Costco and Namhansanseong~

This weekend was a tad on the expensive side...but worth it.

Friday night after work I went out clubbing in Gangnam with some friends.  We ran into Ashley, which was nice. I picked the club because she said she would be there and that it was a good place to go.  It was an extremely fun club, and most of us (including me) even got in for free because there was some random dude outside that gave us some bracelets for free entry.  We were out all night - I saw the sunrise on the cab ride home.

Saturday was Costco.  Glorious, glorious, crowded-as-hell Costco.  I was really hoping to find Goldfish or Cheez-its, but I found neither.  I did find some lunch meat, which I am super happy about.  Meat can be a bit expensive here, so I also ended up with some bacon and some chicken breasts.  Pickles are another thing that I got really excited about.  You get pickles as side dishes rather frequently, but they're always sweet pickles. Always. No exceptions.  So when I saw jars of dill pickles, I couldn't resist. My other purchases included enough cheese for an army (I got a little overeager. Oops. I see plenty of grilled cheese in my future) and a giant box of Swiss Miss.

I told myself that I wouldn't be the person who insists on only eating American food, but as I'm writing this post, I'm enjoying a ham and cheese sandwich with some pickles and apples (they were on sale at Emart).  Don't even care.


On Sunday, Ingrid and I went on this touristy cultural thing-a-thing that we signed up for through our school.  UNESCO designated Namhansanseong (남한산성) a world cultural heritage site this past June, so the Korea Tourism Organization set up an event for foreigners.  They took us there by bus, gave us food, and set up events for us to do.  They overbooked it, though, so they asked for five volunteers to separate from the main group and do something else. After some debate, Ingrid and I volunteered.  While what the other group got to do looked like tons of fun as well, we had a great time.


We wore more elaborate hanbok than the ones we tried on at the cafe in Insadong, which was really cool.

 

For comparison, the basic ones we wore in the cafe during Chuseok:

 There were lots and lots of group shots wherever we went.

 

I got to sew a book together, but I still haven't figured out what I want to write in it.

Here we're standing in front of what we would have been doing if we hadn't volunteered to split from the main group.

 We learned about traditional tea ceremonies from these two lovely ladies.

The weekend was an absolute blast, but I was exhausted at work today.  I made it through the day and even forced myself to make a trip to Emart so I could finally get myself a laundry basket.  I'm still working on building up my storage containers and setting up my apartment, but I can definitely see progress being made.

I got a phone!

FINALLY.  I got my ARC and set up my bank account last Friday but didn't have time to get my phone on Saturday, and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) meant everything was closed Monday through Wednesday.

I set out early Thursday morning in search of the Olleh global store downtown.  I was told to go to Jongno3(sam)ga station and go out exit one, walk for 5-10 minutes, and it would be on the right.  It would be in a tall building with little flags showing which languages were spoken there.

I got out of exit 1 around 9:30, and I knew most places didn't open until 10, so I popped into a coffee shop for a little while and took full advantage of their free WiFi. At 10, I left and started walking down the street.  I saw a small Olleh store, but no flags, so I kept going.  I saw a second small Olleh store, but still no flags...so I kept going.  I found a third one and figured I'd just go in and ask because I had to have missed it.

So I went into this little Olleh store, a little nervous because I'm not really sure how to ask where the global store is.  I looked up different phone and phone-plan related words, but I never thought to look up how to say "global store."  I walked up to the counter and managed to convey that I wanted to get a phone and phone plan but needed an employee who spoke English.  They said they didn't have anybody there, and I told them I could walk to the global store if they could tell me where it was.  They said no no no no, it's okay, we'll call someone down here.

Yup.  That's right. They called an employee from the global store and had them walk down to this other branch to help me.  You want customer service? Top notch, right there.  I felt bad at first, but they were super nice about it.

