Monday, October 26, 2009
Hiking Sobaekson
Here is a video I made of my hike up Sobaekson. Enjoy! Copy and paste this URL in your web browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TelpC5-HHsA
Father's Open Day
This Saturday was Father's Open Day where all the dads came in to see what their kids have been learning so far. I was hoping that I would get some dads who spoke decent english and I would have been able to gotten to know them better, but that wasn't the case. Unfortunately, I got dads that weren't very good at english and looked at me like I was from a different planet everytime I opened my mouth. Luckily my korean co-teacher was there to translate. It still made things akward because they didn't seem to have much fun playing the games we were playing. None of them seemed to interact with their kids throughout the whole day either. Most of the kids were extra wound up as well because I am sure they knew it was a special day, but it was hard to discipline them infront of their dads! Either way, I am glad the day was over. It was too fake and stressful for me. Afterwards, 2 of my coworkers and I went out for lunch. We had pork belly...I know I know it sounds gross but it is really good! They serve it with lettuce and this red pepper paste and all together it is very good!
This Friday we are celebrating Halloween. I am really excited because the kids LOVE the idea of Halloween even though they really don't celebrate it here. So it has just been fun to teach them about vampires, haunted houses, mummies and just the idea of going trick or treating! Today I taught them what a mummy was and how a mummy walked and they started walking around the class room like a mummy. This Friday the school is giving the English teachers the responsibility of creating the whole Halloween day for the kids. We plan on playing a lot of games and they all are coming in dressed up. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find places that sell adult halloween costumes. If all else fails I plan to dress up as an actual kindergartener. Most of the kids here dress up in these adorable outfits with hello kitty outfits and hair in piggy tails. I know I could probably throw something like that together.
Love and miss you all!
This Friday we are celebrating Halloween. I am really excited because the kids LOVE the idea of Halloween even though they really don't celebrate it here. So it has just been fun to teach them about vampires, haunted houses, mummies and just the idea of going trick or treating! Today I taught them what a mummy was and how a mummy walked and they started walking around the class room like a mummy. This Friday the school is giving the English teachers the responsibility of creating the whole Halloween day for the kids. We plan on playing a lot of games and they all are coming in dressed up. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find places that sell adult halloween costumes. If all else fails I plan to dress up as an actual kindergartener. Most of the kids here dress up in these adorable outfits with hello kitty outfits and hair in piggy tails. I know I could probably throw something like that together.
Love and miss you all!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
2 Month Mark
Long time no blog! I am 2 months in now. The fall weather is here! Korea is gorgeous during the fall season, although I am not too happy about this cold front coming in. Burrrrrr!
In Korea, they don’t have heaters, only heated floors. Heated floors can be REALLY nice actually, but unfortunately for me the heated floor in my apartment seems to take FOREEVVVEERRR to heat up. Luckily for me, my relatives here got me a heated bed mattress. I crank that sucker up at night and I am good to go!
This weekend on Saturday we are having Father’s Open Class Day. It is a day where the dads come in and sit in on your classroom to watch a “real” class, when in reality it is a bunch of lessons we had been practicing for 3 weeks to make sure it is done perfectly on the open day. I was not here in Korea yet when they had Mom’s open class day. Supposedly preparation for that was A LOT more stressful. The parents put a lot of pressure on the teachers to make sure their child is doing well and sometimes that can be hard to show when they have a child who is not on the level as everyone else in the classroom. This week we will just be practicing the lessons more and making sure the school looks presentable. It will be interesting to meet all the fathers of my students! We went around the room to ask what each of their dad’s did. I have 5 dads who are “businessmen”, one pilot, one lawyer, one English teacher, one dentist, and one boss (haha yes, one of my students said “My dad is a boss.”) The kids love to ask me what my dad does because I just say “He is a computer man.” And they all start cracking up hysterically. I guess computer man sounds funny to them, but it was the easiest way to say it for seven year olds!
I feel like I am in the swing of things now. The only things I still feel hesitant about are the subways and the buses. The subways seem pretty easy, but I still feel like I feel more comfortable when I am with someone else who knows what they are doing. As for the buses, I am not sure if I will ever be able to truly figure them out!
