Showing posts with label Busan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Busan. Show all posts
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Lotte Giants!
Today I got my first real experience with photojournalism. Busan Haps, a local magazine for foreigners asked me to shoot some photos to accompany an upcoming article on the foreign players in the Lotte Giants. It was amazing experience, particularly since they gave me an all-access press pass and let me shoot photos from the sidelines as well as during the actual interviews. After the game, I talked with the owner of the magazine and he was so satisfied with my work that he invited me to shoot the upcoming basketball tournaments as well. I can't wait! It's a great way for me to practice my skills, get experience and expand my portfolio all at the same time. I won't be posting many of the photos on my website but I did take some that I consider portfolio worthy. I'll probably have those up in a few days so I hope you will take the time to look them over and give me your opinions.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Dealing with sickness in Korea
Our South African friend, Brett, unfortunately had a TERRIBLE time getting good treatment and being admitted to hospital when he caught chicken pox here from his students. Note: Adult chicken pox is DANGEROUS. There's apparently a vaccine available here in Korea, so if you never had chicken pox as a kid, ask a doctor for that vaccine asap!
We can't comprehend that what Brett had to go through is the normal experience here. They didn't seem to realise and confirm how serious his sickness was until he was finally in a hospital-like clinic.
We have full health insurance here and everyone we've spoken to has had no problem going to a hospital to see an English speaking doctor when they needed to. Rob even managed to get a list from the Haeundae District office of medical practitioners in our area who speak English. It's so nice to be able to communicate in your own language when you're sick. And you want to be able to fully understand what the doctor has to say to you.
But so far, my experiences here have made me a little anxious about being sick in Korea. :(
I had an awesome experience of going to a doctor about knee pain. He spoke some English. He was the first doctor who's x-rayed my knees. He told me I have degenerate bones. (No wonder I've had confidence problems walking down steep hill slopes for years.) He told me I have the knee joints of someone thirty plus years older than me. That's right! Old lady knees! It sounds funny, but it really upset me, cos when I asked what we could do about it, he said "lose weight and not exercise." How can you lose weight and not exercise! Anyway, I have lost 5kg since coming to Korea (granted, I didn't have that weight before I left Germany, but it IS possible without too much effort...) and I have been going to some awesome physio therapy there that's really helped. The physio therapist there is a young Christian guy who's studied in Australia for 4 years, so his English is pretty darn good. Each time I go, he'd give my knees heat treatment, electro-shock treatment, then ultra sound treatment and then I'd wear the air massage pants to increase leg circulation. Sometimes I get to lie on the massage bed too. And it costs under 4,000won each time I go! (About $3!) He's also given me really good exercise to increase my strength in the muscles around my knees. Exercise should be walking/running in the pool. Haven't checked out that option yet.
The more negative exeriences are as follows:
I've had were going to a gynocologist on Rob's list and finding that no one there really spoke English. It was a mildly negative experience, because I clearly caused the workers there a lot of stress, not being able to speak Korean and I felt like there was false advertising. This clinic is so convenient for me. Right near my school. I did ok with my phrase book and the pictures on the gynocologist's wall. In all fairness, she did know enough English for us to communicate with help from the pictures on the wall, but she didn't want to speak English. I couldn't find out from them how their clinic was on this list of English speaking practices, if no one there can speak English.
With rainy season, there have been a sudden increase of flies at school, mosquitos at night and beautifully, thousands upon thousands of big, lazy dragon flies :)
I've been bitten by mosquitos on my legs, arms and neck (and now face) at night, and often these are getting infected days after the bite occuring. You know me, I TRY not to scratch, but I guess somewhere during the night or during the day I sometimes give in to the urge and then a day later, there's this huge pink pussy infection around the bite.
:( I have mozzie repellent spray, but it STINKS. Will have to try to use it more often, esepcially before walking Tia at night. We also have screens on our windows, so we'll have to make sure our couchsurfing guests know to keep them shut at all time and we have a mozzie net over our bed. That's being totally paranoid, considering there aren't really mozzies around compared to other countries. And yet, I'm stillg etting bitten. They love my blood! Please pray for me to be able to resist scratching and to keep away infection!
Last Friday and Saturday I woke up with what appears to be spider bites on my face. (Also on one leg, I think). They just look like pink acne and they hurt if you touch them, so I just put tea tree oil on them and waited for them to go away, but Korean friends urged me to see a dermatologist before going away on Summer vacation. So today I went across the street to the big medical centre here and found no English on any of the signs. Which floor to go to? I tried the second floor. None of the administrators spoke much English. I got them to understand that I wanted to see an English speaking doctor. Then when I showed them my symptoms, they told me I was at the eye clinic and the dermatologist is on the 5th floor. So on up to the 5th floor! I HAVE TO learn much more Korean!
When I got to the dermatologist, for the first minute he only spoke in Korean until I asked him in Korean if he speaks English. He said in perfect English "In Rome, do as the Romans do. You are in Korea, so you should speak Korean." Yes, I understand and actually, I agree with that statement. Because of his stance on Korean language, I asked him what the Korean was for certain symptoms and he gave it to me and we wrote it down. However, if I were feeling like crap because I was seriously sick, I probably would've thrown a tantrum right there.
Unfortunately this blog post hasn't been that encouraging for new teachers arriving in Korea. I can only encourage you to learn as much Korean as possible asap and find out from your mates where their good English speaking doctors are and go there. Do also enquire at your local district office, because there could be good English speaking doctors very close to your apartment and school. After all, 4 million people live in Busan. There have to be a lot of doctors here and doctors are highly educated people.
We can't comprehend that what Brett had to go through is the normal experience here. They didn't seem to realise and confirm how serious his sickness was until he was finally in a hospital-like clinic.
We have full health insurance here and everyone we've spoken to has had no problem going to a hospital to see an English speaking doctor when they needed to. Rob even managed to get a list from the Haeundae District office of medical practitioners in our area who speak English. It's so nice to be able to communicate in your own language when you're sick. And you want to be able to fully understand what the doctor has to say to you.
But so far, my experiences here have made me a little anxious about being sick in Korea. :(
I had an awesome experience of going to a doctor about knee pain. He spoke some English. He was the first doctor who's x-rayed my knees. He told me I have degenerate bones. (No wonder I've had confidence problems walking down steep hill slopes for years.) He told me I have the knee joints of someone thirty plus years older than me. That's right! Old lady knees! It sounds funny, but it really upset me, cos when I asked what we could do about it, he said "lose weight and not exercise." How can you lose weight and not exercise! Anyway, I have lost 5kg since coming to Korea (granted, I didn't have that weight before I left Germany, but it IS possible without too much effort...) and I have been going to some awesome physio therapy there that's really helped. The physio therapist there is a young Christian guy who's studied in Australia for 4 years, so his English is pretty darn good. Each time I go, he'd give my knees heat treatment, electro-shock treatment, then ultra sound treatment and then I'd wear the air massage pants to increase leg circulation. Sometimes I get to lie on the massage bed too. And it costs under 4,000won each time I go! (About $3!) He's also given me really good exercise to increase my strength in the muscles around my knees. Exercise should be walking/running in the pool. Haven't checked out that option yet.
The more negative exeriences are as follows:
I've had were going to a gynocologist on Rob's list and finding that no one there really spoke English. It was a mildly negative experience, because I clearly caused the workers there a lot of stress, not being able to speak Korean and I felt like there was false advertising. This clinic is so convenient for me. Right near my school. I did ok with my phrase book and the pictures on the gynocologist's wall. In all fairness, she did know enough English for us to communicate with help from the pictures on the wall, but she didn't want to speak English. I couldn't find out from them how their clinic was on this list of English speaking practices, if no one there can speak English.
With rainy season, there have been a sudden increase of flies at school, mosquitos at night and beautifully, thousands upon thousands of big, lazy dragon flies :)
I've been bitten by mosquitos on my legs, arms and neck (and now face) at night, and often these are getting infected days after the bite occuring. You know me, I TRY not to scratch, but I guess somewhere during the night or during the day I sometimes give in to the urge and then a day later, there's this huge pink pussy infection around the bite.
:( I have mozzie repellent spray, but it STINKS. Will have to try to use it more often, esepcially before walking Tia at night. We also have screens on our windows, so we'll have to make sure our couchsurfing guests know to keep them shut at all time and we have a mozzie net over our bed. That's being totally paranoid, considering there aren't really mozzies around compared to other countries. And yet, I'm stillg etting bitten. They love my blood! Please pray for me to be able to resist scratching and to keep away infection!
