Places I Go - My School

I got a good picture of the front of my school today.

This is the school where I work. I have to walk about 30 minutes to get here. (or 10 min bike ride/5 minute bus ride + 5-10 minute walk... depending on buses) I usually choose to walk - because it's free and because it's good exercise. 

Some of my 6th graders were playing soccer when I walked by. They all said hi to me. :D It's good to see them being brave. (braver than that 5th grade boy this afternoon who kept repeating "teacher, no englishy. no englishy." (on my way to class, the 5th graders were in the bathroom getting their mops ready to clean my classroom. i heard this mop slapping sound. the one boy was whacking the water out of his mop by hitting the wall with the mop. he's not really supposed to do that. so i stopped to watch, and laugh at him. this is when another boy was saying "teacher, no englishy. no englishy." as if i was even talking to him. they asked me why i was laughing (in korean) and i said "it's funny" and then said the korean phrase which doesn't... exactly work. you see... chemiseoyo means "fun/interesting/funny". *facepalm* This is why my students will tell me "It's funny." but they mean "It's fun." We have a lot to work on.)) 

I took this on a smoggy day. See? This is what air pollution looks like. On a clear day, it's beautiful. But meh - smog. 

This is the view from the first building (the one you can see in the first picture) if you stand on the second floor. The building with the blue roof is the gym. I've yet to go in there. 

Here's my office. I share it with the Chinese teacher. (she's really nice) My desk is the second chair, the one in the back. I've got my red thermal cup and generally my desk is clean... except the line of sticky notes on the monitor to remind me of stuff. The space is pretty small, but that's ok - all the better to air condition (for the few measly minutes it will turn on.) 

My office is in the 2nd building, which is behind the 1st... so my view is this: 

Not very pretty. In fact, I'm right across the alley from the main office.... And in the summer our windows are all open. I realized that if they really wanted to, they could look over and watch me. It's a little unnerving. 

I realized it the one time I was rocking out to music on my headphones (while working, mind you... rocking out is stress relief... really). I hope no one saw me. 

That's about it. Nothing very special. Our school is pretty big. The cafeteria has 2 floors. I teach around 600 students, and I only teach 3 whole grades (most teachers teach 4). The way it is... I end up teaching 27 class hours - which is 5 over contract.... And I am not being paid extra for 1 of those hours. Even with a contract - they really do try to squeeze things in - and call in favors... and it's really stupid. 

I can't complain much though. I have decent coteachers and the kids are not all that bad. :D 

Recent Shopping

I wanted to post pictures of school but I can't seem to find the picture I took of the front of my school! SO I must do that tomorrow.
Has it really been a whole month since I posted? Time flies when you've been busy!
June flew by. It was filled with classes and even more lesson planning. Summer break is quickly approaching, which means summer camp is nigh.

So instead I'll show you my recent shopping.

Bought these almost a month ago. Not on sale. But I will love them to pieces (and quite literally, i'm afraid... i do a lot of walking, and korean sidewalks are very unforgiving. i just wore a hole in my favorite flats. those flats were about 11 months old! :(  ) ((i bought these from 'the god of shoes' here in JP. it's this store in shinae called Tomato. that man is like a shoe genius. he's got good taste, and he can find a pair of nice shoes from just a few questions.))

I bought these 2 dresses and the little sweater last weekend. You see - shoulders are 'sexy' here in South Korea, so to be able to wear these dresses (or a few of the dresses i own!) I needed to buy that little sweater. It's very light and quite see-through (loose knit, almost mesh-like).
I was excited that I got these dresses for 15,000 won each.
The pink one is very light and gauzy. I wore it yesterday and it was extremely comfortable.

Confession time: I rode the bus to school yesterday because it's really ungodly hot right now. The bus is air conditioned. I was lucky enough to catch the bus that goes right up to school. So there I am, wearing my light gauzy rose dress. But when I got off the bus, I kind of fall down/out of the bus. It's all very quick. And well, as I got off, my skirt flew up in the back.
>.<'''' I could have died right there. Except I think I caught it in time, and I told myself at least the people still on the bus are high schoolers or older (as the bus lets off in front of the middle school).
That's when I discovered the guy from the admin office also got off the bus right in front of me. I had to recover instantly so as not to give myself away.
He was very surprised to see me there. Ahaha. He had to practice his English first thing in the morning. ^^'
Builds character, right? (besides - i never quit practicing korean)

I also bought these shorts. I kind of fell in love with them as soon as I saw them. Totally wearing them to Korean class on Saturday. 

