Winter has come

Hello,

My birthday has passed along with Halloween (which doesn't really exist here :) ). I've always thought that I would stay in Korea for a couple years to pay off my debt and save for graduate school. I just wasn't sure if I would stay at SEEC (my current) school or not. I've really enjoyed my experience here and have been able to save a lot to pay on my debt. I think that I'll stay another year if they let me and perhaps after that move into Seoul. I've considered going to graduate school starting next year in the fall for a Master's in TEFL/TESOL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language/Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). If I didn't start that next fall I've also thought about starting graduate school in Seoul once I move out of Gapyeong; they also have Master's programs and I may even be able to take some courses in philosophy or theology.
Right now I am really interested in where morality comes from and then from that, what is moral. I recently asked a co-worker and she spoke to a friend who gave me a book to read. It is interesting so far, I'm only half-way through, but I still think that I want a different answer to my question than what the book gave.
I recently went to Seoul to go swing dancing. I typed "swing dance seoul" into google and someone had posted all the places you could swing dance in seoul with directions how to get there and the cost for each one. So convenient for me. I asked one of my co-workers to find me a bath-house to stay in and there was one not to far away. When I went dancing there I turned out to not be the only foreigner. There were two other girls there from abroad and both were English teachers in Seoul. Also many of the Koreans I danced with could speak a little English and were pleasantly surprised when I spoke a little Korean. Before dancing I ate at a pizza hut near by and realized that I should carry toilet paper with me in case the pubic bathroom doesn't have any. I also realized that I should carry an umbrella in case it rains. I suppose that won't be too much of a problem now seeing as it has already snowed. At the bath-house there is a separate area for men and women. When you enter, you get a set of clothes and a key. You put your shoes in a compartment and then go to a place for only your gender. You strip naked and take a shower. They have towels that you can use to scrub yourself with. They are really effective. After that you go to a hot-tub and relax in it. They have all sorts of temperatures, so be sure to check it before you go in. Some are really hot and some are quite cold. Some are special ones that have natural sea water, earth water, mineral water, etc. After showering again and hot-tubing it again, you dry off and put your clothes on that they gave you. You can then go to sleep in one of the sleeping areas, eat at a restaurant, play a game on the computers they provide, go to a sauna and sweat, or watch a movie that they have playing. They also have people who can give your body special treatment, ointments, massages, etc. Sleeping in one was a bit difficult to me. You sleep on the floor (it is heated) with a foam brick for a pillow. You can sleep in a common area (where both genders mix) or a gender specific area. I don't know a great deal of Korean, but I do know the word for "man" and "woman." So I thought I was going to a male only sleeping area. When I arrived I noticed only females around me. I quickly left and thought to myself that the sign must have said that no males were allowed in this area. As I was leaving the female only area, some girls saw me scratching my head in confusion and started laughing at me. I found the males sleeping area and lied down to sleep. Many men were snoring around me so it was hard to get to sleep. I also woke up frequently. It was hard to sleep well, but it was good enough for one night.
Going to Seoul is a lot of fun, so I did it again. We haven't had students for two weeks now, so we took some vacation and went to Seoul during the week. On Wednesday we went to a very large mall called (Co-Ex). We saw the movie 2012, ate at a Mexican restaurant and went to an aquarium. After wards some of us went to an arcade and played some games. I ate dinner with my cousin and then went swing dancing that night. No other foreigners that night, but more people spoke English to me and even some asked me to dance. There were less people there though. I stayed the night again at a bath house. This one is famous and is called the Dragon Hill Spa. It certainly was bigger than the previous one I had stayed at and had more things to do. It was two thousand won (roughly two dollars US) more than the other bath-house. The next day I went with some friends to the DMZ(the Demilitarized Zone). The DMZ is 4 kilometers wide and marks the area between North and South Korea. The actual border is 2 kilometers in from both sides. We were able to take a trip all the way up to the border, but not cross it of course. That morning before heading to the DMZ we went to a USO (United Service Organization) base at camp Kim to buy our tickets for the tour. They had a restaurant that served an American Style breakfast. The worker there spoke English as a native language, the menu was in English, the Tv in the background had English on, I was just overwhelmed by all the English going on around me. It was like reverse culture shock hit me and I felt so odd. But the breakfast was great.
The past two weeks have been great. Next week we have some people coming from SMOE (Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education) to observe us teaching 20 minute lessons for contract renewals. I will be teaching drama. I hope that things go well.

