Dunkin' Donuts

                                            

So I finally ventured into a Dunkin Donuts...and let's just say it's a little different.

The only place you can get any large drink, that I've noticed at least, is the movie theater.  And it comes with two straw holes to make fatty Americans feel like shit about themselves :'(

So we go to Dunkin' Donuts and like all other pastry shops it's self serve for any baked goods so you grab your tray and tongs and go peruse the selection, and you get fine choices like the banana doughnut and the Slimmy:

Wanna be slim?

So you bring your tray up to the counter and order your tiny drinks.  Now I love Dunkin' Donuts hot chocolate, especially mixed with the white hot chocolate...which they of course brought back the year I'm gone :(

Anywho, I order a cookies & cream hot chocolate because that just sounds amazing...turns out here they make the fancy hot chocolate with Godivas chocolate and steamed milk and....yeah it just wasn't the same.  And really not that good.  And more expensive then back home because it's a stupid fancy drink.

So yeah I'm really sad that I can't get a good cup of ANYTHING at Dunkin' Donuts because everything is weird and just wrong (not to mention tiny and expensive)

Luckily Angel's In Us is on the first floor of my building and they have some awesome stuff (amazing cookies and cream "blended ice drink") and Cafe Bene across the street isn't too bad.

Random note, Cafe Bene were the first with Christmas decorations up (before Oct 20th I think...) and the main one on the door is so fantastically terrible, it's this super feminine computer designed guy in a sexy Santa suit...I'll have to get a picture and post it later.

Luckily you can find Swiss miss everywhere so I can get simple awesome hot chocolate at home :D

International Shipping

OK, so you want to get stuff from home?

Well, here's what I've noticed.

1. Priority flat rate from the USPS is the cheapest way I've seen for someone to ship to you from the US.  It's worth looking into to see if there are other options but so far that's it.

2. There are sites here (like gmarket.co.kr) or you can order from sites back home (like iherb.com)
As for the giant sites like Amazon...well I don't suggest Amazon unless you have it shipped to family or friends and have them forward it.

Now instead of Amazon I'm going to suggest Overstock.  Overstock will give you the price in US or local amounts AND they will provide you with the EXACT cost of shipping, importing, etc.  And you pay all this upfront so you don't have to worry about a surprise fee later on.  I have not had a chance to use their services yet but I wanted to let you know. AmazonGlobal claims to have a unique service that estimates these...

Amazon...I'm a little upset about this service they have.  It's like the Super Saver Shipping back home, but global.  If you buy more than $125 worth of stuff they'll ship it for free....to INDIA.  They call the service "Global Saver Shipping"  That's like North Korea calling themselves the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...it's just a total freakin lie.  Hurray for India Saver Shipping!


3. DON'T use a forwarding service for packages.  You will have to pay a huge amount to ship it and you won't know how much until the service receives the package.  Not so bad for regular mail though...at least from what I've heard.

Now really your cheapest option is to find someone in the military to get your packages at their APO address, long live free shipping!

Teacher's Fees

Some schools charge a teacher's fee.  It covers the cost of snacks for the office, sometimes the dinners out...

Some schools charge 20,000 per month, some 30,000 per semester...it all depends on the school.  They'll then put the food in the office (where you get some) or hand it out at meetings (and then you're screwed).  Our teachers just bring in the food themselves to share.

My school apparently doesn't charge this but I was told I only got the first teacher's meal free, the rest I'll need to pay for.  Luckily my school doesn't do these too often.  

I know some people pay over 50,000 per meal at these...I hope ours don't get that high...

For the ladies, what to pack!

So we all get addicted to certain products and brands.  Obviously you'll want to take along some of your favorites but here are some things I wish I had known...

Well the first one doesn't really count.  Deodorant.  I knew about the lack of deodorant here, I had heard it in many different places.  If you haven't heard...well come prepared.

Clothes is another one you hear about a bit, in particular bras and shoes.  If you're above like a US size 8 or so you're stuck with just men's shoes.  They are starting to ship in some stuff through like H&M, or you can order online but those are your best bets.  Even Costco doesn't import US 9.  The largest you'll find anywhere here is 250, check out a conversion chart to see if that's in your range back home...

As for bras, I've seen up to a 36C at Gap in Shinsegae at Centum City...but that was only one.  The majority are 34B and under.

Other clothes (shirts and pants) are hit or miss, you'll have better luck with shirts though.  Slowly people are gaining weight here so they're going to have to start catering to more people.

Tampons. I've seen one small pack in a convenience store, and some Playtex at Costco.  That's it.  Come prepared.  As for pads and liners, I came prepared with enough to last a while so I haven't had to buy anything locally yet but if I find any good or terrible ones I'll let you know.  I've heard Poise is good...and is apparently not for old women like it is back home...but I haven't personally tried them.

They have some really good skin care here as well as many familiar brands from back home.  If you need to use a particular soap obviously pack a lot otherwise try out some of the soaps and masks they have available here.

Shaving supplies for women are rare.  The men's selection is much better so if you are ok using men's products then go for it.  They've just started to get in Venus razors, they have them at Home Plus and a few convenience stores.  I haven't seen any shaving cream though.  I didn't look too hard for it but I was told you won't find it anyway so expect to bring some or use soap, conditioner, or the men's kind.

As a side note, one of my girls kept going "teacher clean-ie" and hitting her arm, basically she was surprised that I shaved.  I don't know why but I'm assuming between that and the fact that there are no women's shaving supplies...that women here don't shave their arms.  But don't give up all hope!  Laser hair removal is apparently very cheap here.  I'm planning on getting it done so I'll let you know how it goes.

Taxis

I figure it's time I explain the business with taxis.

FIRST they are insanely cheap.  Like the base fare is 2,200 (roughly $2USD) and that goes for at least the first few minutes of your trip.  A ten minute ride usually costs under 5,000.  When I moved it was about a half hour to forty-five minute rid...and it cost less than 20,000...pretty sure it was around 15,000.  It's been too long, I don't remember.

