On Teaching

My grandmother (Hi Oma!) asked a lot of questions about teaching in Korea, and I realized that I haven't addressed a subject that takes up 58 hours a week (you read that right, I teach that much. Its not healthy). So heres teaching in Korea: Preschool Edition!

Minho's excited about the blogpost!

As my cousin (Hi Elena!) said to me; getting a degree in teaching is almost pointless, cause nobody can prepare you for actually doing it. And shes right. But Teaching is kind of like skiing; you have to try a lot of different ways to stay up, but once you figure it out, you got it. This is my 3rd week with my kids, so the last few weeks have been more of a how can I get through to these kids kinda game. And it works. They know when I think its okay for them to you know, act their age, and when its time to actually get work done (Phonics class succccks. Everybody hates it, them and me). There hasn't been any complaints so intense that my bosses have had to talk to me about it (I don't actually hear complaints, somebody else deals with them and they only get to me if they are valid, or often enough). I don't really like to punish kids but we have a happy/sad star system. So If you do something that makes me happy, you get a happy star. When you speak Korean or do something thats really frusturating me, you get a sad star. I don't like to give sad stars. If somebody sees that their friend is getting heaps of happy stars, they generally behave better. So I make sure to encourage really good behavior, and I don't want to say ignore, since they know what makes me grumpy, but I don't pay as much attention to it. They're also really well behaved, so theres little in the ways of punishment

They're too much fun. I like doing art and music and gym and stuff like that with them. I feel bad having them do workbook pages and phonics and stuff, since I feel like they're too young. But I have no say in it, so I try to make it tolerable for them.

You do the best that you can, but I greatly enjoy my kids!
Who doesn't love their friendly local neighborhood expat teacher and her adorable students. I mean, look at Mary in the middle. TOO CUTE. And I also have my KT, whos my go-to gal, and too good at her job.

On Being Discriminated Against

So I promise I'm going to start posting more, but for now, heres something I've been thinking about.

In America, I'm just like everybody else. Well, obviously not; but I can speak the language, go into stores, and know whats going on.
Here, that is not the case, and although there are heaps of expats around, in a metropolitan area of 21 million people, we are still the extreme minority. And it shows. A lot of the time, Koreans are really nice, and chill, and will help you out.
Sometimes that is not the case. Yesterday, we were thrown out of a hat store. Not to long ago, we were overcharged for a taxi, and had an arguement with the guy. We get followed around in museums. There are somethings that happen, that you know they wouldn't dare pull with Koreans.

Its weird, and eye-opening. I've never been straight out discriminated against just for being white. I think its healthy, but its not right. People shouldn't be mean, or try to rip people off just for being white, just cause they can't understand you.

It puts a new perspective on things.

New Soul

I'm a new soul I came to this strange world hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take.
But since I came here felt the joy and the fear finding myself making every possible mistake



I'm a young soul in this very strange world hoping I could learn a bit about what is true and fake.
But why all this hate? Try to communicate finding just that love is not always easy to make.

On Hiking up Mountains in Korea

New friends on a glorious fall afternoon

So Today I went out to Soyosan (READ: The furthest you can get from me on the subway pretty much) to climb a mountain. I found a group on the internet that climbs mountains, and I had nothing going on this Sunday so I decided to get in on that. It ended up being me and couple of older guys, but they were rediculously interesting to talk to. So I went along the ride, and it was hard. For a while I didn't think I was going to make it, but was extremly pleased when I did. It was worth it, the views, as well as being out in nature (as much as you can in these parts) was refreshing. It was a nice change of pace. We were also rewarded with a neat Buddhist temple at the bottom. It was hard, but I'm proud and happy I went out.

From the Peak

Temples

BUT Thats not what I want to talk about. Hiking in Korea is rediculous. While hiking in America world, in some places, you don't see anybody for a while. This was not the case. With the amount of crowds going into this mountain you would think that this was disney world, or some other theme park. Hundreds of people all over the place. Not only were there heaps of people, but they were on a mission. They all had these big camel back packs, walking sticks (notice the s) NOt only did they have enough gear to lead the untrained eye into believing that they were moving ontop the mountain, but they packed lunch. Now Erin, you may be saying, thats normal. But no. They didn't pack a lunch. They packed 4-5-6-7+ course korean meals, that they had hiked up a mountain. WHAT? Korea, calm the hell down. Not only was there a meal included, there was beer, and the soj involved. It was all sorts of rediculous. They had full families on this mountain. Pack your boots grandma, your gettin' to the top. It was an expereince.

Notice the gear




On top of the mountain!!


