February 2012
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Winter Camp EXPLAINED
My winter camp is ending tomorrow and I plan to do a little reflecting on here soon, but I thought it would be best to give an explanation for anyone not familiar with the system here in Korea.
Basically, the school year here runs from roughly early March to late December/early January. This means Korean schools take their long recess in the winter during the months of January and February....
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I'll be back.
There are a few updates and topics I have wanted to post about as of late but Korean winter and contagious friends have gotten the better of me. I’ve been pretty under the weather but as anyone working in Korea should know, I’ve nevertheless been at work every day. Needless to say, I’m exhausted and nothing I try to do makes any sense so here’s to a mini-hiatus!
charismatic-cherie asked: Hi, I'm applying through EPIK, and it requires the TEFL. Since 100 hrs is the minimum, is the $190 dollar package okay? And is it passible without a tutor? Please give me some tips on getting this certification. Thank you!
January 2012
17 posts
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The Modest Men of Korea
Guys can be self-involved anywhere in the world but the shameless bragging I’ve witnessed among Korean men has been something of a treat. For the most part I hear these things from my students who do NOT hesitate to say things like “Teacher, I am so handsome” or express their confidence that I would rather marry them over their friend. Among actual Korean men there was once a guy...
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Korea, Tourist style (Part II: Daegu & back to...
We took a late night KTX from Seoul to Daegu and made it to my place pretty late. We set out the next day to cram a full “Daegu experience” into one day, but stopped first for brunch downtown at my favorite breakfast spot, Chris Do’s. First stop was Seomun Market, Daegu’s biggest traditional market. The market is made up of lots of fishy smells, funny socks, and hundreds of...
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Korea, Tourist style (Part I: Seoul)
Part II of my week off with Phil:
After our quick reunion in Hong Kong Phil came to spend the last few days of his vacation here in my temporary home, Korea! Phil was my first visitor from home and I was really looking forward to showing him what my life is like here in Daegu.
We took separate flights (him on his fancy Korean Air while I continued my journey in budget Chinese airlines) so he...
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Hop to Hong Kong
After 5 months apart Philip and I got to take a fantastic one week vacation together. First I had to spend a whole day in transit to Hong Kong. Despite it being only a few hours away by plane I booked my flight a bit too late and had to layover in Shanghai for… 7 hours. My advice: if you can avoid a long layover at Shanghai PuDong airport, do. It’s a pretty boring place. But it was all...
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At Shanghai PuDong airport and china really doesn’t want me on Facebook/twitter/anything! Tumblr is just fine though :). So this airport experience is already riddled with inefficiency. For connection flights…. Wait, no. All connections are treated as transfers here so you have to go out of immigration, collect your luggage I’d you have any, check it in again, and pass back...
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Planning for Winter Camp
If I’ve learned anything this first semester teaching in Korea is that sometimes too much planning can really lead to disappointment. Basically, things change here at the very last minute… all of the time. My first winter camp is coming up and leading up to the vacation I was becoming more and more frustrated with the lack of information I had on the format of camp itself, so...
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Tips for potential EPIKers
I’m not going to claim to be any kind of expert on the EPIK hiring process, but now that I am here and have met tons of other EPIK teachers there are a few things I can definitely recommend.
1. How to apply: there are a number of way to apply to work for EPIK and a good breakdown can be found on the EPIK homepage www.epik.go.kr. Basically you can apply directly to the program, through...
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Two of my male students were embracing each other...
Student A: He is my best friend. He is my slave.
Natalie Teacher: You're his slave?? That isn't fair! What do you do as a slave?
Student B: He punches me. Sometimes he's my slave and I punch him.
Natalie Teacher: What a beautiful friendship.
Student A: He is my favorite friend, I love him the most.
Student C: *In Korean* What are you doing?
Student A: WE ARE TALKING TO NATALIE! OKAY? BYE! That's my boyfriend.
Natalie Teacher: Your BOYFRIEND? Wow. That's sweet.
Student A: I'm not gay! I have a girlfriend! Do you know [girl's name]??
Natalie Teacher: Hmmm... I'm not sure. (I can't remember 800 names, sorry).
Student A: You find her. You know class 11? She's there. You can find her. She is the most pretty girl.
Student B: NOOO teacher he liar. NOT pretty.
Natalie Teacher: I think you slave is jealous.
Students A & B immediately disentangle their elaborate hold on each other. High school boys in Korea have no shame and it can be really sweet. "Find the prettiest girl and you find her"... what a wonderful way to describe your girlfriend! And of course, one of the most initially shocking things when entering a Korea high school for the first time is how touchy the boys are with each other. They are always playing with each other's hair/hands/clothes, holding their hands in class, sleeping in each others' laps, walking with their arms wrapped around each other. They are 20x for affectionate with each other than the girls. I am going to start posting my more interesting conversations on here from now on. Ah, my students can be really great sometimes.