SECOND they are bat shit crazy.
Like completely insane, especially late at night.
So the subways shut down at midnight, considering the bars and clubs are open until 5AM, that's pretty early for them to stop running.  So if you stay out late and don't want to catch the first train in the morning you're going to need a taxi.  Now they have an overnight surcharge...of about $.40.  Yeah, that's like forty cents...(not EXACTLY sure but it's definitely measured in pennies not dollars.) w/e.  Anyway it's late and you've gotta take a cab or pass out on the streets till 5, so you wave one down (either a regular wave or usually Koreans will do the 'limp wrist' wave, palm down and wave them over).  You climb in and give your destination.  If you speak no Korean and never memorized your address then you can ask them to call the translation services so you don't end up in the wrong place.

Now the reason I'm specifically saying overnight is because this is when the real insanity happens.

Last weekend it was raining and our driver was doing like 80MPH...then 90MPH in the tunnels...I couldn't believe how fast he was going and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it.  And for some reason my friends still laugh at me for buckling up in these death traps...

THIRD...well this kinda goes under the insane column if you ask me...
They watch tv while they're driving.
EVERY SINGLE ONE has a tv mounted in it somewhere, about the size of an ereader, and they watch the news, dramas, anything.  While they're driving.  And let's go back to the second point of them being bat shit crazy.  Yeah it's pretty damned scary.  To be fair some will use the tv as a GPS but for the most part they know they city and really don't need it...so why not use it for something like, oh I don't know, catching up on your favorite show while driving around passengers?

Dumbasses.

I'm sure I could find plenty more to say about them but these are the important things.  Cheap, insane, stupid.

If you haven't figured it out yet, they totally think they rule the roads here...and considering they pass cops no problem, they kinda do.

Emergency Flashers (and other car oddities....)

So when you're walking around you really need to be careful because the drivers here are absolutely insane. Like death wish insane.

For some reason they think that putting on their emergency flashers gives them the right to do ANYTHING. They use them to back up, to turn, to pull in and out of places, just ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE.  So you never know where they are going and what they are planning to do and because they've got the flashers on they're invincible so they don't look and they don't care and you'll have no idea what they're doing.

Well while we're on cars...I don't think I've mentioned the headlights yet.  I've been told it's to save gas, but really I have no idea.  They drive with no headlights.  Like they'll turn them on occasionally but they usually forget because as soon as they get to a light they turn them back off.  It's so strange and everyone from taxis to mopeds will do it...I just don't understand...

I know I haven't mentioned the mirrors.  Maybe I'm just behind the times but I thought that most side mirrors on cars were made so they would move and you could tuck them in if you wanted or they'd give if someone hit them...the cars here have automatically retracting mirrors.  Like way over half of the cars, and I've just never noticed this on any cars back home.  Sure I've seen people tuck them in but I don't remember them being automatic...and my teacher said that was "nothing special".  I wish my car had lots of "nothing special" features...like speakers.

 And brakes.

Poor old thing, we've had our ups and downs...and well it may be down permanently now (I've only been saying that for the last 5 years or so...)

The end of EPIK?

So it's official, I have no job next year :(

There are MASSIVE cuts and only 5 vocational high schools will have foreign teachers.  I'm already starting to mourn the loss my job and I'm only 3 months in.

I have no idea what is happening to the EPIK program.  There are rumors all over the place but it sounds like it is essentially disappearing.  I might still try to stay on, but I'll probably be moved to an elementary school, or worse a middle school. I'll have to move for my second time here, and, well there's a lot of other things up in the air too.

I know some people that are starting to look for university jobs but with this happening that market is going to get flooded and I don't expect to have much of a chance there, especially because I don't have my masters and won't have time to get it before next summer...and there are pros and cons with those jobs too, some people love them but a lot of times you take a pay cut and...well it just is a whole different can of worms.

So I'll sit in limbo for the next 9 months and we'll see what happens.

Engrish

So if you don't know about it there's actually an entire site (well probably more than the one but it's the most well known)...anyway this site is all Engrish.  And mostly hilarious.

The Korean government was actually giving away money (well...tourist gift certificates but whatever they're good a lot of places) for like 50,000 a pop (about $45USD).   All you needed to do to get this money was to take a picture of a government posted sign and report it with a correct supplied.  Afterwards they went through and fixed all the signs, but they wanted to make the city more tourist friendly (and they're still working on that...).  So you still see Engrish, just (typically) not on any official signs.

So one of the most painful Engrish things I've seen was on a shirt.  Now the reason it's so painful is because they were SO CLOSE to having a proper sentence, even if it was a little strange for a shirt.  Then they just lost it at the end...

"If you have the time and the desire to leave feedback it would be appreciated and hello"

So. Close.

For a good time: Engrish.com

Police are second to none...except taxis. And pedestrians. And red lights, and....

So one thing that's very noticeable is the police and their lack of authority.  On my first day in Busan I saw a taxi cut off a cop and I was completely shocked.  Now I see it and I'm amazed but not even remotely shocked.

I asked my co-teacher if people are supposed to pull over for cop cars, and he said "I don't know the right saying for this...they are second to none?"

So yeah, cops should have the right of way, but they don't.  At all.

I've seen them stop at red lights, stop for pedestrians, as well as get passed by taxis, motorcycles, mopeds, and regular cars.  I guess the only things I haven't seen pass them are pedestrians and buses.  But pedestrians are slow and buses have their own lane so they don't count.

One morning I got up and traffic was backed up as far as I could see in one direction.  Obviously something must have happened, likely an accident considering the crazy drivers here.  So a fire truck comes through with its lights and sirens on...and sits at a red light.  Then it starts going...and sits in traffic.  Instead of driving down the wrong side, or people pulling over, it just SAT THERE with everyone else.  That's a slight lie, once they saw the cluster f*** in the intersection they went on the wrong side for a minute to get through then pulled back over.  Really they can't get caught at two red lights...

Piece of advice, don't get seriously hurt in Korea, you'll never make it to the hospital in time.

