Happy New Year's!

Yesterday was an amazing day of hiking with my friend, Will, up into the mountains. There is a cable car near here that goes up into the mountains, and then many trails snake around into the rocky, forested hills around Busan. I only got a couple of pictures before my camera's battery died, and I will post them again on Facebook as soon as the battery is charged.
Wow. What views. I'm not much of a hiker these days: I prefer walking around the streets to and from school, but this was a rare sight. Even though it was a little misty yesterday, Will and I could see almost to Hae Un Dae and the ocean. To the north, no one lives there. The stark contrast between city and wilderness is surprising. No suburbs.
Today, I opened the rest of my Christmas presents--including a package from Grandma Weezie that arrived on Friday. I had been waiting, hoping to be able to open them with an iChat or something, but today I decided I would open them.
Wow.
I miss everyone back home. Love you all. And merry Christmas.

A really quick post

I put some of the pictures from Christmas on Facebook. I don't know why I am having such a hard time with the blog, but I am exploring new media. This is exciting.
Yesterday was another four letter day. I mean, four cards from family and friends. The other teachers are jealous, and I was so excited. I got two cards from Mom (I love you so much, and I love the little treats!), a card from Meg (I love you so much, and I wish I were in IN), and a card from John Lundy (What a surprise! My friend from Duluth by way of Belize, for those of you who don't know!)
He enclosed a wonderful poem that I am writing here:
Today I found a
Coca-cola can,
a half-eaten apple,
and a tumble weed,
a squished up caterpiller
and you
Considering all the things
that I found today,
and judging from the
laughter and the tear time
I had with you
I think
finding you
was
better than
the squished-up caterpiller

I love this poem. Thank you, John.

Weather

I had forgotten that Mom wanted a link to a weather website. Here it is:
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/47159.html
Funny, today it is supposed to be a high of 60, partly cloudy. Sunday, it will be back into the thirties and forties, but I will take it. I heard that it got very cold here. I braced for the worst.
I'm not too impressed yet.
I'm heaving a sigh since we are past the winter solstice. Means the days will get longer--and frankly I could use a bit more sunlight in my days.
Love you all.

Christmas Eve night

Merry Christmas!
Well, I'm having a hard time posting pictures right now. I will try to diagnose the problem at some time. Too bad. I got some good ones last night.
I went to the Alpina Youth Hostel for the church gathering tonight. I was very chagrined to find that I only recognized a few people church. Funny, I wanted to go tonight to spend time with familiar people that I care at least a little about, to have some fun, to bond a bit, and to enjoy Christmas and all.
About thirty-five people were crowded into a room about the size of Mom and Dad’s living room. I suppose it wouldn’t have been that bad, but I had an impression that this was more of a mixer, a party, an evangelical thing, or something. I didn’t feel anything that I needed there.
When they started talking about Risk tournaments and Twister playoffs I was ready to bolt.
Luckily, John and Song Hee were supportive. Andrea and her sister were there, too, and I think they were on the same wave-length. We went to the lounge upstairs for an hour or so to “regroup.” I actually had some good coffee and some great conversation. Wow. What a treat.
Then we went back down to hear a devotional by our leader wearing reindeer ears. I think he had forgotten he was wearing them.
Then, I was ready to leave for real.
John took Andrea, her sister Lexi, and I out. We cruised around to a few very ritzy hotels, walking around, looking at the Christmas lights, watching the strangely dressed people, and puzzling about the Korean interpretation of Christmas. Just another day off, an excuse to have a big meal, time to go out, none of the strong familial associations that 99% of Westerners have.
Then, the crème de le crème, the four of us walked along the beach in Hae Un Dae. Some random people were shooting off small fireworks, and the people were decked out in all sorts of strange outfits. Also, on the beach, we saw this woman sculpting these strange but beautiful sand sculptures—Santa Claus, fish, and a shark.
A long taxi ride back, and I am home.
I haven't opened all my presents, yet. I opened the box from Mandy and from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary, but I really want to drag this out. Pretend that Christmas will last over the next week.
Hmm. That probably won't happen.
Love you all. Merry Christmas.

Chirstmas Eve Morning

I woke up to my early alarm this morning (I usually set my alarm early to turn on my water heater and my space heater and then go back to sleep for a bit), but I lay in bed just enjoying my new soft pajamas and the feeling of Christmas. I don’t think I have ever appreciated the soft luxury of new pajamas so much in my entire life—the new robe and pajamas from Mom are like some sort of treasure that I cannot even quite describe.
So, I’m laying in bed this morning, watching the sunrise, but this is not really accurate because I cannot see the sun rise from my apartment from all the buildings and mountains and from the heavily frosted glass that I have in my apartment for privacy. And really, I don’t need to see the sun rise: I love to watch the neon blue of the early morning fade to less mysterious colors.
I’ve been sort of dreading Christmas-- sort of waiting for this day to sort of quietly pass like so many other days in this strange country. Now, though, like so many strange things in this country, I find myself surprised. I am not missing my family any less, but the church is pulling together like a surrogate family. It is amazing. I may even have fun at this sleepover party extravaganza that they have planned.
And if not, I still have my consolation prizes tomorrow to console me. Have I mentioned that I am probably the most spoiled teacher in Korea?

Santa keeps coming...

Well, I took another picture to chronicle the progress of "Santa's" blessings. But I can't load it to blogger--maybe later. I have now gotten a huge package from Mom and Dad, one from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary, and one from Mandy and Scott. It's funny, as much as I wish I could see everyone and as much as I don't feel too materialistic these days, I feel the love.
I've been thinking about this a bit lately. Mom has sent a surprising amount of cards. Also, Meg, Grandma Weezie, and Aunt Barb have sent cards, too. The teachers here seem to have certain things in common: while they love their families and miss their families, they do not seem as close to their families as I am. Perhaps this makes it easier to leave for a year, go to another country, and not see them. Perhaps this is why they leave in the first place.
Anyway, as much as my apartment seems like some strange college dorm or a third-world episode of Melrose Place minus the swimming pool, work sometimes seems like camp with the mail deliveries and the crazy kids. And too, as much as I love getting mail--it is always the highlight of my day to seem familiar handwriting expressing love--I do feel some sort of strange feeling when another teacher brings me mail or a package. Everyone knew the day when I got four letters in one day. It was a joke--everyone thought it was so crazy that I must be sending letters to myself even if they were postmarked in different places in the US--because everyone was jealous. They want a family that cares about them as much as mine cares about me. In a strange and awful sort of way, this makes me feel so special and loved.
So people ask me if I will take a university job at Kyeungsung University next year. I say no. I will go back to America because I miss my family. Not many people understand that.

Election Day

So, listening to the reports earlier, it sounds like what's-his-name will win. I don't think this will affect Busan very much. From talking to my students, they are not interested in politics at all because the politics do not seem to affect anything.
Today I went to Seomyoun with one of the gals from Meyoungjung. This is sort of interesting. Sung Sung Duck introduced us--her name is Yenni--and Yenni is a wealth of information about many things here in Meyoungjung Dong. For one thing, she knew that my father had been here to visit, she knew that I was from America, she knew that Sung Sung Duck worries about me. I asked her why Sung Sung Duck is so worried about me, and Yenni said that Sung Sung Duck is worried that I am all alone so far away from my family. Later today, though, she remembered that Sung Sung Duck's daughter is away in Japan, and I remind Sung Sung Duck of her daughter, alone in a different country, far away from her family.
Yenni is very interesting. She is probably seventeen years old, will go to college next year, plans to go away to Seoul (which is like going to Jupiter for students in Busan) for college, is very close to her family, has sacrificed her hobbies for her studies, and wants to travel. She is similar to many students I have met: curious and interesting, but quieter and more reserved than any teenage girl I have ever meet.
This suits me just fine. I don't think I could spend several hours on my day off with a typical American teenager.
Although Yenni did take me to a strange place flooded with Korean teenagers. Wow. This "store" for lack of a better term, had a dozen or so brightly decorated photo booths. I have heard that Koreans are fond of taking pictures of themselves--a sort of vague cultural egotism maybe? Anyway, after taking ten or so different pictures with different poses and different backgrounds, we can add pictures, writing, coloring, and other computerized effects. Pretty fun but a bit strange. Tried to email the pictures to myself, but it didn't work.
Oh, and there is this dish that Dad and I tried--taco yaki--which are these doughy balls fried with some different seasonings and squid and then soaked in mustard and barbecue sauce. When I come home from work, often Sung Sung Duck gets me some taco naki from the stand next to her fish stand which belongs to Kim Bong Sue. The first few times I have eaten these, I did not like them very much. On Monday, I realized that I think I am actually developing a taste for this strange food.
So, one week until Christmas. I plan to spend all Christmas Eve at a youth hostel with the fellows from the church. Sounds like they have quite an evening planned. I'm grateful. Christmas is drifting by quietly and quickly--this is fine. I'm not too sad or homesick as long as I don't think about it too much.
I have been getting a ridiculous amount of cards from my family back home--mom mostly, but Meg, Grandma Weezie, and Aunt Barb, too. Wow. This means so much to me. I usually let my afternoon classes read the cards, and they think the cards are great--Aunt Barb, the kids loved the musical card. They thought it was so funny!