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December 2011
7 posts
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Sometimes work sucks
This was going to be a big long rant about my current frustrations with my winter camp schedule, but as I was typing it turned out really bitter and I don’t mean to bad mouth my school on the internet. I actually really like my school a whole lot. Basically, this is what I have to say:
My Winter Camp is going to run through all of January and February. Every day… IN THE AFTERNOON. My...
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Christmas with Kevin
This is my second Christmas away from home but my first in Korea. Christmas in Korea isn’t quite the family holiday I know it to be back home, but instead is like another Valentine’s like day. The goal is to have a date on Christmas and if you don’t, they say you are “spending Christmas with Kevin.” I first heard this from my students. I asked them “What do you...
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News from the North
I haven’t updated in a while because, quite honestly, nothing too exciting has been going on. After over a month of constantly being out of town my friends and I have been sticking around Daegu a lot lately and have fallen into a routine of work, board games, and complaining about the cold.
However, as anyone with internet access or a basic awareness of the outside world must know, there...
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Three Reasons to Travel While You’re Young →
The link above will bring you to an article I came across today that I enjoyed, if only because it helps me justify my life choices.
I really believe in this though. As a recent university graduate I sometimes struggle with a bit of anxiety over my life. Part of me thinks I need to be either entering grad school or starting my permanent career, but a bigger part of me feels like there is so much...
November 2011
13 posts
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Korea's Hooters for Women →
This is brilliant. I was just scanning the CNN homepage and saw a feature on some restaurant that is attracting Korean women and upon clicking on it I immediately recognized the place. My friend’s and I went to Mie’s Container here in Daegu last week for a friend’s birthday and it’s definitely an interesting spot. My two cents whenever someone asks about it is I want to...
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칠면조
My students are all convinced (to the point that they will argue with me about this) that turkeys and chickens are the same thing. Luckily there is always one smartie in each class who throws out the word for turkey in Korean and suddenly they all get it. One class, despite me explaining that they are bigger and they taste different and they are different animals, would not let it go and thought I...
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Halloween Weekend at Busan's International...
The Busan International Fireworks Festival was the event I was most looking forward to in October. I absolutely love fireworks shows and this one promised to be amazing, set against the backdrop of the wide sea littered with ships and the amazing bridge viewed from Gwangali beach. We chose to go to the October 29th show, the night of the International show which we were told was the biggest and...
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Suneung - The Korean SAT
Today all of my classes were shortened, I was sent home early, and I was informed that I get the day off tomorrow as the school will be shut down. Tomorrow is the Suneung (수능) test, the Korean equivalent of the SAT. Ever year on the second Thursday in November all high schools and some middle schools (if they are too close to a high school) are shut down so the third grade (senior) students can...
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Asia Song Festival 2011
Every year South Korea holds the Asian Song Festival where pop stars from around Asia come and perform all in one night. Usually this event is held in Seoul but since Daegu is on some mad push to become a well known city they moved it down here for 2011, sort of wrapping up all the hype the athletics championship brought to town.
I am not in any way, shape, or form a fan of Korean pop music, or...
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Yet another festival - Andong Mask Festival
Don’t let the title mislead you into thinking I don’t enjoy all of the festivals Korea has to offer. I just feel a bit silly ALWAYS posting about the festivals I’ve been going to. I have quite a bit of catching up to do so here we go.
Too exhausted to make it Andong after our Jjimjilbang adventures in Jinju the week before, Bryan, Catherine, and I settled for a quick afternoon...
October 2011
7 posts
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6 Best Brunch Spots in Seoul??? Yes, please. →
A couple of friends and I are planning a shopping trip to Seoul in a few weeks. No sight seeing, just shopping. I am in desperate need of some real winter clothes (it was -1*c on my walk to school yesterday and my San Diego wardrobe is failing me hard). We are all going to be in Korea for the next year and will have plenty of time for sight-seeing and doing all of that important cultural stuff, so...
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Korea is a land of festivals - Jinju Lantern...
*Photo from my phone
Over the long weekend we had a while back my friends and I decided to spend Saturday-Sunday in Jinju for the lantern festival and make a day trip Monday to Andong for the mask festival… things didn’t work out that way but I need to tell you about Jinju first.
We met up at the bus terminal here in Daegu but when the bus we supposedly bought tickets for was...
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Backpacking to the Future →
Just came across this article, check it out. A travel writer backpacked across Southeast Asia using the original 1975 Lonely Planet guide. Some interesting information about the origins of Lonely Planet, as well!
I think this is a really cool idea, especially right now living in a country that has been changing so quickly. Decades from now, if I am to come back and visit Daegu/Korea, I wonder...
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September 2011
14 posts
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Expectations
I thought that once I got here I would start planning all of these adventures throughout Asia every chance I got.
In reality, Korea is such an adventure in itself. Another three day weekend is coming up and I plan to spend part of it in Jinju for the Lantern Festival, then a day trip Andong for the Mask Festival. Fall is all about festivals here in SK.
Just a little update on where I will be....
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