As a final note let me point out that this was in the morning, while I was getting ready for work.  I didn't try to grab my camera at first because I figured there was no way I was going to catch it...well I did miss it at the red light but this was a solid two minutes after I first looked and saw it.  When I finished getting ready and went downstairs about 5 or 10 minutes later it had made it to the front of the building (my apartment is on the side...).  Congrats dude on gaining about 50 yards in 5 minutes!

Skinny Koreans?

So if you've read anything about Korea you've probably run across this idea that all Koreans are these super skinny people. Let me dispel this myth for you.

There ARE fat Koreans. Now this is the exception rather than the rule (unlike in the US) but they are out there.

Actually I've even seen quite a few that would be in the "obese" category. This morning I saw something I NEVER expected, I saw a morbidly obese Korean.

I'm talking Biggest Loser size, maybe even a bit bigger than most of the women. Although you do see this in the US, almost frequently even, it really was a surprise...I think they were staring at me more than her though :(

Now there's a few reasons this size is rare but unfortunately a big reason for it is suicides. The bullying here has FINALLY started to get attention and they're trying to prevent suicides but they are still too common.

Now WHY did it take so long? Well that's a long complicated story and I'm sure I don't even know most of it but, from what I've seen already, I can tell you that they hold themselves way above everyone else (especially western countries). To think that THEY could be at fault for something like suicide? Never.

So fat? Yes.
Bullying? Yes.

Luckily my school doesn't have any serious bullying (at least that I've seen) but I've heard plenty of horror stories already from other teachers. Something to consider if you're thinking of coming over.

Now the new question is, where do these bigger women go shopping? I need more clothes!!

Black Outs

Great pictures of people passed out all over Korea.  Hilarious.  To make it better some say they were taken at like 1pm...yup, winners.

http://blackoutkorea.blogspot.kr/

Gas

So I was sitting in my apartment the other day and my doorbell rang...so I look at the camera and I have no idea who it is.

I open the door a crack and this woman is like pushing her way into my apartment and I have no idea what she's saying. Finally she looks up and realizes I have no idea what is going on and says, "gas, you gas"...

Sure...

So it turns out our gas lines get monthly inspections and she was there to make sure I had no leaks or anything.  Good news, my apartment isn't going to explode the next time I light a candle.  Sweet.

Always, CocaCola

I love this, and it's far from the only one...What is wrong with this (really dark) picture??

Did you get it?

Give up?

I don't know why but there are a ton of Coke machines that have no Coke...but they're stocked with Pepsi...

It's the little things in life :-)

How Koreans are taught to write in Japanese

So when we learned Japanese they had these pictures to remember the Hiragana and Katakana (The two alphabets) http://www.heyladyspring.com/2011_09_25_archive.html
Like these for English speakers:

SO if you can't figure it out they use pictures where the Japanese character fits over pictures where the English words sounds like the character, or something to remind you of it...

And well...here's the Korean take on those sounds... take a look at "hi" ...top middle, in case you missed it.

And this is why I'm afraid of bugs...

These are the spiders that are outside my classroom windows.  They are HUGE.  

Scroll down for another fun one...

And after class one day I hear a bunch of screaming, about this guy on the wall.  One of the construction workers came along and very un-ceremoniously killed him which sent them running and screaming...fantastic fun.  PS Praying Mantises are also HUGE.

Hurricane Sandy

I just can't get over this!

....???

....Man Clinic?   For sad peppers?

Shopping Carts...yeah. Really

So this is what the shopping carts are like here...a few differences.

One: the wheels.  Rather than having two front wheels that spin for steering, all four wheels spin so you can pull you cart sideways to get out of peoples way...pretty convenient.

Also, notice how they look chunky?  Those are magnets so when you're on an escalator (like in the picture), your cart doesn't roll away.  This is like an airport escalator on an incline, not stairs.  Very convenient put kinda slow.

The other real difference is on the handle, notice the box on the handle?  Yeah, you have to put in a 100 won coin (about 10 cents) to get the cart to unclip from the others, then when you reattach it (so they know you return it to the right spot) you get your coin back....and let me tell you people are pretty serious about that little coin, I've never seen a cart in the wrong spot.

Mopeds and such

Ok so there are a TON of mopeds and scooters and motorcycles around here.  Basically every restaurant and decent sized store own at least one.  The Lotteria down the road owns at least three...that's because everywhere delivers.  Now add to that other delivery companies and personal scooters and...it's a lot of two wheeled traffic.

Now the biggest problem with this is they don't seem to need to follow street laws, or pedestrian laws.  They have free reign EVERYWHERE.  They drive all over the sidewalks, wait for cross walks when it's convenient and use the roads at other times...the only exception are the actual motorcycles but they are more rare...

So, watch out on the sidewalk, you might just get run over.

Old Habits Die Hard

So I was shopping and decided I'm going to start a campaign. I'm going to call it “Commas for Dumbasses”. Now what in the world does that mean?

So I was shopping and my American brain kept looking at the prices like a freaking American. So we generally have a price that has the dollar amount and some arbitrary coin amount that makes you feel like you're getting it cheaper (only $49.96! That's less than $50.00!!) So I'm used to seeing these numbers and dropping off two digits.

So imagine my surprise when I'm shopping and can't figure out why they want $350 for a skirt...like it's a nice skirt but no where near THAT nice. A while later I was really looking at a price...and I realized it was 35,000 not 350,000. Now I wouldn't have made that mistake if they put in commas for dumbasses. But if you knock two digits off of 35000 it's $350....and yeah I am apparently not smart enough to go shopping

Learning to read!!

So I'm slowly but surely learning to read...This is my fridge:

I'm hoping I didn't screw this up, then I'll feel like a real idiot....

Hilarious Toothbrush holder

Hilarious

119 We don't do emergencies...

So if there's a fire you dial 119...and possibly for an ambulance...I don't remember the different numbers.  That's probably pretty important huh...

ANYWHO

So you dial 119, they send out a truck.  The truck then proceeds to the road with it's lights and sirens on...then sit in traffic.