My Little Scooter

In my last post I mentioned that I bought a scooter. I recently got some work done on my bike. I discovered that I I had a button that I didn't know what it did.I pressed it to the left and to the right, but nothing happened on my back. I asked some Koreans what the toggle was for. I was guessing that it was or hoping that it was some turbo, because my scooter didn't go as fast as the guy said it was. He said it would go 100 km/hr. I think that I maybe get up to 60 km/hr or maybe 70/80 km/hr when I am going down a hill. Well it turns out that it was the turn signals that the toggle triggered. So I had a bike with turn signals, I also discoverd that I didn't have a tail light or brake lights and the LED's on the side of my scooter weren't even wholly working. So I took it to a couple of bike shops in Gapyeong (the town where I live) and no one there could fix it. So I took it to another town close by and they were willing to fix it for 100 bucks. It was expensive, but I thought that it might have been even more expensive considering the guys in my local town couldn't fix it. I got some sweet new LED's put on my bike that change color. I found out that I don't ever have to change the oil on my bike, just add more as it burns up; the same principle applies to gasoline. I learned how to say 'fill 'er up to the gas attendants' [everything is full service] in korean so I felt pretty good. I also drove to a big city close by and discovered that it was much bigger than I had previously thought. After getting there I thought that I would explore a little, so I took a road that I had never been on before just to see where it lead. I thought when I get to the outskirts of the city I'll turn around. Well after about 15 minutes of traveling I decided to turn around (though I hadn't reached the outskirts yet). It only took me 30 minutes to travel there too, so its a pretty big city. I didn't get to any really cool places, but I did find a really big shopping area, kind of like a walmart that I previously thought was only a convenience store. I enjoyed riding my little scooter a lot. I think that I found God a little bit. I remember my father telling me about a book he had to read in college for philosophy about Zen and riding a motorcycle. I can certainly understand how it can be a spiritual experience. I am giving driving lessons to Heidi, my coordinator. It is a little scary at times and at times she is a little scared while driving which makes me even more uncomfortable while riding alongside here. This week kids aren't here. There is big scare for H1N1 in korea. Some people have died and so people are little paranoid of foreigners, travel and closed communities. Schools typically come here for a week and then leave. People are afraid to let their kids get isolated. Since we don't have anyone here this week, it gives us some time to prep for our lessons and get other things done that we wouldn't normally get done. Its nice to have a little break. This week i'm doing prep-work for next week and continuing to design some materials for a reach-ahead program that we have for kids who are behind other kids in their language ability. Last week I had an administrative position and I was put incharge of reach-ahead and co-teaching or at least trying to better understand them and solve some problems we had with them. Reach ahead is continuing to be fixed this week while co-teaching is on a hold until I hear back from a gentleman that I met with to express my concerns about the program. Next week we should have kids and the week after that I have a week of vacation. I am quite excited because I will hopefully be able to ride my bike a bit more. I've also been considering lasic (sp?) surgery for my eyes. I think that it would be neat. I am really enjoying my job here and am glad that I came. I hope that I continue to grow and develope and learn to love others more and more.

Scooter :)

