Vacation Day 6: Relaxing in Wasu / Daily questions / more

Not too much happened today. I spent most of it reading Mockingjay, the third book in the excellent Hunger Games trilogy and hanging around the apartment. It felt good to have a day without any obligations.

Since I don't like making empty posts, here's something I picked up at a lecture in the second Orientation back in September of 2011. I've been meaning to get to this one for a while now, for it deals with something I've noted a few times in various posts: Koreans interviewing you. It comes up almost every day here. What follows are notes from the Orientation and reflections on them from after 16 months of living here.

Questions Koreans Ask You

"Where are you going?"
--My notes say, "They don't really want to know," "Ask to show they care," and "Answer specifically if possible"--All of which is true, yet my students do seem genuinely curious. I've been asked this question countless times because it's the one thing every student knows how to say. To the Korean and foreigner teachers who taught their students this expression, well done. You've taught them well. If I ever see a student on the street, he invariably asks, "Where are you going?" I've heard the question more times here than I ever did in the States. Also, Koreans ask "Where are you going" of each other all the time, so it's not just something asked of foreigners.

Of all the times I've heard this question, one instance stands out. It happened some time in October last year I bumped into a middle school girl on the way to the grocery store and this is what we said. My thoughts are in italics:

"Teacher Ben! Where--are you going?"
To buy beer--no, can't say that. "To the grocery store."
"Why?"
Why? The grocery store has food. If I'm going to there, I need food. "To get food."
"Why?"
Seriously? "I'm hungry."
"Oh. Bye bye!"


"Have you eaten?"
--From what I've gathered, Koreans don't like to eat alone. My office usually goes to lunch as a group if we're all present. In my journal's notes from the lecture, I wrote, "It helps to answer honestly. If you haven't eaten, they'll take you to a restaurant." I've actually had that happen a few times. Usually, the person will tell me to eat or give me something to eat. If I'm in a Korean's home, it's one of the first questions to get asked. But after plenty of experience, no matter what I say, food will appear because Koreans want to offer you something anyway. It reminds me of my friend's mom, for every time I came over, she'd ask if I'd had anything to eat and if I'd like anything to eat. It goes like that here: people don't want you to go hungry. For example, once I stopped by Dave's place on my way to dinner to relay some information about a meeting and upon seeing me, his fiance invited me in for dinner with them. And since she cooks like a champ, I needed no convincing. ^_^

"How old are you?"
- Got to get age to get to know someone personally. Korea's still largely a Confucian society, so people ask this question to ascertain how to talk to you and treat you. The talk matters because of the honorifics in speech. If the other person's older, he'll play the big brother; but if he's younger, I need to play the big brother.  As a foreigner, I don't need to worry about this because Koreans generally don't expect foreigners to know about it. Usually my foreigner status means I get treated like a VIP or elder in town or at school: I get the front seat in cars, for example. Despite being the youngest teacher in the school by at least 3 years, I have the status of a veteran.

"Can you use chopsticks?"
--This comes mostly from Koreans' general lack of experience with foreigners. I used to get the question all the time, but it's stopped because I've proven my chopstick skills.




Bonus material:

I meant to post this picture sooner, but it got lost in the shuffle. It's dedicated to coffee lovers around the world. As you can see, it was taken in Ildong, a town about 45 minutes away that's on the Wasu-Seoul bus line. I took this shot because it's yet another example of the interesting English names of places over here: A coffee shop named Need Coffee? Talk about blunt. It even makes for a fun exchange:

"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to Need Coffee."
"When?"
"When I go there."
Here's hoping that somewhere in Korea stands a bar named Need Beer.

Vacation Pt. 3: Wrapping Up The Cross-Province Shuffle

The new school semester began on Thursday, 16 August.

The summer vacation lasted from 6 to 15 August altogether. EPIK teachers usually get shorter summer breaks and longer winter ones, though 9 days off proved good enough for a break from school.

