Anyong Haseyo friends and fam,
Thought we'd give you a bit of an update of how our first two weeks have been and all the cultural adventures we have stumbled upon both un- and intentionally.
School: Our boss, school and coworkers are all pretty awesome. The school is relatively small, with class sizes no bigger than 12 students, and there are 3-6 classes going on at any given time. There are 3 foreign teachers, Jake and I and a bloke from England(/ he has been living in Thailand for the past four years) named Simon, and 3 Korean teachers. The kids are pretty well behaved save for the mandatory few class clowns and the one or two "I'm too good for this" Emo child. The kids, aged 7-14, are usually in school from 9-5, and then have other daily classes, ranging from piano, taekwondo, math, English and more Korean classes until about 10 or 11pm. So, to say the least, we can kind of understand when students are tired and unmotivated. Not really though, because we've never actually been pushed that hard at school, so we don't really understand in that "I've been there" way, but rather the, "I feel sorry for you because I'm wearing my undergrad ring and probably in my 21 years haven't worked as hard as you have in your measly 7 years" kind of way.
Thought we'd give you a bit of an update of how our first two weeks have been and all the cultural adventures we have stumbled upon both un- and intentionally.
School: Our boss, school and coworkers are all pretty awesome. The school is relatively small, with class sizes no bigger than 12 students, and there are 3-6 classes going on at any given time. There are 3 foreign teachers, Jake and I and a bloke from England(/ he has been living in Thailand for the past four years) named Simon, and 3 Korean teachers. The kids are pretty well behaved save for the mandatory few class clowns and the one or two "I'm too good for this" Emo child. The kids, aged 7-14, are usually in school from 9-5, and then have other daily classes, ranging from piano, taekwondo, math, English and more Korean classes until about 10 or 11pm. So, to say the least, we can kind of understand when students are tired and unmotivated. Not really though, because we've never actually been pushed that hard at school, so we don't really understand in that "I've been there" way, but rather the, "I feel sorry for you because I'm wearing my undergrad ring and probably in my 21 years haven't worked as hard as you have in your measly 7 years" kind of way.
Classes are 40 minutes long Monday to Friday. We work either 1:30pm-7:40pm or 3:20pm- 9pm. So, we get to seep in and have enough time in the morning (sometimes) to do groceries and errands and such, and in the evening have time to go out for dinner and beers if the mood strikes us.
Neighbourhood: The neighbourhood is quaint yet bustling and downtown is pretty hip and happening, loud and bright. Jake and I ventured alone downtown last week, our first time using public transit. It took about 25 mins to get down there, and over an hour to get back. We couldn't really figure out the reason on our own so we asked a co-worker who told us we had taken an express bus down, and a regular one back home. The buss token system is pretty cool as you buy a little key chain that has an electromagnetic thing-a-ma-jiggy in it that you wave in front of a screen when you get on the bus. The screen will say some things in Korean and display your remaining balance on your card. Then it says "Kamsa haminada", or "Thank you" in a polite female voice. You can go to more popular bus stops that have vendors at them and put as much or little money onto it as you want.
Shopping: The main stores that we have been able to explore are the less scary-more western department stores. These are the Hyundai Department Stores (x2), Lotte Department Store, and the New Core Dept store. These department stores are absolutely ji-normous compared to Canadian standards. Think the Bay or Sears with style and on steroids. The local Hyundai store is 8 stories tall, and is all store. None of that "top 5 floors are offices" thing that the Eaton's Center has. Basement=groceries, electronics, int'l bank and food court. 1st-3rd floor= women's clothes. 4th=kids stuff. 5th=sports equipment. 6th= mens. 7= ikea-esque and 8th= restaurants. You get the picture. The fashion for ladies in these dept stores are pretty cool by my standards which some find strange, but everything is ridiculously overpriced. I asked our Korean coworkers (both male and female) where to go clothes shopping and they told me that everyone in Korea basically shops online. This upset me as I love to spend hours wandering around malls and bargain basements and second hand stores. I feel like by all Koreans buying clothes online they are deterring the possibility of wonderful, cheap malls erupting in Ulsan. Hopefully when we go to Japan at the end of the month we will find some sweet discount stores. Or when we visit Seoul... but that is too far in the future, my shopping bug needs to be satisfied before then!