Last Friday and Saturday I woke up with what appears to be spider bites on my face. (Also on one leg, I think). They just look like pink acne and they hurt if you touch them, so I just put tea tree oil on them and waited for them to go away, but Korean friends urged me to see a dermatologist before going away on Summer vacation. So today I went across the street to the big medical centre here and found no English on any of the signs. Which floor to go to? I tried the second floor. None of the administrators spoke much English. I got them to understand that I wanted to see an English speaking doctor. Then when I showed them my symptoms, they told me I was at the eye clinic and the dermatologist is on the 5th floor. So on up to the 5th floor! I HAVE TO learn much more Korean!
When I got to the dermatologist, for the first minute he only spoke in Korean until I asked him in Korean if he speaks English. He said in perfect English "In Rome, do as the Romans do. You are in Korea, so you should speak Korean." Yes, I understand and actually, I agree with that statement. Because of his stance on Korean language, I asked him what the Korean was for certain symptoms and he gave it to me and we wrote it down. However, if I were feeling like crap because I was seriously sick, I probably would've thrown a tantrum right there.
Unfortunately this blog post hasn't been that encouraging for new teachers arriving in Korea. I can only encourage you to learn as much Korean as possible asap and find out from your mates where their good English speaking doctors are and go there. Do also enquire at your local district office, because there could be good English speaking doctors very close to your apartment and school. After all, 4 million people live in Busan. There have to be a lot of doctors here and doctors are highly educated people.
Sunday, 26 July 2009
An into to long overdue updates!
Kia ora koutou! (Hi to you all! in Maori)
What have we been doing for the last few months?! It's sure gone fast!
Basically work (and I've worked had to work HARD in the second half of the semester - it was actually kinda crazy), church (I start leading a worship team from next week!) and hanging out with friends. That has left us with a VERY busy schedule.
There are so many minor comical or interesting experiences to tell you about, like how I bought a dark chocolate-peppermint ice cream at the movies but it turned out to be green tea ice cream coated in dark chocolate. VERY disappointing, after expecting to taste peppermint!
Aside from being able to read Korean and being able to say a handful of phrases, Rob and I have not worked hard on expanding our Korean vocabulary and I've recently been convicted about this. There was one week recently where I needed Korean EVERY DAY in some situation. Particularly with our neighbours, who've started talking to us because they see us around and about all the time. I didn't even know how to say "Sorry, I don't understand!"
Rob's been hit with homesickness for Germany and I've been in a few frustrating situations where I caught myself saying "Well, that's just retarded." My co-teachers actually agreed, but I don't really want to have that attitude, as much as possible.
Our first wave of good new friends are already leaving. There are about 10 of them leaving! That's life when you work in a foreign country.
We have been thinking about our old friends often though, so we made some videos which you can look forward to: introducing Busan, my school, our apartment and more...
Some upcoming entries from me or Rob will introduce:
-our Korean PUPPY, Tia
-my birthday
-lecturing for the upcoming EPIK orientation
-our new SUV
-Middle School assessments and Summer camps
-our Summer vacation: which officially starts next week, baby!
-couchsurfing and skype appointments
-old lady knees
It's the middle of Summer here now and it's mostly not too hot this year yet, but it sure has been humid. It'd be fair to say I'd forgotten what the word "sweaty" truly means until recently! It's actually rainy season, but that doesn't mean it rains every day, which has been awesome.
Well, we won't be waiting so long to write again now, so enjoy!
What have we been doing for the last few months?! It's sure gone fast!
Basically work (and I've worked had to work HARD in the second half of the semester - it was actually kinda crazy), church (I start leading a worship team from next week!) and hanging out with friends. That has left us with a VERY busy schedule.
There are so many minor comical or interesting experiences to tell you about, like how I bought a dark chocolate-peppermint ice cream at the movies but it turned out to be green tea ice cream coated in dark chocolate. VERY disappointing, after expecting to taste peppermint!
Aside from being able to read Korean and being able to say a handful of phrases, Rob and I have not worked hard on expanding our Korean vocabulary and I've recently been convicted about this. There was one week recently where I needed Korean EVERY DAY in some situation. Particularly with our neighbours, who've started talking to us because they see us around and about all the time. I didn't even know how to say "Sorry, I don't understand!"
Rob's been hit with homesickness for Germany and I've been in a few frustrating situations where I caught myself saying "Well, that's just retarded." My co-teachers actually agreed, but I don't really want to have that attitude, as much as possible.
Our first wave of good new friends are already leaving. There are about 10 of them leaving! That's life when you work in a foreign country.
We have been thinking about our old friends often though, so we made some videos which you can look forward to: introducing Busan, my school, our apartment and more...
Some upcoming entries from me or Rob will introduce:
-our Korean PUPPY, Tia
-my birthday
-lecturing for the upcoming EPIK orientation
-our new SUV
-Middle School assessments and Summer camps
-our Summer vacation: which officially starts next week, baby!
-couchsurfing and skype appointments
-old lady knees
It's the middle of Summer here now and it's mostly not too hot this year yet, but it sure has been humid. It'd be fair to say I'd forgotten what the word "sweaty" truly means until recently! It's actually rainy season, but that doesn't mean it rains every day, which has been awesome.
Well, we won't be waiting so long to write again now, so enjoy!
Monday, 4 May 2009
Cosplay at BEXCO!
5 minutes from our house is BEXCO, the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, and today while walking past it, we came across an amazing sight. At least hundred Korean teenagers, and I do mean at least one hundred, dressed up in all manner of costume surrounded by friends and photographers. It was a huge anime/manga cosplay meeting (cosplay = costume + play), which according to my friend happens every Sunday but just not to this level. It was brilliant fun and so we went around taking pictures of all the different characters, none of whom we actually knew (someone mentioned something called 7-star). Whoever and whatever they were, I'm definitely planning to go back next Sunday and see if I can take some more pictures.
You can check out some of the pictures I took by clicking here and here's a link to one of my pictures that I entitled "Turquoise Soul".
Enjoy!
You can check out some of the pictures I took by clicking here and here's a link to one of my pictures that I entitled "Turquoise Soul".
Enjoy!
Monday, 23 March 2009
Our 4th Sunday in Busan – feels like we’ve been here already so much longer!
We are going to have a flat warming this Friday and I wish you could all be here!
We get paid this Wednesday. Our first pay cheques plus our air fares into Korea. We’ve been budgeting and praying, because although it’s a lot of money, it could easily go quickly! We want to use it wisely, especially since God has already been so awesome in providing us here! Two weeks into our time at our schools and our three bedroom apartment was almost fully NICELY furnished! In ways that surpass what expected from our contracts or even thought to want! The only things we still need to get are a big chest of drawers for the majority of our clothes, a shower rail and shower curtain and air conditioning for when summer hits. We haven’t yet been told if there’s any school budget left for those things. We’d also like (at some time) to get for ourselves a small oven for baking/roasting (Korean apartments come with only a gas range and we want everyone to try pavlova), some bookshelves for the practice room/study and a new computer.
Another example of how God has provided for us is the new church home we’ve found through a married couple who were at our EPIK orientation.
Firstly, we haven’t found any bilingual churches here yet, which is a little sad for language learning. Ich vermisse unsere kleine aber kreative zweisprachige Gottesdienst!
On our third afternoon in Busan we visited the foreigners’ service (AIM) at the huge Korean church we can now see from our balcony (Soo Young’s the 2nd or 3rd biggest church in Korea) and we met some lovely people. Although this church is practically in our backyard, the format of the service just didn’t resonate with me. The worship team was good, the sermon was fine… Although I found the additional choir items to be a bit old fashioned and stilted in the context of the service, the people were friendly - but I was hoping for something more. We’ve made some good contacts that we’re maintaining there though. We still visit every few weeks and we’re participating in their married couple’s group.
For our second weekend in Busan we visited ICC (International Community Church). ICC started almost 2 years ago because some foreigners at the AIM service were frustrated that the service had to be in a certain format to please its Korean mother church. ICC’s a lot smaller with more native English speakers there, but it was the service that I really enjoyed. And what was surreal was that we already knew so many people there from our EPIK orientation and as we introduced ourselves to people we hadn’t yet met, we were handed new roles! No one was really in charge of the Mac for service production – they were looking for someone to really learn how to do it. Well Rob and I have been looking at buying a Mac, as well as the fact that Rob used to create the powerpoints for worship and announcements at Jesus Rockt. (We’re praying someone new has stepped forward to do that there!) At the same time I spoke to the worship team and found out that they have a bass guitar that no one’s been using, so they offered it to me to take away and practise with! So now our apartment has a huge iMac and an electric bass on loan, which we are learning how to use! It looks like this will give us more time to save money and more experience to use when purchasing our own ones.
