Well it’s been over 11days since my last blog and needless to say, a lot has happened since then. I took a very nice trip to Busan (2nd largest city of 4 mil) with my apt. mates Kim & Dan from England. It was Dan’s 24th birthday on Sat. Sept. 8th. It was a short and relaxing 45 minute train ride that only cost 3,800 WON ($4.15) to get there. We met up with 3 other English teachers at the Burger King (that’s a very authentic Korean burger joint that is quite popular there) in Busan Station. We checked into a hotel which cost 40,000 for two people ($22 each). We bought some beer and went out on the town. We were loud obnoxious Westerners who got yelled at by some old Korean guy around midnight (just as it was officially becoming Dan’s b-day) We had a great time eating, drinking, singing Karaoke, etc. The next day we headed out to Haendae Beach (one of the nicest and most popular beaches in Korea). The beach was wonderful, clean, and relatively quiet. We were able to enjoy swimming in the water which was surprisingly warm and pleasant to swim in. There were many people riding wave runners very close to the shore. That night we enjoyed a most delicious Korean BBQ (samgyeopsal) which is now quickly becoming my favorite Korean meal. We ate like kings while cooking pork over a live flame, sautéing garlic, and making a lil pita like pocket with a lettuce leaf, dipped in sesame oil. They bring out all sorts of wonderfully tasty side dishes like shrimp, veggies, kimchi, etc. Each restaurant is so unique & different in what they bring out to eat. The entire meal cost 17,000 ($6.20 each). Later that night, we were in a very Korean bar looking at an all Korean menu that didn’t even have one English letter on it & Dan turns to me and says the funniest thing in his thick Manchester UK accent and asks, “So Darren, what do you fancy” Huh?? Well let me see Dan, the entire menu is in KOREAN!!!!! How the heck am I supposed to know what I’m even ordering?? But evidently Dan & Kim have been doing this often when ordering in restaurants, they kinda have been just pointing to the menu and eagerly awaiting the surprise that comes to them. I was able to let go thinking how silly that was and actually see the fun & mystery in that & picked something from the menu. We wound getting two delicious cocktails (one was a mango-peach & the other was a cranberry drink). I really enjoyed visiting the Paradise Hotel & Casino. It was a very high-end, classy & sophisticated hotel with a beautiful ambiance & piano bar. The Blackjack tables were a whopping 10,000 Min WON bet ($10.70). I didn’t play b/c the stakes were too high.
What has really amazed me so far is how “green” conscious of a country Korea is. They are fanatical of separating & recycling everything. Even to the point where people take out the plastic lids & straws at Burger King & place it in one area while throwing the cup into the paper bin to be recycled. It’s been quite noticeable how environmentally conscious they are. They also separate out the “food” waste from paper waste; I got in trouble for emptying a napkin with my plate at school. And apparently you aren’t supposed to flush any paper down the toilet here either. This is something I have not embraced as of yet, and thankfully there is no one in the stall watching me. Evidentially, you are supposed to throw your dirty papers in a lil plastic garbage bin that they have inside every stall. The bin isn’t lined with a garbage bag, so someone must dump in out somewhere. I think maybe they burn all this paper?? I don’t really know, but I think it’s quite gross. The one thing that I do like about the one (and only) westerner style toilet they have at my school is that is has this really cool, electronic toilet seat cover that when I went to sit down on it, it was surprising warm & heated!!!! I thought that was so cool & immediately thought how nice that must be in the winter time!!! Someone had evidently left the heat sensors on before they left and it gave me a nice surprise!!! This thing has something like 15 buttons on it (all in Korean though) so I was scared to touch anything else. I think it does all sorts of stuff like give you a beadeaut sp? the French thingy that shoots water up your butt. I think these would be really popular in the States and am thinking of importing them into the country. Anyone want in with me?? We can become millionaires!! Speaking of opportunities, I’ve also discovered that everywhere I’ve been so far, I have not seen one single postcard in this whole dang country. NOWHERE, not in the airport, at the beach, hotels, etc. The postcard business is virtually extinct, untapped, and very dormant here. I say we get it started and make a fortune. Who’s up for that??
