Yeah, yeah, yeah...here we go

Okay, so I know that it has been an eternity since i've updated this thing and I truly apologize but this first month has been a whirlwind of activity and "normalcy" is finally starting to occur. Let me go back....WAY back to the beginning of March...I haven't re-read my previous blogs so if I repeat myself, deal with it...kidding haha! I'm going to break it up in topics to flow a bit better!

Work Life

So I am at an Deokyang Elementary School and I teach grades 3-6. I co-teach with two Korean teachers and alternate weeks. The teachers here separate the grades, so one week I teach 3rd and 5th and the next week I teach 4th and 6th. There are about an average of 24-28 kids (co-ed) students in each class and I teach about 4 classes a day. The workday starts at 8:30 and I have to stay at school until 4:30. My classes around 12:20 each day then I have lunch with the teachers (more on that later) and then sit around read books/mess around on the internet/chat with my fellow co-workers. I really can't complain at all! The school itself is interesting...there are 6 floors (my classroom is on the 6th...and I have to take the stairs which KILL me everyday). Then let's not forget that the school sits on a mountain...well on the side of one...literally. So my 10 min hike to school could actually take about 4, if it weren't for the fact that I have to climb vertically up a mountain just to get to it. Luckily my students live around the school and I followed them the first week and found shortcuts (through parking garages haha) so i've managed to get the trek down to about 7 minutes! The classrooms have an old John Travolta in Grease feel and its pretty outdated yet simple. The playground is a joke..it's literally a dirt/gravel football field length mass of nothing with a huge wall that lines the mountain! I get amused when the students go out to "play"...simple people simple lives I guess! The students are great. There are a few bad apples, but they are just at that age where they can't keep still or pay attention to save their lives but they are humorous! I still have a sort of novelty about me and the students basically rush me everyday at some point and throw out any English phrases or questions they have learned. The girls especially like to creep into the bathroom behind me and silently wait outside of my stall until I come out. Never gets old, and yet I still jump when they all yell "teacher Destiny" once I step out. They have started to warm up to me and not be afraid of speaking outside of class. The girls and I found a shared love of dancing, so there is supposed to be a big dance off coming up soon...details when I know!

Apartment Life

I thankfully live not too far from my school, but sadly pretty far away from the heart of Busan where all the "action" is. Plus number two is that the subway station is 30 seconds from my apartment and such a relief since I use it daily to get around! My apartment is your typical little studio apartment here in Korea. It's a four-story walk up that is brand new and not even full yet. Seems all of the other schools in my area decided to put us all together because most of everyone I've met in my building has been from Canada or the US! So i'm in apartment 307 and things here are really hi-tech (well for a simple minded person like me it is). I have a card (the same size as a credit card) that I put against a flat scanner that lets me into the actual building (cool, but very pointless if you leave it in your apartment and get locked out...which i've done...twice already). Then once you get to my door there is a keypad that you punch in a numeric code that unlocks the system and lets you in! Everything here plays music (subways, escalators, doorbells, washing machines, etc) so a cute little chime lets you in. Once inside there is a walkway (the place where you take off your street shoes and change into the house shoes...or socks whichever) and I have a closet for storage. Off to the right of the entrance is my little bathroom. It comes with a sink, a toilet, mirror and cabinet. Where's the bath/shower you might ask? Well here in Korea they don't really have what we would consider a "shower/bathtub" like back home... the shower consists of a shower head connected to a long hose that's connected to the sink. Then to the right of the mirror is this pole that you use to mount the shower head. The sinks have a knob that you turn on and off to switch from sink to shower and wa-lah...instant shower. The floors slant downwards into a drain so basically you are simultaneously showering and mopping...sweet...one less thing for me to clean right! The first few days I was here I kept trying to figure out what this mysterious light switch did and why I didn't have hot water for three days...turns out the switch controlled the water heater and I left it off because the OCD in me had to have the switches off together...oops. Okay, so you come out of the bathroom and go through a door an enter the domain. I have a laundry basket on the left side and it's next to my two drawer bed table then my bed. The bed was so graciously pre-decorated and is a lovely pink/white/black floral mod type of design. Then at the foot of the bed (the bed is horizontal to the back wall) is my closet. Along the right side of the wall/near the windows is my entertainment area. It's a three-shelf stand that has my tv on one shelf, computer on the second shelf and books/etc on the bottom. Then keep turning left and you have my kitchen! It's a cute little white applianced area. I have a washing machine (dryers are rare in Korea so we line dry everything which is a pain, but bearable) and above the washing machine is my cooking range then sink to the right and refrigerator to it's right. Then a dish rack and cabinets above/below the sink. The wallpaper is unique as well. Basically you get easy stick on/stick off wallpaper sheets. When the people at my school were told I was a girl they must have thought, she must love pink! They covered my back wall with a light pink/orange/white/purple flower wallpaper. At first all the pink shocked me, but now it's grown on me. I just laugh because pink is actually one of my least favorite colors! The coolest part (to me at least) is the heating system. Behind my bedroom door is control knob that you turn left and right and has the temperature for the apartment. The only difference here is that it heats the floor. The heat comes up from the floor and heats the entire place. So basically I sit on the floor and toast my buns while I enjoy my everyday tasks! I love sitting on the floor anyway, so this just makes it even more enjoyable!

