On to Month 2

I have continued to stay very busy here and time has continued to fly! The weeks seem to come and go pretty quickly but when I think back to Warrens wedding and saying goodbye to family at the airport it seems like ions ago.

Quite a bit has happened since my last post. Last week I contracted my second infection since being here so that was pretty exciting! This time in the throat which I am happy to report is all cleared up now. I managed to find an ear nose and throat doctor who speaks English although I am hoping I won't have to  see him too often. Many of you may have seen the Korean 'diligence' video on my Facebook page and unfortunately it is only funny because it is true. Nothing short of hospitalization warrants a day off here and the same 'diligence' is expected of foreign teachers (hence the fact that I only get 3 sick days a year). Someone at the school always has something so staying healthy here seems like it will be an ongoing battle. I have been cooking with a ton of garlic in every meal though so I am hoping that will assist me in the combat.

Last weekend I spent Saturday at Namdeamun market here in Seoul. It is the second biggest outdoor market here but I wouldn't have known that had I not read it in a travel book. The market is enormous and has just about anything one would be interested in buying although knock off clothing and accessories seemed to be the most prevalent of the shops. I have never been anywhere more crowded in my life! Think rush hour commute on the Bloor line except you are in a huge outdoor market and trying to walk around. It was a cool experience but after about an hour I was done with the crowds and made my way back to the subway. At least now I know where to get a knock off Gucci tie at a reasonable price!

I had my first baseball game this Saturday and it was a lot of fun! The league is made up of other foreign teachers from all over but predominately from the States. There is a guy on my team from Scarborough though which was a funny coincidence. He has been teaching here for 4 years in total and just got back from his first trip home in that time. He said it was complete reverse culture shock! We lost the game 7-2 but I am proud to report that I cracked a home run on my first at bat and I was wearing a red Canada t-shirt so I represented us well in front of all the Americans!

It is Sunday night here now and I just got in from Thanksgiving dinner. A fellow teacher at my school has friends on the American military base here and they were kind enough to offer to host the dinner and prepare all of the food! It was an extremely nice gesture and because they are able to go to the commissary on base, they had everything! Mike, who is a sergeant in the marines and spends his days doing surveillance on North Korea deep fried 5 enormous cajun turkey breasts and his wife prepared yams, squash, mash potatoes, stuffing, and 3 pies! It was by far the best meal I have had since I have been here and will likely be a tough one to out do in the for seeable future.

I have a week off for Christmas and had been looking at which tropical island I was going to spend it on (the Philippines, Thailand and Bali were all in the running) but I am happy to report that I have decided that if I am getting on a plane at Christmas, it is going Pearson! See you all on December 24th :)

So long till my next post!

Korean Life 7

Things continue to go well for me over here!

On Friday after work, my coworkers and I went out for my first Indian dinner here in Seoul. It was fantastic although it made me feel a little home sick. It’s funny how familiar smells and tastes can spark your memory and elicit emotions. It was a very cool restaurant in the neighbourhood of Hongdea. The décor was very authentic and we had to sit on the ground around a large table. The atmosphere in the restaurant made it feel how I had imagined it would be like in India. After dinner we went for a little walk around the neighbourhood which was very lively as always. Before heading home we stopped in the park to have a drink and listen to some live music. There were a couple of guys playing funk with a break dancer accompanying them and another group who had about 8 different drums and were playing some Caribbean sounding beats. It was pretty cool.

On Saturday the school was holding a ‘sports day’ for all of the students and their fathers. The school rented an area near a river and bused everyone to the location which took about an hour to get to.  All of the dad’s were very friendly although most of their English was pretty limited. I was told that the students don’t typically get to spend a great deal of time with their father’s given both of their extremely busy work weeks and it seemed as though everyone was really cherishing their time together. We competed in a variety of activities throughout the day with kids facing kids and dads and teachers facing one another. The highlight of the day for me was a 60 on 60 tug of war match that I competed in with the dads. It was funny how competitive the dads were and how skilled they were at tug of war. It must be something they do in their mandatory army training because they had all clearly played before.  It ended up being an 8 hour day at the park and by the end everyone was pretty wiped.

