School and such

As of today, I've been back for a month. In some ways it feels like I never left Korea, and in other ways it feels like I just got here.

I'm still kind of settling in to my new apartment. I had a few problems when I first moved in, but they've all been sorted out for the most part. The main issue I had was with a gate on the third floor landing - I live on the fourth and last floor.

view from my front door down the stairs

When I first moved in, I was told that the landlord locks the front door and the gate at 2:30 in the morning. The problem with this is that the gate has a bolt on it that can only be opened from the inside.

note the bolt on the bottom

So if I came home after 2:30am (which to be honest, isn't that often), I would have to call the landlord and ask him to come open the door. This was a problem for a few reasons.

1. He has a wife and daughter. I don't think it's fair to call anyone at 2:30 in the morning (or whatever time) to ask them to open someone elses' door. It's doubly unfair to wake someone up who will probably wake up others in the process.

2. He said that the bolt is there because all the tenants in the building are women, and it's safer to bolt the door. The problem with this logic is that all the tenants except me live below the gate. The only people past the gate are me, and the landlord.

3. Late at night, there are 4 locked doors you would have to get through to get into my apartment. The first one is bolted with a key-code alarm. The second one is the gate (which has a key lock as well as the bolt lock that remains constantly locked). The third one is my front door. The fourth one is the entry-way door that has a lock as well. If someone is that determined to get into my apartment, a bolted gate is not going to be a deterrent.

4. I've never had a curfew. Even when I was living with my parents, there was not a set time I had to be home. It was simply a matter of being responsible and making sure that they knew when I was going to be where, and an ETA for getting home. And I haven't lived with them for 10 years. I don't need a curfew now.

I tried to explain to him that I didn't want him to bolt the door. My Korean isn't that good, and his English isn't that good, so the communication was probably amusing from an outsider's perspective, and could probably make a good sitcom joke, but it was annoying and frustrating in actuality.

So, I wrote my landlord a very polite letter explaining my position and reasons for wanting him to not bolt the door. Then I politely asked my co-teacher to translate it into Korean for me. Then I taped it to his door, along with my payment (early) for the electric bill for the month.

He hasn't bolted the door (that I know of) since then. And I did get home at 4:30 once this weekend.


I've also been settling in at work. I've gotten my kids into a routine, which of course makes things in general much easier. I enjoy working with the kids that I have, and the small problems I was having with the curriculum (like getting a power point and worksheets for a lesson the day of, and being expected to add things to it and do extra research) have been resolved for the most part.

My boss seems to like me quite a bit. I've been told on numerous occasions that I'm one of the best teachers that they have. I was observed once for each of my lessons, and then they added more observations so the staff could see what I was teaching (things like learning centers) and learn from what I was doing. The principal sticks her head in my room just to look at my bulletin boards, and she's asked me to send her files for things that I've done so she can share them with other teachers. It's certainly a different atmosphere from what I'm used to in Korea, where if you don't hear any feedback you're doing fine, and any feedback you do get is usually what you're doing wrong.

I'm also a member of the national council for ATEK (Association for Teachers of English in Korea), an infant organization that's still in it's first year and in the process of electing its first president. I haven't had to do much so far, though I feel like I should be doing more. At this point, it's more a matter of keeping current and up-to-date with things happening in the ex=pat community, like the H1N1 virus that has a lot of teachers quarantined without pay, or the recent cancellation of foreign teachers' contracts in the Seoul public school system a week before school started.

And I've been traveling a bit as well. I went to the DMZ a few weeks ago, I went to Busan last weekend with a friend who's leaving in a few weeks, and I spent this weekend out in Seoul celebrating a friend's birthday (hence coming home at 4:30am on Sunday morning).


Don't ask an ajuma to take your picture in Busan. First she'll refuse, thinking that you want to take a picture of her. then she'll squint at your camera like she's trying to look through a viewfinder, when your camera only has a 3inch LCD display and no viewfinder. And then she'll cut your head off when she does take the picture.

Settling in

So I've been here just over a week, and had two full days at school.

I have to say so far it's been awesome.

