Dr. Fish

I went out today to Itewon, which is a partial foreigner heaven. There's an all English bookstore called What The Book?, at which I purchased two used books (by Isaac Asimov and Ayn Rand), and a new book by Terry Pratchett. I was a little dissapointed that they didn't have any used books by Pratchett, but was rather excited when I found the two entire shelves of Discworld books in the new section. (they offer free shipping in Korea. and gift cards.) We wandered around for a while in downtown, and had lunch out on the patio of Gecko (a restaurant like Fridays, only it has an international fare instead of just Korean) while it poured rain. We found out that DMC, of Run DMC, is performing in Itewon on the 18th at the Hard Rock there. So we're probably going to take a cab from work in a week and a half and come see DMC perform. We stopped at a few of the sidewalk vendors, where I bought a hat. I figure it's not winter yet, so it was cheap now, and I didn't bring a hat with me, so it's a good investment for when it's 15 degrees below. And I like black kitties.



Then we went back to downtown Uijeongbu, where I experienced Dr. Fish. Cherita and I have decided that we will open a spa/green restaurant/dr. fish emporium in the states when we leave and become millionaires, so please do not steal this idea. That being said, it was a very interesting experience. You get unlimited coffee and bread, and wait for your number to be called. Whe your number shows up, you leave your coffee on the table (and bring your personal effects with you), take off your shoes, and rinse off your feet in a shower, which costs $1. 



Then one of the employees sets a timer for 20 minutes, and then you put your feet into a tank full of fish. they swarm around your feet, and it tickles like crazy at first. It took me about 6 minutes to stop laughing.




Once you get used to it, it's still very interesting to watch, and hard to talk about anything else. If anyone gets the chance to try it, I highly reccomend it.

Kickin' it in Geumchon

James, one of the other English teachers that I work with, kept mentioning the EV Boys when we went to downtown Uijeongbu the other night. They're a trio of English teachers that work at a school called the English Village (hence EV Boys). It's a performing arts/English school, so needless to say the instructors there are rather creative when it comes to things like this. The great thing about this video is it's pretty much universal when it comes to the expat experience in a suburb area in South Korea. It's exactly what Uijeongbu looks like, and the cultural things they mention are everywhere. The article below is courtesy of www.Korea.net/news.

A quick side note: the chorus says
Kickin' it in Geumchon
Oh, Oh
Kamsa hamneeda
Anyong haseyo

These are the first two words I learned here. They mean "thank you very much" and "hello/goodbye" respectively, and are the two most common phrases i've heard.

All the other things they mention (pig faces, the 80's plastic visors, the dunkin donuts, kimchi everywhere, cass beer, saying uh after every word, fruitloop balls instead of peanuts at the bars, etc) are prevalent everywhere. 



Where is Geumchon?
About 20 kilometers northwest of Seoul is where the Gyeonggi English Village, Paju Camp is situated. Christian Zonts, the song's chief author and EV Boyz founder, Brian Petersen and Mike Nance all live and work there as English instructors/entertainers – the hip term these days is "edutainers." All three are from the United States and have been in Korea for 11 months, 14 months and almost two years, respectively. 

When they want to leave the sanctuary of the Village, Geumchon is the nearest large town. It is no different from most urban areas outside the major Korean cities, with a mixture of traditional and modern. In the words of the EV Boyz "Geumchon is a small town but we make the most of it." Christian was inspired one day to sit down and write a song about his experience as a foreigner living and hanging out in Korea. Brian and Mike joined and added their own flavor to the mix.

The result is a Beastie Boys soundalike with a cheerful and catchy refrain as well as playful lyrics. The EV Boyz make reference to the local movie theater "keeping it real" with no subtitles; then point out this is the very reason they don't go to the cinema. (In a recent interview, they did confess to speaking very little Korean. The phrasebook referred to in the lyrics is Christian's main way to communicate when he travels around Korea, as he does each weekend.)

Much is sung about food and drink, and the video clip shows the trio enjoying a few tasty treats as well as some brews. Pig faces for sale are immortalized in song, But when they went to the market to film some, they were nowhere in sight. The EV Boyz confess to loving Korean food and being adventurous eaters – they have even tried some dishes this author never has! Fittingly, the bridge in the middle of the song is an ode to kimchi, "the cabbage that we ravage with the chili paste taste."



