Well, I have a few half-written posts meant to fill you in on what I've been doing for the past few weeks, but it seems as though I've run out of time to finish and post them as of right now, as I'm heading out of Jinju for a bit to explore this country I currently call "home."
I don't have to be back in school until February 5th (more on my crazy, long, winter break later), so I'm leaving today for Busan, which sits on the southeastern coastline and is Korea's second largest city. Beyond arriving to a hostel in Busan tonight with two friends, and immediately heading to a place that supposedly serves good Mexican food (oh how I miss Mexican food), I have no idea what the next 10 days will have in store for me. I haven't opened my guidebook, I have no idea what I want to see or where I'd like to go, and I have not a single thing planned. I can't wait :)
I assure you that I will fill you in on things in the next few weeks--including pictures!
Sending love and happiness to all.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
The Week in Pictures
It's been a looooong week... A lot of thinking about what to teach in camp, a lot of planning for camp, a lot of changing my mind about what to teach in camp, a lot of preparing for camp, a lot of teaching at camp... Basically, most of my waking hours of the past week have revolved around camp. Having no experience teaching the boys in the classroom before creating a new lesson plan for every day of the past week was a challenge. BUT, I was able to get out a few times--and as you might notice as you browse though the photos below, everything else I've done has revolved around food. Hmmm... stressed, perhaps? :)
I met a few friends downtown on Wednesday and we took a mini-eating tour. First we sampled some of the street food:
Next was "pizza in a cup," as we like to call the dish. A slice of pizza in a dixie cup--ingenious! Well, delicious at the very least...
On our way back home that evening, Megan and I had a craving for wine. And chocolate. And then we also added to our shopping baskets beer, coffee, hot chocolate and cookies. We are keeping healthy here in Jinju... At the supermarkets, there are always these crazy 'huts' built out of boxes of various snacks. This one's made out of choco-pies, and then filled with various other treats. We felt the need for a photo:
When the weekend finally came around, Megan and I spent some time wandering one of Jinju's huge local markets. We were pretty excited to say the least when we came upon this amazing snack shack. We observed people for a few minutes so we knew how to appropriately gather--and sample!--the snacks we wanted. Then, we went to town and filled our red plastic baskets. Most of the snacks were sesame-, rice-, or peanut-related, but there was also some ginger, chocolate and pumpkin mixed in--as well as some fishy-flavor! (I'm not a fan of those).
At the market:
Then we stopped at a little coffee shop to meet a few folks. Instead of chairs, patrons get to enjoy nice swinging benches at the tables!
I met a few friends downtown on Wednesday and we took a mini-eating tour. First we sampled some of the street food:
Next was "pizza in a cup," as we like to call the dish. A slice of pizza in a dixie cup--ingenious! Well, delicious at the very least...
On our way back home that evening, Megan and I had a craving for wine. And chocolate. And then we also added to our shopping baskets beer, coffee, hot chocolate and cookies. We are keeping healthy here in Jinju... At the supermarkets, there are always these crazy 'huts' built out of boxes of various snacks. This one's made out of choco-pies, and then filled with various other treats. We felt the need for a photo:
When the weekend finally came around, Megan and I spent some time wandering one of Jinju's huge local markets. We were pretty excited to say the least when we came upon this amazing snack shack. We observed people for a few minutes so we knew how to appropriately gather--and sample!--the snacks we wanted. Then, we went to town and filled our red plastic baskets. Most of the snacks were sesame-, rice-, or peanut-related, but there was also some ginger, chocolate and pumpkin mixed in--as well as some fishy-flavor! (I'm not a fan of those).
At the market:
Then we stopped at a little coffee shop to meet a few folks. Instead of chairs, patrons get to enjoy nice swinging benches at the tables!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The True Legend Lives On... In Korea
This one's dedicated to a handful of people who know me well enough or have known me long enough to be in the loop of my "big head" jokes. In other words, you've probably cracked a joke or two in the time we've known each other and given me shit for having a large head--even if you didn't really mean it (yes, I do have trouble finding non-adjustable or non-elastic hats that will actually fit on my head).
But mostly, this post is kindly dedicated to my loving father... and next to Julie, my sister from another mother (with a smaller head).
During my first week at school, while introducing myself to classrooms full of 14-year old boys with short black hair, black glasses and black jackets, I received the following comment from one student (translated by my Korean co-teacher): "You have big forehead." As if I didn't already know...
It only got better when the kid sitting next to him followed up with "Yes. Very shiny." I'm not sure which is worse...
I then kindly informed the boys that my big head could fit a bigger brain. I don't think they got it. Language and cultural barriers are a harsh reality when making an attempt at humor--particularly sarcastic humor.
