Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Pictures Continued...
Pic one is the Canadian National team at Interski- a bunch of Marie-Eve's friends. Pic two is some Korean traditional dancers at the Interski opening ceremonies. Pic three is Shauna, Me and TY a few weekends before on the chairlift at Pheonix Park, four is synchronized skiing from Interski (how cool!!) and 5 is me as usual being a fool on a (insert place name here) ski hill.
Pictures co. Marie-Eve
Okay, first pic is of me RIPPING down a green run. I sure schooled all those beginners!! Second is the flags of all the countries participating in Interski. Third, me with a real cool and effective sounding drink: "Fat Down." Hmm.. wonder what it's for?? Four really needs no explanation. And five is one of the Korean guys in traditional skiing or hunting?? (dunno- Tarzan?) gear at the opening ceremonies of Interski.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
More Kid's Comments
Today was one of the few days I actually wore my hair down. Because it's curly and red it always causes such a stir I prefer to tie it back. Well actually for those of you who know me I always wear it tied back, I am just trying to make myself sound way cooler than I actually am ;)
Anyways first thing in the morning I walk down the hall of my school and three girls I teach start squealing and pointing at me and saying, "Teacher! Hair!" So I flip my hair like a supermodel and strut into the teachers room. Yeah, I'm soo cool!
In my first class, I'm sitting with the kids, and one of my girls says to me, "Hilary Teacher, your hair looks like long worms attached to your head." I nearly fall out of my chair laughing. What a way to describe hair. The funniest part is I think she meant it as something nice. Ahh me and my long wormy hair!
Anyways first thing in the morning I walk down the hall of my school and three girls I teach start squealing and pointing at me and saying, "Teacher! Hair!" So I flip my hair like a supermodel and strut into the teachers room. Yeah, I'm soo cool!
In my first class, I'm sitting with the kids, and one of my girls says to me, "Hilary Teacher, your hair looks like long worms attached to your head." I nearly fall out of my chair laughing. What a way to describe hair. The funniest part is I think she meant it as something nice. Ahh me and my long wormy hair!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Korean Saunas
This weekend Marie-Eve and I went snowboarding/skiing again. At one of the hills - Yong Pyong (the city Vancouver beat out for the 2010 Olympics), they were having the Interski Congress - it's like the world cup for ski instructors for all over the world, held once every four years. So there were teams from all over the world - Canada, Montenegro, Italy, GB, NZ, Slovenia, etc. To name a few. Marie-Eve knew a bunch of the Canadian team so we spent some time hanging out with them, which was cool. Also the American team wasn't there on account of it being Korea and security problems (quel suprise!). On Sunday morning we got to see the opening ceremonies, which were a bunch of Korean dancing, drums etc. And each team doing one run down the hill doing synchronized skiing. Very cool!
Anyways back to my original point, we spent the night in a hostel. And this isn't the first place I've stayed that thinks a good ambient sleeping temp. is about 30 celsius. No joke! It was like trying to sleep in a sauna. And Koreans seem to just think this was great. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep for the night!
Anyways back to my original point, we spent the night in a hostel. And this isn't the first place I've stayed that thinks a good ambient sleeping temp. is about 30 celsius. No joke! It was like trying to sleep in a sauna. And Koreans seem to just think this was great. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep for the night!
Friday, January 26, 2007
Culture Shock
Hmm... Haven't posted anything in a while.. what to write?
Anyone ever read that chart of the stages you go through adjusting to a new country? If not, check out http://student-services2.utoledo.edu/international/predeparture/shock.html
From my time in China and my time here in Korea, I'd have to say it's fairly accurate. Unfortunately I am in the "irritation" stage. I am annoyed with everything and everyone. I hate that everything is a big hassle - for example I finally found out yesterday where to take my recycling. Until then I'd been covertly sneaking plastic bottles out in my trash or taking them to the subway or other places with garbage to throw away... I hated doing it but had no idea where they went! And of course not speaking Korean, I had no idea who to ask and didn't know what I would ask anyways.
Also of annoyance is the fact that I haven't been sleeping well. One of my neighbours thinks it's really cool to practice his electric guitar nights between 12:30 am and 3 am, most nights. Also there's a bar outside my window which inevitably means there are some drunkards running around and yelling outside almost every night as well. I want to get a sniper rifle and sit here in wait. The other night these people were yelling at the top of their lungs for so long.. All I could think was "Aren't you cold? Go home!!" And then of course is the food issue - don't get me wrong... I love Korean food! But the food I am served at school is rediculously bad! Well, it's prepared in a tiny kitchen by one lady for about 100 kids, so I can't fault her.. also kids like things that are more bland then adults... But I'd say most days of the week there's only rice and some other dish that I don't mind eating. Some days there's nothing. And even the stuff I don't mind is starting to get on my nerves!!
And then of course is the fact that all my friends live so far away. So going to see them is such a big trek. In the busy subway or train all crushed in with all the people. And don't even get me started on the smog...
Sigh. Last night I spent awake tossing and turning because of a fever, what else is new? Hilary is sick in Korea....
