Reflections after a year in Korea.

Shocked to even think it, but it was this time one year ago that I landed in Incheon aiport and thought I'd been transported to Orwell's 1984. Being the naive girl that I was, I presumed quaint little houses and a lot of grass, so was not prepared in the slightest for what I found; a fuck lot of neon and a lot of high rises. Still, I was hopeful that my new surroundings would grow on me and, with 'Is This Love?' by the legend that is Bob Marley on repeat in my head, set my sights to my new home. I was slightly less enamoured an hour later however, after eating geumjotang (beef bone broth) being jetlagged and told that I'd still have to work the next day on top ofrealising that I couldn't understand anything anywhere.



Now it's a year on and a lot of things have changed, but my love of Korea has never waned. I adore the food, the language, the landscape (once you're out of the city, at least), and those crazy, loveable Korean people. Sure, there's many things I do hate, the pushing, the scatter-brainedness (and that's coming from me), the spitting in the streets, the teaching (I'm joking. Well, mostly.) but I never have and never will regret coming here.

Being in Korea for over a year brings its share of sadness, basically as everyone keeps disappearing, Anda, Ben, Mike, Faye, all I've said goodbye to, though luckily Korea also means a high turnover of new people to play with, therefore the sadness is always offset with meeting great new people and having more great new adventures.

I still have moments when I reflect on something I see, whether it be a beautiful scene or an ajumma cleaning herself in a jimjilbang and marvel at the fact I live in this place that is so different from everywhere else I've ever visited. I'm glad that I've had the chance to teach these kids and find out how instrinsic to life 'rock, paper, scissors' is and that kids are actually pretty cool. Who would have thought it?

The transcend into my second year has been pretty easy really, basically as I'm only going to be staying until the end of July. It involved going with Sarah to the immigration office in Suwon, about a 20 minute drive, which, adding on the extra 20 minutes she got lost for was rather pointless, seeing as the office had moved to YeongTong, a 10 minute walk from my flat. On this piece of news we left the gaining of my extended visa until the following Monday and the latest possible time we could. Still, I gave in my documents and now have a little stamp which says I can work until September, yey! I also got half of my severance pay with my last paycheck, which went to pay for the little beauty I'm now writing this blog on. I finally purchased a notebook -a TG Averatec, which is small and cute and amazing. Already I don't know what I did without the little beast. It does mean that I have less to travel with when I finally leave, but I'm hoping spending the next few months as a virtual recluse, sending half of my wage home per paycheck, will mean that I've got a bit to continue the adventure when I finally tear myself away from here. Ick, wish me luck with that, staying inside has never been my strong point...

Ice Fishing!

There are many things to do in Korea at this time of year, all of them involving ice/cold/snow/the possibility of pneumonia. One that struck us as being highly entertaining, however, was the Hwacheon Ice Fishing festival, a month long event in which people get together and bond over a love of standing over a small hole, in a large frozen river, for hours trying to catch a 'subtly nutty flavoured' trout. Obviously I was very much in from the start. Especially as this years theme was 'Unforgettable Memories, Unfrozen Hearts.' Now ain't that touching?

After waiting for half of our group in a bar at DongSeoul Friday evening, and getting a little tipsy on the way, we all headed to a jimjilbang for the night before catching our 8.15 Saturday morning bus. I was confident that I could remember where the jimjilbang that Anda and I visited in the summer was, (I mean, it was a huge, huge building, where would it go?) but it seemed that once more my infallible sense of direction was thwarted and we ended up wandering around for a while before settling, finally, in a pretty shit bath house. Still, it was fun, especially as it was Aisling, Nicola and Ruth's first time getting it all out in such a public setting. After soaking away the cold, we headed to the sleepy section and most of us got some shut eye.

For once, the actual journey to our destination, Hwacheon, went without a hitch. We had a short stop off at Chuncheon, which enabled us to grab something to drink, some cash and a Frank (who, incidentally, left his girlfriend stuck at the front of the bus, while pushing his way to meet us at the back - wanker) and before we knew it we were motoring on by some beautiful landscape and a bloody huge frozen river - very exciting for me, seeing as I'd never seen one before that day. They're very pretty indeed, and as you know from previous posts I'm completely enamoured with the Korean countryside, so the valleys were like a large slice of cake for the eyes. Though not like that cake Belinda and I shoved in our face that time though, that burnt like hell.

