My Life in Comics

So I found out about this through another Fulbrighter, and had to share it with you. I can't even begin to explain how perfectly these cartoons sum up my life. I've chosen the best cartoons to share/explain to you on here, but this is the website in case you're interested in seeing more:

ROKetship



Putting your arms across your chest in the shape of an "x" is the universal symbol in Korea for "no". Even though I know how to say "no" and "stop" and "I don't want any" in Korean, I still use the "x" symbol all of the time. Korean's use it too and I'm not really sure where it originated from. Anyway, I'm 100% sure I'll still be doing it when I get back home so I apologize ahead of time.


I am lucky if I am able to find toilet paper in a bathroom. On those occasions that I do find it, its usually outside of the stall, so you have to guess how much you need.


Every fast food restaurant I go to has at least 3 trashcans labeled different things in Korean. From what I understand, one is for regular trash, one is for food waste, and one is for paper and/or plastic. I still haven't figured out which is which in Korean which makes the end of my meals kind of stressful. I've been yelled at a number of times for just throwing everything into one can.


While the taxis here are cheap and numerous, the drivers themselves are really scary. Most taxis have at least one television in them, if not 3 or 4 for each of the passengers, and the drivers are ALWAYS watching them while they zip in and out of cars and buses. Taxi drivers are also interesting/scary for me as a foreigner because they always want to talk to me. Most of them ask me basic questions in Korean, but a few of them try to use every English word they have ever learned. I had one driver list every American president he knew and then asked us to give a thumbs up or down as to whether we liked him.


At least once a day a big truck with speakers comes rolling through my apartment complex blaring a man's voice screaming something in Korean. Sometimes they are telling you to come out and buy things, other times I have no idea. There is also an apartment-wide speaker system in my building and occasionally a man will start yelling on the speaker about god only knows what....very communist.


Shopping for clothes in Korea is very awkward because the stores are very small, they have about 10 people unnecessarily working there, and their customer service is too impeccable. At any point while shopping for clothes I always have at least one person following me around the store. They don't say anything, they just follow creepily behind me. It's really uncomfortable and usually makes me leave the store as quickly as possible.


I don't know any of my students' names for this reason.

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This situation is very true. There aren't that many foreigners in Korea. I could easily go a week without seeing another white person. So when I do see another foreigner, its very obvious that we both stand out and that we both speak English. However, there is no definite rule about whether or not you should say hello. If I saw another white person on the street in America I wouldn't say hello, so I don't know why I feel the need to do so here.


Chivalry is dead in Korea. I'm not sure if it ever existed, but it definitely doesn't exist anymore. There have been times where I was carrying a lot of bags through a door somewhere and some Korean man pushed past me, almost knocking me over in the process. I realize it shouldn't bother me as much as it does because its simply a difference in culture, but there have been many a times where I wish I knew how to yell at people in Korean so that I could put these selfish Korean men in their places.


There are a bazillion mini hospitals all over Korea. There are at least 3 within walking distance from my apartment alone. Outside of these little hospitals you are pretty much guaranteed to see someone looking like this in only their hospital gown, with an IV and holding a cigarette. Seems pretty counterproductive to me...


Arm socks are a staple clothing item for any Korean woman over the age of 60, especially those who spend their days sitting on the sidewalk selling the weeds for you to cook for dinner that they pulled from the side of some highway.


As an English teacher I pretty much have to act out everything I say, especially for my 3rd grade students. If I want students to sit down, I mime sitting down. If I want students to play a game that involves racing from the back of the classroom to the board, I have to show them how to run. I feel sorry for my American students because I'm sure I'm going to end up doing the same to them. At least they can't say I'm not animated.


I'm sure I've mentioned the "couples outfits" phenomenon in Korea but in case you've forgotten, a lot of younger Korean couples think its really cute and not at all strange to dress is complete matching outfits, from the weird animal hats down to their shoes. They even sell matching couples underwear in a lot of stores, which I can imagine would be really awkward when things got intimate. To each his own...


