So before Hannah and I can go to Immigration we have to get some things done at the hospital first. Easy stuff, height, weight, hearing test, eye test (one of the basic ones, not in depth or anything), minor dental thing (just looking at our teeth), blood work (to make sure we're not diseased), pee test (to make sure we're not on drugs), and a chest x-ray (no freaking idea). We decided to go on Friday, but that didn't work because that's when the guy was coming to fix Hannah's water heater, so we changed it to Monday.
Mr. Lee told Lori to take us to this one hospital near our apartments. We went there, Hannah and I had forgotten our passports so we had to run back to the apartments to get them, then go back to the small hospital. Then they told us that they couldn't do what we needed done there, we had to go to a bigger hospital. We still had time before work so we grab a taxi and go to a bigger hospital. But the taxi took us in a big circle like thing because he didn't understand Lori, or was just a *insert swear here* and trying to get the "stupid foreigners" to pay more. Anyway, we get to the bigger hospital and get our height, weight, eye test, hearing test and dental exam. But we didn't have enough time to get the blood and pee tests, and we didn't know about the chest exam thingy, so we decided to finish it on Tuesday (today).
So today Hannah and I went alone to the hospital. While yesterday we found a fair number of people who spoke passable English, today we found very few. And even fewer who knew where we had to go. We got sent in circles a couple of times. Got sent back to the dental exam where we explained we already had it done yesterday to this nice (cute) male nurse (who spoke English and went to UMass Amherst). He sent us back to reception, but while we were waiting for the elevator to go there they called us back because they couldn't find the paperwork and couldn't prove we had gotten the exam done. They told us to call them at the end of the day (we asked Mr. Lee to call for us as we don't speak Korean). Reception sent us to another building/ward thingy. Ended up in a sketchy part of the hospital where there was dim lights, no people, dark offices and no signs (it was creepy and very scary movie-esque). We figured out we were on the wrong floor, went to what we thought was the right one, asked a nurse who didn't speak English (and was also leading a patient who looked kinda beat up, and had half a cup taped to his face for some reason I couldn't figure out), and she had us follow her through this basement level (cue more creepy things, and scary movie feelings) back to where we started. Guessing we had to pay first, or something, we paid and then got sent up to get the blood and pee tests. Neither of us do well with blood tests, Hannah is a bit needle-phobic, and getting blood drawn makes me woozy (I have been known to faint briefly because of it). It was a very interesting process. We got numbers (614 and 615 I think, random memory...), sat in this waiting room like area. Up front is this desk separated into section/cubicle things like sign in desks with numbers over them. When your number comes up, you sit in front of the desk, put your arm up, they tie the tourniquet thingy, stick you, draw the blood, then hand you the pee test cup. It was kinda weird getting blood drawn in front of everyone like that. Hannah had a moment where she had to cover her eyes before her test because she caught sight of the needle a little girl was getting blood drawn with. Picking on Hannah (ponies and rainbows!) aside, I got a little black around the edges of my sight, but all in all relatively good experience.
So we go to school, got there pretty early which was cool because we thought we were going to be late. Hannah got herself a treat for not having too bad a time with the blood drawing thing. I got my students the candy I promised them yesterday. At the end of today Mr. Lee told us that while the hospital had found the records for the dental exams, we didn't get one of the tests we needed. A chest x-ray. No idea why we need it, but we're going to do that tomorrow. It's been one heck of a time trying to get this all done. So much confusion, oy vey. And on top of that, almost all of my classes today were more energetic then normal. I have a sore throat from having to talk over them. I took a lot of points...hopefully they'll behave better tomorrow, if not I might go insane. Not really, I'll figure it out. Especially for those Grade 7s, both Hannah and I have problems with them. Something about that age group...hm....oh well, I'm exhausted and can't think of anything else to write. That's all for now!
~Lyn
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Inception (see below for Korean translation)
I ended up getting "kidnapped" yesterday, and it was kinda awesome.