When we emerged, a little achy, from the coach, we found out that there was no accommodation left in the town - a reminder to book ahead for festivals in small, small towns. Still, I had faith in the Korean way, and luckily enough, we received a call halfway through the day that we had acquired two rooms in a (very pricey) minbak right in the centre of town. Cockroaches came free, apparently.

There was so much to do at the festival that we didn't really know where to start, so just jumped around like children, with bright, shining eyes, for a while shouting, 'Let's go do activities'! There was ice soccer, mini ice hockey, human ice bowling, and rubber tubing, all of which I enjoyed immensely, despite falling on my ass frequently. The fact that positive discrimination came into play, seeing as we got cheap tickets to stuff for being waeguks, plus free coupons to things only added to our joy. Next came the piece de resistance, bare hand fishing. We all decided to pay up and head in to the water to try our hand at catching a fish with, you guessed it, our bare hands. In sub zero weather, this was a nerve wracking prospect, but, I'm proud to say, not one person backed out, except for Frank, but really, who was shocked? We all trudged to the changing rooms to don our sexy orange t-shirts and blue shorts and were herded back out into the cold, being shown off to the excitable crowd, like so many cattle in a farmer's market. A lot of hanging around later and we were allowed to dip our feet into the water to 'get a feel' for what we were about to endure. Part of me wishes I hadn't done this. Nevertheless, a minute later and we all jumped in, determined to catch one of the delicious Sancheon trout that we'd been lead to believe from the guidebook, were so easy to catch. This was a lie. What I also didn't bet on was how cold the water would be. My whole body was assaulted with pins and needles and it took less than 20 seconds for most of my body to become completely numb. Dan was the first person to catch a fish, I reckon it has something to do with being Canadian, they're good at the type of thing, Canada being a place, 'much too cold for good sense', according to The Life of Pi. Martel also mentions something about bad hair, but that's by the by. I decided that I wasn't going to move until I had a fishie in my hand, so I waited and, YES!!! I was rewarded!!!! I lifted my arm and the crowd went wild! Out I'd pulled....a fish shaped bloody rock. Arse. I duly returned to the water, but alas, I had to give up. There was no way that I could have stayed in any longer. So annoyed, but oh well.

The rest of the evening was filled with dinner, part of which was Henry the trout, heading to an ice palace, with slides - yes slides (hello, falling on my ass again), and a few drinks in a bar. Bed time was pretty early, as continuing with the small excitable children theme, we'd all pretty much wiped ourselves out by 10.

Sunday started off with, ahem, an awful snowfall, which cleared up pretty well during the day. We decided to brave cross country skiing, which to be honest, to me seems like extreme walking, just not that extreme (regardless of the 'not extreme' part, hello falling on my ass again, being paralysed with pain for at least 30 seconds). Still, it was fun while it lasted and we got a prize for completing the course, as did Catriona, who didn't actually do the course, owing to a bad finger. Instead she got a fire and cake. Hmph. After we did some more ice skating. I was bloody awful compared to the previous day, when I was just bad, and had to resort to being towed around by Ruth, much to the mirth of everyone else. I blame the skates. We rounded off the day with some fresh produce buying with our gift certificates and then a spot of ice fishing. Ice fishing, for those that have, like I had until this winter, never given it much thought, is holding a plastic rod over a small hole in the ice and moving it up and down, so the trout underneath think your fish shaped bait is in trouble and eat it. Dan, unsurprisingly caught a fish in the first 2 seconds, followed, slightly more surprisingly, by a very proud Hugh, who then spent the next 10 minutes regaling us with tales of the catch and talking about being a man, then punched the fish in the face. Oh, how that scene from the Inbetweeners was recreated. All we needed was Seb naked with a sock over his wang and we would have had the entire thing.