Trying to time my laundry with when I need to wear certain things is difficult and really annoying, especially since my host mom insists on doing my laundry for me (not that I'd have any idea how to use the singing washing machine that is all in Korean). I have to strategically put things in my hamper just in case my host mom decides to wash my clothes while I'm at school. You wanted to go to the gym? Oh, sorry, I washed your gym outfit and its going sit in the washing machine for two days and then take four days to dry on the drying rack.



Also, I used this article for my teachers' class last week. I thought you might find it interesting. Ironically enough, as I was preparing questions to go with the article my host sister came into my room and tried to give me a pill to "make me taller". Perfect timing.

South Korea Stretches Standards For Sucess

Life Update

An update on my life during the past couple of weeks...

School:
Well, the second semester started 4 weeks ago and so far it's been a lot better than last semester. I have an bangin new desk next to the copier and laminating machine (I have a minor obsession with laminating things). I have a heater only a couple feet away which means no gloves and no jacket when I'm working on lesson. My schedule is awesome this time around;I'm teaching 9am-11:30am and then have free periods until 3:10. This semester I'm teaching 3rd and 5th graders, along with the usual advanced classes and teachers' classes. My third graders are the cutest things in the entire world. I want to hug them all. Their English is very poor and in some cases non-existent, but they're a lot of fun and it gives me a chance to use more of my Korean in class. One third grade boy says to me at the end of every class, "Thank you for teaching me!" and my heart melts every time. I have a new co-teacher who teaches third grade with me. She's younger and her English is really good, but I can't decide whether or not she likes me. I'm hoping her reservedness is because she's afraid of me because I'm a foreigner (like the majority of people are), and not because she just doesn't like me. I'm making little breakthroughs with her everyday though. Yesterday she told me I'm a really good teacher and today she gave me a vitamin packet because I'm sick. My fifth grade classes are the same as before. It's nice this semester because I know all of my students already. Actually it's nice just having an idea of what's going on in general at school. I finally know the routine and know what to expect...for the most part.
I've been spending a lot of time helping my co-teachers rework the English curriculum workbooks (they were absolutely horrible and the activities made no sense) which I'm actually enjoying. I was talking to Seth earlier and he mentioned having a job where I help schools create better English curriculums, and I thought that was a great idea. Maybe someday down the road I can end up working in a job like that. I really do love teaching English as a foreign language, and I don't think the end of my year in Korea is going to be the end of that for me. I'm considering getting my Master's Degree is ESL and/or teaching English overseas during my summer vacations from regular teaching. There's so many things I want to do...
This semester I'm also teaching the evening teachers' class again for extra pay. This time the teachers are beginners, so it should be really different from the last class where we were having conversations in English about relations between North and South Korea. But at the very least I'll get to practice my Korean more.
Speaking of practicing Korean, I've been studying Korean with my host mom twice a week and I also just signed up for a free Korean language class at a local university 2 nights a week for 2 hours each. I'm excited for it. I realize that I'm leaving in 4 months and may never have the chance to use my Korean skills again, but its kind of become a hobby of mine. For my pride's sake, I'd like to leave here with at least a decent knowledge of the language.

HOME:
I've been back home with the host family for about 5 weeks now. It's been a little difficult readjusting to living with a family after traveling around Asia and Korea with Seth for 2 months straight. The biggest difference is that I feel like they are my family now, and therefore my constant cheeriness and "oh, it's okay" attitude have dissipated. When Tammy is annoying me I find it a lot more difficult to hide it now. I know that she's noticed because she's been apologizing a lot more which makes me feel bad, but I just don't have the patience to entertain her every single night. Don't get me wrong, I still love them just as much as I did before; I just don't feel the need to act like as much of a guest in their house as I used to.
Recently I've been cooking more for my family. They surprisingly really like my American food. I've made spaghetti and garlic bread, chicken and steamed vegetables, and their favorite: burritos and quesadillas. I was lucky enough to randomly find a packet of taco mix for sale in a Mexican restaurant in Busan. I've never seen Taco mix here so of course I had to buy it. My host sister has asked for quesadillas everyday since I made them. Her friend and Math teacher who were over when I was cooking even tried them and loved them.