I live in a great area. Though it's the 10th most expensive area in the world, there's affordable alternatives, such as 24 kimbop shops, and enough 7-11's that you'd think Korea invented them. I'm right next to a subway station that's pretty central, and a ton of bus stops that will take me anywhere the subway won't.

A mosaic in Apgujeong Station

I've had things to do every night for the past week. I've been able to see several of my friends that I hadn't seen in ages, mostly because they'd all moved to Seoul and were now quite a trek away.

My apartment could be better, but it's not bad. It's the smallest and least furnished of any place I've lived or seen in Korea. I was given a bed, table, two chairs, a tv, and a fridge. You'd be surprised at how much more "stuff" you need beyond this. I've been living without a lot of "stuff" for a year, but I didn't realize how much of it had simply been handed to me. I used it, but it didn't really belong to me, so I didn't consider it as part of my stock of "things", like dishes, pots and pans; horizontal space (like a desk for my computer), or even garbage cans!

My living area - just about everything you need within arms reach!

My kitchen - I covered some old mis-matched wallpaper that had been taped up with the checkerboard.

The job itself so far seems to be pretty straightforward. I have a decent amount of downtime during the day to grade papers or do lesson plans, and most of the lessons are supplied for me. Some things I'll have to do on my own, and this will probably end up taking more time than I'm spending now, but I expect that as par for the course.

Me introducing myself to the 7-year-old classes at Spirit Day on Friday.

My kids are good for the most part. I've only had them for two days, and they already know my three rules by heart, and are excited about the rewards program that I started (just a sticker chart with the promise of a treasure box dive for anyone that fills in their board). I've got some kids that always know the answer, so getting the quiet ones to answer is probably going to be the trickiest part. I've got one boy that's, well, quite verbal. He managed to earn three stickers today, and then subsequently lose not only all of the stickers but his sticker board as well. Luckily he had an after-school class, so I was able to sit down one-on-one and talk to him about what happened, and what he can do tomorrow and in the future so he doesn't lose anymore stickers. We shall see if he remembers.

Tonight I headed out straight from work into the heart of Gangnam. I've been on the hunt for sheets for a week. My school said they would supply me with sheets, but it seems as though the Korean definition of sheets does not equal the western one (i.e. there are no top sheets, only fitted sheets - if the store even sells them at all). I thought I'd try the COEX mall, thinking it was a possibility albeit a slim one. I didn't find any stores that might possibly sell bedding supplies, but I did happen upon a great water/light/music show as I was leaving the mall.

A light and water show set to music at Samsung Station in Gangnam.

I enjoyed watching the show, taking pictures, watching people watch the show, and just being there in general. I couldn't help but think that this was the sort of thing I'd been missing out on by living so far out of the city - things you just can't see during the day or on a weekend.

That's the life

I've spent the last week or so making both mental and physical preparations for two changes: I moved apartments (again), and both James and Cherita left to go home this weekend.

I suppose it's the nature of people who move to a foreign country to be a bit transient, but it makes it doubly hard when you've made a strong connection with someone who leaves to the opposite side of the world. The ex-pat community is very tight here, both in Uijeongbu and around the country. It's difficult to make the transition into a completely different culture, and having a network of like-minded people makes it both bearable, and enjoyable.

I never truly understood why there were places like Chinatown, or other equally concentrated areas of immigrants living near each other. I always felt that if you were going to live in another country, you should be making every possible effort to learn about the culture and not only immerse yourself in it, but become a part of it (without losing your own heritage of course). I always thought that areas like this made it harder for foreigners to become acclimated to their new home. I now completely understand why these communities exist. Though you may have made a vow to become as enlightened and immersed as possible in your new culture, you will never really be an integral part of it. You will cling to your heritage and your culture, as much as you yearn to understand your new one. This can only be done successfully if you have a support system of people from your native country who not only hold the same general beliefs (and accents) that you do, but at the same time are open enough to want to experience as much of the new culture as they can.

So when the biggest part of my support system left me halfway though my contract, I feel like a large chunk of me has left with them. Though I have made several other friends here (two of which I'm going to Japan with. Wohoo!), the daily contact and closeness acheived with a coworker won't be easily replaced.

That having been said - I love my new apartment! It has a couch!!

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.