And sit in traffic.

Now I noticed this with the police cars and thought "well, maybe they have their lights on like 'look, the cops are here...serving and protecting' and they're just cruising around making sure everything looks ok"

Because when they drive by even the taxis and buses pass them.

But no, there must have been a decent sized accident because traffic was seriously backed up and there's the fire truck...sitting in the traffic.

They don't drive down the wrong side of the road, like the other traffic was still coming the other way.

And there's a fire...and they aren't getting there.

I just thought this was super weird.  I pray my building never catches on fire, the whole block would be gone by the time they got there!

Another strange thing is that they don't seem to care about people imitating police vehicles...especially the motorcycles.  I've seen a ton of motorcycles with flashy blue and red lights...and I'm sure they're not police bikes.

Halt! Who goes there?

Haha, are you enjoying the stupid titles as much as I am, so lame and so fun…

Anyway, I was heading out of school on Friday the…7th or so and I noticed the teachers and the security guard checking IDs…I thought this was a little strange. Now I’m in a “conservative” school and some teachers carry around these nice little polished beating sticks “just to scare the girls” because corproral punishment has been outlawed for like a whopping three years…I’m not positive but I think one of the girls got whacked…so I did what they told us to do, don’t make a scene and walk away. Yup, that is what they told us to do. To be fair, I think he probably just smacked it into his hand for emphasis…but that teach is like SUPER scary.

So the next week I saw him screaming at a girl in the hallway and my coteacher asked if I had any idea why. I was like “uh, she’s in her uniform so I’m assuming she must have said something wrong…”

Oh no, she had earrings in and her hair looked a little dyed because it wasn’t perfectly black…yup. She was getting REAMED for it.

And RIGHT afterwards, my teacher asked me basically why I wore so much black…I was like “well you told me it was very conservative and so I’ve been trying to be careful.” She’s like oh but the other teachers wear colors…yeah, so I’m supposed to wear colors after being warned against them…and after watching that girl get her ass handed to her?? So ok, I’m slowly working my way into colors now. Very slowly.

I’m pretty sure they meant for the first few days because I was meeting the principle but w/e. I think things are getting better, everyone is a little more comfortable and it’s all good. Colors and all.

Toilets that have plugs...

Chocked full of TMI, proceed at your own risk!

Ok me and toilets that have plugs tend not to be the best of friends. There’s always something just a wee bit too creepy about them.

First time I had to deal with a plugged in toilet was camping up at Nobleview. Now down’t get me wrong, it’s WORLDS better than an outhouse…but you’re still dealing with that creepy hole into an unknown abyss…

Alright, you know what’s down there, it’s not totally unknown, just NARSTY. Now those plug in because they use foam instead of water to flush.

But I moved into my apartment, and my toilet was plugged in…not because of foam.

Because of water.

Behold, my bidet…ok, don’t behold it I feel weird putting up a picture of it.

Ok, so bidets kinda freak me out. The first time I’d ever actually seen one, like in person, was during our orientation…now we had normal toilets in the dorms…

These were PUBLIC bidets…PUBLIC

GGAAHHH

Alright, public restrooms are gross to begin with I don’t want to encourage and extra…splash-age or anything. Just…no.

So I have a bidet. In my apartment.

First of all they’re at a weird angle and I don’t like it, it’s like you’re about to slide off.

And do I really want my toilet squirting cold water at my hoohaw?

Not really.

Now I know a lot of people love them once they start using them…I just can’t get myself past the squimish factor.

And really considering the mixed advice on flushing or throwing out toilet paper…yeah some people use them just so they don’t have nasty toilet paper stankin up the bathroom.

I dunno, I’ve been flushing mine. I’m trying to be conservative with it but…yeah the verdict on the bidet is probably going to be out for a while…

Resident Evil

Ok, this is not about Satan’s Spawn again. This actually about Resident Evil, the movie…it sucked. Moving on.

So we went out to the theaters for one of the opening showings of Resident Evil last Thursday (I guess movies tend to come out earlier here…unless it’s like Brave which is coming out months late).

So here’s a quick rundown of some positives and negatives of going to the movies here:

+ Super empty theater

- …we were the only ones laughing…it was a little akward but maybe they just didn’t translate it well…or they didn’t like the lame ass humor, whatever.

+ Cool assortment of popcorn to try. There was onion, cheddar, bbq?(maybe), and regular butter.

- Stale nachos with cold squeeze bag cheese…yum

+ Cheaper than US (unless you’re in Amherst/Hadley)

- Not exactly the best movie of all time…

So overall I never noticed the subtitles. They had cool seat riser cushions you could use during the movie if you’re short or not comfortable. Sodas ran on like the “normal” size range and at reasonable prices (at least compared to US movie theaters) so it didn’t cost a fortune and you didn’t have to run out in the middle to go the the bathroom.

And honestly I had never seen Resident Evil 1-4, I thought maybe the people that wrote the plot summaries on Wikipedia just sucked at writing…no I’m pretty sure it’s just cause the movies sucked.

The others liked it though, I dunno. It was just too much, like Watchmen. Just…too much.

Selfbar

 So it was a birthday weekend for one of the teachers who came in at the same time as me. A bunch of us went out to dinner and decided to go to a Korean BBQ place.

As a side note I'd like to point out that the birthday boy was an hour and a half late. We didn't head to dinner until 9:30...and one of the girls got kicked out of her cab on the way there because she lit up a cigarette. Now that's “ok” in some cabs, but a lot of them are starting to enforce the law. A separate related side tangent: Most of them started smoking in the restaurant and didn't get yelled at but there was a smoking area in the hallway right outside the main door...

So we go to this BBQ place, twenty of us sit down and have no idea what's going on. I guess someone figures it's all you can eat and we start grabbing plates, grabbing meat, and grilling it up at the table. There is a menu on the table that lists the dinner price, side dish price, and beer prices....

At the end of a rather awesome and super filling meal we grab the clipboard with the receipt...receipts.