Its been a bit since I've updated and I almost feel now in retrospect that I am going completely against my last post. I remember saying that I wanted to be out of debt and that buying a bike wouldn't help me with that goal. Well I bought a bike, lol, or well a scooter anyways. It was a long time coming, but I am really happy with the results, haha. My coordinator is amazing. She joined 3 internet motorcycle groups in korea and consistently searched for me. This last weekend, she found a good bike in Seoul. We set up an appointment time and met them. They were quite late, so I squeaked out a request for a discount in my tattered korean :), but I got one :)!!! We then had to get the bike back to SEEC where I work, I thought my cousin might have the hook-up for me, but it turned out that didn't work out. So my coordinator and I ended up staying in a bath house, it was both of our first's time in a place like that. It was pretty nice I think, though it was the first time I remember intentionally sleeping on the floor. But before we got there, I pushed the bike to Heidi's house, that was a long push and then parked it. The next day we headed back to SEEC on a train and had a delivery man pick up the bike and take it to SEEC. I was quite excited, but again it did cost a lot for the scooter and for the delivery and now I have to buy insurance, plates and some gear to ride in. But at the same time, I certainly grew though this experience. I was thinking what it would have been like if I was in America and a friend of mine had bought a motorbike, what it would be like to help them through this process and find all the right people to do things. I think it would be quite amazing, so I'm thankful for my coordinator who did a lot of work. I got to ride the bike a little tonight, I had one of my co-workers give me some tips before I rode, when I test drove it, I had some problems, so he helped me out a bit. I was quite scared, but after just riding a bit around SEEC I felt much more comfortable. I'm sure that I'll be learning more and more as time comes about this scooter and how to operate it. There are plenty of things to learn. It goes up to 100km/hr or so the guy who sold it to me said. It's 100cc and has gone about 5000 km. There is no fluel gauge so I'll have to keep track of that in my head, I wouldn't want to have to push the bike in korean heat and humidity. I did get a neat helmet, goggles, cover for the bike, and chain. He even gave some oil. I'm pretty excited to keep practicing riding the bike. There is a lot I have to learn, but that is a lot I am learning :) I gave some of my co-workers including my boss a ride and that was fun. Its a long story and time leading up to me getting the bike, so I feel quite accomplished and I think that I should be able to send home the regular amount of money I had planned on as well :)

A Workshop in July

So this last Monday and Tuesday was a workshop. This meant we got to travel to some cool places and see some neat things. We first took a bus from SEEC (my work place to a cave). On the way I brought some books to read. One book which took priority was a driver's manuel for Korea. I hope to be taking the test for a license next week. Perhaps I'll get a bike, perhaps not. I'm still not sure. On the way I also busted out my copy of Plato's republic in korean. I love philosophy, so I thought that reading philosophy in korean would be a good way for me to start learning it. I got through about a page with the help of a coordinator and I learned quite a bit about the language and how it functions. I felt really proud of all the korean that I was learning and being exposed to. We stopped and walked though a cave. It was quite small in places and beautiful in others. I was told that it was one of the oldest caves in korea. I got to take a cool breakdancing freeze in the cave so I was happy. I started talking with some of the boys in the cave. They looked like boy-scouts to me and they asked me some funny questions. Hi, what's your name? How old are you? Where are you from? Do you have a girl-friend? Most kids I meet ask these questions and they are funny to me. In western culture these questions would seem odd, but here its quite normal. We also traveled to a scholar's house. His house and face is on the korean 1,000 won bill (roughly 1 dollar American). Then we went to a museum which had its tour in korean. This was hard for me because I didn't know what the guide was saying and one of my co-workers who is korean said she had a hard time understanding because she was speaking so fast. Lastly we went to a folk village. According to my korean travel guide it was one of the non-fabricated folk villages in korea. It may not have been fabricated, but I was glad that it had warm water and a modern bathroom. It also had the old style bathroom, which I didn't go into and cold water if you wanted. I slept with two other guys in a room which just fit us. It was a good experience. I wondered if this wasn't closer to the type of living my mother had experienced while she was here in korea.

