So, first impressions upon arriving at my school.
Everyone of us SMOE teachers was fairly nervous during pickup. First impressions are critical both ways and we knew we were stuck with what we got for the year. It was quite gut wrenching to watch each new car drive across the soccer field to carry us away. Or it should have been. But the first woman to go had a nice old dude who helped her with her luggage. the next dude to go had two cute coteachers together (still think he's lucky). Than mine arrived; picture young family man with wife and baby in tow. Mr. SUH. It's tough to say, it sounds like a sound. I was brilliantly lucky to find a teacher who actually speak REALLY good english. Unlike many speakers in Korea he even sounds natural. My apartment was located on the main street right next to some restaraunts and a pillow shop (important later). Its pretty easy to stay oriented because most of the buildings around me are two story except for this massive complex called "Lotte Castle". Lotte is one of the major corporations that pretty effectively run Korea's economy. Hence they have a huge grocery and department store and a massive apartment complex towering over the rest of the city. (yea, i have to get past my anti-corporation thing, quick like). After showing me how to get into my apartment and giving me a rough idea where I was Mr. Suh (or dean) took. This is where the story begins.
So, alone for an entire weekend in a place I don't know with practically no money, a very sparsely furnished and cold apartment, not speaking the language and unfortunately in a "poor" part of town (meaning people don't speak english). This is where I have to give a shout out to Ms Amanda Wentworth. Gal totally saved me by coming to meet me on the day I arrived. I actually got nervous she would miss my place so I went into a pillow shop and spent a lot of my money on a big fluffy pillow so that I could use their phone. The ladies were nice the first time but the second were extremely dismissive (but hey, that's korea). anyways, she pretty much saved me from a week of sitting in my bare ass cold apartment, without food and completely alone. Props indeed.
Worst thing about Korea so far? The old friggin women. At our training seminar we noted how korean women (asians in general really) age really well. One of my friends is dating an asian who's forty, doesn't look 30. Crazy! But at some point a switch is thrown and they go from being attractive to...terrifying. So these terrifying little women (none over 5'1''), who look like gremlins, basically roam around owning people. They'll cut you in line on the subway, they'll wonder into your path (intentionally?) on the sidewalk. They stop randomly and they spread out and walk slowly. If I somehow manage not to punch one by the end of my stay it will be a miracle. to be fair to these shrivelled old hags, they have basically come from third world conditions. 60 years ago Korea looked like an asian somalia and it's been through years of repression under dictators. The youth of today have no idea but man, their grandmothers have seen and been through some serious stuff. This is what I tell myself when I'm trying to not shove a little old lady who just elbowed me in the stomach to get in line in front of me.
The best thing was my night last friday. I was invited by the Faculty to an all male dinner "meeting". Little did I know what I was in for. They put me smack dab next to the principal who was actually very chill but I was nervous about making a bad impression. they called me out for waving instead of bowing when I was introduced on Monday. But that's just Korean bluntness, man up ya'know? anyways, so the way these things work is that you have an open grill and you cook meat and eat and drink beer and soju (soft sake is my best description) until you think you'll explode. Your glass is always kept full by someone and it's respectful to poor for someone in a high position. So everyone wants to poor for the principal. 7pm rolls around and the principal of our school is looking a little wild eyed and I'm good and sauced enough to be laughing and trying to help with the meat on the grill (completely ineffective). The next step of any friday night party is to wander off to find a place to drink. Get that. First you stuff yoruself silly, then you gotta pack down Korean beer and soju. I'm not sure how I did it. My fraternity training finally paid off cause they definitely haze the new guys. by this point I'm loudly advocating how I should be a snowboard instructor at our school because "very little english is required to teach" and everyone is nodding along like this makes perfect sense. It's at this point things start to get hazy. The "captain was gone" said one person, which means completely toasted. snacks at the bar included peanuts, rice crisps and little fried friggin fish which they all kept trying to make me eat. NOOOOOOOO. literally my response. Now at some point we all got out of there and staggered off to a noribang (think karaoke) and this is where the party began. I don't speak or understand any korean so the songs were mostly meaningless to me but the grand thing about alcohol is that you just don't give a damn. Eventually they picked a beatles song and we all wailed out loud and proud. I am happy to say that, completely fucked up, I still speak english well enough to get a 100 (that is to say, better than most koreans). There was some awkwardness regarding closeness issues, one of the dudes started kinda dancing with me but I later learned that he was actually just really really nice and they are only that physically close to people who are close to them. it's a korean thing. So anyways, after a rendition of hey jude (only 96!) I figured it was probably time to stagger back home. the next day, vomiting and sickness were my prize. But still, best night so far!
the air here is pretty bad, I have a chest cold but maybe that's not strange considering I work at a middle school. I shelled out 2000 won to get cough medicine (all of a buck fifty). I just realized that I'm not sleeping enough which is why I'm starting to look so haggard so I'm going to bed.
next post; thoughts on cultural mixing and first impressions on school life.