Rob’s already taken on the role as main tech guy, so last Sunday he started doing the worship powerpoints and today he was given the church video camera too. I only got a bass shoulder strap today, so I’ll start rehearsals/services next Sunday. Rob’s been going to the mens' small group on Thursday nights. A new couple’s group (fortnightly) is starting up next Sunday, and we’re hosting it. I’ll visit a women’s small group this Wednesday night.
With free Korean lessons from a local university club on Mondays (both of us) and Thursdays (me only), that leaves our schedules really full already. But we still have time together because we both work 40 hours Mon – Fri. We travel to and from school together. Most of those evenings we have stuff together or some time together before and after the other things. Working in separate workplaces has definitely been a blessing, I reckon. God has really blessed us, with a new life situation that pulls us together as a family team, a home which we can open up to others, a clear idea which church family we should join, a big support network and already help to overcome my biggest cultural barrier currently – the language.
So with our first pay cheque, apart from general living and internet set up costs, some things we have to do are:
We get paid this Wednesday. Our first pay cheques plus our air fares into Korea. We’ve been budgeting and praying, because although it’s a lot of money, it could easily go quickly! We want to use it wisely, especially since God has already been so awesome in providing us here! Two weeks into our time at our schools and our three bedroom apartment was almost fully NICELY furnished! In ways that surpass what expected from our contracts or even thought to want! The only things we still need to get are a big chest of drawers for the majority of our clothes, a shower rail and shower curtain and air conditioning for when summer hits. We haven’t yet been told if there’s any school budget left for those things. We’d also like (at some time) to get for ourselves a small oven for baking/roasting (Korean apartments come with only a gas range and we want everyone to try pavlova), some bookshelves for the practice room/study and a new computer.
Another example of how God has provided for us is the new church home we’ve found through a married couple who were at our EPIK orientation.
Firstly, we haven’t found any bilingual churches here yet, which is a little sad for language learning. Ich vermisse unsere kleine aber kreative zweisprachige Gottesdienst!
On our third afternoon in Busan we visited the foreigners’ service (AIM) at the huge Korean church we can now see from our balcony (Soo Young’s the 2nd or 3rd biggest church in Korea) and we met some lovely people. Although this church is practically in our backyard, the format of the service just didn’t resonate with me. The worship team was good, the sermon was fine… Although I found the additional choir items to be a bit old fashioned and stilted in the context of the service, the people were friendly - but I was hoping for something more. We’ve made some good contacts that we’re maintaining there though. We still visit every few weeks and we’re participating in their married couple’s group.
For our second weekend in Busan we visited ICC (International Community Church). ICC started almost 2 years ago because some foreigners at the AIM service were frustrated that the service had to be in a certain format to please its Korean mother church. ICC’s a lot smaller with more native English speakers there, but it was the service that I really enjoyed. And what was surreal was that we already knew so many people there from our EPIK orientation and as we introduced ourselves to people we hadn’t yet met, we were handed new roles! No one was really in charge of the Mac for service production – they were looking for someone to really learn how to do it. Well Rob and I have been looking at buying a Mac, as well as the fact that Rob used to create the powerpoints for worship and announcements at Jesus Rockt. (We’re praying someone new has stepped forward to do that there!) At the same time I spoke to the worship team and found out that they have a bass guitar that no one’s been using, so they offered it to me to take away and practise with! So now our apartment has a huge iMac and an electric bass on loan, which we are learning how to use! It looks like this will give us more time to save money and more experience to use when purchasing our own ones.
Rob’s already taken on the role as main tech guy, so last Sunday he started doing the worship powerpoints and today he was given the church video camera too. I only got a bass shoulder strap today, so I’ll start rehearsals/services next Sunday. Rob’s been going to the mens' small group on Thursday nights. A new couple’s group (fortnightly) is starting up next Sunday, and we’re hosting it. I’ll visit a women’s small group this Wednesday night.
With free Korean lessons from a local university club on Mondays (both of us) and Thursdays (me only), that leaves our schedules really full already. But we still have time together because we both work 40 hours Mon – Fri. We travel to and from school together. Most of those evenings we have stuff together or some time together before and after the other things. Working in separate workplaces has definitely been a blessing, I reckon. God has really blessed us, with a new life situation that pulls us together as a family team, a home which we can open up to others, a clear idea which church family we should join, a big support network and already help to overcome my biggest cultural barrier currently – the language.
So with our first pay cheque, apart from general living and internet set up costs, some things we have to do are:
- get Rob his dream camera, especially since our old one broke as soon as we arrived in Auckland at the end of January.
You should all know how important this is to him. THE Canon 50D! It’s been sometimes difficult to hang out with him without a “good camera”, but to be fair, considering how important it is to him, he’s coped really well in these last two months with substitutes or ideas to sidetrack him.
- get me some decent music library accessories, since I could benefit from the tools for inspiration as much as Rob needs his.
I’m getting (maybe a second-hand) iPod with a lot of GB, new decent earphones and speakers for it and then I’m going to be spending a LOT of time organising (we have iTunes on the church iMac!!!), listening and using music every day. I’m especially excited about using this stuff for personal worship time, inspiration to practise bassoon or learn by ear/transcribe bass lines and piano parts and for motivation to exercise more.
- I’m also going to buy a new sturdy music stand and if there’s money for it, maybe a small second hand portable mini-amp. If I can find an English speaking bass teacher and time, I’ll have at least one lesson sooner.
- get our multitude of boxes sent from Karlsruhe, Michigan, Auckland and Wellington to here!
If you can remember, it was snowing when we arrived in mid February and it’s been around 20 degrees celsius for the last week now. It’s already too warm on the subway! Although it’s colder inside the schools than the outside temperature, we need summer clothes and more work clothes sent to us ASAP. Remember, they’ll take a while to get here and although we can buy tops here no problem, pants and skirts are a major problem to purchase here (unless you’re capable of ordering through the internet in Korean). I also want my bassoon stand and some bassoon music and we are looking forward to having some key books – all things that were too heavy to bring in our 20kg max suitcases.
- put money on my credit card and in our German bank account, since we drained them during our 2 month holiday.
- invest in a well-padded external hard drive, as this lap top is starting to crap out on us. We need to back up our data fast!
- invest a small amount of money in redecorating our EOZs, since our English departments don’t have fantastic budgets for that this year. It’s all about motivating the students.
I don’t know if I’ve made it clear yet: God is so good. The ultimate provider! We are so thankful. Really, this point is driven home to us time and time again when we talk to other couples and singles about their experiences to date in the EPIK program. We are so blessed here already. We are unworthy and wish to share all of these blessings with you. So I hope you’ll keep in touch and come and visit, if you can!
I miss you all, at the same time as making the most out of our new lives here! Aroha nui.
Korean School Kids
“Teacher is untie So, I look ghost But preety priness”
This was a written note from one of my better than average 3rd grade middle school students (14-15 years old). I couldn’t understand what she meant when she was saying the word “geäst”, so I got her to write it down for me.
I’m pretty impressed with this girl’s vocab. In class her listening comprehension is better than most. After me demonstrating how to pronounce “ghost”, I got her to read this sentence to me again and with her gestures that came with that, I came to understand that I have “ghost hair” (so either I need to get a hair cut, or else I just shouldn’t wear it out untied maybe, hehehe) but I still have the face of a pretty princess.
My colleagues at school keep telling me how incredibly poor people who live in Bansong are. One teacher said it’s one of the top ten poorest places in Korea. That means their English (and often their results in other subjects too) is mostly below the national average, due to no private lessons at hagwons. They don’t have any money for that. Most of them receive financial support from the government.
So how does that affect the classroom? Problem #1 is that the lower level students cannot and maybe will never be able to understand me. Even with beginner class style instructions and demonstrations, the less motivated ones have the attention span of tired teenagers. There’s also the special needs students who are normally in their own classes, but they join mine for fun?! They look the same as any other student and have varying capabilities in Korean as well as English, so I have to try to get them involved without spending too much time helping them. One of my co-teachers strictly tells one special needs student to stay out of my group speaking activities. I feel so bad for her, because she sits there all by herself, but my co-teacher doesn’t want any of the other students to have to “waste time trying to talk to someone who can’t talk back”. I feel like the material in the text books is above what a lot of my 2nd and 3rd graders can do. But do it we must. It’s the curriculum.
Yes, then there are problem kids. Is there any school that doesn’t have problem kids though? There are girls who don’t have mothers and are basically brought up by their grandmothers, since the fathers apparently don’t care. Or often they are without a father and their mothers are busy working. The teachers are constantly disciplining kids, in a variety of ways. I’ve seen students kneeling on the ground, doing lines; making them stand up with their hands in the air in the corridor; clapping the student’s face lightly with both hands to show them they are too chatty; crossing out previous stickers the student has earned on their award sheet. I’ve even seen the old-school rap on the hand with a ruler. Save the last one I’ve also considered using these methods – although so far I haven’t had to. I remind them and drill them on the classroom rules we’ve agreed upon constantly. With only one 45 minute lesson and 31 – 38 students in a class, it’s so important to make sure they’re all listening, understand and are participating in their one speaking practice class a week. The students generally respect teachers for punishing them though. I’ve heard it’s something to do with Confucianism and teachers being like parents to their students – they want their students to grow and do the best they can, so it’s their responsibility to keep students on track.