A few days later my confidence was slightly regained when, in a class with a different co-teacher, I was informed that one of the students had just told my female co-teacher that her head was larger than mine. Her response? "I'm Asian." And that was that.
Lucky for me there are Asians... I guess?
But mostly, this post is kindly dedicated to my loving father... and next to Julie, my sister from another mother (with a smaller head).
During my first week at school, while introducing myself to classrooms full of 14-year old boys with short black hair, black glasses and black jackets, I received the following comment from one student (translated by my Korean co-teacher): "You have big forehead." As if I didn't already know...
It only got better when the kid sitting next to him followed up with "Yes. Very shiny." I'm not sure which is worse...
I then kindly informed the boys that my big head could fit a bigger brain. I don't think they got it. Language and cultural barriers are a harsh reality when making an attempt at humor--particularly sarcastic humor.
A few days later my confidence was slightly regained when, in a class with a different co-teacher, I was informed that one of the students had just told my female co-teacher that her head was larger than mine. Her response? "I'm Asian." And that was that.
Lucky for me there are Asians... I guess?
Saturday, January 2, 2010
The Week(s) in Pictures
I invite you to take a break from reading my long, rambling, unexciting-for-those-not-actually-experiencing-this blog entries:
Here are some pictures of my apartment that I took on my second day here. Obviously I wasn't organized but you get the idea. Along the left wall sits my bed, television, desk and wardrobe. Along the right wall is my clothes drying rack, refrigerator and microwave. Then you see my "kitchen," if it can be called that, and my bathroom, shower and laundry room all wrapped into one. Yes, my shower consists of a shower head in one corner of my bathroom. And no, I do not have enough leg room to properly sit on my toilet. BUT, I do have amazing floor heat in my apartment.
These are a few pictures from our trip to Tongyeong on Christmas day. I will talk more about these amazing exercise parks sometime, but for now just know that these things are scattered about everywhere in Jinju! Along the river paths, along the trails in the hills, in the middle of a city park... they're great!
This is from a walk I took along the river the day after Christmas, looking across to the fortress--a similar view as the one in the photo at the title of my blog.
I have a feeling this will be the first of many photos taken next to large phallic objects; they seem to be everywhere here... In fact, there's an entire park dedicated to large stone and wooden phalluses somewhere in this country. This one's just at some random bar we went to in downtown Jinju.
I took quite a few pictures during the New Year's holiday. As previously mentioned, I went with a large group of other foreign teachers to Namhae, Korea's fifth largest island. There were somewhere between 16-20 people in our pension, which consisted of an entry room where one removes his or her shoes, a kitchen with a small table, a central room with a few tables (where you sit on the floor) and a sleeping room. Every room was divided by sliding doors, and our balcony looked out onto the bay. Oh, and there were two bathrooms--one for men and one for women. On January 1, we took a trip to another part of the island to a pretty popular beach called Sangju and on the way back stopped at a Buddhist temple. The surroundings of the temple--and the entire experience in itself--was quite surreal. We could hear chanting coming from the trees in the distance as we climbed up the mountain side to the top, which overlooked the mountains and the sea. Pictures never really do these types of places justice, but take my word that it was incredible.
Below are Megan, Chris and myself; these two arrived to Jinju only two weeks before I did, so we've all bonded and become fairly close as we navigate our new lives here in Korea.
Enjoying the abundant sunshine, beautiful view, and good company at Sangju:
A few of the crazy boys thought it would be a good idea to go for a swim; it was probably around 30 degrees Fahrenheit, if not colder!
We came across a food stand that sold corn dogs and couldn't resist!
Keep in mind that 13 of us piled into two small sedans that day to get to the beach. When we turned off to get to the temple on our way back, I had no idea what we were doing. In fact, I don't think anybody in my car knew where we were going because we were just following the car in front of us. Suddenly we were heading up an extremely steep road, possibly the steepest road I've ever driven up. The front tires slipped at a few points with all six bodies in the car, but once we started heading up it was an even worse idea to even think about going back down the hill. So up we went, and worthwhile the scare it was.
There were four of us who became the stragglers in the group; we hadn't even made it to the top yet by the time the rest of the group was already on their way down. We were taking our time, soaking in the surroundings, breathing in the moment. We couldn't seem to tear ourselves away from the place, so we decided to take a seat in some grass to soak it all in just a little bit more. For the 10-15 minutes that we sat there with the sun on our faces, inside was nothing but a feeling of pure serenity. During these moments I felt as though I could have sat there forever.
Finally, we stopped in a little town just outside of where we were staying to pick up some grocery items for dinner that night. Right next to where we parked our cars, we saw this on the window of a restaurant. Yes, people still eat dog in Korea.
