O.I.K.

Only In Korea...

• There's no tax - it's wysiwyg here, as the tax (if any) is included in the advertised price


• There's also no tipping, at restaurants, cabs, or anywhere you would normally leave a little extra.


• When you're seated at a restaurant, the waiter does not return to take your drinks or check on you. So how do they know you need something? One of two ways: either there's a "magic button" on the table that you ring whenever you're ready to order or need something, or you yell or say "yogi-o". It means "over here".


• No one says 'excuse me' if they bump into you on the subway. This includes a slight bump to a full-on push-you-out-of-the-way-to-get-that-last-empty-seat-before-you. Some of the worst offenders of this are the ajumas.


• Scooters regularly drive on the sidewalk. Not at a reasonable pace, but often at full speed along a pedestrian-filled walkway. No one seems to care.


• People park in the middle of the street. Perhaps not the middle lane, but on a reasonably busy thoroughfare, they will park on the side of the road regardless of how this will affect the traffic coming behind them.


• Because of this parking issue, many cars seem to ignore the lanes on the road. Buses especially will drive for blocks in the middle of two lanes, effectively blocking all traffic behind them from passing. They also don't pull over all the way when picking up passengers.


• When walking down a retail street, it is not uncommon to see the street congested with tables, all covered with small nick-nacks at 'sale' prices. These tables are not monitored, and unless it starts raining, it seems the shop owners often forget they're there. No one steals from them either.


• Shoes for women only go up to a size 8. The 'big size' stores go up to a 10.5. I have seen one such store. There were three pairs of shoes that were bigger than a 10. None of them fit me.


• Wearing socks with sandals or flip-flops is not tacky, it's polite. You can even wear footsies (ankle-length pantyhose) with a skirt or shorts.


• Girls wear high heels all the time with anything. rain. snow. sun. beach. work. play. running in their gym shorts. I kid you not. And they're often a bright color, like orange, with big bows or flowers or 'jew-els' on them. And they don't have to match any of the other clothes that you're wearing.


• Guys and their girlfriends will often buy the same outfit and wear them at the same time (how else could you tell that they're dating?). Sometimes right down to the same belt and purse. Yes. Men wear purses here. They're not man-bags. They are purses.


• Public restrooms often do not supply toilet paper - there usually isn't even a place to put it. It's b.y.o.t. here.


• Very few large public areas are air-conditioned. Individual shops usually are, but not so much so that coming out of the heat into a store is refreshing. Hallways, elevators, subway and train stations, etc. are never air conditioned, and rarely have fans. Apparently it's the same for heat in the winter.


• The metro and buses are generally frequent and punctual. It is usually simple to get to where you need to be. Unless you are trying to get home in the wee hours of the morning after a night of dancing (and/or drinking). Then, not only will you get on the four different trains that do not go all the way to your stop (so you must get off and wait for the next train), but it will take you twice as long to get home as it did to get there. You may miss your stop by sleeping through it, as well, and end up at the place you left the night before only 6 hours later


• There is a lack of public water-fountains and garbage cans. I have seen ONE (1) water fountain here. The water has to be purified to drink, so the few places that have public water have water coolers with paper envelopes as cups.


• Eggs come in a carton of ten, and the standard is brown - I have yet to see white eggs for sale.
  
• TV shows do not start on the hour or half hour. A standard starting time could be 9:07 or 3:52. When movies or a series is shown, you will get 45 minutes (or so) of uninterrupted program, followed by 15 minutes of commercials.

... etc.

School and Prison

This week seemed to be almost a blow-off at work. We came back Wednesday, and Thursday we had a birthday party in the morning for September, and then it was Friday already. Quite a pleasant week actually.

I went to Bosan (not to be confused with Busan), which is a few stops north of me on the subway to see Camp Casey, the closest American military base to Uijeongbu. Of course I wasn't allowed in, and really stayed a bit away from the main entrance, but it was interesting to see.

And then today I went to Seodaemun Prison. I had actually planned to go to the Namsangol Hanok Village, but it was raining quite a bit, and the village is mostly outside. James went with me to the prison, which was sobering and semi-impressive, though the manequins in the various cells were partially macabre and partially bad wax figures. There were no pictures allowed in most of the areas, but I did get one of the entrance to the execution building, which is the same picture my guide has.

I have to say we would have stayed longer if there hadn't been some sort of field trip where there were hundreds of children running wild around the place (literally), and rather disturbing the somber mood of the place (I mentioned to James that my mom would have had a fit if she'd seen these kids running and laughing through the prison halls, and I had to force myself not to clothesline some of them).

Tonight we're going to the opening of some club in Itaewon (foreigner's haven), so I've actually got to go get ready for it now.

Chuseok at Gina's

My original plan for Chuseok, which was rather last minute, was to go to Vietnam to see my aunt and uncle and meet my newly adopted cousin. But due to multiple issues with both my Korean visa and getting a visa to go to Vietnam, I wasn't able to go (although I had already purchased a plane ticket). My partner teacher, Gina, was helping me get the ticket since quite a bit of the process involved Korean websites, so she knew I was disappointed that I wasn't going to see my family for the holiday. She invited me instead to spend the holiday with her family in Pyeongtaek(평특), which is about 2 hours south of Seoul, which I readily accepted.