City Life

Korea, by far is the most happening country i've been to this far. It's got great location to all of the Asian countries and the modes of transportation are really cheap! The shopping is great, and despite my preconceived notions of everything being cheaper, they are even more
label snobs than most people in Hollywood! Everywhere is lined with mirrors in some sort of fashion...literally. The girls look like porceline dolls, or something out of a Gossip Girl episode. They ALL wear stilletos, and i'm talking 5 inch stilletos too! The boys are the most interesting thing about Korea. Homosexuality is about as uncommon as you will ever find it. The boys are taught to love fellow boys in manners that schoolgirls do. They hold hands and hug and kiss on the cheek but not in a sexual way. Even adult men will stroll arm in arm down the street, but simply plutonically. The men are very fashion forward as well and by far the most metro-sexual I've seen yet! With mirrors lining the city (even the subways have mirrored doors) everyone looks so well kept together. Probably the most amusing thing about this culture is the fact that couples dating tend to wear matching outfits. I don't mean like the same shirt, but same color jeans, same color belt, same shoes, same shirt, same hat, same track jacket and even same purse (yes the men have handbags here, but they surely make them look fashionable).

Now I know that the rule is to respect your elders, and here the younger generation definitely does that...but ya know, I have a BIG problem with the old ladies here in Korea. They have a saying here...in Korea there are men, women and Hajimas (spelling not sure). Hajimas are what you call little old ladies in Korea..they are rude and will fight you in a heartbeat. I seem to be a magnet for Hajimas who are shrunken little things that reach my mid back and like to elbow me when they want to get where they are going. Even if i'm not in their way, they find a way to make me in their path just to hit, kick or bump into me. Not cool. I've gotten to the point where I will have to take granny out haha! Aside from the Hajimas Korea is full of very generous and caring people! They don't show too much emotion but if you need something they will help you until they have exhausted every resource they know! My first month here was spent in and out of an allergist because the Yellow Dust (a million times worse than pollen and it comes from China) killed my allergies and I couldn't breath and got sick within the first week. The school nurse called up every friend she knew in the medical area and helped me out...so much they barely charged me for any of the visits if not free at all!

The city is great for finding things to do. Street merchants line the streets daily, there are TONS of malls and they even have indoor skiing/snowboarding, an aquarium (where you can actually swim with sharks!), an amusement park, many ice skating rinks and not to mention 3 or 4 gorgeous beaches that have amazing views of the ocean!

As far as night life goes. It's more like 24/7 life. It is like the city never sleeps! There have been a few times where the group and I will go into a place, make friends with the owners and leave as the sun is coming up. The genuine friendliness of the people make it easier to feel comfortable conversing and enjoying the time with no pressure to rush out and make room for the next group. The clubs/bars are usually of mixed company (foreigners and koreans) and I pretty much run into someone with a connection to me back home in some form or fashion which is always fun! The city is always booming and yet it still is big enough to feel like there is room to breathe!

