3 months in!! (Cultural differences)

Sorry I haven't updated in a while!! At first, I was going to try to update once every week, but now i think I will try once every month. (I apologize for my laziness =/) So, I have been teaching and living in Korea for about three months now. Everything is still going great, I'm still having an awesome time here. I only traveled outside of Daejeon a few times, so I'm looking forward to travelling and exploring Korea during my winter vacation!

I decided for each blog I will do a topic rather than just blogging about everyday life.

This months topic is CULTURAL DIFFERENCES. Which will probably be covered in more than one post because there is just so much to say about this topic. First I will start with bowing.



Bowing- When greeting someone you should bow. This shows respect. I've noticed that people don't bow to children, their close friends, or someone who is the same age. The only people I don't bow to are my students, a few Korean friends that I have, and of course Non-Koreans lol. Some of the teachers and staff at my schools wave at me and say "Hello" instead of bowing and saying "Anyoung Hasayeo" (which means hello, good morning, good evening, etc in Korean). But I try to bow as much as possible. Usually I end up bowing and waving. Bowing (more like a head nod)is also expected when a person apologizes, says thank you, or is leaving.

My Looks- Obviously I don't look like the average Korean, so I get a lot of stares. Apparently, staring at someone is not considered rude here. So even when I notice someone staring at me, they will continue to stare (while I am just smiling at them) until I am out of there sight. It doesn't bother me so much now, but when i first got here, it was a little overwhelming. Imagine going to a store and having people stare at you while you're shopping. Not only staring I might add!! But pointing and whispering to each other. A little uncomfortable don't you think?? Actually it's not that bad. I just smile and keeping going on with my day... (= It doesn't seem to happen to often anymore, or maybe I just don't notice it as often... But Koreans seem to really like (or enjoy lol) my looks. I am always being told that I am beautiful and that have long eyelashes. lol. Especially by people at my school. My coteacher even asked me "Do people think you are beautiful in America"? lol. How does someone answer a question like that? I just laughed and said "I don't know". She asked the same thing about Obama. lol. Gotta love Korea.... (=

I will end it here and hopefully update again soon. ♥ ♥

I am a Tiger!!!

People keeping asking me "What animal are you?" So I finally decided to look it up. According to Chinsese Astrology, I am a Tiger. Which I totally agree with 90 % of the personality characteristics. Heres some information I found...courtesy of http://chinese.astrology.com/Tiger.aspx (=

TIGER

Tigers may not be the king of the jungle, but these striped cats are no softies! Magnetic and self-possessed, Tigers are born leaders. They have an air of authority that prompts others to fall in line, which is exactly how they like it. Although they are magnetically charming and fun to be around, Tigers like to go it alone sometimes too. A Tiger's main interest is in following its ambitions -- and maintaining control.

Tigers are courageous beyond compare and generally come out ahead in battle, be it in the boardroom or the bedroom. Seduction is one area where the Tiger is definitely king! Noble and warm-hearted, Tigers have a natural, raw appeal that's extremely attractive to other Signs. They're not just about attraction, though; ever on the side of right, Tigers will fight the good fight to the bitter end if the cause is worthy. Opponents are wise to fear this feline.

A bit of caution is a good thing around Tigers, since they can pounce without warning. They experience mood swings and often feel things more intensely than others, the latter quality being both good and bad. They can react poorly under stress and are prone to emotional outbursts. This Sign's bristling sensitivity can send friend and foe running for cover.

Tigers are fearless creatures in as much as they blind themselves to dangers and impetuously rush in where more cautious individuals would fear to tred. Outspoken in the face of injustice, their strong humanitarian instincts will not allow them to pass by if they see a wrong perpetrated upon another.

A lesson that Tigers would be well-served to learn is moderation in all things. Once these cats can find their center and direct their considerable energies toward worthwhile endeavors (as opposed to racing through life), they will accomplish much

A Glimpse into my Chuseok Weekend

So I'm sitting in my English classroom, done teaching for the day. I have about two more hours until I can leave and officially start my weekend! So why not share with you guys how I spent my Chuseok weekend!! By the way, Chuseok is what many people here call "Korean Thanksgiving." It's a time when Koreans travel to be with their families and have a Thanksgiving meal. Many families also have a ceremony for their ancestors. Lets take a glmpse into how I spent Chuseok (Chew sock). I'll try to make this post as short as possible. Because I know I never read really long blog posts....=/



Friday- I had last Friday off, so me and few other English teachers went to O-world. O-world is actually 3 parks in one --Joy Land, Zoo Land, and Flower Land. Joy Land consisted of mainly rides and roller coasters. Flower Land was more of a place you go to to just walk around and look at different flowers and statues. Zoo land was definately my favorite!! It had tons of animals!!! My favorite part of the day was the African Safari, the only thing separating us from the animals was the bus we were in!! Which actually seemed kinda unsafe because the animals could just come up to the window and literally knock over the bus if they wanted to. And actually the bus driver was feeding some of the animals!!!