While we were waiting for the English-speaking employee to walk down, one of the other employees asked if I needed a phone or already had one.  I said I didn't have one, so he asked if I already knew what I wanted.  When I told him no, he took me over to the case and talked with me about various models.  After some discussion I picked out the one I liked and he started helping me choose a plan based on that model. Initially he had me on a plan with unlimited data, but I didn't think I'd use nearly that much.  I ended up choosing a plan with 1.5GB of data, 200 minutes, and I forget how many text messages (incoming calls and texts are free) for about 75,000 a month (around $75/mo).  I'm not overly concerned about my call and text allowance because I do the majority of my communication over KakaoTalk.  The plan I picked also includes free access to all of Olleh's many WiFi hotspots around the city. It's immensely satisfying to finally be able to connect to those - whenever I'd be out and about during my WiFi-only periods both this year and last year, I'd see those and be so frustrated that I couldn't connect because they're seriously everywhere.  But now I can. HA.

So by the time the English-speaking employee arrived, I had already done a lot of the difficult work and all I really needed her help for was some of the contract terms.  I have a 24-month contract now (I'm stuck in the country for 2 years oh darn) and a really pretty new special-edition Samsung Galaxy s5.  The waterproof one.  They also gave me two cases, one of which is an immensely useful wallet/phone case combo, with my new contract and phone.

I plan on taking Ingrid back to that store once the iPhone 6 is released (because that's the phone she wants) and helping her get set up now that I've been through it all.  I have a copy of my contract, so I'll be able to more easily pick up the vocab and think through some sentences in advance so I'm not stuttering and stammering my way through things like I was when getting my phone.  I'll also have internet access, so I'll be able to use the good dictionaries while talking.  That has definitely been my biggest stumbling block and I'm so glad to finally have that resource again.

Teaching

I've finished my first full week of teaching and I'm on to my second, so I figure it's about time to write a post about teaching.  Also, Grandma complained that I was posting pictures about food and not talking about teaching, so here you go! (loooove you Gma~) 

The basic rundown:

• I get in to work at 1 and leave at 9.  No lunch/dinner break, but there are snacks for everyone to share around 5 every day.  I also keep snacks at my desk.
• Classes start at 3, so I get about 2 hours of lesson prep every day before I start.
• I have two sets of classes: one on Monday-Wednesday-Friday, the other on Tuesday-Thursday.
•  My oldest students are about 11-12 years old, and my youngest are around 7 or 8.  There are older and younger students in the hagwon, but I don't have them in my classes.
• My school is an SLP school.  SLP stands for Sogang Language Program, so all of the classes are pretty strictly outlined by Sogang University's guides.  The majority of my lessons are planned for me and I just have to "put my spin on them," meaning I make sure that what the teacher's guide says lines up with how my students learn.  If I think a particular activity won't work with a particular class, I change it.
• My maximum class size is ten students.  My largest class is at full capacity, but most are about five or six students. One of my classes only has three.

Overall, my school is pretty awesome.  I'm not micromanaged, so I'm free to set my own schedule for class prep.  My coworkers are all pretty laid back, so I feel completely at ease asking any of them questions, even if it's something I should probably already know.

I'm only a week in, but so far teaching looks like a lot of "stop," a lot of "shh," a lot of "sit down/up," and a lot of dead trees.  I also hear a lot of "teacherrrrr!" throughout lessons and "teacher finished!" whenever we're doing individual work.

That last bit requires a bit of explanation.  In the U.S., we generally refer to teachers as "Mr./Mrs./Ms. So-and-so."  In Korea, it's "So-and-so teacher."  I am "Olivia teacher."  And because it's rude not to use the title when talking to someone (in Korean), I have taken to referring to my coworkers as "_____ teacher" as well.  When talking to the other foreign teachers (in English), I'll often drop the title because that's how our culture works.  However, when talking to the Korean teachers (also in English), I'll use "____ teacher." I use the title even when talking about another foreign teacher because the Korean teachers would see it as very rude if I didn't.

