New Blog

Oh - one last thing. I put a link on the side of my blog to my NEW blog. It's http://ieatkimchi.blogspot.com. I am making a list of all the recipes I've made up over the years. And ones I'm making up in Korea. Who knows, maybe I'll make a cookbook one day! Haha.

Shopping

Also on the topic of shopping - it was SO strange to be in the mall today with Christmas music playing and NO CROWDS. I am so used to working in a mall at Christmas time. Weird, for once Christmas is not accompanied with a horrible feeling of dread and death!

Speaking of death, there's a pizza place down the street that has a little Santa outside as a decoration. When I walked to the subway this morning, Santa's head was lying on the ground. I wonder who beheaded Santa?

Small Joys

On Friday we had our Christmas Activity Day. Luck of the draw, I guess, I ended up having to host with another Korean teacher. By host, I mean stand creepily on the side of the stage while the Korean teacher did most of the work, and I occasionaly stepped out and said a line or two. Afterward, the other teacher was all, "Thank you SO much for all your help!" Yeah... thank me!

Anyways, one of the other teachers dressed up as Santa. He asked me in front of everyone what I wanted for Christmas. And my mind was blank. Could it be that I really want nothing for Christmas this year? Actually - I want things... but not from people. All I want for Christmas is to spend some time with friends. I miss friends and family, but am very excited for our Christmas we're gonna have over here. It involves a turkey, stuffing and all the trimmins. And I spent the day today shopping and making perogies - trying to replicate the kind my grandma always made (she died this year).

So today I went to the big grocery store on the subway route. And strangely enough, it made me incredibly happy to have my own money and to be buying things that I need for myself. I bought a little thermos, a clothes drying rack and several mixing bowls. And it was like I'd won the lottery for Christmas! I am not sure why doing this made me so happy!

After I got home, I spent the afternoon watching Lost episodes, washing every item of clothing I have, making perogies and cleaning my apartment.

Anyways - this post really has no point! If you've made it this far - Merry Christmas! I am off to Japan on the 27th, so Happy New Year as well. I miss everyone. Hope all your xmas seasons are going well.

Last Round of Pictures...

This is Mieke (another rugger) and one of the Korean board instructors. And who can forget looking at pictures on a mini video screen while we zoomed around mountain ess curves. Real cool! And p-i-m-p !

Yes, That's All Soju

More Boarding Photos

Garbage Saga Cont'd...

In case you're waiting with bated breath to find out if I figured out how to take out my garbage, the answer is 'sort of.'

I finally got the good tip that you must buy special garbage bags from convenience stores. So for a few weeks I staked out every convenience store I could find. To no avail.

Finally I mustered up the courage to, as we tell children, 'use my words.' (Why I didn't do this sooner, I dunno...).

I went into one store and asked the guy working there if he spoke English. Nope. The next store I scoped out and saw it actually had a garbage with some bags in it in the back, so I got the girl to come to the garbage can, pointed frantically at the garbage bag and made a shrugging shoulders motion.

From my oscar-worthy performance, she knew what I meant, and turns out you actually have to ask for the garbage bags anyways. They keep them behind the desk and each district or area has it's own special garbage bags. Since Korea is such a tiny isthmus (It's Christmas, It's Christmas, I'm stuck here on an isthmus!), they make you recycle everything. Which I'm all for - I just can't seem to find the different places I'm supposed to take my different plastics.

If you go into somewhere like Starbucks or a fast food restaurant, for example, when you take your tray to the garbage, you have to sort your drink cup, your straw, your lid, liquids and any papers into different little holders or bins. Cool. I will try to get a picture for my blog, never seen anything like it. And we think we recycle!

Boarding Weekend Pictures

Okay - more pictures - these are from the Mafia Snowboarding weekend. One is me with my board trying hard to look real cool. Two is Claire, Nat and I when I definitely DO NOT look cool. Did someone just taser me? Three is Nat and I sitting on the floor of the snowboarder's house. Four is Me, Hun and Claire posin' wit some nude playing cards and Five is of course, Marie-Eve and I doing the "Asian Pose."

Tragikid

I've written about this kid before - so from now on I will call him "Tragikid." He's the little guy that I teach that has the saddest little face - and comes up with some of the best one-liners. Too bad he doesn't know he's being so comic... and it would be comic if his face wasn't so tragic!