Ok, sorry about the shopping rant for any male readers.
Foreigners: Our school, just today, got two new giant banners that they have hung on the exterior of the academy. One features Jake, Simon and I with our names printed in English underneath, and some Korean characters, and another taken at the speech contest we judged, with both kids and teachers. We are going to be way more famous than we had anticipated in our area of Bang O Dong, Ulsan. As the only non-Koreans for kilometers, the local store owners and citizens are starting to get used to us. The "Dis Caunt Stoa" in front of our apartment is used to us purchasing chips, pop and beer, and the ladies across the street that wash vegetables in large bowls on the street 6 days a week always say annyong haseyo and giggle when we return in our Canadian accents. We assume these ladies wash and prepare vegetables for stores and restaurants, but maybe they just eat absurd amounts of it themselves. Until we learn more Korean, we can only speculate.
Customs: We have adventured the areas local temple which was pretty and serene. There are lots of small parks around where unattended children, as young as 4 I'd guess play without any supervision. The crime rate here is so low that there really is no point in worrying about regular Canadian frights such as robbery, abduction, theft, bar fights etc. Along with letting kids roam free, most people live in smaller apartments and let their animals run free as well. We've been told that you basically let your dog out in the morning, and if it comes back, feed it at night and let it sleep inside. We have made several local cat and dog friends. Considering the fact that there are no traffic laws here the unattended children and animals learn the ways of the street quite fast and have swifter reaction times than the average oblivious Canadian pedestrian. In our area, and Korea in general, there are no stop signs at intersections, simply lights at select major intersections. When approaching an intersection with no lights, it's basically a game of chicken...one speeds up and honks the horn loudly and the bravest gets through). While it sounds chaotic, it really works quite well, and there is none of the stop-and-go 4-way-stops residential area stuff that there is in Canada.
Also it's very important to know, and most do, that when traveling in Korea, as well as most Asian countries, it is very, VERY important that you remove your shoes before entering a house or any restaurant where you eat on the floor. Our house came equipt with slippers for the house, and slippers for the bathroom and slippers for outside. Each pair of slippers waits for you at the entrance to the designated area, and one size will have to fit all. (In Korea they call one-size fits all "Free size")
Food: We have eaten at several local restaurants, each one discovered better than the last. Our new favourite food, galbi (a garlic marinated pork rib with onions and pepper paste wrapped in a leaf) is available at many many places. We went to a new restaurant on Friday with our crazy co-worker Min He and couldn't finish it all, so they made us a spectacular doggie-bag and we had it for dinner again the next night at home.
Partying: We have gone out on one Friday and two Saturdays to the local watering hole called Ilsan Beach. It's an area about a 10 minute walk from our apartment and is like a mini-downtown. There are many buildings that are about 6 stories, with each story being a new bar, restaurant or Nori-bong (singing room). Jake will explain the beauty and excitement of the area in the next post.
Hugs and kisses
Colleener
**Click for Pictures **
Neighbourhood: The neighbourhood is quaint yet bustling and downtown is pretty hip and happening, loud and bright. Jake and I ventured alone downtown last week, our first time using public transit. It took about 25 mins to get down there, and over an hour to get back. We couldn't really figure out the reason on our own so we asked a co-worker who told us we had taken an express bus down, and a regular one back home. The buss token system is pretty cool as you buy a little key chain that has an electromagnetic thing-a-ma-jiggy in it that you wave in front of a screen when you get on the bus. The screen will say some things in Korean and display your remaining balance on your card. Then it says "Kamsa haminada", or "Thank you" in a polite female voice. You can go to more popular bus stops that have vendors at them and put as much or little money onto it as you want.