Generally, girls from Bansong Middle School are happy, quiet and shy or loud and boisterous, generally well behaved and respectful girls. I can’t tell they’re any poorer than anyone else. After all, they are in school uniform.
Please pray for them, my colleagues and I though, because some of my colleagues have to deal with the problem of the stealing of expensive items from some students. A handful of students refuse to follow guidance and continue to disrupt other students in a variety of ways. (There was a before school protest against violence amongst students before school earlier this week.) And it may be that for that handful of them, teachers are the only caring (younger than 50) adult guidance they have in their lives. I wish for teachers to not have to make them hurt to make them think about their actions and for their peers not to be scared and consider them outcasts, but to be brave and encourage them without being used or abused in the process.
I’m really looking forward to having my English classes in my English Only Zone (EOZ) from April. I can’t wait to put some new posters up and take some photos to show you. The resources there are fantastic. More to come on that later. They’ll also be sitting in teams then and class motivation and self/peer discipline should be remarkably easier then. Rob’s already got that situation right now. I have to go to their home rooms, where they sit in pairs or in single file. 31 – 38 desks!
* * * * * * * * * *
Today whilst exploring a new part of Busan for us, we saw students from a richer school: Busan International High School (for foreign languages) out on a field trip. Rob’s going to post photos. They learn English, and one of Chinese, Japanese or German. So we were talking with them on basic topics in English and Deutsch. Even the richer kids only speak about Elementary topics, it seems, albeit a little more fluently than most of my students – but these girls are a little older (and maybe only started learning German this year, to be fair). I mean, we were walking with these 400 or so girls for about 20 minutes to the same destination. They screamed with excitement to learn where we’re from, to hear we’ve lived in Germany and to hear that we’re married -only in Korea!!! “I envy you” said several girls after the screaming subsided. I also got told again that I have a small head (a Korean obsession) and that Rob is handsome and I am pretty. (I’m told this regularly from my girls too – they see Rob on the street after school.) We were pulled into a lot of their group photos being taken by teachers or friends, introduced to their Korean English teachers (the Native English teachers don’t work Saturdays without being paid overtime), just so they could scream when they heard their teachers and us conversing in English. It was very funny and a lot of fun. Rob and I are pleased we can show Korean kids they have the opportunity to practise English outside of their classrooms.
This was a written note from one of my better than average 3rd grade middle school students (14-15 years old). I couldn’t understand what she meant when she was saying the word “geäst”, so I got her to write it down for me.
I’m pretty impressed with this girl’s vocab. In class her listening comprehension is better than most. After me demonstrating how to pronounce “ghost”, I got her to read this sentence to me again and with her gestures that came with that, I came to understand that I have “ghost hair” (so either I need to get a hair cut, or else I just shouldn’t wear it out untied maybe, hehehe) but I still have the face of a pretty princess.
My colleagues at school keep telling me how incredibly poor people who live in Bansong are. One teacher said it’s one of the top ten poorest places in Korea. That means their English (and often their results in other subjects too) is mostly below the national average, due to no private lessons at hagwons. They don’t have any money for that. Most of them receive financial support from the government.
So how does that affect the classroom? Problem #1 is that the lower level students cannot and maybe will never be able to understand me. Even with beginner class style instructions and demonstrations, the less motivated ones have the attention span of tired teenagers. There’s also the special needs students who are normally in their own classes, but they join mine for fun?! They look the same as any other student and have varying capabilities in Korean as well as English, so I have to try to get them involved without spending too much time helping them. One of my co-teachers strictly tells one special needs student to stay out of my group speaking activities. I feel so bad for her, because she sits there all by herself, but my co-teacher doesn’t want any of the other students to have to “waste time trying to talk to someone who can’t talk back”. I feel like the material in the text books is above what a lot of my 2nd and 3rd graders can do. But do it we must. It’s the curriculum.
Yes, then there are problem kids. Is there any school that doesn’t have problem kids though? There are girls who don’t have mothers and are basically brought up by their grandmothers, since the fathers apparently don’t care. Or often they are without a father and their mothers are busy working. The teachers are constantly disciplining kids, in a variety of ways. I’ve seen students kneeling on the ground, doing lines; making them stand up with their hands in the air in the corridor; clapping the student’s face lightly with both hands to show them they are too chatty; crossing out previous stickers the student has earned on their award sheet. I’ve even seen the old-school rap on the hand with a ruler. Save the last one I’ve also considered using these methods – although so far I haven’t had to. I remind them and drill them on the classroom rules we’ve agreed upon constantly. With only one 45 minute lesson and 31 – 38 students in a class, it’s so important to make sure they’re all listening, understand and are participating in their one speaking practice class a week. The students generally respect teachers for punishing them though. I’ve heard it’s something to do with Confucianism and teachers being like parents to their students – they want their students to grow and do the best they can, so it’s their responsibility to keep students on track.
Generally, girls from Bansong Middle School are happy, quiet and shy or loud and boisterous, generally well behaved and respectful girls. I can’t tell they’re any poorer than anyone else. After all, they are in school uniform.
Please pray for them, my colleagues and I though, because some of my colleagues have to deal with the problem of the stealing of expensive items from some students. A handful of students refuse to follow guidance and continue to disrupt other students in a variety of ways. (There was a before school protest against violence amongst students before school earlier this week.) And it may be that for that handful of them, teachers are the only caring (younger than 50) adult guidance they have in their lives. I wish for teachers to not have to make them hurt to make them think about their actions and for their peers not to be scared and consider them outcasts, but to be brave and encourage them without being used or abused in the process.
I’m really looking forward to having my English classes in my English Only Zone (EOZ) from April. I can’t wait to put some new posters up and take some photos to show you. The resources there are fantastic. More to come on that later. They’ll also be sitting in teams then and class motivation and self/peer discipline should be remarkably easier then. Rob’s already got that situation right now. I have to go to their home rooms, where they sit in pairs or in single file. 31 – 38 desks!
* * * * * * * * * *
Today whilst exploring a new part of Busan for us, we saw students from a richer school: Busan International High School (for foreign languages) out on a field trip. Rob’s going to post photos. They learn English, and one of Chinese, Japanese or German. So we were talking with them on basic topics in English and Deutsch. Even the richer kids only speak about Elementary topics, it seems, albeit a little more fluently than most of my students – but these girls are a little older (and maybe only started learning German this year, to be fair). I mean, we were walking with these 400 or so girls for about 20 minutes to the same destination. They screamed with excitement to learn where we’re from, to hear we’ve lived in Germany and to hear that we’re married -only in Korea!!! “I envy you” said several girls after the screaming subsided. I also got told again that I have a small head (a Korean obsession) and that Rob is handsome and I am pretty. (I’m told this regularly from my girls too – they see Rob on the street after school.) We were pulled into a lot of their group photos being taken by teachers or friends, introduced to their Korean English teachers (the Native English teachers don’t work Saturdays without being paid overtime), just so they could scream when they heard their teachers and us conversing in English. It was very funny and a lot of fun. Rob and I are pleased we can show Korean kids they have the opportunity to practise English outside of their classrooms.
Monday, 16 March 2009
Pictures of Korea
Okay, I finally found a way to download the photos on my cell phone onto our computer. So here are a few of the photos I've taken so far along with some colorful commentary.
Okay, this is a floorplan of our apartment. I labeled it using Photoshop so now you can see how it's all laid out. And yes, there are windows inside the apartment that look into other rooms rather than directly outside. Case in point - the guest bedroom which looks into our lovely, but messy, laundry room and it's sad to say, but our laundry room is the room with the best view. It overlooks the hills behind our apartment complex.
This is a sign we found in a store called "Artbox". It's definitely an interesting tactic against shoplifting. I especially love how it asks, "Have you gotten therapy?"
That's right. Now you can wear matching underwear! A must-have for the modern couple who do everything together.
The worst part about this picture is that this isn't a picture of just one store with a unique perspective on dating. Shannon and I have seen at least 10-20 stores offering the same thing and all of them have only pink flowery underwear for him and her. There's no gender-neutral version. If you want to wear the same underwear as your partner, then it's just pink pansies and girly stripes. Talk about emasculation...
