A stroke of brilliance -- found a Calvin and Hobbes comic online and deleted the dialogue, and had the students fill it in with the introductions and greeting words and the words they know. One class had Calvin saying how crazy Suzie was, and one class had him demanding that she give him birthday presents. I know if I were a student, that would be something I'd want to do. :)

Just wanted to let you know that I just uploaded a boatload of pics. Enjoy! :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24563232@N00/

Well I'm sitting here in my "teacher's office" -- yes, I have an office! Have I said that before? ;) It's the second day of school and I'm eager to get started. This week I've been talking about greetings and introductions, having the students practice introducing themselves, and then passing out some questions for them to ask me so that I can get a conversation flowing, and so that they can get to know me. It's been going pretty well, it was tough in the beginning to get the class to pay attention, but by the fourth class I was doing a lot better. It's surprising how much you can learn so quickly, even in one day. Psyched ot get this day started ! :)

Americans get a kind of celebrity welcome here, and I've had people shouting "Hi, my name is" from all the way across the playground. The girls sometimes scream and run away, or scream with joy and want to take my picture. Haha. The kids are pretty chill, and some of them come into the English room to watch DVDs during lunch time ... got to watch bits of School of Rock and Spiderman yesterday. It's gonna be a good year. :)

Hey everyone. :)

So yesterday I went into work with my host mother, who works at the International Convention Center here, which is one of the most massive and elaborate buildings I have ever seen. She is the head pasty chef, and I got to play around with dough, weigh dough, cut 1000 bananas off of their stalks, mold dough, stuff dough with cream, fling dough at the other workers (heheh) and putting dough in the oven. I know that if this whole English teacher thing doesn't work out, I've got a baker's job all set up.

My favorite part (and you other ETAs will appreciate this) is when I got to stand out in the serving line during lunch and dinner. During lunch I was giving out supa (watermelon) and I was only supposed to give two pieces, but of course you'd get the old ladies who weren't satisfied with their watermelon and pointed out the one they wanted, or just reached their grubby little crinkled hands into the bucket and served themselves. Then you'd get the ones who'd come up with these big pleading eyes and and ask for three pieces instead, or like 15 pieces for their entire table. I was under strict orders to give only two pieces, but of course they didn't listen. They'd come in packs to intimidate me, the foreigner with next to no Korean skills mysteriously wearing a chef's hat. (Yeah, I got the whole thing - big hat, shirt and apron. Stylin. Pictures soon to come in the Flickr account (link to the right). But yeah, it was even worse with the bananas. I got really good at saying andeyo!! (stop it) and han-man (only one!) but of course they'd come with their toothy grins anyhow. We used to pester the ajjimas (Korean name for aunt, also implying a married woman over 35-40 or so) who worked at our dining hall in Orientation for more watermelon or spicy chicken or whatever (the best stuff was always guarded and dished out in portions). We'd make up these elaborate distract-and-grab plots. Now I know how they feel. ;) But really, it was a lot of fun ... and since they didn't understand English I could play around all I wanted.

AJJIMA: "Oh [five] Supa Chuseyo!" (this is her like third time to the watermelon patch)
ME: "Ohhhhoo! look at you! Back for more. Andeyo! You've had your fill."
AJJIMA: [unintelligible Korean gibberish}
ME: "Well, it's no use, you're just going to grab them anyway. Okay, I give up. It's fruit, it's good for you, eat up my friend."
AJJIMA: [toothy grin]

a word on tea: the convention center didn't serve any, but my host mother made some while we were doing food prep in the morning. score. i'm now officially a major iced tea fan.

My host brother Kyeong-Hwan with Jeong on his head. :) 

Oh! Forgot to mention ... drank Black Omija tea the other day in the International Convention Center here in Seogwipo, it's grown on Mt. Halla in Jeju and is unique to the island. Hooray for rare teas! It was almost as fruity as juice, and since it was iced tea the perfect end to a hot day. Yesterday I hung out with my host brother and Jun Hyeok, one of the middle schoolers I taught in the Camp Fulbright classes a few weeks ago and who lives a couple apartments over. Good kids. :) In the evening we went to the World Cup Stadium down the street (they hosted the soccer world cup in 2002) which has become sort of a town square for this side of Seogwipo. Tons of families were there rollerblading, running around, playing soccer etc. My host dad and I played some badminton and we had a few volleys maybe in the 40s or 50s before we dropped it ... and I found out that my host mom is a mean hacky sack player, worlds better than I could ever be! After that, ended up sleeping ten hours last night and I definitely needed it. Today I'll be going to visit Yakcheonsa, a Buddhist temple right outside Seogwipo and apparently the largest in Asia! :)