Today I told him to go and get a new "Picture Dictionary" (a book the kids write sentences in and illustrate themselves) because his old one had run out. He didn't get up and I could hear him saying in a sad voice, "Oh no. I don't know what to do. What should I do?"

After a while, I figured out he was too shy to go to the lady at the desk and ask for a new one. One of the girls said, "Tragikid is too shy." And Tragikid responds (in a despondent voice) "Yes, I'm a weak, weak boy."

I can't help but laugh. He probably doesn't even really know the meaning of what he was saying, but oh was it comic! Imagine a 7 year old saying this!

Korean Mafia

I get the feeling that being on the rugby club here in Korea is like being in the Mafia. I don't mean we're involved in organized crime or anything (although that might be cool!!). But I do mean that I feel incredibly hooked up.

Since I've been floating around here, I've taken roadtrips, gone to parties, visited places or events that many people never do, and met some really cool people.

This past weekend, we went out to Vivaldi Park to go snowboarding. I wasn't gonna go on account of poverty, but with some arm twisting and a generous offer to borrow money, I went along. We got a discount on a bus to the hill. Once we got to the hill, a friend of a friend of a friend (seriously!) picked us up in his gangsta car (showed us pictures on a little video screen inside the car with a remote while peeling around mountain curves.. cool :S). We went to their house - a little room with a tiny kitchen and no furniture. We hung out with 3 or 4 snowboard instructors (they're on call here until about 5 am - weird!! at any time a call can come in and they have to gear up and bust on over to the hill). One of the guys cooked for us - we had bulgogi, omlette, noodles in black sauce, pork cutlet, etc. It was awesome and amazing that he managed to churn this out using two gas burners and probably one pan. It was also his birthday - so soon the night turned to drinking games, Korean and English. Soon enough the Korean guys were all red-faced and falling asleep - most of the Canadians were not even a little buzzed. Haha.

Anyways, the next morning, we got board rentals all arranged for us - 10 bucks each (as opposed to 30), got our lift tickets for 40 bucks instead of 60. And were let loose on the hill.

At first I was all laughing at the baby hill and all the people on it going slow. "I'll kick their ass!" I thought. And then I strapped my board on to go tearing down the hill. I figured I'd do one run down the baby hill just to test out my legs - hadn't been boarding in 8 years after all. Suddenly I fell down and cracked both my knees. Then I was inching down the snow, frozen in a hunched position, periodically collapsing onto the ground. I bet I looked real cool. Especially in my size-too-small boarding pants!!

Well, it turned into a fun day. Every run got better - especially after a tip from the "ski god" Marie-Eve ;) After which I could turn down the hills. Nat and I also spent a good chunk of the afternoon in Starbucks warmin' up with a bev. Hey what's a day on the hill without a hot drink?

The weekend was awesome, but was strange to just roll into Korea and be so well looked after. There has to be some mafia-rugby connection, Right??

Chain, Chain, Chain... of Illness

Today being the 14th of December, tomorrow will mark my one month anniversary here. What's one constant since I've been in Korea? Being ill.

I started out with a cough and a cold. Progressed to losing my voice. Lost the cold. Kept the dry cough for several weeks, not sleeping much because of it. Now it's turned into a cough and a really bad head cold - the kind that wears you down and makes you feel like a grumpy, tired slug all day.

Since what I have keeps changing, I keep putting off going to the doctor - also, I have no free time... wonder how long this will keep up?

Korean Use of English

One thing that always brightens my day is Korean place or shop names... or words in English that are just downright wrong. I guess it's the same as in China, where they think it's cool to use an English word - despite perhaps, not knowing what the word really means, or if it just sounds strange.

Last weekend, I saw a store called "Big Store." Not that bad, except the store was possibly one of the smallest stores I've ever seen. And then there's all the "Beer and Coffee Bars." Hmm.. good combo. I wonder if I can pick up a latte and a lager to go for breakfast? Oh and who can forget the bar near my house- "Beer Hunter." Every time I see the name I picture a guy decked out in army fatigues with a sniper rifle, stalking elusive cans of beer through the trees.

