Thoughts of a (still green) foreign teacher

I realized that I have been in Korea for about six-and-a-half weeks.

I also realized that today is Arbor Day, which is fitting, because I've seen some beautiful trees lately:

Many of these trees remind me of spring in DC. I've enjoyed looking at them. I've also been able to do some other things (such as serving in the temple and doing a bit of hiking) that have brought me a sense of peace. Thus, as I write, I'm in a reflective mood, and I'd like to share some of those reflections with you.

• Even in my late twenties, I was still pushed (metaphorically) into the seat of an emotional roller coaster that most people ride when they move anywhere. The past few weeks have been filled with feelings that range from "Wow, I think I'm doing pretty well at this teaching gig!" to "There's no way I can go into that classroom and be at the mercy of those bright-eyed little cannibals," from "Look at me, I've got myself a posse!" to "Gosh, it's sure lonely here," and from "HOLY COW KOREA IS AMAZING LOOK AT ALL THE THINGS I CAN DO!!!" to "Get me out of here. Now." The bright side in all of this is that with this move, I was expecting the ups and downs. This has helped me to not feel so blindsided/cheated when the low moments come.
• Korean spas/jjimjilbangs/찜질방 are amazing. There's one in DC (Spa World), and the one that I visited here was basically the same as that one -- hot tubs, themed sauna rooms, a gym, a cafe -- except the Seoul spa visit only cost 10 BUCKS! AND (there's more), the one we visited in Seoul has a theater! This is a thing that exists, folks.

  

  Orange towel included.

• Learning Korean as a language is a challenge that I am slowly working on, but I enjoy it and find it rewarding as I'm able to use more phrases as I'm out and about.
• Understanding Korean culture is a challenge that is daunting to say the least. Koreans, adults and children, work very hard, and they seem to have no choice in the matter. The only choice is work. I see a sliver in my classes. I'll give the Reader's Digest version, though there is a lot to say on the matter: College entrance exams are of crucial importance in determining a child's course into adulthood. Part of that entrance exam is an English comprehension component. To give their kids the best chance possible, many parents enroll their kids into hagwons (or private institutes, such as the one I teach at). Kids attend these in addition to attending public school. Many of these students study late into the night, every night. Needless to say, the motivation for some of these kids can be very low. From what I can tell, these kids just want to be kids, but the culture doesn't seem to allow for much play time. Hopefully I am wrong about some of these observations, but what I have learned as well as what I have observed have led me to see things this way. As a result, I feel that the role of my job is to make learning as enjoyable and positive as possible for these kids.
• Costco pizza makes life amazing. Seeing someone eat Costco pizza for the first time isn't bad either. Sometimes it takes an awesome Korean friend to help you go through the paperwork of getting a Costco card....it may also take his help to actually find a Costco store, too.

  

  I explained to my friend Kevin that Costco pizza is both bad for the heart and good for the soul.

• I'm thankful to have rubbed shoulders with some amazing people thus far. For example, some of my coworkers include a South African man who spent the last five years in China, an Englishman who went skydiving in Australia shortly before coming to Korea, a Korean man who lived in the US for ten years (and basically traveled across every inch of it that could be traveled), and a Korean woman who studied in the Philippines for a year. The great thing is that these people are all nice; in fact, it's because of the Korean woman that I'm able to blog from the comfort of my apartment.

So, there you go. Musings aplenty.

I hope you're doing well. If you're reading this, chances are that I know you. And if I know you, and you aren't in Korea, then I miss you. There, I said it!

Take care till next time.

Crib

Home is where the heart is. It's also the subject of this post.

My phone videos can't be too long, so this is a quick video. That said, my place is pretty small, as you can see, so I don't really need to film too much.

If you think the tone of this post is boring, you're probably right. It's high time for me to grab some dinner.

Hiking venture number one

Time to drop some knowledge:

Seoul is surrounded by mountains. In fact, South Korea is about 340% mountains.

On Saturday, I went with a few friends to Bukhansan Park to go hiking. Guys, the park is so close, you can take the subway and then walk to the trail head. DC, take note.

We met up at 8:00am and started the trek. We gained elevation pretty quickly.

This was one of approximately three flat portions of the trek.

Seoul. It's massive.

This park has many peaks. We were able to summit three during this trip.

Destination: Up.

Peak #1 (can't recall the name)

Peak #2 (Bibong) in the foreground.

Top of Bibong by a tablet with Chinese characters on it.

I'll be honest...I can't remember what the significance of this tablet is. But it's pretty cool.

"Hyun" carved into the rock.

Peak #3 (again, can't remember the name) on the left. We went up there, but for some reason, I didn't take many pictures of the view.

At this point, it was around noon and we decided to wrap things up. We started heading down and saw some signs for "Seungasa Temple." I loved seeing the Buddhist temples the last time I was in Asia, so I was excited to see a few during my sojourn.

This first temple did not disappoint.

The detail is incredible.

This Buddha carving may have been made as early as the 10th century.

Born in the year of the ox, baby. The rest of the staircase had other Chinese Zodiac animals.

