Shit Korean Kids Say

Hey folks. I'm waaaaay behind on my blog updates. I've been meaning to post about my amazing Saryangdo Island trip for two weeks, but the formatting on my cell phone is difficult (computer is still broken). The Saryangdo trip has been especially hard to format. Mo' pictures, mo' problems y'all.

In the mean time enjoy the latest installment of Shit Korean Kids say!

I've clearly made a great impression on this lovely student.

 

Where to start? With the obvious attempt to take up space or the sentence that clearly begs the question "WTF"?

Adventures in arts & crafts. (Okay, not exactly from a student but too good not to share.) 

What is this book about you ask? Kittens? Robots? Answer: neither. Little Jenny just really likes kittens and robots, you guys.

Saryangdo Island Trip

A few weekends ago I went on my first weekend trip in Korea. It was awesome. I went through Seoul Hiking Group, who I highly recommend. (I've already signed up for three more trips with them.) It was a jam packed weekend to Saryangdo Island, Goseong Dinosaur Footprint Park, and Maisan Tapsa Temple.

I started off the weekend with a delicious Korean barbeque dinner on Friday night. Most of the teachers at my school came out to celebrate our survival of the first week of the new semester. Afterwards most of them met up at the local expat bar, but I still had to pack for my trip so I called it a night. 

Luckily, there was a Cheonan pick up for my trip, so caught a cab around 11:30pm to the Cheonan rest stop. After being dropped off in rape alley, being told to jump the fence, and wandering around the side of the highway (all with my fully packed pack on) for about half an hour, I finally found the pick up spot. One nearly sleepless midnight bus ride later, we arrived at the ferry just in time to see a beautiful sunrise over the Pacific.



Any sleep-deprived grumpiness that I had accumulated vanished once I saw this view


 After dropping our things at our beach pension -a room with mats on the floor for sleeping groups- we started our hike. It was definitely one of my favorite day hikes I've done. It's not too strenuous but it's challenging enough to make you feel accomplished. There were beautiful views for almost the whole way. 

The most notable thing about the hike would have to be the semi life threatening part of it toward the end. The narrow trail gives way to an even narrower ridge with death falls on either side. To make it even more nerve wracking, the intense Korean hikers stop for no man (or woman) when it comes to mountain hiking -even when the "trail" is clearly hazardous for just one at a time. Not to worry, I was totally nonchalant about the whole possibility of being accidentially pushed to me death by some old Korean folks. (Only the tiniest bit of sarcasm there, y'all). 

In the end, I'm happy I did it though (I've had 3 weeks to get over my PTSD, you guys). It was full of nice views, enjoyable challenges, and awesome people. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday! 

After my near death experience I was pleased to take part in a time honored Korean tradition: drinking while hiking! The "Makgeolli Man" was very welcoming indeed. He sold homemade Korean rice wine (makgeolli) and treated us to free dried fish (yummy?) and a drum show.

 Woman selling food on the side of the road




View from the first peak





So many stairs!





The view got better throughout the day





The stairs became increasingly more steep



Made it!





Just gonna rest by this pile of rocks, you guys!





Tyring not to die





Still alive!





On Sunday we finished off the weekend at the dinosaur footprint park and Maisan Tapsa temple. A quick update on those should be up in the next few days!

New Semester at ILS

Last week we started the new semester at ILS. In Korea the school year starts at the beginning of March, instead of the end of summer.

The new semester naturally means change. This is especially true since four of our kinder classes graduated to elementary. This also meant we got some new classes. Let me tell you, you haven't seen cuteness until you've seen a brand new "class" consisting of 2 three-year-olds in prep school uniforms. And then just when you think it can't get any cuter, they mime slash tell you in broken Konglish that their names are Elsa and Rapunzel. Frozen continues to take ILS by storm.

Some of the foreign teachers got new main kinder classes, but I was so happy to hear I got to keep mine. As I've said in a previous post, I love my kiddos. My class did change a little. We lost two of my favorite students to another class (basically they leveled up because they are Korean baby geniuses) and I got a new student. My class now has 5 boys and 3 girls. And since they're on the next kinder level they're called Washington instead of Houston.

The Korean staff at ILS was almost completely changed as well. Many of our beloved Koreans moved on to greener pastures, and they hired almost all new teachers. Unfortunately, we still don't have a full staff so as of right now I don't have a co-teacher. They've been sort of trying to make due with tagging teaming the situation between a few people. I don't know why they decided to stick the new girl (me, duh) with the semi-solo gig but whatevs. I'm choosing to believe it's because Korea realizes how awesome I am. I might be in denial. Or delusional. Like I said, whatevs y'all!

The best thing to come out of the new semester is that I'm a science teacher now! When I first got here they stuck me with math (barf), but after some not so subtle hints on my part, they're letting me teach something I actually know a bit about. Not only is it my favorite subject, but it's most of the kids' favorite as well. I've come to think of science as the crack cocaine of the kindergarten world. The kids want it so bad that if I so much as mention science stickers or books even the biggest turds in the class sit nicely and quietly until they're handed the materials. It's nice to have the kids get excited when I walk into class. But I'm choosing to believe part of that is also because like the rest of Korea, they too have come to see my awesomeness.