There's also this little kid at school with a shirt with English writing on it... I can't remember exactly what it says, but it's something about picking up college girls. Real appropriate for a 5 year old!

I was at the gym today working out, when one of the personal trainers comes at me with a crumpled little piece of paper. After some broken English and some miming, I realized he wanted me to edit his grammar for his final English oral exam. He took me into the office, which of course made the other gym guys curious - so they're all watching me correct this guy's grammar. It was pretty funny - when I was done he offered me a little jar of tomato juice - which was nice but I declined (was I supposed to hold it while I pedalled on the bike and lifted weights?) It probably would have been polite to accept, but oh well. Anyways, he told me to come ask him for help if I have any questions about working out, which is cool! I will have to take him up on the offer.

The French Quarter

This weekend was another of fun and interesting things happening in Seoul. What did I do? Visited a French festival complete with a skinny little Pere Noel in the French Quarter of Seoul.

First of all, what?! Seoul has a French Quarter?

Anyways, there were a bunch of tables set up selling everything from French wine to mulled wine, duck pate and bleu cheese. To my great surprise, I could understand a lot of the French being spoken - but trying to think of French words to respond, I could only come up with Spanish. Close enough, right?

I ended up buying a big package of specialty sausages (the breakfast type) and an imported hot mustard from France. It is strange how much I miss food from home - at least Seoul has places where, if you look hard enough, you can find these things. So what if they're rediculously expensive.

Speaking of expenses, we went out on Saturday night. Suddenly it was 5 am and I had no money left. Whoops. What happened in the interim? Couldn't say... Weekends in Seoul... sigh!

Ants, ants, I have ants...

First an apology - I usually try to make my posts have a theme, but this post will be a random mish-mash of thoughts and pictures...

Anyways, point one - I was looking at the molding by my bathroom yesterday and spotted a tiny little ant climbing the wall. As I walked by from time to time, I would see more and more. I can't figure out for the life of me where they're going and where they came from - I tried to covertly observe them, but they just move too damn slow. I was watching and then suddenly I was on my computer and I don't know what happened in between ;) I checked the garbages and any food sources, and they're not there, so I can only hope they're just passing through on their way to something better. At least that's what I'm telling myself. I can handle being a thouroughfare...

Two - picture of the free hugs I talked about in a previous post - so far, Koreans are awesome!

Three: During the week, I started to crave some food that I could recognize. So I went on a big mission to make flour tortillas. I bought flour and salt from the grocery store and kneaded the dough etc. They were actually quite good! Although not real tortillas - not like I have any sort of implement to roll them out... wish I had a camera to document that!!

Four: Another picture...

Marie-Eve, Harriet and I visited one of the big palaces in town. They had a little circle with all the signs of zodiac, this is me with mine - pig. It looks like something out of Planet of the Apes.. actually you should have seen the monkey statue!! Creepay!

Fifth: Okay so this post has turned into one of pictures... look on...

We found this little park with three booths and three phones - this one was a direct line to the mayor's office, I believe. One was for Koreans, and one was for foreigners to phone in and make suggestions about tourism in the city. We wanted to phone but had no real good ideas except having washrooms with toilet paper. Is that appropriate?? I dunno - so we didn't phone. Anyways, later in the day, we got snagged by some tourism students doing a survey, so if some changes get made - you can thank us!

And last:

This is at the palace as well - in the middle of the city. As Marie-Eve said in her blog (look I referenced!.. you can take the girl out of the university but you can't take the university out of the girl ;) Very Zen! too bad it costs to enter, otherwise I can see myself going and sitting by this pond and "meditating." Well, no.. not true, but I thought it made me sound good.

Kidisms

Cliche, yes. But kids say the FUNNIEST things.

Sometimes I find the kids way more amusing than I think they realize I do.

Today at lunch, I was sitting at a table by myself. I serve the kids lunch and there are only three small tables in the classroom - since I have a big tray of food, I wanted to sit away from them so they didn't knock anything over. One girl remarks, "Teacher is sitting alone," and this little 6 year old boy looks at me with sympathy and says "Don't worry Teacher, you can be my friend." This is the same little boy that just proclaimed that he was going to marry his mother. And who earlier sang "A man and a woman sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Hilary Teacher in the baby carriage. Then the baby carriage breaks because she's too heavy." HAHAHA.