The Gangneung trip may have been dampened by rain, but it and the rest of the vacation went down quite well. Rochelle and I enjoyed the scenery around the province of Gangwon and she said she'd like to come back to the coast before the year's out. Good plan. It'll happen sooner or later, for we've got until the middle of October before the weather starts getting cooler. Surely we can get some beach action before too long. We still have to get to Ojukheon as well, for that's a lovely historical site. The museum's good, too.

Also, I never did finish writing Daejeon and what went on out there. I was there from Tuesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon--the plans originally called for staying until Friday, but I left early and went back to Seoul. This means I never made it to the Science Park and didn't do the city tour either. A few things factored into the choosing to leave early:

• Troubles with the motel room: the refrigerator and the water cooler wouldn't stop leaking water on the floor after a day. I'd tried mopping the water with a towel, but it didn't work because the water kept coming. Putting a bowl under the cabinet the refrigerator and the water cooler didn't help either because the incessant dripping got irritating. I told the manager about it and he moved me into a different room, which was great, except for one thing: the new room had a computer that didn't work in it. No computer = no Internet. The place didn't have wi-fi either. Asking about a different room didn't help either; either the place didn't have one or they wouldn't give it up. 
• Lack of motivation to see the Science Park. I know: I came to Daejeon to see it and to wander around the city. It didn't seem like it was worth going to after a while though. I did make it as far as taking the subway to the necessary bus stop though.  
• Feeling distracted. Maybe it was because I not only went there to wander, but also to relax, play guitar, and get ready for the upcoming semester. And both things did happen to some extent. Walking the streets felt great and so did playing the guitar and looking up bands and songs mentioned in the book London's Burning. Nonetheless, I kept thinking that the trip was only a stopgap before the Gangneung trip because that trip weighed more on my mind than Daejeon ever did.
• Feeling out of place in a strange and new city. Normally exploring new places equals excitement and good times but that idea didn't hold as much sway in Daejeon. Going there alone seemed especially exciting because I'd never done something like that before--hell, I'd never been completely alone in any new city for more than 12 hours (aside from the long Chuseok weekend last year in Wasu) before going there. The solitude seemed exciting, and for a while, it was--and then the excitement turned to loneliness. Maybe some more practice is needed at this stuff, but a day and a half seemed like more than enough time alone. People were around everywhere but it wasn't the same as being among friends.

In spite of not feeling like doing much there, I wonder if Daejeon didn't get a fair shake, especially when it has some good stuff going for it. It is well laid out: it's laid out like a grid and the side streets don't twist and turn like Seoul's does. It looks like any other Western-style city: wide main streets lined with trees, big sidewalks, storefronts, narrower side streets, parks scattered about. It's also flat and spacious--Seoul's the biggest city in the country, but its topography makes for some cozy neighborhoods and the Han river and various canals section different parts off well. Daejeon goes in the other direction: I never got the sense I was in a distinct neighborhood so much as I was in the western part of the city. The cab ride from the big, yet bright and inviting* Express Bus Terminal across town to the motel confirmed this: Daejeon loudly presents itself as a major transportation hub with its wide roads and numerous under and over-passes.

Here're some pictures of the city:

 

Some of Daejeon's mile-wide boulevards. They're great for traffic and not so great for crossing on foot.

Taken near the bus stop that gets you to the Science Park. I went to the nearby E-Mart instead.

The Yuseong Stream (Yuseongcheon) near the motel. The biking and walking path looked good.

The spillage.

Above: shots of the Cityone Motel. It's less than 3 blocks from the Yuseong Oncheon Subway Station. The room cost $142.66 for 3 nights. The money got paid in advance and there was no partial refund for leaving a day early.

Not quite sure what the balcony's purpose was because it seemed like it was only good for looking out of the window. It didn't have any chairs and even if it did, the windows didn't come down far enough for anyone to sit down and look outside.

Will Daejeon get another visit? Sure. Will the Cityone Motel? Probably not. It boasts quick access to a bus station (but not the Express one) and it lies near a subway stop for the popular Yuseong hot springs, but the good rooms were marred by leaky equipment. The service was fine though. The managers spoke some English and were friendly as well.