There are four receipts...for just under 300,000 each. We start having a panic attack because we weren't sure if that was right and we didn't know how this worked or what....was that a different receipt for each table or....uuuhhhh oooohhhhh.

So someone goes and asks and I guess they kept adding on the receipts each time they ordered more beer. It was 15,000 per person for twenty people, all you could eat, with like 18 or so beers (if they didn't clear any). And these weren't 20oz beers, these were like a liter. Not a bad deal. So that's like around $14.50 a person back home. Like I said, not a bad deal.

What's funny is it would have cost WWAAAYY more than that to eat in, fresh food is crazy expensive here.

For anyone here: That is in Busan at Deokcheon (brown line), take exit 9 then your first right. Walk past the intersection with McDonalds and take a right at the next one. It's up the road about a block on your right, second floor. Yum yums!

On a side note, if you go right at the McDonalds, like one or two doors down is Blue Ketchup. I've heard they're awesome rave-like bars (glowsticks and club music for half the night)...personally I skipped out before they went because that's just not my thing but everyone loves it, worth checking out.

Satan's Spawn

Like all teachers, I have a hell class. Class 1-12. They are…or at least half of them are, the spawn of Satan.

So there’s a problem. I think I’ve lost them. I got out of class last week and checked my schedule to seen when I had missed them…and I hadn’t. I had just gotten out of their class. Strange.

BUT I gained some insight.

I decided I wanted them to get used to talking to me so I was going around table to table and talking to every single girl so they HOPEFULLY wouldn’t be as scared the next time. I listed the questions on the board and they were things they should have been learning since like elementary school like “what’s your favorite ____?” or “what do you hate?”

Well I got PLENTY of “I hate teacher“‘s…and I’d feign hurt and drop my head and pretend to sniffle a little…and they’d go OH!! NONONO! and then point to the back and say “teacher, I hate teacher.” As in one of my coteachers. Funny, I have problems with him too.

So I know partially why they are horrible little shits, but not why they decided it was suddenly time to behave, but hey, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Heads up to pilots

Ok, so I sometimes notice….random and inconsequential things…this is one of those things.

I don’t know why I didn’t notice it in my first apartment, but I noticed it like right away here…There are no blinky lights on the buildings.

You know, those red “don’t fly here, there’s a building!” lights? Yeah, none.

Well not NONE, they are up in the mountains on the radio and cell phone towers.

But yeah, none on the buildings…and oddly my first though was “I wonder how big they’d build Cinderella’s castle here?”

Just a strange and random fact…

I can haz soul?

So I got off the subway today and I was wandering aimlessly around the station trying to find the recharge machine for my card so I could make sure I had enough money on it still…And then this woman shows up.

So the station is pretty empty, it was kinda early I think there’s like 10 people total that I can see. Remember, I’m looking around for a machine…then this woman starts walking up to me.

Now some of the older folk here really like to try and talk to me, even after I make sure they know I don’t speak Korean…they just insist that I’ll understand if they keep going. So I figure it’s going to be one of those situations, and I got good advice for those situations: keep walking and ignore them even if it makes you look like a jerk because they do NOT give up. But no, oh no.

This woman is older, she looks around mid-60s and she had something wrong with her skin so she had these big rosetia-like blotches all over…especially around her eyes….get the idea? (for anyone that worked with me, she kinda looked like an older, Korean version of Dorothy) Yeah she looks like a possessed old woman and she’s coming straight for me.

Now I didn’t really know what to do, and I start to freak out a little. Oh, but it gets better. She walks up and puts out her hand…to wave? No she’s too close for that…to point at my shirt or something…OMG NO she’s grabbing my arm and looking me straight in the eyes and trying to suck my soul out!!

So I panicked and what do I do? I start talking in English. Yup. That’s totally going to help the situation. So I said “um hi… hi…” and eventually (basically as soon as I thought “DUH KOREAN!”) She says “hi” and just walks away like nothing happened…and I’m standing in the middle of this subway station stammering and poor imitation of “hello” in Korean…although it’s kinda similar to “good bye” so maybe they think I was saying bye…

Regardless, creepy as shit and the first thing I did was to check my purse to make sure nothing was stolen. Everything was there and I just walked on…very very bizarre.

You are my Sunshine

I’m pretty sure I have unknowingly become part of an experiment. It’s either an experiment on torture devices or a psychological experiment…I haven’t decided which.

OK, I’m pretty sure I’m in the psychological phase and it’s going to switch to torture in the next few days.

So when I first opened my windows (for short periods, usually only at night when it was cooler, and not while I was asleep because it was bright and noisy) I noticed music. One of the stores downstairs plays music, and like there’s US songs in there. So occasionally I would catch pieces of a song here or there…then I realized that’s all it was. Pieces of songs, a repeating advertisement. Now I don’t hear it every time through because there is a kind of busy street (My room is right by the intersection with the side street) and so I usually only hear it when there’s a red light…and I’m pretty sure it plays 24/7…

Now this wouldn’t be so bad BUT they have a version of “you are my sunshine” and it’s high pitched whiny girl and it only sings like the first bit of the first verse and it’s been stuck in my head for DAYS and I only know the first two verses…and it’s so DAMNED WHINY. Now I tried to record it because, “It can’t be that bad” or “I’m sure you can’t really hear it” well let me tell you…you can’t really hear it on a microphone and waiting for it to come around was driving me even more insane. But it’s there…waiting. It knows when I’m done expecting it and then BAM!! YOU ARE MY MO’ FO’ SUNSHINE!

It was nice knowing you all. If you don’t hear from me for a few weeks try and get in touch with the embassy or something, see if they can get permission to move a crazy tortured girl across international borders…I’m sure any pilot would love to have me on their plane.

Update: I timed it. Yeah, it’s every 9 minutes. Every day. Every night. All day. All night…

Internet!

I finally have internet!!! After weeks of waiting for my ARC card it finally came in last week, I pushed off getting it installed until today because I was busy but now I'm up and running and ssooo happy to be back in the 21st century!