This is the boy that also exclaimed loudly when the girls sang "Kyle and Evan sitting in a tree....etc." that "Boys and boys don't kiss."

Another little girl standing up was just below chest height on me. She looked up at my chest and exclaimed "Woooah!!" (Korean women are quite flat-chested for the most part), then "Teacher, baby in there??" (tapping my chest).

Anyways, as you may guess - I definitely am not minding teaching as much as I thought I would. The pay is excellent, the days go by fast, and I can't complain that the work is too hard. Aside from having to have lots of energy and patience, I get most of my material provided for me. Except today when I was trying to teach grammar and came across some grammatical rule about past participles that I was supposed to help the kids fill in the blanks on....I don't even know what a past participle is!! We skipped that one!

Saturday's a Rugby Day...

So my friend on the rugby team out here has flown in her ex-coach from South Africa for two weeks of seven's training. He's a professional coach, and since we are trying to go to the Hong Kong 7's (the big show, for any of you that don't know what it is... it's mostly a pro tournament with national teams from all over the world).

Saturday and today, Marinus (spelling??) has been coaching us. He's awesome. I'm had some good coaches, but how technically well Marinus knows the game is amazing. The first thing he did was break down spin passing to us - I learned things I've never even heard before! He's also been teaching us side steps and goose steps, those fun, pretty little steps that forwards never ever get to do. It's been a great experience so far, to have skills broken down into components. I feel like I've improved already as a player, after 2 coaching sessions. And not only have I improved, I've begun to remember what real rugby is supposed to be like - fun and challenging. Something I think has been missing out of my rugby experience for quite a few years now. It's too bad that he's only here for two weeks... and that our team can only practice one time a week, I'm so excited about the new stuff we've been learning, I wish we could practice every day.

Korean Chocolate

One thing Korea has that China didn't - delicious, delicous chocolate. And I mean good, dark chocolate. Available for cheap. Everywhere. The only really good chocolate I managed to find in China was Russian... available only in Russia-town. To be fair, I am staying in Seoul and where I stayed in China wasn't exactly a huge hub.... So anyways, I am in trouble. Who wouldn't want to end every evening with a few pieces of chocolate and a big glass of milk?

Hm... gym or chocolate?

Dance Studio

Today on a bus to an English Musical with my school, I spotted a Dance Studio advertising "poppin and lockin" class.

HAHAHAHAHA.

Maybe I should take a few classes. Wouldn't that be sweet if I returned home a professional popper and locker?

Just a thought...

Pub Golf

Okay, this picture is from the first weekend I was here. We had a "pub golf" tournament. For those who've never done it, the basic gist is to drink 4 drinks at each bar ("hole") to get par. For each 4 more your team drinks, you get one under par. There are special holes, like the drop shots - which basically meant you lie on the floor and have a shot dropped into your mouth from a height.

If you're still reading and thinking, "That doesn't sound like a very smart or good idea." You're right. It's not. In fact, perhaps, one of the dumber things I've done!

No-one ever claimed rugby players...or Kiwis were smart (wink wink).

An Illiterate Literate

What's it like in a land where you don't speak the language or read it? Oddly, I didn't have this problem in China, although I did have my lovely interpreters to help me out. Anyways, for some reason, I am finding buying Korean products particularly hard to navigate. Unless the brand is something that I recognize, it is very hard to tell what is actually in the box or bottle or bag you are purchasing.

Yesterday I tried to buy some dumplings - thinking they would be a good thing to have on hand when I get home late from work or the gym and don't feel like cooking much. ANyways, I thought I'd be safe with a package with a steak on the front. They've gotta be beef, right?

Wrong. I just cooked up a bowl and they're some weird noodles, an eggy mixture, and some kinda gross, tough pieces of meat.

I've also yet to figure out where garbage goes in my building. Today I went and explored the three basements, but couldn't find a garbage bin in sight. Before I take out the garbage, however, I need to buy some special garbage bags. No problem, right?

I spent about 10 minutes in the supermarket, walking up and down aisles. I finally found a section that seemed to have plastic bags. After much deliberation I went with a small box that looked promising. When I finally got home and happily pulled one out of the box (yes! time to finally take the garbage out!) turned out I'd bought a box of plastic gloves. What am I going to do with those!?