*Indeed it was! Unlike Seoul's overcrowded and overstuffed Dong Seoul Bus Terminal, the Daejeon Express Bus Terminal is spacious and clean. It has an array of restaurants, snack counters, an E-Mart, and a movie theater. The staff's helpful as well.

9 Months This Week / Stuff Back Home

Standby for a series of posts for the page. I've been a bit slack on getting new stuff up on here and wouldn't want to let anyone down. This week marks 9 months in Korea and I can't wait for what the next 15 will bring. 1 year just isn't enough, not with a job that's beyond satisfying and a great group of people to share it with.

This time of the month's always a bit of a reflective time because I left the States on my birthday (23 August) and another month's passing brings the country back to mind. It seems time to note what I do and don't miss about the USA:

What's missing

Soy milk

Can't find Silk soymilk or anything comparable here. Soymilk is available, but it's not the same. There's more sugar in it and it doesn't satisfy the way soymilk does in the States. Korean soymilk somehow has more calories and more fat in it, yet it doesn't seem as filling as Silk does. Strange. Not cool. I've gone back to regular milk and somehow the regular stuff tastes better here.

Public Trash Cans

They may as well not exist here. Stores put out giant bags for trash and that's it. Most of the time people throw their can of ____ on the sidewalk and keep on walking. Kids get these little bowls of spicy rice cakes, eat them, and then throw them on the ground. I should be used to this by now, but I'm not. Seeing this stuff makes me wonder why people can't wait until they do find a trash can. Trash in the street isn't the greatest sight to see. But, on the other hand, this may not be such a bad thing for two reasons:

1. The trash does get picked up y retirement-age men and women come around every so often and pick up the random trash on roads and sidewalks. I don't know if they get paid to do this or not, but either way, it gives the older people something to do and keeps them active. 

2. People can't get busted for littering so easily--if they can get busted at all. 

Being Able to Drink Alone in Bars

This is trivial, but it's enough for me to write about because there've been a few times where I wanted to drink a beer or two and not stay in the apartment. It doesn't work over here because bars expect you to either order food with your drinks or come in a group of two or more people. Stopping by the local for a drink after work doesn't happen here. There is no such thing as stopping by. 

Every time I've tried this, I've gotten a puzzled expression and a bunch of Korean I couldn't understand from the barmaid or bartender. Apparently a guy can't go get one beer and go home here. I don't know. It isn't a big deal when you consider that beer's available 24/7, but sometimes a change of scenery is good. 

Record stores and Spinning Vinyl Records

I've been in a few shops so far, and the only one worth mentioning was this small joint in the Hongdae area of Seoul. Me and a lady friend had happened upon it by chance when we'd met for a date in the winter. I saw it from across the street. It sold nothing but blues and jazz CDs. It felt good to scour the racks in there; it took me back to those days at Bullseye Records in Milwaukee. She pointed out a few people here and there until I found The Essential Bo Diddley. That's an album I should've had since day 1. He's up there with Chuck Berry for archetypal rock and rollers. The New York Dolls covered his song "Pills." It felt good to hear his original version of it. 

As much as the apartment feels like home, it may not feel complete until a turntable and a proper stereo get acquired. I haven't had a proper stereo in years. It's strange to play everything through the computer, iPad, or MP3 player. Those speakers I bought in September aren't any good. A former co-teacher gave me his computer speakers in the winter. They make the music loud and clear. 

One side effect of the change in music listening is I've been steadily buying stuff on iTunes. And even though I miss the packaging of albums, it doesn't make any practical sense to accumulate album after album here. Buying the physical product gets saved for the (awesomely packaged) Kpop albums and Western stuff that burns at my soul. 