There's not much to say about this next picture except that I'm dying to buy this lamp and put it in our guest bedroom just to mess with our guests. Personally, I think it's hilarious!
First, a Cinderella playset:
Okay, this is a floorplan of our apartment. I labeled it using Photoshop so now you can see how it's all laid out. And yes, there are windows inside the apartment that look into other rooms rather than directly outside. Case in point - the guest bedroom which looks into our lovely, but messy, laundry room and it's sad to say, but our laundry room is the room with the best view. It overlooks the hills behind our apartment complex.
* * * * * * * * * *
This is a sign we found in a store called "Artbox". It's definitely an interesting tactic against shoplifting. I especially love how it asks, "Have you gotten therapy?"
* * * * * * * * * *
In America and most western countries, it's common for couples to sometimes wear clothes that are similar in color or style especially if they're dressing up for a big event. In Korea, however the trend goes a few steps farther. Shannon and I have seen many couples who not only wear the same type of clothing but actually go as far as to wear the exact same t-shirt and sometimes even the same shoes. Matching t-shirts for Korean couples are called "couple tees". Can you imagine it? Wearing the same outfit as your partner? Well, it gets worse. Take a look at the following picture.
That's right. Now you can wear matching underwear! A must-have for the modern couple who do everything together.
The worst part about this picture is that this isn't a picture of just one store with a unique perspective on dating. Shannon and I have seen at least 10-20 stores offering the same thing and all of them have only pink flowery underwear for him and her. There's no gender-neutral version. If you want to wear the same underwear as your partner, then it's just pink pansies and girly stripes. Talk about emasculation...
* * * * * * * * * *
There's not much to say about this next picture except that I'm dying to buy this lamp and put it in our guest bedroom just to mess with our guests. Personally, I think it's hilarious!
* * * * * * * * * *
Okay, now for some bad English. I was hoping that maybe the English here would be better than most countries because of how many English teachers there are and the government's policies on English education, but... it's not.
Take a look at what I found written in English on the following products.
First, a Cinderella playset:
Here's a transcript:
'(Cinderella) is one of the most famous chapters in (Grimms Fairy Tales) which wrote by the Brothers Grimm. Cinderella is the protaganist of the tale who suffered humiliation from her stepmother and two elder sisters. But she bear it quietly and finally acquire the happiness. Look! The bell of midnight is ringing. Cinderella ran from the fortress in a flurry. You must search for the lost crystal shoe quickly and the prince may need assistance to find his lover.'
* * * * * * * * * *
Here's another one, from the box bottom of a solar-powered bobble head of Pumpkin Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas (which incidentally I am going to buy at some point).
Once again, here's the transcript:
- in order not course the danger of asphyxial, Please do no to put the spare parts into the mouth.
- in order not course the danger of swallowing, forbidden to give the toy playing by the Children who are not enough 3 years old.
- in order not course the danger of asphyxial, please do not cover the plastic bag on the head or face
- in order to avoid accident, please safekeeping the toy that make sure the children who are not enough 3 years old not reach the toy.
- Please do not shake or haul the toy
- Please do not use the sun energy battery tough and don't throw it away
Someone must be putting too much faith in online language translators, don't you think?
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Our Address - Westernized!
One of my co-teachers just gave me a Westernized version of our new address, because the other address I gave you might not work when sending mail from outside the country.
I'm putting the new address below and also changing the old post in this blog so that no one gets confused. Here's the address as it should be written:
If you know anyone who has the old version of our address, please tell them about the change and/or direct them to this blog. Thanks!
I'm putting the new address below and also changing the old post in this blog so that no one gets confused. Here's the address as it should be written:
Rob and Shannon Digby
Dongbu Olympic Town 103-1301
Wu-dong 1008-5, Haeundae-gu
Busan, Korea 612-745
If you know anyone who has the old version of our address, please tell them about the change and/or direct them to this blog. Thanks!
Monday, 9 March 2009
A Few Quick Notes
I've had a few questions about the food & the shopping here. Let me tell you - both are fantastic! Everywhere we go, Shannon and I can find almost any kind of food, from Western fast food (KFC, McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut) to traditional Korean, Japanese, Thai and more.
As for the shopping, it's the same. They just opened a HUGE shopping mall called Shinsegae ("New World") here and it's got to be one of the most upscale shopping centers I've ever seen. They have everything you could want to find inside. Louis Betton, Gucci, Apple Computers, Nike, etc. They also have an ice rink, a rooftop garden with views out across the city, a cinema on the 9th floor and a luxury cinema on the 5th floor where you can sit in comfy armchairs and eat dinner while watching a movie. But that's just Shinsegae. Scattered across this vast city are tens of thousands of stores - big and small, shopping centers, underground markets, street markets, street vendors and fruit/vegetable markets. I think the shopping possibilities are endless here.
To put it simply, I love Busan.
As for the shopping, it's the same. They just opened a HUGE shopping mall called Shinsegae ("New World") here and it's got to be one of the most upscale shopping centers I've ever seen. They have everything you could want to find inside. Louis Betton, Gucci, Apple Computers, Nike, etc. They also have an ice rink, a rooftop garden with views out across the city, a cinema on the 9th floor and a luxury cinema on the 5th floor where you can sit in comfy armchairs and eat dinner while watching a movie. But that's just Shinsegae. Scattered across this vast city are tens of thousands of stores - big and small, shopping centers, underground markets, street markets, street vendors and fruit/vegetable markets. I think the shopping possibilities are endless here.
To put it simply, I love Busan.
The First Stages of Culture Shock and a Multitude of Blessings
It’s Sunday and I’m unsure of the date! Uh, March 8th. I’m writing this on Rob’s laptop because we don’t have internet at home yet. I’m not even sure when I’ll be able to upload this, as every time I got to blogspot on my work laptop, everything apart from our writing is in Hanguel!
So, we’ve been in Busan just over a week now. I remember when I first started working in Karlsruhe…. Weeks seemed like months and months felt like more than a year had passed! In a new country and culture almost everything is new and we are but sponges, soaking up all of the new information, adapting as best we can. All of that new experience changes our perception of time drastically.
Rob’s already described a lot in so much detail, so to summarize what it’s been like for me: in our first week I’ve started a new job, met hundreds of people (of which only about 15 names will be remembered next week), improved drastically with reading Hanguel considering I haven’t been studying it, become capable of correctly pronouncing most of my students’ names, we’ve been communicating as best as we can with limited Korean, easy English and a lot of sign language, started forming our own physical understanding of this city’s layout, lived in two different locations, visited and got to know some people at two different churches…. So it somehow feels like we’ve been here much more than a week already, in a lot of ways.
Oh I can’t resist, because my first few days at school were really hard! So I here’s where I go into more detail. My first day of school was mostly very boring. My main co-teacher, Noh Hyun Jung, took me to school early and we sat in the teachers’ office basically all day.
My school’s teachers’ office sounds a bit like Rob’s: every teacher has their own desk area facing a cubicle wall. 4 teachers face the wall on either side. The vice principal has a stand-alone desk right in the very middle of this long room filled with teachers. The students open the sliding doors and come and talk to teachers freely between lessons. So I especially had a lot of visitors that first day, being the new foreign teacher (aka super star). Some were too shy to do anything but wave, smile and giggle. Quite a few bowed and said hello. One took my hand and bowed until her forehead was touching my hand. Many try to speak to me for more than just hello. A couple of them have a decent sized vocabulary, even if they don’t speak very fluently or grammatically correct. Occasionally they are just being silly. A giggling group visited to tell me they love me and that one of them was my predecessor’s girlfriend. Sometimes it’s awkward, because they are just hovering around me, the conversation has drawn to its natural close and I have to tell them “I need to get back to work now, so see you later. Good bye!”
So on that first day, without any computer and barely any Korean, I met my 3 other co-teachers, one of which is also new to Bansong Girls’ Middle School this year. Then I met and instantly forgot the names of some other friendly teachers. Many of the teachers are very friendly, but their English seems to be only slightly more advanced than my Korean and even my co-teachers have big problems understanding me sometimes. They are also very busy. They have more classes than I do, plus they have so much administrative work, it’s insane. I’m very aware of this, so I try not to be bothersome to them.
Korea seems to be the opposite of Germany when it comes to organisation. All anybody could tell me was that I probably wouldn’t have to teach that first day. I just read until about 9.30am, when the old principal and vice principal gave exit speeches and left. Then I just continued to read through my 3 new textbooks and the empty organisational files my predecessor had left me and made notes of things to ask my co-teachers. After an hour or so a new principal and vice principal arrived with an official from the Busan Office of Education and there were more speeches. Then we went back to doing our own things, which for me, was reading and making notes. At 11am we had an “opening ceremony” in the school gym, which was basically an assembly with only 2nd and 3rd graders. (1st graders started on Tuesday.) The new principal, vice-principal and 8 or so new teachers were introduced. When it was my turn to step forward and bow to the audience, the students screamed like I was a rock star, much to my surprise and embarrassment. Since then, two of my English classes have screamed in the same way when I enter their classrooms too. It’s very loud. I’m sure the excitement will wear off soon.