In other news, I've been going to the gym at least 3 times week. Sadly, part of my motivation to go is so that I can watch TV while I use the treadmill or elliptical...best 45 minutes of my day. I've also started going to Hanji class again. I'm in the middle of making my best piece yet and I'll post a picture next week once I finish. The rest of my free time is spent job searching and watching online episodes of Lost (except I think I'm getting to the part where things start to get weird and don't make any sense, so we'll see how long that lasts).

Last night my host family decided to play a trick on me. There is constant confusion at dinner time when I ask what we are eating because "dog", "duck" and "deok" (Korean food) all sound the same when spoken by Koreans. So I always have my host mom spell what it is. [Sidenote: Koreans eat dog meat.] So last night, my host sister tells me that we are eating "dog/duck/deok". I say "dog?" and she says "yes". I ask her to spell it and she says "D O G". I didn't believe her so I asked my host mom and she assured me that we were in fact going to be eating dog. Well, I had a panic attack for about 20 minutes while dinner was being prepared because I couldn't think of a polite way to tell my host family I couldn't eat dog. So I sat down at the table and my host mom and sister kept asking me if it looked good. I literally almost cried looking at the meat on the table. Then the two of them started cracking up and told me that it was actually duck, not dog. I'm really not sure why I'm so morally opposed to eating one animal over the other but regardless, I was really relieved.

HERE IS A RANDOM LIST OF SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT KOREA (That I haven't mentioned before):

1. Universal Health Care: I thought this would be the appropriate time to explain the beauty of Korean universal health care. I'm obviously don't know much about it except what I've experienced, so my opinion may be biased or mistaken. Regardless, Korean universal health care is awesome. I've gotten sick on a regular basis here this winter, so I've had a number of experiences lately with doctors and medicine. First of all, I can go to any clinic around me and they will see me without any questions. The clinics are always empty, so I've never had to wait more than 2 minutes to see the doctor. Most of the time, I'm in and out of the clinic in 5-10 minutes with prescription in hand, and the doctor's visit costs me about $3.00. Then I walk downstairs in the same building to the pharmacy, where the pharmacy tech fills my prescription in about one minute. My prescription has never cost more than $5.00 (and that includes the times they've given me about a weeks worth of 6 or 7 different pills). The one time my prescription did cost about $5.00, my host mom said "Oh my god! So expensive!" So overall, it only takes me about 10-15 mins and less than $10 to see the doctor AND get prescriptions for my cold. Amazing.

2. Public Transportation: Public transportation here is also amazing. I'm attributing part of that to the fact that it's a very small country. However, getting around anywhere in the country is painless. Inter-city buses have large comfortable seats that recline and have leg rests. Taxis start at less than $2. All of the bus stops in my city have electronic TV-type things that show the exact number of minutes before each bus is arriving. And the Seoul subway is by far the best subway system I've ever been on.

3. Glasses Shops: If you come to Korea, you must buy Asian style glasses...I think it's a law or something. Let me tell you the short story of my recent glasses shopping experience. Went to the glasses shop. Looked at a whole table of frames that were like $10. Picked out a pair of glasses. Gave the woman behind the counter my old glasses. She told me to come back in 5 minutes while she scanned my old glasses and cut my new lenses for me. I came back in five minutes, paid about $40 and went on my way with my new glasses. It turned out that the prescription was a little off so I went back the next day with my contact box. She told me to wait 5 minutes, cut me new lenses and sent me away free of charge. Best shopping experience ever.

4. Hair Salons: Because a haircut costs me $7.00.

5. Washing Machines: All electronics in Korea have to make some kind of noise or play some kind of song...even washing machines. My host family's washing machine plays a little tune each time a cycle is done. And since my host mom is never NOT doing laundry, I hear the music in my sleep.

3rd Grade Songs

Here are two videos from my 3rd grade classes this week. My co-teacher taught them a song to practice saying "Hello", "My name is..." and "Goodbye". They are saying "Hello Zeeto Hello" because Zeeto is an alien cartoon in their textbooks...kind of weird. Anyway, enjoy!