Again feeling slightly dejected (the ones that didn't catch fish anyway), we headed out to cook the fish that we'd caught. I loved this part as it made me feel like a true person of nature. Communing with the planet and all that. Ok, so an hour later we were on a bus kicking out more fumes than a steam engine, heading for one of the most polluted cities in the world, but the illusion was nice, even if only for a short time.

Snowing in Seoul

I woke up this morning to a phone call from Ruth, asking me if I'd looked outside. I peeled my drool encrusted cheek from my pillow, wiped my bleary eyes and crawled to my window and lo and behold, there was snow. Not just a little bit of snow, you know, that ankle biting stuff that England is hit with once every four years, but snow that you lose your boots in. Huge amounts of it. Everywhere.

Normally this occurrence would have filled me with joy and turned me into a child, running out and bombing into the middle of the hugest pile of the white flakes, but today heralded the return to work, after my short, but much needed, holiday. Instead, I dragged myself into the shower and trudged off to school, being knocked out of the way by about a million purposeful Asians. It took me longer than usual to get to school, seeing as the snow was up to my calves, but when I arrived I was very happy to see that I was on time (we have changed our schedule to 'winter intensive' which is actually, I'm pretty sure more 'intensive' for the teachers than the kids, giving the fuck load of extra work and extra hours). I dashed to the lift and met Swany, who told me that she had been travelling for the past hour and a half to get to work. When we reached our floor we found Adam, sitting alone in the teacher's room and nothing else. And that was pretty much how it stayed until about ten when the kids started rolling in, but still no sign of the teachers. In the end, Sarah turned up at 12.30, Amelie at 1 and Heidi at 2.15. Luckily, Sarah's insatiable work ethic meant that we kept on working and covering classes, even though a load of kids didn't show up and we had only 3 teachers for the majority of the day. Nevermind that half of my friend's schools were closed. Still, means that we don't have to work Sat, unlike most of them.

All in all, it seems that despite their protests in the summer, Korean's do shut down when it snows. Hmph, and here I was thinking that I'd come to a country that would laugh in the face of 12 feet of snow.

Winter in Korea

I am really enjoying winter in Korea. So much so that I'm almost happy with the -11 chill. I mean, it's been a good excuse for me to buy new clothes, so why the hell not? The most exciting addition to my new wardrobe, though not for anyone but me, is a very exciting wolf hat, which I purchased at Everland when we headed there for Catriona's birthday. On arrival at our destination (it may seem silly to go to a theme park in winter, but less queues. Stroke of geinus if you ask me.), it was actually rather warm, which possibly also had something to do with the excitement I felt at being at a theme park, so I decided to forgo my coat and leave it in the lockers. Which was smart. For a while. I got most of the way around the park, going on the T-train, (possibly the best rollercoaster that doesn't go upside down ever and the fastest/highest) and the Rolling X-Train, which was over in about 10 seconds and was less than exciting and the ghost shooting game thing, which Hugh maintains he was awesome at, but I know he was lying, and riding a camel, before I decided that it was really very, very cold. After going on the log flume, which strangely had the longest line, and deciding that I couldn't stand the cold anymore, I did what any smart girl would do and forwent getting my coat from the locker in order to buy said wolf hat, which is essentially a cuddly toy in the shape of a wolf, that you can put on your head and attach with ear flaps. Ok, so I get laughed at whenever I wear it, but it's damn warm and that's the depth of my argument. The rest of Everland was cool and the highlight of the whole day had to be Patrick's terrified face when on every single ride. He finally managed to lift a hand on the Viking, turning to me and saying, "I'm not scared, see, I was a mother f'ing marine!" Yeah, you go, Patrico!
Another fun thing to do in wintery Korea, save for going to theme parks, is snowboarding, which is by far my newest favourite hobby. Yes, I have decided that I'm a bit of a fadist (faDist), but I really do think that snowboarding may be here to stay. I have now, thankfully, mastered the art of righting myself when I fall over, which is a massive win, and am starting on the turns, though going backwards is proving a little tricky. So far I've only been to Jisan, the local resort, that I headed to for the music festival in the summer. It's pretty cool and there's some good slopes (from what I've been told, I'm no judge whatsoever), but it doesn't compare at all to Yangpyong, the resort that Amy, Mike, Ruth, Ben, Hugh, Seb and Dan are heading to for Christmas! Yey! That's right, Christmas at the place that only missed out on the 2012 winter Olympics by 4 votes. There's night sessions, cross country, about a million slopes and 'gondolas'. I've got no idea what gondolas are, but I'm excited by the prospect. Plus, I'm going to make me a Christmas snowman. And a snow angel. I risk getting taken out by a boarder, but what the hell, I'm having that white Christmas.