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Everyone of us SMOE teachers was fairly nervous during pickup. First impressions are critical both ways and we knew we were stuck with what we got for the year. It was quite gut wrenching to watch each new car drive across the soccer field to carry us away. Or it should have been. But the first woman to go had a nice old dude who helped her with her luggage. the next dude to go had two cute coteachers together (still think he's lucky). Than mine arrived; picture young family man with wife and baby in tow. Mr. SUH. It's tough to say, it sounds like a sound. I was brilliantly lucky to find a teacher who actually speak REALLY good english. Unlike many speakers in Korea he even sounds natural. My apartment was located on the main street right next to some restaraunts and a pillow shop (important later). Its pretty easy to stay oriented because most of the buildings around me are two story except for this massive complex called "Lotte Castle". Lotte is one of the major corporations that pretty effectively run Korea's economy. Hence they have a huge grocery and department store and a massive apartment complex towering over the rest of the city. (yea, i have to get past my anti-corporation thing, quick like). After showing me how to get into my apartment and giving me a rough idea where I was Mr. Suh (or dean) took. This is where the story begins.
So, alone for an entire weekend in a place I don't know with practically no money, a very sparsely furnished and cold apartment, not speaking the language and unfortunately in a "poor" part of town (meaning people don't speak english). This is where I have to give a shout out to Ms Amanda Wentworth. Gal totally saved me by coming to meet me on the day I arrived. I actually got nervous she would miss my place so I went into a pillow shop and spent a lot of my money on a big fluffy pillow so that I could use their phone. The ladies were nice the first time but the second were extremely dismissive (but hey, that's korea). anyways, she pretty much saved me from a week of sitting in my bare ass cold apartment, without food and completely alone. Props indeed.
Worst thing about Korea so far? The old friggin women. At our training seminar we noted how korean women (asians in general really) age really well. One of my friends is dating an asian who's forty, doesn't look 30. Crazy! But at some point a switch is thrown and they go from being attractive to...terrifying. So these terrifying little women (none over 5'1''), who look like gremlins, basically roam around owning people. They'll cut you in line on the subway, they'll wonder into your path (intentionally?) on the sidewalk. They stop randomly and they spread out and walk slowly. If I somehow manage not to punch one by the end of my stay it will be a miracle. to be fair to these shrivelled old hags, they have basically come from third world conditions. 60 years ago Korea looked like an asian somalia and it's been through years of repression under dictators. The youth of today have no idea but man, their grandmothers have seen and been through some serious stuff. This is what I tell myself when I'm trying to not shove a little old lady who just elbowed me in the stomach to get in line in front of me.
The best thing was my night last friday. I was invited by the Faculty to an all male dinner "meeting". Little did I know what I was in for. They put me smack dab next to the principal who was actually very chill but I was nervous about making a bad impression. they called me out for waving instead of bowing when I was introduced on Monday. But that's just Korean bluntness, man up ya'know? anyways, so the way these things work is that you have an open grill and you cook meat and eat and drink beer and soju (soft sake is my best description) until you think you'll explode. Your glass is always kept full by someone and it's respectful to poor for someone in a high position. So everyone wants to poor for the principal. 7pm rolls around and the principal of our school is looking a little wild eyed and I'm good and sauced enough to be laughing and trying to help with the meat on the grill (completely ineffective). The next step of any friday night party is to wander off to find a place to drink. Get that. First you stuff yoruself silly, then you gotta pack down Korean beer and soju. I'm not sure how I did it. My fraternity training finally paid off cause they definitely haze the new guys. by this point I'm loudly advocating how I should be a snowboard instructor at our school because "very little english is required to teach" and everyone is nodding along like this makes perfect sense. It's at this point things start to get hazy. The "captain was gone" said one person, which means completely toasted. snacks at the bar included peanuts, rice crisps and little fried friggin fish which they all kept trying to make me eat. NOOOOOOOO. literally my response. Now at some point we all got out of there and staggered off to a noribang (think karaoke) and this is where the party began. I don't speak or understand any korean so the songs were mostly meaningless to me but the grand thing about alcohol is that you just don't give a damn. Eventually they picked a beatles song and we all wailed out loud and proud. I am happy to say that, completely fucked up, I still speak english well enough to get a 100 (that is to say, better than most koreans). There was some awkwardness regarding closeness issues, one of the dudes started kinda dancing with me but I later learned that he was actually just really really nice and they are only that physically close to people who are close to them. it's a korean thing. So anyways, after a rendition of hey jude (only 96!) I figured it was probably time to stagger back home. the next day, vomiting and sickness were my prize. But still, best night so far!
the air here is pretty bad, I have a chest cold but maybe that's not strange considering I work at a middle school. I shelled out 2000 won to get cough medicine (all of a buck fifty). I just realized that I'm not sleeping enough which is why I'm starting to look so haggard so I'm going to bed.
next post; thoughts on cultural mixing and first impressions on school life.