On Sunday I went to the wedding of a Korean teacher from work as he had recruited us ‘foreigners’ to perform a song at the ceremony, which is apparently a tradition at the school.  We did Nate King Cole’s L.O.V.E. along with accompanying actions for a group of over a hundred Korean strangers and co-workers. Needless to say it was pretty painful! The wedding itself however was pretty similar to weddings at home with a few exceptions. There was of course more bowing, no kissing of the bride and the ring exchange had been done weeks before. At one point the groom piggy backed his soon to be mother in law up to the front of the concession and performed 3 bows with her on his back thanking her in Korean each time for having a beautiful daughter. Thankfully no one here is overweight or that could be a tricky part of the ceremony at some weddings. After the ‘western style ceremony’ the bride and groom get into their traditional clothing of a ‘hanbok’ and there is a bowing ceremony in a different room. The bride and groom then bow to elders who take turns coming into the room and the elders wish them luck and throw walnuts on them for luck with conception. Then there was a buffet dinner which had a huge variety of fantastic food and the whole thing was wrapped up by 6 p.m.!!

So long till my next post! 

Chu Seok weekend

Going to Muuido Island this past weekend enabled me to see a bit more of Korea. The Island was very beautiful and mountainous with a great beach and swimmable water. Due to the fact that it was Korean thanksgiving which is the biggest holiday here (bigger than Christmas!) the Island was full of foreign teachers who like myself were looking to get out of the city for the long weekend. I met people from all over North America with a few Aussies, South Africans and Brits thrown in for good measure. Everyone was extremely friendly and I was lucky enough to have 100 some odd people sing me happy birthday around a campfire which was organized by my co-workers and people that I had met. I also met some guys who play in a baseball league and a basketball league in the city who invited me to play for their teams which I plan on taking them up on!!

When we came back to Seoul from the island we decided to hit the town and went to a neighbourhood called Hongdea. Hongdea is an artsy University area with a ton of nightlife! The streets are lined with bars and clubs but their are little clothing boutiques and other stores along side them which are open for most of the night. We had a great night out topped off with some great late night food (5 a.m. ish).  After the food we went back to the club which was still open and I probably made it home at around 6:30 a.m.  Needless to say I had a fantastic birthday!!

I also made it the Korean War museum which is an incredible place. They had the full history of Korean wars accompanied by a ton of artifacts dating back as far as 200 A.C. Like much of the world dating back to that time period Korea's history is a bloody one with constant wars, invasions and colonization right through to pretty much 1953 (end of the Korean war). The progress that has been made here in that time though is really astonishing as they had to basically rebuild a great deal of the country and establish themselves on the global market where there had been minimal prior development. Koreas GNP has grown by over 600 times what it was pre war in 1950. The museum also had many tanks and planes from the Korean war and a really nice tribute to the U.N. and all of the countries who contributed in the Korean war.

I also managed to sneak in a couple of jogs this weekend as there is a path that runs along a stream which is 2 minuets from my front door. The path goes for many kilometres and there are workout stations all along it.  It is amazing how active people are here as there are always people of all ages riding bikes, walking, running and working out at the stations. I have also managed to find the gym and have been going a couple of time a week with my co-workers.

I was told before I got here that foreigners are somewhat of celebrities here but it still cracks me up. I have had a few strangers take my picture on buses and at restaurants and at the nightclub my foreign friends from the school and I were pulled aside by a group of guys who wanted to take our picture and several photos with them. They probably would have taken photos all night had I not pulled the plug, waved and walked away. It is kind of surreal at times and very funny! My friend from the school Wayne has taken to calling them the 'paparazzi'.

So long till my next post.

Korean Life 5

Been a long week for me thus far as I came down with a chest infection and had my first visit to a Korean doctor. My supervisor took myself along with another new Canadian teacher from the school as she had to translate for us. The doctor gave us each a shot in our buts and pouches of about 8 pills to be taken 3 times daily. Not sure what was in the pouches or the shot but I am happy to say that I feel a million times better then I did at the start of the week!

