My Homestay: No Place Like the 집

집=chib=home

No place like home! Here's a brief tour of the apartment, starting from the arrow.

When you enter, take your shoes off! This is a small entryway just for that purpose. Some households have a recession in the floor rather than a separate room to gently remind you to remove your shoes. We were told that the most disrespectful things we could do to our homestay family is wear shoes into the house. Never ever ever.

After the sliding door, to the left, is the general room, equipped with TV, floor table, piano, and air conditioning unit (has been only turned on one time since I arrived). The only thing I wish this room had is a couch. I can easily sit on the floor to watch TV or eat dinner when we use the floor table, but not much else; my body isn't used to it. I would prefer to do things like use the computer and study Korean here, it's too uncomfortable.

If you do a 180 turn, then you're facing the kitchen. My homestay family and I usually eat at the table, since there's only four of us. There's the typical stove, fridge, sink, (the essential) rice cooker, but NO oven. Meaning no baking. There will be another post on homestay food, and how this affects my new diet.




On the left of the kitchen is the bathroom. I have a continuing stream of thoughts on the cultural differences between the Korean and American bathroom. Look for another post.


Also to the left is my room. My contract stipulates that I have my own room and a bed (as opposed to floor mats). Other furnishings include a desk, bookshelves (filled with books), a fan, a freestanding clothes rack, and a wardrobe. Not much space.... This picture was actually taken from outside my room. The space between my room and the outside is a long skinny rectangular space for storage, the clothes washer, trash, etc.

This is my favorite picture, it shows why I'm in the right homestay:

Me and 600 Middle School Girls

It's already been more than a month of teaching here at Seogwi Jungang Girls Middle School (SGJA GMS). The gym is the blue rectangle in the smaller field north of the crazy six-arm rotary (click here). Five weeks of 16 classes a week and I'm still learning how to be a teacher, especially how to be the English foreign teacher.... here's what happens in a day, start to finish.

교무실=kyo-moo-shil=teachers' office

I arrive everyday at about 8:00am in the 교무실. After greeting everyone ("an-nyong-ha-seh-yo" with a bow), I can sit down at my desk and use the 8-9am hour to check the news, check facebook, finish the lesson plan, drink coffee, etc. Every class (example, 2nd grade class 4) has its own classroom, so the teachers go to the students instead of the students go to the taechers' classroom. All teachers have a desk in the 교무실, and this is mine! My waterbottle, my notebook (for daily new Korean words), and Fondren.

교실=kyo-shil=classroom

Unlike most of the other teachers, I have my own classroom, equipped with an overhead projector, computers, a sound system, and a remote-controlled cooling/heating system. I pretty happy that I don't have to switch rooms. Look right to see my desk (trusty water bottle and blog on computer screen) and the empty classroom. Outside my window is Hallasan, the volcano. I have 35-40 students every class, which makes teaching all the more difficult. They're also very chatty.

식당=shik-dang=restaurant (cafeteria)

I now eat lunch with a group of students at the 'English Lunch Table' each week. A group of students escort me from my classroom to the cafeteria, where we can cut to the front of the line (teacher perks!). The tray and chopsticks, like in Chuncheon, are tin. I'm not sure if the food is better because it's actually better or because I don't have to eat it three times a day. What scares me most in the cafeteria is the potential for stains. Most meals have some sort of red sauce, and, remember, there's a swarm of middle school girls walking around. No cloth casualties yet, but all the same, I'm en garde. Not much talking, even English, happens during lunch. Koreans don't tend to speak during meals and the cafeteria is loud. Last thing: I picked up very quickly that Wednesday (tomorrow!) is special lunch day!

학원=hag-won=Korean after-school academy
The hagwon system frustrates me to no end as a teacher; there may be enough for a whole other post, but here's the short version. The majority of my students attend hagwon(s) after school. There's science hagwons, math hagwons, English hagwon, etc. My homestay sister attends 3 different hagwons: math hagwon and English hagwon meet Mon thru Friday each for 2 hours, and science hagwon for 3 hours on the weekend. What this means for me is that all the students are at different levels of English speaking ability. Some are fantastic, I barely slow my pace at all, and others can't say a word. All the girls that do taekwondo, only do taekwondo and not hagwon, and consequently speak very little English.

