Shannon’s German/Korean skills, random facts and experiences in South Korea thus far.

Kia ora alle!

Since being in a new foreign country, I haven’t been having problems separating German and English so much anymore. (Although I still always say “MENSCH!” when I’m frustrated.) But just as when I was in Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and France, when I speak to Koreans who can’t speak English, I often accidentally speak to them in German, not realising I’m doing so ☺

Statistics say there are a lot of Germans in South Korea. Based on the business industries here, I can believe it. (There’s even apparently a German-owned micro brewery here in Busan to support them all.) As I said in my last blog entry, a lot of Koreans get the opportunity to learn Deutsch, so it’s just a matter of me finding out how to tap into this community. We have one German left at our new church. She’s a masters student from Saarbruecken, but she’s only staying another two months or so. One of the teachers at my school lived in Germany for 3 years, but she claims that she can’t say more than “Guten Tag”, “Danke schoen” and “Auf Wiedersehen” ☹

Thankfully for my German and our sanity, we have internet at home now! Yay! It was about time we finally got it. Due to the administrative changes to classes and my teaching schedule, plus homework marking, “lunch time conversation classes” and “after school English” beginning this week, I really no longer have time to use internet at school at all. So I only found out late this week that Melissa (and David Mettler in Karlsruhe) gave birth to Lilian last Sunday. How great the internet is for hearing about and seeing these things quickly from the other side of the world!
The internet provider was chosen and the paperwork sorted out on Tuesday. Then we got connected on Wednesday night, as simple as that! Honestly, that’s super good service and the line is fast! All of the delay in setting it up was due to my co-teachers being so busy with all of those administrative changes. They have less time to help me with everyday stuff. It’s a good thing I’m not a newbie to living in foreign country.

Whilst on this topic, I should say that from May, Rob and I are planning to sign up with a Skype payment plan that means we’ll be able to ring and be rung from New Zealand, American and German landlines as if just ringing landlines within those countries. We’ll let you know these new “landline numbers” once we’ve sorted them out.

Rob or I might have mentioned from our orientation blog entries that we had a few free “survival Korean” lessons. Within week one of being in Busan I started looking for lessons here. With the help of another EPIK teacher, I found some free lessons held twice a week at Pusan National University. We don’t have trained Korean teachers or even teacher trainees, but native Korean uni students from a club called PNU Friends who have volunteered to help out foreigners. They’re really lovely people. Due to a lot of variable factors, the lessons haven’t been that effective yet, but I’m thankful for their generosity and help. And I have learned a couple of things faster than if I’d just been learning on my own. (Let’s face it, I’m normally totally unmotivated to learn on my own!) I may have already said it, but I can read now Hangeul now, albeit sloooooooooooowly.

So PNU is Busan’s “most prestigious university” and one of 7+ “universities” (are some merely higher education schools?) in Busan alone. Koreans are some of the most highly educated in the world. Compared with the rest of the world, really high percentages finish high school, undergrad and go on to post grad studies. (This doesn’t mean they can speak or understand English.) Including the university in Chon-on where we had our orientation, EVERY UNIVERSITY IS UP A REALLY STEEP HILL! Also including the university where our new church is. I have to say, I’m really happy about getting more exercise. Teacher sports start up this week. But apart from that, I’ve been wondering… what is the reason for every university being up the top of a steep hill? Busan (actually 85% or so of Korea) is “mountainous”. Koreans don’t seem to build on hills above 500m above sea level. So why do universities get the best views of a town? (Apart from the penthouses in sky-rise apartment buildings.) Is it because higher learning is something you have to work for and look up to? Is it because the clearer air is good for the brain? Is it because the beautiful view aids meditation and with that comes new ideas and ways of thinking? I’m sure there’s some ancient tradition and reasoning behind this.

One of the Eastern things that is so different from the West is the toilets. The traditional toilets are squat loos. I dunno about for the men, but for the ladies, it’s a long oval shaped urinal in the ground (instead of on the wall, like the guys have in so many countries). Although western style toilets are totally common in apartments, major tourist areas and department stores, squat loos are all you’re going to get at a school or a university. It occurred to me in my first week of teaching here that it has probably never crossed my colleagues’ minds that these loos are something I’ve had to learn to use. (You really want to be precise!) But I continually astound myself at how quickly I can adjust to new situations. Five weeks on ( that is, today) we were at an intercity bus station and I found myself wishing that there were squat loos for me to use, because at least it’s cleaner if they aren’t going to employ full time cleaners!
Sorry Dad, but that pedometer you gave me was not meant to be. It came flying off a couple of days ago and landed in the squat loo where it was irretrievable. Out of all of the places it could’ve fallen off and bounced into, I couldn’t believe it landed down there! Gutted. But at the same time, also a little comical. I bet you’ve smiled a little at this admission!

I had heard that Busan isn’t very polluted compared to elsewhere in Korea, thanks to sea breezes and such. But there have been a fair number or grey days here in the last month. Greyness that looks suspiciously like smog. Sometimes the sun looks an unusual yellow through it. Well it turns out there’s this weather phenomenon here called “the yellow dust” which is actually desert dust blown over from China! I think the worst of it is over now, but it was interesting to learn about it. It supposedly happens on and off particularly all through spring. You don’t really notice it’s yellow unless the sun’s almost setting, or you run your finger over a surface that hasn’t moved all day – your finger will be coated in yellow dust. Once it starts up, supposedly all the old people and the young children start wearing medical face masks everywhere outside. I don’t think I’ve noticed anymore masks than normal though. It can’t be that bad so far this year.