My classes are only 40 minutes long, so one of my biggest struggles is not getting everything done when students are loud and talkative but getting done way too early when students are quiet.  There are two or three classes where I'm constantly telling one or two students to be quiet, stop distracting the other students, calm down, that's not appropriate, that's mean, etc. etc. and it keeps me from finishing the lesson on time.  I also have a couple classes where I always have to make sure that I have extra activities planned because the students will finish their work early.

I got my ear pierced!

I wanted to get my cartilage pierced when I was here last year, but I was told not to drink at all for two weeks afterward...and the next day was the last outing of the summer. Nope, not missing that.

Yes, I could have gotten it done in the US, but I wanted something to commemorate my time here. I made getting it done one of my top priorities for the first few weeks, and now I have a third piercing in my right ear~

I went to a shop in Hongdae that seemed pretty cool (and clean!), and the ladies there were super friendly and helpful.  I had looked up some useful vocab before going, and they were impressed that even though they were using English at first, I kept trying to use Korean.  The longest part of the process was trying to pick an earring.  I couldn't settle and ended up picking up a spare for when I can change them out, and I'll probably be back for a couple more eventually.  Overall, earring + piercing was ₩16,000, and the spare was another ₩6,000.  

This shop is a bit of a hike from where I live, but I'm definitely going back there if I decide I want any more piercings while I'm here.

Food!

I want to apologize for the lack of food pictures.  I've been slacking.  It's mostly because I'm hungry whenever my food arrives in a restaurant and I start eating immediately. Korean food is delicious and I don't have time to wait to take a picture.

So, the guy who lived in my apartment before me wasn't the cleanest of dudes.  The apartment was cleaned by a cleaning service, but they didn't wash the dishes...or the sauce/spice bottles sitting on a little shelf above the stove.  Grease and grime everywhere.  Between work and meeting up with friends and/or coworkers outside of work, I haven't had a ton of time to clean the kitchen.  If it were just a normal amount of cleaning I'd have been done long before now, but I have to scrub. And scrub. And scrub.  He left food storage containers that were wonderfully sturdy and looked really nice...except they were dirty.  After scrubbing one for 10 minutes to no avail and realizing that the rest of them were the same, I just pitched them.  I'll get my own, thank you, and I'll keep them not-nasty.

Tonight, I finally finished washing all the dishes, utensils, the main cabinet above the sink, the spices/sauces, the itty bitty kettle, and the two pots (both tiny).  There's still a lot to do, but it's enough that I can start making my own food instead of going out to eat every night.  I have a brand-new rice cooker, but I still have to wash the bowl and muddle my way through the instructions.  The previous tenant left me a few food items in the cabinet (including ramyun, curry mix, chicken bouillon packs, and some coffee).  I also have a few basic groceries, like rice, potatoes, onions, hot peppers (and hot pepper powder), garlic, and a couple other small things.  I have to keep it small, because my fridge here is about the same size as my dorm fridge back at OSU and I only have the one cabinet.

I was planning on attempting to make 부대찌개 (army stew) tonight, but I had last-minute company and we sat chatting until about 11. At that point I didn't really want to bother with all the prep, so I decided to make one of the two packs of ramyun that the previous tenant left me.  I threw in some 떡 (ddeok - the best way to describe it is that it is ddeok.  It's a sticky rice cake and it is easily one of my favorite foods in the world) and have now officially made (and eaten) my first-ever home cooked meal in Korea.

Even if it was just ramyun.

Weekend number one

Sorry for the delay in posting! This past week has been crazy busy with training, getting to know people, and moving in to my apartment (finally).

My first weekend in Seoul involved a lot of alcohol, a lot of laughter, and a lot of chicken.  Chicken is kind of a wonderful drinking food. All kinds.  Fried, baked, spicy, mild, everything. Chicken and soju, chicken and beer, chicken and whatever.

Not that I'm complaining.  I like chicken.