교복=kyo-bok=school uniform

It seems all Korean students wear uniforms. The warm weather uniform is a turquoise skirt and short sleeve white shirt; the cold weather uniform is a maroon skirt and vest with a long sleeve skirt. Look at the anime I pulled from the school website. Currently, as the weather is transitioning, the girls can pick which uniform to wear. Some have told me they prefer the vests because it makes them look skinnier. Some students prefer to wear their P.E. clothes (tshirt and shorts or pants), but can only do that when they have P.E. class that day. I have seen a couple students wear pants, but I don't know why the exception. The great thing about the uniforms combined with the fact that I teach all the students in the school is that when I know who are mine students when I see them around town. Some say hello, some say howdy, some try to ignore me. I often use this as a chance to practice Korean, which surprises them. They're even more surprised when I'm in my exercise clothes. "Tee-cha!"

영어 선생님=yung-aw sun-saeg-nim=English teacher
Korea has quite an foreign English teacher culture. Besides the 70 Fulbright ETAs in Korea, the Korean government imports more than 600 native English speakers (from America, England, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia--the 6 approved English speaking nations) every year. And some schools and English hagwons hire foreign teachers on their own terms. I stand out because I'm white, but everyone (correctly) assumes I'm an English teacher. There's only 5 Fulbright ETAs in Seogwipo, but I've seen many foreigners (usually caucasians and African-Americans) around Seogwipo. I'm not alone...

Taekwondo is Much More ______ Than the Gym

There's so many words to fill that blank! TKD at Hyundae Dojang is fun, time-consuming, humiliating, frustrating, entertaining, cute....

I joined a dojang my second week here in Seogwipo. There's an English teacher here from last year who let us (me and another new ETA in Seogwipo, Ashley) tag along. We started our second week here in Seogwipo, about 4 weeks ago. So far, it's been a fun, time-consuming, humiliating, frustrating, and entertaining experience.


Time-consuming: TKD is definitely time-consuming. I go everyday, leaving the apartment at 6pm and coming back around 8pm. That's about 2hrs of my day that's inflexible. One drawback. But...

Fun: Taekwondo is definitely fun; we're hanging out with kids for 2hrs everyday. On top of that, we sometime skip the TKD and justplay games (like dodgeball, piggy-back rock-paper-scissor relays, etc).
Humiliating: Because I (1) am the worst and oldest there, (2) I don't understand what's foinf on half the time. This ties in with frustrating.
Entertaining: Because I usually don't know what's going on. I either try to piece together the kids limited English and actions (entertaining) or make-up my own explanation (also entertaining). This is also a theme of daily life in Korea.
Cute: This TKD dojang has its own mascot, Kim Wong Gang. She 5yrs old, shows up to TKD everyday, and is adorable. She seems to be there just for the master, the instructor, and the students to play around with her. Super cute.

The first day, rIght after I walked out of the changing room, I heard "TEE-CHA!". There was black-belt TKD-star Yu-Gin, one of my middle school students. Her English is pretty much non-existent since she goes to TKD instead of English Academy. We're friends all the same. Ashley and I are in what I would call the rag-tag class. The group of students before us, Yu-Gin's class, is the black-belt competition group (about 10-14yrs old). Our group is a collection of about 8 junior high and high school boys, 2 college students, and us silly American girls. The black belts sometimes stay and join our class for a little extra physical training.

I pretty bad at learning Korean names. Erin's to the left of me and Yu-Gin on the right. Otherwise, all I can say is there's 'Batman' in the Batman shirt, 'Chopstick boy' (not pictured, tall and skinny), 'I'm watching you boy' (blue front center), 'Number 4' behind Batman), 'Small Eyes/Dodgeball Crazy' (next to Batman), etc. But, apparently, Western names are hard too! The master nicknamed me Lee Hyori (click!).

Posts to write

These are names of future posts. I want to write them, but am either lacking the time, pictures, motivation...let me know what interests you most!

No place like the 집 (집=home)

Cultural Differences: The Korean Bathroom

Taekwondo is so much more _______ than the gym

The Fight against Broken English: 1 against 585

Food prt 2: Homecookin'

Settling into Seogwipo

Jeju United (soccer game)

Shopping at Emart

Goals & Things to Do

Why would you be a good detective?

