First, Gwangju

So, I realize that I haven't blogged about Vietnam. I will sometime. Or I will just keep those memories to myself :-) We'll see.

I am enjoying a calm Friday night at home. That has not happened in a REALLY long time. So, time to blog...

Last weekend we went to see the May 18th National Cemetery. First, some background on this situation. Gwangju was the site of a Democratic uprising in 1980. I'm stealing some of this from Wikipedia...

President Park Chung-hee, after ruling for 18 years, was assassinated on October 26, 1979. This abrupt ending of an authoritarian regime left Korean politics in a state of instability. New President Choi Kyu-hah and his Cabinet had little control over the growing power of ROK Army General Chun Doo-hwan, who took control of the government through the Coup d'état of December Twelfth.

So, fast forward to May 1980. May 17th, Martial Law was declared in Korea. The next morning, May 18th, a group of students and professors at Chonnam University began a pro-democracy demonstration. Government paratroopers were on hand in the city to quell such problems. However, their methods were far more violent than they needed to be, protestors and innocent people were beaten. This enraged the rest of the city and they joined in the fight. It was an unfair fight, with the civilians fighting unarmed for the first few days. Eventually they began using weapons, but the army was already taking out anyone and everyone whether they were innocent or not (and in reality, they were all innocent). This continued for 9 days. There is a timeline here if you want to know all the details

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju_massacre


Also, the government at the time had the city pretty isolated from the rest of the country. So when they told the rest of the country what was happening, they told them many lies about the people of Gwangju. One major lie being that they were fighting for Communism. Gwangju had no way to actually tell the rest of the country what was going on, so most of Korea still views this city poorly, though the truth is becoming more widely known. Possibly why Aunt Sun Cha told me I was going to a bad city?

All in all, about 125 people died during this fighting, with more dying at later times from injuries. One story told at the Memorial Hall at the cemetery was about a young girl who was doing nothing but walking to her grandfather's ancestral rite and was shot 16 times. Looking at the graves, we were seeing all ages of people who had died, but the worst were the 14 year-olds who died. And not just one. Multiple.



Remember, this was 1980. Just barely 30 years ago.

I am happy for the country that they are a Democracy, but it's just so incomprehensible to me that things like this had to happen so recently for that to be possible.



OK, if you're thoroughly bummed out now, I'll try to end on a positive note. Pepero Day was last week. This is a day where everyone buys tons of this stuff called Pepero (chocolate covered cracker sticks) to give as gifts. This is some of the Pepero I recieved...



The box on the left with the three circles on it...the first two circles are 'Megan' in Korean :-)

Sunday Sunday

Sunday's are the best. When I woke up today, I needed American food. I was so hungry. So I met a bunch of people at Outback Steakhouse for a late lunch. It was delicious and fun. Then we took a subway downtown because we were going go to a hookah bar but decided to stay outside instead since the weather was great. It's FINALLY cooling off here, I've been chilly for the first time!

Anyway, there were some teenage boys on the subway that were cracking me up, but I don't think everyone else was as amused as me. They got up so we could sit down but I was fine standing. Then I saw them doing Rock, Paper, Scissors, which is a big decision making tool here. Then I think whoever lost came over to me and told me to sit down, so I did. Then they started rock, paper, scissors again and one came over to me and asked my name. So I told him my name and he went back to the group and they discussed the next question. Rock, paper, scissors again. One comes over. "Where are you from?"
"Pennsylvania."
Them: "Pennsylvania." "Oh." "California." "How old are you?" "Where are you going?" Something about dancing...Rock, paper, scissors.
"Where are you going?"
Brad: "Hell."
So the kid told his friends we were going to hell. Then we had to get off. The rock, paper, scissors for who was going to talk to us was hilarious and so totally Korean.

We sat outside and played a game and then climbed a mini mountain to a beautiful view of the city.