Vacation

Its been a bit since I updated, so I thought I'd write again. I have a small knowledge of reading the Korean language. It is pretty useful to see something and then be able to sound it out. Life seems pretty normal for the most part. I mean I know that I live in Korea, but there are so many amenities here available to me that its too easy for me to forget. In fact I often forget it, lol. But I am in a pretty isolated place where I interact with my people who speak English on a regular basis. I am at a good school. I have really good co-workers and the kids are very sweet. Its almost five months that I've been over here. That's pretty encouraging! I think I'll just keep on going. The time goes by so quickly during the week. Its really nice. Though there is a future decision I will be making. This next week I'll be taking a test to get my korean driver's license. If I pass I'll be able to driver cars and bikes with engines up to 125cc. So I was thinking of getting a bike to travel around and not having to call a taxi to come pick me up and take me home. But I've also been thinking of whether I should buy the bike or just keep the money and spend it on student loans. Several of my co-workers are vacationing in asia, traveling and seeing the sites. I chose to stay in Korea and not travel to save funds. There are always opportunities to do tons of things here; sometimes its hard to make the choice to pay off my student loans quicker rather than having fun and 'enjoying' the moment. Paul in his letter to the Romans encourages them to have not have any debt remain outstanding. I am convicted by this and will try hard to pay off my loans. It is just hard when there are so many distractions :) That doesn't mean that I don't have any fun, by any means. I saw Harry Potter the other night and go dancing in Seoul monthly. My school takes us to see neat things, like a martial arts comedy show called Jump. And next week we are going to see a cave. This is all free for us. They pay for meals and transportation, so its pretty nice. I see plenty of things while saving money :). Oh so I was in Seoul going to see the show Jump with my school. We went by a famous stream and so I went with some co-workers to check it out. There was a patch of rocks that went acrossed the stream. I thought it would be amazing to get a photo of me in a breakdance pose on the rocks. So I went out there and tried to stike one. Well I got lift-off when when I tried to fully extend I lost my balance and fell in. My glasses and phone went in the stream. I found my glasses, but my phone is gone. I tried the pose again and my friend got a picture of it. I then went and bought a whole new outfit for me to put on before I saw the show. It made for a good story. It was really funny to walk into the store dripping wet and buy and entirely new outfit. A lot of my co-workers found it funny too. Oh we also went to see a palace. It was neat. I think I kind of demeaned it, because after I saw it I was like cool, what's next. But I think that was partly due to the fact that we couldn't go inside the buildings. We could only stare at them from the outside. Oh I learned something about the symbol that looks like a yin and yang, but has three colors. Blue is sky, Red is earth and yellow is human. Never knew that before. Neither did some of my korean co-workers. They were embarrassed when I asked a question about their culture and they didn't know. I told them that there were many things about American culture I'm sure I'd have no clue about, starting with what all the symbols on our currency meant. I have no clue to be honest why there is an eye ontop of a pyramid.

Tentative differences

Ok, so I've been thinking a bit or rather just taking things in and coming to the realization of them later about some cultural differences between what I was used to and what I find in Korea.

Respect for elders vs. Individual presidence (sp?). It seems to me that in Korea there is a value of respect associated with certain individuals by which people live. By elders I do not mean merely people who are older (though that certainly applies) or people leading a religious organization, but rather a status assigned to others. I am rather used to a value of freedom and independence which informs my actions. For example, to show respect to someone on a train I would give up in seat for them. Where I'm from, I'm free to do what I want and its finders keepers. Also if I want to do a certain action, say log hours for overtime, there must be four signatures and a final approval, before it is validated. Where I'm from you record your time and you might climb one or two people before that is valid. You are given a sufficient amount of free while here it in Korea it is about respect for those above you (however many that may be).

Order vs. Independence-Where I live now there seems to be an established order for how to do things, even very small things. There is a system which can be learned and understood given time. As an example one should write the Korean language using strokes from top down, left to write. Writing the same letters in a different fashion doesn't follow the system. Perhaps I was taught the 'correct' way to write when I was little in America, but it wasn't rigidly encouraged like it is here. As long as the letters get there, it doesn't matter how. Another example, the school I work at here took the employees out for bowling. There was a small instruction on how to hold the ball, how to line up, and how to throw the ball. I think perhaps this would be given in America if someone asked for it, but rather individuals would be allowed to creatively get the ball there however they wanted. Then if they wanted or failed miserably would help be given.

Truth-telling vs. Sarcasm-It seems to me that people here really value being told the truth about a particular topic and generally don't lie. This comes into conflict with my sense of humor as it has some sarcastic elements which do not literally espouse the truth. I think this value is re-enforced by order and respect for elders. Because there is an order to things, to literally lie would to be outside that order and if you respect your elders. Its very hard to get sarcasm across to those who are not used to it. They might at first think you are being a lier and disrespectful before seeing that the value you are portraying is humor not disrespect or falsehood.

