Greetings...
The time has come to relocate to my new apartment in my new city. The orientation week has FINALLY ended and we'll be hopping on buses and all 400 of us will spread throughout the country as we spread our knowledge of the English language.
Some people are worried that we won't have so many peers in one location to make this alien experience digestible but I have no such worries. I've had my fill of the routine we've been following the last few days: wake up, breakfast, classes, lunch, classes, dinner, classes, bed. I'm just so darn anxious to get some ANSWERS! Where will I be living? What view will my window have? Do I get the shower/toilet/sink in one bathroom or is there is a curtain keeping the splash to a minimum? Is there a movie theatre near me? All these and more will finally be presented in less than 24 hours.
We do finally know where in Busan we've been placed. I will soon call Dongnae-gu home--I'm pretty sure this is a suburb/district of Busan located north of the coast. I also have the school's name (Dongmyung Elementary School) but I haven't been able to find anything about it on the internet besides a satellite photo of it (?) (google it if you're interested).
Rob actually got placed in another district (Buk-gu) but it is just next door as far as districts are concerned. We've yet to find out EXACTLY where we'll be living in relation to each other or how many forms of transportation we'll need to take to visit. I'm pretty sure I have a subway stop in my city but I don't want to count my chickens quite yet.
We've made friends with a couple from England and I heard that he (of he and she) is in my district/city so that'll be nice. I'm guessing they requested to be close to each other so I bet she'll be there too. Their names are Louise and Andrew, by the way. It's possible they may show up again in this here blog.
So, I know I'm going to have a LOT to report in the next couple days--the apartment, the school, my co-teacher, etc. My co-teacher (I actually may have more than one) is a Korean English teacher who'll be assisting me in class with any translation and/or other concerns I may have in the class. This person (most likely a female I'm told) will be my go-to person for the duration of my stay here. Co-teacher, where do I get toilet paper? Co-teacher, is there a Target nearby? Apparently, some appliances like the water heater and washing machine have a bunch of buttons with Korean writing so I'll definitely need some help there. Getting internet set-up, learning how to pay bills, go to the bank and just about everything else will hopefully be answered by this person. Naturally, my fingers are crossed that this person is at least pleasent if not awesome.
I'm preparing to not have internet set up in my apartment for at least the first couple days so those trying to contact me might not have success. Like Starbucks back home, there are internet cafes all over the place so I'll at least have that option. I did dive further in the Skype-iverse and can now call any phone number and get calls from the States. Here's my number: (909) 532-8114 and I'll have to be home and on the computer to get the call but it's still way better than nothing. The best times to call are as follows:
Mon-Fri: 1pm-3pm Pacific Standard Time
Midnight-6am PST
Fri-Sun: 2pm Friday through 3pm Sunday
I also just got my new Korean cell phone today as well. For those willing to make themselves an international call, here's the number:
Country Code: 82
Number: 010-2863-4512
That's it for now. I've got to get packing for the big move tomorrow.
I miss everyone back home and I hope you're all doing magnificant.
Stay tuned...
Love,
Brent
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Medical Check-Up/Korean Folk Village
Greetings...
I've actually got two main topics for today's post: my medical checkup and our visit to a Korean Folk Village. First, the funny one.
I showed up at the building where people were lined up to go through various medical checks: height/weight, vision, blood pressure, hearing, x-ray, blood and urine. I got through the first three without incident--it was the urine test that really ruined everything. We were instructed to not eat or drink for at least 6 hours prior to the test--I was a good little soldier and actually ended up going over 12 hours. In the morning, I completely forgot about the urine test and simply had my morning pee. As I was walking to the facility, I realized this but shrugged it off as I was confident that I could produce--I could not. I sat/stood in that bathroom stall for about 20 minutes coaxing the urine out to no avail. I decided that this just wasn't going to happen so I went back in the room and tried to explain my dilemma. I was informed that I could take the blood test first, then drink a bunch of water and hopefully get some honest to goodness urine in my cup.
So, I sit down for the blood test and this poor Korean nurse couldn't find my vein--either my veins are shy or I've got a couple layers of fat concealing them (the latter I'm afraid). She kept slapping my arm and rubbing it to find a place to stick my but, like my urine, there was nothing doing. I told her to "stick it in anywhere," but I don't think she understood. Finally, she found a spot and jabbed me. With that done, I was back into the bathroom after a number of paper cups of water. 20 minutes and a lot of "come ons" later, the cup was empty.
