Winter Is Intense

I thought winter was over. Last week, I wasn't wearing a coat, but a blazer. Today, it's back to "shivering" (say it w/ a Korean accent and it's a VERY bad word). Oh how the weather changes...
The month of January was one of my busiest and quickest months. I became Head Instructor of a new program for Winter Intensives called Critical Speaking & Writing. During January, students have winter vacation. Although students are getting a much needed vacation from the stress of school, academy, and being "perfect," parents still believe vacation time is prime time for more studying. So, in addition to regular evening classes from 4pm to 10pm, Chungdahm sets up morning classes from 9:30am to 12:30pm. It got very tiring quickly. I ended up sleeping on a silver picnic mat in a classroom with my workout clothes as a pillow and my coat as a blanket. After the nap, I would do yoga with Juliann or abs. Despite the long days, this is a great opportunity for teachers who are paid hourly to earn extra money. It is also Chungdahm's way to market the academy to students who are new to Chungdahm. Intensives are designed to be easy and manageable, yet academically fulfilling for both students and parents. Ultimately, the academy focuses on new students to cushion the next term.

For one month, 3 days a week, I had to wake up by 8am and give a wake-up text message to my team of 6. As head instructor, I took on the highest level (Eagle/Alba/IBT) of elementary school kids. These students had all been out of the country. Their English speaking abilities were so good that they were even sarcastic! The focus of the class is of course speaking and writing. They would have to analyze a passage for the main ideas and major details. Then, we would have a discussion about the essay. We had great topics such as the generation gap, favoritism between siblings from parents, preference of teachers based on age, and exploration of Antarctica, which turned into students dreaming of creating polar bear armies. After discussing the passage, they would answer content questions to help them write a summary. For the next hour, we focused on discussion and debate. I would play the role of mediator or facilitator by playing devil's advocate to the scenarios and responses. Although the 10-13 year old students had such insightful stances, they did come up with very imaginative scenarios whether it be flying to Andromeda if you had one week left to live, using a blanket a fire to cure disease, or recommending bringing kimchee to America if you had to give advice to a friend moving to America to study. The last part of class focused on speedy in-class writing that pushed the students further with the topic by asking them their position on a topic and provide examples for their argument.

Although the class is supposed to be fun and easy, it was one of the best classes I taught this term because I actually taught the students to be better writers and to become more comfortable with speaking. It was also rewarding to be a Head Instructor. Being only a 2nd term instructor, I was really surprised to be rewarded with such an honor. Head instructors are held with high regard because they are supposed to be the experts in the program. We have to watch CCTV multiple times during the term to evaluate, critique, and finally give feedback to the instructors. The best part about it was seeing my peers in the spotlight. You think you know someone, but their whole countenance changes once in the classroom. People transform to completely new people being usually either quirky, boring, or silly. Each head instructor is different in the way they shape their instructors. Some are about substance, others are about style. I am about style. I was never that good at teaching skills, but I am good at being energetic and enthusiastic aka a clown and keeping my kids attention and having a good time. When I evaluated my instructors, I pushed for silliness, creativity, and energy. Overall, it was a tiring, yet rewarding term that made me more critical of how I teach.

Holidaze: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, & Seollal

The holiday season came and went so quickly. I have officially been here 6 months of my 1 year anticipated stay. After the first 3 months, Thanksgiving was already here. To make do with what Korea could give us, my friends and I figured what better place to celebrate this American holiday than at KFC. What could be better than Because we all get off work at 10pm, we sadly found KFC closed. Despite our broken spirit, we did go to an Asian fusion restaurant and had amazing Japanese/Korean dishes paired with soju and megju to celebrate "the friendship of the pilgirms with the indians." Thankfully, CDI provided us with a Thanksgiving lunch. They brought in traditional food from the US army base such as turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie! Although this Thanksgiving was away from my family, it didn't feel so lonely because I have spent the last 4 away from my family since Thanksgiving break is so short and NYC is so far from Texas.

When Christmas came around, reality checked in. Unlike Thanksgiving, this was my first Christmas away from my family. Last year, I was busy with finals and desperately trying to catch some mode of transportation to La Guardia or JFK to get home a mere day or two before Christmas. This year, there was no rush to the airport or stress from final papers and exams, but just "matter of fact" feelings. Thankfully, my co-worker Nic had a select few come to his apartment on Christmas Eve and celebrate with Carlos Rossi, bags of chips and pistachios, and some home-cooking from Nic-spaghetti and John-mashed potatoes. We ended the night with a classic, Love Actually. Juliann and I swear by it, but the boys did not agree. By the end of the movie, they were all asleep and claim it was the worst movie they had ever seen. Nevertheless, it was good to not be alone on Christmas Eve and to be surrounded by friends who are all going through the same thing.

