on friday, all of the EPIK teachers in incheon left together on a bus. it took about one hour to get from seoul to incheon. we were shoved off the bus and given all of our luggage. standing outside in the hot sun, all of the co-teachers came out to find us. it was a mess. about 50 teachers trying to find their matching partner. eventually, i found my co-teacher because he was holding a sign with my number and my name (spelled wrong, of course). his name is bo and he is a very kind man who knows quite a bit of english. we've already shared several meals together and he's been more than generous with his time. it is interesting to note that the co-teachers do not get any compensation for their job. he does a lot of extra running around to help me out because he wants to (or maybe he was lowest on the totem pole and the other teachers forced him to). either way, i am happy. after student teaching with male cooperating teachers, i think i am used to working with men and actually prefer to.
after taking me for sushi on friday, bo took me to the school that i will be working at. it is shinsong highschool. a co-ed school with about 1,500 students in three grades (equivalent to sophomores, juniors, and seniors). i will only be teaching the sophomores and juniors. in addition, i will be teaching the teachers for 2 hours every week. when i mentioned that i was interested in biking to school, the teachers bent over backward to get me a bike. the school has its own bicycles and they are allowing me to borrow one for the year. it is a red cruiser with a basket in the front...i could not be more ecstatic! the frame is a bit small, but i cannot complain. all of the other teachers i have met so far are very friendly and everyone said that they had been anticipating my arrival for quite some time.
as for my accommodations, i will be living about 5km away from the school. near the school, everything is brand new (the school is only 4 years old), so housing nearby is VERY expensive. i live in the older part of the yeonsu dong, an area in southern incheon. i am close to a bus stop and a subway stop, but the subway does not go all the way to my school. the place that i am living in is very small...called an officetel (aka studio, efficiency). it so small, especially after living in madison with so much space. i am content though. i have everything that i need. please watch the video below for a tour of my new pad!
it's now saturday afternoon and i have to do some shopping. i need a few things for around the apartment and some school/teaching supplies. i received my 300,000 won settlement allowance (about $300 USD), opened a bank account, and will have a cell phone monday after school! i am hoping that we will be able to get an internet connection soon. the first company we tried said they would not service to foreigners. strange! right now, i am at a pc bang (internet cafe) which is filled with prepubescent boys playing starcraft. not the most calming environment...
Friday, August 29, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
korea rhymes with urea.
i arrived safely in korea several days ago, but have been too busy to take the time to write about my experiences. i left from the central wisconsin airport early on wednesday august 20th. i flew to chicago o'hare and had to wait there for several hours until my next flight. the flight from chicago to seoul was almost 13 hours, but bearable. i suppose after flying to japan, i knew what to expect. i had an aisle seat and sat next to an old vietnamese couple. i was disappointed to find out that there were not any individual tv sets built into the seats. this meant much less entertainment. much longer flight.
upon arriving at the incheon/seoul international airport, i collected my luggage, went through customs, baggage claims, and started searching for the EPIK (english program in korea) information booth. it was easy to find. most areas in the airport do not have handfuls of blonde-haired, blue-eyed people standing around. this is not to say that EPIK teachers are a homogeneous group. as a fairly fair caucasian, i sometimes feel like a minority within the group of teachers here. there are many asian-americans, african-americans, couples, families with children, etc. i think it is great that EPIK recruiting has branched out and attracted so many different sorts of native-english speaking people.
at the airport, i was introduced to scott kim, one of the recruiters from footprints (the recruiting company that i went through). he immediately pointed out other footprint recruits, including rachel and leah. little did i know that these two girls would quickly become my new confidants. if it's not enough that leah shares a name with my sister, she also grew up in madison, wisconsin and went to school at uw-milwaukee and she will be teaching in the same city as me. rachel is from minnesota and will be teaching a few hours away from us, but all being midwesterners, we get along effortlessly.
i've met a lot of other great people thus far into the orientation. names that you may come across in the future include:
* stephanie & josh: a couple from canada who have already taught in korea for two years. so nice and willing to share first-hand knowledge and advice with me.