I love this city. It's so pretty and friendly and feels like home :-)

Sorry

Sorry sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Honestly, I just haven't been feeling it. There was a little bit of time where I just wasn't myself. But I think I'm close to me again :-)

So what's happened in the past 2 months? I went to China with Kate and Ashley...it was a rough trip, but we got to see the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven. It was definitely more different than Korea. Cab drivers didn't stop for us and the smog was DISGUSTING!!! I honestly didn't know what smog was until Beijing. I cannot believe that people can live like that. Anyway that trip ended with Kate seriously sick in a Beijing hospital, me sick on the plane home, an overreaction by the school to Kate not being able to come home and then a midnight run. Fun stuff. I don't want to talk about it :-)

It was SO HOT in August. But in August I really realized that I got lucky and have an amazing group of friends here :-) Even if they like to drink a little bit...

My first semester ended and a new one started! So far I'm liking the new semester. I like the books I'm teaching out of now much more than before. I have a few reading classes and my first official middle school classes. I also got my favorite class from last semester again! Plus a few extra students in that class. I tried to get a good picture of them on their last day last semester but Harry kept getting in front of the rest of them and they were not happy.



Don't let that adorable smile fool you...he has his days, but I do really like that class :-)

MY birthday is coming up!! It will be spent in Vietnam. I'm so excited. It looks amazing there.

I finally ate live octopus last weekend. I had a LITTLE bit to drink which probably helped me do it. It wasn't that bad I guess...I probably won't do it again.

OK, so there's an update for now. I promise to be better from now on...

So I realize it has been a while since I've posted. I only have time for a really quick update before I leave. I'm going to China with Kate and Ashley for our school's summer vacation. I can't wait!! We're leaving the building in about 20 minutes...

So, I want to share a food experience because I'm surprised. I've eaten silkworms and quail eggs since I've been here and I keep debating whether or not I want to try octopus. I really can't decide. Anyway, I had lunch with a friend last week...my first Korean rice porridge and it was really good. He ordered in Korean, so I didn't know what he got, just that I thought it was seafood. The food came and we traded so I got to try some of his. I looked at it and saw seaweed, some seafood-looking stuff and what appeared to be tiny shells. I really didn't want to be rude and not eat it, but I was a little worried about these shells. He wasn't picking anything out, so my guess was that you just ate everything in the porridge. So I ate it. The next time I went in, I saw on the menu that it was some kind of snail porridge...crazy.

Anyway, this post was written the night before I went to China, except for the last little bit...I didn't have time to post it...

Kids Are So Smart

Sometimes these kids really amaze me. Actually most of the time they do. With their insane schedules consisting of public school, acadamies, and various other lessons...not to mention some of them speak Chinese too!!! Three languages before high school? Wow. I pretty much only count myself as monolingual, though I think if I brushed up a little on my Spanish I could get by.

So, most of my classes are awesome...except for that one. But today I had Times classes, which are basically newspaper reading classes. And my first class is considered Intermediate for their level but they are so great. They can hold up a good conversation in English, which they proved today. One of our articles was a discussion about whether or not scientists should continue to develop new weapons. The arguments were that we could get useful things out of the research such as computers and GPS (which we wouldn't have if it weren't for weapons research according to the article). The other side of the argument was obviously that it could start wars and people could get hurt and what not. And that we can study other areas of science instead of developing weapons.

Oh so I need to throw in here how surprised I am that the rest of the world finds America to be so powerful. I mean, I guess I see it, but it's just not something you think about until you're not in the country anymore and cab drivers say "Oh, you're from America, very powerful country."

So we finished the article and one of the students commented on America having scary weapons. And I asked if he meant now. I think he might have meant now, but he said that historically America has had scary weapons. Obviously the bombing of Japan is a scary one, haha. I can understand that. "Much destruction, the air was very dirty," he said. Yeah. But he also said how he doesn't like Japan, so it's all good. (Just kidding) So I told them that I think North Korea is hiding scary weapons and I would be the most worried about them, but then proceeded to downplay it by saying that it's OK because there's American military presence here to protect us. However, I didn't want to seem to overconfident so I mentioned that South Korea obviously has a competent military as well.