After the opening ceremony, it was back to reading for the rest of the day until 4.30pm, apart from a Korean lunch with the teachers in the teachers’ cafeteria.
On day two at school, I wanted to cry in the morning. I just felt left out because I can’t speak Korean. I can’t read the teachers’ notice board, or understand the announcements, or go to the staff meetings. I also felt like every one was too busy to help me out. There still wasn’t a schedule, so I had no idea if I’d be teaching that day or not. I had brought in our laptop, but couldn’t hook it up to a printer, so once my basic lesson planning was done, all I could do was try to get my co teachers to understand that I need to be able to have internet access and print before I can teach and that I can’t bring this laptop in each day, since I share it with Rob. Once they understood that, I got a school laptop that afternoon and since then I’ve been surfing the internet if all of my school planning’s finished. That has been a real outlet to my prior frustration, I have to say, although I feel a bit guilty that I’m there surfing for all to see when my colleagues have so much to do. But I’ve offered my help for anything and until we have some meetings about what my co teachers would like me to cover and when and what the lunch time and after school classes should cover, I really can’t plan that much more. I also wish my school laptop’s computer settings were in English, as then I’d be able to change the setup to how I like it, but apart from the software, it all defaults to Hanguel still.
My first classes on Wednesday – Friday with all three grades went really well. The students got to speak a lot, have agreed to my rules and had fun. From all of those classes, only a handful of students refused to speak English with me. With 700 students from a poor, often difficult background, a handful reusing to speak so far is much better than I what I was told at orientation to expect. My co teachers let me run the classes and assisted with monitoring the students’ work, making sure they understood and keeping the students in check. They were all surprised I could run a class. They didn’t understand I have prior teaching experience and they’re all quite happy with me, I think. On average, the 1st graders seem to be better in listening comprehension and speaking fluency than the 2nd and 3rd graders – especially the 2nd graders. I’m looking forward to next week. On Monday and Tuesday I get to meet those classes I haven’t yet met and I’ll be spending a lot more time lesson planning, having to use some material from their seemingly random textbooks. I’m going to have to have some meetings with my co teachers, although I still don’t have access to their schedules.
Apart from work differences and the language barrier, I hadn’t thought I was feeling culture shock much yet. But then we went to watch “The Watchmen” last night at the new local cinema… Here Hollywood movies remain in English, as there are plenty of Korean movies in Korean playing all of the time as well. At the end of that movie as the lights were slowly raised, I looked at the people walking out and it took me several seconds to realise they were all Korean, every one of them. Then I felt surprise at how much I had really escaped reality by watching that movie. I momentarily forgot what country I’m in!
Since I got a laptop and started teaching, I haven’t felt bad at all. The other teachers have begun to show real interest in getting to know me and I’ve found out some very interesting things about them. I’m super motivated to find a Korean course now! (And keep practising German.) There’s still a lot to do in terms of registering, changing banks, getting internet at home… general set up stuff. I feel really blessed to be at such a great school, with enthusiastic students, teachers who really care about quality education and their students’ well being. I feel really blessed to be in this awesome fully furnished apartment with Rob. I have a practice room! We’re praying for lots of guests and are seriously considering getting two little dogs. I feel really blessed about the churches we’ve found. We’ve met some wonderful people there who will probably become good friends and I’ve already got the electric bass from one of them. When we speak with our fellow EPIK colleagues, I realise that Rob and I have already seen a lot more of the city than most. Spring is clearly almost here, so I’m happy to report that after a slightly difficult beginning to the working week, I feel like we’re doing really well. I can only sing God praises.
So, we’ve been in Busan just over a week now. I remember when I first started working in Karlsruhe…. Weeks seemed like months and months felt like more than a year had passed! In a new country and culture almost everything is new and we are but sponges, soaking up all of the new information, adapting as best we can. All of that new experience changes our perception of time drastically.
Rob’s already described a lot in so much detail, so to summarize what it’s been like for me: in our first week I’ve started a new job, met hundreds of people (of which only about 15 names will be remembered next week), improved drastically with reading Hanguel considering I haven’t been studying it, become capable of correctly pronouncing most of my students’ names, we’ve been communicating as best as we can with limited Korean, easy English and a lot of sign language, started forming our own physical understanding of this city’s layout, lived in two different locations, visited and got to know some people at two different churches…. So it somehow feels like we’ve been here much more than a week already, in a lot of ways.
Oh I can’t resist, because my first few days at school were really hard! So I here’s where I go into more detail. My first day of school was mostly very boring. My main co-teacher, Noh Hyun Jung, took me to school early and we sat in the teachers’ office basically all day.
My school’s teachers’ office sounds a bit like Rob’s: every teacher has their own desk area facing a cubicle wall. 4 teachers face the wall on either side. The vice principal has a stand-alone desk right in the very middle of this long room filled with teachers. The students open the sliding doors and come and talk to teachers freely between lessons. So I especially had a lot of visitors that first day, being the new foreign teacher (aka super star). Some were too shy to do anything but wave, smile and giggle. Quite a few bowed and said hello. One took my hand and bowed until her forehead was touching my hand. Many try to speak to me for more than just hello. A couple of them have a decent sized vocabulary, even if they don’t speak very fluently or grammatically correct. Occasionally they are just being silly. A giggling group visited to tell me they love me and that one of them was my predecessor’s girlfriend. Sometimes it’s awkward, because they are just hovering around me, the conversation has drawn to its natural close and I have to tell them “I need to get back to work now, so see you later. Good bye!”
So on that first day, without any computer and barely any Korean, I met my 3 other co-teachers, one of which is also new to Bansong Girls’ Middle School this year. Then I met and instantly forgot the names of some other friendly teachers. Many of the teachers are very friendly, but their English seems to be only slightly more advanced than my Korean and even my co-teachers have big problems understanding me sometimes. They are also very busy. They have more classes than I do, plus they have so much administrative work, it’s insane. I’m very aware of this, so I try not to be bothersome to them.
Korea seems to be the opposite of Germany when it comes to organisation. All anybody could tell me was that I probably wouldn’t have to teach that first day. I just read until about 9.30am, when the old principal and vice principal gave exit speeches and left. Then I just continued to read through my 3 new textbooks and the empty organisational files my predecessor had left me and made notes of things to ask my co-teachers. After an hour or so a new principal and vice principal arrived with an official from the Busan Office of Education and there were more speeches. Then we went back to doing our own things, which for me, was reading and making notes. At 11am we had an “opening ceremony” in the school gym, which was basically an assembly with only 2nd and 3rd graders. (1st graders started on Tuesday.) The new principal, vice-principal and 8 or so new teachers were introduced. When it was my turn to step forward and bow to the audience, the students screamed like I was a rock star, much to my surprise and embarrassment. Since then, two of my English classes have screamed in the same way when I enter their classrooms too. It’s very loud. I’m sure the excitement will wear off soon.
After the opening ceremony, it was back to reading for the rest of the day until 4.30pm, apart from a Korean lunch with the teachers in the teachers’ cafeteria.
On day two at school, I wanted to cry in the morning. I just felt left out because I can’t speak Korean. I can’t read the teachers’ notice board, or understand the announcements, or go to the staff meetings. I also felt like every one was too busy to help me out. There still wasn’t a schedule, so I had no idea if I’d be teaching that day or not. I had brought in our laptop, but couldn’t hook it up to a printer, so once my basic lesson planning was done, all I could do was try to get my co teachers to understand that I need to be able to have internet access and print before I can teach and that I can’t bring this laptop in each day, since I share it with Rob. Once they understood that, I got a school laptop that afternoon and since then I’ve been surfing the internet if all of my school planning’s finished. That has been a real outlet to my prior frustration, I have to say, although I feel a bit guilty that I’m there surfing for all to see when my colleagues have so much to do. But I’ve offered my help for anything and until we have some meetings about what my co teachers would like me to cover and when and what the lunch time and after school classes should cover, I really can’t plan that much more. I also wish my school laptop’s computer settings were in English, as then I’d be able to change the setup to how I like it, but apart from the software, it all defaults to Hanguel still.