I have also acquired an additional main elementary class. These kiddos I'm not so fond of. I suppose it had to happen since I love my other three classes. Just Korean Jesus' way of keeping my karma in check. (Side note- Does Jesus believe in karma? I'm pretty sure Korean Jesus does. Please ponder this and let me know.)

This new elementary class doesn't speak English as well as my kinders and they sure as heck don't listen as well either. These elementary kids aren't as impressed by my sticker bribes. And they are semi-rude (sometimes bordering an straight up a-holes). Yesterday they hid my cell phone and I didn't find it until the next day. I think things will be better as we get to know each other more. I'm pretty sure their last main teacher wasn't into the whole making kids listen to you and respect you thing.

Overall, I think it's going to be a great year. I've got some solid classes and when all else fails I can usually bribe them with science or the Frozen soundtrack. In the meantime readers, let me know your thoughts on Jesus' karma beliefs and/or wrangling my newest bunch of elementary turds.



Until next time!

New classroom. I decorated it myself. (Who says I need a co-teacher?!)



Making tops in science.



Washington in their new class

My elementary stars continue to be awesome. Spelling the longest word in the English dictionary? No problem!

My Apartment

After being in Korea for two months, I'm finally posting some pictures of my apartment. I don't know why it's taken me so long... maybe because there's not much to my apartment. It's nothing spectacular, but it is a pretty typical apartment for my area. So if you're wondering what apartments in Korea are like, here you go!

My apartment building



My entryway- in Korea you always take off your shoes when entering a home. Most apartments have a space like this for shoes.









Sliding door into my main room (aka my living room/bedroom/dining room)

Wardrobe for all of my clothes. It's a good thing I only brought one suitcase!



My bathroom- that thing on the wall is my shower. The whole room gets wet when I take a shower. It's super convenient if you want to brush your teeth while in the shower.

My patio (read laundry room)

My view (breathtaking isn't it?)







My Laundry

I had to google translate the shit out of it.





Bronze Buddha

For the past two weeks I have been searching for Buddha.

No, I have not been looking into a new religion. I have literally been searching for Buddha. Well a statue of Buddha. The giant bronze Buddha statue located in Cheonan to be exact. I'd heard about this statue back in January, but I'd been waiting for warmer weather before I decided to give it a try.

Well last weekend it finally reached double digits on the good ol' thermometer. 12 degrees! Woo hoo!

Now for all of you Americans, rest assured that I haven't turned into one of those psychos who enjoy freezing weather. I'm talking about 12 degrees Celsius obviously. Google it my American friends. Since I'm basically Korean now I can't be sure of the exact conversion.

Anywaaay, what was I saying? Oh yes, Buddha. Boy is he ever elusive. My quest to find him started last weekend. I hopped into a cab with a fellow waygook and headed off towards a park I thought contained the Buddha statue. Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, I was wrong. I didn't realise this until about two hours into a mostly straight uphill hike.

Living in western North Carolina for over two years, I'd done my fair share of hiking, but this was a little different. The mountain wasn't necessarily any higher or steeper than ones I'd find back home, but the trails weren't well planned. For example, my new countrymen apparently don't believe in switchbacks. Straight uphill for us Koreans!

We don't need switchbacks! We got ropes!


Although I didn't find the Buddha that day, it still turned out to be a pretty nice hike. Highlights include: trying to use Google translate to decipher Korean trail signs (according to the always accurate Google one of the trails lead to "premature birth"), getting snacks from an old Korean man (thanks for the free coffee and apple slices whoever you were), accidentally singing and dancing to Frozen's "Let it Go" on Korean graves (I'm super respectful y'all), and finding a randomly fancy cafe in the middle of the ghetto that served uh-mazing chocolate cheesecake.

Nomz

I set out again this past weekend with two fellow English teachers (strength in numbers right?). After a successful cab ride followed by a less successful bus ride (Korean bus drivers be RUDE) we were dropped off at a University. My Korean cell phone informed me we were a 20 minute walk from the bronze Buddha so we decided to follow the hi-tech compass on my cell (orienteering Korean style). What we soon realised was that it would only be a 20 minute walk if we cut through a crater/construction site. After wandering the woods/university/city streets for a bit we decided to get a cab. 

Best. Decision. Ever! Our cabbie took us straight to Gagwonsa temple (where bronze Buddha lives). I was so excited to finally be there! It only took three tries, but we made it. And it didn't disappoint. The temple was beautiful and the very peaceful. We even saw a monk. Enjoy the pictures!



Write your own prayer on a roof tile!





Lotus laterns with prayers attached. Beautiful!





I found him!



People praying at the Buddha statue. It was very peaceful.

After Gagwonsa we went back to Buldong (our neighborhood) and spotted this gem of a cafe. While I was awkwardly taking this photo, the cafe owner's sister rushed out to tell us they were opening in two weeks and invited us inside for free beverages and cake. Score! All in all it was a pretty awesome day! Until next time, my friends.



YOLO, am I right?