Friday night a bunch of the teachers and a few friends went out to an outdoor restaurant that had some absolutely wonderful rotisserie-cooked chicken.  It was juicy and delicious, the atmosphere was fantastic, and I will definitely be going back there.  It's probably going to be one of the places I take my family when they come to visit.  It's a really long (uphill) walk from where my apartment will be, but it's also hard to get lost since there are no turns.  I literally just go to the closest intersection, turn right, and walk straight for a while and the place will be on the left.  Dead simple.

About half the group left when we reached the apartments because they wanted to sleep.  The rest of us headed out to Yeonsinnae (which is the hip and happening part of my neighborhood) and went to our favorite bar.  Yes, I have been here for a week and already have a favorite bar.  It's a cozy little place where the bartenders are super friendly and know a fair number of the teachers by name.  Plus they make wonderful drinks and speak enough English that even the people with no Korean ability can have a conversation with them.  We left and hit up a noraebang (karaoke room) for a little bit, then went back to the bar where I promptly started falling asleep at the table because it was 3am and I'd gotten up at 4:30 to go to immigration.

Saturday I met with my OSU conversation partner and a friend of his who I met briefly in Ohio.  We got 냉면 for lunch (cold noodles) and then walked around Seoul.  They wanted to show me all the fun parts of the city, but they were surprised at how many places I'd already been.  I told them I was up for going back to any of them because it had been a whole year, but they wanted to take me somewhere I hadn't been before.  We started by walking around Hongdae and some of the surrounding area, then took the subway to Samcheong-dong, which has a lot of boutique shops and cool buildings.  I know I should have been speaking Korean, but I'm still very nervous about my speaking ability.  I've gotten minimal practice since arriving because the vast majority of my day is English-only, so I really didn't feel comfortable talking in Korean.  We did come to an agreement, though - I would talk in English, while they would talk in Korean.  It worked out really well and I was very happy to realize that I understood most of what they were saying.

Saturday evening involved dinner and shopping in Gangnam and clubbing in Itaewon.  Itaewon kinda weirds me out a bit because it's like stepping into a foreign country. Well, a different foreign country.  There are more foreigners than Koreans in Itaewon, and even though I use English all day at school and with my friends, it was really weird to be surrounded by English (and various other non-Korean languages) on all sides.

I really should be taking more pictures, but I usually get caught up in the midst of all the fun and completely forget.  I'll try to do better~

Immigration

So all I've heard about immigration are horror stories of long lines and all-day waits.  It's not that the actual application process takes a long time.  There are just so many people there every single day, and this is a really busy time of year because all the new NETs (Native English Teachers) are arriving.  Myself included.

The office didn't open until 9, but we were told to get there by 7:30.  Ingrid and I left the motel a little before 6am and made it to the building by 6:45.  The man working the desk had us sit next to the only other person in the lobby and pointed at each of us in turn. "1, 2, 3." So we were numbers 2 and 3 in line and had just over 2 hours of waiting in front of us. Awesome.

We didn't see anybody else until 7:30, and around 7:45 things got nuts. Some people were getting pissed at the length of the line.  Honey, if you show up to immigration at 8:30, there are bound to be people there a lot earlier and you're going to have to wait. Our wait time was based on the clock, yours is based on the number of people.  Deal with it.

Ahem. Anyway.  Submitting the paperwork took about 10 minutes, and we were told to come back in 2 weeks for our ARCs (Alien Registration Cards).  Once we have those, we can get phone plans and bank accounts and we don't have to carry our passports everywhere.  I'm a little impatient.

We didn't have to get to school until 10:30 and we were right by Cheonggyecheon, so we walked along it and took a few pictures.

This is actually one of my favorite places in Seoul because it's just so beautiful, day and night.  Here's a picture from last year that I took when some friends and I stumbled upon it after dark:

We also took some pictures by the fountains up top, which is a really nice place to sit and drink coffee or tea.

And yes, we did make it back to work on time.