Which reminds me - this Saturday is the last Korean class of the semester! While I can't wait to sleep in - I also will miss going to class. Class motivates me to leave my house. I don't like going out with no aim. Now I'll have to find something to fill my Saturdays til class starts again. 

Okay. Now if I can remember to take a picture of my school tomorrow, I promise I'll continue the "Places I go" series. 

The Race - On Politics in South Korea

I'm interrupting my series on places I go to bring you a small, very small, look into the realm of South Korean political races, or advertising, really.

Wednesday, June 4th, was election day countrywide here. It seems to have been for local elections. And according to what I can make out from what I've heard from other expats, these elections happen every 3 or 4 years. Please correct any details that are wrong. I'd love to learn more (and before you say "why didn't you ask your co-teacher" - we've had a busy, hectic schedule the last month so I have had no time for non-school related conversations pretty much).

So here's what I've been experiencing the last couple of months.

First it was the random texts. The first one I noticed was one that read something like "Hello, how are you? (polite form) I'm so-and-so and I'm running for mayor of JP....."
I got that text like 3 months ago. In the last week, I think I was getting 3 or 4 such texts a day. >.<' And you thought American election commercials were bad? .... It's actually quite legal for these people to spam text you their ads.

Then the banners started showing up. I'd say they've been up for the last 2 months. We're talking banners on the sides of buildings that take up several stories of the side of the building. You can't miss them.

In the last 3 weeks or so, the game stepped up to a new level of invasion. The walking, paid political supporters.

Just your average street crossing? No. Look again. See the neon shirted people all in a row?
It's them. The political supporters. They are paid to stand and wave and smile at people. They hand out business cards. They will hound you on the street. You cannot escape them --- unless you have a white face like me. Then they ignore you. Sometimes they'll bow and maybe say hello. And a slim few of them won't care what you look like - they'll still try to give you a card. (one guy did. early one morning as i walked to school. not sure if my wearing a mask had him confused though)

Here's a better shot of them.

About 3 weeks ago, I was out to dinner with some girl friends and a political candidate was making rounds, telling people his plans and asking for support/votes. He actually stopped at our table and spoke a little English to us. He was very polite (and seemed to be over 50! it's rare older people speak any English!).

In the last 2 weeks, these have been popping up everywhere.

Just look at that! 

These trucks drive around and advertise for their candidate. They all have big screen TVs so you can see the candidates in action. They often blare loud slogans, or even display whole speeches given by the candidate. 

And on the back end there, do you see that white railing? 

Yes. This truck functions like a float in a parade. A one car parade. People stand on the back and wave. 

I've had the peace of my neighborhood disturbed by a few of these things. Some were drive-bys and one or two were parkers (they park and play a whole speech, blasting from loud speakers). 

In the week leading up to "the day", the political supporters were upping their game. Every major intersection in town was covered. And they were all singing and dancing. There's nothing like political slogans being sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It" and other familiar tunes (and some not so familiar). 

Ah, sweet synchronization. Such wave. Much support. Vote for me. 

I had to film the supporters in action. It was just too much. So here are two short clips. Sorry the quality sucks. Also, the uploader on here is... lame. So I will just link you. 

Blue #2 Supporters Wave/Dance of Support (encouraged by not only everyone stopping to watch the performance, but seeing others taking video and pictures, i got a better clip of this.)

Red #1 Supporters sing Happy slogan while onlookers dance too (the sound is almost non-existent for this. sorry! i was shy of filming, so I didn't get the best footage.)

Must.sleep.now. Getting up super early to go to Jeonju with my church. 

Places I Go (part 2)

This is the place I probably go to the most, besides work.