My first classes on Wednesday – Friday with all three grades went really well. The students got to speak a lot, have agreed to my rules and had fun. From all of those classes, only a handful of students refused to speak English with me. With 700 students from a poor, often difficult background, a handful reusing to speak so far is much better than I what I was told at orientation to expect. My co teachers let me run the classes and assisted with monitoring the students’ work, making sure they understood and keeping the students in check. They were all surprised I could run a class. They didn’t understand I have prior teaching experience and they’re all quite happy with me, I think. On average, the 1st graders seem to be better in listening comprehension and speaking fluency than the 2nd and 3rd graders – especially the 2nd graders. I’m looking forward to next week. On Monday and Tuesday I get to meet those classes I haven’t yet met and I’ll be spending a lot more time lesson planning, having to use some material from their seemingly random textbooks. I’m going to have to have some meetings with my co teachers, although I still don’t have access to their schedules.
Apart from work differences and the language barrier, I hadn’t thought I was feeling culture shock much yet. But then we went to watch “The Watchmen” last night at the new local cinema… Here Hollywood movies remain in English, as there are plenty of Korean movies in Korean playing all of the time as well. At the end of that movie as the lights were slowly raised, I looked at the people walking out and it took me several seconds to realise they were all Korean, every one of them. Then I felt surprise at how much I had really escaped reality by watching that movie. I momentarily forgot what country I’m in!
Since I got a laptop and started teaching, I haven’t felt bad at all. The other teachers have begun to show real interest in getting to know me and I’ve found out some very interesting things about them. I’m super motivated to find a Korean course now! (And keep practising German.) There’s still a lot to do in terms of registering, changing banks, getting internet at home… general set up stuff. I feel really blessed to be at such a great school, with enthusiastic students, teachers who really care about quality education and their students’ well being. I feel really blessed to be in this awesome fully furnished apartment with Rob. I have a practice room! We’re praying for lots of guests and are seriously considering getting two little dogs. I feel really blessed about the churches we’ve found. We’ve met some wonderful people there who will probably become good friends and I’ve already got the electric bass from one of them. When we speak with our fellow EPIK colleagues, I realise that Rob and I have already seen a lot more of the city than most. Spring is clearly almost here, so I’m happy to report that after a slightly difficult beginning to the working week, I feel like we’re doing really well. I can only sing God praises.
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Our New Address!
We finally got a new apartment and we move in tomorrow! Our new address is:
Rob and Shannon Digby
Dongbu Olympic Town 103-1301
Wu-dong 1008-5, Haeundae-gu
Busan, Korea 612-745
In Korean, it looks like this:
Robert & Shannon Digby
부산 해운대구 우동 1008-5
동부올림픽타운 103동 1301호
It's a 3 bedroom apartment with a large kitchen, living room, long balcony, a small storage room and a laundry room. Very nice!
Here's a small map of the area. Just look closer!
Rob and Shannon Digby
Dongbu Olympic Town 103-1301
Wu-dong 1008-5, Haeundae-gu
Busan, Korea 612-745
In Korean, it looks like this:
Robert & Shannon Digby
부산 해운대구 우동 1008-5
동부올림픽타운 103동 1301호
It's a 3 bedroom apartment with a large kitchen, living room, long balcony, a small storage room and a laundry room. Very nice!
Here's a small map of the area. Just look closer!
Monday, 2 March 2009
Day 2 in Busan
We're finally here - Busan! What a trip it was.
Let me take you back to last Friday. We left the university at 1130 in the morning, stopped for lunch along the way and finally arrived in Busan around 430 pm. When we got to our meeting point, we weren't allowed to leave the bus until our Korean guide called us by name. Outside the bus, our co-teachers were lining up like adoptive parents, chattering anxiously amongst themselves in the same way that we were doing on the bus. I wonder if it was as surreal for them as it was for us. Whenever our guide called one of our names, the whole bus would clap loudly and wish them well as they exited. Then their Korean co-teacher was would rush forward nervously and greet them warmly before whisking them away to get their luggage and drive them to their new apartment and school.
When our guide called our names, we were one of the last and it was the same experience. Our co-teachers met us as we stepped off the bus and immediately became our protective and somewhat surrogate parents. I had 2 co-teachers meet me and Shannon had only 1 meet her but in reality, we both have 4 co-teachers each.
After picking us up from the bus, our co-teachers took us to a temporary studio apartment since that's where the last English teacher lived. They had decided not to get us a new apartment until after talking to us so that they could find out exactly what kind of place to look for. Shannon and I are both pleased with their decision because it means we will have more control over where we'll live and will give us a chance to look at multiple apartments before making a final decision.
Right now we're living in a part of the city called Haeundae New Town which is about 45 minutes by bus from our schools and about 20 minutes from the beach. After looking at the map & walking around town, I think we'll choose to live in Haeundae (the "old" town which is still very modern) which is actually closer to the beach and about 15 minutes closer to our school. It's complicated. I'll post a map in about a week's time to give you more detail.
Back to Friday night. When we got to our temporary flat, the place was very dirty and so the co-teachers immediately called some professional cleaners to come and clean the place. They then took us out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant before taking us to a large department store to help us buy new bedclothes. Along the way my co-teacher gave me her subway card thing (it's a little keychain pendant that you can charge with money & then you use it to enter the subway & the money is automatically subtracted from it). When we went to put some money on it, we found out that there was still 5000 Won on it but she was adamant that I should still keep it as a gift. When we arrived at the department store, our co-teachers decided to pay for the bedcovers and pillows out of the school money (1/2 from my school & 1/2 from Shannon's) and so they encouraged to buy the best set we could since we were just starting out. I let Shannon make all the decisions in this regard and even though the Koreans kept showing her flowery patterns, Shannon made the wise decision to go with something a bit more gender neutral. In the end, she picked out a green & white duvet with matching pillows & a green mattress cover with black roosters all over it. Very funny but much better than the rosy pink antique flower patterns that seem to be on most of the bed stuff here.
After that, we went back to the apartment which was still being cleaned and made arrangements to be picked up on Monday for our first day at our new schools. I'll be teaching at Bansong Boys'School and Shannon at Bansong Girls' School.
All the while, our co-teachers asked us many questions, including if we knew how to do some very basic things. They really did treat us like newly adopted children. It was a strange sensation and there were many times when Shannon and I just had to smile appreciatively and leave it at that. I think that they weren't expecting to have such seasoned travelers or teachers to work with. It was very funny because they were impressed that we already had phones, could speak a little Korean and were not afraid to walk around alone in the city as new foreigners.
So yesterday was our first full day in Busan and we took the subway to Haeundae Beach and then to visit a friend of ours named Brett who is from South Africa and needed some people to cheer him up. He's alone in a remote part of the city and has never used the subway before so I think he's a bit depressed & needs to learn how to get around. We brought him some maps, helped him buy a subway charge token thing (like we both now have) and taught him what we knew before going back home again. We made plans to visit him again and have him visit us once he has figured out the subway.
Today we went to Seomyeon by subway and met some Americans at the Krispy Kreme that we found near the local department store. Yes, let me repeat that. They have Krispy Kreme doughnuts here. If you don't know what those are, then you haven't lived yet.
Anyway, after that we went to a bunch of different places looking at electronic goods before finding out that there's a Canon store near one of the subway stops. Shannon and I are going to go there in the coming week to check out the camera I want and to repair the one we have (yes, it's broken, it sucks). We then went to a Presbyterian church where one of our fellow EPIK teachers goes and had a good time. We're not sure if it will be our new church home but the possibility exists. No matter what, there's a good couples group going on and one of the people we met actually has friends in Erkelenz, Germany where my relatives live. How amazing is that?
So that's where we are so far. Tonight we have to go back to the apartment and prepare our clothes for tomorrow. Tomorrow we have to dress up really nice since it will be the first day we meet our principal and vice-principal. After that we can wear normal casual wear (nice jeans & nice shirt) but on the first day we have to look our best.
Just one last thing to note is that everywhere we go, we try to speak Korean to the adults but when we see children (toddlers, elementary schoolers and teenagers) we try to speak English. It's funny because many of them know how to say hello and if they don't respond to us, their parents always prod them as if saying "you know how to speak English, say hello to the funny foreigners!" We've also had a number of experiences where children on the subway will sit next to us and speak to us in English about everything and anything just to practice their English skills. It's funny but I figure we're here to promote English not only in our school but everywhere we go. That's the government's view too apparently.
Anyway, gotta go. The PC is yelling at me in Korean saying I have less than 3 minutes left. Hope this entry isn't too chaotic but give us a shout if you want more details or have questions!
Ciao for now!
Let me take you back to last Friday. We left the university at 1130 in the morning, stopped for lunch along the way and finally arrived in Busan around 430 pm. When we got to our meeting point, we weren't allowed to leave the bus until our Korean guide called us by name. Outside the bus, our co-teachers were lining up like adoptive parents, chattering anxiously amongst themselves in the same way that we were doing on the bus. I wonder if it was as surreal for them as it was for us. Whenever our guide called one of our names, the whole bus would clap loudly and wish them well as they exited. Then their Korean co-teacher was would rush forward nervously and greet them warmly before whisking them away to get their luggage and drive them to their new apartment and school.