Coffee

I've never understood this. This whole country works itself to the bone every day of the week and prides itself on doing things quickly. Students study from 8:20am to 9pm (not counting private school) with a few breaks, businessmen work until 7 most nights and Saturdays, construction crews work on weekends, convenience stores are almost always open 24/7, and yet decent coffee's only for those who can afford the coffee shops every day. This country needs better coffee! Cans of coffee are ubiquitous, but they're overmilked and oversweetened to the point where it's not even coffee but some express ticket to Diabetes Land. You can find a couple brands of straight Americanos, but it lacks even a tinge of bitterness. It's smooth, but it's devoid of any character. The caffeine certainly does the job, but coffee shouldn't taste like caffeinated water with food coloring. The instant stuff's even worse. More than once already I've tossed out my cup because of the taste.

The local Tous Les Jours coffee shop does do a decent Americano. The Paris Baguette is okay as well. When Kirsten first moved here, she used to tell Gabe, Peter, and I about how Wasu didn't have any coffee shops and she'd stop at the Starbucks in Chuncheon every time she went there. Maybe we should count ourselves as lucky. Gabe, Peter, and I went to Tous Les Jour on our second day here and the Paris Baguette only started serving coffee when it renovated over the winter. Maybe this is what I get for living in a small town. Ground coffee's easier to find in the bigger cities. I'll have go online or go to Seoul or Chuncheon if I want to buy some. 

Another thing: instant coffee mix packets are huge here. The packets already have the coffee, creamer, and sugar mixed in them. You boil a pot of water on the regulation office electric kettle, pour the mix into a Dixie cup, and pour in the water. The teachers call this coffee, but I swear a better name is coffee shot. 2oz doesn't count as coffee unless it's straight espresso. Again, they're sweet. They do go well with soju though. My idea. A few of lady teachers as well as members of the Cheorwon crew like them. 

*Tous Les Jours and Paris Baguette charge 2,500won for an Americano. It's around 2 dollars.

=============

So that's five things and none of them carry much importance in the grand scheme of things. That's about all I've got for complaints against daily life here. Everything else is great. Everything necessary is in walking distance: the school, the restaurants, the grocery store, the walking paths, the coffee shops, and the bus terminal. Beer, makgeolli, whiskey and soju are available around the clock. 3 cool EPIK'ers plus a great co-teacher and a cool apartment manager live in the building. The townspeople are nice. The scenery's gorgeous. Spring's turning into summer and the weather's grown warm.

I do miss waking up to a big  mug of strong coffee and a bowl of granola, but oh well. Life was good then, but it's better now. Cheers!

8 months last week. The rock and roll continues.

Announcement: I'm staying in Korea for two years; possibly three.

One year just isn't enough, not when every day brings as much joy as it does here.

It's a beautiful thing when the students clap for you at the end of a lesson. A couple weeks back, my co-teacher Ms. Jeong and I taught the high school first graders expression "I'm going to the ~ so I can ~" with various places around town and what they can do at those places. They now know what they can do at the bank, the coffee shop, the library, and a few other places here. Throughout the lesson they were taking notes and participating with enthusiasm. They spoke to each other loud and clear in the free speaking part of the class. We coached some of the more difficult words to pronounce and the students caught on quickly.  When the time to finish came I said, "Okay, time's up. Goodbye!" to hear a chorus of "Thank you!"s over the hand claps.

Or how about this: In my high school first grade English Elective class, Min-joon asked me about the island of Dokdo. I said yeah. He said, "Japan maintains that it is their land." He used maintain as a verb. This blew me away. I wrote his words on the board for all 8 students to see and congratulated him for using an excellent word and for using it well.

These are just two examples of what's going on here. These kids rock.

And because I haven't posted in a month, here's a quick review of April 2012:

-- Went to Seoul every weekend for various activities.

-- Drank beer beside the Han River and walked along the park there.

-- Wandered the Chunggye Stream.

-- Had Carrie's birthday party in Dongsong.

-- Attended two weddings of teacher friends. Wedding one was Ms. Yeo and it took place in a wedding hall. We were in and out in 45 minutes because that's how weddings work here. We shot in, grabbed, lunch, the couple say "I do," and took some pictures. Wedding two was Ms. Lee and it took place in a church. Aside from the lack of bridesmaids or groomsmen, and the Korean speeches, this wedding looked like every other one I've seen. The resulting lunch buffet was top notch!