Anyways I am gonna stop this post before I depress myself even more!
Anyone ever read that chart of the stages you go through adjusting to a new country? If not, check out http://student-services2.utoledo.edu/international/predeparture/shock.html
From my time in China and my time here in Korea, I'd have to say it's fairly accurate. Unfortunately I am in the "irritation" stage. I am annoyed with everything and everyone. I hate that everything is a big hassle - for example I finally found out yesterday where to take my recycling. Until then I'd been covertly sneaking plastic bottles out in my trash or taking them to the subway or other places with garbage to throw away... I hated doing it but had no idea where they went! And of course not speaking Korean, I had no idea who to ask and didn't know what I would ask anyways.
Also of annoyance is the fact that I haven't been sleeping well. One of my neighbours thinks it's really cool to practice his electric guitar nights between 12:30 am and 3 am, most nights. Also there's a bar outside my window which inevitably means there are some drunkards running around and yelling outside almost every night as well. I want to get a sniper rifle and sit here in wait. The other night these people were yelling at the top of their lungs for so long.. All I could think was "Aren't you cold? Go home!!" And then of course is the food issue - don't get me wrong... I love Korean food! But the food I am served at school is rediculously bad! Well, it's prepared in a tiny kitchen by one lady for about 100 kids, so I can't fault her.. also kids like things that are more bland then adults... But I'd say most days of the week there's only rice and some other dish that I don't mind eating. Some days there's nothing. And even the stuff I don't mind is starting to get on my nerves!!
And then of course is the fact that all my friends live so far away. So going to see them is such a big trek. In the busy subway or train all crushed in with all the people. And don't even get me started on the smog...
Sigh. Last night I spent awake tossing and turning because of a fever, what else is new? Hilary is sick in Korea....
Anyways I am gonna stop this post before I depress myself even more!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Initiated into the Club
What club you might ask? Well - read on to find out!!
I have a new class in the afternoons. It's 5 kids that are "six years old" in Korean speak, that usually means that they are 5. Here, they turn a year older on Jan. 1st - so in Korean, I am 24 not 23, even though my birthday is not until May 31. Even if the kid is born on Dec. 31 - they turn one on Jan. 1, so theoretically a kid could be one year old but really only one day!
Anyways, the class hardly speaks English and there's one little girl that is only 5 (4 in real age). Last class, she spent the better part of 30 minutes with tears brimming in her eyes and her lower lip quivering - and finally broke down so I had to take her out of class. Today, she almost immediately started crying, so I took her down to the front desk. I finally got a teacher to translate, and she said that she missed her mom. When they finally brought her back to class, she started crying again. So I picked her up like a doll and carried her around for a bit. Then I put her in a chair at the front and sat with her and helped her do her work. This seemed to suitably distract her, and she even went and sat at the table with all the other kids by the end of class so she could colour!
But anyways in the midst of all this, she starts walking all funny and says something to me in Korean, which I intuitively took to mean, "I have to pee." So I follow her to the bathroom wondering to myself, "Can 4 year olds go to the bathroom by themselves? Do I have to help? To what extent do I have to help?"
So she goes, and I kind of leave the door half open and awkwardly stand there, until I hear a little "Haseyo." (Done). So I go in - thankfully she knew how to go herself, so I just had to help her pull up her pants and tuck in her shirt.
So I'm finally initated into the little kid bathroom club! I've heard other teachers that teach the little babies talk about having to do that but until this day I never had. First time for everything!
I have a new class in the afternoons. It's 5 kids that are "six years old" in Korean speak, that usually means that they are 5. Here, they turn a year older on Jan. 1st - so in Korean, I am 24 not 23, even though my birthday is not until May 31. Even if the kid is born on Dec. 31 - they turn one on Jan. 1, so theoretically a kid could be one year old but really only one day!
Anyways, the class hardly speaks English and there's one little girl that is only 5 (4 in real age). Last class, she spent the better part of 30 minutes with tears brimming in her eyes and her lower lip quivering - and finally broke down so I had to take her out of class. Today, she almost immediately started crying, so I took her down to the front desk. I finally got a teacher to translate, and she said that she missed her mom. When they finally brought her back to class, she started crying again. So I picked her up like a doll and carried her around for a bit. Then I put her in a chair at the front and sat with her and helped her do her work. This seemed to suitably distract her, and she even went and sat at the table with all the other kids by the end of class so she could colour!
But anyways in the midst of all this, she starts walking all funny and says something to me in Korean, which I intuitively took to mean, "I have to pee." So I follow her to the bathroom wondering to myself, "Can 4 year olds go to the bathroom by themselves? Do I have to help? To what extent do I have to help?"
So she goes, and I kind of leave the door half open and awkwardly stand there, until I hear a little "Haseyo." (Done). So I go in - thankfully she knew how to go herself, so I just had to help her pull up her pants and tuck in her shirt.
So I'm finally initated into the little kid bathroom club! I've heard other teachers that teach the little babies talk about having to do that but until this day I never had. First time for everything!
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