Adjusting to a new cultural environment, making new friends, and attempting to learn a new language are all difficult things that come with the expat package. You prepare for these things as best as you can then pretty much wing it and hope for the best once you're there.
The hardest part of it all is losing a loved one back home and not being able to surround yourself with family. On the morning of August 3rd, her 84th birthday, I lost my Gram as God decided to call her home. She was a short lady with a jovial heart. I'm thankful to hear that she had celebrated her birthday on Saturday with some family and had some family staying out at the cottage with her over the past week.
Going to Gram's as a kid meant tricycle races in the park, a walk down to the candy store for fake cigarettes, and holidays trudging through snow to the bowling alley. She had a fondness of apples, dogs, M&M's, and plants. Her love of the cottage and lake has been passed down to the next generations. I have many fond memories of her but I know that the last few years have brought loneliness and memory loss. I love that she has shed her old and ailing body for a new one in Heaven.
I am so thankful for knowing her and having her as family. I wish I could celebrate her life among others who knew and loved her as well. Sending my love to Holland.
July 5 was a rather exciting and eventful day. It was the Foreigner Whale Boat Race happening in Ulsan (about an hour bus ride northeast of Busan) during the Whale Festival. I was super excited to get out of Busan again and enjoy being on the water.
Our team of foreigners had practiced the week before (see previous post) but because not everyone had made it to practice, I was a bit apprehensive about how we would fair in the actual race. But we had a great name, "Team Ship Happens," so what could go wrong?
The day started rough when we missed the bus to Ulsan and had to wait until 9 to leave on the next bus. Since it takes an hour, we got to Ulsan at 10, the same time as the race! After a quick taxi ride and a dash down to the river, we made it only because these things never start on time. We even had time for a brief practice on land before hopping in the boats.
Practice on shore.
Our team in the whale boat paddling down to the starting line.
We had three different races. In the first race, we had fairly strong coordination with paddling and ended up taking first place. A surprise to all of us and the actual belief that "hey, maybe we could actually win this!"
In the second race, we had a bit of a bad start and ended up taking second in that heat. Thankfully, our times were combined to place us in the final race. We had the second fasted time of the ten teams participating.
The final race was quite nerve-racking. The team next to us, Team Narwhal, had matching t-shirts and a chant which was as intimidating as their yogi bodies. However, our team gave it our best despite tired arms and lack of threatening team chant. Perhaps it was sheer determination or stubbornness that we ended up in second. I know it definitely wasn't because of our level of superb physical fitness ;).
Post 1st race victory.
Learning we finished in second place. It had been a close call.
Presented with our silver medals and a trophy by the Mayor of Ulsan (the man in a suit with a sun hat--adorable).
All the medal-winning teams. Team Narwhal is in the middle. Nice shirts, right?
I love summer.This past weekend was a great example of blending some fabulous summertime elements together to make an epic weekend. It was so great, I thought I would share :)
Friday afternoon, I get out of work at 4:30 like usual. After running home to take the quickest of quick showers, I headed out with my co-teacher for dinner and an evening with her friends. Her closest Korean friend married an American from Arizona about 3 years ago. They have been living in Dubai ever since. Two weeks ago, they moved back to Busan which has made my co-teacher extremely happy. She was excited for me to meet them and for all of us to hang out. We first met up at a Beer Festival held outside in a hip part of town. Live music and beautiful weather made it quite enjoyable and a lively experience.
Since I had heard that this fellow from Arizona loved noraebang (singing room) weeks prior to our meeting, I asked my co-teacher if we could go out that night to the singing room (it is also a favorite pastime of mine as well.) Dreams do come true! We hit up a noraebang for a few hours, covering a wide-range of both Korean and English songs alike.
Saturday morning I headed out to the neighboring province of Ulsan with a few friends from Busan (my city). We were gathering there to practice for a whale boat race that is going to be held there next weekend. I will post more about it after the race happens. There are 16 people in a giant canoe-like boat. I'm sure you can imagine the challenges that will come along with this kind of competition. We did have some excitement during practice when a small fish decided to join us. Let's hope all goes well next weekend!
Taewha River
some of the crew
Ulsan is absolutely beautiful. The city size is smaller than Busan, with large spaces devoted to parks and greenery. We walked through a bamboo forest that randomly had giant hoola-hoops to enjoy. I desperately needed to get away from the pollution, cars, and skyscrapers of my area to enjoy trees and grass! It's so hard to find green spaces in Busan. Although Koreans are highly effective in using space, it makes it hard to be happy. It's so bad that my students call grass, "fields." :(
This is a field!
Sunday was a day at the beach! The weather is getting quite hot (upper 80s) so I enjoyed swimming in the ocean. Thankfully, sharks are not a danger in this part of Korea. Watermelon on the beach and being lazy reminded me of a good day at the cottage. Oh, I have so many good summer memories at Lake Michigan, it was good to be reminded of them. Michigan in the summer is the best so I'm happy to get a little slice of that here.
