Time here in Korea is flying by. It's almost close to the 2 month mark of my 6 month stay in Korea, and it I have yet to truly explore what this country has to offer. Waiting on that paycheque so I don't have to scrimp on the trips. There is a DMZ trip that I have my eye on, and I can't wait to finally book the ticket. It's a good thing there will be festivals galore in the coming months, and I'm excited to hit as many of them up as possible. I feel kind of bad though, I have yet to spend a weekend here in Muju. Being in the country is definetly something I'm not used to, so I need my dose of the city every week. Luckily, I have awesome friends in Jeonju who make my trips to the city incredibly worthwhile.
March has been a pretty good month. Aside from the bumps at the beginning dealing with housing and everything, it's been a real smooth time. Finally started to teach, and there is quite a range of students. My grade 1's and 2's are awesome. Although I have to find a way to spruce up learning about the alphabet. I've been doing A-H for a week now, and they still haven't gotten used to matching the sounds to the letter. They can sing the ABC song, but thats about it. I'm hoping to find a way to make it more interesting. My other class of grade 2's and 3's...are...boring. They look like they don't wanna be there, and participate to a bare-minimum. Even with the use of candy and stickers, they seem very unenthusiastic. Once again, hope to find a way to make them more interested in the language. Cause I'm bored as hell trying to teach 10 inanimate bags of flesh. My grade 4/5's are awesome. They are probably the most interactive bunch of students I have. Made paper cranes today, and they kept swarming me to make some for them. I like how they are never late. One kid, Minhyeok, sits in the beginner classes and helps them, even though his class doesn't start for another hour. Awesome lil' guy. As for my grade 6's...I'm not sure how I feel about them yet. I've only had them for one class, since the last week, they all went to the International Centre, which I did not mind in the least! It gave me 2 hour work days and 2 hour breaks. Aweesome. Now they will be regularly coming to class, but again, I have to see the differences in levels so I can plan accordingly. Most of them have a pretty good grasp of English, so I really do have a wide range of students to cater to. Makes it really difficult to switch from total newb to someone who can carry conversations in English.
Aside from teaching, life in Muju is quiet. I've been hitting the gym regularly, the person manning the desk always says hi to me in English. Other that that, I've been abusing the speed of Korean internet. Have caught up to Big Bang Theory and quite a few movies. Weekends on the other hand...
Have yet to have a completely alcohol-free weekend since my first week. It's great. haha. I'm glad other scholars in Jeonju enjoy dancing to the late/early hours as well. 4 am pool is a great way to simmer down. I have to admit, the music is getting boring. I swear all the DJ's share the same playlist and mixes. On top of that, Jeonju clubs have breaks. Actual breaks where the dancefloor clears and everyone sits down to drink or...take a break. It gets lame, especially when you only wanna dance the night away! Can't help it I guess, aside from yelling at the DJ to hurry up and play music. Or just dancing on floor sans music anyways. Pretty sure both options make me look like a foreign douchebag. Good thing I'm not the only one though. teehee. Last weekend was especially great. Kaisha's birthday celebration ended up being a weekend celebration. Stayed there for 2 days, and enjoyed my time throughly sobering up in a multi-bang/pc-bang. Saturday was a rough day.
Next week? SEOUL. This has been a weekend in the making. First payday, and it will be epiccc. Gonna head down right after work, look around the city for a while, then it's Namdaemun Market. Which I'm hoping will put Richmond Night Market to shame. After shopping till 3am, head to Hongdae to sleep, then resume the shopping at Dongdaemun! I think it's the mall where Cinderella Man (The K-drama, not movie) was located. So yayyyy. Then gonna celebrate a birthday and dance the night away at Gangnam. Will be blogging about that later, but all this Hump Day could not have come any faster. I've been feeling really drained this week...maybe sleeping at 6am for 3 nights straight isn't doing my sleep patterns any help. But here I am, awake at 3am...again. Thank goodness I don't work till 2 on Wednesdays.
Thank you payday, for allowing me to book tickets. And finally start touring this country. :)
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Time
Living in Muju, far far away from everyone, leaves me with a lot of time on my hands. A lot...of time...For the past week, I've bummed around at home, watching movies and dramas. Except for that one exception where I actually went out.
