September

I'm having a difficult time accessing this site... I can get on maybe once every week or two and otherwise my computer decides to block me out! So, sorry about not posting more frequently, but I'll keep trying to work with it! :D

I guess a lot must have happened since the last post I got on here, but the time's been flying by so fast it seems like it's only been a few days! I've been teaching classes for 3 weeks now, and am finally starting to get all the students to pay attention in class. They've been having a lot of fun and learning the lessons, but now I'm getting them to stay quieter and really listen too which is a kind of amazing feeling :) I'm getting to write my own lesson plans for for my classes which is good but a LOT of work. I'm running around all the time and still trying to get things together at home nights and weekends. But it's really nice to be able to make lessons that are specific enough to get the kids excited and involved in the class- I'm getting to use schoolhouse rock, K-Pop bands, short videos on youtube, and all kinds of games which makes class fun for me too. I keep hearing good things back from their teachers, so it must be working out alright :D

I was able to go out with a group of my co-teachers last weekend- the young ones who don't have families yet. We had dinner Korean style which is a lot like Spanish tapas, some chicken and duck dishes at the first restaurant, pork ribs at the second restaurant, and Japanese style fish and used rice dishes at the third. All served with a LOT of soju, beer, and a new one for me- bamboo liquor (I don't remember the name right now) that tasted just like apple juice. The second restaurant was my favorite, they brought a plate of par-cooked pork ribs and let us grill them ourselves on charcoal bbq pits built into the middle of our tables. We grilled the ribs and whole cloves of garlic and then ate them with marinated onions, sesame oil, and red chili sauce wrapped in lettuce leaves taco style. SOOOO tasty! The third restaurant was interesting too. We had some sort of a fish dish that was topped with paper thin slices of salmon that was dried and blowing around on the plate because it was so thin and light. When you chewed on the fish slices they had no flavor and the texture of chewing on paper, very different but good with the rest of the dish. We also had used rice soup which was really good. Apparently rice was traditionally cooked in cast iron pots, so the crust of rice that stuck to the pan was made into a soup by adding water back to the pot and boiling it with fish or chicken and vegetables and spices. They think of it like doing dishes and getting an extra meal all in one, but I have to say it was pretty tasty! :D So, last Friday night was my night of good food, good drinks, and new friends :D

Saturday and Sunday last weekend I spent hanging out with another EPIK teacher that I had met at orientation. She came over from Daegu (a town about an hour and a half's drive away, I think) where she's working. Daegu is the "big town" in our region, so I'll probably be headed that way to check things out soon enough. We had lots of fun eating out, going back to the jazzless jazz bar (piano this time), hanging out at our favorite coffee shop (which surprisingly does have jazz music), and getting to speak in English at a very rapid pace for an extended period of time :D

This weekend Susan (the teacher from Daegu), and I were planning on going to Andong (another city in our region) for their annual Mask Festival, but I heard it was cancelled due to H1N1 fears. So She, Dan (one of the other teachers that lives in my building), and I are all going to Seoul to meet up with a number of other teachers we met at orientation. Celebrating our first paycheck (which we got today) with a trip to the city, some shopping, and a little exploring. Sorry to be missing a bbq with other some of the other EPIK teachers in Sangju, but I think Seoul should be a fun time! And I'll try to get pictures of Seoul up when I get back on Sunday. Then next weekend's Chuseok, the Korean harvest festival (like our Thanksgiving) where everyone goes home to spend time with their families and eat lots of good food. Not sure what I'll be doing yet, but at least I'll have a 3-day weekend! (some schools get 4, but I'm not sure about ours yet)

market pics

Sangju

Hello again!

I'm posting pictures of my apartment. It's definitely different than at home... no oven, a camp stove that runs on a gas switch like a barbeque, an Asian style bathroom which means that the whole thing is like one big shower stall- everything gets wet! But I actually really like the apartment and I'm getting used to things a little better now... only 5 days of cold showers before I realized that the control panel by the front door that looks like it should control the air conditioner is actually how you turn on the hot water (and back off anytime you're not actively using it or you'll have astronomical heating bills!) I'm very grateful that my bathroom has a western style toilet- Asian toilets are on the floor- even though I can't flush any toilet paper down it (reminds me of old trips to Mexico!) And I'm even learning to flip the switch back from shower to sink as soon as I've finished with it... nothing like going to wash your hands hours later and drench yourself and all your clothes because the shower part was still on! :D

I had last week (my first in Sangju) "to prepare" a.k.a. I wasn't allowed to teach or sit in on classes while they made sure I didn't have swine flu or anything else to pass on- they check everyone's (students and teachers) temperatures each day as they enter campus. I've started teaching now- had my first classes yesterday- and so far they're going alright. The students are having fun with the games and things that I found and actually getting involved, which is good since I was worried I'd have a sea of blank faces staring back at me, but keeping them quiet and well behaved is difficult through the language barrier. Luckily I got some good advice from a lot of people both here and back home so that hopefully next week will be better. I'm teaching 18 different classes a week- 5 each of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, 2 teacher's classes, and on Thursdays I go to a different school and teach at "English Town" a sort of mock-up of a variety of situations in which the students role play in English. English Town operates like an in-town field trip- classes from all the schools in the area come once a year and do a cooking lesson, pretend to order in a restaurant, learn how to buy tickets at the theatre or for an airplane, go on pretend shopping trips, etc. It sounds like it gets a bit tedious for the teachers after a while, but the kids love it and it gives me one day a week that I don't have to worry about making lesson plans which is nice.

It's about a 30 minute walk to and from school each morning (less on Thursdays since English Town is a little closer to where I live) so I'm getting to know the town pretty well. I've found three or four pizza places so far (I've only eaten at two of them) but no pepperoni... their idea of pizza toppings involves things like shellfish, boiled potatoes, curried chicken and beef, and fruit and sweetened yogurt. Luckily they also really like ham which is what I've been getting :D The open market is amazing. Stalls are set up every day, but every fifth day it gets really big since some of the farmers and merchants travel from town to town or back home in between. It has normal farmers market kinds of things plus live fish and eels in tanks, blankets, clothes, shoes, fresh doughnuts fried to order, all kinds of differents foods made fresh and a lot of really great people. I've also been able to go out a few nights with people around town. Went out to pizza one night with a group of teachers from English Town, another dinner and noryeabang (the Korean version of karaoke in private rented rooms) with one of my co-teachers, and went out one night with a couple of English teachers who live in my building and found a new "jazz" club which had no jazz music but a very friendly owner who took the stage to play electric guitar and sing and then came and joined us at our table with some of his friends (probably since we were the only people in the bar.) Turns out soju is Pretty good, especially when mixed with a little fresh kiwi juice.

I still feel a little out of place and I'm sure I have a lot more to figure out, but I'm really enjoying my time here. Maybe soon I'll get comfortable enough to travel around and see some of the festivals and other parts of Korea. I even found a travel agency run by the U.S. military that takes civilians on tours of the DMZ and North Korea! (don't worry Mom, I think I'll skip that one) :D

Address Time!

Got moved in to my new place in Sangju! Here's the address:

105/401
Hyundai Pistel
Nagyang-Dong
Sangju 742-903
Gyeongsangbuk-do
South Korea

It's a 4th floor walk-up, studio apartment and as soon as I can figure out how to turn on the hot water in the shower I think it'll be great :D I'll post some pics soon...