"Kids. Hands. Watch 'em."

Great discovery, great day. I'm definitely looking forward to doing more of this, especially since the weather is warming up.

RIP, P (Rest In Peace, Pastry)

Minutes ago, a tragic event occurred.

It all started last night. One of my Korean friends, Wonki Lee, contacted me on Skype and wanted to meet up. It was 10:15pm, so I was like, "Cool."

Tangent - I met Wonki in 2010, when I was working for ACYPL. I have met many people and have formed several cherished relationships, but Wonki is among the kindest people that I have met.

Untangent - Wonki drove to my place and picked me up. Since it was getting late and he lived about 30 minutes away, he suggested that I stay the night. I ran up to my room, grabbed what I needed for church, and left with Wonki.

On the way to his home, Wonki decided to stop at a bakery and buy out half the shop. One of the things he bought was a cake. For me. If I can be halfway as giving as this guy, I will have made it. We ate a couple pieces together (after I blew out the tall candle, of course):

Winner of the Happiest Man in the Northern Hemisphere contest: Wonki Lee.

After staying the night, I went with Wonki's brother, James, to the LDS church nearby. I put the cake in the fridge for the block, retrieved it at the end, and took it on the subway for a 40 minute ride back home. The cake box even had two handles for convenience...but as I was going up my apartment stairs, another "convenient" feature of the box made itself very apparent.

The side hatch.

You see, as I was going upstairs, I held the box in such a way that the cake slid out and fell top down onto the stairs.

The scene of the crime. The second step was covered in whipped cream and fruit.

 All I could do was laugh, shake my head, and clean up the mess.

The remains...the surviving cake on the left, and the recently deceased whipped cream, fruit, and napkins in the box on the right.

Mama said there'd be days like this.

The Chronicles of Cheonggyecheon

Being under the weather prompts different reactions.

Some people stay at home and drink warm chicken broth. I call these people wise.

Some people do a bit of exercise to sweat the gunk out. I call these people awesome.

Some go to work (unless they're uber mccontagious). I call these people driven.

And then...there's me.

After Skyping with my family and watching eleventy billion Jimmy Fallon clips, I decided that I wanted to take a walk through a part of Seoul that I had visited back in 2012: Cheonggyecheon Stream.

Cheonggyecheon begins with a prominent marker:

Please feel free to guess what this is. Most popular guess will give the winner a year's supply of virtual kimchi.

The area is a pretty nice break from Seoul's urban atmosphere.

The walk started off well with me scatting what I know about the stream:

Then, I spotted majestic feathered fauna:

After a while, it was time to bust out the bug guns:

This stream runs for about 8km/5 miles, and I decided to walk all of them. In the cold. While not at peak health.

Don't get me wrong...if my camera hadn't run out of batteries, I would be able to woo you with pictures of bridges, random outdoor equipment, and a golden Cinderella carriage.

That said, I am going to sleep really well tonight, because I am BEAT!

Here ends the chronicle.

Week one of teaching: Done

The last several days have been busy, and dare I say, LONG. Here's a sampling of why...

- My teaching schedule has me teaching three English classes to adults in the morning (7am, 8am, and 11am) and four (five on Tuesdays and Thursdays) English classes to children/tweens in the afternoon (basically 3:30pm to 4:45pm). I can hear my teacher friends now: "Dude. That's no schedule. That's paradise." I'm sure I'll look back several months from now and agree.
- My apartment came with some basic furnishings, but I've taken quite a bit of time this week to hunt down and buy some other necessities.
- My director, while being a very nice man, is about 30% fluent in English. This makes for some interesting communication.
- I've been a bit under the weather since Wednesday afternoon.
- I have had to face the music: I am in a foreign country, and there are adjustments that I'm going to make, such as getting used to the spam/vomit hybrid smell outside my apartment.

All of this can be summed up in one picture:

ToTeS LoViNg It LoLoLoL...yeah, something like that.

BUT...there's a lot to be grateful for.

- I have an apartment to myself, and the basic rent is covered. That's pretty awesome.

- My coworkers are pretty fantastic people, and they have been helping me adjust. One of them, Lani, helped me to get internet set up in my apartment. I have her to thank for the fact that I can blog from home.

- I didn't go into much detail about this, but my orientation was pretty great. In addition to helping me get my feet on the ground, the orientation introduced me to some incredible people. Basically, after orientation classes during the day, we would hang out and laugh.

- I live in a cool part of Seoul that is just north of the Han River.

That's N Seoul Tower in the distance.

Hey. I signed up for an adventure, and an adventure I'm getting. :)

KITTEH!!

Hey all, sorry for the brief hiatus. I have been getting settled into my new apartment and battling some sickness, but I'll write more on that later.

This post is all about the meow.

My voice is a bit muffled in the video (I can't be responsible for scaring cats and raising their kitty blood pressure during my first week here, can I?), but basically, the gist is that you pay a fee to have a drink and play with the cats. In East Asia, due to work schedules and limited home space, these cat cafes help felineophiles to fill their "D'AWW" gauges.

This cafe had around twenty cats. No joke.