I'll continue to post pictures when I can, or I'll post a link to the photo albums that I create on Facebook.
Tomorrow I start my Winter English Camp, which every public school teacher does for at least a few weeks. I think I got pretty lucky and only have two weeks of camp with the boys, who are divided into two groups of about 12, so it will be nice and small and intimate. I only see each group for two hours a day, so the afternoons should be mine to do with as I please. This will be my first real taste of what it's like to teach these boys over here in Korea (funny that I started right before the winter vacation), so I am sure I'll have more insight to share about that aspect of life over here on a later date.
In the meantime, happy 2010 to all!
Here are some pictures of my apartment that I took on my second day here. Obviously I wasn't organized but you get the idea. Along the left wall sits my bed, television, desk and wardrobe. Along the right wall is my clothes drying rack, refrigerator and microwave. Then you see my "kitchen," if it can be called that, and my bathroom, shower and laundry room all wrapped into one. Yes, my shower consists of a shower head in one corner of my bathroom. And no, I do not have enough leg room to properly sit on my toilet. BUT, I do have amazing floor heat in my apartment.
These are a few pictures from our trip to Tongyeong on Christmas day. I will talk more about these amazing exercise parks sometime, but for now just know that these things are scattered about everywhere in Jinju! Along the river paths, along the trails in the hills, in the middle of a city park... they're great!
This is from a walk I took along the river the day after Christmas, looking across to the fortress--a similar view as the one in the photo at the title of my blog.
I have a feeling this will be the first of many photos taken next to large phallic objects; they seem to be everywhere here... In fact, there's an entire park dedicated to large stone and wooden phalluses somewhere in this country. This one's just at some random bar we went to in downtown Jinju.
I took quite a few pictures during the New Year's holiday. As previously mentioned, I went with a large group of other foreign teachers to Namhae, Korea's fifth largest island. There were somewhere between 16-20 people in our pension, which consisted of an entry room where one removes his or her shoes, a kitchen with a small table, a central room with a few tables (where you sit on the floor) and a sleeping room. Every room was divided by sliding doors, and our balcony looked out onto the bay. Oh, and there were two bathrooms--one for men and one for women. On January 1, we took a trip to another part of the island to a pretty popular beach called Sangju and on the way back stopped at a Buddhist temple. The surroundings of the temple--and the entire experience in itself--was quite surreal. We could hear chanting coming from the trees in the distance as we climbed up the mountain side to the top, which overlooked the mountains and the sea. Pictures never really do these types of places justice, but take my word that it was incredible.
Below are Megan, Chris and myself; these two arrived to Jinju only two weeks before I did, so we've all bonded and become fairly close as we navigate our new lives here in Korea.
Enjoying the abundant sunshine, beautiful view, and good company at Sangju:
A few of the crazy boys thought it would be a good idea to go for a swim; it was probably around 30 degrees Fahrenheit, if not colder!
We came across a food stand that sold corn dogs and couldn't resist!
Keep in mind that 13 of us piled into two small sedans that day to get to the beach. When we turned off to get to the temple on our way back, I had no idea what we were doing. In fact, I don't think anybody in my car knew where we were going because we were just following the car in front of us. Suddenly we were heading up an extremely steep road, possibly the steepest road I've ever driven up. The front tires slipped at a few points with all six bodies in the car, but once we started heading up it was an even worse idea to even think about going back down the hill. So up we went, and worthwhile the scare it was.
There were four of us who became the stragglers in the group; we hadn't even made it to the top yet by the time the rest of the group was already on their way down. We were taking our time, soaking in the surroundings, breathing in the moment. We couldn't seem to tear ourselves away from the place, so we decided to take a seat in some grass to soak it all in just a little bit more. For the 10-15 minutes that we sat there with the sun on our faces, inside was nothing but a feeling of pure serenity. During these moments I felt as though I could have sat there forever.
Finally, we stopped in a little town just outside of where we were staying to pick up some grocery items for dinner that night. Right next to where we parked our cars, we saw this on the window of a restaurant. Yes, people still eat dog in Korea.
I'll continue to post pictures when I can, or I'll post a link to the photo albums that I create on Facebook.
Tomorrow I start my Winter English Camp, which every public school teacher does for at least a few weeks. I think I got pretty lucky and only have two weeks of camp with the boys, who are divided into two groups of about 12, so it will be nice and small and intimate. I only see each group for two hours a day, so the afternoons should be mine to do with as I please. This will be my first real taste of what it's like to teach these boys over here in Korea (funny that I started right before the winter vacation), so I am sure I'll have more insight to share about that aspect of life over here on a later date.
In the meantime, happy 2010 to all!
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