Weird Asian Remedies!

So I got my first case of the really bad flu here! You know the kind where you spend your whole night heaving, even when you have nothing left in your stomach. So, after a full night of abs workout, aka puking my guts out, I though I might want to call in sick to work. Luckily for me they let me take one hour off and it happened to be my break time! :-( So I spent the whole day with trips to the bathroom and time with my head down. I managed to teach some things but I got mostly taken advantage of today. The kids ran the show but I was in no mood to care.

The director's wife finally showed up in my room after she saw that I didn't eat with the rest of the teachers with some weird flu medicine, some kind of eggsalad sandwich, hot water to drink, and also some apple flavored milk! Who wouldn't want to take 4 horse pills and also eat an eggsalad sandwich when they can't even keep water down. Just the sight of the sandwich sent me reeling! Now lets talk about this apple flavored milk business! Who the hell would drink apple milk with an upset stomach, not to mention any other time?! I'll just let you know it's as gross as it sounds and tastes absolutely horrible coming back up!

However, I did get some amusement out of the day listening to what the kids told me I should do to get better. Normally in America it's drink fluids and get some rest. Well here I was told to drink cola and eat a lot of ramen! Just the thought of it is just gross! I did get a kid saying I should eat some squid or octapus but I think he just wanted to see me spew! I know, they all love me!

Well, until next time, that is if I make it!

New Year's Eve in Seoul

This had to be one of my best New Year's ever! I had so much fun. Well, I'll start from the beginning. It guess it all started when..............

The day was Monday when I called Jacob, a guy who I just met who also teaches here in Gwangju. It just so happens that he also graduated from UWEC! What a coincidence, hey?! Well, I was just seeing if he was planning on going out to the foreign bars on New Year's Eve but instead I was invited to join him and two other girl friends on their adventure to Seoul. I responded accordingly by saying "Heck yes I do!".

So we took the KTX train to Seoul, which only took 3 hours vs the 4 hour bus ride. It was actually very comfy! It's arranged like a plane, but of course thinner. There are only two seats on each side and it even has a food and beverage cart that goes up and down the isle. Once we got to Seoul we took the subway to our Hotel, which was right downtown. We were directly across from city hall. The hotel was wicked expensive. It was $300 a night for a one bed suit. Did you hear that? One bed for 3 girls and 1 boy! We all decided after we're lit-up we wouldn't care where we sleep, which turned out to be totally true.

We started the night out by having dinner. The place we went had a $100 buffet. I passed on that and instead had chicken curry, rice, and water for $23. It wasn't even that tastey! But the restaurant was beautiful. It had a sort of modern deco feel to it with very warm wood tones. After dinner we hit the local mart and bought some of Korea's finest soju. One bottle is about 20 cents American, I think. Anyways, 2 bottles is enough to get you really licked. We went to one of the girl's sister's house. She's an army wife. We had a nice family party until 5 or so of the young lieutenants showed up. We drank, took shots, and sang karaoke!

Afterwards, I left with the boys while the girls and Jacob went to enjoy the lights and fireworks. I hit up the bars. It was so much fun. I didn't pay for a drink the whole night and I didn't even pay for the subway or taxis either. Gosh, those guys are so nice. Anyways, we ended up staying out until 5:30 in the morning so we didn't have to worry much about sleeping. Jacob left at 5am to go back so I was left alone to make my way home. I had some trouble on the subway, it was hard finding the stop I needed to go to and I was given a faulty ticket. I actually had to leap over the turn styles and got yelled at. Then when I went to the train station they only had one ticket left for Gwangju that day and it was first class. So I had to fork over extra cash just to get home. I was really lucky because if I wouldn't have gotten that ticket I would have been stuck in Seoul with no place to stay.

Once back in Gwangju I had to wait 30 minutes for a taxi because there were so many people there. I happened to get in one where you risk your life. We ran more than 3 red lights, almost got hit by a bus, almost hit 3 other cars, and nearly ran over a person! I was hanging on for my dear, sweet life! I also got sick afterwards! Man, I'm really not as young as I used to be. I spent all of Friday, Saturday, and even Sunday sleeping trying to recover! I'm sad aren't I? But, it was totally worth it. I recommend Seoul for New Year's any time!

Well, until next time.

