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.