I'm theming all my lessons to be a big game of Carmen Sandiego. For the first lesson, all the students "became" detectives; I had them fill out applications. Some students didn't understand the question. Some students understood and wrote answers from the board. Others were more interesting. Take a look! There's a lot, be sure to check the last one.

"I'm clever."

"I guess well."

"I am intelligent and brave."

"I like thinking hard and finding clues."

"Just because."

"I want to be famous."

"I can catch thieves."

"Because I'm cute <3."

"I am very serious and clever." ".........."

"Because...hmmm yo so cool."
"I'm a good traveler." (important for chasing Carmen)

"I'm very healthy. I'm very fast. I'm very smart."

"I want world peace." (Is she practicing for a beauty pageant?) "I hate thieves but I love detectives. I want peace." "I don't want to be a good detective." (a rebel!)

"I don't want to be a detective. I want to be a thief." (now Carmen's a role model)

"Thief is bad guy. Thief's had to die."

"Because good detective is very handsome."

"Because good detective is so cool."

"I'm working hard."

"I'm elite."

"I'm good at guessing, speaking another language. And I'm smart and work hard, genius --> But my friend don't think so." (by Hee-Jin, just call her Jean)

"Because it is a very good work."

"(...) And I study hard; so, maybe I am a smart girl." (she wrote a lot, yes she is smart!)

"I want some 'money'!!"

"In fact, my original dream is being a good police detective and I want to major in criminal psychology at the university. So if I would be a good detective, I would work really hard with my passion." (WOW Kang De-Yeon)

"I am not stupid." (good start...)

"Because I am very smart and I have charisma."

"HAGUIS MAGIC Pantie. My brain is very special. I am very genious. Olleh~!)" (?? I have no idea what's going on...look below for a surprise)

"funny, cool, thrill"

"I like 혼스. I like solving puzzles. I'm spontaneous."

"I have a loud voice. I am good at hide. I am speak another language."

"Because detective is smart, brave, and use very interesting technology."

"Catch Carmen Sandiego"

"(...) I speak 7 languages." (liar!)

"I don't NO!"

The most intense answer: (I was surprised.)

"I want to fight with devil. Carmen Sandiego didn't keep the rules. So she is the devil of the world."

Oh, my Korean girls. What an interesting year we will have together.

Koreans Love Their 팝 스타

팝 스타 = ppahb seu-tah = pop star

It's obvious...Koreans love their K-pop (Korean pop) stars. They're on tv all the time, in advertisements everywhere, and inspire the desk graffiti that my girls do ('TVXQ', 'Big Bang', '2PM', 'Shinee') are written all over the desks and chairs in my classroom).

In addition, one of the top three most read articles of the Korean Times features a pop star or actor. Today, the most read: Jae-beom Leaves 2PM (a 7 member boy band)! The third most read: Seoul Asks NK (North Korea) to Apologize for Deadly Flood. [FYI, there's also a boy band called 2AM.]

This should be BIG news. The English Wikipedia article has already been updated; actually, it's been updated more than 200 times in the last 24hrs. I wonder how disastrous this will be for class today....

2PM: "The hottest time of the day."

Good-bye Jae-beom (bottom center)

Korean 텔레비전

텔레비전 = tel-leh-pi-jan = television

I'm unsure if I'll have more or less fun watching Korean TV when I can understand what they're saying...it's fun enough as it is to make up or guess what they're doing. The programming is really different, making it a completely different experiences. The most interesting for me are the K-dramas (Korean dramas) and the comedy/talk shows.

K-dramas: In terms of the plot, Korean dramas are essentially soap operas. However, Korean dramas are limited in length, perhaps only 20 1-hr episodes--not a never-ending saga of stretched plot lines. There's a 99.9% guarantee that the drama will have a love triangle (if not multiple love triangles), and I want to say it's usually a girl and two guys. I've seen bits of some on TV, but really got into (meaning it devoured my time) Winter Sonata, and am now watching Take Care of the Young Lady (or called My Fair Lady). Korea has no or very lax piracy laws, which is great for me; I can find all the episodes online with English subtitles.