What a week Episode II

Funny thing, is, I had a great weekend, so right now, I'm sitting, dreading going back to work on this cloudy Monday morning, but it doesn't seem as bad. I've been laughing about everything this weekend and trying to forget how ridiculous this job has become.
No details. Probably not too appropriate for the web. But for right now, I'm so grateful mom and dad are so supportive--I spent forty-five minutes on the phone with them last night, and the phone call may cost them a hundred dollars--and that I can still laugh about it all. In the coming months that may become more and more difficult.
But this weekend was so much fun. Friday night I met up with my friend Jenna. She and I talked for a long time. She is so funny and kind and wonderful. She makes me feel like I am interesting and nice. She doesn't even seem to care about any of my foibles.
I spent much of the day on Saturday with my Canadian friend Will--he is very interesting, but nothing is going on. We went to the Nampo Dong fish market because he wanted to take pictures (sigh, I left my camera back in the ghetto, and I haven't been able to find Will's pictures on the 'Net). This market was like some sort of crazy zoo--except all the animals end up dead. Huge aquariums full of live squid, large bowls of octopus, skinned and live eels, strange fish of every variety, and then the strange, crouching fish ladies with their butcher knives and buckets of fish guts. They carved up the insides of a fish faster than I knew what was happening. And the smell, it wasn't like bad fish really although I could sort out a bit of rotting fish smell. Some of it smelled good--spices, fried fish, the sea water. Some of it just sort of stank of blood and fish guts.
I spent most of the day yesterday with John and SungHee at their apartment. I hadn't been there yet--I can't really explain why. I just need time and space to write, so mostly on Sundays I wanted to be alone. Now, though, John and SungHee are moving back to America in the next month or two.
Wow, this is really disappointing.
They made cappucchinoes, burritos, and lattes. Their apartment is beautiful. I felt like a princess. We watched TV and talked. I almost forget what it was like to live in the ghetto.
Gotta run to work.

Plagiarizing

I'm stealing this from Meg's blog. This is from one of her friends from Wheaton, so I'm not really plagiarizing, if anyone is wondering. This seems really profound to me.
"Anyways, nice to hear from you, again. Been missing my Wheaties recently... Have dealt with a couple of things this past year and not going to lie, my faith has suffered. Still love God, desperately even now, but man, his people can really mess you up. We are going to a great church, but we're not real active in anything. It's funny though, sometimes I almost feel more effective as a witness, the less holy I am. That's probably a good and a bad thing, but the best I can do right now. Many of the gang that I work with are not Christians, one even fairly atheistic Jew, but the spiritual talks are abundant and not forced. But all that to say, I still miss the easy support that a place like Wheaton offered. That people like you always offered, thanks for that..."

What a week...

In a week, the leaves have fallen from the trees, I'm beginning to see some Christmas decorations in a few places, and my job has crossed the ridiculous line.
It's funny, these crazy little dramas that keep happening are sort of funny. I'm not quite laughing, but I don't think I'm running yet. I've considered it, one of the leaders at my church suggested that his college would hire me, but I'm trying really hard to honor the whole contract thing.
I don't think I will write specifics. Long story, and maybe not appropriate for the open web.
I'm reading a bit of Penelope Fitzgerald that Meg sent me in this fantastic care package--so good. I was a bit cynical about these books, and it took me awhile to get into this first one, but now I'm totally into "The Blue Flower." If anyone wants me to pass it along when I finish, let me know.
Besides that, I'm trying to find time for myself. That seems like such a stupid thing, but I have found some different people that I enjoy spending time with, but mostly the days slip by. I can't believe it is almost Christmas, and three months have slipped away already.

Christmas is early!

This is a picture of my pile of loot from Mom and Dad. Wow, I love them so much. The timing couldn't be better. This week has been bad.
I literally had to take a cab home from school (where I receive my mail) to take the package home. I sat like a little kid, almost crying, ripping open the box and spreading the packages all over my bed. I tried hard not to guess what was in the packages too much--I like the surprises too much.
I even got to open a couple marked open now: a LED candle (special interest since I either soldered or inspected about a million LED on circuit boards at my last job) and a package of pencils for my students. They will love me.

Send a prayer...

Ok. A couple of you know that one of the American teachers and I have been, well, not getting along. I thought that things were "resolved," so to speak, such that we could coexist.
Well, I'm receiving the brunt of more of her difficulties. I'm taking on her Grade 3 class (I already have half the class, meets for two hours, every school day) because she has too many hours. This has happened before. So now, I am taking on more students, which means more unpaid preparation time.
I'm getting tired and frustrated. I'm trying so hard not to be angry, but whenever I see her, I want to tell her how much trouble she causes me and everyone else. There have been quite a few situations--ranging from mildly annoying to bordering on ridiculous.
I'm just trying to do my work and interact with her as little as possible. Right now, though, I'm extremely frustrated by the lack of work ethic and by the attitude of privelege that some teachers seem to show.
Gripe, gripe, gripe.
Pray for me, nonetheless.

Three months down...

So here it is.
Three months later. Not really any wiser, just a bit more Korean.
Funny, I was glancing at the news: read about the Christmas shopping and the snow in the Midwest. Here, the bigger stores have Christmas decorations, but Thanksgiving passed without a blink. And most of the trees are still holding onto their leaves although there aren't many trees in Busan here. It is funny to watch the shopkeepers sweeping the leaves into the street, pushing the leaves away into someone else's area or out into the street.
And the weather is chilly: I'm not getting very used to the Celsius temperatures, but it gets down near frezing most nights. During the days, it usually gets into the forties and fifties still, but I rarely see daylight. I leave in the morning after the sun has been up for an hour and a half, and I leave work many hours after the sun has set.
I think this is the hardest thing right now. I want to make it through the next couple of months: the increased darkness and cold make me want to stay inside so much, and the holidays make me miss my family. Come February, I will have a trip to Hawaii to lok forward to, the days will have more daylight, and hopefully, it will be getting a little warmer.
And, I have found a wonderful club down near the port: the Seaman's Club. It is a naval installation that serves very inexpensive Western food. Turkey and mashed potatoes on the holidays. They even serve pecan and pumpkin pies for the next couple of months.
I will go there on Christmas. No key lime pie, though.

Thanksgiving Blues

It's been a great week, all in all. The best part: a new nephew.

Ahh, this picture is sideways, but you can see my beautiful older sister, Mandy, my brother-in-law, Scott, and my new nephew, Jake Thomas. Don't they look great?
And everyone is healthy and okay despite a long labor and a C-section.
And with the excitement, I wish I were with family. I don't think I could ever do this year away from family again. I feel like this is ridiculous. Even the Americans seemed to forget it was a holiday--maybe they don't want to remember. In a few of the larger department stores, they have Christmas decorations out already, and I am beginning to dread the holidays. I don't think the holidays are really a big deal here, but just knowing that my family is together, and I can't be there.
Boo.

A barage of posts

I have taken quite a few pictures in the last weeks--how exciting, thank you, Grandma Weezie! I have two more that I would like to share.
These are my two kindergarten classes. Wow. They are my kids. It's funny how much I still don't like kids, but I do sort of understand them.
This is the Bluebird class--but Daniel (pronounced Danielle) and Justin were missing the day I took these when were at the Museum of Korean Historiologic Life (I'm making this up). Andy is pretending to be a dinosaur, Alex is punching something, and the girls are being cool.