These kids are probably about 12 years old and one of them said to me "Teacher, don't worry about North Korea, there's nothing to be afraid of. Teacher, you don't need to be worried." He basically told me that South Korea can take North Korea. Haha, I just am amazed sometimes by their ability to understand and process things and then try to reassure a 23-year-old. Not that I really am that worried :-) I guess maybe this isn't that great of a post for everyone else, but I just thought it was a great class and probably something I won't forget for a while. I love working with kids.

So, other than that, I really wish I could find a live stream of the America-Algeria World Cup game, but it's pretty hard and I just gave up. It doesn't matter though...S. Korea made it and plays again Saturday night!!! Yay Korea.

Tomorrow/today is the one month anniversary of my arrival!! I can't believe it's been a month already :-)

I realize I haven't been very good at updating this very much. Sorry.

This past weekend was great. We visited two museums and ate really good Italian food. I also saw my first accident here. Well, I didn't actually see the accident, just the damaged cars. It's surprising there aren't more accidents here given that their driving is crazy. I don't think stop signs exist, red lights seem to be optional and u-turns are a completely normal part of driving on almost any road here. They use their horns a lot and I really think South Korea must be one of the biggest consumers of brake pads.

That night we went to a few bars to watch the South Korea and Greece world cup game. It was a lot of fun to watch with the Koreans. They really get into their soccer here.

Oh, I forgot about Friday. Friday after school I went to eat with some of the other teachers. And to the batting cages. That was great. I haven't hit a baseball in a while but it is definitely a good way to release stress. And dinner was great. The food here is so good, but so much spicier than I expected. I usually need tons of water for one meal and my mouth is usually still on fire.

Sunday I hung out in my apartment for most of the morning. I did get my TV moved with the help of Jacob(and by help, I mean I watched him do it). But it's so much better now because I can use my desk! Great. Then we went to the baseball game. I love sports here because they are the same in any language. We ran into a couple from the other campus and sat with them along the 1st base line. Here, you buy food and bring it into the stadium to eat. I got a box of fried chicken, and some of the parts weren't ones that I could exactly name. Oh well, it tasted good. The game was great, I love baseball games! And there was a lot of good energy. It rained though, I could've done without that part.

I just realized what time it is. I need to get ready for work!!

It was all in Korean! and the Heart Shaped Beach

So I haven't posted because I couldn't figure out why the Blogger page was all in Korean. It's good now though...easy fix.

Teaching, I think, is very slowly getting better. I'm starting to think of games and things on my own to do in class and am using more online resources. I think most of my students are starting to accept me also. Last night one of the Korean teachers told me that one of my students told his mom that he really liked my class and thought it was a lot of fun. Favorite student now? Haha. It definitely helped to hear that when I was still feeling pretty unsure of myself. I still have the bad class though, and this last class only one of them paid attention to what I was saying. I was about on the verge of tears, but if I cry, I'll never get them to respect me, even though it probably wouldn't make much of a difference anyway. They may be sitting in different seats next class. I'll just keep trying new things I guess.

Oh, I got my hair cut to just below my shoulders. It was getting way too long and it was always tangled and hot and I finally just did it. It was only 8000 won. I was so amazed at that price.