Christmas Eve at Nick's Apt w/ Co-workers

Sitting Around & Being Merry Around the Carlos Rossi

Christmas Day was again spent with co-workers. What other alternative do you have when you are a foreigner and the only other people who relate to you are other foreigner teachers. Nevertheless, we all went to Andy's who cooked a fabulous turkey and provided amazing side dishes such as stuffing, salad, cheeses (all very uncommon in Korea) all paired with boxed Franzia wine. We watched a horrible English film, but couldn't refuse since Andy is of course British, its his house, and we are eating for free. Buggered from the movie, we moved the party to Marc's, our Faculty Manager, apartment. There, a few people made batches upon batches of cookies. It was so good having freshly made oven baked cookies. Thanks to CostCo, we had an assortment of peanut butter, chocolate, oatmeal, and a mix of cookies and brownies. Others played Cranium and Play Station. It was very nice for most of the co-workers to get together and celebrate Christmas. I got to hang out with some co-workers I'd never really hung out with before and also see how quick on their feet they could be (ie 1 fish, 2 fish...3 fish, 4 fish --Answer is Red Fish, Blue Fish). Although unconventional, we made the best of what we had being in a foreign country who doesn't really celebrate Christmas. Thank you CDI for giving us a day off!

Christmas Day at Andy's with Co-Workers

New Year's soon followed a week later. Unfortunately, CDI did not give us the day off. Unwilling to let the New Year to come and go, my co-workers rang in the New Year in the Nowon area. We all had to work till 10pm on New Year's eve. It would have been cool to go to some posh club in Gangnam or Hongdae, but too tired and too hungry to travel and perhaps miss the countdown, we went to galbi across the street from the branch and ate heartily. Then, we went to Vinyl Bar, a bar that plays nothing but vinyl records. With such limited options, we all decided that rum and coke would be our drink of choice. It was of course disastrous. Many people fell asleep in the booths and on the tables. Although it wasn't the dressy New Year's eve party that I wanted, it was very fun to let loose after work and celebrate the New Year with friends.

New Year's Eve in Junggye at Vinyl Bar with Co-Workers

Deep Discussion Perpetuated by Jack Daniels

Dave & Jack: Best Friends

Dave had no idea.

January 1st isn't that big of a deal in Korea. What is a big deal is Lunar New Year, otherwise known as Seollal. This is a time when Korean families get together and spend the day cooking with their grandma's, playing traditional games, and enjoying the company of relatives not often seen.

Taken from Wikipedia: They practice Sebae, a traditional practice of paying respect to one's elders on Korean New Year. Children wish their parents a happy new year by performing a deep traditional bow and the words saehae bok manhi badeuseyo (새해 복 많이 받으세요) which translates to may you receive many blessings in the new year. Parents typically reward this gesture by giving their children new year's money (usually in the form of crisp paper money) and offering words of wisdom.

I asked my students about their Seollal, and most of them said it was boring and that their relatives have no Sagaji--manner. Haha! Nevertheless, they were happy to get money. Kids are so ungrateful!

As for the foreign teacher population, we took a ski trip to Vivaldi Park. It was a unique group of my co-workers and my friends via Jessie. Jessie and I met through Perry Jackman. Perry and I were besties on Semester at Sea. Perry and Jessie were housemates and sorority sisters at University of Kansas. When I went to visit Perry, she introduced me to Jessie, who apparently "loved the world" like me. Well we both came to Korea together, but we do work at different hagwons. It's awesome to have a friend from the States here, but also have a friend outside of work. So, she brought a bunch of her friends and then the foreign teacher network grew.

Me, Ashley, Shannon, Anna, & Jessie at Vivaldi Ski Park

I haven't snowboarded or skiied since I was 16. My version of snowboarding is slaloming down the mountain side to side. Thankfully, I brough Mike and Dave who are novice like me because we wouldn't be able to catch up to Jessie and her advanced level friends. Dave, Mike, and I ended up on Upper Intermediate on our first day! One funny thing that is different about American lifts and Korean lifts, no one wears their board on the lift. They just ran off holding their board hoping to avoid the lift making its turn. Although we fell a lot, I lost my camera, and hadn't eaten all day, it was an awesome day on the slopes!