Saturday- Chuseok! I went to one of my co-teachers home for Chuseok. She has two children and their English level is very good!! Then again, they did live in California for five years.... Anyway there were about 15 people there. Eveyone was genuinely nice. And for most of them, it was their first time meeting and talking to a foreigner. (= After we ate, a few of us went to the EXPO park--which is a park geared toward science and technology. Because it was Chuseok, many of the exhibitions were closed, but I did get to play some Korean games and pound rice!! Right next to the EXPO park there was a theme park very similar to the one I went to the day before. And of course, I only thought I was having Chuseok lunch with my coteacher so I was dressed in semi-nice clothes. Dynamic Korea at its best!! So we went to Kumardori Land, went on some rides, saw a few performances, then I head back to my place. Looooooong day, but of course the day is not over. I take a nap and then off to downtown of course!! ;)





Sunday- My coteacher Mrs Kim at my other school calls me around 10ish. Literally two minutes after I woke up. "Good Morning Linda, do you have any appointment today." I say "No, not really." Mrs. Kim: "Mrs Joe would like you to have lunch with her and her family, I will give her your number and she will call you." (Mrs. Joe is the music teacher at one of my schools) Me: "Ummmm, ok thats fine." So I end up going to lunch with one Mrs. Joe, her husband, and her son on Sunday. (We went to VIPS, it was delish, to all the people in Korea right now, try it out they have the best steak!!) And of course, it wasnt just lunch. Surprise, surprise. Lets go to Daecheong Dam. So we spent maybe about an hour or so there. Done?? Not quite.... next we go to a traditional Korean village. NEXT....I went to their apt to have tea. Mrs. Joe: "Ok, next we will go to my mother-in-laws house to have dinner." Delicious of course!! After about an hour or two there, we say our goodbyes and Mrs Joe drops me off at my apt.

Monday- I also had this past Monday off, so i decided to go shoe shopping. I bought sneakers! I actually wanted the hightops, but I haven't been able to find them anywhere, so these will do. (=

Korean Music

For the most part, I'm not really feeling Korean music or "K-pop", but there are a few songs that I really like. For instance....

*Brown Eyed Girls: "Abracadbra." They tend to play this song a lot at clubs and bars here...Good song to dance to (=


*2NE1: "I don't care." My favorite Korean band is probably 2NE1, they are really popular here. A lot of my students like them (even the boys lol). If you like this song, then also check out "Fire" and "Lollipop."


*Super Junior: "Sorry, sorry." The dancing in this video is super lame. But the song is not too bad. Enjoy...

A typical weekday in Korea

What a typical work day is like for me.......

I work Monday-Friday from about 8:30-4:30pm. I wake up around 630am so that I can catch the bus around 8am ish. It takes about 10-20 minutes to get to work (depending on traffic and which school I'm going to).

I arrive at school before 8:30 and have coffee with some of the staff in the teachers lounge or administration office. Around 8:40 ish I head on over to my English classroom to get ready for my first class. I teach (usually) 22 classes a week. Mainly 4 forty minute classes a day. I teach mainly 5th and 6th graders but I have one 4th grade class on Monday and Tuesday. I also teach English to some staff on Thursdays (they call it English tea time). On Wednesdays, I have an extra class with some students who would like to learn more English. These students are usually above average in English compared to their classmates.

Wednesday is usually the busiest day out of the week for me. I teach 4 classes until noon, have lunch at 12:10, and then I have the tutoring session from 1:10-2pm. At 3pm, I play volleyball with the staff. Then we have snacks and drinks after volleyball. Most of the staff can't really speak English, but they are all very friendly and at least attempt to talk to me in English. Or "Konglish" (a mixture of Korean and English lol).

As I mentioned earlier, we have English tea time on Thursdays at 3. This is a chance for the staff to meet with me and practice their English. I've only had one tea time so far, often they have staff meetings at that time. I'm trying to think of different topics to talk about. The first tea time was just a chance for me to introduce myself, so I showed the powerpoint that I showed to my students!! But next time, I'll ask them to tell me about themselves and their family's...etc....

So that is pretty much a typical work week for me. It tends to vary every week, depending on whats going on at school. The next post will be about a typical weekEND in Korea!!! Stay tuned.

My Apartment!!

Check out a video of the place I will call home for the next year!! Enjoy ^_^

First two days of teaching...