I think I'm at a loss as to what to do with all that time. I can think of a couple key things I should be hunkering down and doing with all the free time.
1. Learn Korean. I definitely want to be able to speak at least basic Korean once I'm done this program. At least enough, so when I come back I won't be a total n00b.
2. Work out! Aside from the bet I made with my brother, the amount of time I have, plus the cheapness of the gym (1,100 won! Which is about a dollar) and the closeness of the gym leaves me no excuse to slack.
3. Write? I've been meaning to get back into poetry. Albeit, not very good poetry, but I do want to start again!
4. Draw. And lo and behold I left my sketch book at home. FAIL. Must buy one soon, but the lined paper works out pretty well.
I think those 4 should keep me occupied. Although I need to find motivation...somewhere. The most I've done is binge eat because I'm so bored, eating was the only thing to do. Damn you ramyeon and cheap pastries at Paris Baguette. Damn you.
PS: I cannot wait for my paycheque. I've been eyeing a couple jackets and shirts for ages, and they will be mine.
In other daily activities, I've been cooking for myself lately. (go figure) and it turns out, it's actually way cheaper to eat out than make your own food. It would cost me roughly 6 or 7 dollars to buy the ingredients I need at the local Full-Mart, but it would cost me 4 dollars for 3 meals if I chose to eat nothing but kim-bap. Not such a bad trade-off as kimbap is delicious here.
Also, interviewed more kids today. Almost all the grade 1-2's know nothing about English. Anything they do know is scripted.
Jose: Hi, How are you.
Student: It is sunny.
Jose: ...Good job. You can take a seat now...
It should be interesting (I will regret this later) to teach them. My co-teacher suggested cutting the grade 1 and 2's who don't know ABC's in order to make room for grade 3 and 4s who also, don't speak a word of English. We shall see...
The grade 3 and 4's are also on the same boat. I already see some characters and cheeky buggers who I predict will both make my classes entertaining, and a living hell. I've got my eye on you, student #1 who I interviewed today...
Tomorrow will be the grade 5 and 6's. Hopefully, they will know more than just basic. Then we can have conversations, about Starcraft.
That is all. Did I mention I have a bed now? It is glorious. I'm sure I could use more editing in terms of my blogging. It's pretty much all over the place, but as of now, I'm just recording everything that came to mind, in no particular order. But hey, it's on my to do list of things to improve. It'll get there...
I think I'm at a loss as to what to do with all that time. I can think of a couple key things I should be hunkering down and doing with all the free time.
1. Learn Korean. I definitely want to be able to speak at least basic Korean once I'm done this program. At least enough, so when I come back I won't be a total n00b.
2. Work out! Aside from the bet I made with my brother, the amount of time I have, plus the cheapness of the gym (1,100 won! Which is about a dollar) and the closeness of the gym leaves me no excuse to slack.
3. Write? I've been meaning to get back into poetry. Albeit, not very good poetry, but I do want to start again!
4. Draw. And lo and behold I left my sketch book at home. FAIL. Must buy one soon, but the lined paper works out pretty well.
I think those 4 should keep me occupied. Although I need to find motivation...somewhere. The most I've done is binge eat because I'm so bored, eating was the only thing to do. Damn you ramyeon and cheap pastries at Paris Baguette. Damn you.
PS: I cannot wait for my paycheque. I've been eyeing a couple jackets and shirts for ages, and they will be mine.
In other daily activities, I've been cooking for myself lately. (go figure) and it turns out, it's actually way cheaper to eat out than make your own food. It would cost me roughly 6 or 7 dollars to buy the ingredients I need at the local Full-Mart, but it would cost me 4 dollars for 3 meals if I chose to eat nothing but kim-bap. Not such a bad trade-off as kimbap is delicious here.
Also, interviewed more kids today. Almost all the grade 1-2's know nothing about English. Anything they do know is scripted.
Jose: Hi, How are you.
Student: It is sunny.
Jose: ...Good job. You can take a seat now...
It should be interesting (I will regret this later) to teach them. My co-teacher suggested cutting the grade 1 and 2's who don't know ABC's in order to make room for grade 3 and 4s who also, don't speak a word of English. We shall see...
