Playing Catch-up

I have a bit of blogging to catch up with after my two weeks without a computer. This past weekend I made a trip up to Seoul and purchased a new computer. Macintosh is not very popular in Korea and there are no Mac stores, only authorized dealers. But in typical Korean fashion I was able to negotiate the price down a bit by paying for my computer in cash. The deal made the computer a better deal than I thought it would be and like a cherry on top, the nice computer guys threw in a free case and mouse. I was not very happy to be spending such a large sum of money this early in my year, but having a computer with Hangul (korean alphabet) keys is pretty cool.

My weekend in Seoul was a much needed break and was a great time to hang out with some fellow expats. My friend Aaron has a friend in Seoul that works for GM-Daewoo and showed us around his life in Seoul. We stayed at his house in the UN village, met the local tailor that makes custom suites for all of the guys at GM and lunched at the Seoul Club. The best part o

f my weekend was relaxing at a western style home, eating pesto, drinking great Italian wine and playing Nintendo Wii.

I have always known that I would reach a time in Korea when the honeymoon stage would end and I would start to realize that this is my life right now. This weekend is the three month mark for my time in Korea. I have already been here for a quarter of a year! I have learned so much and have had so many experiences.

I am also well aware at this point that many of my experiences this year might not be positive. During my honeymoon phase in Korea, I was a warmly welcomed guest. I am transitioning from my Korean vacation to the phase of living a typical korean life, but as an outsider. In most ways this has been a good thing. I am now allowed to help with the dishes and take care of more things on my own. Unfortunately, without the language skills that could take years to attain, I will never be completely independent in Korea. That realization is a difficult one to come to peace with.

Today I found a wonderful little coffee shop called the Book Cafe within walking distance of my house. With coffee by my side, things are looking up. I am confident that I will improve my language skills and that I will begin to embrace my Korean life as an outsider. This next week I will be begin planning my family's trip to Korea for Christmas and make plans for my winter break. Just thinking about the possibilities (Thailand, Indonesia..) is making me antsy about starting to plan.

Tonight: Watching The Office on DVD!

Computer Upsaio

Upsaio is a Korean word that means missing or something is not working. For example when I can't find my phone, I have to tell my host mother that my phone is upsaio, and she understands that I am looking for it. If we do not have any more paper towels in the kitchen, I will say that the tissues are upsaio. Right now my computer is UPSAIO. My faithful friend that got me through college an helped me to complete my thesis has finally gone to her final resting place. My computer has crashed and I am currently working to recover my data and research the best options I have to buy a new one. I am sharing this because I do not have much computer time and therefore I have not posted any blogs this week. : (

Last weekend I visited a local museum and had the opportunity to dress up in traditional Korean clothing. The pictures are still on my camera because of my computer crash, but I will post them asap. My family also took me to a food expo in Cheonan. It was called the Well Being Expo and I was put into a foreigner line and had my temperature taken so that I would not "contaminate" the festival.

This week has been filled with many random little occurrences, such as seeing my first English movie. Last night my host father had an impromptu party at our house and two of my American friends attended. We ate lobster soup, spoken Konglish and enjoy some drinks together. It was a wonderful opportunity for my host family to meet some of my friends and for my friends to get to know my family.

I will post more when I get my new computer up and running.

: )

Top Ten Things I love about my new life in Cheonan….so far.

10. Being treated like a celebrity and having everyone know who you are and want to talk to you.

9. My host dad setting Korean goals for me and creating posters to hang around the apartment with the first 500 Korean words I need to learn.

8. Always knowing what’s going on in Mass, despite not understanding much of the language.  It’s a good thing that Catholics are the same everywhere.

7. Bowing to everyone you know and don’t know. The respect for others makes me so happy.

6. The joy of understanding what someone is saying to you in Korean and being able to respond, even with only a few words, and be understood. 

5. Never exactly knowing what I am eating and always enjoying it. My picky eating days are behind me and now I often enjoy octopus and kimchi for breakfast.

4. Enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee each morning after breakfast. I have yet to be late in the morning. That fact alone would have been unheard of in my American life.

3. Speaking with my host mother with body language and broken Korean sentences and always having her understand what I am saying. I think that despite our inability to have a deep conversation, we have created a great bond.

2. Yongso Elementary School…Love Love Love

1. The Park family….I am so lucky!

 

My English World

My school has a wing that is designated as the English World. My classroom is the study room of the English World. There is also The Yongso Store, where students can buy prizes with Yongso dollars that they earn with good behavior. A group of mothers run the store and the students have to use only English when they are purchasing their prizes from the store. The students can buy everything from stickers and markers to games and art sets.

            The English World also includes a cinema where students can watch movies everyday during their free time. The cinema has real movie theatre seats and a big screen. The cinema also doubles for a karaoke room when the disco ball is turned on. The lyrics of songs are projected onto the screen, a microphone is set up and students can sing their hearts out to the English pop song of their choice.

