A good week for me

Happy Easter to all!

This past week, for me, has been an amazing one. Let me talk about why.

• My job. There have been a few things that have happened over the past few days that have just made me feel good. It's nice to know when you are doing a good job at something. (Cue another indented bulleted list...)

• Last Tuesday, one of my adult students asked what I studied in college. I told her that I studied geography. She responded by saying that she thought I studied education, because she really liked the way I taught the class. I responded by saying "Well, you are my third class of the day, so by the time you guys come around, I've been able to iron out the gross mistakes I made in my first two classes." "Thanks, that's kind of you."
• During class, a student close to my age asked what I like to do in my spare time. I told him I like to go exploring. "Who do you go with?" he asked. "I usually go with other teachers or on my own. I have a few Korean friends, but I'd like to have more," I replied. "We can be friends," he responded. "I'd like that," I said.
• After my last class on Friday, one of my students said that she wanted to repeat the course after the term ended (the term ends at the end of April). I should explain that most people hope to advance through all six levels, or courses, of the program as soon as possible, mostly because each course costs quite a bit of money. Thus, her request to repeat the course surprised me. I found out that she had thought that I only teach the course she was taking, and she liked my teaching style so much that she was willing to go through the same course again if I could teach. I felt very flattered and humbled. I encouraged her to go to the next level and explained that, since I'm teaching a few upper division courses next term, it's very possible that she'd be placed in my class.

• Bike venture. Friday was beautiful in Seoul, so I decided to rent a bike and ride along the river. The rental only cost me about $7 for 3 hours. Not bad! This trip actually allowed me to get out of the city limits, so I was able to enjoy my first glimpse of life outside of Seoul.

The classic "Stone Star and Tulip" combo wins again.

Yep, spring's here.

The trail follows the Han River forever and ever and ever.

Welcome to Seoul!

• More hiking. A month ago, I went on a trail that included a Buddhist temple. Yesterday, I went with a few friends from church and school to a trail (Dobongsan) that led to another Buddhist temple. This time, however, we had lunch, and the people volunteering at the temple fed us for free! We continued on the hike and enjoyed the views. WARNING: I took a lot of pictures and decided to throw most of them on here.

Natural waterfall

Chinese characters in a rock - these look so cool to me.

Mangwolsa Temple

Outside of the main temple. I went in for a bit, but since my phone camera makes noise when I take a picture, I decided it would be wise not to take any pictures inside.

Bell pagoda

The crew

This free lunch was an awesome surprise. All we had to do was wash our dishes!

Oh hey, windy ridge.

Caution: Steep slopes and weird foreigners.

These lanterns are hung in anticipation of Buddha's Birthday.

There you have it. I have to say that, for me, it's been a great week; I hope this doesn't come off as insensitive, considering that this has NOT been a good week for many people in South Korea (read more about that here). I realize that this is a hard time for many people here. I also think that it's important for people to talk about good things when good things happen.

Hopefully you're having a good week as well! If this week isn't, then there's one in your future.

Sewol

This week has been a tough one for many South Koreans.

As many of you have likely heard, a ferry en route from the port of Incheon (home to Seoul's international airport) to the island of Jeju, sank.

Image courtesy of cnn.com.

The ferry, Sewol, was carrying 475 people. Of those people, 28 have been confirmed dead. As of the most recent information I have, 268 people are still missing; of that number, 246 are high school students. The junior class of Danwon High School in Ansan, a suburb of Seoul, traditionally takes a trip to Jeju before the dreaded beginning of exams, so the entire junior class of that high school was on the ferry.

Sadly, at this point, it is doubtful that those who are missing are still living. It has been well over 48 hours since the ferry sank, any nearby land has been scoured, and the water is freezing.

To make things worse, one of people who did survive was the one person who should have stayed on the ship as it went down: the captain. According to this article, he's in pretty deep crap.

One of the other survivors, the vice-principal of the high school, hanged himself yesterday. He was among the parents of the missing teens. I can't imagine how it would feel to be a parent or administrator in this situation.

Speaking of admin, two points from this Wall Street Journal article really makes my emotions flare:

• The parents were initially told that "nearly all students were safe." Later in the day, the those words had to be retracted; most students were still stuck. WOW. Am I glad I wasn't the one who had to say, "oops, my bad" in this case.
• The students were told, when the ferry started sinking, to stay in time till further notice. Many obeyed, and they are the ones who are stuck. The ones who didn't listen jumped, and a good number of them survived. It is so wrong to me that while the captain was one of the people who survived, the obedient students went down with the ship.

No one I know was personally affected by the tragedy, but it has (understandably) weighed heavily upon my students' minds over the last few days.

Anyhow, the point of this is to send a quick update from closer to the incident. Not a happy story, I realize, but an important one to be aware of.

Bizarre and amusing things

Fairly often, I see things in Korea that just make no sense. Part of it is due to the language barrier, part of it is due to the lack of context I have.

Let's see if any of you can make sense out of these things.

What sick game is this?

It's hard to see the details here, but basically, snot bubble boy goes to play frisbee with hos dog, ends up catching the frisbee with his rear, and blasts off with a fart.

This was on the subway.

This, which I find no less confusing, was also on the subway.

Of course, this is Asia. There are plenty of amusing things as well.

Extra extra large Tweety

Air hose station to blow the dirt off your shoes after a hike

You should really try The Water here.

Poo bread

Try this real good Korean delicacy.

Korea has been good to my legs.

These faucets were attached to nothing. It turns out the water is running down (and coming up) a pipe, but it still blows my mind.

#randomsignsonbuildings

Seoul, a boring place you are not.

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.