This is Dasan Mart - the grocery store I frequent. They have 2 floors. The first is groceries, and the second is kind of like a Big Lots type store (but all one store). So if you need peppers, cereal, a frying pan, a steering wheel cover and WD-40---- they have that. 

Maybe one day I will get brave and take pictures inside the store. I just feel weird doing so. I don't really know if people do that. Granted, Koreans take pictures of all kinds of things, but I rarely see them taking pictures inside stores. 

So instead, here are 2 chocolate bars I bought there. The first is the kicker bar. Mmm. It's a dark chocolate, bigger, 1 stick version of a kitkat. It's about 1.5 cm wide by 1cm tall. It's delicious. 

The second one I haven't tried yet. I'm saving it for the weekend. It is supposed to have a chocolate filling (much like a carmello bar, i hope). It looks dangerous for a lactose intolerant person like me... but I had to buy one. I mean - it has golden lips on it, for goodness sake. It practically screams "buy me for weirdness factor." So I did. 

I buy most things at the grocery store simply because it's cheaper than a convenience store. So soda, candy bars, batteries... I probably buy at Dasan. There are only two things I definitely buy from convenience stores. One is bottled water.

Koreans don't drink tap water. Or otherwise they filter and/or boil it first (yeah, and boiled water, they put rice or something in to change the color and flavor to mark it, so they know it's been boiled). 

I buy 2 liter bottles of water. No way I'm carrying it very far. So I go to the closest convenience store. 

The other convenience store go-to --- toilet paper. There is a nearby convenience store that sells 24 packs of TP for buy one get one free. TP isn't cheap, so getting this deal means I save a bit. It also means I don't have to walk forever carrying 48 rolls of toilet paper.

Places I Go (part 1)

My sister recently asked me to take pictures of places I like to go, or places I go to often.

That led me to an idea of taking lots of pictures - glamorous and banal and not so... good smelling.

So this is the start of a series of posts. Let's start with the most basic of places - the bathroom.

Ladies and gentleman - I give you the modern squatty, with flusher!
You can thank my sister for this picture as well. I was trying to describe to her this 'marvel' and so I braved the weirdness to snap a picture.

All of the bathrooms in my school have these. They have no western toilets (ok.. there is one i know of... in building 2 on the 1st floor, middle area, teacher's bathroom - special needs/handicapped stall... but really who has time to go that far?).

Let's start with how to use one - a survival guide for the new user.
1. Before considering doing any business - check for toilet paper. It's either in a dispenser outside the stall, or somewhere inside the stall. At my school, the roll is hung from the hook where you might hang up a purse.  No paper? You're sore outta luck.(very common in public) Consider always carrying a packet of tissues with you.

2. Toilet paper in hand, you can now proceed to do your business.

3. This next part is.. awkward for Western folk. You must place one foot on either side of the basin and squat.

4. Convince yourself you are not peeing on the floor. (this is harder than you'd imagine)

5. HOLD YOUR BREATH BEFORE GOING. There is some water in the basin. Not much. The smell from one of these things is much much stronger than a Western toilet, so unless you're somehow immune to the smell of bodily excretions, be prepared. (breathing through your shirt is also a good option)

6. Ok. You're done. DO NOT throw the paper in the basin. See that pink bin? Yeah. ALL toilet paper goes here. ALL. They say Korea's sewerage systems are old, or the pipes are small, or whatever reason you might get from someone who doesn't speak English natively might tell you. It doesn't matter. What matters is not clogging the thing. I mean... I have never seen a rectangular plunger.. and I'm not ready for the kind of adventure that might come from plunging a squatty.

Steps 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12  are to be done quickly.
Stand, pull up pants, step on flusher, zip pants, open door, exit stall.

13. Wash your hands. (oh yeah. there's no such things as hand towels. well... there are.. but no place ever really has them. unless you're in some fancy place.)

---
There you have it.
I find most bathrooms in Korea are smelly. Squatty or Western. Also rules 1 and 6 applie to all bathrooms Korea-wide. It's common to see signs inside stalls that tell you not to flush anything.
Don't ask if you're supposed to face away from or toward the flusher. I have no idea. I have never asked. I don't plan on asking.