This is the Rainbow class. Justin and Kaori are doing something tricky for the camera--I don't know what.
Susan is the Korean teacher to the right. She is so kind. She often shares the children's snacks with me. She always greets me with a smile and a bow.
I don't like to play favorites, but Chelsea is the girl in the red bow in the back. She is funny. She doesn't sit still, doesn't listen, doesn't test well, and isn't very pretty. She intrigues me, though: sometimes, I will ask her a question to distract her from writing on Thomas's desk, kicking Ruby, and cutting up her book--all at the same time most of the time. If I can get her to look at the book for two seconds, she will answer correctly. Hmm.



So, I'm off to watch a movie. This week has been tumultuous, and I am so grateful for a quiet Saturday. My new schedule is awful, but the classes are so good. Also, the owners came to watch one of my new classes for a few minutes, and when they left, one of the girls cried for the rest of the class. In addition, the school hired a consultant of some kind who is trying to befriend everyone, but no one seems to trust him. I met with the consultant, and he asked me to help him with marketing strategies, even suggested a competition among the employees to see who could recruit the most children. I tried to tell him as politely as I could that I know nothing about marketing.
I'm beginning to catch a glimpse of the pressure that Korean children undergo for their educations. And I'm beginning to catch a glimpse of the bad sides of the school.
I pray that the other teachers have money, that the children understand that some people love them, and that maybe concern for the children and education may be more important than expansion and money.

My messy apartment

Okay, I'm posting some pictures of where I live. I don't call it home. I call it the ghetto, like the rest of the teachers, although this term is alternately for the apartments and for the neighborhood we live in. A little confusing at first.
So, this is my corner of the ghetto.
Oh, I didn't really clean before these pictures. Beware.

This is the entryway. It is sort of a long hallway with a large step where the cubby for the shoes is. I forget what this is called.











Right, this is the cubby where I keep my shoes. Mostly, I have too many shoes. I only wear my Tevas that Mandy got me and occasionally a pair of tennis shoes I got for three dollars sometime about a year ago. My new Crocs I haven't worn outside yet--I hoard them in my apartment for slippers thinking someone will take them. Comfort is the key. Shoes are very important.



This is my messy kitchen. Because of the lack of space, I nearly always have some dishes on the "counter"--I use this term a bit loosely. Notice the strange papers on the refridgerator (yes, there are some photos, too). These are some cards from a few of my kindergarten students--they say things like, "Heather is good," "I'm mad at you," "I love you," and "Thank you for the throw candy (throw candy, actually throat candy, the Korean's term for throat lozenges. No one can say this.)"

This is my famous bathroom. They may write dirges about this sometime in the future. You can see the toilet, and the showerhead is on the left. No hook, so I have to hold it. Very little mold because I am persistent with the bleach.
This picture does not really show the cracked tiles and crumbling door frame very well, but at least now you can have an idea.

This is my bedroom. Really, this is very comfortable. I have plenty of space, three dressers, and good windows. The bed is quite comfortable, too.











This is my living area. Not much to speak of, but it is much larger than the apartments than I have seen other teachers have. My laundry is drying on the rack in the back. The desk is where I spend much of my waking time, and the dresser to the right is where I "primp" in the morning--again, I am using this term loosely.


I am including this picture as well to show these funny doors. They were propped in a corner, covered with dust and cobwebs when I moved in. Now, they display many of my favorite pictures. I get to see all my favorite people in the morning.

MinkYoung and Young Hee

These are some great pictures from last weekend that MinkYoung forwarded to me. We had dinner, but these pictures are at the coffee shop where sat and talked for awile.


This is MinkYoung. Isn't she beautiful? In addition to piano, English, Korean, Math, Science, and all the regular things you need to study to be a teacher, she sings, too. Wow.




This is Young Hee, MinkYoung, and I. Not shown: Sunny. He was taking care of the pictures.




This is Young Hee. She is getting married in April because their parents want them to get married now. Really, they won's be able to spend any time together until two years from now. Even on breaks from school, she studies.


Now this fascinating picture shows the Korean country as a leaping tiger. Many guidebooks will tell you that Korea is shaped like a rabbit (Busan is near the butt, China is near the ears and head), but this is very shameful for Koreans. MinkYoung told me that the Japanese labeled the Koreans as harmless as a rabbit. Koreans prefer this depiction of the leaping tiger. I understand why.

An Introvert Becomes Friendly

Well, I just put some pictures up, but I'm going to write a couple of things anyway. I'm listening to the mix that Meg sent me, and I'm missing the family a bit. All the gifts that everyone sent--movies, camera, candles, books, hand-knitted scarf, slippers, journal, magazines, dictionary, room sprays, cockroach death powder, and probably a few other things that I haven't mentioned--are like treasures: proof that everyone is still thinking about me and thoughtful gifts that no one here would even know that I would want.
Thank you so much.
So, it's been a crazy week. I started a new schedule. I'm still starting at about 9:30 for the morning kindergarten, but I have picked up a couple of night classes. This means that on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I do not finish until 8:30 pm. While I have a three hour lunch scheduled on these days, I am spending most of this time at school, preparing for school and working on classes. Maybe in a couple of weeks, I will feel a bit more comfortable with the work, but right now I'm working some long days. And not checking my email as frequently--sorry for neglecting my messages more.
Today, I met with Terri again to teach the kids at her church. The kids are great. Their mom sent us treats today. Wow, Korean generosity befuddles me. Then, Terri took me out to lunch, and we sat and talked for two hours. She is great. She has such a tough job and no rest. I respect her so much.
Then, tonight, I met up with MinkYoung, Young Hee, and Sonny again. These are the Korean students I met for coffee two weeks ago. I am so tactless and Western sometimes, I know I say the wrong things. These three students study so hard--Korean teachers need to know piano, English, and about ten other subjects. I think being a teacher in Korea is like being a phD in America, except they need to know a lot about everything.
They are getting ready to take the teaching exams next year. The exams sound very competitive and difficult. The paradox is that anyone who speaks English can come here to teach--they are supposed to have a bachelor's degree, but I have read about forged degrees for work in Korea. I find this so problematic. Teachers in America are like dirt. The only step up is if they are phDs.
So, MinkYoung, Young Hee, and Sonny treated me to dinner tonight. It was a marvelous meal with electric burners in front of each of us that would not burn your fingers. So we boiled meat and vegetables in front of ourselves. Wow. I'm sure it was not inexpensive, yet they paid. This does not seem fair. I remember what it is like to be a poor student.

A few more pictures

Here are a few more pictures. More to come.


This one is Dad standing by a coy pond. This is at a shrine down the road from where I live.









This is some Korean guys playing the traditional Chinese/Korean checkers at the shrine/park. There were about three different groups of these men. Like a tournament sort of.







This is Dad standing at the top of the shrine. Quite a view, really, but this is only part of the city--maybe part of Dongnae and Seomyeong. The city is very spread out and large.









This is Dad and I standing in front of one of the buildings of the shrine. This one is to commemorate some women who threw roof tiles on the Japanese soldiers during a battle in the 1600s. Very interesting. They died in the battle, but their bravery and ingenuity lives on.




This is Dad standing at the foot of the shrine. This picture shows two things: one, the scenic and wooded hills all around Busan, and two, Dad looking like he may fly off to save the world. Miss you, Dad.





This last picture shows a typical shop on "Market Street," as we Westerners call it. Notice the sign that says, "Fashion Mall." This picture does not show the woman in her apartment at the back of the store watching television on a small cushion and eating noodles.

Pictures, finally

Mom and Dad sent me a camera. Yippee. Well, there was actually a barage of presents from Dad, Mom, Meg, and Grandma Weezie. This is very good since I believe Dad's visit is making everything seem very far away. Toys are a great distraction (OK, toys for me are books and cameras at this point). Long story short, this is going to be a blog of photos. This is a bit of an experiment, so I will post more later--definitely some of the inside of my apartment.

This first picture is the road that passes the cluster of houses and apartments where I live. The driveway is actually just down to the left just past the yellow sign with red lettering. Let me and Dad walk you down that way.



So this is Dad walking down the drive towards my building. I actually need to walk around this building, off to the left.



Now, we're following Dad along this green fence. It is a sort of garden that grows all sorts of vegetables. Very interesting.