The Trouble with A.

The beginning of November heralded a new semester in Pals Lab, therefore new classes, new schedules and a fuck lot to do, doubled up with the stress of all the make-up classes now that the kids are coming back after the swine 'flu panic (laughing on the other side of my face now). One of my new classes is IN1E, with Dean, a brand new kid in bright blue Harry Potter glasses. I can't decide yet if Dean was born as the Korean style Damien, or if he's just playing up, I swing wildly between the two assumptions, depending on what he's like each lesson. Today, he wasn't too bad, except for the time he thought it was funny to play dead on the floor, and was still there, with me trying to haul him up as Sarah teacher walked past. Not impressed.
Dean's mother is somewhat of a complainer. In fact, Dean has been with the school for about 3 months now and she's called at least once a week to moan about something. This begs the question, 'why doesn't she just take him out of school?' The answer to this, dear reader, I can't tell you, I can only assume that she just really likes to complain.
Since I've taken over the class, she's got me into a ton of trouble by complaining that I didn't give the kids homework one class - a disastrous mix up that wasn't really my fault, but still, then not making him do the subsequent two handouts, and, more importantly has complained that I'm confusing her little angel by pronouncing things differently to how they're pronounced on his Triumphs (the book we use) tape. It seems that I'm not American enough for her, which now means that I'm not American enough for Sarah. Sarah's tried this one before with the kindies when Jessica's mum also asked why I was speaking with a strange accent - it's called British, you plum. I got one over on that cowbag by acquiring her other child and now they both have a lovely British pronunciation. Ha! In your face, ajumma! Still, this week I was called into Sarah's office again and reminded that when I teach phonics, I must don an American accent, so that I don't ruin the poor little ones minds. Now, not to pass the buck, but there's a perfectly good American colleague right down the hall, if you want an AMERICAN accent, why don't you use the damn American to teach phonics?! Today's lesson comprised of me vainly attempting to use said accent, I even got lessons from Adam on how to speak with a Yank drawl, but no, it didn't work and I just a) made myself laugh and b) confused the kids even more. It didn't help that Sarah came in to watch most of the class.
I have decided to stop trying with the stupid accent, I have enough of an American twinge anyway and add it to 'stupid things Sarah tells me' pile. For instance, 'you hole punch wrong when making monthly plans' as in, you don't crack out your ruler and spirit level every time you put a piece of paper in a file that will only be seen by you and your co-teacher, 'you can't sit down at all during class', and 'you don't write your 'f's' properly. This all coming from a woman that until last month I thought kept asking me to make the kids read 'frontly', not 'fluently', as she apparently meant. Don't get me wrong, as a woman, I like my boss, but man, has she got some nitpicky ideas.

Pepero Day!

11/11. A sombre occasion in the UK. A time for remembering the dead and maimed in wars all over the world and buying poppies to help those that gave their lives for us. Not so much in Korea, where Pepero is a national day dedicated to...chocolate covered biscuit sticks!!!! Yep, you heard me. Chocolate covered biscuit sticks!!!