4 Score And ............

Four score and....actually a month ago, I was brought forth onto this continent and new nation. I have slightly adapted and have made numerous, make that countless mistakes. I bet no one knew how hard you have to work at daily life in a foreign country. Making food, buying food, getting around, and attempting to use chopsticks is a huge hassle. If I need to go shopping I build my whole day around a trip to the Lotte Mart, which is a 10 minute walk from my house. I have to make sure I have everything I need. Warm enough clothes, mittens to cushion my hands while carrying the bags back, my dictionary, notebook with useful phrases, money, alien card, camera just in case, 100W coin so I can get a shopping cart, and my Zune to listen to some tunes! So right away I'm slightly weighed down. Then once I get there and ask the nice people where to find things, by pointing at my dictionary and them dragging me around. I start my trek home. Half way home my arms start to shake and I feel like I can't go on but I man up and make it home and almost collapse! But for real, my bags do drop to the floor. That usually takes me about a couple hours. Then I put things away and start to cook food. So really it takes me about 3-4 hours to complete things but by this time I'm warmed up again in my apartment, full, satisfied, and then it's time for either a nap for some good old facebook!

I'm not lying! This is my typical weekend. Then the next day I have to start planning lessons so that I don't have to do it during the week because I'm extremely lazy in the mornings and after school I really don't want to do any more school work. I'm just like that. However, now that I have some foreign friends my weekends will slowly start to fill and I'll actually have to do a fulls days worth of work during the week so I can have my weekends free. I don't know why but for some reason I'm resenting having friends and a life at times like this! ;-)

But, back to the interesting things. I went to a buffet at the big bus station, which is really like a giant mall. And yes, the buffets are like the buffets back home but with all Asian food. I didn't even ask what I was eating because I really didn't want to know. I know I ate some octopus, squid, snail, mussel, raw tuna and crab, and the other stuff I just couldn't figure out. I did have a few normal dishes like beef stirfrye and some sweet pork. Overall it was delicious! They just kept forcing more and more food on me and finally I told them no more! I ate the least out of them but I'm the fattest one here! These skinny little Asians sure can eat and I have no idea as to where they pack it away! I took a sideways glance at the ice cream and gained 5 pounds! ;-)
But, I have to get going. I have to make my bed on the heated floor because I still haven't figured out how to work the heat here. I can only work the heated floor. It's the coldest day this year so far. Brrrrrr! It's -10C, I'm sorry to all my fellow Wisconsinites I'm becoming weak to cold temps over here in this mild climate!

The art of teaching a snowball fight!

Yesterday we finally had our first snowfall here so the kids were pretty excited, just like the ones back home get. However, I never thought that it would be a common occurrence to have your students bring you snowballs in your classroom when you're on the third floor in a business district. ??????????

Well anyways, I started to lay the smack down. I was trying to tell them not to bring snowball into the classroom and not to throw it inside. Needless to say, I eventually gave up. This snow was like a super sugar high to the max! No one could concentrate! Books were already out of the question and even the games I painstakingly made up were a flop due to this devil, white substance! But eventually, for my last class I gave in to them. I told them they had to do some learning, my super awesome game I made up, and then for the last part of class we'd have a snowball fight in the parking lot. Yes, I taught them how to snowball fight for English class! It was so much fun! It's not like back home where it gets dangerous and is no fun. We ran around like 5 year olds screaming and laughing. It was the best medicine I've had since I've been here. They totally recharged me in those 15 minutes we spent together. The only down side was that it was gang up on the teacher snow fight. Oh well, I showed them American style. I got them all good! Muhahaha!

I really needed that snowball fight because every Tuesday and Thursday my first class is my devil class! They a bunch of first graders that make me want to cry every class. I've never been bullied so much in my life but I feel a little better because I get to make them kneel in the corner with their hands raised for ten minutes if they're bad. I sit there and think in my head, how do you like that! I don't know who's more mature, me or them!! Hahaha!

So far the time I've spent here has been memorable, the whole 3 weeks of it! I'm wondering when I'm going to hit bottom with the culture shock. So far I've been right around normal. I wake up, get ready, go to work, go home, plan some lessons, dink around, and go to bed. Nothing very special but nothing terrible. I think that it's nice to have a routine when you're doing this so that you don't really miss home that much. However, most of my happiness, I'm sure, comes from skype! What a great invention! I call home to update everyone and talk about my days. The best part is that it's free and it's a video phone! The only downer is the time difference and they eat good American food in front of me! Talk about rude! I'm starving over here eating eggs and rice while they're eating steak and potatoes!

Well, until next time! Peace out!

To Teach Or Not To Teach!

So yesterday marked the end of my first week of teaching. I'm physically and mentally depleted! I really only teach for 6.5 hours a day but I also have to make up my lesson plans, so that really rounds me up to about 8 hours. I don't know what I expected when I came over here but it's totally different than what I thought. Most people would be suprised by me. The normally controlling, bossy Shayna has mellowed out a lot. I decided I can't take this too seriously especially since it's my first week.