Oh, and for all of my lovely followers that don't have Facebook, I am pleased to report that I did, in fact, get internet, and some of my pictures (its a process) are available for viewing! check it out
http://eptheexpat.smugmug.com

Suwon Fortress CRAZINESS

SO today Kimberly and I went to Suwon for an adventure and OH WHAT AN ADVENTURE IT WAS. We took the subway, and then spent what seemed to be ages trying to figure out the bus situation. We finally got on a bus, which was grand, but due to the festival we couldn't go all of the way and had to walk. How were we to know when we were there? Maybe the Koreans dancing in the street to MJ's Thriller. But you never know. We saw this huge gate (Here the term "gate" is much different then CT), so assumed we were at least close. We lurked around a bit until the we realized what was going to have to happen. Climbing a mountain. Now, (especially if my Father reads this) everybodys saying, don't be overdramatic. But this was legit, a 60 degree incline followed by stairs as means of climbing said mountain. It was hardcore. We finally got up to this hill of glory and saw what they call the secret fortress, but as Kimberly put it, I don't see whats so secret about it, Its huge and right there. Which was true, the thing was sizeable, on top of a mountain and not secret at all. But Ooooh Korea. We did some more wandering, then went through said secret fortress along the wall to some random temple on top of the hill. There were no Koreans, or anybody for that matter, which I didn't realize I missed, but it was so nice just relaxing. THe view was stellar, and we hung out, got into a little bit of mischief which included me getting a slammin' souvier (my first of my trip to Korea)
After some lurking we got to the ACTUAL fortress (Read: around 3:30, so a solid few hours after getting to Suwon) where we paid 1,000 won to ring a bell a few times, which with the size of the bell, was actually pretty neat.
We walked around, saw where the archers ripped shit up, and wandered back down the mountain to the cultural festival, which was not overly cultural at all, although they did have fruits with carvings on them.
As we were trying to get back to the Subway station (Suwon Yuk?) we ended up in a market. This was my first WHAT ARE THEY EATING WHAT THE HELL IS THAT WHERE ARE WE type of market. It ended with me sucking the milk out of a coconut through a straw and a lot of "looking up" as to not see whatever was around me, which more often then not included food with heads still on it. This was one of the markets James Bond chases the bad guys in. It was all sorts of special.

We eventually made it back home, and I had a whole long thing about something, but it got deleated. So the moral of this story is life is crazy sometimes, but it always turns into an adventure.

ALSO, for those waiting for pictures (especially my grandmother, Hi Oma!) once I stop stealing internetz and get it fo' real, there will be more picture then you can shake a stick at!

Patience and Faith,
ErinJ

Teaching Englishee In a Hagwon

DISCLAIMER: This is only the ramblings of one worn out, starting to get homesick, tired non-teacher.

A hagwon is a private academy in Korea, and theres heaps of them. In my area, I actually work on a street called Hagwonga, because of the amount of academies on them. And allllll of these kids go to at least one. Regardless of their behavior, I always feel bad for how hard they work.

But the first day I showed up, they straight out told me that I was not an educator, that I worked for a business. I work for a corporation, like Starbucks, but am supposed to teach english at the same time. Its rough. We have a schedule of stuff that HAS to get done that day, and I try my best, I do. But WHY do they need me to do it. I feel like I am a native speaker, have a bs, and am an all around bright kid, and yet ANYBODY in the world can tell a kid to open their book, explain the main idea of the lesson in less then 5 minutes, and have them start doing pages.

I knew going in that the lesson plans where going to be pretty much done out for me. But I guess I didn't realize how much it would bother me. These kids are SO Unworldly, and they just don't get it. But I have to review the difference between weather and climate constantly? This week we had a review so I taught them about hte Middle East and had them do a project since its part of Asia, and they told me that theres no war anywhere in the world. Its a little dark for second graders, but I wanted them to know about whats going on. I think we're going to do that with other continents, but when I pointed out saudia arabia on a map and asked who knew what it was, some kid yelled Texas. To I expect a lot of them? Probably. But I know they are smart enough to at least get it.
Plus, I really think the ME is cool.

but I feel like any activity I do to make the kids interested and engaged takes time, and then we don't get through the book so I either have to cover it in the next class, assign it for hw or hope for the best. Nobdoy cares about understanding English or the world, they care about high test scores and leveling up. I'm sure I was like that when I was their age, but I dont know. I guess I was disillusioned into thinking it was possible for me to help them, but the ROK is a lost cause.

BongEunsa and CoEx

First things First, A BIG Congrats to RyanRunsEurope, who I've been following since my return from NZ. Amazing job, Well done, mate.

Oh Goodness I'm totally behind, but I am going to get internet soon so hopefully I'll be firing off these badboys to keep all of my friends stateside up to date on the happenings of KoreaWorld.