This path is not much of a drive, but it is very interesting. Head to the right at the turn in the path.



Head up the stairs here. Through the gate. The vines you see here are a mix of roses and grape vines. Rather pretty when not housing trash or cockroaches.



This is my front door. Strange, this picture makes my place look pretty scenic. The stairs to the right go to my landlords' and bosses' house upstairs.



This is another picture of my front door and front window. The other door on the left is another teacher's apartment--used to be Ryan's now is Deslie's. What appears to be a washing machine outside my window, well, it is.



This is a picture of my school. This is the side of the school that is the kindergarten. This is where I spend my mornings.



This is the C. side of the building where I spend my afternoons with older students.



OK. It's a little late, and I am starting a new schedule which means longer hours. I am a bit tired, but I'm working with some older students, getting to do some grammar and more challenging work. V. exciting. But this is all for now.
Good night.
Mom, Dad, love the camera.

This one is for Kate

Many times I think about Kate and James and Finn. But mostly, I'm reminded of Kate during some ugly moments, as I pass the grates in the sidewalks.

Let me explain.

Kate loves to wear heels. Not necessarily spike heels or anything, but she likes crazy, fashionable shoes with pointed toes and sharp heels and great decorations. As a direct consequence, she has developed a fear of grating in sidewalks. The small shoes catch on the holes or can make her fall.

I'm not sure that I have developed the fear of grates that Kate has, but the strong aversion to the smells and the creatures that creap from these holes often makes me walk around the grates and sewage covers. I have thought about Kate and her heels so many times in these moments, walking on a curb around a grate or peering into a suspicious hole as I sidestep another person. I haven't gotten used to these smells yet.

A few of the smells are heavenly, though. I think I wrote about the spice shop. This is one of my strange pleasures on my walk home at night. It is such a concoction of so many different spices that it probably should not smell right or even good, but it smells fresh and interesting. Just when I think I can smell cinnamon or oregano, I think I smell four other spices.

But back to Kate's shoes. The Korean women dress in a variety of ways. Some dress very comfortably, some dress for school, but some dress "the Korean princess" style. They wear high heels, short skirts, complex fashions, and beautiful patterns. This is amazing to see the Korean princesses swaying on the buses and stumbling on the uneven pavement. Again, I think of beautiful, stylish Kate and her fear of street drains.

An Amalgamation of News, Part II

It seems like two days goes by, and I can write a short novel on the events that are happening here. It is late, so this is the truncated version.

Saturday. An Introvert Out of Her Comfort Zone
I planned to meet up with a few students from Seoul I had met on the subway. They are in school here in Pusan to become teachers. Sunny is a funny, handsome guy who writes scripts. Young Hee is a beautiful outgoing woman who got me on the right train in Seomyoung, where the transfers are not easy. Mingyoung has a beautiful haircut--she may show me her stylist--and she speaks beautiful English. So does Young Hee.
Anyway, we met up at the University of Education and walked around a bit. Sunny brought day-old donuts, but we walked to a coffee shop and drank coffee for a couple of hours talking about literature, economics, society, languages, and many other things. The thing I remember the best is when Sunny was describing the city where he is from. It is near Seoul, and I thought he said the area was know for their legs. I got a strange look on my face and started giggling. I lifted my leg and asked, "Known for their legs?" We all laughed. Sunny thought this was great.
No, lakes.
Then, I ran from the University to MeyoungNeyoung (I didn't spell this right, but what does it matter? It sounds something like this) to help my manager teach an English class at her church. She is usually in suits for school, and she is very tough with the students. However, she was very different at church. We met with a brother and sister who don't have contact with foreigners, and I believe they don't have the money for English school.
They were fantastic.

Sunday. Thank God for Good Church
Jenna met me for church, and we had a great time dispite our coughing and running noses. I think all the teachers and half the students have TB (for those of you not familiar with my sarcasm, I am kidding). About ten of us went to Chinese afterwards, and we sat for a long time--well, we were waiting for our food, too--having a fantastic discussion about the differences in Korean church and Western church. Apparently, the Korean work ethic spills over into religion, and Korean Christians often feel they must spend all day at church, from the morning service until 6 or 7 at night. Jenna and another Korean were discussing the causes, positives, and negatives of this. It was really interesting.

Monday. I can't remember.
School. Teaching. New class. Starting a new schedule. It's a blur.

Tuesday. The Fish Lady.
Her name is not Mrs. Sexy, as I thought previously. Her name is Sun Sun Duck.
Last night, she offered me more food, but my throat was bothering me, and through gestures, I think she understood this. She walked me up the street, and at first I thought she was walking me home. She pinched me a little, saying something I didn't understand, but she was making motions to tell me to eat more. Mom should be proud.
So then she took me into her apartment. I'm not worried. I trust her (maybe more importantly, I trust God, and I'm not afraid of this woman because she takes care of me). She shows me a room that looks like a spare room, then takes me to her kitchen and puts on a pot of water. I have out my Korean phrase book trying to say silly things like "You will meet my father," or "This is beautiful" or anything. It isn't working.
Incidently, her apartment is beautiful.
She then goes into her largest room and makes a phone call, handing me the receiver (this has happened to me before, so this is not very surprising). Her daughter is on the line. Sun Sun Duck's daughter explains that Sun Sun will let me stay at her house if I want to. I can sleep there.
I try to explain that I have an apartment that my employer pays for. That I make more money than I deserve to make. That I should pay her for all the food that she gives me.
I don't really think she understood. At this point, Sun Sun Duck takes my phrase book and begins to look through it. She points to a phrase after a few minutes: "Will you go to church with me?"
I try so hard not to kiss her. I find the words for English and church and the name of the town where my church is. Again, I don't know if she understood. I know I don't understand most of what she says.

Wednesday. Chaos at Halloween.
Forgot to mention that I got heating oil on Saturday, but my stove still is working. I foolishly thought they were related, but aparently they are not. Boo.
So I got to dress up like Snow White for all the kindergarten kids. They think it is great when the teachers dress up, so all the teachers dressed up: Spiderman, Princess Shrek, a Mexican, and I can't remember the others. It was pretty fun. We played limbo, sang some songs, and ate some candy. Mostly the teachers stood around and tried not to yell too much.

An Amalgamation of News

I think I have written about ten blogs this week in my head. Too bad none of them made it too my computer.
The first one may have been on

Tuesday October 23, 2007: The House of Mirth
I am disliking several of the foreign teachers. They whine, they take advantage, they borrow things (like pillows that end up on the floor in some random bar? what?), and they call in sick and I have to cover half of their classes, they hate their housing, they don't like their food, and then they let me know they have a copy of my apartment key (and have had for the past two months and didn't tell me? what?).
Am still trying to get my heating oil filled, but I still have hot water. I talked to Cindy, and I think she will help me.

Wednesday October 24, 2007: The Grapes of Wrath
Today was the monthly birthday party for the kindergarten. Mostly fun, lots of chaos, and repeated "happy birthday," over and over. Lots of pictures, too.
The main event was the infamous clown suit. One of the foreign teachers gets to wear the over-sized clown suit for the kids. No big deal: it's only for about a half an hour. Caleb, though, put up a fight. He is one of the new teachers, and hasn't been getting along well. When Terri (the ETS [kindergarten] boss) aked Caleb to do it, he started giving her a bunch of reasons why he wouldn't: it wasn't in his contract, it was like hazing, why should the new guy have to do it, etc. He was very defensive.
Talked to Cindy again today about getting more heating oil. She says she will talk to Cindy. Hmmm.

Thursday October 25, 2007: Another One Bites the Dust
So Caleb quit today. He came in this morning and yelled at Terri for awhile. I guess some drunk guy came to his door in the middle of the night and he was awake for awhile, so he was pretty upset.
Funny thing is, he came back later that today to try to beg for his job back--or at least that is what the grape vine is saying.
The school is down another teacher.
Talked to Eddie about getting more heating oil. He says he will put in an order tomorrow. I hope so. I still have hot water, but my stove doesn't work. I missed my hot coffee/tea this morning. Boo.

