Video Of My Apartment
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
a Plus and a Minus
Plus: I love how you can get food delivered here that you’d never be able to in the US… or if you did, then it would be cold by the time you got it. Every time I order a soup, it comes piping hot (and no, I don’t mean by my standards. It really is hot. So yes, I have to wait for it to cool down.). Tonight I ordered dulsoh-bibimbap (mixed rice and veggies in a stone pot) and I was so surprised to receive it so hot still.
Minus: I did laundry last night. I REALLY miss having a dryer. I have clothes hanging all over the apartment… and they’re still wet. I also had a difficult time trying to decipher all the buttons. I sorta figured it out. When I say “sorta” I mean that I had clean clothes in the end, but I ended up pulling half out them out of the water to wring out. I asked one of the administrative people today at work. I think next time should go smoother.
Minus: I did laundry last night. I REALLY miss having a dryer. I have clothes hanging all over the apartment… and they’re still wet. I also had a difficult time trying to decipher all the buttons. I sorta figured it out. When I say “sorta” I mean that I had clean clothes in the end, but I ended up pulling half out them out of the water to wring out. I asked one of the administrative people today at work. I think next time should go smoother.
Downtown Daegu
I had a lot of fun going downtown this weekend. It feels much more like a city. On the weekends it’s wall-to-wall people, bright lights at night, and lots of sounds. Many stores play loud music and have their doors open so you can hear it in the street. As you walk only a few paces you hear one song fading out and being drown by the next store’s music. Actually, I kind of like that. It’s common in malls and department stores here for there to be women holding a product or flyer and calling out to passers by. So downtown since the music is so loud, people have microphones and call out.
For some reason all the stores are segregated by their type. What I mean is that there’ll be a whole street that’s just clothing, another street that’s just jewelry, another just for food, another for weddings. It’s interesting, you’d think that it would make things too competitive to stay in business. I found this huge bookstore that’s like a Barnes & Noble… and it even has a Starbucks in it. Yes, that’s right, I got some. I was so happy! That was my first real cup of coffee since I was in the U.S. Here there’s a lot of premade stuff, or dry creamer, or weak coffee, etc.
One thing I heard at some time or another and forgot about until just this weekend… was the store “watchers” as I call them. If you go into a store there sometimes is a person who follows your every move about 3 paces behind you. I mean this very literally because I tested it. I went around weird corners and doubled back around others. I don’t think the mentality is to watch you like a hawk, I think it’s to help you if you need anything. It feels very strange and awkward at first, but you can get used to it. The bakeries are so great! Everything they make is so beautiful. I took a picture of a cake I liked. I was a bit surprised because technically the city of Daegu is pretty big, but the downtown area is so small. I walked through the whole thing and I feel like it know it pretty well in a general sense. I have to spend far more time to get to know the individual shops and where the best place is to get whatever still of course. There’s so many small mom and pop places and then right in the middle of everything is a pretty high-end mall. It’s like a large Bloomingdales. I’ll probably go again next weekend. It looks cool at night so I'll post some night pictures later.
For some reason all the stores are segregated by their type. What I mean is that there’ll be a whole street that’s just clothing, another street that’s just jewelry, another just for food, another for weddings. It’s interesting, you’d think that it would make things too competitive to stay in business. I found this huge bookstore that’s like a Barnes & Noble… and it even has a Starbucks in it. Yes, that’s right, I got some. I was so happy! That was my first real cup of coffee since I was in the U.S. Here there’s a lot of premade stuff, or dry creamer, or weak coffee, etc.
One thing I heard at some time or another and forgot about until just this weekend… was the store “watchers” as I call them. If you go into a store there sometimes is a person who follows your every move about 3 paces behind you. I mean this very literally because I tested it. I went around weird corners and doubled back around others. I don’t think the mentality is to watch you like a hawk, I think it’s to help you if you need anything. It feels very strange and awkward at first, but you can get used to it. The bakeries are so great! Everything they make is so beautiful. I took a picture of a cake I liked. I was a bit surprised because technically the city of Daegu is pretty big, but the downtown area is so small. I walked through the whole thing and I feel like it know it pretty well in a general sense. I have to spend far more time to get to know the individual shops and where the best place is to get whatever still of course. There’s so many small mom and pop places and then right in the middle of everything is a pretty high-end mall. It’s like a large Bloomingdales. I’ll probably go again next weekend. It looks cool at night so I'll post some night pictures later.
Friday, October 24, 2008
First Week In Daegu
I don’t feel half a world away. I sorta feel like I just moved to a different state or something. Maybe it’s because of the internet connecting everyone.