I went back into the room and we decided to do the hearing test in the meantime. Did I mention that I was the LAST person to be doing any of these tests and that this group of University doctors and nurses are all waiting in this room and wondering why I can't pee 2 inches worth into this Dixie cup? Yeah, this pressure was definitely adding to my lack of performance. Okay, so that being said, they had to go "back out to the car" or wherever they kept it and bring the hearing test machine back into the room. I aced the hearing test but this, ironically, did not help my urine situation. I drank about 10 more cups of water and went BACK INTO THE BATHROOM STALL!! I don't think I'll ever forget this bathroom stall--we totally bonded. Again, nothing was happening and I was just about frustrated. The counselor told me that I should just come and find her "whenever it happens" and we'll go from there. I went outside and took my x-ray in this bus they had set up and started walking back to the dorm. Not even 100 yards from the bus...I feel it...a tingling down there...could it be??...YES! I HAVE URINE!!
I ran back up to the building, went into the bathroom and peed the smallest but more gratifying pee of my adult life into my cup, ran upstairs, found the counselors room and handed it off to some nurse who left with it. I'm not sure if my urine found it's way to the proper authorities or if they remembered who it belonged to but all I care about is it's done.
Today, we had a field trip today to a Korean Folk Village. This is something like our re-creation of colonial villages that you'd take a junior high field trip to. It was cold but not nearly as cold as it's been the past couple days. It was cloudy and all the trees looked "winterized" (dead, no leaves) so it was actually kinda scary. I had visions of scary things lurking in the woods around us.
We had a brief tour of the grounds--our guide was a polite old man who had no qualms about explaining that in the past, people had to wipe their bums with folded up straw. He actually didn't say "bum," but "anus"--pronouncing it almost like Borat (ah-noose).
For lunch we had a skewer of pork and potato pancakes--and Cokes which we had to buy at a little store nearby. That's something we've noticed quite often here--the lack of drinks with meals and no napkins anywhere. The trouble is, more often than not, we eat soup and this is probably the food that requires a napkin the most. I can already tell that my soup eating skills have improved to negate the napkin.
We took a walk after lunch before the performances began (see below). We found ourselves walking out of an olde-tyme village into a second rate amusement park which was such a contrast, we thought we'd left the facility altogether.
We were treated to 4 traditional/cultural performances: drums, seesawing, tight-roping and horsemanship. You can find some photos below and a couple videos on my YouTube page http://www.youtube.com/solertia33. The Drum Performance was pretty cool--I made the comment to Rob that it's pretty fascinating that so many cultures use the drum in their traditional music. These guys had pretty snazzy outfits too--they looked like the original Hot Dog on a Stick uniforms. The girls on the seesaw were okay--they didn't get to the flips until the very end. The tight-rope walker was a bit boring--he'd walk across, do something cool, end up on the other end and then talk for a minute in Korean--then he'd repeat the process. It would have probably been much more entertaining if we'd understood him. The horse guys were cool--I know Mom would enjoy this part--all the jumping off of, running alongside of and doing handstands on top of the horses would probably remind her of her own experiences--except hers were accidents.
Well, that's it for now I guess. Until next time...
-Brent
Saturday, February 21, 2009
First Contact
Greetings...
This is officially my first "blog" from South Korea. I hope to keep this thing updated regularly--keeping those that are interested interested.
Here's a re-cap of the first couple days:
--The flight actually ruled. From S.F. to Seoul we took Singapore Airlines which was more than quality. The female attendants were all "exotic" looking and dressed in very stylish "ethnic" uniforms. I had anticipated on-demand movies with my own screen in front of me--they did not disappoint. I watched a total of 3.33 movies ("W." "Rachel Getting Married" "Righteous Kill" and 1/3 of "Tokyo Sonata" which didn't have a chance against my exhuastion), played Tetris against Rob sitting next to me and even went through this language learning game with Korean. I "mastered" Korean numbers, days of the week, times of the day and months. For me, this much entertainment easily filled those 12 hours and kept my mind off the flight. For those who have no interest in movies, tv, music, games, etc. the flight was probably as brutal as could be.
