Happy 4th!

Wow, a month has gone by already. I wasn't expecting to be so busy with teaching and taking my own classes. The first 3 week round is finished and I think the second 3 weeks will be (at least I hope) a little more relaxed.

Schedule:
Monday-Friday 9-12am = University Freshman (section A first half, section B second half)
Mon/Wed/Fri. 2-3pm = Kid's class (10 kids about 9 yrs. old)
Monday-Thurs. 6:30-9:30pm = my grad class "Vocabulary Acquisition"

It may not seem like much, but to plan and correct and then do my own homework for my grad class at night was exhausting! ha happy to be done with that. Next graduate class will begin next Monday (12th?) so I'm going to enjoy having this week off of night class.

It was the first summer that the university freshman students were required to take summer English classes, whether they wanted to or not, so the task was put on us and we began a three week course. At first it was a bit nerve racking as everyone was telling us to "get ready" and that the students won't want to be there, but I found that to be true for some...aka sleepers in the class...but for the most part I found them to be very nice and interested in learning. I also think class was more "fun" in that they weren't just being lectured to, which is typical of Korean-style classrooms. I had them in groups talking, doing skits, interviews, games, songs, movies and youtube clips! I'm going to miss seeing them every morning.
In both my freshman classes and my kid's class it's fun to see each individual personality come out!

I had my first "norebong" aka singing room or karaoke experience! Jenna and I met one of our students that we had taught in St. Cloud! It was soooo much fun! We got our own individual room and sang our hearts out for almost 3 hours! What a fun night.

I've stayed in Daejeon every weekend except for this past weekend we went to Busan, a city on the southern coast! It was beautiful and relaxing! We splurged and between the three of us girls got a room in a gorgeous hotel on the beach! This is a picture from the hotel's sundeck! It's the rainy season here so we lucked out that it didn't rain. It wasn't really sunny, but doesn't seem to ever be really sunny here in Korea. More hot and humid with clouds! I guess this beach is famous for being extremely crowded in August and the as the beach becomes covered with umbrellas! Korean's definitely get a lot of usage out of their umbrellas, using it to keep dry from rain and shade themselves from the sun. It's interesting how everyone wants to be tan in the U.S. and here they want to be lighter.
We spent time walking on the beach and through a market, of course with live fish. I saw a woman cutting up skinned sea snakes...they were still moving....tear! Lots of seafood!
Saturday night we went for a walk on the beach and caught a few minutes of a fireworks show! Then we headed to a hof (beer house) for a beer and then back to our hotel for dinner! We just stayed in the rest of the night, rented a Korean movie and enjoyed the nice hotel room. It had quite possibly the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in! In the morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel, then headed out to Beomeosa, a Buddhist temple. It was about an hour from our hotel by metro and then a bus then took us up into the mountains to the temple where we wandered around and admired the beautiful buildings and nature surrounding them.


Funny: Some students came up to me to conduct an interview, after the typical questions like "Where are you from?" and "Do you like Korea?" they asked "What's your blood type?"
haha this caught me off guard! A friend explained to me that it is a common question in Korea. So mom...what am I? haha I don't even know!

Korean age is different then western age. Something about the year you were born and the moon? So most Koreans say they are 1-2 yrs. older than what we would consider them to be. For example my friend informed me that I am 27 yrs. old in my Korean age! (i'm only 25 in the U.S.) I told my class that I prefer to go by my "western" age! haha

My kid's class playing "red light, green light", particularly Fred yelling orders! I'll try to get a video up of him doing it!

My freshman class giving their final presentations on a country. One student, Gerrard, who is very quiet, reserved and respectful presented on Germany. He began talking about Octoberfest and it's drinking culture and then about a particular beer from there, Becks. Then he opened his bag and took a real Beck's beer out! ...I'm thinking ok, beer in the class, it's ok he's just showing it, its relevant to his presentation. Then he proceeds to open it and ask the class who would like to try it! At this point we're all laughing so hard and he does let three students taste it. Things are pretty laid back here so I wasn't too worried. Then later I wondered where the bottle went, and I looked over and Martin, who is equally innocent, casually taking drinks from it while watching the other presentations! We had a talk about drinking age after this! Here it's 19 and doesn't seem to be as serious of an issue.

I discovered the tv show, "Modern Family". I'm not really into many tv shows anymore, but this one makes me laugh!

My pillow is made up of little plastic tubes....not comfortable at all! Whose idea was that? ha

So many funny things happen everyday I can't keep track of them all. Frustrating things also happen daily. I'm finding it's not easy to be the foreigner, especially not knowing the language. I feel for people who come to the U.S. It's surprising how a smile or patience goes a long way, versus stares and anger.

I know there's more I've forgotten to write, I'll keep updating as I remember and add more pictures! I hope you all had a great 4th of July, I miss you all!
Sarah xxx

I have a home!

6/8/10 11:39pm (Korean Time)

9:39am (U.S Time)

Last night we were lucky enough to meet some of Molly's students that she had taught this past year at SCSU, Minha and Jin Soo. We met Minha around 9:39 and chatted with her at a coffee shop while waiting for Jin Soo to pick us up. He brought his family's car and brought us all to the river to see the view and have a beer on the bank! It was beautiful to see all the tall buildings and lights, and it was also calming. It was very nice of them to take us there!

Today was a busy day! We made the move from our hostel in eoul to the city we will be living in and teaching in, Daejeon. I am now officially settled into an apartment and have already

begun the decorating process!