So much to tell… ok, #1, training: wow was that exhausting! It was from about 9am-5pm for the whole week. The first two days was giving us info and the rest was all practicing and getting feedback. Everyday our mock’s were longer and harder than the previous day. When we got back we had to spend the whole night preparing for the next day’s mock. We were tested on our grammar skills and on company policies, and stuff. We all were up late every night between the preparing and studying. It was like I was back in college and so that part I hated. I got to meet some interesting people though. One girl was Korean-Canadian who was fluent in Korean and spent the week helping all the other trainees out with ordering food and teaching them things about Korea. Another guy was an independent film director from LA. One person had professional teaching experience, one person had lived in a foreign country before, so we all sorta pooled our experiences together to help each other. It was a good group. At the week’s end most of us went our separate ways to our respective schools. Luckily 3 of us got to go together to Daegu. Once we got to Daegu, my boss took us to our apartments and helped us settle in. Saturday (the next day) we had a lunch meeting where we got to know the school better and how things work there. Sunday I tried to unpack and prepare my lessons to start teaching Monday. My apartment is great. I know that apartments in Asia are quite small and I’ve heard that teachers often don’t get all that great apartments. I really like mine though. It’s a 12 minute walk from school and it’s a new apartment building… or it was just refurbished, not sure which. My coworker from TX is in the apartment next to mine. You don’t need a key for the front door or my apartment door, everything is a number key pad. So I just have to punch in the code. In the bathroom, it’s common to have a sink and a toilet, that’s it. The shower is just the shower head up top (same turn on switch as the sink except with an extra switch to the shower head). The entire floor is meant to get wet and flow into one central drain. My kitchen and bedroom have heated floors. That’s SO nice in the morning when I step out of bed. I’m going to take a little video of my apartment to show you guys. I’ll try to post that up tomorrow. Oh, and right outside my window is a park.
My school is in an area that is being completely redone. They’re tearing down buildings and rebuilding them all nice. So my school building is pretty new. As it turns out, my school (2 floors of the building) is a brand new branch. CDI has tons of branches all over Korea, 3 of them in Daegu. But I was placed in a branch they’re just starting. So it’s an interesting experience. One bad thing is that there’s no other teachers who’ve been there for a wile to show us around. It’s alright though because we’re just exploring the area ourselves.
My boss is a bit like my old roommate, Lonnie. She has the exact same voice, facial features, and laugh. She and I are getting along pretty well, I can tell she likes me. She’s a very fun loving and easy going type of person, but I can sorta sense that if something happens then I wouldn’t want to mess with her… and she knows how to pull the boss attitude out when she needs to. So I can tell I shouldn’t overstep my bounds. She’s been SO accommodating and helpful. She made sure things were all set up for each of us, both in our apartments and classrooms, and if something isn’t then she’ll make sure it’s taken care of right away. Things have been so easy because of that. We had an all staff dinner the other night and part of the table spoke in Korean some of the time or intertwined Korean words in English sentences (konglish). I was in the exact middle of the table and therefore got to bounce between conversations. Most of the Korean jokes I understood and it turns out my boss noticed that I was laughing and thus got them. Later she mentioned that to me and complimented me on understanding things. So now we have an agreement that I will be using more Korean when I talk to her. So my sentences will be mixed. I think she gets a kick out of it. She told me that when the year is up she wants me to be able to speak all in Korean.
Classes started on Monday. I was SO nervous the day before and the day of. Once that first class was over I was fine. The second day and since then I’ve had such a care-free attitude. It’s amazing how comfortable I feel already. I teach 2 different classes and 2 sections of each class. They all meet twice a week and they are all 3 hour classes. I’m glad that I teach multiple sections of the same class because it’s less preparing to do. My “larger” classes have 9 kids in them and I have one class with 2 kids. Most of my kids are around 11-13 years old, but I have one class with 14 and 15 year olds. That one is my most difficult, because teenage boys do NOT talk at all! Although today they talked a little more than last class. My favorite class right now is the class with 2 kids… it’s two 13 year old girls. I think with the small class size I can relate to them better and do more with them… it’s just so much more fun. The curriculum is quite… overbooked, for lack of another word. It is so crammed, but I’m learning that I can have a little freedom with it and feeling out what parts are the most critical and shouldn’t be skipped. Right now I feel like I’m being the most creative I’ve ever been in my life. What I mean by that is… I have a difficult time thinking up examples to explain things. It’s been coming a little easier, and I’ve also thought of creative ways to help the kids learn different concepts. Also, I’ve always been good with grammar… that’s helping so much because I need to teach the kids not just the correct way to write sentences, but it helps more if they know WHY things are the way they are.