* nick: curly haired gentleman from maine. loves the same music that i do. we have a special connection (platonic).
* cameron aka cam: freckled boy from the north island of new zealand. fun guy and lovely accent.
* john: friendly chap from england. he gives me as much heat and sarcasm as i give him.
* and many, many more (sorry to those who weren't mentioned, i love you all).
orientation has been full of waiting. i think that i will be a much more patient person when i come home. koreans are definitely not too concerned about punctuality. they always tell us to make sure that we are on time, but everything starts late and has some sort of disintegrating organization. alas, it could be worse. we sit through many boring lectures. there are tidbits of useful information, but most of it can be read independently in the big handbooks that they gave us at the beginning of the week.
any free time (which isn't a lot), has been spent exploring the seoul area, particularly here around konkuk university. i am reminded of the narrow, crowded, neon-lit, street vendor filled streets of japan, but realize sights, sounds, and scents unique to korea. kimchi is one of the more famous korean foods. it is basically spicy, fermented vegetables, generally including cabbage. it is served at every meal. yes, even breakfast. i have never consumed so much spicy food so early in the morning before embarking on this journey. the food at orientation in so-so. it is cafeteria-korean food so it has a ceiling on the level of deliciousness possible.
other adventures thus far have included:
* a trip to a korean folk village. a mock village with traditional korean architecture, dance, music, games, etc. it was informative, but a bit touristy and we spent too much time there.
* dinner at a korean bbq restaurant. i ate a lot of red meat for the first time in ages. i've already decided that i won't be as strict about avoiding red meat. there are too many delicious foods here that automatically include beef and pork. i want to adapt to the typical lifestyle as much as possible.
* a night out at juju bar. a second story bar complete with zebra patterned couches and velour accents. we drank plenty of soju (a vodka type liquor) and cass (popular domestic beer). more to come on korean drinking culture...
* a mini-trip to itaewon. itaweon is known as one of the main foreigner's districts in seoul. there are many street vendors and small shops that cater to the needs/desires of foreigners. also present are a subway, quizno's, mcdonald's, coldstone creamery, and outback steakhouse. i had a sub at quizno's that tasted exactly the same as at home, but perhaps the portion was a bit smaller. this trip required taking the subway which was a great learning experience. i now have a t-money card which will works as a debit card for all transportation around the seoul area. the subways are large, clean, frequent, and cheap! round trip transportation across the city was about $1.50!
* norae-bong, the korean word for singing room aka karaoke! after another crazy night at juju bar, a large group of teachers-in-training and i went to our own private singing room. you pay by the hour and have thousands of songs to choose from. also included for no extra charge, are red and green mini strobe lights. it felt a bit like christmas on acid.
it's already tuesday evening, so i've been gone almost one full week. a couple more days of training and then i will meet my supervisors and be transported to incheon on friday. i am eager to find out where my school will be and what my apartment will be like. stay tuned...
leah at the korean bbq.
(from left to right) rachel, steph, josh and me.
notice all of the neon signs in the background.
upon arriving at the incheon/seoul international airport, i collected my luggage, went through customs, baggage claims, and started searching for the EPIK (english program in korea) information booth. it was easy to find. most areas in the airport do not have handfuls of blonde-haired, blue-eyed people standing around. this is not to say that EPIK teachers are a homogeneous group. as a fairly fair caucasian, i sometimes feel like a minority within the group of teachers here. there are many asian-americans, african-americans, couples, families with children, etc. i think it is great that EPIK recruiting has branched out and attracted so many different sorts of native-english speaking people.
at the airport, i was introduced to scott kim, one of the recruiters from footprints (the recruiting company that i went through). he immediately pointed out other footprint recruits, including rachel and leah. little did i know that these two girls would quickly become my new confidants. if it's not enough that leah shares a name with my sister, she also grew up in madison, wisconsin and went to school at uw-milwaukee and she will be teaching in the same city as me. rachel is from minnesota and will be teaching a few hours away from us, but all being midwesterners, we get along effortlessly.
i've met a lot of other great people thus far into the orientation. names that you may come across in the future include:
* stephanie & josh: a couple from canada who have already taught in korea for two years. so nice and willing to share first-hand knowledge and advice with me.