I gotta make this one brief, I'm battling my host brother Kyeong-Hwan in Quake 3 (he loves the railgun) ... but I had the most amazing day. Woke up at 6:45 because I didn't know if I should bid the family farewell in the morning ... turns out that they usually don't make breakfast but they made one especially for me this morning - sausage, bacon, eggs sunny side up, homemade apple turnovers and rolls, and fruit. The food here is to die for. Played with the dogs and games with Kyeong-Hwan in the morning, and then left for the school with my coteacher Kim Soo-Hee. Turns out the vice principal is a jolly fellow fond of singing random songs whenever he likes (my kinda guy), majored in English so he speaks pretty well, and a lot of fun to be around. We went out for lunch at this place that served a sort of bibimbap (rice and veggies and eggs mixed together) only with squid tentacles and some clams ... it's a lot better than it sounds guys. You learn to love the tentacles. Sat by the beach and enjoyed the view until a storm rolled in ... best wind ever on a humid day. Got to watch a 2 inch spider sense the weather change and actually roll up her web in front of us, it was fascinating. We all spoke enough English to laugh and make jokes which was very nice. Got to see my school and meet hundreds of people whose names I'll hopelessly never remember ... for the first week. I've gotta get them eventually though! ;) Saw the "English Zone" of the school which is wallpapered in really cool notable quotes in English - Emerson, Einstein, even Cicero ... and really random adages like "Finder's Keepers" which was posted above a urinal in the bathroom. Don't want to guess on that one. I have my own office ... !! Okay well, a desk and one half of a room, but hey ... my own office :D Went out and got a bank account, looked around at cell phones and figured out they were a little too expensive, and it looks like my host family is going to give me one of their old ones. They love technology here, I'm typing on a maybe 24 inch flat screen computer, and they have a wall-mounted flatscreen in the living room which is ungodly huge. The lap of luxury. ;)

I was about to fall asleep in mid-afternoon in Kim Soo-Hee's car when she told me that my host mother wanted to visit her at work. She works as a cook in an International Convention Center next to the World Cup Stadium. It's a ginormous building with amazing views, they host all sorts of international conferences all year. I thought I might be going to see her kitchen and maybe have a bite to eat, but when we meet her she motions us around this cavernous maze into a side door of ... a Chinese tumbling show ! Did you guys see Ocean's 11 with the little Chinese man and the two-pole jumping act? Well picture that times a hundred. These kids were maybe 10-15 years old jumping all over each other, juggling beach balls upside down, swinging and tossing each other from swings 25 feet in the air, and man. Wow. The day got better and better. :) Did of course end up meeting her ajjima work buddies in the cafeteria, eating some good kimchi and rice and noodles and soup, and then sitting up in the ocean view lounge that had a 270 degree view of the best beach in Korea.

:D

Well my host mother just brought me some keom-cha (lemon green tea) and some cookies, so I'm going to go sit outside in the living room. Goodnight all. :)

Homestay Day 1
Cups of green tea (nok-cha): 3-4 (they already know i love tea!)

Oh man there's so much to talk about. Got to know my coteacher really well on the way here, and we just made our flight by like 4 minutes. ;) She is easy to talk to but I think doesn't get the same humor so sometimes the subtleties of the conversation are lost. Unfortunately I don't know if she's going to be a good activity partner, she doesn't like being outside and doesn't even know how to swim ! But she does like to go to noraebang. :D Her favorite thing to say about me is "You like .... everything!" I shocked her when I said I didn't like coffee. ;) Today I'm going to my school, meeting my vice principal and having lunch, and then going to set up a bank account and get a cell phone. What a day !

My host parents are both very sweet and have made me feel welcome. The first thing they said was, "do you like dogs?" --- :) :) They have two of them, um-sheh (sp?) and jeong, both sort of pug-like mutts that are absolutely adorable. They climb all over everyone and love to bite and play and yip like the little lapdogs they are. They are so loved by the family, the father kisses them all the time. My host father likes to take photographs, watch sports and play badminton ... there's a World Cup stadium right around the corner from the house (I can see it from the balcony) and he and his friends play there every night apparently, I asked him if I could come play too. My host mother works as a cook at a nearby convention center and made the most delicious meal last night ... bulgogi, noodles, kimchi, pancakes, the works. Oh my god, amazing.