The grade 3 and 4's are also on the same boat. I already see some characters and cheeky buggers who I predict will both make my classes entertaining, and a living hell. I've got my eye on you, student #1 who I interviewed today...
Tomorrow will be the grade 5 and 6's. Hopefully, they will know more than just basic. Then we can have conversations, about Starcraft.
That is all. Did I mention I have a bed now? It is glorious. I'm sure I could use more editing in terms of my blogging. It's pretty much all over the place, but as of now, I'm just recording everything that came to mind, in no particular order. But hey, it's on my to do list of things to improve. It'll get there...
Monday, March 7, 2011
Internet is Amazing
Why is internet so amazing?
1. Living in a small town like Muju, it provides an endless resource for entertainment! Entertainment in the form of Secret Garden, Dream High, and a whole plethora of Dramas and Movies that I have yet to encounter.
2. Living in a small town like Muju, it provides me a way to talk to other TaLK teachers who, sadly, are 2 hours away.
3. the most random connections are made. For example, I found another person's blog on the internet, (where all blogs are found) and he lives in Muju! Ended up going to the bar, playing pool, and over all just having a great night.
It's crazy how I ended up meeting other foreigners through the internet, and am glad for it! Hopefully now, I won't dread the week and will actually enjoy myself, up through the weekends. Where I know I'll be in a city. :)
Also, interviewed some kids today. Half of my grade 1 and 2's know English. Half don't. Will have to find some way to jazz up the ABC's and 123's. On to grade 4's and 5's tomorrow! Hopefully will have more luck.
Of course, had an amazing weekend. 5th Gen TaLK scholars are fantastic people. Their hospitality and general friendliness is awesome. Probably the fastest time I've ever felt comfortable around a group of people. 6th gens are cool too, but we already knew that.
1. Living in a small town like Muju, it provides an endless resource for entertainment! Entertainment in the form of Secret Garden, Dream High, and a whole plethora of Dramas and Movies that I have yet to encounter.
2. Living in a small town like Muju, it provides me a way to talk to other TaLK teachers who, sadly, are 2 hours away.
3. the most random connections are made. For example, I found another person's blog on the internet, (where all blogs are found) and he lives in Muju! Ended up going to the bar, playing pool, and over all just having a great night.
It's crazy how I ended up meeting other foreigners through the internet, and am glad for it! Hopefully now, I won't dread the week and will actually enjoy myself, up through the weekends. Where I know I'll be in a city. :)
Also, interviewed some kids today. Half of my grade 1 and 2's know English. Half don't. Will have to find some way to jazz up the ABC's and 123's. On to grade 4's and 5's tomorrow! Hopefully will have more luck.
Of course, had an amazing weekend. 5th Gen TaLK scholars are fantastic people. Their hospitality and general friendliness is awesome. Probably the fastest time I've ever felt comfortable around a group of people. 6th gens are cool too, but we already knew that.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
First Impressions aren't always right.
"I don't mind living in a rural town. I understand that TaLK is meant for rural schools, and I have no problem with that."
-Naive TaLK Applicant, October 2010.
Welcome to Muju. Where Paris Baguette (Like a Cobs Bread, but way way better) is where all the hip young adults hang out to drink coffee. Ok, maybe its too early to say that, but I've walked around at night for the past 3 days, and that place was the busiest I've seen anywhere in town.
It's very different from the Korea I fell in love with. Or rather, different from the metropolitan cities of Korea that I fell in love with. I must admit though, it is unfair to compare Muju to Seoul. But I've lived a month in cities here in Korea, and maybe this is the culture shock that Orientation was talking about. There should have been a lecture on dealing with small towns. Not mind-mapping. This part of Korea would be the hard loving. The love that is the nitty-gritty where you realize that everything isn't perfect. Seoul would be the superficial love. I loved the night-life. I loved the busy-ness of it. And now, I have to learn to love the quiet. In any case, Muju is a place that I have to get used to. After all, I'm spending another 5 months here. (possibly 10...)
First impressions? Frustrating might be too harsh of a word for the first few days. Shocking? Uncomfortable? Maybe. It was a shock when I came to Muju and my housing had not been finalized. It was a shock when I realized that I couldn't even settle in to a place since I would be moving out at the end of the month again. It was a bigger shock when I realized that I would have no appliances. It was both shocking and uncomfortable when I realized that I would be sleeping on a mat till...my school orders my bed.