I’m in the southwest section of the city so to me it’s not all that city-like, but to my Texan coworker it’s very cityish and seoul (which is like NYC) was overwhelming for her. I haven’t been to downtown Daegu yet and I can’t wait to go. I plan to tomorrow. (Unfortunately when we were in Seoul we barely got to see it because of our training schedule.)
My Korean friends will find this next statement the funniest… I’m realizing just how koreanized I was before coming here because I’ve had no culture shock. Actually everything seems kinda normal to me. I think I only recently stopped believing that I’m in the Korean section of NYC or LA and realized I’m in Korea… but still, no culture shock. Sure there’s lots of differences between here and the US, but I was aware of a lot of them and used to some of them before even coming here. Another thing that caused me to notice myself is my coworkers. I think they are both doing pretty well adjusting (and lucky for them they both like spicy food), but I can tell for them that it IS in fact an adjustment living here. I really like it here and feel quite comfortable already. Unfortunately, I’m not really learning any more Korean yet. I am teaching my coworkers things though, so they can learn to fend for themselves and get on their own 2 feet and feel more at home. I’m sure I’ll start learning things before I even know it. I have gotten a little faster at reading Korean since outside is plastered with signs for everything, so that makes me happy. I’d really like to get a bike to get around easier here. Hopefully I can soon.
Sorry for such a long entry. The point is that I’m adjusting well and I’m really starting to love teaching (whereas at the end of training I had my doubts). Pictures and videos to come soon.
So much to tell… ok, #1, training: wow was that exhausting! It was from about 9am-5pm for the whole week. The first two days was giving us info and the rest was all practicing and getting feedback. Everyday our mock’s were longer and harder than the previous day. When we got back we had to spend the whole night preparing for the next day’s mock. We were tested on our grammar skills and on company policies, and stuff. We all were up late every night between the preparing and studying. It was like I was back in college and so that part I hated. I got to meet some interesting people though. One girl was Korean-Canadian who was fluent in Korean and spent the week helping all the other trainees out with ordering food and teaching them things about Korea. Another guy was an independent film director from LA. One person had professional teaching experience, one person had lived in a foreign country before, so we all sorta pooled our experiences together to help each other. It was a good group. At the week’s end most of us went our separate ways to our respective schools. Luckily 3 of us got to go together to Daegu. Once we got to Daegu, my boss took us to our apartments and helped us settle in. Saturday (the next day) we had a lunch meeting where we got to know the school better and how things work there. Sunday I tried to unpack and prepare my lessons to start teaching Monday. My apartment is great. I know that apartments in Asia are quite small and I’ve heard that teachers often don’t get all that great apartments. I really like mine though. It’s a 12 minute walk from school and it’s a new apartment building… or it was just refurbished, not sure which. My coworker from TX is in the apartment next to mine. You don’t need a key for the front door or my apartment door, everything is a number key pad. So I just have to punch in the code. In the bathroom, it’s common to have a sink and a toilet, that’s it. The shower is just the shower head up top (same turn on switch as the sink except with an extra switch to the shower head). The entire floor is meant to get wet and flow into one central drain. My kitchen and bedroom have heated floors. That’s SO nice in the morning when I step out of bed. I’m going to take a little video of my apartment to show you guys. I’ll try to post that up tomorrow. Oh, and right outside my window is a park.
My school is in an area that is being completely redone. They’re tearing down buildings and rebuilding them all nice. So my school building is pretty new. As it turns out, my school (2 floors of the building) is a brand new branch. CDI has tons of branches all over Korea, 3 of them in Daegu. But I was placed in a branch they’re just starting. So it’s an interesting experience. One bad thing is that there’s no other teachers who’ve been there for a wile to show us around. It’s alright though because we’re just exploring the area ourselves.
My boss is a bit like my old roommate, Lonnie. She has the exact same voice, facial features, and laugh. She and I are getting along pretty well, I can tell she likes me. She’s a very fun loving and easy going type of person, but I can sorta sense that if something happens then I wouldn’t want to mess with her… and she knows how to pull the boss attitude out when she needs to. So I can tell I shouldn’t overstep my bounds. She’s been SO accommodating and helpful. She made sure things were all set up for each of us, both in our apartments and classrooms, and if something isn’t then she’ll make sure it’s taken care of right away. Things have been so easy because of that. We had an all staff dinner the other night and part of the table spoke in Korean some of the time or intertwined Korean words in English sentences (konglish). I was in the exact middle of the table and therefore got to bounce between conversations. Most of the Korean jokes I understood and it turns out my boss noticed that I was laughing and thus got them. Later she mentioned that to me and complimented me on understanding things. So now we have an agreement that I will be using more Korean when I talk to her. So my sentences will be mixed. I think she gets a kick out of it. She told me that when the year is up she wants me to be able to speak all in Korean.
