

On a side note, cabs are extremely cheap here compared to anywhere else I've been. We took a thirty minute cab ride in the early morning before the subway opened so we were paying the "premium rate" and it was 18,000 won which is around $12.00 US dollars.

Sunday a fellow teacher and I ventured to Nandaemun Market and to an upscale shopping district. One of the places we went was basically like placing Harrod's from London in the middle of Seoul.

It was a great first week. I hope they are all this great!

My New Home

So I'm finally moved into my apartment and have the internet semi-working. It's a bit sketchy but I am at least linked to the rest of the world.

My apartment is basic studio apartment. I've included a picture of the outside and a video of the inside. My favorite part of it is the shower. As you can see in the video, the shower is over the sink and you switch the water from the sink to the shower head and all the water drains into the floor. It's rather practical if you think about it.



The bedding is horribly tacky. I'll be on a mission to find something that's not pink.


So here are my new digs.

First Impressions

The plane ride over here was quite enjoyable. I highly recommend Singapore Airlines. The service was amazing. The inflight entertainment was endless. They have a program called KrisWorld which has movies and TV shows from all over the world, learning tools such as teach yourself a foreign language, a program similar to Microsoft Office and numerous other things all in the seat back in front of you. I had my the whole row to myself so when I wasn't playing with KrisWorld, I slept. Our flight path went north over Alaska and Russia. Perhaps this qualifies me to be a mayor of a small town in Alaska? (I had to take that one)! We arrived almost an hour ahead of schedule.

Clearing customs was easy. They simply took my passport, stamped it and sent me on my way. No questions asked. After gathering my luggage, I was met by a taxi service. There was another teacher that will be teaching at the same school on my flight but I did not meet him until we arrived at the airport. At baggage claim, I met another American who is here to teach mock trial in a public high school until she starts law school in the fall. She said the program is based upon United States law and courtroom procedure. That sounds like fun!

The taxi ride into the city was approximately an hour. There were no seatbelts in the back and the seats were covered in a fake golden silk fabric. In place of the seatbelts, were two plastic ropes, tied around the front seat's headrests to hang on to in the event the ride became too crazy. Our director later told us that “In Korea, only the people in the front have to wear seatbelts.” The view of the city at night is beautiful. Apparently, passing gas in public here isn't a big deal as the taxi driver gave us a couple of nice surprises and didn't even try to hide it.

We arrived at the school and the director was outside waiting for us. He seems like a very nice man. We were shown around the school and met a few of our students. I met two of my classes. One is a class of three older girls who are the most advanced English second language speakers in the school. They all seem very eager to learn and were excited to meet the new teachers. There are four new teachers at the school. There were two Canadian teachers but now all of the
teachers are Americans.

The director took us to a Korean restaurant where he ordered for us. We had kimbap (the Korean version of sushi) and a noodle bowl which was similar to Pho. It was very yummy. He left us to eat and went to the store and bought us some food to hold us over while we get our bearings in our new country.

We are currently staying in a “Korean Love Motel.” for three or four days until our apartments are ready. The love motel is a basic room with its own bathroom. The bed has a heater underneath the mattress. I misunderstood and thought it was the heater for the room and woke up sweating like crazy. I have included some pictures. I love the tiles in the shower!

The love motel is located next to our future apartments and there is a great deal within walking distance. Some of these include: 7-11, Dunkin' Donuts, and numerous bars and restaurants.
So far, my first impressions are good. The school seems well organized and glad to have us there. The director is hospitable and the other staff seems helpful. When the director left us he told us we could call him anytime even after midnight if we had any problems.

This is a bit delayed as I didn't have internet.

Hope you all are doing well.