Back in the second week of March, I had the sneezes quite bad. I wasn’t sure if it was an allergy to some plant (because of spring), a minor cold or this yellow dust. Then I started to get a sore throat, which apparently is also a symptom of the yellow dust. So for more than a week I had this sore throat and occasionally sneezes. Then it became clear last week that it was a cold, because I got nose congestion. But it wasn’t too bad. The sore throat got worse though and for a teacher trying to keep the attention of up to 38 young teenagers at a time, this is never a good thing! So then this week, my throat got so painful, I was gifted some traditional chinese and pharmacy medication from my co-teachers. I felt so crappy mid-week, I stayed at home in the evenings and went to bed super early and slept a LOT of hours. That was the best help. It turns out it was a bug that everyone’s been getting. Now my colleagues and students have it and other EPIK teachers have had it. It was a real blessing I never lost my voice entirely like other friends of mine have. I was really worried mid-week though. I was thinking about going to a doctor if things didn’t get better – but my health insurance hadn’t yet been set up! It is now. Again, it’s a quick process once you get your alien registration card. So I was asking about where would be best to go to a doctor, how to do it, etc. All of my colleagues kept talking about hospital and I was thinking “Ok, I feel crappy, but it isn’t THAT bad!” Then I thought about other EPIK teachers who have been sick since we arrived in Korea and every single one of them was sent straight to hospital for tests, etc. So then I asked a co-teacher if Koreans go to a doctor outside the hospital or if they always just go to the hospital and it turns out, apart from traditional Chinese medicine and specialists, or if you know, like and have always had that family doctor, every Korean normally goes to the hospital to see a doctor if they can’t get fixed by what available from a pharmacy! Interesting, eh?!

Here’s another random fact: Koreans are considered more beautiful the smaller their heads are and the whiter their skin is. Therefore I’m regularly told I have a small head or that I’m pretty or beautiful. Since spring began, one thing that is totally clearly popular with the cougars (middle aged – older ladies) is the ridiculously large sun visor. These come in a range of colours and patterns, but they always look ridiculously large. Clearly they are popular because your whole face stays in the shade (preventing skin pigmentation) and it’s so out of proportion to your face that it makes your head look smaller!


Today it got pretty warm at the cherry blossom festival in Jinhae, so because we haven’t purchased sunscreen yet, I bought a sun hat with one of these visors (zip off! But you’re not going to catch me zipping it off!) Wearing it made me think someone should show this design to the NZ and Australian Cancer societies. It actually is totally practical and you know Shannon: always a sucker for practicality!


At the cherry blossom festival a few Koreans mentioned Obama to us. They are pleased about him. I believe I heard that the Korean president was visiting Obama sometime earlier this week. What was interesting was meeting an older kiwi woman today who came to Korea to teach at one of the famous “English-speaking towns” near an American naval base. She had come to Korea for a cultural experience. As a typical kiwi, whilst experiencing a new culture, she likes to share a little kiwi culture. (All kiwis are a little proud of NZ.) Her boss demanded that she speak with an American accent though and her Korean colleagues weren’t interested in New Zealand at all. So she was left wondering why they didn’t just hire more Americans instead of her. She said the Americans at the naval base were more interested in cultural exchange than her workmates, whose aim is to live a simulation of English speaking society.

Today at the cherry blossom festival Rob saw the New Zealand flag flying, amongst others. There was an expo run by the New Zealand Embassy in Seoul this weekend to promote trade, because the Korean president’s been busy! He was in NZ earlier in March and now there’s apparently a new trade deal between NZ and South Korea. Generally Koreans seem to know what their president is doing. Politics are important to them. Protests are totally common. The week leading up to “national test day” included a student and teacher protest in front of the school gates every morning saying that there shouldn’t be so many exams for Korean students across the board.

Anyway, back to the kiwi lady I met today… She used to be a social worker and she’s really passionate about culture (a woman I could really relate to). It made her sad that Koreans weren’t so interested in NZ culture, but it made me sad that she assumed I know nothing about Maori culture and she knows I’m a kiwi too! I even indicated I have some knowledge of Maori language and tikanga during our conversation. I said I studied it at uni. But she still assumed I didn’t know anything about Maoridom. I find that sad, because as New Zealander, I think mana maori is an essential part of our culture. Is the public perception of our aboriginal (native) heritage really so unpopular that we can assume it’s not an accepted part of our culture? Maybe that’s getting a little heavy or deep for this time of night…

So one more random fact before I go (just to tie this all back to Germany, where I began today): the pom-poms on top of the traditional farmers’ hats here (we see these during the traditional famers’ dance) SO remind me of the pom-poms on the traditional ladies’ hats in the Black Forest!

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:

• 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!

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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.

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.

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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?"

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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...

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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!

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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.'

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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?

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.

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!

A brief note between classes

Today we had 4 lectures on a variety of different subjects. In order, they were:

1. Exploring Korea
2. The Korean Secondary School System
3. The Korean Elementary School System
4. The Theory & Practice of Teaching & Listening in Korea

They were all well done and gave us a lot to think about and mull over.

One of the moments that stuck with me was this:

• Instructor: "What are you teaching?"
• Everybody: "English!"
• Instructor: "Yes, but remember you are also teaching people and people are more important than English."

It was an interesting interchange and definitely something I think that all of us as teachers need to remember.

Now it's off to our first class on the Korean language!