Classes started on Monday. I was SO nervous the day before and the day of. Once that first class was over I was fine. The second day and since then I’ve had such a care-free attitude. It’s amazing how comfortable I feel already. I teach 2 different classes and 2 sections of each class. They all meet twice a week and they are all 3 hour classes. I’m glad that I teach multiple sections of the same class because it’s less preparing to do. My “larger” classes have 9 kids in them and I have one class with 2 kids. Most of my kids are around 11-13 years old, but I have one class with 14 and 15 year olds. That one is my most difficult, because teenage boys do NOT talk at all! Although today they talked a little more than last class. My favorite class right now is the class with 2 kids… it’s two 13 year old girls. I think with the small class size I can relate to them better and do more with them… it’s just so much more fun. The curriculum is quite… overbooked, for lack of another word. It is so crammed, but I’m learning that I can have a little freedom with it and feeling out what parts are the most critical and shouldn’t be skipped. Right now I feel like I’m being the most creative I’ve ever been in my life. What I mean by that is… I have a difficult time thinking up examples to explain things. It’s been coming a little easier, and I’ve also thought of creative ways to help the kids learn different concepts. Also, I’ve always been good with grammar… that’s helping so much because I need to teach the kids not just the correct way to write sentences, but it helps more if they know WHY things are the way they are.
I’m in the southwest section of the city so to me it’s not all that city-like, but to my Texan coworker it’s very cityish and seoul (which is like NYC) was overwhelming for her. I haven’t been to downtown Daegu yet and I can’t wait to go. I plan to tomorrow. (Unfortunately when we were in Seoul we barely got to see it because of our training schedule.)
My Korean friends will find this next statement the funniest… I’m realizing just how koreanized I was before coming here because I’ve had no culture shock. Actually everything seems kinda normal to me. I think I only recently stopped believing that I’m in the Korean section of NYC or LA and realized I’m in Korea… but still, no culture shock. Sure there’s lots of differences between here and the US, but I was aware of a lot of them and used to some of them before even coming here. Another thing that caused me to notice myself is my coworkers. I think they are both doing pretty well adjusting (and lucky for them they both like spicy food), but I can tell for them that it IS in fact an adjustment living here. I really like it here and feel quite comfortable already. Unfortunately, I’m not really learning any more Korean yet. I am teaching my coworkers things though, so they can learn to fend for themselves and get on their own 2 feet and feel more at home. I’m sure I’ll start learning things before I even know it. I have gotten a little faster at reading Korean since outside is plastered with signs for everything, so that makes me happy. I’d really like to get a bike to get around easier here. Hopefully I can soon.
Sorry for such a long entry. The point is that I’m adjusting well and I’m really starting to love teaching (whereas at the end of training I had my doubts). Pictures and videos to come soon.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Arrival
I had fun hanging out with everyone before I left. Some of you I hadn’t seen in so long so it was good to catch up. I noticed that as I hung out with everyone and also on my last day of work it didn’t feel like I was leaving at all. It felt like I’d see everyone the next day… even at my farewell party in philly. I guess the first time I felt it at all was when I said goodbye to my nieces and nephew. The previous day I pointed to MA and the US and then to Korea on a globe so the older 2 could see. Immediately my niece said, “NO La La, I don’t want you to go!” I slept at my sister’s house who lives much closer to the airport to make it easier in the morning with the early flight. I found out that my nephew had forgotten to give me something he had been wanting to give to me when we said goodbye, but he had forgotten. Later I found out that he’d been crying because he didn’t get to give it to me. That made me cry for the first time in this whole leaving process, it totally broke my heart. At the airport my sister came in with me and stayed with me until just before going through security. Just as I entered the line I felt this strange sense come over me. I felt this sudden sense that I was alone. I had at that moment left everything I know. I decided rather than let it overwhelm me I’d just shake it off, and so I have been fine since then. The trip was about 20 hours. On the longer flight I noticed that the woman next to me was reading a Korean Bible and so when she looked finished we talked and she turned out to be so friendly. The young white guy next to her happened to be a teacher in Daegu too. Of course I asked him how he liked it and he said he loved it. So that was reassuring. The woman next to me kind of adopted me in the sense that she helped me navigate through the airport through customs, baggage claim, and made sure I got to the correct bus location. She was so sweet. The company gave me a welcome packet before I left explaining exactly what to do and where to go once I arrive at the airport. Once I took that bus from the airport I had a driver waiting for me to take me to my hotel. Everything was really easy. I was so tired when I got in I just crashed, and Sunday I just relaxed and explored the area a little. In korea they have those toilets that spray water and have a warm fan to dry you and so my hotel room has one. I’ll post a picture. Also, you have to place your room key in a slot near the door while you’re in the room for electricity. I didn’t know this so I fumbled around in the dark trying to turn the lights on and wondered why they weren’t working. Once you leave the room you take the key card with you like normal and so as the door shuts all the lights automatically go off. It’s pretty smart, I bet it saves the hotel money on electricity. Oh and yes mom, my hotel has an iron. The TV has 4 or 5 english channels. I was just hoping for one. I watched “Friends” with Korean subtitles.