Winter Sonata: This was aired in 2002, but was extremely popular. It contributed to the Korean Wave that swept Japan (maybe just now hitting the US) and the rest of Asia. The male lead, Bae Joon Yong, was a middle-aged woman magnet. This was a good first Korean drama experience for me. Little cultural differences were conspicuous. The plot focuses much more on love as a feeling more so than any physical manifestations of love. For example, kisses were rare and hugs were treated very dramatically. There was no sex, but had there been any implications of sex, it would have been scandalous. This may appear very innocent compared to American TV standards.

Take Care of the Young Lady/My Fair Lady: This is good for me to watch because I can discuss it with my students (I sometimes pretend I don't know what's going on and they should explain it to me). It's also healthier than Winter Sonata because it is currently being aired, I am only allowed small doses. The My Fair Lady title fits; the plot is the inverse of the original: a young rich spoilt lady is being civilized (manners) by her poor butler.

Korean comedy and talk shows: This is the most interesting to watch; I never know what's going on. Some shows are extremely random. Tonight, my Ahmma, Jong-Een, and I watched a show about a man's flying squirrel pets that happened to be on. The flying squirrels' appearance reminded me of the compliments I get from Koreans, especially my students: small face and big eyes! The Korean talk shows usually feature Korean celebrities doing random things. The celebrities are guests or part of shows so often that it seems like a part time job. I've seen them having to make campfire seafood dishes, taking care of babies, anything!

Television is currently the number one way to bond with the host-stay family. With Jong-Een, it's the easiet--I just ask her which guy's the cutest.

To the top of Hallasan with 아빠

아빠 = ah-ppa = dad (my homestay father)

Hallasan's is the volcano that made Jeju Island and is also the highest point (1950m) in Korea--definitely a big tourist attraction. The trail we hiked was a gradual altitude climb, so much so that it took 4hrs up and 3hrs down. This post will be easier if I break this up into time slots....

Ahppa is a civil engineer with his own design or development company. When the family went to Pyosan for a family gathering, he showed me the stone walk along the beach, which is pretty nice. After we left, he then told me that he designed it. Out of all the family members, I see him the least. Like Ohmma, he also doesn't speak English, which limits our conversation abilities. But you don't need to know Korean to hike!

7:00am: Family breakfast. I've not yet gotten used to squid, especially for breakfast, so I don't eat much.

7:20am: I ask what I should take. Camera? Of course. Water? For sure. I think I'm set, but not so fast. 옴마 (ohm-ma) is asking about pants, gloves, a sports towel, and a jacket (I'm in shorts, tennis shoes, and a tshirt). I put all of the above in my backpack. Both she and 아빠 are in serious hiking wear: pants, long-sleeve shirt, hiking boots, hats, backpacks, and food.

7:30am: We drive to the trailhead.

8:00am: Arrive at the trailhead. My best guess is that we started the hike at 300-500m elevation. 아빠 (Ahppa)'s friend fro Jejusi is waiting for us. The two men start walking fast, leaving Ohmma behind. Not quite sure what's going on, so I keep up with them. It's foggy and damp, not too hot, but I start sweating. Remember, I'm in shorts and a shirt--they're in pants and long-sleeves. I think their clothing is more for protection from the sun the temperal comfort.

10:30am: We reach a resting point and stop for food. The food turns out to be a meal: cup o'ramen, fruit, soju, juice, crackers, and chocolate. 15min after we arrive Ohmma shows up. We all eat together and then split. Ahppa, Ahppa's friend, and I head for the top of Hallasan while Ohmma goes back down. It is prohibited to start hiking past the rest point after 12:3opm, so if you want to make it to the top, get an early start.

11:00am: A little bit later, while taking a short break, we talk to the other hikers resting. Turns out the other foreigner (the only one I've seen so far) is a Frenchwomen from Avignon. She's come to spend a month in Korea all by herself--pretty gutsy for not knowing Korean well. She's the first native French speaker that I've conversed with in months...and the first in Korea!