Welcome to the Hotel California

So finally, after much confusion and many problems, moving day came. I ended up moving onto the same subway line as my school so I don’t have to take the bus in the morning anymore which I think is super sweet.

The co-teacher that helped me move didn’t drive his car because when we ordered the movers we only asked for one…well two showed up so there now wasn’t enough room for us in the truck…which would have been pretty akward so I’m not crying about it.

So we catch this cab (which, by the way are MAD cheap here) and we drive over to the new apartment. On the way “Hotel California” comes on the radio and the driver turns up the radio and I was like “sweet, I haven’t heard this song in ages, this is so random and hilariously awesome” and I’m like rocking out silently in the back seat…then my coteacher was like “yeah he turned it up for you. Good moving song huh?” And RIGHT then it gets to the “you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave” part and I was like…uuhhh, yeah. Awesome moving song.

But yeah, the cab cost like 6,600…so just over $6 dollars and I think it was something like a 15 minute car ride…I didn’t really watch the time but it was a ways. I was impressed. I had like 20,000 ready to go and I was ready to dig out more…surprise! I knew they were cheap but damn.

Oh, and the moving truck was super sweet. Every truck I’ve ever seen for moving back home opens in the back. Period. No, no, no. Not here. this opened in the back but also opened on the sides like a utility truck, so the entire side swung up (great for keeping my stuff dry in the rain today) and it made loading it SOOO damned easy I can’t even tell you. Ok, I guess I can. It was SOO damned easy. AND I was quoted 80,000 for one person and the truck. Randomly a second person shows up so I don’t know if they didn’t charge and I just tipped or if they asked for only 20,000 more but whatever. It cost me 100,000 for two movers and the truck, and we were done in like an hour and a half including the ride over. And then for 4,400 the gas man showed up and turned on the gas in my apartment…and he came 2 1/2 hours earlier after we called because we finished so fast.

I don’t really like how my desk is set up…but I have limited options (I’ll post a picture eventually…) So that’s a mission for another day. For now I have a basic idea on how to use my AC, I know how to use my hot water heater and I’m pretty sure my water will stay hot tonight…

and I have a bidet.

A creepy ass bidet.

Ok, so they did a SUPER awesome job of cleaning my apartment, then I go in my bathroom and SURPRISE. Ok, first I feel like they’re at a weird angle…second…it squirst WATER and you **** and ****** and well you get the picture…

I dunno, I know most people love them once they try them…but I’m still skeeved out. I haven’t gotten up the guts to try a squatter yet either.

I also have a strange peek-a-boo kitchen. Like, it’s in a closet…with closet doors. I don’t get it. Maybe so if guests come over and you forgot to do dishes you can be like, “Sorry, kitchen’s closed. Come back tomorrow.”

Due to the closet nature of my kitchen there is also VERY little counter space…I haven’t decided what to do about that yet.

This place is small but cozy, it’s cute, has AWESOME windows (I’m like way too excited about these windows in an unhealthy and unneccssary way) but they tip in to keep rain out AND swing open for those days that you just need a good breeze. Freaking awesome. I couldn’t really tell today because it was rainy and crappy but appearently I also face the south, meaning good light coming in…and they’re like big windows. Now if only I could find the trash room…

So this place is smaller than the other one, but it feels home-y-ier (I couldn’t find a way to make it look right and I INSIST that it is homier…)

So I looked it up like a tool, just to make sure there wasn’t a correct spelling I wasn’t using…and I used the New Oxford American Dictionary because I have no inernet and can’t use something trustworthy like Wikipedia or Urban Dictionary… Yeah so there’s no home-y anything but there is homie…

hom-ie /’home/ (random letters included that I can’t type on here…) (also hom-ey)

        -n. (pl. hom-ies) [informal] a homeboy or homegirl.

Yup and on that note, peace out homies. Homeslice.

H&M

 So we went shopping this weekend. We went to Shinsaegae (spelling???). It is the largest department store in the world...we're still trying to figure out exactly what makes it a department store and not a mall...we think it might have to do with the signs on each floor that say what each store type is. Like instead of one store with departments it's many stores split by type....

Anyway so there's an H&M there, it was just like being back home at....AARGH what's that store called?? W and...P and....

Whatever. So I went shopping there and I could BUY THINGS and they FIT and they weren't outrageous. They even had SHOES like SHOES my monster feet could fit in!!! I didn't like any of the shoes but that's beside the point, they had them and they FIT.

It was good to get to shop around and grab some stuff that I really needed to even pretend to pull off an outfit. I still need a lot more but I'm getting there...Damn my conservative school and their stupid half there rules that only kind of get followed...

OHOHOOOOHHHHHH! I remember! That store back home? It's H&M!!

(Yup, this is what starts happening when I've been sitting around with no TV or internet for a whole weekend...I just start to get even weirder than normal...)

Korean Apartment Tour

:(

In my mission to film a walk-thru video tour my camera decided to destroy my memory card losing all the footage as well as all the photos that were on the card (600+).  I was able to recover most of the photos but the videos are a lost cause.

Afterward, I did record a quick walk-thru on my other card that I will probably record later.  Not only did it not come out very well but I also rearranged some of my furniture about an hour after I recorded, and I still have things I need to get for the apartment....so maybe some other time

So lets start with the most boring picture:  My entryway.

So I wasn't going to put this in but I figured why not, it's part of the apartment.  So the door is another electronic lock door.  This one has the option of a key or ten digit code...I used the key once and then just remembered the code.

This is a typical entryway, it is lower than the main floor and you keep your shoes there.  I also have my trash so grossly lined up for you to admire.  That's because I wanted to give you an idea about the trash system.  On the left is my food trash, that goes into one bin and the bag gets recycled.  Next is my actual trash bag, that is a 10 liter bag and costs 2150 for 5.  I also have a pair of shoes there, those go into another bin.  Cardboard is a huge corner of the basement.  Then all the cans, plastic, glass, Styrofoam, plastic wrappers, plastic bags, and anything I'm forgetting get separated into other bins.

This is my shoe closet...?