Friday October 26, 2007: The Power and the Glory
Still no oil. Hmm. Eddie says he forgot. I still have hot water, but my stove still doesn't work. Hmm.
Funny how God works. I came here and thought I would make friends with the foreign (Western) teachers. The foreign teachers don't like to be called American because many of them are Canadian. This is limiting or exclusive.
Anyway, I have met a few Korean teachers that are absolutely fantastic. Terri (see previous day) is a Christian, and I think I will help her teach an English class at her church some Saturdays. She works so hard, twelve hour days, plays piano at her church, teaches extra classes on the weekends for people who can't afford it. Wow.
And then there is Jenna. She is from Seoul. We went out for dinner last night and had such a great time. We had a great Korean dinner and sat and talked for two hours.
She doesn't really know anyone here because she has only lived here for three months. She moved here to live with her mother when she got sick with depression. She is doing better, she says.
We have so much in common. She loves literature and writing and teaching, but really she considers teaching a means to her ultimate goal: writing.
She will meet me to go to church with me on Sunday. I am very excited. She thinks it is funny that a foreigner would show her around and introduce her to new people.
I think it is the power and the glory of God.

A Sort of Whirlwind

It feels like the days are flying by. I'm really glad about this because when I think too hard about being in Korea, I think about how long it will be before I get to see my Mom and my sisters again.

I can see Dad in two weeks, thank God.

Well, I thought I would share a few wonderful things that have happened in the last few days.

Thursday night. The fish lady on Market Street who gave the fish cookies gave me some corn on the cob. She tried to tell me her name, but it sounded sort of like Mrs. Sexy. I don't really think that is right, but if it is, I won't forget it.

Friday. The field trip to the Busan Aquarium. Anyone who knows me pretty well knows that I have a strange fascination for the "underworld" of the sea, mostly sharks. Busan Aquarium was amazing, but I will need to go back. Something about herding a hundred kids, ten of which I am directly responsible, makes this spectacle less enjoyable. But the aquarium had plenty of sharks, including one that appeared to have some sort of scoliosis. Its back was bent at a forty-five degree angle. Very strange.

Saturday, yesterday. Mostly, I kicked around Seomyoung, Dongnae, and Meyoung-nyeong (not to be confused with Meyoung Jang where I live). I was looking for a digital camera. For the highly observant, no pictures are posted today: therefore, no camera. All the cameras I found either were in the four hundred dollar range (much more than I am willing to spend), had directions completely in Korean, or were not compatible with Macintosh. Oh, well. On the way home, I met a couple of Korean gals that are students here. They study English, but they are from Seoul. They do not know many people either because they have only been here for about eight months. I may try to meet up with them next weekend.

Sunday, today. I went to church today. It has been a bit chilly (yes, Mom, I have out my down coat) in the mornings and in the evenings, so it was nice to be back in my apartment early for my Sunday afternoon nap. I haven't done that in a few weeks, but it was fantastic. We did go out to eat after church: a group of us went to a good Italian place. The selection wasn't huge, but I had an alfredo dish with different kind of mushrooms. Delicioso!

Now, refreshed from my nap, I'm catching up on some emails.

Time to go back to bed soon. Ha, ha. Miss everybody. If anyone talks to Kate, tell her to email me.

The small crazy things

Another new teacher today. Funny, I feel like the teachers are rolling in and out like high school employees might at a McDonald's. I didn't get to talk to him very long: he is a young bloke from Los Angelos.
On my way home, I was feeling a bit tired and frustrated. Classes were tough today, and the introvert that I am, I didn't get enough time to myself this weekend. The time with the kids just makes it a little worse.
Walking down market street, I passed by a stand that I usually pass every day. The two ladies there sell fresh fish and these odd fried fish-shaped things. I smile and call, "annyongseyo" to them when I pass. My pronunciation is terrible, but they grin back like I am a good friend.
Tonight, a little tired and crabby, I smiled and said hello to the woman as usual. The older woman came up to me and began demanding the other woman to give me some of the fried fish-shaped things. I don't really know this, because they were speaking in Korean, but the younger tried to give me two, and the older woman grabbed two more and stuffed them in a bag. She gave all four of them to me. I was, of course, trying to give them money, but neither of them would take any. Then, I said, "Komapsumnida, (thank you)" about five times, before the older lady gave me a push down the street.
These fish "cookies" are a strange concoction. The beans inside have the consistancy of refried beans, but they are mildly sweet. Then, the cookies have a layer of fried coating. In the shape of a fish.
This is the best, most graceful meal I have had in weeks.
Funny the way God works in these small ways.

More apartment news...

Quick update on the raging battle that I have begun to call "home."
I thought I was winning the battle with the cockroaches. Then last week, a nest hatched. I killed many fierce beasts last Monday armed with toilet paper and cockroach goop. I lost track after twenty. I am rethinking the notches on the wall to claim my victories. Since then, I have seen a couple of dead babies (I sprayed a bunch of goop where I assume the nest was) and one other random bug that I have lumped into the cochroach umbrella but probably is a different species than the cockroachia obnoxnia.
And of course, the mold. I thought this was gone. The stuff in my bathroom is under control, so I thought everything was sort of okay. Every once in a while, though, I catch a smell of something a little fungal. On Saturday, when the new teacher and her boyfriend were over, I mentioned this to them. He lifted a place in the laminate floors. Mold everywhere. He recommended I ignore it and get some room fresheners. Sigh. I have some scented candles and lots of bleach.
The new thing. One of the other teachers told me that he had rats in his apartment last spring. I quickly discarded this idea: I keep my windows closed when I'm not here, don't keep my window open, etc. No, Andre says. In the subfloor under our building is a great place for little critters. They can get through the cracks in the tiles in our entryways.
Gasp, sigh, and scramble to look at it. He's right. I have a hole into the ground. I didn't know what else to do, so I taped some cardboard in front of it. At least if it moves, I will know to look for trouble.
And the saga continues....

A month and a half down...

Funny. I looked at the calender and realized that I have been here a month and a half. I don't think that I had figured out when a month had passed by.
This week has been pretty hectic. In the last month and a half, seven of the foreign teachers have left (foreign meaning American or Canadian), of a staff of about fifteen. Another two will leave in the next month.
Including Ryan and I, who arrived within two days of each other, four new teachers have started in the past month and a half. I am doubled up on one class that should only be six students--it is now thirteen.
Really, it isn't that bad for us foreign teachers. We don't really work more than forty hours--sure I put in a few more of unpaid prep, but that is the way it goes. The Korean teachers really get the brunt of all of this--many of them pick up extra classes in addition to twelve or fourteen hour days, and I believe they earn half to a quarter of what we earn. This is so sad.
So yesterday I was showing around the new teacher and her boyfriend. Anthony is hoping to get a job here, too. They just arrived on Thursday night, and it is so strange to be the one to know more than someone else. I actually taught them a few Korean words and showed them around Dongnae a little. It was really great.
Today, I went to church again. I think I made it in about a hour and a half. Fantastic. Funny, I don't mind the trip so much because the city and the area always seem like such an adventure.
So after church (the speaker was Andy who I got to eat with last week, and he spoke very intriguingly about the Christian theology on pain) we went out for Japanese. So good, but I was struggling with the metal chopsticks, slippery, soupy noodles, and too much food. I'm sure it was entertaining to watch. Benny and Nicole, two Koreans I sat with offered me a couple of strategies to eat more gracefully. It only helped to some extent.
Then, we had coffee and hung out at Andrea's apartment playing cards until nearly 7:00pm. What a blast. They are so great.

Church Going

Well, I made it to church today in under two hours. The coffee shop is high on a hill, lots of windows, no cockroaches, plenty of lovely trees that I realized are turning a bit yellow, and good coffee.
I think I will go back next week.
It was a small service, with maybe twenty foreigners (non-Koreans) and maybe another twenty or thirty Koreans. The music was simple, but the music team put a lot of effort into it. One gal did sign language during one song. It was great.
They had a guest speaker come to plug the Franklin Graham crusade in a week and a half. He was good, but the message wasn't intellectual enough for me (they rarely are) because, as many of you know, I must analyze, critique, and intellectualize nearly everything.
After the service, the entire congregation headed out to lunch. This is my kind of fellowship. We sat around, eating this fantastic spicy chicken with rice and this sort of coleslaw type salad. Wonderful. All teachers except for the Koreans. I sat with Dave, a forty-six year-old who teaches at a college and preaches on the side. He has been here for six years. Patrick has only been here for a couple of months, and I think he is from Davenport, IA. Andrea also has only been here for a couple of months, and she is from Minnesota--Bemidji, currently. James has been here for six years, and he helped start up the church back in April. Matt and Andy are also on the leadership team. There are a few others, but now their names are eluding me.
They seem to be a tightly knit group. They spend a lot of time together and enjoy each other.
Everyone that has been praying for me to find a group of friends to spend time with--well, this may be it. At least, I hope so.
After lunch, we went to a coffee shop and talked for awhile--maybe just ten of us or so. It was really fantastic. We talked about Busan and religion and people and books.
Very satisfying.