Cultural Differences

So anyone who knows me knows that I like food and sometimes I might eat, a lot. Well here that's not so common. The first day at lunch at my school I had all eyes on me watching me eat and analyzing everything. Unless you go to a foreign restaurant you won't see a fork or knife in any korean place, including school. So coming from hardly ever using chopsticks was a shock and made eating a much longer process. The trays we use at lunch have 5 divided circular sections that you put certain foods in each (an OCD person's paradise). The bottom of the tray closest to you has two big circles and then there are three mini circles above them. In the bottom right circle you put soup (served either cold or hot). In the bottom left circle you use it for rice (usually white sticky rice, but every now and then they'll mix it up and it'll be purple...not sure from what, but it's purple). The upper circles are usually for vegetables and any meat that might be served. For an avid carnivore it was a bit difficult not having pork/chicken/beef products daily but more rare than anything else. Well the first day I sat down and you know in the states we turn our plate as we eat...I started doing that and was immediately reprimanded for turning the tray. Here you reach. When you go to dinners at restaurants they always bring out little side dishes that they spread out on the table and it's basically a free for all. Hands and chopsticks are going at all kinds of directions and you don't say excuse me for reaching. But back to the tray thing...so as i'm eating, they stop me, move my hands away and turn the tray back to the big circles on bottom and told me it HAD to be like that. Why, well i'm still not sure but trust me I didn't do that again. Everyday I have a new type of food they ask me if it's good and usually it really is but some days I just eat big piles of rice to make up for the lack of other food. This started the judging part two. The women here eat very modestly. I eat like I am a starving person...trust me, the food is so cheap here that I eat great meals every night but still get hungry by lunchtime so I eat a lot! The day they told me I could get as much as I wanted at lunch I started have second and third helpings! That's when they told me I eat TOO much. Literally they said, "wow you eat a LOT of food." I was like...uh yeah...and? Now the amazement is down to a simple chuckle everytime I get up to get more or a "help yourself" from the teachers practicing English. At first I didn't know what they were trying to imply, but later I found out that it was a sort of amazement that I eat as many carbs as I do, don't workout and still manage to keep a somewhat decent weight.

Spitting. Something I absolutely hate more than anyting. I don't like hearing the sound and I surely don't want to hear it. Well in Korea they spit, and when I say spit they spit...anywhere and EVERYWHERE. Inside buildings they spit, in the subway they spit, in the streets they spit, in bars/clubs they spit. Girls and guys both. I understand if you have something in your throat clear it...but don't hock a phlegm rocket in my directions if i'm trying to enjoy a meal. That is something I am working on, but I still find it abosolutely disgusting!

Simple things here are even done in new and culturally different ways. For example they have rules about the way you hand over things and take items from other people. When you are passing something to someone you hold it out with one arm while simultaneously putting your opposite hand on top of the arm you are passing the item with. When you are taking an item from someone you use two hands to accept it. Bowing is standard, like saying high...the more important the person the lower you bow...nothing too new to me. When you take a drink from an elder it is seen as rude to drink it facing them. So once you accept the drink with two hands you are supposed to turn over your shoulder and drink it, almost like you are trying to sneak a drink or something. Not sure why it's seen as rude, but I don't ask...I just act!

My goal

Today I applied for a Korean language class. I know all of 4 or 5 words and feel stupid everytime Korean is spoken in my direction and I have to reply in English. Luckily I don't need to speak English to get around. Plenty of people here speak or can understand the gist of what we say. Lots of charades occur which is normal for most countries but what can you do? We are all in the same boat after all, they are learning and i'm learning! The Korean class starts next week and would be super beneficial! My second goal is to update this thing more often, especially now that I have my own office (before I had to share a room with my co-teachers...which basically meant I sat in a chair next to their desk) because my classroom...called the English Only Zone (or EOZ) was under contruction and I didn't have access to a computer. And goodness, this was a lot of writing and would be much simpler if I made more of an attempt! I don't know what you guys want to know about over here, so post some questions and I'll throw in some Q&A time in each blog! You can do it here or through email (desg16@uga.edu).

So the group I am close with came up with an acronym...OinK (only in korea) where we post humorous things that you might never see in America. So for every blog I will attempt to end it with an OinK that either I have experienced or have been told by a group member.

OinK: A lady brought her bunny rabbit on the subway one morning and she kept it still by holding on to it's big ears. Well this lady was exceptionally tired and kept falling asleep (as in head dropping down to chest tired) and whenever she fell asleep she would let go of the bunny. Well the bunny would hop off of her lap and into the seat next to her (apparently it was empty because nobody wanted to sit next to an uncaged rabbit). When the lady came to, she would notice the rabbit was gone and pick it back up, put it on her lap then proceed to smack it on top of it's head with her cellphone then regained her grip...that is until she fell asleep again and the process happened all over again.