            My favorite part of the English World is the area that is designated for role-plays. There is a big room with multiple areas for students to act out role-plays. The room has a hospital, a bank, and an airline check-in counter among other things. Once a month each class will go down to the role-play area and act out different situations. I think that this area is a wonderful way for students to learn practical English in addition to the textbook English that they learn in class.

            The shades that pull down in the hallway have different pictures from English speaking countries. My room has four shades that make up Buckingham Palace, the hallway shows a typical American shopping center with coffee shops and minivans. My favorite are the shades at the end of the hall that are of San Francisco and one has the Full House home on it. When I got excited and started talking about Full House no one knew what I was talking about. I still smile to myself when I pass that shade on my way to the cafeteria each afternoon.

            My duties in the school vary from teaching twenty-one classes per week to being the host of the school’s morning news broadcast. I pick an English song each month and teach it to the students over the broadcast and in class. I have open cinema hours for the students to practice the song and at the end of each month I will be the judge of a karaoke contest. This month we are starting out with Yesterday by the Beatles. The students need some slow songs to keep up with the lyrics. Next month I am trying to challenge them with a slightly faster song, but one that repeats the chorus often. We will be signing Hawaiian Roller coaster Ride, from the movie Lilo and Stitch. I will be taking video of the karaoke contest this month. So far the children look adorable belting out Beatles songs and I only imagine with practice they will get better by the end of the month.

 

Starbucks!!

I brought my little brother and sister to Starbucks over the weekend. They didn't really understand why I was so excited about coffee, but they are always up for an adventure. I love going to Starbucks because it always tastes just like home. If I close my eyes and take a big sip of coffee, I can actually feel myself at the Starbucks on Brown Street or in Chadds Ford. 

I let them go wild at the condiment bar and their milks turned into cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla, sugary messes. It was a great time for all. 

Yongso Elementary School

I spent my first few days at my school learning my way around. The students were still on summer vacation and therefore I had some time to get settled. I was really nervous about my first meeting with my principal because we were told that they could be very judgmental. My meeting was a success. The first question my principal asked was what I thought about his school, the second asked about foods that I couldn’t eat, and third inquired if I drink alcohol. Luckily, I am not allergic to anything and I have made a point to eat (at least try) everything that is put in front of my in Korea. I was able to answer all of the principal’s questions with favorable responses. He also wanted to know what my dad for a living and when my family would be coming to visit. I’m not sure my principal during student teaching even knew my name and this principal is taking time to get to know me. This was the start to a great relationship.

My vice principal also does not speak much English but we talk about the weather everyday in Korean and talk about how much we both like to drink coffee. He is really nice about letting me practice my new Korean phrases with him and encourages me to speak to him as much as I can in Korean. Today we stood by the door to the playground and commented on lots of random things in sort of a Korean-English conversation. This was by no means a conversation that I would ever have at home, but it was definitely a moment where we had a mutual understanding that despite our communication barrier we were going to have a conversation. It was a jeong building moment.

I have just completed my first week teaching English at Yongso Elementary School. It was a long week of planning and trying to get to know the individual personalities of each of my classes. I am teaching third, fourth, fifth and sixth graders. They are a great bunch of students and have very high English abilities 

for their age. Many of the students attend private academies to learn English after school. I co-teach with a Korean teacher and we share everything from lesson planning, to decorating the classroom and time working with the students. Our personalities work very well together, but we are still getting to know each other and find a balance between our various teaching styles. The Korean education system is very different than the American one and we are often confused about the strategies that the other teacher is using because we were taught to teach in different ways.

My classroom is very cute and I have decorated it to make myself feel at home. I put a Philadelphia skyline i

n the back of the room, and created a Hershey’s chocolate reward system. The students are in their second semester of school because they change grades in March after winter break. Therefore, I am coming into a preset routine and curriculum for the semester. I am still learning the schedule and I think that by the end of this week I will have a better grasp on the school.

For now, I want to share some pictures of my classroom. I will be sure to share more information about my school as time goes on and I am finally adjusted.  

Meghan, You are ready to marry now...

This morning at breakfast I asked if I could use the iron to press my shirt. My host mother and father were very surprised by my request and asked if I knew how to use the iron. When I explained that I always iron my own clothes, they were very surprised. My host mother brought the iron into the living room and they all watched me iron my shirt. My host father commented on my ironing abilities and told me that because I already know how to cook and iron, I am ready to marry. I laughed and told him that instead of knowing how to cook and iron as reasons to marry, I should probably meet the man first.

I went back to my room to change and could hear the family in the living room making "oohh ahh" sounds. I came out to see my host father showing the children how to iron a handkerchief with the iron unplugged. He said that he was demonstrating by using the "left over heat" from the iron. I think that the children were very surprised by seeing their dad iron, instead of mom. My family is so cute!