Pretending to be too busy to post

We have been ignoring the blog too much because we don't want to post very long posts with our busy schedule.  We will be back to doing regular posts soon.  We will try to do a post 1-3 times a week.  We'll do shorter posts, but looking for interesting things about Korea.  We are getting closer to the end of our contract and we are thinking that we are not going to resign with Etonhouse.  There are some things going on and we are looking for a new job.  We are not sure what we are going to do yet, but we are looking for a new place in Korea down south or Japan.  So long story short, we want to make the best of our last months of our contract in Korea because it might be our last.

First post of randomness that happens in our lives everyday, ADVERTISEMENTS!!!!! We live in a studio apartment called an Officetel which means the building could be used for living or business.  So we are use to having lots of people in our building that could live here or be here for business.  Anyone who passes by our door always leaves an advertisement. The ones on the doors are only from this week.  We throw it away at the end of each week.  Then we start over collecting them again.  We are in a busy area having a subway station in our basement.  That's it for now, we'll have more to come.

Korean Folk Village

Over our summer break we traveled to a Korean Folk Village about 45 minutes from our apartment. Some of these villages are actually lived in and others are just set up to look like the original villages. This one, people actually still live there. The first thing that we did when we got inside the village, was check out these white string-like covered trees. Turns out they are wishes. There is a table and your are supposed to put your wish on a piece of paper and tie it to the tree in hopes that it will come true...kinda neat! They never seem to take any of the wishes down, so it is covered with these papers and I guess when they are full they just make a new one.

The village is divided into different social classes and you could go around and see how each class lived. There is also a zen garden and an amusement park attached to the village. We did not go into the amusement park. There is also some beautiful flower gardens that I got a chance to take some photos of.

Besides checking out the buildings and flower gardens, there are scheduled performances to take in throughout the day. The first thing we watched was the Farmer's Music and Dance. This has about fifteen men dressed in traditional apparel, the instrumentalists were basically playing different pans and drums. The dancers had long ribbon-like strings attached to their hats which they twirl in circles while dancing. They also did some leaps here and there. The climax of this performance was a gentleman with a really long ribbon that he performed several jumping tricks with.
The second performance we caught was the Equestrian Feats. This was a lot of trick riding and they showed how they would hunt boars. It was fun to watch them chase after the horse and get back on it.
The final show that we watched was the Tightrope Acrobat. This was interesting for a little while, but after watching him cross so many times it got a little old. The acrobat was an older gentleman and he used a lot of jokes in his show (all in Korean). He did some really difficult things and had a fan for balance as he walked across. He did some jumping to a sit on the rope as well as going to one knee.

There was one show that we didn't get a chance to catch and that was a reinactment of a traditional wedding. Maybe we'll visit again and get a chance to watch this. I'm not sure what performances are consistant. We were there during their summer schedule and it seems that some things change for each season.

There is a lot to take in at the folk village and there are many things that we didn't get a chance to experience. Also, there was construction and some flooding at the river, so some things were closed. There are some experiences that you can also be a part of such as dyeing material, a pottery workshop, a fan workshop, and a few more.

Most of the things at the village that are available for purchase are hand-crafted there. There is a wood carver, a knot tying shop, pipe maker, and many others. We both bought some bracelets with hand crafted knots as well as a fan and some hand carved ducks. The other interesting thing was that it all seemed to be at a reasonable price.

We enjoyed a nice lunch there as well, which we had been told not to miss out on the food there. It was very good. We look forward to visiting there again.

First School Fieldtrip to the Strawberry Farm

So when I was thinking strawberry farm, I thought, "Oh neat, we are going to see what a farm in Korea looks like." Wrong. So it the drive was about an hour to get there. There were rows and rows of greenhouses surrounded by a dusty lot. Inside the greenhouses were long mounded rows of trashbag-like material with strawberry plants shooting up out of them. Not at all what I would call a farm. The entire presentation was in Korean, so neither Chris nor I or any of the foreign teachers for that matter understood what was being said to the children. Each child was given a plastic carton to fill. After some time, the ladies at the farm told us to stop and give the containers to them. From there we went to another greenhouse with picnic tables inside and had to sit around them. They brought out bowls of already cleaned and cut up strawberries that the children squeezed and smashed by hand. Once each class had their strawberries mushed enough they were all poured into big pots. Each of the children got a chance to use the big spoons and stir the jam. We had lunch afterwards and all of the children had about an hour to play in some open area before getting back on the buses. Every child got to take home a container of strawberries and a jar of jam! None of the teachers were allowed any of the strawberries, but we did get to sample one or two before they were cleaned. They tasted funny, so we weren't too disappointed.

What I've learned in Korea

I will be writing different things that I have learned in Korea in different segments.  There is so much to cover and it seems like everyone's experiences that we have talked to are different as well when coming to this country.

First topic: Korean People helpfulness?