Other things I find neat about Korea school system are the swipe (ID) cards that every student uses to “swipe in” when they get to school. This alerts their parents that their child has arrived at school and are in class. It’s also a built in attendance (role call) calculator as well. I was wondering how come we never took attendance in class. It’s all done electronically, how cool is that?? Another great thing about teaching in the Korean public school system is that we get to change our shoes everyday when we get to work & put our slippers on!!! This is another great cultural thing about Korea They have a custom of always taking off your shoes when you enter many public buildings, restaurants, schools, etc. It’s such a pleasure to be at my desk, on my computer with no shoes on… I feel like I’m in my living room!!! The other nice thing about teaching in the elementary school is that the stalls are all so low, that I have to remember to bend down otherwise I’ll hit my head. I’m telling you, I’ve never had this problem in the States. It makes me feel kinda special. I enjoyed a few of the students whom came into the classroom and brought the teacher an ice pop. I don’t know if they do that often or not but it’s pretty cool. Also I needed to get some papers copied for a lesson I was teaching & I asked my co-teacher if she could do it for me & she in turn, passed it onto the students (a student) who was in the classroom. It’s kinda like that here. The younger people get stuck with doing all the grunt work for the older folks. I’m glad I’m 33 an older than many of the other teachers here (haha). Men definitely have more respect and authority than women (who are much more subservient). The other funny that happened at school is the AMAZEMENT that the students and the faculty have with the amount of hair on my arms. The first day I was playing volleyball, one teacher (nicknamed Moonlight) pointed to my arms and said, “Darren Oh my God, so tick (thick). Referring to my hairy arms. And you should see the look of sheer AWE & AMAZEMENT of the students in class who stare at my arms in total wonderment!!! They point to it, look at it, giggle at it, rub it, touch it, pet it, pull on it, etc. It’s quite hysterical!!!! My co-teacher sees them pulling my arm hair & is so embarrassed for me I think. It’s all good though, I don’t mind it. The one thing that is/has gotten old quite quickly is the same old robotic sentences that the children say over & over to me each day. “Teacher, teacher, HI HI!!” “How you doing today?” And “Nice to meet you!” The other English teachers were right, it does get old rather quickly. Actually I had quite an epiphany late last week. I asked a student who’s pencil case was he grabbing and he looked at me like I THREE HEADS!!! I discovered that they evidently don’t really remember, retain, or understand anything that they learn in English class. But rather, they just robotically regurgitate the Dialog back to us like parrots. It was a BIG discovery for me & kinda made me a bit frustrated, jaded, and disheartened. As my friend Ray (who’s been working & training in Asia since 2002) said when I told him how surprised I was that many of the Koreans are so hesitant & shy to attempt to speak English to me when I ask them (in Korean) if they speak English & they say NO. He said, “That's predominantly due to the fact that there style of learning is incompatible with liberal arts. Most of Asian learners are parrot learners, which is why they excel in Math. It's all memorization, but very little intrinsic value.” When I heard that from I felt as if he hit the nail right on the head!!! It was actually kinda sad and disheartening to me when I heard (realized) this.
So now I have found myself resorting to the age old attempts at bribery and cohersion for these kids to say something other than, "I'm fine thank you. & How are you doing today." I've found that these lil caramel candy chews work really well to accomplish this. I've taught them to say other phrases like "How's it going? What's up? How are things? etc." And they say ANY of these NEW phrases they get a candy from me!!! I tell you I feel just like Pavlov with his dogs, or better yet, a dolphin trainer at Sea World; it's sad, pathetic, but it's working (I gave out lots of candy today & am excited to see that I'm making a difference in their dry, robotic dialog.
It really is kind pathetic and sad in way b/c they (Korea) is spending so much time & money recruiting and hiring native English to "teach" to their kids, But often my "teaching part" of the lesson involves my Korean co-teacher saying, "OK, now let's hear the foreign teacher read the dialog." Then I get and say, "How was your vacation? Mine was great, I visited my grandparents in Busan" and "I went to the museum with my cousin." It's really quite brainless work & I can't believe they are paying me has much as they for doing this. I'm telling ya, this English teaching is a pretty good gig, no wonder people renew all the time for a 2nd & 3rd year. I can see this being a really cool thing to do if you are retired and want to travel around the world with your spouse. I guess I’m not gonna complain that much because they are paying me well (tax free) giving a beautiful apt to live in for free, and paying for my roundtrip airfare!!! So now that I’ve officially finished my first two weeks…I only have 50 more to go. Yippeee!!!!! Unless I extend for another year (which I will not do unless my girlfriend joins me out here to teach with me).
I went to Bugok Hot Springs this past Saturday with Dan, Kim & my friend Christina from NJ. It was pouring rain all day & was perfect day to get away to enjoy the natural, therapeutic hot springs of Bugok, which are the hottest and the largest Hot Springs in all of Korea!! We dipped ourselves in some scolding HOT Hot Tubs, saunas, baths, etc. I enjoyed my first Green Tea Hot Bath, Yellow Ochre Medicinal Sauna, and the MOST INTENSE, VIGOROUS Skin Brushing rubdown you will ever get!!! We enjoyed the outdoor swimming pool, the waterfall, the hot baths, etc. that were outside in the rain. It was so great because we practically got to enjoy the entire resort all to ourselves. We went to Bugok Hawaii which had a very tropical, island-like ambiance to it. It was coed and we all wore our bathing suits. Then I entered the “all male” sauna jungle where I received my skin brushing session from this Korean gentleman who was wearing shorts (thank god) b/c everyone else was totally naked. It cost me $13 for a 20 min. total scraping, brushing, rub-down session. It was AWESOME!!!! I never felt so cleansed, revived, rejuvenated, etc before. My skin felt so wonderful, so tight, so incredibly scrubbed & loaffaed sp? I bought a razor and shaved myself; we watched an entertaining dance/musical show, had another delicious Korean BBQ (samgyeopsal) and took the bus home. It was great being there in the rain b/c we essentially had the entire resort to ourselves!!! It was so nice, so close & I will definitely go back there again.
I’ve posted pictures I’ve taken of my apartment, my city, and other sites of Korea on my Flickr website; please go to:
www.flickr.com/photos/skorea2007
OK I think that just covers about everything since my last blog. Hope all is well back home. I miss you all.
Love, Darren
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