Two tone lipstick

Anyeong! It's been a while. I guess that's my style. *guilty*

I moved. I've "settled in" but I'm not ready to take pictures of my place. I haven't decorated, nor have I gotten rid of this one piece of useless furniture. So maybe when I get a couch I'll show you my place.

On my way home today I could stare directly at the sun. This is thanks to the "yellow dust" from China.

Until I get a couch and finish house stuff, you can see the view from my window.

The sunset out of my living room window. 

Looking left from my window. Trucks, cars and an apartment complex in the distance.

I get to see this lovely view if I lay on my bed and have the window open. Oh but those are mountains in the distance.... They're not super clear because of smog (aka yellow dust). 

But this is not the reason for my post! I'm such a tangential writer! A while back I bought 2 orange lipsticks and a lip concealer. My friend wanted to see them, so I thought I'd write a small piece about this fashion in South Korea. The fashion is called ombre lips, or two toned lips. 

I applied the makeup to myself since I lack a model. I will say that I like it better on Korean girls. They really know what they're doing when it comes to makeup. Whereas I just kind of attempt things. 

These are my supplies: 

From left to right - Etude House lip concealer, Color Pop (Dear My   Lips Talk), Sweet Recipe (Dear My   Jelly lipstick)

The idea of lip concealer is to apply it to even out and tone down the redness of your lips so that paler colors will show up or be more vibrant. 

The color pop lipstick is a basic matte orange. 

Sweet Recipe jelly lipstick is a glossy more sheer color, also orange. 

This is the color pop orange, applied with no concealer. I applied it thickly so you could get the gist of just how orange it could be (the red of your lips makes it quite showy).
I would not wear this like this outside the house!!!

This is the jelly lipstick. Notice its sheen is quite different. The color is light. 

If I were in a hurry, I'd put this one on as is. 

Okay. On to the concealer. 

Apply concealer either from the outside edge - blending inward with your fingertip. 

Or apply the other way - inner edge blending outwards. 

For 2 tone lips, I've read applying concealer to the inner edge is key. 

I just kind of fudge it up. I just blend it out as you see in the second picture. 

Now apply your color to the inner edge, like so. 

I've seen girls go around with lipstick just like this. I've seen a few variations too. Usually I see "two tone candy lips". It looks like a gloss is applied, and the colored area is even less. 

I have yet to master this look. 

Feeling rather hesitant, I usually add another color to my two tone. I use the jelly lips over the whole thing, lightly on the outer edges and more toward the orange center. 

This is pretty much what I'd walk out of the house wearing. It's more conservative. I try to look as normal as possible here since my skin makes me stand out enough. 

So there you have it. Orange lipstick!

I moved

Sorry no pictures. This is a quick update from school. (shh!)

I moved 2 weeks ago. It was tiring, and the new place was left quite dirty. I am still adjusting and rearranging things. I am still cleaning. If anyone has tips for removing long, stuck on grease from tile wall or stove areas, please leave a comment. I don't know where to buy things like goo gone, and I've tried hot water with dish soap. Scotch brite scrub pads are my best friends ever.
The metal burner parts to my gas stove are still brown. They were black, but I soaked and scrubbed them with a brass brush. (that was exciting)

Last week was my 'first week' at school. This week is my first week teaching, though, because English classes just started today.

My schedule is very full. 3 days have 5 back to back classes, and 2 days are 4 classes. I'm one over the 22 class limit. They're supposed to pay overtime for classes above 22, but they didn't want to and asked if I would do 23. The former teacher here didn't know how to say no, and agreed; they had him call me and ask this as a favor. Ugh. I kind of had to agree. I will see how busy this week is, and let them know how I feel, and see what can be done if necessary. I know they want me to do afterschool classes as well, which they will pay extra for --- but for me it's not about the money. It's about having the time to plan good lessons, and not feeling too tired.

My office is cold because I missed 2 times in a row the 'heat time'. You have to go to the thermostat and turn on the heat, but it only comes on at certain times. I missed 1pm and it did not come on at 2:30. I'm hoping for the 4pm time.

