Chuseok

Korean Thanksgiving is here and I've been having a great time so far.  Friday and Monday night I ended up in Itaewon with friends.  Those not familiar with this place, it's a little area of Seoul where all the foreigners go to party, shop or eat familiar food from home. It's a cool spot...lots to do.  Friday eve I watched some bands play, which I totally loved. Nothing better than live music and tons of drinks! FUN:)

Saturday I went on a temple stay at Hwagyesa Buddhist Temple with a friend.  I wanted to try it out and so we booked a 24 hr stay.  It was beautiful...lots of pretty views, and lots to do.  There was a small group of us, half Koreans and the other half foreigners (like moi). We hiked (actually slowly walked, like tiptoed) through this walking path. The idea was to be 'one with nature' (hence the extremely slow walking), and made it to this incredible view of the surrounding area. (Pics to come).  We then toured the grounds and got a clinic on Buddhist ideology.  We learned how to meditate and the purpose (which I am still kinda unclear about lol). I think the purpose was to uncover who the TRUE SELF is...which is to be enlightened...hmmm...best not take my word for it haha. I suggest google!

Anyhow, not only did we learn to mediate, and do this at very odd hours of the day (4:30am), but we also did this whole bowing routine where we basically admitted to all of our faults and wrong doings (me: smoking, drinking, gossiping, lusting cheese, eating meat again...polluting your minds with false info about Buddhism), AND...was FORGIVEN for all of the above. CLEAN SLATE!! Lovely!

Monday found me at Olympic Park with two lovely ladies where we took pics of ourselves inappropriately with statues...and searching the park high and low for this cool bike that we could ALL ride at the same time. But no luck...couldn't find the bike and decided that ice cream would be a better option than riding a cool bike anyhow:) Olympic Park is a pretty cool spot! I actually really enjoyed the statue park and thought the scene to be a beaut. Pics to come. (Keep forgetting my drive with all my pics on them lol). The evening brought us to Itaewon again, where we did nothing but eat and drink the rest of the afternoon and evening away. We found this one really cool pub called "Rocky Mountain....tavern" (I think).  It's a CANADIAN pub and I LOVED IT!!! Lots of canadian team jerseys everywhere, TV's with sports on and lots of yummy food and drinks.  I indulged in an extra spicy caesar, beer and french fries - YUMM-O! Heading there this Friday again actually for Sam's bday...but instead of taking the subway home, we have decided that we will be spending the night at this all night sauna. (right next door to the canadain pub) I'll let you know more about that once it happens, but these saunas are an inexpensive place to stay once the subway closes down for the eve. It's like $7 a night for a stay.

Anyhow...gotta run!

First Week of Teaching at Jamhyun Elementary.

First week done and over with and heading into my second week.  My first week went really well. My co-teacher Nicky is soooo helpful.  I teach Grade 5 and 6's English, Grade 5's Pop music class, and Debate class (which I am really looking forward to).  So far I've been doing a lot of planning and have not had a lot of down time (a.k.a desk-warming they call it here).  My english classes are pretty much text-based but we can deviate from the plan and make it more interesting or fun:)  Pop music and debate are classes where I can really be inventive and make English really fun to learn...I hope!!  I can make up my own plans or use ones previously taught by other teachers....I have lots of resources at this school.  The school was built in 2008 and looks like a museum...I shit you not! This school has the BEST of EVERYTHING. Not even my university was as nice or has more technology.

On my first day I had to give a small speech to the staff and students introducing myself. I stood in the broadcasting room in front of a camera where I told everyone about myself.  This message was sent live into all the classrooms on BIG SCREEN televisions....ughhhhhh! My first day consisted of lesson planning only and  that great.  The next day I gave a powerpoint presentation about myself to all my students...which they all seemed to really enjoy.  HINT: Anytime you turn an activity into a game, where someone can potentially be the "best winner of all time", it really makes students participate lol.

Tea time: the awesome part of the day!! I am in an office with six other women and at around 3p.m. we have tea time and snacks! They all talk in Korean and then Nicky translates for me...hahaha...none of what they say makes sense to me or vice versa. Our language is soooooo different.  I can totally understand what the kids are going through...

Although...most of these kids at this school have fantastic English skills.  Nicky says it's because their parents put them all in evening English classes as well. These kids are pretty much in school all day and most of the evening as well.  They even go to school for half days on Saturday.

I've posted pics on Facebook showing my apartment and neighborhood in Gangdong.  One exciting event this week...I got stuck in the elevator in my apartment for about 30 seconds. hahaha....scary but pretty funny now because I actually figured out today that I didn't really get stuck but maybe, perhaps hit the wrong buttons...which led me to believe I was stuck....

I should wear a helmet most days I think lol....

I also attacked the subway this week and was very successful at navigating about. And when I looked lost, many people helped me...even if I couldn't speak their language. 

Cute story: I was sitting on the subway and an older lady came on and there was no where for her to sit. I got up and  gave her my seat....and she gave me the biggest bow EVER! For those not familiar, bowing in Korea is an important thing to do...people always bow when meeting or when you see someone who deserves it (like a principal, grandfather, etc). Anyhow, she bowed to me and was saying something that I couldn't understand  but she looked very happy. Then as seats were freeing up, she motioned for me to sit beside her. I came and sat beside her and then she started rubbing my back and held my hand...it sounds weird I know, but when you are far from home and haven't been hugged in a while, you welcome things like this I guess. I loved every single minute of it:)

Anyhow...gotta run. Hope you are all well.

xoxo