Quiet Saturday...

One more note about the kitten.
Don't dwell, I suppose most of you will say. Kittens die.
I know.
The thing is, the kitten stayed on the trash heap on the corner for more than a day. People walked by. Kids played in the street. No one seemed to care. Maybe I shouldn't care either, right? I bit my lip and stared at my feet to try not to see it the second night.
Then I see a lady carrying an ugly poodle sheered down but for its fluffy ears. Ears dyed blue. Tail dyed blue.
Another little dog (I actually think it may be against the law to own a dog bigger than three pounds, I'm not kidding), has a red and white stripped sweater on.
I saw a lady carrying her little shitzu under her arm in a store.
And yet the kittens end up in the trash.
Okay.
Sooooo totally enough of that.
Anyway, I decided to try to track down the address of the English church I had found online. The directions are a little funny: take subway line one to Seomyeoun, then transfer to subway line two. Get off at stop 213 in Daeyeon Dong. From here, the directions get worse. You go down one road, then another, then look for the Pusan University of Foreign Studies. The church meets in a coffee shop on the campus.
So I arrived in Daeyeon Dong fairly easily. I have figured out the subways (well, pretty well. The hardest part was being able to locate the nearest station which is not really that easy to find). After wandering around for nearly three hours, I found the campus, with the help of a couple of kind teenage girls and a nice policeman. So, then I hiked around campus, which is vaguely reminescent of climbing around the Adirondacks or something, and I climbed around this great campus for another hour before I found the coffee house. Closed.
Too bad. I really would have loved to sit down and have a nice big glass of water. Heck, it could have been coffee as long as I could sit down.
Two hours later I got back to my apartment. Beautiful scenery, to be sure. I will try the two hour trip to church tomorrow and see if I can't do any better....

Korean Independance Day

Today is Korean Independance Day, and sadly I have not done much. I have wandered around Meyoung Jong Dong doing a bit of grocery shopping and reading and hanging out.
But one of the kittens is dead.
I have seen several cats in the "ghetto" here. A couple of larger older cats and maybe two younger kittens that are maybe sixteen weeks old. The first one I saw is a black and white kitten, another orange, black, and white kitten, an orange stripey older cat, and a black and white older cat that I only see at night, dodging the shadows. I have left several half full cans of tuna outside with my recycling, hoping this will help nourish them a bit (I got ten cans of tuna and four cans of spam in a gift package from Jenny and Eddie for Chusok. Very odd. I also got several gifts from some of my students: a pair of earrings, a strange little doll, a bottle of champagne, several hundred won, and an American quarter).
I saw the orange, black, and white kitten on a trash pile around the corner from my apartment just a few minutes ago.
It is silly the way this sort of thing affects me. Kittens symbolize something so vulnerable and innocent for me. They are simply curious and affectionate, maybe moody at times.
I have a permanent image in my mind of my cat Tiva when I found him dead.
This makes me sad to remember Molly and Tiva. I know that they are just animals, and that people mean so much more to me, but somehow, the quick glimpse of the kitten in the trash before I looked away, put tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat.

No pictures, still

As easily as I can find an entire shop for underwear or a bowl of fresh eel, I am having a difficult time finding a camera for less than $200. I may just order one.
Frustrating: I actually took myself to the beach in Hae Un Dae on Sunday and took a couple of pictures with my cell. I have tried a few things to sync my phone and my computer, to no avail.
So the last week has been kinda quiet: back to school, working a bit, new teacher started today, still exploring. My toilet officially broke last night. It was really sort of funny because I woke up in the middle of the night to a quiet sort of rushing of water. I remember thinking, "What a lovely rain we are having," and pulled the blankets a bit closer. This morning, the rushing water seemed a bit too close to my bedroom, and sure enough, a gasket underneath the tank is loose. I couldn't tighten it by hand, so I am waiting for the boss/landloord to come take a look.
It's a good thing the bathroom is tiled from three feet down. I need to take off my shoes and socks to go in there.
Some more quick observations:
People in Korea drive on the right-hand side of the road (right meaning "not left," not "correct").
Stop lights are mostly suggestions for drivers.
From what I can tell of the famous Korean work ethic, it is mostly true. People do work fourteen hour days. However, many people have their houses in the back of their shops, so they eat, sleep, watch TV, cook, visit with people, and any number of things during their work days. I am not certain if their work days are more efficient than Americans'.
Blowing your nose in public is rude. Kids are constantly asking to leave the classroom to blow their noses.
Spitting or "hocking a lugy" in public is totally acceptable.
Bus drivers and cab drivers do not know the meaning of accelerate and decelerate. It is "Stop" and "Fast." That is it.
Koreans hate to drive slowly. They pass cars in city traffic, honk at pedestrians in crosswalks, and even drive on sidewalks if necessary. But walking is another story. Koreans walk at a pace between a stroll and a crawl.
Okay, that is all for now. Except to say I wish I were in Chicago with my Mom, my Dad, Mandy, Scott, Meg, and maybe Mike. Miss you guys.

Happy End of Chusok!

Okay, maybe the end of Chusok is not that great, but I am sort of ready to do something besides wander around aimlessly and be vaguely sick. I caught a cold, so I haven't had any major adventures the last few days.
In fact, on Monday, it was raining pretty hard, my throat was a little sore, and there was a CSI marathon on television. I didn't need any other excuse to stay inside the entire day.
Tuesday, one of the teachers got back from Seoul and we trekked around Pusan a bit, finding some fantastic views, some fantastic restaurants that were closed for Chusok, and some beautiful corners of this strange, sprawling city. We walked around Seomyeon and had coffee at a great shop and kicked around at a few cool stores.
Yesterday, my last day off, I went back to Seomyeon (pronounced "some young," like when Mike Myers says he will order the Cream of Some Young Guy), because I wanted to bring my Apple laptop into the Apple store there. Not an expansive store, but the salesman was able to refer me to a repair shop.
I came back to the "ghetto"--which is the area the other teachers fondly call where our apartments are located. I had seen a supermarket near the ghetto and wished to check it out. Market street is awesome, but sometimes I want a sanitary store with mopped floors, good lighting, clear aisles.
This supermarket is quite nice, a little like another I have visited near the school called Mega-Mart. Still, with the people carying loudspeakers in the produce, the fresh bags of sardines, the beer stacked next to the diapers, and the aisles and aisles of ramen, I don't think I could find a lemon flavored Luna bar or some Oil of Olay lotion anywhere.
Sigh. Such a tough life.
Time for school.

Adventures in the last 24 hours...

Well, to start, Happy Chusok to everyone. The next few days are the Korean Thanksgiving holiday, and I do not need to go back to school until Thursday. This is a great opportunity to get out and explore a bit more of Pusan.
Now for the adventures. Wow.

Minor background: Ryan is a teacher that arrived the day after I did. He has joined three of his best friends here, so I'm a little jealous that they are always going around to places and doing things. But then again, half the time they are out until three, four, five o'clock in the morning.

One of the teachers at school has been really fantastic to me. Guylaine (or something, French, pronounced Gee-lynn) has been here four years, and her Korean husband also works at the school. She hung out late with me on Wednesday night to give me some pointers about discipline: her focus in school was behavioral problems, so she is a wealth of information. They had planned to take me to the beach today (this fell through, explain that in a bit). Also, Guylaine has not agreed with Jenny on many things. Jenny is the director of the schools and is married to Eddie who did my interview. I live downstairs from them in their house. Jenny does a little bit of micromanaging, from what I can tell.

First, yesterday's (Friday's) classes went quite well until the afternoon. Cindy, the head office person and teacher in on the C. side of the school (it is divided into C. and kindergarten, I teach on both sides), asked me to take over Guylaine's Grade 3 (no big deal, two hour class that meets the same time as my class. Same material, same time, a lot more chaos), and Cindy asked another teacher to cover Guylaine's other classes.