For whatever reason I was massively stressed out by Friday, and my solution was to leave work as soon as I was done, go down town, and sit in a coffee shop and write for about an hour and a half. After destressing I wandered around for a few minutes before deciding to catch a taxi.
Which is when I was ambushed by Lori and Petra, who offered to take me out for dinner as a thank you for helping get Sandy to Cambodia. We went to this awesome restaurant. It was KINDA like a hibachi, except that every table had their own grill and you did the cooking yourself. You got some raw pork which you cooked on the coals and then wrapped up in leaves (yum sesame leaves!). Lori and Petra were talking about exploring some of the nightlife in Sangmu (a district of Gwangju... think NYC with Queens, the Bronx, etc.). At an unholy hour in the morning we crawled back to Petra's apartment and all passed out.
This afternoon (still with Lori and Petra) we went to see Inception. I thought it was an excellent movie, but this is not a movie review blog, this is a living in Korea blog. Fortunately I learned some cool factoids about Korean culture during my movie viewing experience!
- Korean movie theaters have assigned seating
- You can get popcorn... or you can get fried squid bites! (didn't get either)
- Most western movies come to theaters with Korean subtitles (which further proved my reading abilities!)
- Even the movie tickets are super cutsey and covered in flowers.
Speaking of cutsey, I bought toilet paper that is decorated with little purple giraffes, because apparently you cannot get just plain white toilet paper in Korea! Well that's all for tonight!
~Hannah
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Lyn's First Day Teaching
Today was my first day teaching. Wednesday and Thursday last week I met my classes (except one grade 4 class) and observed how Sandy taught. Today I got to actually teach them :) Now I'm having trouble not writing this like the books are written. It's actually kinda difficult, I was just going through them to make up a test and some questions so if my wording is odd, I'm sorry, it's the books fault.
Anyway. I thought I was going to start with the Grade 4 class I met while observing Sandy and I would meet the other Grade 4 class on Monday, however I was wrong. It made me a little nervous because we didn't know each other, but it ended up working out very well. They seem like good kids and I'm excited to get to know them better. I had originally decided to take it easy today and tomorrow because we only had a two day week so I didn't really want to start anything too in depth right before a weekend. This plan seemed to work with my Grade 4 class, but my first Grade 5 class was crazy. I told them about the new rule, No Korean Allowed At All, and they still spoke in Korean almost constantly to each other. I was getting annoyed so I started the unit with them and ended up giving the whole class -5 points because I don't know their names yet. The girls were upset, but the boys ignored me, I think I'm going to have a lot of problems with that class. The second Grade 5 class, however, was amazing. I kinda love them right now. They actually asked to start their unit, so we did some reading. They're going to be interesting. My first Grade 6 class was fine, not a lot of problems with them, they also wanted to do work, I was a bit surprised because I mentioned that I was willing to go easy today and tomorrow. But who am I to not let them work :)
My next two classes I will problem end up talking about the most here. I think. My second Grade 6 class is a rather advanced class, this was the first class I remembered in the beginning of class I wanted them to make name-cards for themselves. They are very good speakers and they are out of the books so I get to have fun with them. Since they are advanced I asked them if there was anything they wanted to learn about, I'm very open to doing anything, even if I have to do outside research to teach them. I got some blank looks, but then finally one of the girls suggested they do a story game. The first student starts the story, s/he writes three sentences, covers the first two and passes it along, the next student continues the story from that one line, writes three lines, covers everything but the last line and so on. They started working on a story for Sandy now, I'm amused what the first three have written, they are certainly creative boys. My Grade 7 class I started the same way. After they made their name-cards (I remembered for them too, barely), I posed the same question and got even more blank looks. I tried to coax something out of them to very little end. The girls started to give me some feedback, they also seemed interested in my language lesson so I might do word roots with them, but the boys were silent and rather uncooperative. I was a little surprised because normally it's the other way around. Finally, after this lasted the entire class period, I told them that their homework was to come up with something they would like to do in class. Hopefully they will think of SOMETHING. I really want to have fun with these two classes, I hope that once they get to know me they will help a little more.