I spent the whole week stuggling each class to assess where they were at level-wise, where they were at in their books, what they did before with the previous teacher, and if they didn't have books I had to figure out my own lessons. I'm not going to lie, I barely made it through this week. I also got the flu and now a bad cold is just lingering. Man, what stress will do to you.


I'm guessing that I'll struggle through a few more weeks before I get the hang of things. I really thought that there would be lesson plans or a more strict curriculum but I guess it's all up to me. I also thought that I would be paired up with a Korean teacher but I'm on my own. I also haven't received any help from the other teachers. For the most part the other teachers stay out of each others way and don't relaly interact. Oh well, I guess my rosey image of making friends with the other teachers is out.


Even though I complain a lot, I still really like this job so far. The kids are really nice. Most of them are more interested in me than in English. The only reason they speak English to me is because they're curious about me and I can't speak Korean. Almost every student HATES English but my love for Harry Potter and Twilight has made me a lot of student friends.


Some of my students bring me food every day. Julie an 11 year old girl brought me some bread her and her mom made, the next time she brought me sweet-potatoe cookies she made, some Korean oranges the next time, and she made me some Korean flashcards. Aother student, I can't remember his name, brings me candy every day. Other students like to bring me spicy food because they think that the weird foreign teacher will react funny but to their suprise I love spicy food! Hahaha jokes on you guys! ;-)


I feel kinda bad that I can't remember my students' names but I have about 130 students! Most of them I only teach them for an hour once a week. The first and second graders are the only ones I teach twice a week. However, they go to the other teachers other days of the week so they all stop by my classroom to hang out and chat if I'm not busy. I think my main role in this school is to be a foreigner, so the school can say that they have a native English speaker teaching here. I'm also here for pronunciation and conversation. I've also decided that my class is going to be the fun class with lots of games. That makes it more fun for me too! ;-)


Next on my list to conquer in this city is to figure out where I can buy TP and garbage bags! Those two very important items seem to be hiding from me in all the marts that I find! Guess I'll have to walk my but over to the Lotte Mart and search there and then trudge my way back carrying a ton of crap. At least I'll get to walk by the World Cup Stadium again.


Peace! Until next time!

Kimchi

The question of the day is ................. "Exactly how many different types of Kimchi are there?"

Word on the street here in Gwangju, SK, they say there are at least 192 different types of Kimchi! They vary with region and season. I trust these people too, based on the fact that Gwangju is home of the Kimchi-fest every year! However, I know it doesn't hold a candle to Rutabaga Festival! Am I right fellow Cumberlonians? ;-)

Anyways, just thought I'd let you know how delicious Kimchi was. I don't really like the cabbage version, seeing as I don't really like cabbage, but it's ok. My favorite is the raddish version! Now that's lip-smacking deliciousness!

This picture is just a few of the varieties of Kimchi. If I listed them all off I would feel like Bubba talking about shrimp!

Arrival After a Lifetime of Travelling

I finally arrived in the Incheon/Seoul airport after, what seems like, a lifetime of travelling. You know with the 7 hours it took to drive down to Chicago so that I could pick up my visa and fly out from the Chicago O'hare international airport. I had a 3.5 hour layover in SanFransisco, plus the 12 hour flight to Incheon, South Korea.

After arriving at the airport in South Korea I went through customs, which wasn't bad at all. All they did was stamp me and I was in. Then I had to take a 4.5 hour bus ride to Gwangju, my city. But I had to make sure to tell the lady giving me the ticket that I wanted Gwangju City in Jeollanam Province. Otherwise I would end up in Gwangju on the other side of Korea. By some miracle I made it on the right bus by asking a lot of people, who couldn't understand me but I just thrust my ticket at them. Luckily a nice coulple pushed me onto the right bus! Whew!

The next problem was finding the people who were supposed to meet me at the bus station. Where was I supposed to meet them? No one told me that!! But fortunately they got there early and saw me as the only foreigner and came and grabbed me right away. By this time it was 11pm and I had been traveling for 28 hours! Me so sleepy!!

I however, didn't get to go to bed right away, they insisted on taking me on a tour around the area to show me everything. I feel sorry for them because I was so delerious with sleep that I didn't see a thing and my responses were very limited. They eventually showed me to my apartment, which I still don't know the address of.

The aparment reminds me of a dorm, with a tiny kitchenette and a little ity-bity bathroom. But it's my home and I like it, minus the mold and dirt!

Well, anyways, I'll write down some more adventures later until then I need to learn some hangul!!