* nick: curly haired gentleman from maine. loves the same music that i do. we have a special connection (platonic).
* cameron aka cam: freckled boy from the north island of new zealand. fun guy and lovely accent.
* john: friendly chap from england. he gives me as much heat and sarcasm as i give him.
* and many, many more (sorry to those who weren't mentioned, i love you all).
orientation has been full of waiting. i think that i will be a much more patient person when i come home. koreans are definitely not too concerned about punctuality. they always tell us to make sure that we are on time, but everything starts late and has some sort of disintegrating organization. alas, it could be worse. we sit through many boring lectures. there are tidbits of useful information, but most of it can be read independently in the big handbooks that they gave us at the beginning of the week.
any free time (which isn't a lot), has been spent exploring the seoul area, particularly here around konkuk university. i am reminded of the narrow, crowded, neon-lit, street vendor filled streets of japan, but realize sights, sounds, and scents unique to korea. kimchi is one of the more famous korean foods. it is basically spicy, fermented vegetables, generally including cabbage. it is served at every meal. yes, even breakfast. i have never consumed so much spicy food so early in the morning before embarking on this journey. the food at orientation in so-so. it is cafeteria-korean food so it has a ceiling on the level of deliciousness possible.
other adventures thus far have included:
* a trip to a korean folk village. a mock village with traditional korean architecture, dance, music, games, etc. it was informative, but a bit touristy and we spent too much time there.
* dinner at a korean bbq restaurant. i ate a lot of red meat for the first time in ages. i've already decided that i won't be as strict about avoiding red meat. there are too many delicious foods here that automatically include beef and pork. i want to adapt to the typical lifestyle as much as possible.
* a night out at juju bar. a second story bar complete with zebra patterned couches and velour accents. we drank plenty of soju (a vodka type liquor) and cass (popular domestic beer). more to come on korean drinking culture...
* a mini-trip to itaewon. itaweon is known as one of the main foreigner's districts in seoul. there are many street vendors and small shops that cater to the needs/desires of foreigners. also present are a subway, quizno's, mcdonald's, coldstone creamery, and outback steakhouse. i had a sub at quizno's that tasted exactly the same as at home, but perhaps the portion was a bit smaller. this trip required taking the subway which was a great learning experience. i now have a t-money card which will works as a debit card for all transportation around the seoul area. the subways are large, clean, frequent, and cheap! round trip transportation across the city was about $1.50!
* norae-bong, the korean word for singing room aka karaoke! after another crazy night at juju bar, a large group of teachers-in-training and i went to our own private singing room. you pay by the hour and have thousands of songs to choose from. also included for no extra charge, are red and green mini strobe lights. it felt a bit like christmas on acid.
it's already tuesday evening, so i've been gone almost one full week. a couple more days of training and then i will meet my supervisors and be transported to incheon on friday. i am eager to find out where my school will be and what my apartment will be like. stay tuned...
leah at the korean bbq.
(from left to right) rachel, steph, josh and me.notice all of the neon signs in the background.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
making the most of my time in wisco.
i moved out of madison a few days ago. my last night in madison included an enjoyable dinner at buraka on state street and several cheap drinks at the big ten pub with becky, dan, liz and colin. i barely managed to cram the rest of my belongings into the ol' trusty '89 camry. the drive home was all-too-familiar. unfortunately, the car does not have working air conditioning and only the driver's side window rolls down. i can deal with the heat, but pearl (my cat...soon to be leah's) could not. i have never seen a cat with its mouth open so wide, tongue sticking out, panting like a saint bernard. i stopped by dexter's to say goodbye to jeff, but could not stay long because of the feverish feline. she settled in eventually as the sun went down and even fell asleep.