So on Sunday I jumped on the subway armed only with my good camera and my Lonely Planet Seoul and out of nowhere BAM! It was my friend Jess, traveling with a girl who teaches in China. It scared the crap out of me, but they were going to spend the day in CoEx and Bongeunsa, a mall and a temple, respectivly. We ate in Coex, and Kerry (Girl teaching in China) was craving western food, since she can't get it in her neck of Asia, but I got some Manduguk, since Korean food is in fact growing on me. Manduguk, with mandu being a dumpling and guk being the word for soup (I'm getting there).
We met with her friend Clare. ANd scurried to the "magical hidden temple", which we finally got to. It is one of the largest Buddhist and most traditional temples. It was really large, and allowed for a lot of wandering and exploring. I'm not sure, but I feel like temples and palaces all kind of look alike. But this one had a Buddah. NOt like, a statue of buddah, but a HUGE Massive we're talking 23 meters high, largest statue of Buddah in Korea size Buddah. The biggest I've ever seen. It was rediculously cool.
It was a beautiful place, and it was a Holiday Sunday so there were heaps of people there praying and worshipping and doing normal sunday at service activites, and there was us taking pictures and lurking. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that, but I guess they're used to it. You could only imagine. There was one room with thousands of Buddahs. Lining the wall, everywhere. It was rediculous. The place was very Zen, as it should be, and very neat to explore. I am definitly going to go back to get there more than an hour before closing time to check out the grounds and find my Buddhist ways.
After we lurked, we went into Coex to look around. I wasn't overly impressed. A lot of expensive shit. The mall wasn't as cool as everybody was making it out to be, but maybe we missed something. There was, however a bookstore that had a foreign collection. Good to keep in mind. And heaps of lonely planets for all of my adventures 8)
Update soon about life in general!
Patience and Faith,
ErinJ

Chuseok Weekend

Taylor, Kimberly and Me at everland


So this was an extended 3-day weekend of Glory thanks to the Korean holiday of Chuseok. I think its a cross between a thanksgiving, and a day where one pays homage to ancestors of sorts. But don't quote me on that, thats just what I can gather.
So Friday, which was the day we had off I went to the contempory museum of Art with Kimberly and one of her friends. It was pretty cool. I've seen a lot of art in my day, but there were some pieces that were worth seeing. There was a room that sprialed up 3 stories and had 3X3 pieces of art up the entire thing. It was intense. Very cool. The museum itself was definitly worth checking out if you have spare time, but not necessarily some place I would go back to.

A pretty instense TV sculpture in the museum.


Saturday was heaps of fun. I went to Everland with a few teachers from school, since it was a holiday and therefore supposed to be dead. Everlands the biggest amusement park in Korea. It was an adventure. Everland is not in Seoul. EVerland is not in Anyang. Everland is a 1.5 hour busride from here. In which we stopped at bus depots and possibly took backroads through hell. I don't know, I wasn't feeling it. But we got there, kind of late, and hustled through the park. We went on a bunch of rides, had our personal bubbles invades, and were all sorts of confuzzled when the biggest ride there closed at 8. The park closed at 10. This closed at 8. So we didn't get to go on the steepest wooden rollar coaster, which was a bummer. BUt all in all it was a good day, and better than napping, which is what I was doing up until that point. It was a pretty good amusement park, only had 2 rollar coasters that we could see, and closed kind of early. It was fun though, I mean, who doesn't love some good rides.
Throwing up the Peace sign!

Some Weird Ass Jackolanterns!

BUSAN

YO!
So last weekend I went out to Busan. I unfortunatly only took a couple of pictures, so google image if you so desire.
We took the KTX down, which was pretty cool. I was into it, although it was a long ride, theres nothing like it in the states so rock and roll. We got there, and found our hostel, which was shadyish but would do, and would prove to be unncessary I guess. My friend Angela went to meet her family that lived down there, so me and the other girl I was with (Jessica) went to the beach to get some sun, hang out, and mock Korean beach life; which included full sets of clothes and failed windsurfing. Most excellent.
We met up at the hostel with a friend and chatted for a while before finding dinner. We ate this aweful Korean dish, which me and Jessica were not digging, but they were. Gah. We then hung out in Busan, being young and foreign and fabulous, but due to the spread of people that read this we'll leave some details out. By some I mean all. But the area was set up very cool, and a place I could totally have hung out for a while. My uncles would have loved it there, it was super cool. So shoutout to them.

The next day may have been the worst day ever for a variety of reasons.
One, is an obvious reason.
The other is we were going to do this culutural Korean thing, which is some spa. ANd its just a memory I'm trying to block out. I've never been so uncomfortable or unamused to be anywhere in my life.
So thats that.