These are my musings still in progress, but I thought it might be interesting to note them for anyone thinking about what culture is like here in Gapyeong, Korea :)

On the Road Again

It seems that it has been a while since my last post. Time has been flying by here in Korea and I'm really enjoying it. I'm trying really hard to be wise in my spending of money and pay off student loans as quickly as I can. I have the opportunity to travel a bit while I'm here. I recently talked with some of my co-workers and it seemed that they had an interest in traveling to Japan. One of them even speaks Japanese. How cool is that? This last week was a pretty laid back week as far as they go. Kids weren't here for learning the entire week and there was a holiday on Tuesday (children's day). Tons of kids showed up at our facility on the holiday though. I didn't like all the noise, so I pretty much stayed in my room to have some peace and quiet.
On Monday of this week, most of my co-workers and I went to Lotte World (a theme park). It was pretty fun. I heard that it was the largest indoor theme park in the world. It also had an outdoor section to it too. The outdoor part struck me as kind of odd. You see it was this brobdingnagian theme park in the middle of a city. While on the roaster coaster you would see skyscrapers all around you. It just felt so out of place, but thus is Seoul.
On Wednesday I attempted to go into Seoul to update my contract. I completed a 100 hour TEFL (teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate. I was told that when I completed it I would get a pay raise Yeah!. So my boss called and made an appointment for me at 11:30. I was supposed to leave at about 9:00 am and it was going to be roughly 2 hours to get there, so I thought I had enough buffer time. Well I didn't end up leaving until 9:30 because of random things (some of which were very helpful) and when I did leave I got dropped off at a bus station I had never been to before. This was one time that I had a feeling of helplessness. I haven't had many of those times yet. I went to the ticket counter and asked the lady there for a ticket to the place in Seoul I normally travel to. She said that there was no ticket. I was flabbergasted. I had no clue what to do. This was the only part of Seoul I knew of. I quickly looked around to see if there were any young people in the station (Most young Koreans have a decent understanding of English). Thankfully right next to me was a gentleman who helped me to find another location in Seoul to travel to by bus. I wasn't sure where that was, but hey, it was in Seoul and I could take the subway pretty much anywhere in Seoul. It turned out that once I had arrived at my unknown location in Seoul, that I had already been there. That was great because the subway was a little bit of a walk away and I would of had another time of helplessness if I had no clue where to find it. I called the gentleman that I had an appointment with at 11:30 and asked him if there could be a later time to meet with him. He said that he could meet at 2:30 pm. This gave me a bit of time to meander around so I went to techno mart. It was a large store, maybe 11 or more stories fully of technology (phones, computers, cables, etc). Luckily for me it wasn't busy. I was able to find a power converted from 220v (the voltage in korea) to 110v (the voltage in America). Now I could charge various appliances that I had brought with me. I was growing hungry so I ate at a dunkin dounuts. There are tons of them along with Basken Robins, which is great because I really like ice cream. Anywho I still had some time to kill, so I travel to another destination and go to a museum for free. It was pretty fun. I really enjoyed seeing some of the history of korea. Though early the early korean language was pretty much chinese, so I had no clue what some of the artifacts were saying (I'm still learning the modern language). It was a nice place to check out anyway. I traveled then to my appointment and got my contract updated. So starting in June I'll have a pay raise (yeah!). I traveled then to a train station so I could travel back to my hometown. I became quiet in the mood for ice cream while waiting for my train to arrive so I went a bought the larget cup of icecream I could find. The gentleman there told me that I would get four scoups of any kinds of ice cream. I told him that I only wanted one kind. After I consumed that cup I decided I wanted another so I went back over to the gentleman and asked him for another. He gave this one to me for free. We were instantly friends. I stayed and chatted with him until my train came. He was a very nice fellow. I took the train back and arrived in my hometown. Took a taxi back to my place and got back about 6:00 pm. It was quite the long day.
Thursday and friday I mainly did lesson planning for the next upcoming week. This next week I'll be teaching dance and western house. Dance will by no means be a brobdingnagian task for me considering I was a former dance instructor and western house should be pretty fun too. Saturday I pretty much chillled. I played games with a friend and talked with some family. And now I'm just getting ready for tomorrow. Time flies and now i'm on the road again :)