-- Partied in Gangnam, Seoul with my friend Da-som.

--Partied in Hyewha, Seoul with Paula.

-- Bought an Epiphone SG guitar at the Nagwon market the day of wedding two. Got an amp, cable, tuner, strap, strings, case, and stand thrown in as well.

Let there be rock. 

I've wanted an SG since I was 17 and now it's mine. Her name is Ji-young (지영), after the name of recruiter who told me about EPIK this time last year in Madison.

Cheers.

Schools That Never Sleep

I'm pretty sure that the Korean kids wouldn't know what to make of Alice Cooper's song "School's Out."

For one, they have a winter vacation, not a summer one. They do get a break in summer, but it's about two weeks or so.

School is rarely, if ever, out in Korea. This is both literal (schools never close)  and figurative (school is fashionable).  If the public school isn't in session, you can bet a six-pack of soju that the neighborwood academies (hagwons) are.

Though I've only seen half of the year so far, right now I'm in the final days before the new semester starts on 2 March. Not counting the week of graduation between 6 and 10 Feb, regular classes haven't happened since 23 December. But the key word here is regular, for there are winter classes, winter camps, and winter studying. My co-teacher and I taught a winter class in January and some of the students have carried on with other classes.

This week I've been witnessing another aspect of Korean school culture that's unlike anything I've seen in the States: kids coming to school to study on their days off.

There's a group of 5-15 high school students who have been coming to school to study in one of the empty classrooms since Monday. Like I mentioned before, school is out and I find this nothing short of amazing. To think that they come to school to study more or less from 9 to 5 on their days off is inspiring. People--especially students and parents-- take school damned seriously here, to the point where I'm seeing stuff I'd never see in the US. No American high school kids is going to come to school on their days off. These kids get into it: I pop in various times during the day to check on them  and I find them all glued to their books. It's as quiet as a library in there.

I check on them because, well, I'm still trying to understand that no, I'm not just imagining this. There are real live students diligently doing math problem sets and studying Korean or English right there. I asked the kids and a couple of teachers about this; they've told me it's normal and happens every year. This morning I happened upon one of my kids groggily making his way to the classroom. I asked him how he was doing. "I'm tired," he replied, and mentioned that his family had a party for some relatives last night. I suggested that although it was nice of him to come to school, he could've slept longer and came later. After all, he had no obligation to be here so early. He just shrugged it off and said he needed to study. He said and walked to the classroom. Many of the students arrive before some of the teachers do. They say they want to get ready for their college entrance exam, and even though it's will over a year away, I can see where they're coming from. That exam's a hell of a big deal in Korea. The students' test scores are immensely important for determining the college they can attend.

With the kids coming to school, there've been some great opportunities to talk to them about school life. A few of the students jump at the chance to practice their English, so these conversations have been fun. One girl talked about a two day camp at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul. She eagerly explained the pictures she took on her phone. It looked like she had a good time. Another boy wondered about guns in America. "Why do so many people have them?" he asked. I said that it's a long story, but it's part of my nation's history. I didn't quite know how to answer that question since I've wondered about it myself. America has more guns than people and though I understand why the Founding Fathers wrote the 2nd Amendment, I'm curious about guns in America today. I won't get into debating gun rights or anything like that here, but suffice to say that he asked a question that has many possible answers.* If a native English speaker asked this question, I would've had a hard time giving a clear and concise answer, but someone who speaks English as a foreign language? It's harder still, but damned heartening to hear.*

My students' work ethic makes me wonder about my own. I know that even though I did my share of homework and studying in high school, I doubt I put in as many hours of it as my students do. Even now, in the midst of we EPIK'ers call desk-warming, I'm wondering if I can't be getting more done in a given day. The online EPIK in-service that I've been working on will be finished by next week and it's been good planning lessons and talking to everyone and all, but isn't there something more? Coming to school feels strange without any lessons to teach.