The song was originally written to amuse themselves and their colleagues (over 100 native speakers of English work at Paju English Village), and the video was made to give relatives and friends back home an idea of what their non-work lives here were like. Audiences found the video so well made that it took a life of its own. Responses have been mostly positive, especially from colleagues and supervisors at the English Village.

A trip to the hospital

I only had to teach three classes today, since I went to the hospital to get my physical so I can apply for my alien card. My first class, lemon, was from 9:45-10:30. They usually have snack then, so Julie Teacher took over for me while I went to the hospital (I'm Breanna Teacher to the kids, only they usually pronounce it teachah). Lee, Julie's husband, drove me there, and took care of all the paperwork. It was a lot of running around between floors 1, 3, 6, and 8. Some of the elevators only went to even floors and some went to odd floors and some went to all of them. Only some of them were labeled.

The first thing they did was the obligatory pee test, then 4 blood samples. There was a very long conversation between two nurses and Lee before they took my blood, and the only thing I caught was HIV, which they would be testing for. Lee couldn't translate any of it, partially because his English is basic at best, and I don't know that anyone but a fluent speaker in both languages could translate medical terminology. Then we went downstairs where I thought they would do a physical, but their version of it was asking me "Do you have health ok?". Then we went back upstairs, since apparently the first set of nurses had to go to lunch and didn't have time to do the rest of it while we were up there. We got another form, went back downstairs, where they checked my teeth (no cavities, no missing teeth). Then back upstairs they checked height, weight, blood pressure, hearing, sight (all of which are fine), and did an x-ray of my chest. And then we left.

By the time we got back, it was almost the end of lunch. So I had lunch in the kitchen with Lee and one of the kids. Everyday there's soup, kimchi, rice, and then two sides. I can't eat the kimchi - it's way too spicy. Lee told me there's something called pakimchi, which is similar only made without pepper, so it's milder. But most, if not all, restaurants only serve kimchi. I do, however, love dried seaweed and rice. It's my new favorite snack. I had some sort of little silver fish that had been cooked, had it's head and tail cut off, and covered/stuffed with some sort of vegetable sauce thing. It was a bit spicy, but pretty good. Lee also showed me how to correctly hold my chopsticks, which seemed to work for the first time. It still amazes me that the kids eat such spicy food, and not only don't mind it, but they love it (the teachers eat the same thing as the kids, just bigger portions).

Julie teacher even taught my class after lunch, so I only had my two apple classes to do, which are pretty easy because one class has three kids and one class has nine, and they all speak English fairly fluently. Even though my last class is over at 4 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm not supposed to leave before 6pm (which isn't bad, considering my day starts at 9:45 and I get an hour break after lunch). So I spent the rest of the day working on my lesson plans for lemon and cherry for next week, and making sure I had all the materials I needed for the activities. They're pretty straight-forward, and everything is pretty much scripted for you from the teacher's book. They have songs that go along with storybooks, and activity books, and homework books, all relating to whatever story they're reading. I've learned such riveting songs as "Little Bear Lake", "Let's Go Camping", and "Hello, Ranger Joe". And tomorrow is Memorial Day, so Cherita, James and I are going out to downtown Uijeongbu (pronounced weejongboo) tonight since there's no school tomorrow. I did find out from Julie teacher that my birthday, which is the Korean Independance Day, is no longer a holiday off from school - apparently Korea has too many holidays and they changed it last year to a normal school day. :(

There's lots of little things here that I find facinating. Things like when you order pizza, they always tie it with a red ribbon to keep the box closed. Or how the cars have the right of way, not the pedestrians, and they can make a u-turn in the middle of the street, as long as there's no traffic going the other way. There doesn't seem to be any laws about where to park either, as people park in the street all the time with no permits. In their registers, they keep their money vertical, instead of laying down horizontal, and most bathrooms don't have toilet paper - you're supposed to bring your own.

I'm here

It’s been quite an eventful few days. I got on the plane from Daytona on time, and transferred planes with no problem. The flight from San Francisco was very long, and a bit cramped. I had wanted to at least see the US for the last time as we were flying away, but it was overcast from the moment we got in the air until we hit Alaska. I did get to see a little bit of Russia before we got to Korea – seems like a vast wasteland of frozen tundra to me. I got off the plane, and got through customs with no problem. My bags were even at the baggage claim as soon as I got there. I found the limousine bus that I needed (they’re basically like charter busses) and got on it right away. The bus driver, however, didn’t speak English. The stops were announced in Korean, and then in English. But at the City Hall stop, it didn’t say that the next stop was in Uijeongbu. So I tried to ask the driver, since I had been told that my ride would meet me at the last stop in Uijeongbu. He didn’t understand what I was asking.