All in all, I had a rather fun first day. I made up my first test tonight (though it's a "Sandy Test" not a "Lyn Test" as I told the students, because it's one they should have gotten last Thursday from Sandy), and made up questions for readings. I feel teacherly :) it's fun. Now I shall sleep and hope that tomorrow goes as well, or better (hopefully better in some cases).
~Lyn
Anyway. I thought I was going to start with the Grade 4 class I met while observing Sandy and I would meet the other Grade 4 class on Monday, however I was wrong. It made me a little nervous because we didn't know each other, but it ended up working out very well. They seem like good kids and I'm excited to get to know them better. I had originally decided to take it easy today and tomorrow because we only had a two day week so I didn't really want to start anything too in depth right before a weekend. This plan seemed to work with my Grade 4 class, but my first Grade 5 class was crazy. I told them about the new rule, No Korean Allowed At All, and they still spoke in Korean almost constantly to each other. I was getting annoyed so I started the unit with them and ended up giving the whole class -5 points because I don't know their names yet. The girls were upset, but the boys ignored me, I think I'm going to have a lot of problems with that class. The second Grade 5 class, however, was amazing. I kinda love them right now. They actually asked to start their unit, so we did some reading. They're going to be interesting. My first Grade 6 class was fine, not a lot of problems with them, they also wanted to do work, I was a bit surprised because I mentioned that I was willing to go easy today and tomorrow. But who am I to not let them work :)
My next two classes I will problem end up talking about the most here. I think. My second Grade 6 class is a rather advanced class, this was the first class I remembered in the beginning of class I wanted them to make name-cards for themselves. They are very good speakers and they are out of the books so I get to have fun with them. Since they are advanced I asked them if there was anything they wanted to learn about, I'm very open to doing anything, even if I have to do outside research to teach them. I got some blank looks, but then finally one of the girls suggested they do a story game. The first student starts the story, s/he writes three sentences, covers the first two and passes it along, the next student continues the story from that one line, writes three lines, covers everything but the last line and so on. They started working on a story for Sandy now, I'm amused what the first three have written, they are certainly creative boys. My Grade 7 class I started the same way. After they made their name-cards (I remembered for them too, barely), I posed the same question and got even more blank looks. I tried to coax something out of them to very little end. The girls started to give me some feedback, they also seemed interested in my language lesson so I might do word roots with them, but the boys were silent and rather uncooperative. I was a little surprised because normally it's the other way around. Finally, after this lasted the entire class period, I told them that their homework was to come up with something they would like to do in class. Hopefully they will think of SOMETHING. I really want to have fun with these two classes, I hope that once they get to know me they will help a little more.
All in all, I had a rather fun first day. I made up my first test tonight (though it's a "Sandy Test" not a "Lyn Test" as I told the students, because it's one they should have gotten last Thursday from Sandy), and made up questions for readings. I feel teacherly :) it's fun. Now I shall sleep and hope that tomorrow goes as well, or better (hopefully better in some cases).
~Lyn
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Lyn's Life = Fail
So, yesterday Hannah had the apartment problems with her water heater and had to come upstairs to shower in the apartment I'm staying in. Apparently this fail made my life jealous and it decided to fail too. Now, we've had some constant problems with the door-lock on Britton's apartment. It's a keypad lock and all of us (I'm not including Britton in this because I don't know if he has had issues) have had some issue getting it to unlock. I thought I had figured out the secret and I've been having minimal problems since the first few days of problems, but today took the cake.