I met Gina at a subway station on Sunday after she got out of church, where she and her 5 cousins picked me up in their car. The traffic was crazy, rather similar to Thanksgiving traffic in the States. Her cousins ranged in age from 20 to 32, and spoke varying degrees of English. I think they were more nervous to meet me than I was about meeting them. They tried to speak English around me, though it was more difficult for some of them. All of her cousins are boys - Gina's the only girl in her generation. We had a pleasant trip, where they asked me questions about America, the first Korean word I learned, etc. One of the odd questions including asking me what my blood type was - apparently it's similar to asking what your astrological sign is.

We had to drive through a rather large rice field, which Pyeongtaek is famous for. When we got to her grandmother's house I met her family, which included her 4 aunts and uncles, grandmother, mother and father, and a few other cousins. I wasn't shown around the house, but the main room was a living room/kitchen, and there were three other rooms and a bathroom. The three other rooms were bare floors with wardrobes against the walls and piles of yo (요, pads or blankets to sleep on), and one room had two desks and a twin size bed. Gina walked be out behind the house down a pleasant path where you could hear (and smell) the cows and other animals that were on some of the nearby farms. She explained some of the different vegetation and lifestyle of the people that live in the country. When we got back to the house, everyone had started eating on the tables outside. It was a traditional Korean meal, with three different kinds of kimchi (including water kimchi, which is kind of like soup), song-pyeon (a kind of dumpling), galbi (beef), eel (which was cooked and tasted nothing like the eel I've had on sushi, but it was very good), sesame seed leaves covered in a vinagrette type sauce, some sort of fish, bean sprouts, small vegetable pancakes, and quite a few more that I can't remember. The family seemed very happy that I was trying all of the different foods, and even commented that I used the chopsticks very well. There were a few casual toasts during the meal, two of which were to "We are the world, we are the children". I'm not really sure why...

After the meal, they brought out a game that was similar to jacks, but with a different kind of playing piece. There are five total pieces in kongi. You throw them on the floor, and then pick up one piece. You then have to throw this piece in the air, and before it hits the ground, pick up one of the pieces on the floor - and then catch the one in the air. You do this until all the pieces are picked up. Then you throw them on the ground again, and pick up one piece. This time when you throw it up in the air, you have to pick up two pieces each time. This repeats with having to pick up three, then all four pieces at once. The last part is taking all five pieces and throwing them up, catching them on the back of your hand, and then catching them in the palm of your hand. It's very difficult, at least for me, and they found it very amusing to watch me try to play.

Gina's dad wanted me to have more fun, so afterward we went to a bowling alley, where we played to games of bowling with the cousins, Gina, and Gina's dad. After bowling, we went to a norae-bang (노래벙, literally translated as song room) where we sang karaoke for an hour. I was asked to sing one song, which I grudgingly did since they wanted to hear my voice and no one would sing with me. Gina sang one Mariah Cary song and did really well. They were mostly Korean songs, but a few of them were American pop songs. By this time it was nearly midnight, so we headed home.

I thought I would be sleeping in one of the larger rooms with the yo on the floor, but Gina's dad was very concerned about my comfort, so I was asked to sleep on the only bed in the house. Gina slept on a yo on the floor in the room with me, and we had the room to ourselves. We talked for an hour or so before falling asleep.

I woke up Monday morning having slept well the night before, and in desperate need of coffee. A traditional Korean breakfast was served (it was the same food as dinner from the night before), and although I would have been fine with just coffee and bread, they insisted on me trying everything all over again. After breakfast and getting washed and dressed (Gina's mom made everyone a small gift of a travel toothbrush and toothpaste set - mine said "foreign teacher" in Korean), we walked down the path I had been on the evening before to gather chestnuts and visit Gina's grandfather's grave. They raked away the leaves from around the grave, but it was not very ceremonial, more like just everyone was spending time outside together. We headed back to the house, where Gina's mom and grandmother started to make more kimchi. Gina and I walked out to the rice fields, where I finally saw what rice looks like before it gets into my bowl. She explained how they harvest the rice when the leaves turn yellow, and how it was a family tradition to come to your grandparents house for Chuseok to help with the harvest for the year. We wandered back to the house, where I tried some of the freshly made kimchi, and had to make a bolt for the door to get some water because it was so spicy (freshly ground chili paste will do that to you). We had grapes and pears, and visited for a while until around noon, when Gina's cousin drove us to the bus stop in town to go back home.

Chuseok at EWAS

I've been a little overwhelmed in the past few days from Chuseok. I've received several gifts from parents, including a box of 10 giant pears, a large box of grapes, Skin Food (which is like Bath & Body Works), and some sort of rice cake, all of which are all apparently very expensive. I don't know why the parents think I'll be able to eat all that food by myself before it goes bad, but it's still been very nice.