Girls Taking It Easy after "Shreddin Some Pow" in the Cabin

Wine, Kings, wrestling, fireworks: a combination that creates shenanigans. At one point, all the Canadians sang their national anthem in English and French! The Americans battled back with their national anthem, and the Canadians typically gave in and sang the American national anthem. I also played spoons (knocking 2 spoons together to produce a beat) to "She'll be coming around the mountain..."

Me, Dave, & Michael: Upper Intermediate Boarders

Yes, we did Day 2. I was suckered in although I was dead tired and hungover from the day before. I guess I had to since I probably won't go again this season or for another 8 years.

DMZ Tour: North Korea & their 600kg Flag

United Nations Required Name Tag

Back in November...yes it's been so long since I've updated...shame shame I know, I went to the De-Militirized Zone that lies between North and South Korea. It was a 7am bus ride from Seoul for about 2 hours North to the DMZ. The night before I only got 1 hour of sleep, so apologies for the look of death that covers my face.

My Khan, Jenn, & Me (Coatel Hotel Roomie Love)

Korean Girl Pose Next to the N. Korean Soldier

The Crew: Me & a Bunch of Busan CDI Teechuhs

Posing before we leave the DMZ with the Cutest Soldier. Did you ever think N. Korean soldiers would be cute?

N. Korea Soldiers can't look at us while we're taking pics.

Across the Yellow Line is N. Korea.

N. Korean Flag Weights 600kgs! How does it wave?!

The Negotiation Table. The Mic Lines Divide South and North Korea.

Harder to Make Smile than British Guards.

Tour Guide: 19 Years Old from the U.S.

He does this tour everyday twice a day. I guess its better than fighting or guarding. He says "pencil" as "payenshul." I thought he was from Alabama, but was actually from Cali.

The DMZ experience was kind of a let down. First of all, I didn't get any sleep, so I was pretty out of it. Second, it was the coldest I've experienced in Korea yet. It had to have been -10 or the windchill was at least. I did, however, go with an amazing group of people. My Khan and Jenn came up from Daejeon and Busan respectively. They were my Coatel Hotel --the Hotel we stayed at during training--roomies. Luckily, we hit it off right away and have stayed close since moving to our respective cities. Jenn brought her whole boy crew from Busan (Eric, Nate, Scott, and Alex) I knew Nate from training and had met Scott from previous trips to Busan.

Overall, the tour was full of facts I couldn't register such as how many meters or kilometers away ____ is or so and so did this or that etc. We were first taken to the U.S. military compound, which just showed that the American soldiers have it pretty easy up there (gym, clinic, theater etc) except for the possibility of a N. Korea attack or breakout. We had to listen to the most scripted speech by an American soldier giving us the breakdown of N.Korea/ U.N. relations. Next, we took the bus to the actual border where we crossed into N. Korea via passing certain mic lines in a building. The U.N. set up a negotiations table that divides N. and S. Korea at the microphone lines. We took obnoxious "those people" pics around the N. Korea soldiers. We were given explicit orders to not touch them or provoke them, but does a Korean girl or thumbs up pose count? Afterwards, we were taken to a point where we could look at the 600kg N. Korean flag. Apparently, S. Korea had a really tall flag waving and N. Korea wanted to outdo them, so they raised a flag twice the size. In reality, both structures just look ridiculous and ill-planned. Then, we got to climb a tunnel that connected N. Korea to S. Korea. Apparently, N. Korea thought they were gonna be clever and infiltrate through tunnels. They dug a total of 4 that no one knew about for years. We got to wear splunking hats--the hard hats with flashlights and walk 300 meters. Inside looked like a Disney World scene. To protect the tunnel, the N. Koreans lied and said it was meant for mining and they covered the walls with black soot. The U.N. wasn't fooled. Finally, we were driven through the site where there was a mass fight between U.S. soldiers, S. Korean soldiers. and N. Korean soldiers. One soldier apparently crossed the line (no pun intended) and all 3 groups just wailed and it turned out to be a massacre. Territorial dispute is so dumb. One very interesting thing I did learn was that the village bordering N. Korea makes like an equivalent to $80,000 per year based on FARMING! Their children get to go to school and university for free. However, these people have the suckiest existence by living in the desolate area and having to farm once they start walking.

I'm glad I went. Apparently, the U.S.O. is limiting their tours now because relations are strained. Although it wasn't the life-changing or eye-opening experience I thought it would be, I can declare that I have now been to N. Korea. If I ever go back, hopefully I do some hiking or visit some villages.

Good trip, good ride, good friends. The jumping shots are priceless!