Rumour has it that Pepero day was started in Korea by a few schoolgirls, who gave Pepero to each other in the hope that they would all grow as tall and thin as a Pepero. Whether they gave the knobbly ones to each other in the hope that they would become disfigured and bumpy remains unknown. When Lotte, the (ahem), Japanese company (anyone Korean who is reading this, I jest. Lotte are Korean, yes, Korean. It's ok. Don't worry), heard about this they decided to fully endorse the idea and make every 11/11 a special day dedicated to consuming as many sticks as you can, resulting in a kind of Valentine's celebration. The shops are filled with as many different kinds of Pepero as you can imagine, strawberry flavour, multicoloured sticks, massive boxes set into heart shapes for couples, Pepero in mugs, as Catriona got from Patrick. It's rather sickening really, in all senses of the word.

On the positive side, I got about a million boxes from my kids. Which was rather nice. I've still got quite a few in my cupboard too, though the tasty little morsels are pretty hard to put down once you've opened a packet. Most of my boxes were covered in declarations of love and devotion, which, although I truly appreciated, were ripped up to enable me to get a quicker sugar rush - I need it when at work, ok? Those little beggars are such a handful. This meaning though, that by the end of this so sacred of days, I felt rather sick and much in need of some savoury foods. Or at least food that doesn't contain a high quantity of melamine. Yummeh.

Hhhmmm, Halloween!

I love Halloween! It's awesome! I'm not quite sure why I love Halloween, seeing as I'm not American, but I do. When I was a kid I used to be the only one in our end of the village that celebrated it, I can still remember the twitch of the neighbours curtains as the fat child dressed in lycra was dragged up the drive to beg for candy. Still, when I got inside and gorged myself while watching scary movies, I was a very happy fat kid indeed.

This year, I was a bit stuck for what to wear. Inspiration hadn't struck and it was Thursday (as you'll remember one of the days I had off), which is barely heard of in my books. I decided, on a whim to go as quasimodo, as I had most of the outifit (tearing up a shirt, boots, trousers), so could do it on a skint girl's shoe string. Excellent. One disaster with face paint and some stamping on a shirt later and I was ready!

Seoul was Saturday night's destination. I was very excited by the subway, as I'd read online that Seoul decorated their subway cars with Halloween things and people went a bit mental. All I found were some very distainful 20 somethings who didn't enjoy a girl dressed as a hunchback cuddling up to them for a photo. Goodness knows why. We headed on to Itaewon as I wanted to give the Wolfhound a go, as their was a fancy dress competition. Soon as we got in we realised that this was not going to be an easy competition and also that the place was so packed it was hard to breathe properly. Good for me, as I was stooped low to the ground, but the others, not so much. The standard of costume in my favourite pie selling pub was great, however and I felt pretty humbled. There was Flight of the Conchords, ajummas, hippies, many Supermen, though one guy trumped the rest by showing off most of his body, much to female appreciation and other such weird, wonderful and thoughtful outfits. We left.

We wandered aimlessly for a while, taking in the array of bloody colours and then headed to the Bungalow, a lovely club down the streets behind the Hilton where Gecko's et al is. They play awesome music and there is sand on the floor to give the place a holiday vibe (though I'm not sure how this'll hold up in December...). We took our seats and the campest man I've ever met came up and asked Ruth and I if we'd like to be in the fancy dress competition. I said yes straight away, as did Ruth, though on seeing the women in suspenders that we'd be up against she donated her spot to Patrick 'ninja assassin' Kim.

The rounds consisted of questions about James Bond, costume originality (or somesuch) and a catwalk show. I managed to stay in character the whole night, which was rather hard, though fun, specially when I spotted Anda in the crowd and humped the camp man whilst doing my catwalk display. It came down to Batman and a bondgirl, Super Mario and me. The tension was high. I was already amazed I beaten the women wearing nought to at least 3rd place, so I was happy as, well, quasi. Batman and the girl got chucked and it was just me and Mario. I decided to lob his banana peels at him in one desperate final attempt to sway the judges, the crowd (luckily our group had all managed to get the front row) were going wild and then, he announced it! I was the bloody winner! 500,000won! I'll thank you very much! Needless to say, I went on to Jane's Groove with a massive smile, having paid off the money I'd borrowed to go out and danced the night away! Just goes to show that using stuff that cost nothing from your tiny enough wardrobe somehow works. Go figure! =o)