Chuseok is a big holiday here in Korea. It's based on the lunar calendar (it occurs on a full moon), and is when the harvest takes place. It's similar to our Thanksgiving, but with different traditions and customs. At school, we had a half day with our kindergarten kids, who all wore their hanbok to school, the traditional Korean dress:

(Cherry class L to R:Michelle, Flora, Amy, Irene, Elizabeth, and Lewis)

(Elizabeth, Irene, and Amy)

(Lemon class L to R: Tony, Michael, Sarah, Ashley, Daisy, Julian, Nathan, and Jake)

We didn't have any lessons in the morning on Friday, which was nice. First we made clay syeong-pan, which is like a dumpling that's filled with mashed chestnuts, sesame seeds, or other similar fillings and then boiled. They say that if a woman can make syeong-pan pretty, then her daughter will be pretty as well, so girls practice making them look nice. We combined Cherry and Lemon class to do this (I'm guessing it's because the American teachers had no idea what syeong-pan was or how to make it with clay).

Then we had snack, and headed to the funhouse for traditional sports. The first thing was "chicken sport" (I don't remember the Korean word. The boys each held one foot with both hands and hopped around on the other foot. The object is to get the other person to let go of their foot. The first one to do this or lose their balance and fall over loses.

Nathan from Lemon class (the one on the right) was the final winner after each boy had gone at least once, and then all the winners were pitted against each other. After the boys were finished, the teachers did it too, with Gina being the final winner.

The girls, during all this, were either watching passively or cheering on the boys, chanting to encourage their classmates.

After the teachers were finished, it was the girls' turn for arm-wrestling. They started with Cherry class, and when Gina first tried to explain the rules to them (in Korean), the girls thought they were supposed to swing their arms back and forth on the table instead of push each other's over. It was incredibly cute.

Gina continued to referee, until all the girls had finished and there was a final winner. Then they did the same for the boys.

By this time, it was time for the kids to go home, so after lining everyone up and bringing them to the buses, wishing everyone a happy Chuseok on the way, we went to Home Plus for lunch on Julie. Since our next classes didn't start until 2:30, and the morning kids left at noon, after lunch James and Cherita and I sat down by the river and talked until it was time to go back to work.

The rest of the afternoon went fine, with classes going normally, though a lot of the kids were ready to go home (many of them hadn't had school at all that day and it was their first lesson all day). After work, James and Cherita and I met a few other ex-pats a few blocks away for galbi, and then we all headed back to James's house to watch "Withnail and I", a rather cult-classic British film, that I only found funny after having watched it twice with the script in front of me.

Saturday night I went out with Emily, one of the girls from the ex-pat group, to downtown for a reggae night in one of the clubs in Seoul. We had a really good time, and got back at a relatively decent hour (meaning we didn't wait for the metro to start running again and took a taxi home).

Chuseok

I just found out that we have an extra day off for Chuseok (the Korean version of Thanksgiving). This Friday is a half day for Kindergarten, and then we have Monday and Tuesday off. I was going to stay in Seoul for the weekend and just wander for a few days, since the traffic's going to be really bad on Monday, but since we have an extra day, I'm trying to decide if I should go somewhere further away. I shall have to consult my travel book this weekend.

On a side note, my Cherry class impressed me this morning with their logic skills, though they were a bit misguided. Irene saw my tongue ring, and asked "What's this?", pointing to her tongue and then to me. So I stuck out my tongue. She then said "Circle. Breanna teacher have circle here. Lisa teacher have circle here. So, English teacher have circle here. Ok?" I knew Lisa, the teacher I replaced, had a tongue piercing and a large tattoo as well, but this was an impressive bit of logic for a 4 year old. "Both my English teachers have a circle on their tongue, so all English teachers must have one too. " Not bad. :)

Bubbles!

And my personal favorite:

America is not the world.

I seem to continuously forget that just because something is commonplace in my life does not mean that other people would find it the same. I went to dinner last night with the other teachers at the school, as well as our director and her two kids.


(clockwise left to right: Julie, James, Aly, Cherita, Gina, Me, Sylvia, and Eric)

Julie had to stay late at work, so the six teachers were actually halfway done with dinner when she and her two sons got there. At one point, we were discussing odd food, probably when I was trying the ice noodle soup:


I mentioned to Gina that none of my lemon kids had ever had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and that I had made it for them to try. At this point, James interjects that he's never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Why would I? Who would think of a sandwich with peanut butter and jelly on it?" This is coming from a man who eats bacon sandwiches for dinner. I told him I'd make him one to try, and his response was "I may not like it". I decided later that I wasn't going to make him one and bring it in like I did for the kids, mostly because they're better fresh, and it just seemed silly since we get a snack and lunch at work.
Regardless of if he ever eats one, I keep having to be reminded that what Americans find normal is not, in fact, universally normal. James likes mayonnaise with his fries, I like ketchup. So be it.

A New Name

When I moved into my new apartment this weekend, I met the landlord and landlady. Both of them asked me my name, and then asked me if I had a Korean name, which of course I didn't. My director's husband, Lee, was there, and I asked him if he would give me a Korean name. Today, he handed me a piece of paper with 이아나 on it (pronounced Ee-ahn-na). Underneath that were three Chinese characters, and their English translations - plum lovely beautiful. I think that Chinese was a translation of the Korean. So now I have a new name. :)