This is the closet that you see on the right of the entryway picture.  This is just half, I can't get a full picture in that tiny hallway.  Anyway, yeah I'm just using it mainly for a cleaning/bulk supply closet...I think there's one set of shoes in there...

Onto my regular closet....

Again not very exciting, it's pretty big but I ran out of hangers...after I bought like 4 extra packs...

Getting a bit better, this is my bathroom:

My bathroom is actually quite a bit larger than it looks in this picture, I just wanted to get the important things in the shot.  My shower is big and enclosed which is nice, although the glass is placed up off the floor so you can spray down the main floor and it will drain into the shower...that also means water leaks out during my shower.

You can also see my lovely creepy bidet.

This bathroom is larger and much nicer than the one in my old apartment.  The water is awesome too.  It actually stays hot so I don't have to hate my life every time I take a shower.  The water pressure is also great so I don't have to stand there for five minutes trying to rinse my hair.  The shower faucet is the same set up as the sink faucets, basically very easy to completely control temperature and pressure to exactly what you want.

Onto the good stuff: my main apartment: 

So on the left is my desk and bookshelf, they are inseparable.  They were just made for each other.  Literally.  It's not a free standing desk, it needs to sit on one of the shelves.  Behind my desk is my drying rack (because I don't have a dryer), my stubby-legged ironing board and that strange AC up on the wall.  The main AC unit is in the closet behind the bookshelf along with the hot water heater. 

Also, take a close look at my desk chair...notice anything odd?  Like the fact that it's pointing towards the ground?  Yeah, suicide chair.  Need to get a replacement bad.

Then my TV that is hooked up to nothing.  I have it covered in a blanket to protect it in case it rains and I'm up the road or something. Also because I'm using it to prop the window open so I don't want it getting beat up if it gets windy.

Then my lovely huge bed with the pseudo lovely memory foam mattress.  I think it'll be better in the winter when I want the heat of being snuggled by my bed, but in the summer its pretty gross.  It also has a very good memory...and it remembers like the last ten years of people sleeping on it...it's just permanently dented.  I tried flipping and rotating it, we'll see if that helps.  Luckily I got a larger apartment, if I had gotten one of the smaller ones the bed would pretty easily take up half the room.

Notice how the window over my tv and the one over my bed are opened differently?  One of my favorite things here, oddly enough.  So if the handle on the window points down it's locked, out to the side and the window swings open, up and the window vents open.  GREAT on a windy day or cooler days. 

Now onto the other side...

Now this is my closet kitchen.  Still don't fully understand the doors but whatever, better for holding in the smoke when you burn dinner I suppose.  Anyway, I obviously don't have much counter space so off to the left along that wall I plan on putting some kind of stand to hold the microwave and oven...

The stove is only a two burner but it's gas so I'm not complaining.  Just not too good if I try to cook for more than just myself.  Under the stove is the washer.  Not as easy to use as the last one (the last one was almost identical to my parents' so I knew what everything did without needing to read...I should have taken a picture so I could compare...oopsie)  The cabinet on the top left is like the exhaust for the fan and...I dunno stuff that makes it not storage.  The two cabinets on the right are storage but I don't have a stool to use the top one.  Normally I would just stand on my desk chair but since it's a death trap I've decided to keep looking for a “normal” stool.  They have tall sitting stools and little kid “bath” stools, I haven't found a normal sized one yet.

In the middle is my little foldaway floor table, I use it mainly because then I don't have to stand to eat...again it's not like I have the option of sitting at my desk.

My fridge smells like ass.  That's about the only interesting thing there...OH! Lies.  The mirror.  There are mirrors EVERYWHERE here, the elevators are all mirrors, there are mirrors hung outside the elevators and just everywhere.  People are super obsessed in how they look.  Big mirrors like this are also super expensive.  And that's for like a cheapy one that's a little better than the back to school special ones at target.  I can't even imagine how much this mirror cost but I'm SO happy to have it. 

And that big bag of blankets....that you can't really see...(under the big purple thing) is one of two bags (the other is smaller and behind it).  They smell pretty rancid (the last two teachers were guys...I washed all my blankets twice before I used them).  They don't fit well in the washer though and I'm kinda afraid of breaking it.  But I've heard from a bunch of people that bedding is super expensive here so I'm going to keep attempting to wash them and then I'll see what's too gross to use afterward...the purple one seemed least likely to be used by guys so I washed that one up and it came out ok...

Yeah I think that's pretty much it.  Now do you see why I wanted to make this a video...this is like more than two pages without the pictures... 

I'd say sorry but (some of) you asked for it...

Back to school

So my school is very conveniently on a subway line…and then a ten minute hike up a mountain. In high heels. Like a pretty serious hike too. When I first met my co-teachers one of them said it was like a 45 degree angle, I thought he was kidding or exaggerating…he wasn’t. At all. Ok, it’s not that bad the WHOLE way but honestly it is most of the way.

Oh and then my classroom is up four flights of stairs…water and bathroom are both convienently located on the first floor. Sweet.

The English room itself is pretty freaking sweet. I’ve got the only classroom with AC which makes me feel like a bit of a tool but whatever. There were numbers and days of the week and such posted on the blackboards that had been up for years and I found two spelling errors and pulled them all down.

Theres a huge chalkboard with sliding extra pieces and a giant tv built into it.

There are also two side rooms, the first has bookshelves and four computers for student use. The second is walled off but has a window that opens to the main room. It has another computer, tv, more books, and extra tables and chairs in it for like small group work.

The girls seem to like me. They think it’s super fun to all scream “HI TEACHER” because I’ll answer every one of them back usually. I figure I’d rather play along on the hopes it makes them more willing to talk to me. Already it seems to have worked, one of the students on her way home said hi and I said hi back but I don’t like to force them into a conversation they don’t want to have…but she started talking to me and I talked back until she decided to move one…then another student started to talk to me. So I keep playing their game and they seem to enjoy it.