So, this weekend I went camping on a beach with 4 other girls from Avalon/Reading Star/Langcon. We were up at 5am Saturday to catch a bus to take us on a 2 hour ferry ride to an island off the coast of Korea. There was a group of Canadiens on the boat going to the same island and we talked to them a little bit. But when we got to the island we were going to different beaches. We were going to the heart shaped beach. I really need to make a picture page for people who don't have Facebook, it's really awesome how it looks like a heart...maybe this morning, I'm feeling ambitious. Anyway, we got to the beach and it was totally deserted and beautiful. It was the first time I've been to a beach without big waves, there were just small waves. Enough to make the pretty beach sound to fall asleep to. The water was REALLY cold though. I didn't go in much past my ankles. That didn't matter, we still got tanned/sunburnt. Also, there were little bugs everywhere! I don't like bugs, but I made it through :-) So we tanned and hiked around the rocks a little bit. Then we debated trying to walk to the closest village to look for food. We had to walk up this huge mountain and down the other side, probably at least 2 miles, maybe more, until we found a couple and we communicated that we were looking for a store. They called a taxi for us and our cab driver saved the day!! He spoke pretty good English. He took us to the store and waited for us to shop before taking us back. He also told us the ferry times for the next day since we had forgotten to look and we picked a time for him to come pick us up the next day. It was perfect. So we got back and knocked an entire tree off the hill for firewood and set up our fire. Then we watched the sunset from a little bluff over the water. It was so pretty. Then we ate and hung out around the fire before falling asleep. It was great. If anyone had ever told me that there were empty beaches that you could camp on without being bothered, I wouldn't have believed it!







There are so many more pictures...like I said, I'll work on that...

First Days of Teaching

So, I have started "teaching" this week. And the quotation marks are there because it's been mostly testing/orientation stuff. So I don't have a great routine yet, but I think it will come...


Yesterday, I thought my classes were testing, but it turns out they weren't, so I had to teach. I also made my syllabus using a workbook that they do not have, so I couldn't give them their syllabus, but told them I would have it for the next class. Apparently Korean mothers don't like it when you don't have a syllabus because the school got some calls about that...Anyway, I wasn't totally prepared to be honest and I wanted to get into some of the classes before deciding what I was going to do. So the first class was short and there was only one student...very easy. THEN...ugh...then...I walked into class and recognized a few of the students from observation...recognized as in trouble. The class was awful. They didn't listen to anything and talked the whole time, even after I yelled at them and was as strict as I could be without being totally horrible. So anyway, afterwards, I talked to their Korean homeroom teacher who told me they can be difficult. And today we talked about it and it's basically a class of disruptive students all put together. Fantastic. So I am really trying to come up with what to do when I see them again because this is going to be bad if I can't get them under control. We'll see...I'm sure I will mention it again...

Besides that, most of my other classes seem great. Some of these kids are so awesome and are going to be so much fun to teach. I only have one syllabus left, and it's pretty much been done by one of my co-workers so now I can focus on teaching :-)

I think I found a new favorite food at Kimbap Nara...Gogimandu...it has meat and soy sauce and it's a dumpling...who wouldnt like that?

I'm much more settled now. I have most necessities and it feels more like MY OWN apartment :-)

OK, I'm out of things to write for now...

First Weekend

So first I want to describe my school. It's like a corporation, they own a few schools in the city and are starting one in Seoul, and possibly somewhere else too? Anyway, there is the main campus in Bongsun-dong with Reading Star (elem.) and Avalon (middle). I thought I would be at that campus, but I am at Kuhmo-dong (which actually has a different spelling, but that's how it sounds) and the schools are Langcon (elem.) and Avalon (middle). I like the area we are in and the fact that most of us teach at both schools...I think I'll get so much more experience that way. Today will be the first day of classes for Avalon. We won't have to teach though because the students are taking tests and there won't be time. I think I'll just be handing out books and going over the syllabi that I made up. Hopefully they're good :-) I probably will give them too much homework...I guess we'll see.

This weekend was my first chance to get out and see things. Friday we went for dinner and then went out. Apparently we missed dinner with our coworkers though which I'm sad about...but it will happen again this Friday! Anyway, one of my coworkers and I went downtown and ran into Danielle and then saw Megan!! It was so exciting. Also, I don't know what time bars close here, but you can definitely be out until the sun comes up...