Hannah and I went to E-mart to pick up some more groceries and other needed items. When we got back, I couldn't get the door to unlock. This isn't too unusual, but I got frustrated and grabbed Hannah to see if she could do it. The number pad was not acknowledging the fact that we were pushing the buttons. Then it stopped lighting up all together. So we went down to security, but no one was there. Hannah brought us to the office, which she luckily knew where it was because she had followed Sandy there to pay the condo fee, and we had a fun time explaining to the secretary (I think) what was wrong. She called someone who speaks English, Hannah talked to him and thinks it was Mr. Lee, and Hannah explained the problem again. Then the woman called her boss and we went back up to the apartment. We showed him the problem, again with the fun language barrier, and he called someone to fix it. After he left, on a whim, I decided to try the door once more, and this time it worked! So Hannah went to grab my grocercies which I stored in her apartment, and I waited inside. When she came back we decided to see if it would work again, so she tried it, and it wouldn't light up again, so we figured it was a fluke. Finally the repair guy came, and I showed him the problem again. He had to replace the whole thing. I still don't know what was wrong because I don't speak any Korean and none of them spoke English, but it works now, better then it did before so I'm happy. And now I have keys in the event of another emergency :) so it ended alright.
Tomorrow I start teaching so I'm off to hunt food and maybe poke at my lesson plans more. It's been a kinda stressful half hour or hour, not actually sure how long that took, but it was kinda stressful. Fun times.
~Lyn
Hannah and I went to E-mart to pick up some more groceries and other needed items. When we got back, I couldn't get the door to unlock. This isn't too unusual, but I got frustrated and grabbed Hannah to see if she could do it. The number pad was not acknowledging the fact that we were pushing the buttons. Then it stopped lighting up all together. So we went down to security, but no one was there. Hannah brought us to the office, which she luckily knew where it was because she had followed Sandy there to pay the condo fee, and we had a fun time explaining to the secretary (I think) what was wrong. She called someone who speaks English, Hannah talked to him and thinks it was Mr. Lee, and Hannah explained the problem again. Then the woman called her boss and we went back up to the apartment. We showed him the problem, again with the fun language barrier, and he called someone to fix it. After he left, on a whim, I decided to try the door once more, and this time it worked! So Hannah went to grab my grocercies which I stored in her apartment, and I waited inside. When she came back we decided to see if it would work again, so she tried it, and it wouldn't light up again, so we figured it was a fluke. Finally the repair guy came, and I showed him the problem again. He had to replace the whole thing. I still don't know what was wrong because I don't speak any Korean and none of them spoke English, but it works now, better then it did before so I'm happy. And now I have keys in the event of another emergency :) so it ended alright.
Tomorrow I start teaching so I'm off to hunt food and maybe poke at my lesson plans more. It's been a kinda stressful half hour or hour, not actually sure how long that took, but it was kinda stressful. Fun times.
~Lyn
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Dasarang: 다사랑
Dasarang is an AMAZING chicken restaurant. One just opened up right down the street from our apartment. That and the French bakery that is practically next to our apartment will be jointly responsible for making me fat (Hi Mom...).
The other day was spent cleaning and organizing and scrubbing my fridge in an event that was way more fun than it should have been. I never accomplish everything I want to do over breaks, and this one will probably be no exception, but I do have tomorrow to be useful.
I'm starting to feel more confident in my ability to get around, and found a phrase book in my apartment, which proved very useful today. My day started with a 7am trip to the bus station to drop off Sandy's luggage so she could leave for Cambodia. While there I had the chance to try one of the strange dunkin donut flavors, I opted for watermelon, I couldn't bring myself to try the banana one. Getting home from the bus station was also easier than anticipated (The past couple of times I've been in charge of saying the apartment name I have absolutely butchered it.) I did make the mistake of thanking the taxi driver in Russian (Спасибо) before catching my mistake and shouting it out in Korean (감사합니다). I quite miss reading things in Russian and wish I had brought my books with me so that I could keep learning. For whatever reason I seem to do better with languages that have non-Phoenician alphabets. I got back to the apartment and then went back to bed for a few hours before waking up and cooking myself breakfast. I made bacon and egg and felt quite accomplished. In sucky news, the hot water heater in my apartment appears to have died for good, which means I really have to harass Mr. Lee about it and get it fixed as soon as possible.