The day started out with breakfast at Tom and Tom’s Café, which is similar to a Starbucks. Then we flagged down a taxi to take us to the train station called Seoul Station. We took the 12:05pm train to Daejeon which took about 2 hours. Somehow that time went fast, I spent it chatting with Jenna, admiring the rice patties, small mountains in thecountryside and watched an adorable little Korean girl play with her grandma in the seats next to us. I was happy to see the countryside became greener and more dense as we got closer to Daejeon. Supposedly there’s great places to go hiking, so I’m looking forward to doing that this weekend!Once we arrived in Daejeon we took a taxi to the Woosong (the name of the university) Language Institute. There we met several people and were taken to our apartments. Sadly the way they set up housing for use, one of us had to be separated. So Jenna is in a dorm by campus and Molly and I are sharing an apartment, but only a 5 min. walk from campus. Both places are very nice and everything seems new. My room has a twin bed, a table, two chairs, a dresser and a tv stand with a very nice tv (however no channels) and a sliding door to a mini patio where

the washing machine is. I thought this was going to be my balcony I’ve always wanted. However the view isn’t as stunning as I’d hoped. We’re hoping internet and cable may be hooked up soon, however it doesn’t look promising. We may not get either at all, but we’ll survive! It might be good to live a bit “disconnected” for awhile, and there’ll be internet in our offices at work and coffee shops so I’ll have opportunities to keep in touch.The process of moving in was a bit exhausting so afterwards we all met up for lunch. Today we had bibimbap. It’s a rice dish with vegetables, but be careful it sometimes has meat, so of course the phrase “gogi baygo” –without meat, came in handy again. I think this will be my favorite and well let’s be honest one of the only things I can eat as a vegetarian! It’s rice with vegetables and then you add a spicy red paste/sauce and mix it all up.

After lunch we discovered a grocery store nearby. I never thought a grocery store could be so entertaining. There was a man working stocking the watermelon with a microphone that sounded like he was a salesman, but made sure to great you as you came in. Then as you move back in the store other workers are positioned at different parts, and they great you as well and kind of show you “their” section. The whole thing was entertaining and such a different experience I’ve ever had in a grocery store, but it was fun! Molly and I also discovered a sort of dollar store and got some necessities, plates, forks, hand towels, dish soap, a pan, teakettle etc. I of course had to begin making my room look a bit more like home so I bought a small mirror, a rug and a plant! Just personalizing my room with a few items instantly made me feel more comfortable.

Funny story of the day: This evening I went into the bathroom to just rinse off my feet (somehow they get so dirty from all the walking and wearing cheap sandals) and I turned on the water like normal….but completely forgot that the shower knob (which is on the wall) was still on! Needless to say I had a shocking mini-shower, but I learned my lesson and won’t leave the knob on every again! Also once someone has taken a shower the floor is wet so we need to buy sandals to put on when we walk in the bathroom so our feet don't get wet!

Day 2: Sooya in Seoul

6/8/10 4:37pm

Hello from the future! I'm 14 hours ahead of everyone...just to let you know Tuesday is a great day haha ;)

Today we woke up at 4am, but luckily I fell back asleep until 7! Then we went to a coffee shop and had a latte and a bagel for breakfast. After that we decided to visit the Namdaemun Market. So we hopped on the metro (thanks to Molly who knew exactly where to go) and were there in about 30 min. The market was fascinating with anything you could want, purses, scarves, clothes, food etc. Including silk worm larvae....which my friend Jenna was brave enough to eat! haha After wandering around the streets for a few hours we went to Kimbap Cheongguk for lunch.

Being a vegetarian seems like it will be a bit difficult, seeing how everything had either fish or meat. I ended up finding vegetable kimbap which looks like sushi, it's rice and vegetable wrapped in seaweed. Even this had I believe ham? in it, so after using the translation book and Molly's help I asked for it without the ham! AND I used chopsticks...a few drops of rice, but I did it!

We then moved onto visit a Buddhist Temple, Jogeysa. It was breathtaking! We arrived just at the time that the monks were entering for a worship service. I talked to a man who informed me that they worship three times a day for an hour and a half, and there are opportunities to do a "Temple Stay" where you can spend a weekend at a temple and meditate and follow the buddhist tradition.

Now we're back at the hostel resting for a bit before we meet one of Molly's students for dinner and a norebong (Karaoke room!)

After 24 hours of being in South Korea I've learned so many phrases and words already! It's exciting and I can't wait to learn more!

So far: (with my own pronunciation!)

Thankyou- Kamsamnida

I want beer- Meguk ju say o

How much?- O my o

No meat- Gogi bago

No fish- Sangsong bago

Teacher- Songsang

Numbers 1-10 ill, e, sam, sa o0, juk, chill, paul, ku, ship!

Confusion of the day: (1) The loud speaker that announces things in Korean makes it sound like bombs are dropping...is actually just a vehicle selling fruit! No need to hide haha Thanks Molly for clearing that up for us.

A turtle travels only when it sticks its neck out. Korean Proverb

Annyeonghaesayo! (hello)
Chonun Sarah imnida :) (my name is Sarah)

6/6/10 9:08 am-I have begun my journey to Korea! I'm currently on the plane to L.A.! I'm traveling with 2 of my friends from graduate school, Molly and Jenna. It's nice to be traveling with friends! We arrive in L.A. in about 2 hours and then will have a 3 hour layover there. From L.A. we'll have a 13 hour flight to Seoul, Korea! Although I'm not looking forward to the long flight, it's comforting to have friends that make me laugh and smile along the way :) Once there the plan is to get to the hostel, (it'll be 5:25pm korea time) and then probably shower and sleep. After 2 days of sightseeing in Seoul we'll take a bus to Daejeon, about 2-3 hours south of Seoul. There we'll get keys to our apartments and hopefully get settled in quickly! I'll start teaching next Monday! I'm looking forward to it! We're also looking forward to meeting some of our former students and spend some time with them!