wednesday night, i met aunt paulette, uncle mike, amelia and matthew at the VFW for b-i-n-g-o! i was hoping to continue my winning streak (last summer i won $200 on the final blackout game). however, no one in our group won anything. anything monetary, at least. of course we still had a great time by mocking the bingo caller who sounded exactly like bob barker, by gawking at the grandpa hubert look-alike, and by trying to converse without getting "shushed" by our serious neighbors.
thursday included a much-dreaded trip to the dentist. the only good thing that came out of this adventure would have to be the free toothbrush, floss and three tubes of travel-sized toothpaste.
friday was when dad and i left for our mini-weekend trip. a few days before, i had signed up online for the hayward inline marathon. since the race started at 7:30am on saturday, it was necessary to drive up there the day before. we found a beautiful camping area next to the namekagon river. the best part was that it was free! we each set up our own tent and then headed to town. i picked up my registration packet: #122 and was ready for some exploring. we went to moccasin's bar, had a beer while ogling the world's largest muskie, caught by cal johnson in 1949. it wasn't really that spectacular, but the northwoodsy-small-town-tavern feel was appreciated. dinner involved a chicken taco pizza from coop's restaurant. once again, nothing spectacular, but we were hungry. i retired early, knowing that i would have to be up by 6am the next morning to get ready for the race.
i slept for a few hours soundly, but then awoke to some weird music around 1am. i figured it was some live entertainment at a bar and would be over by 2. i was wrong. the music continued until 5am. the noise combined with a tent pitched on an incline did not lead to a satisfactory sleep. i was awake before the alarm went off, yet excited to participate in my 2nd inline marathon. i was a bit intimidated by all of the hardcore, semi-pro skaters in their one-piece spandex get-ups, but felt confident with the training i had done in madison.
the race was a mass start, which is a guarantee for early crashes. several men in front of me stumbled upon each other and rolled. luckily, i was able to swerve to avoid them and continued on my merry way. it was only merry for about 2 miles...then i reached the first of many hills. people had described this course as having rolling hills, but that was a bit modest. after skating the flat capitol city trail in madison, my legs were not prepared. i still skated hard and tried my best. i won a mini-sprint race within the race which earned me a t-shirt. a large t-shirt that will now be worn by my father.
i finished strong, with a smile on my face, knowing that i did not meet my goal of 1 hour and 40 minutes. i was shocked when i found out that it took me 2 hours and 9 minutes. later, however, we were informed that the course was actually 28 miles instead of 26. also, i had to skate the entire race by myself....no pace lines or drafting. the top skaters were too fast and the rec skaters were too slow. due to the hills and added length, everyone's times were slower. in duluth, the top skaters will finish in about 1 hour, but here, the top skaters came in at 1 hour and 23 minutes. compensating for those differences, i was really happy with my time. i found out later that i placed! for the full marathon, i was 3rd in females 30 yrs. and under. i also was 3rd place for the "athena" category (women over 160 lbs.). i received a wooden plaque and was recognized at the awards ceremony. other goodies included: embroidered socks, a coffee mug, a tasty sub sandwich, microbrewery beer, and no new injuries! i would definitely do this race again in the future.
last night after i returned home from hayward, i quickly showered and headed over to sam's graduation party. i felt awful that we had gone over a year without seeing/talking to each other. however, once we saw each other, it was as though we had just spoken. we had a lot to catch up on, but it immediately felt like the good ol' days. sam will be headed off to law school in st. paul in one week, so hopefully we can get together before we part ways for at least another year.
today was a day of errands. i mowed the lawn and helped get stuff together for our next adventure. tomorrow, my mom, dad, aunt jenny and i will be going to the turtle flambeau flowage near mercer, wi and the manitowish waters area. we will be camping on the islands in the flowage and kayaking around them during the day. i don't know if i will be able to do any kayaking in korea, so i must enjoy this opportunity. i love paddling.