11:30am: We've reached the top (after 10km hiking)! The top of Hallasan is above the clouds. Unlike the forest at the beginning of the trail, we're now basking in the sunlight. I was actually hoping for no clouds and a clear view of the island, but no such luck. It's still pretty though; it's hard to see what's the ocean and what's the sky past the sea of clouds. And Ahppa has more food, kim bap, to eat. Way more food than I'm used to for a hike. We spend maybe 30min at the top, then it's time to head down...

12:20-2:50pm: All the way down Hallasan. For me, going down is always much harder than going up. At this point, I feel bad for wearing my running shoes; their cushions are getting ruined. The path is made of uneven rocks, so not only am I ruining my shoes, but I have to be careful of my footing or else I slip. We passed tons of people hiking up, almost a constant stream of people, who just made the 12:30pm cutoff time. On the whole way down I see maybe 10 causcasians, which is maybe 3% of all the hikers I saw that day (do the math....it was crowded!).

2:50pm: When we reach the bottom, Ohmma's there waiting for us. I'm surprised she waited and didn't take the bus back (less than $2). I more sleepy tired than sore. Once we get home I take a good nap....

Monday dinner: Ahppa tells me that next time we'll take a different course....next time.

What my 엄마 did to me

엄마 = awm-ma = mom (my homestay mother)

Look what she did!

No, that's not blood. (Although, I've had a couple tumbles and, consequently, have a stronghold on the Korean words for blood, bandaid, nurse, pharmacy, and medicine). No, this is a form of pampering.

She crused dried flower petals and leaves into balsam to apply to my nails. While watching a Korean drama, she first isolated the nail bed with medical tape, put a small bit of the flower/balsam mix on the nail, then wrapped and tied a strip of plastic around my finger tip. And, oh, by the way, don't take these off till you wake up in the morning!

The result:
There were two rounds: Thursday and Friday night. All ten fingers and big toes too. "When the orange goes away, in two months (!), you'll have pretty fingernails."

I'm not quite sure how this works, in fact I'm doubtful. The nail will grow out and be replaced by new fingernail, to which the flower balsam ointment was not applied. I'm thinking it looks pretty by comparison. In the meantime, it looks like one of my sloppier students took a orange marker to my nails (sorry 엄마). Unless the results are beyond fantastic, I don't think I'll be repeating this. Come back for the after after pictures.

Otherwise, in regards to my 엄마, I can't complain. She fits the role of the general Korean 주부 (chu-bu = housewife). Outside the hours she works as an assistant at her husband's construction company, she's cooking, cleaning, and/or doing laundry. She homecooks everything; we haven't eaten out once since I've been here. It's a lot better than the cafeteria food. I do enjoy the good ol' cereal and milk combo every so often, but there's not many chances. She never lets be hungry enough to go searching for my own food.

She's sweet and caring, but our conversations have been limited--she doesn't speak English. She knows a few words and phrases, like "Good morning/night" and "Let's go". We're learning together...

Serious about Swine Flu

신종인플루엔자=shin-jong-in-peul-lu-en-cha= New Influenza=swine flu

For me this seems like the second wave of swine flu; the American scare had come and gone before I left the States. It seemed to be no big deal--contagious, yes, but no more deadly than the regular flu. Since I've arrived in Korea, swine flu has been a thing of the present, everyone's concerned. Don't joke about swine flu. Several indicators that Korea's serious....

July 5th (arrived in South Korea): Everyone's temperature was checked once we got off of the plane. At the time, I thought this was customary procedure. Looking back, it may have been swine flu (new foreigners!).

July 6th (2nd day in Korea): The night after arriving, one of the ETAs gets sick, enough to go to the hospital. Most likely from the stress of traveling for 24+ hours (dehydration) and eating foreign food. But the university doesn't see it that way--we're potential swine flu carriers, fresh from America. That being the case, we are isolated for 24 hours; we stay in the dorm all day and eat in a separate room in the cafeteria. We almost had to wear face masks. Everyone found this slightly amusing, but we understood the message: do NOT joke about swine flu. I feel like such a filthy disease carrying animal. While this is an experience, I'm careful about who I tell this to. Americans, yes. Koreans, no.

July 12th (at the taekwondo tournament): We see an informational sign about flu prevention. Cover your cough, wash your hands, etc. There's also a sign now in the dorm.