My host sister is off in Malaysia and Hong Kong right now as part of a championship English speaking contest. Looks like I'll have an interpreter when she gets back next week! My host father is a taxi driver and speaks a little English, and my host brother and I have been bonding for the last hour or so this morning over video games, and I've gotten him to talk a little too. He says things like "good gun" and "one more kill!" I can already tell we're gonna be buddies. ;) He showed me this cool first person shooter game called Gunz Duel where you get guns and swords, and right now he's playing Quake 3 in my room. Okay well, gotta go put on my first day of school outfit ... let's see if I remember how to tie a tie ... ;)

Oh I almost forgot -- we went to this cute little shop that sold only green tea (hot and cold) in Seoul ... mashissayo! The one I ordered was second from the bottom, second from the right. 

Hye-Ran and Min-Young listen to the food cooking. mmmm .... spicy rice!!

Well. The Fulbright troupe has reached Seoul. Our stay in Chuncheon is over, and we're here in the world's third biggest city until Thursday. Apparently it's not a great idea to pack your suitcase (or in my case, backpacker's bag) well before you leave for someplace. Repacking it is a disaster. I should have taken a picture of this thing, it was this drooping, overstuffed monstrosity. Well at any rate, I'll be able to shift things around with my other suitcase, so all is well. Today Becky Rose and I went exploring Dungdaemun, one of Seoul's premier shopping districts. My school's dress code is "business professional" - the highest out of a possible "business casual" or "casual". I'm not sure if my all-Express wardrobe's gonna be legit enough. Sooo... I bought a suit! I'll try and get pictures up soon, but it's a almost-black suit with subtle pinstripes which was of course a black-market Seoul bargain. Got a professional looking briefcase, some gray trousers, and some more gifts (Korean ginseng tea!) for my homestay parents and principal (Korea is nuts on the gifts, which is kind of endearing).

Anyway, my apologies for being lax on the blog thus far. My stay in Chuncheon has been packed - literally every day is an adventure, and every experience is full of just ... Korea. It's hard to explain, there isn't just one thing I could write about that stood out from all the rest, it's more that everything I've experienced has been in the context of Korea, and that's what's made it so rich. That said, here's my top ten list of Chuncheon memories anyhow ;)

10. Theresa-shee, the ajjima (Korean word for aunt) that ran the convenience store under the dining hall. I don't know how, but she learned my name in the first week, and would always tell me the greatest things like how many mosquito bites she's gotten lately. Plus she spoke maybe 10 words of English. Lovable. :)
9. The green stairs on the side of our dorm. It's monsoon season, and they're ... what's the word ... shalacked? That sounds right. Yeah, I definitely hit my tailbone twice in one week in one of those banana-peel type falls.
8. Jackie's little skit about cold showers, stingy lunch ladies, and the bring-your-own-toilet-paper policy so popular in Korea. I've never really been an actor but ... I was in a talent show! The Fulbright ETAs hold one every year. This year one guy did that dance from the end of Napoleon Dynamite ... classic.
7. The over-eager English Club members at Kangwon National Uni. Without them, we'd still be wandering aimlessly around Chuncheon, wondering where the cool kids hang out.
6. Tak-al-bi (sauted chicken and veggies), bib-im-bap (egg and vegetable mix), patbingsu (fresh fruit, condensed milk, sweet beans and ice all mixed together), and MANDU (korean dumpings)
5. The fact that Koreans always feast when they drink. A night out will never again be complete without fruit baskets and squid pancakes at the pub.
4. Making up lame drinks like "kimchi on the beach" outside of FamilyMart.
3. The weekend spent hiking and visiting mountain temples at Songnisan. Hopefully I'll be visiting a lot more temples on Jeju!
2. Great new friends and too many laughs to count.
1. Okay this one's easy. In the convenience stores here they have this freshly made triangle of rice with spicy sauce inside, all wrapped up in seaweed. In other words, the best fast food ever conceived by man. :D

Well, I hope that gives you guys something of a cross-section of my time here so far. It's really hard to convey. We're off to the Demilitarized Zone tomorrow ... and I hear we get to step foot into North Korea! (but not if we're planning on keeping the foot) Haha, just kidding. They just take the toes. Take it easy guys, miss you all !!!

 

Gyeongbokgung 

Gyeongbokgung 

I had a meal today that consisted entirely of rice and seaweed. Yeah, that's all I got. ;)

Hey everyone ! Well we just had placement announcements and it looks like I'll be on Jeju Island for the year !! :D Jeju is off the southern coast of Korea, and has beautiful beaches, subtropical climate, one of the only waterfalls in the world that spills into the ocean, caves, diving, windsurfing, a national park, and the highest mountain in South Korea in its center. In other words, paradise. Man, I love this place. :) I think I'm going to take up scuba diving. ;)