This weekend some friends and I went with a tourism company called Adventure Korea. We went to a Ginseng festival. Ginseng is a root from a plant which is supposed to be very healthy for you. The Koreans love it here and make drinks and food out of it. We got to shave our own root and then make Ginseng wine out of it! Then we went to a traditional Korean village which was my favorite part. We got to stay in an actual Korean village and sleep in a traditional room with the heated floors and had to sleep on the floor. The next morning, they took us to the most beautiful hike I have ever been on (even though this was only my second one). It was a 4 HOUR hike—about 2 and ½ hours up and 1 and ½ hours down! After lots of swear words and jello legs, we did it! The view was amaaaaazing going up as well as at the very top! There were waterfalls on the way up as well as a Korean temple we visited. Here are a few pictures from the trip:
My friends and I posing with the ginseng root mascot
In Korea, they don’t have heaters, only heated floors. Heated floors can be REALLY nice actually, but unfortunately for me the heated floor in my apartment seems to take FOREEVVVEERRR to heat up. Luckily for me, my relatives here got me a heated bed mattress. I crank that sucker up at night and I am good to go!
This weekend on Saturday we are having Father’s Open Class Day. It is a day where the dads come in and sit in on your classroom to watch a “real” class, when in reality it is a bunch of lessons we had been practicing for 3 weeks to make sure it is done perfectly on the open day. I was not here in Korea yet when they had Mom’s open class day. Supposedly preparation for that was A LOT more stressful. The parents put a lot of pressure on the teachers to make sure their child is doing well and sometimes that can be hard to show when they have a child who is not on the level as everyone else in the classroom. This week we will just be practicing the lessons more and making sure the school looks presentable. It will be interesting to meet all the fathers of my students! We went around the room to ask what each of their dad’s did. I have 5 dads who are “businessmen”, one pilot, one lawyer, one English teacher, one dentist, and one boss (haha yes, one of my students said “My dad is a boss.”) The kids love to ask me what my dad does because I just say “He is a computer man.” And they all start cracking up hysterically. I guess computer man sounds funny to them, but it was the easiest way to say it for seven year olds!
I feel like I am in the swing of things now. The only things I still feel hesitant about are the subways and the buses. The subways seem pretty easy, but I still feel like I feel more comfortable when I am with someone else who knows what they are doing. As for the buses, I am not sure if I will ever be able to truly figure them out!
This weekend some friends and I went with a tourism company called Adventure Korea. We went to a Ginseng festival. Ginseng is a root from a plant which is supposed to be very healthy for you. The Koreans love it here and make drinks and food out of it. We got to shave our own root and then make Ginseng wine out of it! Then we went to a traditional Korean village which was my favorite part. We got to stay in an actual Korean village and sleep in a traditional room with the heated floors and had to sleep on the floor. The next morning, they took us to the most beautiful hike I have ever been on (even though this was only my second one). It was a 4 HOUR hike—about 2 and ½ hours up and 1 and ½ hours down! After lots of swear words and jello legs, we did it! The view was amaaaaazing going up as well as at the very top! There were waterfalls on the way up as well as a Korean temple we visited. Here are a few pictures from the trip:
2 1/2 hours later...at the top of the mountain!
The little Korean village we stayed at
My friends and I posing with the ginseng root mascot
My very own ginseng root I harvested myself!
A field full of ginseng...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Chu-Seok Weekend
This week I only worked four days this week due to the Chu-seok holiday, which is the Korean Thanksgiving here. In celebration to our three day weekend, Thursday night I went out with a co-worker of mine and I had my first pizza here since I have moved here. It definately wasn't Papa Johns, but it wasn't too bad either! There were still potatoes on it which always comes as a suprise to me but ends up not tasting too shabby!
Friday, my co-workers set up a pot luck dinner where everyone had to bring in their own homemade dish to celebrate the Chu-seok holiday. I made my infamous chocolate chip cream cheese ball which ended up being the only dessert there. Thankfully I think everyone liked it! I was a fool when I signed up to bring a dessert because I forgot to rememeber that I don't have an oven in my apartment! I managed though! The dinner was amazing. Everything everyone brought was DELICIOUS. There was sheperds pie, pesto, kimchi chiggae (gotta have some korean in there too!), curry, chicken rissotto, salad, beef stew, and a soju punch! Haha, needless to say we all overstuffed ourselves. Unfortunately I couldn't stay long. My relatives were coming to pick me up in Ilsan to celebrate the Chu-Seok holiday with them for the weekend.