 On another note, the students' life here provides a sharp contrast to American high school life. My school day ran from 7:20 to 2:45. I had 6 or 7 classes and 0-45 minutes of homework every day. Once the bell rang, the day was done and there was just the homework to do, not do, or forget about. The Korean students? Class from 8:20 to 5 or 6, self-study at school from 7 to 9, hagwon from then till 10 or midnight. This goes on 5 days a week, plus some weekend hours in hagwons.

* Some things to know about Korea:

Guns are banned here. This boy, Joo-yong, is not alone in asking about my country and its relationship or history with guns.

Every man has to do 2 years of military service. During this time he learns how to shoot a rifle. So though guns are banned here, people are aware of them. One of my co-teachers fondly remembered his days on the firing range. According to him, the M16 is the best rifle to use. (Since I'll probably never own an M16, I'll take his word for it.)

From Seoul to Milwaukee and back

[Originally written on 29 Jan 2012 and edited on 2 Feb 2012]

From 19 to 29 Jan, I came back to the States on vacation to spend time with family and friends. My plane to Korea leaves tomorrow. It's been one hell of a good time here with seeing everybody. Some relatives from out of town even came up to visit us and we had a great time this weekend. I won't name names, but you know who you are, you who reveled in Wisconsin.

 

There'll be more posts about this in the future--coming back felt strange as hell. After 5 months of living in Korea, seeing jacked up 4x4s, sprawling parking lots, and abundant Mexican food seemed alien, as though I'd forgotten they existed. Here are a few other things that I ruminated about while I was here:

 

• The sheer diversity of food in restaurants.
• Friends and family haven't changed--and that's for the best. No one's gone and jumped the shark.
• The massive size of Pick 'n' Save. E-Mart and Lotte Mart may have big grocery sections, but they've nothing on American supermarkets for sheer size and selection. On the other hand, Pick 'n' Save can't match the food and drink samples that the Korean supermarkets offer every day.
• Wisconsin's liquor laws seemed unnecessarily restrictive. More than once, 9pm passed and I remembered that unlike Korea, no store will sell booze.
• I kept wondering where the soju and the 1.6l jugs of Cass were.
• On a similar note, getting ID'd was a change of pace.
• Metered parking doesn't exist in Seoul, but it certainly does in America. Seeing halfway ordinary parking jobs right away seemed strange. Someone did hit my parked car at a shopping mall when I was home though, so I guess normal parking jobs don't mean much after all.
• Parking lots take up too much space. Whatever happened to parking garages and building upward instead of outward? So much space gets wasted on parking lots.
• It felt good to see more recognizable street addresses and signs.
• Driving at night gets more monotonous than I remember.
• Coffee tastes better here. Korean coffee's on the weaker side, but the cafes can make a decent Americano.
• Though Korean energy drinks are cheap and they get the job done, they don't taste as good as Rock Star.
• The cigar I smoked at Lake Country Cigars tasted quited good.
• After decades of disliking spicy food, I've officially made the great leap into Spice Land. It took some time (and a whole lot of kimchi) to get used to it, but once I got back to WI I came to miss it.
• Jamming the blues with Jonny T-Bird and friends in Milwaukee rocked! They backed me up on a few numbers at an open jam at the Astor Hotel. The last time I saw any live music? The Seoul Record and CD Festival in November, where the band played blues and sang in Korean.
• Having to wait for the waiter/waitress to come around to the table in restaurants got to be a drag after being able to push a button on the table or call out "Yeo-gi-yo!" Also, many Korean diners and restaurants will let patrons get water themselves, to saving to wait for that got a bit annoying after a while too.
• I did remember to tip for stuff. I do have to wonder if it's necessary at coffee shops though. After all, it's not like I'm ordering an entire meal. All I'm asking the person to do is grab a biscotti and a coffee for me. Korea's not a tipping culture, so you pay what the receipt says and no more. This includes bars and cabs. Cab drivers will insist you made a mistake if you try to tip them.
• A childhood of long car rides to visit relatives in OH paid off with being able to do 12-13 hour plane rides easily.