Lyn and I went to the Gwangju Folk Museum today, which was fantastic because it means I got to get my anthropology on. I love those opportunities because it just reinforces that I'm going into the right field. Most of the museum was focused on the traditional Korean way of life, less on rituals and lore, but this didn't stop me from finding interesting. One thing I thought was really interesting is that part of the traditional Korean wedding ceremony involves the groom presenting the bride with a wooden representation of a wild goose!
We made it back to the apartment and then went to Dasarang for dinner. Seriously, so tasty. It's just fried chicken, but it's the best fried chicken ever.
I had the first feelings of... well, almost homesickness, but not quite. I've of course been missing individual people (some far more than others), and of course Phoebe, but I had a weird moment where I realized I wouldn't be home for a full year. I thought of something at home that I didn't pack and just thought "oh, I'll just grab it next time I'm home!" but next time I'm home will be this time next year! It seems so weird, especially since I'll most likely be spending the time there repacking to move someplace else... it's strange, because the fact that i've graduated hasn't really sunk in yet, I still just feel like I'm on summer vacation (and technically... until thrusday... i sorta am!). Well, that's all from here, for now at least! Take care everyone!
~Hannah
The other day was spent cleaning and organizing and scrubbing my fridge in an event that was way more fun than it should have been. I never accomplish everything I want to do over breaks, and this one will probably be no exception, but I do have tomorrow to be useful.
I'm starting to feel more confident in my ability to get around, and found a phrase book in my apartment, which proved very useful today. My day started with a 7am trip to the bus station to drop off Sandy's luggage so she could leave for Cambodia. While there I had the chance to try one of the strange dunkin donut flavors, I opted for watermelon, I couldn't bring myself to try the banana one. Getting home from the bus station was also easier than anticipated (The past couple of times I've been in charge of saying the apartment name I have absolutely butchered it.) I did make the mistake of thanking the taxi driver in Russian (Спасибо) before catching my mistake and shouting it out in Korean (감사합니다). I quite miss reading things in Russian and wish I had brought my books with me so that I could keep learning. For whatever reason I seem to do better with languages that have non-Phoenician alphabets. I got back to the apartment and then went back to bed for a few hours before waking up and cooking myself breakfast. I made bacon and egg and felt quite accomplished. In sucky news, the hot water heater in my apartment appears to have died for good, which means I really have to harass Mr. Lee about it and get it fixed as soon as possible.
Lyn and I went to the Gwangju Folk Museum today, which was fantastic because it means I got to get my anthropology on. I love those opportunities because it just reinforces that I'm going into the right field. Most of the museum was focused on the traditional Korean way of life, less on rituals and lore, but this didn't stop me from finding interesting. One thing I thought was really interesting is that part of the traditional Korean wedding ceremony involves the groom presenting the bride with a wooden representation of a wild goose!
We made it back to the apartment and then went to Dasarang for dinner. Seriously, so tasty. It's just fried chicken, but it's the best fried chicken ever.
I had the first feelings of... well, almost homesickness, but not quite. I've of course been missing individual people (some far more than others), and of course Phoebe, but I had a weird moment where I realized I wouldn't be home for a full year. I thought of something at home that I didn't pack and just thought "oh, I'll just grab it next time I'm home!" but next time I'm home will be this time next year! It seems so weird, especially since I'll most likely be spending the time there repacking to move someplace else... it's strange, because the fact that i've graduated hasn't really sunk in yet, I still just feel like I'm on summer vacation (and technically... until thrusday... i sorta am!). Well, that's all from here, for now at least! Take care everyone!
~Hannah
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Magkuli: 막걸리
The picture is the 'pick-your-own-squid' tank at Emart. Magkuli is a traditional Korean rice wine. It has a low alcohol content and a slightly sweet taste!