wednesday night, i met aunt paulette, uncle mike, amelia and matthew at the VFW for b-i-n-g-o! i was hoping to continue my winning streak (last summer i won $200 on the final blackout game). however, no one in our group won anything. anything monetary, at least. of course we still had a great time by mocking the bingo caller who sounded exactly like bob barker, by gawking at the grandpa hubert look-alike, and by trying to converse without getting "shushed" by our serious neighbors.
thursday included a much-dreaded trip to the dentist. the only good thing that came out of this adventure would have to be the free toothbrush, floss and three tubes of travel-sized toothpaste.
friday was when dad and i left for our mini-weekend trip. a few days before, i had signed up online for the hayward inline marathon. since the race started at 7:30am on saturday, it was necessary to drive up there the day before. we found a beautiful camping area next to the namekagon river. the best part was that it was free! we each set up our own tent and then headed to town. i picked up my registration packet: #122 and was ready for some exploring. we went to moccasin's bar, had a beer while ogling the world's largest muskie, caught by cal johnson in 1949. it wasn't really that spectacular, but the northwoodsy-small-town-tavern feel was appreciated. dinner involved a chicken taco pizza from coop's restaurant. once again, nothing spectacular, but we were hungry. i retired early, knowing that i would have to be up by 6am the next morning to get ready for the race.
i slept for a few hours soundly, but then awoke to some weird music around 1am. i figured it was some live entertainment at a bar and would be over by 2. i was wrong. the music continued until 5am. the noise combined with a tent pitched on an incline did not lead to a satisfactory sleep. i was awake before the alarm went off, yet excited to participate in my 2nd inline marathon. i was a bit intimidated by all of the hardcore, semi-pro skaters in their one-piece spandex get-ups, but felt confident with the training i had done in madison.
the race was a mass start, which is a guarantee for early crashes. several men in front of me stumbled upon each other and rolled. luckily, i was able to swerve to avoid them and continued on my merry way. it was only merry for about 2 miles...then i reached the first of many hills. people had described this course as having rolling hills, but that was a bit modest. after skating the flat capitol city trail in madison, my legs were not prepared. i still skated hard and tried my best. i won a mini-sprint race within the race which earned me a t-shirt. a large t-shirt that will now be worn by my father.
i finished strong, with a smile on my face, knowing that i did not meet my goal of 1 hour and 40 minutes. i was shocked when i found out that it took me 2 hours and 9 minutes. later, however, we were informed that the course was actually 28 miles instead of 26. also, i had to skate the entire race by myself....no pace lines or drafting. the top skaters were too fast and the rec skaters were too slow. due to the hills and added length, everyone's times were slower. in duluth, the top skaters will finish in about 1 hour, but here, the top skaters came in at 1 hour and 23 minutes. compensating for those differences, i was really happy with my time. i found out later that i placed! for the full marathon, i was 3rd in females 30 yrs. and under. i also was 3rd place for the "athena" category (women over 160 lbs.). i received a wooden plaque and was recognized at the awards ceremony. other goodies included: embroidered socks, a coffee mug, a tasty sub sandwich, microbrewery beer, and no new injuries! i would definitely do this race again in the future.
last night after i returned home from hayward, i quickly showered and headed over to sam's graduation party. i felt awful that we had gone over a year without seeing/talking to each other. however, once we saw each other, it was as though we had just spoken. we had a lot to catch up on, but it immediately felt like the good ol' days. sam will be headed off to law school in st. paul in one week, so hopefully we can get together before we part ways for at least another year.
today was a day of errands. i mowed the lawn and helped get stuff together for our next adventure. tomorrow, my mom, dad, aunt jenny and i will be going to the turtle flambeau flowage near mercer, wi and the manitowish waters area. we will be camping on the islands in the flowage and kayaking around them during the day. i don't know if i will be able to do any kayaking in korea, so i must enjoy this opportunity. i love paddling.
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