--We arrived in Seoul at the Incheon Airport. "Customs" was basically a passport check/stamp and that was it. Totally painless. One of Rob's 2 suitcases got left behind for some reason but he's being reuinted with it any time now. We found the EPIK (English Program in Korea) desk, met our TeachAway rep (who gave us bottles of water!) checked in and got on the bus. We knew we had a couple hour drive on this bus but I suppose it could've been worse.
--We finally made it to Dankook University in Cheonan which is where we'll be for 8 days of orientation (no ethnic stereotypes intended). We're sharing a dorm room--there was talk of the room accommodating 2-3 people but, praise Buddha, we didn't have to share with some awkward third roommate. We've got a great view of some trees, a lake and, in the distance, nestled in the hills, a part of the main city of Cheonan. The beds are stunningly stiff but I'm actually diggin' 'em.
--Yesterday, we had our first orientation meeting in which we collectively applied for bank accounts and cell phones. We also got a tiny lecture from one of the EPIK coordinators about culture shock and a 5-minute lesson on the architecture of power in the Korean education system.
--Lunch provided a great story: We eat in the dorm's cafeteria and while in line with our trays, getting rice, tofu, soup and probably the best fruit salad I've ever had heaped on, we come across what looks like spaghetti (noodles in red sauce). Rob asks that lady serving this what it was--she responded by placing a tongs-full helping onto his tray...okay! We sat down and began the eating. If you didn't know already, Rob is very anti-seafood--he hasn't had it in years and is unreasonalby concerned about the mercury levels. I agreed from the very first meal on the plane to be the official food taster of the group. Naturally, he enlisted my services on this "spaghetti" and after a couple tentative chews, I deduced that it was "chewy, spicy noodles." This, of course, was entirely incorrect. As we were wrapping up our meal, some EPIK counselors (Koreans) sat next to us. There were naturally very nice and considerate--one asked, "Did you enjoy the food?" We agreed. I asked her, pointing to the "spaghetti," "What's this?" She consulted with her co-worker briefly and came back with, "Squid." After my naive deduction of "chewy, spicy noodles," Rob ate his entire portion of it and liked it. This only added to the hilarity as he found out that he not only ate seafood but SQUID on top of it. I laughed quite a bit and we explained to the counselor Rob's situation--they laughed a bit as well. Then she reminds us that Busan is like the seafood capital of Korea and we had a bit more laughter.
--In the convenience store, next to the cafeteria, I bought the Korean version of Sun Chips which are simply called, "Sun." These taste exactly like Sun Chips except they've got the tiniest bit of spice. I thought this was simply a matter of Korean taste until I finally noticed the picture of chilis on the front of the bag.
--Last night, we went to an Opening Ceremony with brief talks from the EPIK President and a representitive from the Ministry of Education. We also got two traditional/cultural performances: a "fan dance" and a really awesome drum performace. It made me want to sign up for giant drum lessons.
--After the Opening Ceremony, we all ate in this giant room. It was pretty neat: one of the lead EPIK women called three teachers up to the front--then she explained that these three people had birthdays that day or the next day. She lit candles on a cake and sang Happy Birthday (in Korean which thankfully has the same melody as the American version). I thought this was a great example of how accommodating and thoughtful the program's been. We sat with a couple from England, one of the Korean counselors and Ashley (my friend David's ex-girlfriend--did I mention that she randomly is in the same program?) We had a great conversation about the different cultures, sports, movies and many topics in between. It was really cool.
--Today we have medical check-ups: in order to complete our Alien Residency, we have to poked and prodded. We aren't supposed to eat or drink for at least 6 hours prior so both Rob and I are currently starving and thirsty as we wait for our turn.
So far, I'm having a great time. The jet-lag doesn't seem to be affecting me too much. Now, I'm just ready to take that 4-5 hour bus ride down to Busan in 6 days and officially move into my apartment. We still don't know exactly where we'll be teaching and we don't find out until the day before we leave.
Stay tuned...
-Brent
This is officially my first "blog" from South Korea. I hope to keep this thing updated regularly--keeping those that are interested interested.
Here's a re-cap of the first couple days:
--The flight actually ruled. From S.F. to Seoul we took Singapore Airlines which was more than quality. The female attendants were all "exotic" looking and dressed in very stylish "ethnic" uniforms. I had anticipated on-demand movies with my own screen in front of me--they did not disappoint. I watched a total of 3.33 movies ("W." "Rachel Getting Married" "Righteous Kill" and 1/3 of "Tokyo Sonata" which didn't have a chance against my exhuastion), played Tetris against Rob sitting next to me and even went through this language learning game with Korean. I "mastered" Korean numbers, days of the week, times of the day and months. For me, this much entertainment easily filled those 12 hours and kept my mind off the flight. For those who have no interest in movies, tv, music, games, etc. the flight was probably as brutal as could be.