So there it is: water activities, watermelon, noraebang, outdoor music, good weather, and great company.
A few weeks ago, I started a Level 1 Korean Class. The city of Busan sponsors the class, so it's one of my favorite words: free! The class is twice a week on Monday and Wednesday. This means that my week starts off with a very busy day as it takes about an hour and 10 minutes to get to the class (one way). The class tops off a day of teaching five lessons. I have been able to start reading more since I spend so much time on the subway. Perhaps I should be studying, but who can resist a good book especially when the alternative is studying?
The Korean class experience has been very grounding and beneficial in my own teaching. I know now what it feels like to be my students, listening only to a foreign language and struggling to follow along. I have only learned a handful of words so far since we have focused primarily on the alphabet. I did learn the word for one of my favorite things: namu. It means tree! I love namus. Namus? Maybe there is a different way to say it in the plural. Oh dear, so much to learn!
This week is Voting day, my school's birthday and Memorial Day. What does that mean!? A two-day school week! Summer is kicking off just right!
As you know, a ferry from Seoul sank off the coast of mainland Korea on the way its way to Jeju Island a week or so ago. It's a massive disaster every way you cut it, and even more so because a majority of the passengers were from a high school in Seoul, all in the 11th grade. Of the 325 students on board, only 75 of them were rescued. Imagine an entire grade gone from a school. The heartbreak is enormous for the school, the community, and for Korea as a country.
There has been lots of blame on the captain and crew who were among the first to be rescued. I'm not here to pass judgement on those people because I can not even comprehend the gravity of the situation, the fear and panic that must have ensued. There is always a demand for accountability in a tragedy like this, I know its human nature. However, we should not overlook those who put other's safety above there own and ended up giving their lives for others. It is my hope that these moments of love and sacrifice are not lost in the media frenzy, but live on to inspire all.
Please, lift them all up in prayer. There is so much hurting here. May the Healer hold all those affected by this event in His arms and give them comfort and strength in a time of great need.
No matter what sound I choose for my alarm clock, I still cringe when it goes off, somewhere around 7:35. My family knows how much I love my sleep, and surfacing before 9 is somewhat short of a miracle. Snooze has quickly become my frenemy, despite years of making fun of others for hitting that button multiple times (why don't you just set it for the time you actually want to get up and sleep a little more?). My workday begins at 8:30, so I shake off the blankets of sleepiness and head to the bathroom to get ready in the now 20 minutes I have left before I need to walk out the door.
What this picture doesn't show are my adorable Hello Kitty bathroom slippers that I slip on whenever I go into the bathroom. Those with a keen sense of observation, you will notice that my bathroom lacks a shower. Or so you think. There actually is a shower, consisting of just a shower head. The bathroom is the shower. The shower is the bathroom. Hence, the slippers are important for keeping your feet dry when the floor (and everything else) is all wet.
After making myself look fairly presentable, I head to the kitchen for a quick bite of breakfast. The American way is to have a bowl of cereal, enjoying your choice from an entire isle at the grocery store with a hundred different options. Although Korea has very few, rather expense, cereal options, I am lucky to find Frosted Flakes quite easily. I have a feeling that after a year, I may not want to see another box of Frosted Flakes for a while.
I sprint out the door at about 8:15/8:20. It takes about 8 mins to walk to school, for which I am very grateful. Here are a few pictures from the walk yesterday morning.
In case you can't tell, this is a huge hill. At the top of the hill is my school. On the way, I happen to see many of my students. Quite an unfortunate occurrence as I am winded from the hike and have to say "hello" while trying to catch my breath. I think my students are terrified of seeing me outside of class because they may actually have to talk to me and that would just be terrible. It's funny seeing their faces of surprise when they see that teacher exists outside of school. (Or when I sit next to them on the bus for a whole 20 mins..)
Every morning, these students greet me with "hello teacher" or "good morning." I think they are there to monitor the length of students' skirts. However, I am not 100% sure on that....
And so the chorus of "hello teacher" begins for the day. Students always greet their teachers by bowing to them in the hallways. I think I offer a bit of a conundrum for some, especially when walking with a Korean teacher. The greetings go something like this: a respectful and quiet "annyeong hasayo" (bow to Korean teacher) into a "Hi teacher!" (quite loudly, to me). The commence the giggling. So many girls, so much giggling.
Whenever I see another teacher or administrator, I bow to them and greet them in English or Korean, depending on who it is. Many teachers say "Hi" or "Hello" to me, but I am hoping they will feel more comfortable with me if I make an effort in Korean.
My teaching is fairly solo. I teach with a co-teacher, which translates to me teaching and my co-teacher standing in the back to regulate classroom management. For the most part, things are going well. I have definitely learned quite a bit in the last four weeks about myself, teaching, students and Korea. I know there are many ways to improve, but I'm enjoying myself along the way.