Saturday one of the girls from another class was moving out and my coworker Ashley was getting some stuff from her place so I went along to help carry stuff. I ended up getting a hairdryer and some other stuff from Rupsha (who was moving out) so I was VERY excited. And yesterday Ashley and I went shopping and I got a few other little things, like an orange teapot for $5 :-) And she had an extra comforter that I asked if I could use because my school supplied one is really ugly. So I feel much more settled now that I have more comfortable stuff.

Saturday we went out to celebrate a birthday and to say goodbye to the girls who were leaving. A lot of the people I work with were there, so it was a lot of fun.

So, now you're updated a little bit more. There are pictures on Facebook, and probably at some point I will start a new picture page thing...somehow...anyone have recommendations?

Realllllly quick...

Soo some people have asked what Kimbap is...it's a LITTLE bit similar to sushi without the raw fish. The basic Kimbap is rice and vegetables and maybe ham wrapped in seaweed...yummy...and only about $1. You can also get it with other things in it though too, like tuna.

I plan on taking and posting lots of pictures as soon as I can get out and around to explore some, which probably won't be until this weekend. I will also update more then too, I hope.

So now I need to go prepare for my mock classes tomorrow...

The Journey to Korea and First Day Adventures

So, as some of you know, I was pretty worried about flying by myself...3 separate flights with stops in Chicago and Japan...my stomach was in knots waiting to board the first flight, but once we got in the air and an episode of The Office was the in-flight entertainment, I felt much better.

The second flight was a 12 hour flight. Wow, I did not think it would be anything like it was. I was hoping to sleep through most of it, but I was way too uncomfortable, even after 2 Benadryl. I was also worried about the landing in Japan because I wasn't sure how easy it would be to understand what was going on. Luckily, I was sitting next to a guy who has traveled to Thailand multiple times and various other places, who was willing to answer my many questions and put me more at ease. The food on this flight was kind of good...they fed us like 3 times.

So, the layover in Japan was uneventful, lucky again, Trey(said traveler from 12 hour flight) also had 3 hours before his flight so the time passed quickly. The flight into Seoul was also uneventful because I did fall asleep and this time, it was a better sleep that I did NOT want to wake up from. Immigration and customs and baggage claim were easy, so that leaves the bus ride.

I had a paper to show the lady selling tickets where I was going because there are 2 bus terminals apparently and I wanted to get the right one. So I got on the bus and the driver didn't speak any English. He made a stop, I'm assuming so everyone could go to the bathroom and get snacks, but I didn't know what he said or how long he said he would have, so I stayed safely on the bus. There was some miscommunication about picking me up at the bus station so I nervously waited longer than I should have, but finally I found the 2 guys who were sent to pick me up.

So they took me to the school and introduced me to another co-worker and showed me how to get to my apt. Then they talked to me about what I was doing that day and where other teachers live in the building. Oh, by the way, this is about 2am...

So today I woke up and unpacked and got ready to be at the school by 1:15, but it turns out it was supposed to be 1:50...oh well...I knocked on 3 doors until finally a coworker answered who came to pick me up when it got closer and showed me the way to school and showed me around the 2 schools. Oh, and also showed me how to turn on the hot water after my cold shower experience. Oh yeah, and he bought me my first Kimbap...yummy :-) Then I took a bus to main campus to meet with my director and observe a class. She told me about the high standards they set for their students and teachers...then I came back to Langcon and observed some more classes and another co-worker showed me around the area where we live and took me to get toilet paper because there was only a little bit when I got here. So pretty much uneventful, but I learned a lot.

So tomorrow I will be going to the hospital and observing more classes.

I bought some pizza looking stuff on my way home...it looked like a pastry with pizza toppings on it...beneath all the pizza toppings was a hot dog...haha...surprise! This food is going to be interesting.

I'm still scared but in a really good way because I think this is going to be a very interesting year.

I promise to hopefully not make all my posts so long...I'll keep it simple from now on.

I'll probably think of more I want to say and maybe post later.

Until then...