Today Lyn and I went to Emart, which is quickly becoming my new favorite place. We walked there and took a taxi back, and I was immensely pleased that we managed to orient ourselves/communicate enough to do that! I got some household things and lots of groceries, so now I can truly start cooking for myself. I want to start learning to cook traditional Korean food (or at least modified Korean food) but for right now I'm sticking to easy things like pasta. My mother will be pleased to know I bought some lettuce and bean sprouts with which to salad. I also got some Sesame leaves. I tried them the other night when we went out to dinner to celebrate Sandy's last day. At the restaurant we went to the table was given a giant plate of pork and a few piles of lettuce and sesame leaves, and you wrapped the pork (and other toppings, like garlic, kimchi, and potato noodles) into the leaves and then ate them. The sesame leaves were so delicious! I couldn't resist getting some to put in salad or snack on plain.
I also made a few very important purchases and I now have a half-gallon tank with a small female betta (long beautiful fins, blue with a slight mustard gas coloration for those who care, or just want to laugh at me). It's the little touch that really makes this place feel like a permanent home.
Lyn and I also got pizza for dinner at a cute local place called Pizza School. This is worth mentioning simply because we managed to order successfully despite the language barrier. Overall I'm very excited about how successful today was, it's really nice to feel like I'm acclimating!
~Hannah
Friday, July 30, 2010
Kim Chi: 김치
(Due to the 'family friendly' nature of this blog, I will not be talking about the unique Korean cultural experience that was drinking fruit soju in a really cute little box in a soju house thing. Hi Grandma!)
Teaching has been going well, overall. I won't gripe about it, the complaints I have are mostly related to a few individual students (and a collective conspiracy to not do homework) but these are things that anyone in the education industry probably knows exactly what I'm talking about. So I won't really go into it now (I'm also really tired, but it is absolutely not because Sandy and I stayed up til 5am... Hi Mom!)
Speaking of Sandy, I moved into her apartment the night Lyn got here and was crashing in the guest room. Today Sandy official moved out and I finally unpacked all my stuff and am getting settled in to MY apartment. I'll post pictures of the wallpaper later, because it's fantastic. It's a little weird to be honest, doesn't really feel like home yet, especially since I inherited so much stuff (which is awesome for my wallet, so no complaints). There's a trip to Emart in my near future to stock up on some essentials and some items to make this place feel more homey.
We get a five day weekend for vacation, which I will most likely spend getting ready to begin round two of grad school applications... not the funnest thing to do while in Korea, but it does mean I get to go to the folklore museum. Well, I need some sleep! Also, thanks to evvery one who has commented (both on and off the blog) about how much they enjoy reading! It's great to know there's an audience!
~Hannah
Teaching has been going well, overall. I won't gripe about it, the complaints I have are mostly related to a few individual students (and a collective conspiracy to not do homework) but these are things that anyone in the education industry probably knows exactly what I'm talking about. So I won't really go into it now (I'm also really tired, but it is absolutely not because Sandy and I stayed up til 5am... Hi Mom!)
Speaking of Sandy, I moved into her apartment the night Lyn got here and was crashing in the guest room. Today Sandy official moved out and I finally unpacked all my stuff and am getting settled in to MY apartment. I'll post pictures of the wallpaper later, because it's fantastic. It's a little weird to be honest, doesn't really feel like home yet, especially since I inherited so much stuff (which is awesome for my wallet, so no complaints). There's a trip to Emart in my near future to stock up on some essentials and some items to make this place feel more homey.
We get a five day weekend for vacation, which I will most likely spend getting ready to begin round two of grad school applications... not the funnest thing to do while in Korea, but it does mean I get to go to the folklore museum. Well, I need some sleep! Also, thanks to evvery one who has commented (both on and off the blog) about how much they enjoy reading! It's great to know there's an audience!
~Hannah
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