Shopping: The main stores that we have been able to explore are the less scary-more western department stores. These are the Hyundai Department Stores (x2), Lotte Department Store, and the New Core Dept store. These department stores are absolutely ji-normous compared to Canadian standards. Think the Bay or Sears with style and on steroids. The local Hyundai store is 8 stories tall, and is all store. None of that "top 5 floors are offices" thing that the Eaton's Center has. Basement=groceries, electronics, int'l bank and food court. 1st-3rd floor= women's clothes. 4th=kids stuff. 5th=sports equipment. 6th= mens. 7= ikea-esque and 8th= restaurants. You get the picture. The fashion for ladies in these dept stores are pretty cool by my standards which some find strange, but everything is ridiculously overpriced. I asked our Korean coworkers (both male and female) where to go clothes shopping and they told me that everyone in Korea basically shops online. This upset me as I love to spend hours wandering around malls and bargain basements and second hand stores. I feel like by all Koreans buying clothes online they are deterring the possibility of wonderful, cheap malls erupting in Ulsan. Hopefully when we go to Japan at the end of the month we will find some sweet discount stores. Or when we visit Seoul... but that is too far in the future, my shopping bug needs to be satisfied before then!
Ok, sorry about the shopping rant for any male readers.
Foreigners: Our school, just today, got two new giant banners that they have hung on the exterior of the academy. One features Jake, Simon and I with our names printed in English underneath, and some Korean characters, and another taken at the speech contest we judged, with both kids and teachers. We are going to be way more famous than we had anticipated in our area of Bang O Dong, Ulsan. As the only non-Koreans for kilometers, the local store owners and citizens are starting to get used to us. The "Dis Caunt Stoa" in front of our apartment is used to us purchasing chips, pop and beer, and the ladies across the street that wash vegetables in large bowls on the street 6 days a week always say annyong haseyo and giggle when we return in our Canadian accents. We assume these ladies wash and prepare vegetables for stores and restaurants, but maybe they just eat absurd amounts of it themselves. Until we learn more Korean, we can only speculate.
Customs: We have adventured the areas local temple which was pretty and serene. There are lots of small parks around where unattended children, as young as 4 I'd guess play without any supervision. The crime rate here is so low that there really is no point in worrying about regular Canadian frights such as robbery, abduction, theft, bar fights etc. Along with letting kids roam free, most people live in smaller apartments and let their animals run free as well. We've been told that you basically let your dog out in the morning, and if it comes back, feed it at night and let it sleep inside. We have made several local cat and dog friends. Considering the fact that there are no traffic laws here the unattended children and animals learn the ways of the street quite fast and have swifter reaction times than the average oblivious Canadian pedestrian. In our area, and Korea in general, there are no stop signs at intersections, simply lights at select major intersections. When approaching an intersection with no lights, it's basically a game of chicken...one speeds up and honks the horn loudly and the bravest gets through). While it sounds chaotic, it really works quite well, and there is none of the stop-and-go 4-way-stops residential area stuff that there is in Canada.
Also it's very important to know, and most do, that when traveling in Korea, as well as most Asian countries, it is very, VERY important that you remove your shoes before entering a house or any restaurant where you eat on the floor. Our house came equipt with slippers for the house, and slippers for the bathroom and slippers for outside. Each pair of slippers waits for you at the entrance to the designated area, and one size will have to fit all. (In Korea they call one-size fits all "Free size")
Food: We have eaten at several local restaurants, each one discovered better than the last. Our new favourite food, galbi (a garlic marinated pork rib with onions and pepper paste wrapped in a leaf) is available at many many places. We went to a new restaurant on Friday with our crazy co-worker Min He and couldn't finish it all, so they made us a spectacular doggie-bag and we had it for dinner again the next night at home.
Partying: We have gone out on one Friday and two Saturdays to the local watering hole called Ilsan Beach. It's an area about a 10 minute walk from our apartment and is like a mini-downtown. There are many buildings that are about 6 stories, with each story being a new bar, restaurant or Nori-bong (singing room). Jake will explain the beauty and excitement of the area in the next post.
Hugs and kisses
Colleener
**Click for Pictures **
Here's a video of the view from our apartment roof:
1 comment:
Hey guys, this is so cool. What about the plum man? is he on the roof sometimes? hehe. We saw the news tonight regarding earthquake in Japan. Geez , hope theres not to many deaths. We also hope that Japan will not have anymore! Keep in touch and we shall pray for you. i will pray that Jake washes his socks...hehehe
Darlene :)
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