When our guide called our names, we were one of the last and it was the same experience. Our co-teachers met us as we stepped off the bus and immediately became our protective and somewhat surrogate parents. I had 2 co-teachers meet me and Shannon had only 1 meet her but in reality, we both have 4 co-teachers each.
After picking us up from the bus, our co-teachers took us to a temporary studio apartment since that's where the last English teacher lived. They had decided not to get us a new apartment until after talking to us so that they could find out exactly what kind of place to look for. Shannon and I are both pleased with their decision because it means we will have more control over where we'll live and will give us a chance to look at multiple apartments before making a final decision.
Right now we're living in a part of the city called Haeundae New Town which is about 45 minutes by bus from our schools and about 20 minutes from the beach. After looking at the map & walking around town, I think we'll choose to live in Haeundae (the "old" town which is still very modern) which is actually closer to the beach and about 15 minutes closer to our school. It's complicated. I'll post a map in about a week's time to give you more detail.
Back to Friday night. When we got to our temporary flat, the place was very dirty and so the co-teachers immediately called some professional cleaners to come and clean the place. They then took us out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant before taking us to a large department store to help us buy new bedclothes. Along the way my co-teacher gave me her subway card thing (it's a little keychain pendant that you can charge with money & then you use it to enter the subway & the money is automatically subtracted from it). When we went to put some money on it, we found out that there was still 5000 Won on it but she was adamant that I should still keep it as a gift. When we arrived at the department store, our co-teachers decided to pay for the bedcovers and pillows out of the school money (1/2 from my school & 1/2 from Shannon's) and so they encouraged to buy the best set we could since we were just starting out. I let Shannon make all the decisions in this regard and even though the Koreans kept showing her flowery patterns, Shannon made the wise decision to go with something a bit more gender neutral. In the end, she picked out a green & white duvet with matching pillows & a green mattress cover with black roosters all over it. Very funny but much better than the rosy pink antique flower patterns that seem to be on most of the bed stuff here.
After that, we went back to the apartment which was still being cleaned and made arrangements to be picked up on Monday for our first day at our new schools. I'll be teaching at Bansong Boys'School and Shannon at Bansong Girls' School.
All the while, our co-teachers asked us many questions, including if we knew how to do some very basic things. They really did treat us like newly adopted children. It was a strange sensation and there were many times when Shannon and I just had to smile appreciatively and leave it at that. I think that they weren't expecting to have such seasoned travelers or teachers to work with. It was very funny because they were impressed that we already had phones, could speak a little Korean and were not afraid to walk around alone in the city as new foreigners.
So yesterday was our first full day in Busan and we took the subway to Haeundae Beach and then to visit a friend of ours named Brett who is from South Africa and needed some people to cheer him up. He's alone in a remote part of the city and has never used the subway before so I think he's a bit depressed & needs to learn how to get around. We brought him some maps, helped him buy a subway charge token thing (like we both now have) and taught him what we knew before going back home again. We made plans to visit him again and have him visit us once he has figured out the subway.
Today we went to Seomyeon by subway and met some Americans at the Krispy Kreme that we found near the local department store. Yes, let me repeat that. They have Krispy Kreme doughnuts here. If you don't know what those are, then you haven't lived yet.
Anyway, after that we went to a bunch of different places looking at electronic goods before finding out that there's a Canon store near one of the subway stops. Shannon and I are going to go there in the coming week to check out the camera I want and to repair the one we have (yes, it's broken, it sucks). We then went to a Presbyterian church where one of our fellow EPIK teachers goes and had a good time. We're not sure if it will be our new church home but the possibility exists. No matter what, there's a good couples group going on and one of the people we met actually has friends in Erkelenz, Germany where my relatives live. How amazing is that?
So that's where we are so far. Tonight we have to go back to the apartment and prepare our clothes for tomorrow. Tomorrow we have to dress up really nice since it will be the first day we meet our principal and vice-principal. After that we can wear normal casual wear (nice jeans & nice shirt) but on the first day we have to look our best.
Just one last thing to note is that everywhere we go, we try to speak Korean to the adults but when we see children (toddlers, elementary schoolers and teenagers) we try to speak English. It's funny because many of them know how to say hello and if they don't respond to us, their parents always prod them as if saying "you know how to speak English, say hello to the funny foreigners!" We've also had a number of experiences where children on the subway will sit next to us and speak to us in English about everything and anything just to practice their English skills. It's funny but I figure we're here to promote English not only in our school but everywhere we go. That's the government's view too apparently.
Anyway, gotta go. The PC is yelling at me in Korean saying I have less than 3 minutes left. Hope this entry isn't too chaotic but give us a shout if you want more details or have questions!
Ciao for now!
Friday, 27 February 2009
One Step Closer to a New Home
Tomorrow is our last day here at Dankook University but today was our last full day.
This morning we had to present a 15 minute lesson plan in groups of 3 or 4. Since Shannon and I have been teaching for over 3 years it was no problem for us, but there were other less-experienced teachers who were stressed to the max.
The best part of the lesson was making the Photoshopped images to accompany the theme. As you can see, we took pictures of ourselves in the classroom and then I photoshopped in our "dream jobs". The other teachers really liked it, especially when they realized that we had also superimposed our faces over the people.
Anyway, we also got our cell phones today and they should accept foreign calls so if anyone wants the number, please email us and we'll send them to you. The phones are really flash, too. They have all sorts of technological wonders built into them, for example Shannon and I can even video call each other. How cool is that?
The best part of the day was at 3pm when all of the Busan people (200 or so) were herded into one giant room and given the chance to meet our supervisors from our POE (provincial office of education). We finally know where we'll be in Busan! We don't have an address just yet but we know which part of Busan and which schools we'll be teaching at.
So, Shannon and I found out that we're going to be living in a part of Busan called Bansong. Bansong-dong is a region inside the district of Haeundae in the city of Busan.
Shannon will be teaching at the Bansong Girls Middle School and I'll be teaching at the regular Bansong Middle School (we're not sure yet if my school is co-ed or not). From the map and from some Korean EPIK staff that we've talked to, it should be about half an hour from the city center as well as the most popular beach in Busan, Haeundae Beach. Most of the people we talked to said it was be a pretty nice location.
Like I said earlier, tomorrow is our last day. From 9:00am - 9:40am we have to load our luggage onto the bus. Then we have our closing ceremony from 10:00am - 10:30am and then around 11:00 it's goodbye Dankook University and a 5-6 hour drive to Busan!
So, we don't have a mailing address just yet but we're one step closer!
This morning we had to present a 15 minute lesson plan in groups of 3 or 4. Since Shannon and I have been teaching for over 3 years it was no problem for us, but there were other less-experienced teachers who were stressed to the max.
For our lesson, we chose dream jobs as the theme and presented it along with our friend Randy Kim who was a little nervous since he had never taught before. It was a fun lesson and our instructor ranked us 3rd out of 14 groups so it definitely wasn't bad.
The best part of the lesson was making the Photoshopped images to accompany the theme. As you can see, we took pictures of ourselves in the classroom and then I photoshopped in our "dream jobs". The other teachers really liked it, especially when they realized that we had also superimposed our faces over the people.
Anyway, we also got our cell phones today and they should accept foreign calls so if anyone wants the number, please email us and we'll send them to you. The phones are really flash, too. They have all sorts of technological wonders built into them, for example Shannon and I can even video call each other. How cool is that?
The best part of the day was at 3pm when all of the Busan people (200 or so) were herded into one giant room and given the chance to meet our supervisors from our POE (provincial office of education). We finally know where we'll be in Busan! We don't have an address just yet but we know which part of Busan and which schools we'll be teaching at.
So, Shannon and I found out that we're going to be living in a part of Busan called Bansong. Bansong-dong is a region inside the district of Haeundae in the city of Busan.
Shannon will be teaching at the Bansong Girls Middle School and I'll be teaching at the regular Bansong Middle School (we're not sure yet if my school is co-ed or not). From the map and from some Korean EPIK staff that we've talked to, it should be about half an hour from the city center as well as the most popular beach in Busan, Haeundae Beach. Most of the people we talked to said it was be a pretty nice location.
Like I said earlier, tomorrow is our last day. From 9:00am - 9:40am we have to load our luggage onto the bus. Then we have our closing ceremony from 10:00am - 10:30am and then around 11:00 it's goodbye Dankook University and a 5-6 hour drive to Busan!
So, we don't have a mailing address just yet but we're one step closer!
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