Later that week: I read on the Korean Times that an international choir competition (the World Choir Championships) is canceled because one volunteer and one international group possibly had influenza.

August 18th (arriving in Seogwipo): My homestay sister tells me that her parents had a huge trip to Europe planned, but they canceled it. Why? Swine flu. Don't worry new family--I've been in Korea for six weeks now....I shouldn't be a carrier.

August ~24th: Another ETA tells me that instead of starting school classes are canceled for a week. Why? Swine flu.

September 2nd (yesterday): The Korean Times reports the 4th death of a Korean from swine flu. Actually, the deaths have been associated with swine flu, actually causation is not confirmed. This last death was a middle-aged woman who already had several other ailments (diabetes, kidney failure, and hypertension).

September 3rd (today): I arrive at school to find a line of students and three teachers in face masks (one's the school nurse). They're taking body temperatures, looking for suspicious symptoms (body temp > 37.8 degrees C = fever, maybe swine flu). There was also a swine flu prevention staff meeting before school started. I got the gist of things, but I'll be checking in with the school nurse. Now we have something to talk about.

Future: I hope no one (teachers or students) get swine flu...

Week 1 School Report

서귀중앙여자중학교=sog-gy-joong-ang-yaw-ja-joong-hak-kyou

=Seogwi Jungang Girls Middle School

So I haven't yet hit blog mode since moving to Seogwipo. (The lack of coffee is playing a large part....). Last week, I was watching Winter Sonata, Monday and Tuesday I was reading The Girl With the Pearl Earring, so today I should start blogging. I'm sorry!

미안합니다 = mi-an-ham-ni-da= sorry

The first week of school went by quickly. Teaching's fun, but definitely not for the long-term. This is my school report for week 1. I teach every student once a week; that's 16 classes with 35-40 students each. Each class stays together--they travel from classroom to classroom together. This means that the English level within one class is varied...some students don't speak at all, some speak a lot.

Day 1 (Monday): Sue Yeon (my coteacher) showed me my desk in the teacher's office. Everyone's nice, but not many English speakers. For class, I let students guess where I'm from by placing dots on a rough map of the US. I play hangman with the word 'HOWDY'. The hangmans die every class--hard word this Texan word! I tell the students that if someone says "Howdy!", you have to say "Howdy!" back. All students recognize me as the foreign teacher (I

m the only non-Korean at the school.) Most say hi or hello and are very welcoming.

Day 2 (Tuesday): I bring peaches and grapes for all the teachers. Same lesson, the hangman still dies. I start getting compliments on my small face. I eat lunch with the teachers. Sue Yeon shows me all the boxes filled with the stuff from the previous ETAs. It's like finding a teacher's version of a treasure chest.

Day 3 (Wednesday): The students have noticed my nosering. The want to ask me if it is sick ("Teacher....sick?" while pointing. Sick and hurt are the same word in Korean. Hangmans still not survive the infamous howdy. During lunch, the ethics teacher comments on my chopstick skills.

Day 4 (Thursday): The teachers have noticed my nosering. They ask me what happens when I blow my nose. Hangmans, even with eyes, mouth, feet, and hands, still die from "howdy". I'm surprised the students haven't told each other.

Day 5 (Friday): Sue Yeon introduces me to the other two young people at the school: the home ec teacher and the school nurse, both very nice but shy when it comes to speaking English. Those two are good friends, but make an odd pair. The school nurse is the very tall while the home ec teacher is very short, even for a Korean. All the teachers go out to dinner to celebrate the promotion of one of the history teachers to vice-principal (at another school). Dinner's great--I get to talk with the teachers more. Sue Yeon tells me that the principal is very impressed with my clothes (I was very formal the first week). After dinner, all the teachers go to round 2. The principal (a woman) tells me that they will sing and dance (she boogies!). However, I have a (homestay) family obligation and don't go. But a good end to the first week! Students still say "HI" to me in the hallway, but some say "Howdy!"

There's so much more to talk about...but later! I promise--more posts more often.

This is my school website: sgja-g.ms.kr If you click the first word on the very left of the orange tab at the top (학교안내) and then click the 7th word under that (선생님소개) , you'll find a directory of the teachers. These are all the people I now work with!