Just a few weeks til it is warmer, I tell myself.
Don't worry about me. It's only like 45 outside.... probably 45 inside too. Lol! But I bought this big down coat just for days like today. :D

New Year, New school - almost

Hello.

It's been too long. I'm a lazy blogger, and a busy living.

I think I last left off  talking about Seoraksan. What's happened since then? Lots.

There was Christmas, and "winter break" with its "winter camp" and then I had 2 weeks of vacation (it's actually 10 days plus any connected weekends... but they jipped me one day citing some day they gave everyone in school off (cancelled school) back in June. i had no choice in the matter).

That's life in Korea. Things are fudged over in many areas and aspects.
Things are also last minute. And you have to ride it out like it was the plan all along.
These are some low points (or cons) of life in Korea.

Winter break started on Christmas Day. <3 Then I had "work from home" days - because no one from carpool was going to school either, so I couldn't very well get to school. Then there was New Year's for which J and I went to Jongno (district of Seoul) and we watched them ring the huge bell at midnight. :)
It was packed!

Jan 6 ~ 10 was winter camp. The kids seemed to like it.

Then I went home to the States on the 13th. Came back to Korea on the 26th. I worked from home til school opened again on Feb 4. So here I am back at work.

Dealing with the transfer is a bit annoying, I will admit. Ok, a lot annoying.
My school has told me nothing, except a few things - that the person in this job next school year will work at 2 schools. They have to share an EPIK teacher. And just now my manager teacher asked me where their new teacher should live - in Jeungpyeong or Goesan. I told her Jeungpyeong because no one lives in Goesan, except 1 lonely teacher. He is so lonely in Goesan.

As far as when I'm supposed to move out, or how, this is crazy. I can't "move in" to my new place til the 25th, but I also have to show up to the new school on the 25th. So essentially I have to put all my stuff in the new place on the 24th, sleep in my house that night, and "move in" on the 25th - aka when I come home, I go to the new place.
Luckily, the new place is just one floor up, and J is the person who lives in the house I will move in to. He's more than willing to help and let me put my stuff in his house.
I can't imagine what other teachers do when they transfer! If they have to go to school, how do they move their stuff? I mean they couldn't take their stuff out of their house on the 24th and put it in the new place -- because the other person would still be there. They'd have to do it after the person left on the 25th - during school time.
Crazy.

I'm also annoyed right now, so it's hard to be dispassionate.
My manager had told me before winter break that we'd go to renew my resident card today (feb 7). She had me write it in my calendar. So I got everything ready today, but she forgot. I asked her and she didn't seem concerned and was like "what time are you done with classes?" on different days. So I'm praying she means she'll take me on the day she pointed, at the time she said.

Stuff in life is never easy.

Oh yeah - here's the kicker. So my boss-boss - the person who I report to at the education office, emailed me to give me the new school's head english teacher's phone number. She said to call her and ask about details. So I called just now, and awkwardly spoke in Korean. It turns out the number was for some other elementary school! No big deal, honestly, because I know the native English speaker at the school. So I sent him a PM. He calls me and tells me "they really don't know anything they're doing at school since the head english teacher is leaving, and they haven't scheduled classes." (&etc & etc.) So between the two of us, we hammered out no real plan - just that I have to show up at that school at 8:40 the date the contract starts. I barely even know where to go or what to do. And it's not like he can help me because he is leaving. Packing up the car and leaving.  The new head teacher might call me at some point before then. We'll see.

All this to get to the kicker - as I was talking to J (the teacher whose place i'm taking) he was actually sitting in the dentist office or hospital, I'm not sure which, RIGHT BEFORE his wisdom teeth surgery.

Life just doesn't stop. You have to take care of other people's business even right before your own surgery. I felt really bad that he was calling me from there.

This post is 3 months late

Better late than never, I'm hoping.

I think it was the first Saturday in October I went to Seoraksan with Jongsoo and his aunt. It was very beautiful, but I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

We had to get up at the waistband of dawn - so early it wasn't even the buttcrack of dawn. And drove about 2 hours maybe 3 to the north.

This is before ascending, just after entering the park. 

As with any beautiful place in Korea, there are temples here. 