First two days are over!! Pheww....They went surprisingly very well! So much fun, but tiring!! My students have way too much energy. But thats kids in general... And this one boy kept choking other boy students. It looked more like some type of wrestling move....like a chokehold or something.. But once I or my co-teacher said something, he stopped. He did it again a couple minutes later...but we just have to be persistent!!

So I teach about 20 classes a week. At my main school I only teach fifth and sixth grade. Both grades have two English classes a week. For the first two days, I did an "Introduction" presentation for all my classes. Which had pictures of me, my family, friends, and things that I like. My students seemed to really enjoy this. They were so surprised that I like Full House (Korean TV show) and Rain/ Bi (Korean Celebrity)! I also had them do a drawing activity, that had me learn about them, by having them draw their name and things that they like. They were very talkative, but when it came to sharing their picture to the class, pretty much no one wanted to do it!! But we got a couple brave volunteers in each class.

Since we had some extra time... I decided to show them a clip of high school musical, since I had a picture of it in my powerpoint. I thought Hannah Montana and High School Musical would be popular here (I thought it was popular EVERYWHERE), but only maybe 1 or 2 students in each class have actually seen HSM and NONE of my students have heard of Hannah Montana). For some reason, my sixth graders thought the video was funny, but they definitely liked it!! When I showed it to my fifth graders, they didn't seem to enjoy as much...

According to my contract, I have to be in school from 8:30-4:30. But i only teach 4 forty minute classes a day! Which means, Im done by 12:10!! I have lunch for one hour (delish by the way!!), and the rest of the day is "lesson planning". Considering my English classes already follow a curriculum with a book and CDROM, theres not much planning I have to do. Maybe just add an activity or two to supplement whats in the book. So I'm going to see maybe if there are things I can do to be more productive, besides browsing the internet for hours. My co-teacher is "forcing" me to play volleyball on Wednesdays with the other staff and also host English tea parties on Thursdays! She also wanted me to take violin or flute lessons with the staff on Tuesdays, but I think i will pass on that! And plus the lessons are 50,000 won a month. Umm no thanks!!

So only 8 more introduction presentations left!! And 8 more times I have to watch High School Musical =/. But for now, I'll end it here, and I'll let you know how teaching at my other school goes!!

Loving Daejeon!!

I am in Daejeon!! I arrived a few days ago. Daejeon is a nice city. Seems very big, but everything is within walking distance which is good. I have a Homeplus (similar to a Target/Walmart Super Center) and a Costco that are a 10-15 minute taxi drive from my place and little mom and pop shops EVERYWHERE. I have a convenience store/market that is a 2 minute walk from my place as well. And a bakery, produce market, and ice scream shop about a minute away!!

Everyone here is super friendly!! I've only seen a couple foreigners in my area since I've been here, so I'm looking forward to making Korean friends and learning more Hangul (Korean language). This is me and my new Korean friends attempt on taking a picture together..
He is so much fun!! I felt like I've known him for years! Its funny because when we went to the store he would hold my purse and my bags. I thought that was too cute... We also went out to lunch with one of my coteachers and the waitor gave us a drink with two straws for us to share...whats up with that... and also I have to get used to people eating off my plate... =/

My Classroom!

I'm looking forward to my first day of teaching on Thursday!! I'm teaching at two elementary schools. Both are about a 15 minutes bus ride away. I visited one of my schools today and met many of the staff, including the Principal and Vice Principal. The school is very nice, they just finished remodeling so everything is new!! Most of my classes will have about 25 students in them, which is perfect!!!

Thats it for now folks! I'll probably post a video of my place and some more pictures of Daejeon in the next post. But for now, thats all u get!! Until next time... Take Care!! ^_^

First blog in Korea-More to Come!

Sorry for the late update. But I am finally in Korea!! Got here a few days ago. Right now I am at Jeonju University for the EPIK orientation. Boy they are keeping us busy!! But its very informative. Most of the information they are giving us will help us become better teachers as well as understand the Korean culture a lot better. Orientation is giving me a lot of ideas for different activities that I can do with my students. I found out today that my school will definitely have a computer and either a projector or an LCD TV. So now I can plan a lot of activities utilizing the computer! Yay!!

It still doesn't feel like I'm in Korea yet. I am surrounded by over 500 native English teachers, so I'm sure as soon as I'm in Daejeon and are able to interact with more Koreans, then everything will finally set in. I am definitely excited to move to Daejeon and meet my colleagues and get settled in! I cant wait to meet see my school and apartment as well. I'm hoping to make a trip out to Seoul in the next couple weeks and also meet up with my military friend I haven't seen in a while. (= By the way, the video is of a Korean drum dance that I saw at our orientation. They were on point!!
And another one...