I think I'd better start studying Korean...

Intersection Guy

So in the main intersection by my house on weekday mornings there is this little guy - all of 5 feet tall - with a little hat and a whistle and gloves. He directs traffic, although the traffic lights are perfectly functional.

Anyways, I've only seen him once, but it pretty much made my week. He gets so into his job, flailing his arms about like wings, he madly blows his whistle and flaps one hand for the cars turning and one for cars going straight. The rises up onto his tippy-toes and glides backwards, and then shoots forwards, making motions like he is playing a flute. At one point, he moon-walked back across the intersection.

At this point, two things amaze me. One, that he doesn't get runover, and two, that the other people standing around me weren't laughing hysterically like I wanted to be.

You Can Call Me "Hilary Teacher"

So as of Thursday of last week, I am no longer Hilary. I am now "Hilary Teacher." All day long, I hear "Hello Hilary Teacher" being screamed down the halls. Little kids hang off of my arm. My voice is hoarse from yelling. I am sick from the little vectors. Kids are constantly coming to me in tears, "Pinky told me my singing is bad."... "Hilary Teacher, Kyle is crying because Evan stole his colour pencils." Yeah so I finally get how hard it is to be a teacher. Props to all the teachers out there.

On the other hand, it is not as bad as I thought. I have a lot of material provided for me.. and spend the rest of my time making up little worksheets for people to do. My genius idea this week was to draw two blank faces and let the kids colour them in. It went so well, until the kids started all drawing each other and putting hearts around them. I ended up with one kid in tears and having to kick another out of class. Fun times.

Korean kids are super quick to get upset, and very out of control. Doesn't help that since we're not a real school, so we have no real way of disciplining the kids - case in point, one little boy wouldn't stop shooting me with a toy machine gun. When I kicked him out, I could still hear him making machine gun sounds at me. Another little girl learned the words "sexy" and "passion" from TV, and spent the whole class pulling her sweater down over her shoulders at the boys and saying "sexy", and drawing "sexy pictures". I had to stop myself from laughing.

South Korean Adventure Begins...

After a panicked packing, I sat on a flight to South Korea, questioning the intelligence of my decision. I spent a good part of my 15 hours of travel feeling sad, small and lonely. Once I landed in Korea, I was much too tired to feel anything except tiredness - I was picked up at the airport and whisked off to my school. There I met with Sean (the bilingual director/teacher) and 'President' from my school. We went out for dinner - to make a long story short, my apartment wasn't ready so I had to move in with two Aussies for the first 5 days of my stay.

I spent the first two days observing the all-star teacher, Chris, who'd been at the school for 4 years and all the kids and other teachers seemed to love. It was good to see they way he taught, but kinda bad because it meant I also took over his schedule which is something like 138 hours a month (my contract's for 120), so I'll be making mad overtime, but burnt out.

First impressions of Korea?

1) I was pretty underwhelmed when I arrived.. but not in a bad way. I compare this to my trip to China which was completely overwhelming in size, noise, colour, etc. when we arrived. Korea is Asian and foreign but very clean and modern seeming - and despite being crowded is not nearly as crowded as China. However this could also be because I am used to living in an Asian environment...
2) Koreans are hard workers. The amount of hours they put in is nothing like I would ever do.
3) Koreans REALLY like their kimchi...and I mean REALLY.
4) While technology is very advanced here, sometimes communication is not. Took a week and a bit to get a phone installed and when it finally was, they installed a phone that didn't work. Also, my washing machine was put in and nestled against the wall without the hoses hooked up.
5) Korea is possibly the most Confucious place left on earth. Kids and adults alike will solve small or major problems with a game of rock-paper-scissors. Kids here are quick to get destroyed if someone wins a game or ends up with more points. Over the course of a class, I give out stars, but must sneakily finda way for everyone in the class to tie by the end or there will be a catastrophe of tears and upset.
6) I will lose my voice from yelling in about a week, I'm sure of it.
7) Sometimes kicking kids out of class is really satisfying.
8) Kids have no qualms about groping and touching me.
9) The Korean language is the hardest language to learn that I've ever tried. After a week here, I've only managed to pick up "Yes, no, thank you, hello and good bye".