 

There was a family that got off at the stop with me, who had a little girl and a little boy. I guess the girl was taking English classes because she knew a few words and tried to find out where I was trying to go. But I had conveniently forgotten the name of the school, and I hadn’t written down any of the phone numbers that my boss had given me. So they drove me about a block to the city hall, where the night watchmen were nice enough to let me use their computers to find the phone number of Lee, who was supposed to pick me up. After we finally got a hold of him, they gave me come coffee (which is actually instant coffee sold in little packets, but it wasn’t bad), and we watched soccer until Lee, the director's husband, arrived.

He got my bags into the van, and drove me though downtown Uijeongbu, passed the school that I’ll be working at, and then showed me where my apartment is. It’s right off the main road, but on a little side street so there’s no traffic, and about 10 blocks or so from the school. My apartment is on the second floor, right above a flower shop. It’s a studio, with what passes for a kitchen, a bathroom, and a “porch” where the washer is that faces another apartment building under construction. The front door doesn’t have a key; it’s a number code so I don’t need to worry about loosing my keys anymore. The kitchen has a dorm-type fridge, a microwave, a sink, and a hot plate. There’s no closet, just a metal rack with some hangers on it. There’s a desk/table with two chairs, a place near the door to put your shoes, a small table that you have to sit on the ground to use, a tv with the cable already working (My options in English include the BBC and a movie channel. That's it.), a bed (which is apparently brand new but hard as a rock), and a cubby hole-type thing. The air conditioner has a remote, but it’s been cold enough here that I’ve just left the windows open. Apparently this is spring weather, and it’s going to get much hotter in the summer.
 

 


The area itself is beautiful. The mountains are right next to the city, walking distance actually, but you’d never know it if you’re in downtown because everything is so flat, and the high-rise buildings cover them up. Since the country is so small, everything has a small footprint and goes up ridiculously high. All the apartment buildings are higher than most hotels I’ve seen. Mine is an exception, as it’s only three stories, and has shops underneath it, including a flower/plant shop. The school is on the sixth floor of one of these buildings.


I’m a few blocks from Home Plus, which is like a 24 hour Walmart, mixed with a department store. The bottom floor is a food court and the designer clothes. Each section is separate, and you have to pay the cashier for the items you want in their section – most of them are separated by brand. The second floor is the grocery section. When they run out of something, they don’t re-stock it until 5am, so when I went there tonight, they were out of bread, bananas, and a few other things I had wanted to get. There’s a little section in the middle that’s kind of like a mini restaurant, so if you get hungry while you’re food shopping you can eat. And yes, deodorant is no-where to be found. This place is much more sanitary than the downtown market-place, which has every kind of meat and seafood (squid, manta-ray, octopus, etc.) lying out in the air with no ice and flies buzzing around. The third floor is the rest of the home-type things that you would normally find in a Walmart. Of course everything is in Korean, though there’s a lot more English than I thought there would be. There’s more English on things like shirts and ads, but I think most people that wear those shirts have no idea what they say. Tax is included in the price of everything, so the price listed is what you pay.

There’s also old money and new money, referring to bills and not to people. I tried to use one of my bills in a vending machine to get a drink, but they only take the new money. I should be able to trade out the rest of my US dollars sometime this week, when I set up a bank account. Cherita, one of the other teachers who showed me around today, thinks that I’ll get paid next week for half a paycheck. She said they take your bills, like electricity and cable, out of your check. There’s a wireless set up here, but I need the password for it, which I was told I’ll get tomorrow.
Cherita took me out to lunch today around 1. I didn’t wake up until noon when she knocked on my door – and I probably should be in bed right now since I have to be at work tomorrow at 9:15. She said there are three English teachers – myself, Cherita, and James- and three Korean teachers. It’s a private school, and apparently very expensive, as I only have 6 or 7 kids per class. I suppose I’ll find out tomorrow more of what that’s going to be like.