On a lighter note, It was a relief when my mentor teacher told me that this was what she experienced coming out of Teacher's College at Jeonju University. Not in the sadistic way of "Ha ha, you suffered!" But more of, this is a rough step that some teachers are both lucky and unlucky enough to endure. I've gotta give props to my mentor teacher though. This is her first time with TaLK, and she's been nothing but helpful. She tries to get the other teachers to hang out with me, although they are more afraid of the language barrier between us than my mentor teacher. She likes to share her experiences with teaching with me, and she's incredible. She told me when she had to hike a mountain just to get to the bus stop since there was no highway connecting this town before. While she was pregnant. Mad dedication to teaching there.
Although the past couple of days have been a bit rough, there is nothing like writing to put things into perspective. It's not as bad as I make it out to be. I have to stop bitching via Facebook status updates. It's only the first 3 days. So while I've been able to catch up on some dramas that I've been meaning to watch, there is still tons of time for me to meet more of the locals, see more of the town, and experience this place as much as I can. I did sign up for this, I knew what I was getting into, and in all honesty: It was my own arrogance that I believed that everything would go perfectly right away. I haven't even started to teach yet!
Mujujungang. :)
Sidenote: "All By Myself" is playing in the background as I finish up this blog. Way to tell me what I already know, iTunes. Thanks.
-Naive TaLK Applicant, October 2010.
Welcome to Muju. Where Paris Baguette (Like a Cobs Bread, but way way better) is where all the hip young adults hang out to drink coffee. Ok, maybe its too early to say that, but I've walked around at night for the past 3 days, and that place was the busiest I've seen anywhere in town.
It's very different from the Korea I fell in love with. Or rather, different from the metropolitan cities of Korea that I fell in love with. I must admit though, it is unfair to compare Muju to Seoul. But I've lived a month in cities here in Korea, and maybe this is the culture shock that Orientation was talking about. There should have been a lecture on dealing with small towns. Not mind-mapping. This part of Korea would be the hard loving. The love that is the nitty-gritty where you realize that everything isn't perfect. Seoul would be the superficial love. I loved the night-life. I loved the busy-ness of it. And now, I have to learn to love the quiet. In any case, Muju is a place that I have to get used to. After all, I'm spending another 5 months here. (possibly 10...)
First impressions? Frustrating might be too harsh of a word for the first few days. Shocking? Uncomfortable? Maybe. It was a shock when I came to Muju and my housing had not been finalized. It was a shock when I realized that I couldn't even settle in to a place since I would be moving out at the end of the month again. It was a bigger shock when I realized that I would have no appliances. It was both shocking and uncomfortable when I realized that I would be sleeping on a mat till...my school orders my bed.
On a lighter note, It was a relief when my mentor teacher told me that this was what she experienced coming out of Teacher's College at Jeonju University. Not in the sadistic way of "Ha ha, you suffered!" But more of, this is a rough step that some teachers are both lucky and unlucky enough to endure. I've gotta give props to my mentor teacher though. This is her first time with TaLK, and she's been nothing but helpful. She tries to get the other teachers to hang out with me, although they are more afraid of the language barrier between us than my mentor teacher. She likes to share her experiences with teaching with me, and she's incredible. She told me when she had to hike a mountain just to get to the bus stop since there was no highway connecting this town before. While she was pregnant. Mad dedication to teaching there.
Although the past couple of days have been a bit rough, there is nothing like writing to put things into perspective. It's not as bad as I make it out to be. I have to stop bitching via Facebook status updates. It's only the first 3 days. So while I've been able to catch up on some dramas that I've been meaning to watch, there is still tons of time for me to meet more of the locals, see more of the town, and experience this place as much as I can. I did sign up for this, I knew what I was getting into, and in all honesty: It was my own arrogance that I believed that everything would go perfectly right away. I haven't even started to teach yet!
Mujujungang. :)
Sidenote: "All By Myself" is playing in the background as I finish up this blog. Way to tell me what I already know, iTunes. Thanks.
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