It’s funny because I keep seeing particular things and thinking, “wow, that’s SO korean”. What’s funny is that this time I’m actually IN korea, so really I’m seeing things in their original state and not copied into the US. It really hasn’t hit me that I’m here at all… for 2 reasons: 1) I feel like I’m just in the korean section of NYC or LA. It looks similar, and when I’m there I try to use what Korean I know. So it doesn’t really phase me that only Korean is spoken here… I think I’m just used to that from PA. 2) I know that I’ll only be in Seoul for one week during training. So even though I left the US, I don’t feel like I’m here for long. It just feels like I’m on a short trip. Maybe once I get to Daegu it’ll really hit me.
I have a roommate from TX who came in tonight, so yes someone else from the US will be starting the same time as me after all. We talked a little bit, but she is exhausted just as I was last night when I walked in so she’s asleep already. She was jealous of my vacuum sealed bags and wished she’d thought of that because she wished she could’ve take more things she needed… thanks mom!
While I was out today I met a girl who’s a teacher too. She asked me what company I’m with and when she found out, she told me that CDI is one of the most prestigious companies here. That made me feel good because I’d heard that, but it was nice to hear it face to face from someone actually in korea and who had no relation to CDI. She was amazed that the company made all the arrangements for me from the airport and that I was staying in a hotel. Also a lot of companies don’t offer training. My first meal was neng myeon (cold noodle soup). When I arrived last night I was so hungry and also extremely dehydrated. I’ve never felt that dehydrated in my life. Neng myeon seemed like the perfect fit. It was SO refreshing and exactly what I needed (sorry I forgot to take a picture).
Tomorrow morning I start training. Actually tomorrow I just get a tour of the company headquarters and do intro stuff and take a drug test etc. I think Tuesday the real stuff starts.
It’s funny because I keep seeing particular things and thinking, “wow, that’s SO korean”. What’s funny is that this time I’m actually IN korea, so really I’m seeing things in their original state and not copied into the US. It really hasn’t hit me that I’m here at all… for 2 reasons: 1) I feel like I’m just in the korean section of NYC or LA. It looks similar, and when I’m there I try to use what Korean I know. So it doesn’t really phase me that only Korean is spoken here… I think I’m just used to that from PA. 2) I know that I’ll only be in Seoul for one week during training. So even though I left the US, I don’t feel like I’m here for long. It just feels like I’m on a short trip. Maybe once I get to Daegu it’ll really hit me.
I have a roommate from TX who came in tonight, so yes someone else from the US will be starting the same time as me after all. We talked a little bit, but she is exhausted just as I was last night when I walked in so she’s asleep already. She was jealous of my vacuum sealed bags and wished she’d thought of that because she wished she could’ve take more things she needed… thanks mom!
While I was out today I met a girl who’s a teacher too. She asked me what company I’m with and when she found out, she told me that CDI is one of the most prestigious companies here. That made me feel good because I’d heard that, but it was nice to hear it face to face from someone actually in korea and who had no relation to CDI. She was amazed that the company made all the arrangements for me from the airport and that I was staying in a hotel. Also a lot of companies don’t offer training. My first meal was neng myeon (cold noodle soup). When I arrived last night I was so hungry and also extremely dehydrated. I’ve never felt that dehydrated in my life. Neng myeon seemed like the perfect fit. It was SO refreshing and exactly what I needed (sorry I forgot to take a picture).
Tomorrow morning I start training. Actually tomorrow I just get a tour of the company headquarters and do intro stuff and take a drug test etc. I think Tuesday the real stuff starts.
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