So I have around 24 different classes, about half of them meet bi-weekly. Some of the grade 3 classes (Seniors) only have 12 students, but most of them have 30-16 just like the first grade classes (Freshman/Sophomore). When I’m not teaching I can hang out in the teachers room and have everyone talk about me while I hang out on the computer or I can go upstairs to the English Zone and be anti-social…I find a healthy combination of the two is really helpful. It’s nice to have a chance to destress to some crappy tv upstairs then go downstairs and plan…as long as I don’t waste too much time upstairs.

Luckily/Unluckily my two grades, first and third, are about the same level. There really isn’t much improvement…actually some of my first grade classes are the best. I don’t have to make more than one lesson plan a week because of this but I do need to have a LOT of wiggle room worked in so that I can raise and lower the level per class, even per piece of a lesson.

It’s sad, my lesson this week was fashion. My first class found it fun but easy, my second class…I had one student that had “a sky blue blouse with a burgundy cardigan” and others who didn’t know what jeans, skirts, and t-shirts were. Nor simple colors like black or white. Very sad and hard to work with.

Fun story: One of the girls was drawing a character from something… I really have no idea what but it was like a freaking mermaid or something. Whatever. Anyway she asked one of the girls to help her label the picture. I walked over and saw “Bitch Queen” and almost pissed myself. If you think about it though, beach> beech> bich> bitch…yeah it kinda made sense, we love our random silent letters in English…and that aspiration almost gives it a “t” sound, especially the way they pronounce it. You get the picture.

Anyway I’ve got some awesome classes and some HORRIBLE ones and it all seems to depend on the co-teacher and what they let them get away with…so naturally I now HATE some coteachers for being lazy (like the one who doesn’t even show up for class…yeah slight language barrier) and absoluetly worship others because they work so well with the girls AND keep them in line AND the girls still like them AND they’re ACTUALLY HELPING THE GIRLS…That’s a story for another day though.

RIP - Silverware

Yup, I think this one speaks for itself..."I have a very good time"

Overly Popular

Overly Popular...

But some fantastic person made this:

Great SpaceJam Remix

Onto the EPIK quest

Now at the end of orientation we met with the education department for our different areas. We all knew what cities we would be placed in but most of us didn’t know our placements. Now I was one of the lucky few who heard from the school in advance…

But I was not lucky.

See my school didn’t have an apartment. Yeah, there’s a lovely clause in our contract that says they’re required to give me one but whatever. It was like a weeks-long fiasco but I’m finally in my apartment.

So the Thursday of orientation (just over half way through) I get a facebook message (appearently they tried to email me but that didn’t work…). The old teacher is writing to me to let me know that the school doesn’t have an apartment. Or storage space for the furniture. So I was going to have NOTHING when I walked into the city.

Well he was super super awesome and left his key money (an insane amount of money required here for a deposit, it works out to be THOUSANDS of US dollars).

So he moved on to Seoul, I stayed in his old apartment and well I had nowhere to go after this and I didn’t have close to five grand to put down on a new apartment. Lots of issues ensued, eventually I got my own place. It was a long and messy story and I think my teachers (well one at least) slightly hates my guts right now, but whatever. I needed a place, I have a place, and I hardly see him at work normally, so not overly problematic.

I hope.

N-E-WHO

So I met the two youngest teachers in my school, they’re the ones who came to pick me up after our gut-wrenching drive through the typhoon. Everyone else is quite a bit older than us but they are 24 and 26, I’m squashed right in the middle…it all works out pretty well I suppose.

Turns out I’m at like a super conservative school. As in like 3 years ago or so women couldn’t wear pants…the students are only allowed to wear skirts. No bright colors or patterns on your clothes…yeah it’s strange. So far I don’t think I’ve offended anyone yet but they might be avoiding saying anything…

I’m in an all girls’ high school, it’s a commercial high school so it’s kind of like our vocational schools, but without the focus on a single vocation ( or even vocation type). It’s just there to prepare the majority of the girls to go straight into the workplace.

My co-teacher said the smart ones will become like bank tellers and the others will work in factories for like Samsung and LG and shit…a few might go on to college (as in a 2 year college, like community college. Universities are 4 years). Basically I’m trying to teach English to rooms full of girls and maybe 10 per grade will actually have some use for it down the road…maybe a bit of an exaggeration but probably not by much.

So back to the apartment, I had no idea how to use the washing machine, the guy teacher kinda shrugged and the girl kinda shyly laughed and said her mom still did her laundry. Sweet. Very helpful. They gave me the basics on how to use the hot water but I think they missed an important step…long story but it shut off all the time in the shower because it was a terrible on-demand system…probably not being used right.

YUPs

The AC took some button pushing but it wasn’t too difficult…basically I thing I figured out pretty much everything on my own. Oh, they did show me how to use the microwave which was awesome because there are no numbers on it..the one thing I SHOULD be able to figure out and I can’t. C-RAP

My co-teachers did super awesome things for me though. I can’t get a bank account (well…probably can but no debit card or anything, so it’s useless because I can’t get there during banking hours), I can’t get internet or a cell phone though for sure…ok well there are ways around the cell phone but that’s a discussion for another day.

Basically I was kinda up Shits Creek if something happened so one of my co-teachers went home and found an old cellphone noone needed and set it up under his name as a pre-paid/pay as you go type system…not really sure which. The other one got me an old transportation card that was kicking around and filled it up for me, at least enough for a few trips. Again, super awesome.

Plus they found my apartment which they totally aren’t supposed to be responsible for, the school is. But they’ve just done a lot that they weren’t technically required to. That and all the other teachers have been super nice too…well I just feel pretty damned lucky.

Really considering some of the crappy apartments some of the teachers got, and some of the other horror stories I’ve heard (few and far between, and mine is likely to go down in horror story history now too… but they do exist) overall I got super lucky.

I just have to share this random little bit before I go…I have written overall an obscene amount of times and the only reason I know is because for some strange reason today, and only today, I have spelled it overally EVERY time. Maybe the girls are starting to rub off on me….watch-e, beach-e, overall-y?? I see a pattern….