The teaching at the school continues to be great and I am getting to know my students a lot more. I have been pleasantly surprised to find how similar they are to the students at home. Not really sure how I expected them to be but my Kindergarteners don’t like sharing or being copied and my older students look for any opportunity to joke around with me and take a break from the curriculum. Many of the students at the school have taken to calling me Mountain teacher as I pass them in the hallway. It is Korean custom to call people by their title so I am known as Martin teacher at the school and I guess Mountain wasn’t too far a stretch.

A clear difference in the children here from those at home though is how much and how hard they work. Before arriving I was under the impression that the students would go to either a math, science, sports or English academy after school but I have come to find out that many of them do ALL of the academies AFTER their regular day at public school. Throw Tae Kwon Do in the mix and many of the children are not getting home till well after dark when they have to get to work on their homework from the various institutions. With that being said they are a very happy and upbeat bunch and I naturally try to make their time at the English academy as enjoyable as possible.  Some of my students travel alone for up to an hour on public transit in order to get to the academy! It seems as though hard work is really engrained in to the culture here and retirement doesn’t seem to exist as there are people who look to be in their 80’s selling produce or pulling around carts with things to sell just about everywhere you go!

The food industry here is huge as every other store is a restaurant or café and all of the streets are lined with these stores and restaurants. You would think it would be hard to stay in business but every night of the week the streets and restaurants are packed with people socializing and enjoying food and drinks (Soju) after a long day of work. Everyone seems to live in buildings of some sort and there are huge high rise complexes all over so I suppose that with the readily available amount of reasonably priced restaurants it makes more sense to eat out most nights. I went for my first real Korean dinner with 5 other co-workers tonight. I don’t remember what the style of restaurant is called but they brought us a tray full of meet and vegetables that we cooked over a broth that was boiling in a big pot in the center of the table. The food was delicious! The waitress noticed me struggling to grasp a dumpling with my chopsticks at one point and brought me a fork, which cracked up everyone at the table.

This weekend is Chu Seok which is the Korean Thanksgiving. The students have been bringing in presents for all of the teachers all week and today the parents of my kindergarten class gave me 200 dollars in gift certificates to a high end department store. Pretty sweet. It is a long weekend so myself and 3 other Canadian teachers are leaving Saturday morning for Muuido island which is about 2 hours from Seoul. We are renting a hut on the beach and it is apparently supposed to be quite the party there!! The weather here is still a balmy 30 degrees during the day so I am looking forward to a weekend of swimming in the ocean, partying and tanning on the beach!!

A Canadian couple from the school are heading to Tokyo for the weekend and another Canadian teacher who has only been here a couple of months is heading to Beijing. Pretty cool options for a long weekend :)

So long till my next post!

Settling In (of sorts)

This post was composed over two different sittings which were days apart because I have been extremely busy but I think it will add to the sharing of my experience.

My first few days in Seoul have been a bit of a whirlwind. Still haven’t quite gotten over my jet lag or adjusted to my surroundings. I am really looking forward to getting settled in my apartment so I can begin to figure out this vast and complex city. Seoul is really an amazing place with a blend of old meets modern laid out over a mountainous landscape. The way they have packed so many streets, buildings, cars and people onto the land while still preserving green spaces is really unbelievable. As I am writing this I am in a bus owned by the school on my way to my new apartment!

The first few days of teaching so far have been great! The students are very energetic and have a ton of personality. The staff at the school are all very friendly, welcoming and helpful. The foreign teachers at the school in particular have really helped me feel welcome and have set me up with a cell phone and taken me to Costco to get ‘Western’ groceries which I feel will be key over the next year (only place to get lunch meat and regular cereal). Still trying to figure out what I am going to eat outside of that. There is food everywhere however and produce can be bought from old ladies on every street for very cheap.

The teaching days at the school are very long and I am replacing a Canadian girl who was fired so I am pretty much left to figure out where I am at with my 7 different classes and where to go from here. The staff are as helpful as they can be but there are 3 other new Canadian teachers who are still figuring things out for themselves. I expect the next month or so to be very busy. 