I have officially experienced my first traditional Chu-Seok. I also found out that it is not too much different than the American Thanksgiving with lots of food, family, and the infamous mid-day nap. Saturday is usually the official day of Chu-Seok. The day started at 6 AM!!!! Yes 6 AM! They woke me up to begin the day with the traditional ceremony. When I woke up they had already been up setting up the table into this nice spread basically for the ceremony. The ceremony basically consisted of all the men in the family standing in a row and each one had to take turns bowing and doing a little ritual with the korean wine infront of them. There were a few other things entailed such as pounding chopsticks in one bowl and sticking a new spoon in the rice everytime it was someone else's turn to bow. I couldn't make sense of it all but it was neat to watch.
This is the ceremony spread, basically for show. Afterwards, they clear the table to set up the edible food. This is my grandfather on my mother's side.
This is all the men minus my grandfather. From left to right, My little cousin Sung-ha, my youngest uncle, my older uncle, and my other little cousin Sung-hu.
All the men in the process of bowing during the ceremony.
After the ceremony it was time to start the first meal of the day. There was definately no stuffing or turkey, but plenty of rice and rice cakes! Of course my whole family wanted to make sure I was full enough I wanted to about cry. During breakfast, they told me that it was tradition for me to do three saki shots which I thought was a little odd but the answer "no" was not an option as they shoved each one in my face. Mind you, this was before 8 AM in the morning. After breakfast, I was so tired and full and that drowsy feeling was taking over. I took a long nap and woke up to more family members and more food. I even managed to take another nap later on in the day! (hehe)
The moon is very bright and full on Chu-Seok. So as a korean tradition, Koreans walk outside of their homes to look at the moon and make a wish. One of my aunts took me outside to make my first Chu-Seok wish. It is basically a time to pray and say thank you for everything that you have and love.
My relatives took me back to Ilsan Saturday night after sending me home with LOTS of fruit and some noodles called chap-chay (one of my favorites). I really enjoyed the experience and am glad I got to experience a traditional Chu-Seok!
Friday, my co-workers set up a pot luck dinner where everyone had to bring in their own homemade dish to celebrate the Chu-seok holiday. I made my infamous chocolate chip cream cheese ball which ended up being the only dessert there. Thankfully I think everyone liked it! I was a fool when I signed up to bring a dessert because I forgot to rememeber that I don't have an oven in my apartment! I managed though! The dinner was amazing. Everything everyone brought was DELICIOUS. There was sheperds pie, pesto, kimchi chiggae (gotta have some korean in there too!), curry, chicken rissotto, salad, beef stew, and a soju punch! Haha, needless to say we all overstuffed ourselves. Unfortunately I couldn't stay long. My relatives were coming to pick me up in Ilsan to celebrate the Chu-Seok holiday with them for the weekend.
I have officially experienced my first traditional Chu-Seok. I also found out that it is not too much different than the American Thanksgiving with lots of food, family, and the infamous mid-day nap. Saturday is usually the official day of Chu-Seok. The day started at 6 AM!!!! Yes 6 AM! They woke me up to begin the day with the traditional ceremony. When I woke up they had already been up setting up the table into this nice spread basically for the ceremony. The ceremony basically consisted of all the men in the family standing in a row and each one had to take turns bowing and doing a little ritual with the korean wine infront of them. There were a few other things entailed such as pounding chopsticks in one bowl and sticking a new spoon in the rice everytime it was someone else's turn to bow. I couldn't make sense of it all but it was neat to watch.
This is the ceremony spread, basically for show. Afterwards, they clear the table to set up the edible food. This is my grandfather on my mother's side.
This is all the men minus my grandfather. From left to right, My little cousin Sung-ha, my youngest uncle, my older uncle, and my other little cousin Sung-hu. 
All the men in the process of bowing during the ceremony.After the ceremony it was time to start the first meal of the day. There was definately no stuffing or turkey, but plenty of rice and rice cakes! Of course my whole family wanted to make sure I was full enough I wanted to about cry. During breakfast, they told me that it was tradition for me to do three saki shots which I thought was a little odd but the answer "no" was not an option as they shoved each one in my face. Mind you, this was before 8 AM in the morning. After breakfast, I was so tired and full and that drowsy feeling was taking over. I took a long nap and woke up to more family members and more food. I even managed to take another nap later on in the day! (hehe)
The moon is very bright and full on Chu-Seok. So as a korean tradition, Koreans walk outside of their homes to look at the moon and make a wish. One of my aunts took me outside to make my first Chu-Seok wish. It is basically a time to pray and say thank you for everything that you have and love.
My relatives took me back to Ilsan Saturday night after sending me home with LOTS of fruit and some noodles called chap-chay (one of my favorites). I really enjoyed the experience and am glad I got to experience a traditional Chu-Seok!
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