We thought she was sick or something. Until she showed up for work.
I didn't hear much about the situation until last night. A bunch of the teachers went to a beautiful restaurant for dong-dong ju. The place was sort of an open air restraurant with grass on the ground and round stones for a floor. Plenty of ferny-type plants that I cannot quite identify.

Guylaine was there, but she didn't really want to talk about it: she simply said that she was fired. Ted, her husband, and I spoke for a while, and it sounds like she and Jenny had a fight on Thursday. So Jenny fired her. No warning, no severence, no nothing. Visa revoked.

Guylaine proceeded to get a bit drunk. If the situation weren't a little awful (I'm going to miss her terribly because she has given me some fantastic advice and information about the specific kids and the specific classes and because she has really been looking out for me), it would have been pretty funny. She lapsed into French a bit (she's from Quebec and speaks almost fluently), and eventually she was wearing some guy's fedora hat.

This was just the beginning of the night. Maybe midnight.

So we stopped into a few Western bars. Mostly, the people there were a little strange, so I wasn't very comfortable. I was going along to hang out with the teachers and try to be supportive (watch over) Guylaine a little because Ted had gone home. One bar called the Crossroads had a couple of guys in short jean cutoffs and knee high socks, then they wore some sort of odd wig. Another had tight camo pants on tucked under his beer gut with an open jean jacket vest and a striped orange and yellow tie. I talked with a guy from Canada (who knew I had to go to Korea to meet so many Canadians?) who told me to save him from a boring conversation; I said no thanks; he told me he would buy me a beer if he had any money; and I promptly said I was drinking water anyway and I could get it myself.

I'm such a jerk sometimes.

So we were with a few other teachers from other schools: namely Katie who just got in a week ago. We went dancing around three o'clock in the morning, and at this point Guylaine was a dancing phenomenon. I tried to stay near her, to make sure she was okay, and she gave me an earful about loosening up. I also got some dance lessons from a slightly chubby but very adorable Korean guy name Raison. Very fun.

Now comes the crazy part.

So people started to leave about four o'clock. Guylaine was doing just fine. Still dancing like Abba on a good night. Most of the other teachers had left. Katie, the new teacher, was worried about getting home, so Ryan and I decided to split a cab and head back with her. She couldn't really pronounce where she lived, but Ryan was great. He was talking to the cabbie, and it was okay. Ryan thought it might be a good idea to walk her home to make sure she was okay. It is safe here and everything, but she was pretty drunk.

Even though she recognized the street, she had a hard time finding her apartment. We finally got her to her apartment: no keys. She freaked.

We looked through her purse for ten minutes.

Nothing. No keys.

We knocked on a teacher's door that was in the same building, but there wasn't anything he could do. So Katie, Ryan, and I got back in a cab and headed back to the "ghetto"--our affectionate term for the area where the apartment is located. I fed Katie some food and some water, and by six o'clock, Katie was asleep on my bed, I had found a comfortable place to sleep, and everyone is OK. I think that was about six o'clock in the morning.

Today has been relatively low key. Breakfast at this great Western place that makes a killer mocha, watching a movie in a video room (there's a name for this, but I can't remember what it is called), and some shopping for Chusok. I don't know if everything will be closed the next few days, so I bought some groceries.

Okay, more adventures later. I'm tired, and I'm going to bed.

Super quick notes

Okay, I'm beat. I have to get to bed. But a couple of quick notes.
First, I have found a feral kitten. It stopped to watch me tonight, and I watched it for awhile. I think I have seen it near my apartment before, hiding under a car, but tonight it came close to me and sort of watched me. "She"--I don't really know if she is a she--makes me miss my kitties a bit more than I care to admit. She is white with black marks and only ventured away to pick a fight with a larger stripped cat. I tried to break it up, you know, sticking up for the little guy.
Funny, I don't think I have seen more than a glimpse of any cats until tonight. I only went inside after a large cochroach wanted to crawl over my toes.
Next thing: Pedestrians do not have the right of way (you can wait a good five minutes at a crosswalk sometimes), and driving here is crazy. Despite this, I have only seen one minor accident, and the two cars involved actually stopped in the middle of a busy street to examine the minute scratches, discuss the situation, and exchange insurance or phone numbers.
Next: Many children in Korea take English. Upon seeing my light complexion, many children will call out "Hello," or "Hi," and when I respond in English, they giggle and say something like "I like meeting you," or something. Odd.
Next: There seems to be garbage everywhere here, but upon closer inspection, the recycling and garbage pick up rules are annoyingly strict. Mondays are for trash only, and it has to be in special bags. Tuesday is for recyclables, separated into different bags. Wednesday is burnable trash, and food (from restaurants, I assume) by permit only. And so on.
A couple of other random observations: 1) I don't see that many police around, but one of my first encounters with a group of young policemen was when they were on a corner playing with their batons as if they were swords. 2) Food may be cheap, but furniture is ridiculously expensive. 3) Everyone washes their laundry in a washer, but no one has a washer. Clothes dry on a line or a rack.
One last thing. I miss my family. If you see them, give them a hug for me.

Discipline

One thing I never thought I would have to deal with is discipline.
Most of the kids are just energetic and young. A few are purely insane. If there was ever any question in my mind that I would have children, teaching these children officially resolves that question.
Luckily, the three hour kindergarten block of time is divided up between two different classes: one hour with one class for English (the Bluebirds' class), one hour with the Rainbows' class for English, and then a half an hour with each for Math. The Bluebirds have three boys (out of a class of nine) that I sometimes want to medicate. Instead, I send them out to the front desk. This is a daily occurance in almost all classes.
The Rainbow Class is pretty good, but two girls in particular are very obstinate. They take forever to do their work and find other distractions (usually picking on other classmates) to keep them from getting anything done. But they are really cute, I can't lie.
The afternoon classes are such an odd mixture. The one class that I meet with every day is a grade three class--four girls and two boys. Smart, difficult, and sassy. Yesterday, we were reading a story outloud, and three of them were being tremendously obstinate--muttering, whispering, speed-reading, and anything else they could do to make the reading not understandable. I threatened to assign them additional homework, and finally did. They kept doing it. I assigned more. They continued. I assigned more. They continued. We finished the story.
So today, one of the managers pulled me aside to tell me that Jewelry was complaining about too much homework--she was the instigator. I explained the situation, and Cindy--a Korean teacher and office manager of sorts--offered to sit on my class. She understood, and said she could tell I was doing the best I could. It will get better she promised. They just need to get to know me as a new teacher.
On the other hand, I just got my first paycheck yesterday--only a partial paycheck--and it is more than I have made. Ever. I will stand on my head for the rest of the year if they want me to.
Hope to buy digital camera v. soon (excuse Bridget reference).

Quiet day...

I have to say, life here in Busan is not what I thought. I did not really have any expectations exactly, but this is very strange.
I find myself staying in the Mejong Dong area. I want to explore more of Busan, but for right now I am satisfied to wander the market street near me, walk the mile and a half to school, and explore a bit around there. I am feeling more and more comfortable, but I wish to take it slowly.
Today, for instance, I slept in. It was so nice to relax and putz around my apartment a little. I have killed a few more cochroaches and am in the process of washing every article of clothing that was in this apartment before I arrived, but I am enjoying this little place. Oh, the washer is outside in a concrete entryway that I share with four other teachers. No dryer. The clothes are hanging around my apartment trying to dry in the humidity.
So I stayed in most of the morning, enjoying the sound of rain and the quiet rumble of thunder. I drank a few cups of tea and spent some time with the best companionship I have right now: my emails and blog comments. I love them. Keep them up.
Then I wandered around market street a bit. The stores are becoming less like a bunch of undefinable foreign shops; I'm beginning to recognize the vendors, the grocers, the fruit stands, the bakeries. Even the fish sellers are not quite so odd to me any more: they have fresh fish in large bowls of crushed ice, but the oddest thing are the large aquariums with dozens of fish, some small and some quite large, but almost always I can find one swimming or floating upside down. I do not think I will buy fresh fish here.
I bought some tuna tempura sushi from a street vendor--I think this is called a type of bulgogi. Very good.
Then, I headed back to my apartment to fuss with laundry some more and to fix my toilet. This bathroom is really pathetic. The toilet chain is broken, and I have spoken to Eddie--my boss at school who lives upstairs and owns the building--about this. The ceiling has mold, most of the tiles are chipped and broken, and the shower head/faucet leaks. The shower head is on a long hose that I hold because the holder for it will not stay on the wall.
This sort of entertains me right now. Later, it may irritate me.
I guess the only other fun thing that happened today was buying steamed wontons from a street vendor for dinner. Man, these things are great.
Buying things is sort of difficult. I sort of point and smile, say komapsunida alot (thank you), and hand people money, then they take what they need. I don't know how much they rip me off, and I guess I don't care because everything here is so stinking cheap.
One last thing. Umbrellas are an odd thing here. People carry them as much as they carry cell phones. People carry umbrellas when it is sunny to block the sun. People carry umbrellas when it is raining. People carry umbrellas when it is cloudy and might rain. People carry umbrellas when it is partly cloudy, and there is no chance of rain, and I cannot think of a reason for people to carry an umbrella.
This is odd. If I can come up with a theory or explanation, I will get back on this.