The summit is far, up and away. I forget how many kilometers, but it's a very long hike... hours. We bought a cable car ticket instead. You have to wait a few hours before you can ride it, so we hiked in the meantime.

Another temple on the way.

 It was such a beautiful day, albeit the morning was chilly. 

Hiking you will often see rocks stacked on rocks. I heard there is a belief that if you can balance a rock on one of these, you will get your wish. 

Sometimes the road/path was packed dirt, other times wood (for steps or bridges) but sometimes it was these stones. It makes hiking more challenging I think. 

The trees did not disappoint. 

From the cable car, you can appreciate the rock face of the mountain. I was glad this cable car was more steady than the Namsan Tower cable car. We didn't rock very much. Whew. 

A selca after getting off the cable car. You can't see the view for the trees. 

And so we ascended.

 Up, up, up!

I'm making a terrible face here. It's partly due to sun in my eyes, but mostly due to being uncomfortable sitting that close to the edge. Jongsoo was all "let's get closer" and I was "definitely and certainly not!"

The view behind me.

 The flag up there marks the summit. 

I didn't go up there because to get there you have to shimmy along a ledge while holding on to nothing but a rope and to make matters more uncomfortable there are all these people in front of you and behind you. Yeah. I don't want to be pushed off the mountainside! So Jongsoo went while his aunt and I waited. 

Waiting was fine because the view up here is fantastic. And there was a chipmunk scurrying around! Too cute. 

I forget the name of the town. It's the closest one to the mountain... hmm. Anyway it's pretty. 

In the opposite direction there is nothing but mountain faces. You could sit and stare for ages. 

I'm pretty sure this guy did.

When Jongsoo came back from the summit, we all went back down via cable car. There's almost no wait to descend. Lol. Once we got back down, J found the orangest tree and had to have a picture. 

So there you have it. 

Season's Greetings!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

I am terrible for not posting in months. It's been months, hasn't it? 

I've been busy plugging away at making lesson plans, teaching, and getting through the daily things.
I had a yucky head cold for about a month - from late October to mid November. 

I've gone so Seoul a few times, but mostly stayed around town here. 

Last I remember was that I promised pictures from Seoraksan. Ooops! I'm a turd for forgetting! Maybe I'll get to that over the short time off I have before winter camp. 

The biggest thing that's happened is I have a new laptop. I'm still getting adjusted. 

Oh wait, that's the second biggest thing. The biggest thing is that I've signed a new contract for another year teaching here in Korea. 

December 12th there was a decent snow fall. We've had a lot of snow here - for South Korea. I was eating a quick meal before an English teacher's meeting and was just thinking to myself "It's like it can't decide if it wants to rain or snow." when it suddenly started coming down in ginormous flakes. It was a slushy, snowy mess, beautiful but eww. The next morning was ice. 

They don't really treat the roads or get out snowplows. I finally saw some snow tactics in action kind of last week when it was really hazardous. They seem to put down dirt, and use their backhoes and other big construction stuff to pull/push snow. This is on the highway... regular city streets can fend for themselves. 

This was an early December evening as I was let off from my carpool. The sunsets here can be very nice. Next semester I won't be seeing these ginseng people every day. I'm transferring schools!

I went to Lotteria with Jongsoo. 

What is Lotteria? Well - it's South Korea's version of McDonald's! 

It's decidedly for Korean tastes. They have a "wild shrimp burger" and this "corn salad." It came free with the 18,900 won fried chicken (it's a big basket of fried chicken). I tasted the corn salad. It pretty much tastes like macaroni salad - but with corn no macaroni.

This. This was a chocolate-needs day. Sadly, the brownies are only about an inch cube each. For 2,500 won you only get 4 or 6 of these things... I forget.. all I know was 1 was certainly not enough and ended up eating about 3 in one go - such was the need for chocolate. 

The packaging of these brownies really makes me laugh though. Each wrapper is a different design and says stuff like "My Love" and "Dear Sweet Brownie."

Anyway it's Christmas eve here. I'm making pie crust and waiting for the pizza guy to come. 

It's going to be a very merry dairy-mas!