Many may be surprised that there is always one student sleeping in my class. And you know what? I generally let them sleep. For those who don't know, students here work incredibly hard. They go to school, then they go to after school school (called a hagwon) that usually is until 10 pm. Then they go home and do homework for both. The next morning they do it all over again. Students here are fantastic at school and studying, but it comes at a cost. The sleeping students are evidence of that. If you want to know more, watch this 12 second video...
School ends at 4:30. It seems for many weeks, I was so tired (or as my Irish friend would say, "wrecked") that I would put my pj's on the second I got home and watch t.v. or read a book. I am trying to get a little better at going out with friends during the week and exploring my area. It's hard when all you want to do is cuddle in a warm electric blanket that some nice stranger was kind enough to give you.
Getting into the swing of things here has been much smoother than I anticipated. Perhaps it is the sense of familiarity with the Korean way combined with the awesome orientation I received upon arrival that has given me a strong sense of comfort with life. In the whirlwind that has been the last few weeks, I feel a strong sense of support from other waygooks (foreigners) and those back home as well as a sense of peace that I can only attribute to trusting that this is where God has led me.
Like I mentioned, orientation was extremely helpful in engaging my mind to think like a teacher (because that's what I am now!). I did not find out anything about the school I would be teaching at until the very last day of orientation, a Thursday. As you can imagine, I was filled with anxiety and curiosity of what life was going to be like beginning the very next day. We packed up, loaded onto two Coach buses and left Daejon, the city that orientation was held in. We drove 3 hours to Busan and were unceremoniously dropped off at a school, where we were to be picked up individually by our co-teachers and taken to our new home. This experience was similar to those days in elementary school when you always fretted about being picked last in gym class. I am happy to report that my co-teacher, Su Yeon, showed up on time and didn't leave me hanging!
Su Yeon took me to my new apartment that is in a cramped area on the outskirts of the city. Although it takes quite a bit of time to go visit other friends (1 hr, 1.5 hrs, etc.), I am discovering that there are some good things about my neighborhood. At first it seemed to be kind of grungy with lots of stray cats (awe...) and composed of buildings squashed on top of each other. It is still all of those things, but there seems to be a strong sense of community among the foreigners in this area (although I have yet to see one on the street). There are a bunch of Korean restaurants around, a Home Plus (like a Target), a grocery store, coffee shop/bakeries, a specialty beer place, a singing room (karaoke!), and the beach (which I hear is only 10 mins away). I look forward to exploring that last one when it gets warmer! There's a woman, who is about my age, living in the same building who has taught here for the last year. She's been an excellent resource and is quite friendly.
The main problem living here is that when I look at the map, I still don't know where I live! Whenever I go out (the people always shout!), I hold tight to the address my co-teacher wrote down to give to the taxi driver just in case I get lost! :)
My first week of school began last Monday. I am so thankful for the day of "cancelled" classes that was announced a half hour into the work day. This allowed me to mentally prepare for the classes that would begin on Tuesday since I was so not ready for what I got myself into. I felt more confident once I received more information from my co-teacher and saw how things work at school. I have 21 classes a week with all levels of English-speakers. This middle school has lower levels of English which has proved a little difficult. All you teachers out there, let me know if you have any good ways to challenge all my students!
The last few days have been pretty good with a few doses of confusion, anxiety or embarrassment. Some of the girls seem fascinated with my eyes, as blue is not a common color around here. (Teacher, teacher! Blue!! Wooow!) The students love the pictures of my family and of Austin, so my intro class has been going well! My kids always ask me how old I am and I even got "what is your blood type?" (This is a common question, as it coincides with Korean "horoscopes" like being a Leo.)
My co-teachers (so far) have been helpful and kind. I made it to a bank a few days ago, so I finally have money and can decorate my apartment a little. The ping-pong teacher seems to have a fascination with becoming friends and practicing his English. It's fun to have co-workers who aren't afraid to speak with me because it can get lonely not understanding anything that is going on around me.
Over the weekend was crazy busy! Since I live so far away from things, I crashed on my Irish friend, Clare's, floor. Sleeping on the floor is actually awesome because Korean buildings are heated through the floor. It was the warmest place in the apartment!! We went out to a EPIK teacher gathering at a language bar (where foreigners and Koreans are welcomed to mingle), went to a volunteer dinner and then to a cat cafe! Yes, a cat cafe. It's exactly what it sounds like! There are a bunch of cats and you go have a drink and feed them if you like. What a concept! I also found a cute and trendy used English book store that may be one of my new favorite spots! Too bad it takes an hour to get there...
More to come later!
Using a partner for flexibility exercises...
Breaking boards with a fist in Taekwando class!
Nampo-dong. A fabulous place for shopping, eating, etc.