--We arrived in Seoul at the Incheon Airport. "Customs" was basically a passport check/stamp and that was it. Totally painless. One of Rob's 2 suitcases got left behind for some reason but he's being reuinted with it any time now. We found the EPIK (English Program in Korea) desk, met our TeachAway rep (who gave us bottles of water!) checked in and got on the bus. We knew we had a couple hour drive on this bus but I suppose it could've been worse.
--We finally made it to Dankook University in Cheonan which is where we'll be for 8 days of orientation (no ethnic stereotypes intended). We're sharing a dorm room--there was talk of the room accommodating 2-3 people but, praise Buddha, we didn't have to share with some awkward third roommate. We've got a great view of some trees, a lake and, in the distance, nestled in the hills, a part of the main city of Cheonan. The beds are stunningly stiff but I'm actually diggin' 'em.
--Yesterday, we had our first orientation meeting in which we collectively applied for bank accounts and cell phones. We also got a tiny lecture from one of the EPIK coordinators about culture shock and a 5-minute lesson on the architecture of power in the Korean education system.
--Lunch provided a great story: We eat in the dorm's cafeteria and while in line with our trays, getting rice, tofu, soup and probably the best fruit salad I've ever had heaped on, we come across what looks like spaghetti (noodles in red sauce). Rob asks that lady serving this what it was--she responded by placing a tongs-full helping onto his tray...okay! We sat down and began the eating. If you didn't know already, Rob is very anti-seafood--he hasn't had it in years and is unreasonalby concerned about the mercury levels. I agreed from the very first meal on the plane to be the official food taster of the group. Naturally, he enlisted my services on this "spaghetti" and after a couple tentative chews, I deduced that it was "chewy, spicy noodles." This, of course, was entirely incorrect. As we were wrapping up our meal, some EPIK counselors (Koreans) sat next to us. There were naturally very nice and considerate--one asked, "Did you enjoy the food?" We agreed. I asked her, pointing to the "spaghetti," "What's this?" She consulted with her co-worker briefly and came back with, "Squid." After my naive deduction of "chewy, spicy noodles," Rob ate his entire portion of it and liked it. This only added to the hilarity as he found out that he not only ate seafood but SQUID on top of it. I laughed quite a bit and we explained to the counselor Rob's situation--they laughed a bit as well. Then she reminds us that Busan is like the seafood capital of Korea and we had a bit more laughter.
--In the convenience store, next to the cafeteria, I bought the Korean version of Sun Chips which are simply called, "Sun." These taste exactly like Sun Chips except they've got the tiniest bit of spice. I thought this was simply a matter of Korean taste until I finally noticed the picture of chilis on the front of the bag.
--Last night, we went to an Opening Ceremony with brief talks from the EPIK President and a representitive from the Ministry of Education. We also got two traditional/cultural performances: a "fan dance" and a really awesome drum performace. It made me want to sign up for giant drum lessons.
--After the Opening Ceremony, we all ate in this giant room. It was pretty neat: one of the lead EPIK women called three teachers up to the front--then she explained that these three people had birthdays that day or the next day. She lit candles on a cake and sang Happy Birthday (in Korean which thankfully has the same melody as the American version). I thought this was a great example of how accommodating and thoughtful the program's been. We sat with a couple from England, one of the Korean counselors and Ashley (my friend David's ex-girlfriend--did I mention that she randomly is in the same program?) We had a great conversation about the different cultures, sports, movies and many topics in between. It was really cool.
--Today we have medical check-ups: in order to complete our Alien Residency, we have to poked and prodded. We aren't supposed to eat or drink for at least 6 hours prior so both Rob and I are currently starving and thirsty as we wait for our turn.
So far, I'm having a great time. The jet-lag doesn't seem to be affecting me too much. Now, I'm just ready to take that 4-5 hour bus ride down to Busan in 6 days and officially move into my apartment. We still don't know exactly where we'll be teaching and we don't find out until the day before we leave.
Stay tuned...
-Brent
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