The food

Just a quick note before I go to bed.
I realized that September 11 passed without my even taking note. I read a few things yesterday and today, but it feels very distant this year.
OK. I sort of realized that I haven't mentioned a thing about the food. I must admit, I haven't been very adventurous with the food yet (I stress YET, don't anyone let Al know), mostly because I've been trying to save a bit of money until my first check and because my tummy has been a little upset. Stress and new things do that to my tummy.
So, I had gimbop (sushi) today at a fantastic little restaurant near the school. This cost about two dollars (well, two thousand won). Earlier this week, I had this salad called bobibop (I think), which is a mixture of sprouts, lettuce, green beans, rice, and a spicy dressing, served with a fried egg on top. Fantastic. I have also had a couple of different spicy soups--these are great. Some of teachers and I split a pizza last weekend--this was totally strange but pretty good: the toppings were peppers, corn, potatoes, and sausage.
Besides this, I have been eating from the convenience store. I can get a sushi wrap for 700 won (70 cents), two hard-boiled eggs for 800 won, a small container of pre-packaged, iced coffee for 1, 200 (even Starbucks Latte), and assorted juices--plum, pineapple, orange, but the tomato tastes like sweetened, cold tomato soup. Yuck.
The pre-packaged sandwiches are another adventure. I had one last week that was crab salad with ham. I had another earlier this week that was coleslaw and ham. The one I ate tonight was ham salad and some sort of barbecued something (pork?). These are really quite good. Oh, and of course, they have the filled breads. I'm not a big carb person, but these are quite good. The most recent one I tried were these small soft breads with a sort of sweet cheese--not like danishes because they are not as sweet, but quite good. Another I have tried is in a shape of a bagel and the filling is the texture of refried beans but tastes like an unsweatened jam.
I've been eating these for breakfast quite often.

The Busan Museum

Today, I found out that we were taking the morning classes (kindergarten for me, younger for everyone else) on a field trip to the Busan museum. This I discovered when I got to work.
Much like many other things at the school, the warning was limited, but it was an interesting experience.
The bus trip was maybe the best. We loaded all the classes--perhaps one hundred kids in all--into ten or so small vans with tiny seats. We drove down the cramped streets of Busan that are more akin to alleys than highways. We drove along a river for a bit--this reminded me a little of the scenes in "The Host" but no sea monster, smaller river, and random outdoor exercise equipment with people on the side of the river stretching and lifting.
Odd.
Then, we drove into some cleaner and more cosmopolitan areas: the shops appeared less haphazard than in the areas where I live and where the school is, there are less street vendors and open air food stalls, and the restaurants seem more likely to pass health codes.
Then, I caught my first glimpse of the ocean.
It was just a quick look. Off to the side, lots of rocks. But it was refreshing.
The museum wasn't very exciting: it had lots of interesting displays and some interesting artifacts from the past three thousand years of Korean history, but the school moved through this very quickly. All the children and most of the teachers have been here before, so the kids told me the museum is boring.
Ouside, the museum had some awesome flowers and some great topiaries.
Oh, I don't think that I have mentioned this. Although I have not seen the ocean until today and although most of Busan is relatively flat, the horizon always has these green mountains in the distance. Parts of Busan are on parts of the hills, but I haven't climbed any yet. Today, we drove through several tunnels and blasted hillsides to get to other parts of the city.
Okay, that's all for now.
Will get pictures as soon as possible.

The Happy Squid

Seems like everyone is sort of laughing about the whole getting lost thing. I think I would find it much more amusing if it were not so annoying. I've been getting around by landmarks and distinctive shops--mostly American stores. For example, on the way to and from school, I pass a large McDonald's across from a 7-11. This is before an overpass with a large Korean war monument on the corner where I turn onto a main street (with no name). Then I walk on this street for awhile, passing a GS 25 (a popular convience store that sells some fantastic sushi things that are quickly becoming one of my favorites). Then I turn by a large Pizza Hut and walk down "Market Street," which is a long row of open air shops of fruits, vegetables, fish in tanks, fish on ice, eel, eel in tanks, eel swimming in bowls, random pig parts, random pig parts in tanks (I read something about it being good luck to put a pig head or a pig hoof in front of a new store for good luck. Thought it was crap, so at the time, I didn't pay much attention to it...), shoe stores, convenience stores, and other random sellers that I never really expected to see or really have wanted to see. Imagine pictures here. Oh, and of course, I cannot forget one of my favorite landmarks of all: the happy squid. This is on the corner of my street and is a welcome sign after I have been lost for any length of time. This is a small restaurant, like most of the places around here, but the sign outside shows a cartoon character of a smiling squid giving a thumbs up.
Funny.
The battle with the cochroaches continues. I spotted the first two assailants last night. I hosed them down with the first thing I could find: I think it was Febreeze (ya know, the label is in Korean, the teacher who lived here before me left it here, it smells pretty good, and the bottle looks a bit like Febreeze). After a couple of assaults, the one scurried away, and other was playing dead.
The war is not over.
This coming from the person who usually would escort a spider outside instead of squishing it.
I washed a spider down the drain this morning.
Yup, Korea is changing me into a cold-hearted killer.
I got to iChat with Mom and Dad and Kate and Finn yesterday--this is the coolest thing. Wow. I miss them. Kate and Finny are leaving next week, and Mom and Dad will be empty-nesters again.
I'm lonely for them.

I'm back

No pictures.
I plan to buy a camera shortly, but I'm conserving funds until my first paycheck.
Well, as most of you know, I have arrived safely in Korea, and am now in my apartment. When I arrived, I stayed the first five nights in the "Love Shack" as most of the teachers around here call it: the hotel gained this reputation for the circular beds, the suspected hourly rates, and the extensive cable channels. However, the hotel is very close to school, and it offered me a wonderful chance to walk around a bit and settle in.
Then, after one day of training, I started teaching. I am teaching very young children, and the school encourages discipline and constant English. Not so bad if you just consider it like glorified babysitting. Some of the older kids are really fantastic, but they seem to have difficult days as well. We will see how this goes.
Moving into my apartment has presented some minor annoyances: I have bleached out my tiny bathroom to kill the mold, and I am trying to kill the cochroaches with a combination of bleach and fresh air. It seems to be working, but the weather is much cooler that the past months. I like to think my methods are effective, but really, I think it is just the time of the year.
Addresses are very confusing. I do not have an address at my apartment. As far as I am aware of, I have a city (Busan), a town (Dungnae), an area (Meyoung Jong Dong), and a neighborhood (Meyoung Jong Eel Pa). Meyoung Jong Eel Pa actually encompasses a five or six block area, but I recognize most of this area now, so if I can get close enough, then I can get back to my apartment. Unfortunately, like yesterday when I tried to take a taxi back from the other side of the city where I had met some of the teachers for lunch, the taxi driver had no idea where Meyoung Jong Eel Pa was or where Meyoung Jong Dong was. We drove around for an hour or more, and I was a little upset, fearing I might be lost without any way to get back to my apartment--or possibly to work on Monday. Boo hoo. After he asked a couple of other drivers, he figured it out, and I got back.
Well, I will try to blog more. I think I have a regular internet hook-up, and, possibly more importantly, I have figured out how to change this blog site from Korean to English. This was a stumbling block. I have only learned a half a dozen or so Korean words, and web-surfing is not among them.