Part 2

I just got back to my apartment after doing an over night trip with students from the school to one of Korea’s largest amusement parks (Everland) and Korea’s largest water park (Caribbean Bay). Both parks were quite impressive but I am utterly exhausted at this point after spending 40 some odd hours touring students around! Thankfully they only do 3 over night trips per year and one is out of the way already :)

My apartment here is nice with a spectacular view which I will post pictures of. The girl who I am replacing at the school however was the previous tenant and it seems she put as much effort into her teaching as she did into maintaining the cleanliness of her apartment so I have to give it a good cleaning. Not only was she messy but she took it upon herself to write some of her favourite quotes on the wall in permanent marker, placed pink flower decals on the wall which take of the wall paper when you try to remove them and painted ‘electric ladyland’ in green and yellow paint right over my bed J I have already spoken to the school about having new wall paper put up but I will be sure to post pictures of the décor for your amusement!

Going to have a quick nap now then myself along with the 7 other foreign teachers at the school are going to hit the town as it is Saturday night here and the ‘vets’ are anxious to show us ‘newbie’s’ around!

So long till my next post!

First impressions of Seoul

The flight over here wasn't AS bad as I had prepped myself for although I was pretty exhausted after finally arriving at the airport at 1:30 a.m. Toronto time. The director of the schools nephew picked me up and told me that we would be going directly from the airport to the school so I could meet everyone. Smelly and exhausted this wasn't what I wanted to hear but I didn't have much say :)

The traffic pulling into the city was insane and I don't know why anyone would even bother driving here. We were around the corner from the school and as the director's nephew talked away on his phone in Korean a small dog ran out into the street right in front of us. There was no time for either of them to react and he ran right over the poor little guy. He dropped his phone, cursed (I am assuming) and pulled over to the side of the road. In the rear view we could see that he wasn't moving and we were naturally both a pretty shaken up. I reassured him that there wasn't anything he could have done however had he not been speeding and on his phone, who knows? Hope this isn't a bad omen for the rest of my trip! It certainly was a lesson that I need to be extremely careful when walking around. No one J walks here (although the lights take several minutes to change) and the intersections huge and complicated so caution is a must. The school was modern and clean and everyone was VERY welcoming and understanding that I probably wanted to get a hot shower and some rest.

From the school, the nephew took me to the hotel that I will be staying at for the next 3 days. It is very nice and in the touristy part of Seoul. Think Yonge and Dundas times 5. After showering at the hotel I went for my first exploration and to have some dinner. Deciding what to eat was difficult because very few of the restaurants have signs in English and there are places to eat everywhere! Not to mention all of the people selling food out of stands on the road. After walking for about an hour I was too hungry and tired not to stop so I picked a place that said 'chicken and beer' on the sign. No one in the restaurant spoke English but the food was great!

It is extremely hot and humid here and although most places are air conditioned, I don't think I have stopped sweating. After an early night last night I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning and decided to go for a jog and to explore before the sun came up. I found a great park with exercise facilities after jogging for about a half hour and I had a great and much needed workout. The strange sights and smells were giving me a bit of sensory over load so it was really great to workout in a park that was tucked away from the craziness that is Seoul. On my way back from the park the streets were getting busier with commuters and as I walked in my sweat drenched tank top, I felt a bit like a Martian. Just about everyone I passed had a second and third look at me which was a new experience. Everyone here however is extremely friendly and seem to be very content. I have yet to smile at an 'on looker' who hasn't returned a smile back!

I am getting ready for my first day at the school now! Looking forward to meeting those who I didn't meet yesterday as well as the students!! I just hope they don't send the nephew to pick me up :)

So long until my next post!

Getting ready for take off

T-minus 5 days till departure! I am just about packed and the reality of leaving is really setting in. It is a strange mix of excitement and nerves along with some anxiety over just how much I will miss home and everyone here. No turning back now though :)

My next post will be from the other side!!