What I've seen is that Korean people are very nice and are willing to help whenever they can.  When we tell this to other Korean's or even foreign teachers they are very shocked.  I don't know what other people have experienced, but we are very forgiving for some things just because this isn't our culture.  One of the things that is not considered rude is bumping into each other.  When a Korean walks into someone, they will not turn around or say sorry, they will just continue to walk along like nothing has happened.  This is pretty understandable because there are so many people in different areas that it almost impossible to not bump into anyone. The basic moto is walk to where you need to go at your own pace, and if that means pushing people away that's fine.  I think the other problem people have is older men and women.  They feel like they should be treated better because they are older.  In all reality, Korea still has a lot of Confucius ideas in their society, and respecting your elders in a gracious way is one of them.  I don't mind it because I should be more respectful to them, but I usually am not.  Most of the time older Korean men and women are very curious about foreigners so they will try to communicate with us.  Some will try to practice English while others will babble in Korean and I just shake my head and try to use hand signs.  It's usually the younger Koreans who can speak a lot more English and can help us out more if we need help.  Overall we have enjoyed our experiences with other Koreans and love interacting with them more.

Lotte World

 So we had been to this mall that has an amusement park inside it. Actually it is said to be the largest indoor amusement park! We walked past it and the logo to the park is almost an exact replica of Disney. So we figured this has to be good if it looks similar to Disney. So we decided to check it out. It feels like a mock off of Disney. It's a really cool place and has some things that seem very Disney-like. The park is an indoor and outdoor park on the top floor of a mall. There are a lot of little kid rides and some rides that seemed too adult for being on the main floor. The admission cost us about 32,000 won a piece this was with a 10% discount that we heard is for foreigners! Also, it is cheaper to go on the weekdays (which we'll keep in mind if we go back later this year). There is a ride that goes all over the park (similar to the monorail) and stops on both sides of the park. There is a hot air balloon ride that goes all around the ceiling of the indoor part, but we didn't get a chance to ride it because of the lines. One interesting thing that we found at the park is that there are all kinds of cute headbands with ears and bows on them. The strangest part about it was that there were really no children wearing them. The adults are the ones who sport the cute animal look around the park...and of course we had to fit in and buy some as well.

Cherry Blossoms in Korea

         This past weekend we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Seoul. We rode the subway to Dangsan station and had to walk about 15 minutes to get there. On our way, we came upon a Boat Show that was going on. We checked it out, but turned around quickly because it seemed really boring. We started walking toward the beautiful trees and there was a young Korean man that approached Chris (we think he was asking directions or wanted to practice his English.) We were traveling with a new teacher on our staff. She just arrived last week from Australia and will begin teaching one of the Pre-K classes next month. Anyway, when the Korean man noticed Natalie and I standing there he seemed very uncomfortable, basically stopped talking and walked away. The street was blocked off for the festival and was absolutely gorgeous! Every tree filled with beautiful pink and white blossoms. There were other trees along with some potted floral arrangements. The other flowers included: azaleas, yellow daisies, tulips, pansies, and many other flowers. We had street vendor food for lunch and found an event for the Korean Red Cross that was going on in another part of the stop that had basketball tournaments and a magic show. It has been so beautiful outside lately, but it doesn't seem like our typical springtime back home. In a lot of ways to Chris and I, it feels like early Fall weather. Cool, moist mornings, hot afternoon and somewhat cold evenings. It's starting to warm up more in the evenings now too. The sad news that we have heard is that the cherry blossoms only last around three weeks, so we better enjoy it while we can.

Arctic Foxes and Pandas

We have been teaching our classes now for almost three weeks. We each have a co-teacher to work with us and plan out each day.
Danelle's class:
Danelle has eleven children in her class. Up until today, I had 10 children, so it was the first day for my newest student. As I said before I am teaching (American age) 2 1/2 to 3 year old children. The first few days of school every class has to decide on the name of their class for the year. I decided to give my kids a choice and show them 6 pictures of animals to choose from. We had hedgehogs, camels, tigers, monkeys, sloths, and pandas. It took a while for the children to answer our questions but it came to a tie and the teachers decided between the two choices. We've been working on the first two letters of the alphabet, a few numbers, and starting some phonics. The kids love to sing the daily songs and enjoy art time.

I have a well rounded group of kids. We are starting to go from the crying stage into actual daily schedules. This past week and this week we actually have done a few lessons. I have a good range of children when it comes to learning. Some of my kids are already tracing numbers and letters, while others are not interested in any of the group work and try to play constantly.

Chris's class:
Chris has 16 kids in his classroom. Its been 3 weeks since the beginning of school and I'm loving my class.  I'm teaching kindergarten-2 which is Korean age 7 and U.S. age 6.  In a lot of ways they would be in 1st grade in U.S terms.  They are very cute and know English very well.  Each of them have their own levels ranging from very high to somewhat low.  This mix of age groups is not very different from back home.  The lucky thing for me is that I have only 16 students. The down side is I have very little space.  One of the big things at EtonHouse in Korea is creating a class name.  The students picked out the name Arctic Fox after a little convincing from the teacher, wink wink.  All I have to do is say how awesome my idea was compaired to the others.

More to come)...