When it rains, it pours (in Korea)

A lot has happend since my last posting.  I went to Itaewon, started teaching, went to a dog cafe, and joined a gym.  First, last weeked I went to Itaewon during the day on saturday.  Itaewon is a region in Seoul where there is an American military base.  TONS of americans walking around!  I mainly went to buy a cell phone since I felt completely cut off from everyone in Korea.  It was always hard to get a hold of Emily if she was not by her computer.  I got a prepaid phone so I just paid a fee for the phone and then I can add as much money onto the phone as I want.  Everytime I make a phone call it tells me how much money I have left.  Its really cheap to text message here so I do that much more than actually calling someone.  After I got the phone I walked around a little bit.  There are many little shops in this area.  Most sell knock off clothing which is funny to see.  I was stopped by probably 3-4 korean men who wanted me to buy a suit from them.  They all gave me their business cards in the hopes that I'll come again, someday.  The best part of Itaewon is all of the American restaurants.  Quizno's, Coldstone, etc.  I'm definately going back there sometime! 

                                                     Never though I would see this in Korea!!

A few days ago I went with Emily and two of her co-workers (both have dogs) to a dog cafe.  It was a fun experience! A place like this would never ever ever be allowed in America with all the health codes.  There was at least 20 dogs running around the cafe.  Some of the dogs live there all the time and most people who come bring their dog.  It's weird, you sit at comfy tables like a normal cafe, order a drink, but there's tons of dogs running around.  One job at the cafe is to clean up any mess the dogs make.  Two guys were running around cleaning up pee and poop the whole time we werethere.  That's a pretty crappy job! (no pun intended).

On Monday I found out from a co-worker that my building has a gym in the basement.  He took me down there just to see what it looked like and find out the cost.  We sat down for a little bit with the manager who didn't speak english at all and one of the trainers that spoke a little english.  My co-worker was a big help when it came time to settle on a membership fee.  Normally for a 6-month membership, it would cost about 620,000 Won (a little over $500 USD).  We talked them down to 300,000 Won for the 6 month membership which is $250 USD.  The place I worked at this summer was a little over $100/month for the cheapest membership.  I got an AWESOME deal.  My co-worker helped translate because he knows a little Korean and the two workers were saying how they really want a "white" man to work out at their gym. The funny thing about this gym is besides the regular weightlifting/tredmills/yoga room there is an area to practice golf.  Korea loves golf and on any street you could probably find at least 3 driving range type places, whether it's inside or outside on top of a building. 

After one week in quarentine I finally started work on Monday.  Needless to say, Monday was one of the longest days of my life. I woke up and it was raining.  When I left my apartment I saw that it was pouring.  My little umbrella didn't work well.  I got to work wet all over the place.  It took forever to dry off!  I met so many little kids that all loved me because i'm the tall, white, "new teachaaaaah".   The first day, I had a little girl come up and tell me that I looked like a rabbit because I apparently have big front teeth.  Koreans don't hold back anything.  If they think you're funny looking the will tell you that.  The whole first day and part of the second day I observed classes.  Its a weird time for me to start teaching because starting tomorrow and Friday the kids have monthly tests.  I really had no clue what was going on because every class was in the middle of something.  I know that next Monday will be good because everyone will be starting new material.  The schedule is a little weird, it takes time to understand and memorize.  Basically this is what happens......The Pre-K and kindergarteners come Monday through Friday.  They have class from 9:40 until around 2 (with lunch break in the middle and such).  Now with the afternoon classes.  Some elementary classes come Monday through Friday.  Some are just Monday/Wednesday/Friday.   And some are just Tuesday/Thursday.  It was confusing at first but I know I'll get used to it soon.  My homeroom class for the kindergarteners is named the "Hummingbirds".  I start off with them in the morning and teach a few classes to them and then switch to another class to teach 1 period.  I took pictures of some of the hummingbirds today which I'm posting too.  My co-workers have been very helpful these first few days which has helped a lot because I've asked a lot of questions.  My favorite class is a "returnee" class.  These students lived abroad at some point in their lives.  Most of them lived in the U.S., a few in London, Hongkong, Australia, and one in Honduras. As for the kindergarteners, they are VERY smart!  We had a spelling bee in class today and it took about 30 minutes to eliminate all but 3 students.  Kindergarteners were spelling words such as "Ambulance, Restaurant, Conclusion, Consequence". It was crazy to see them spell these words without any hesitation.  Even the kids who mess around in class and don't ever pay attention rattled off the words so fast. 

On another note, I've almost figured out my washing machine?  I bought a clothes bag that you can fill and put in the washer.  It really helps especially with T-shirts.  It doesnt stretch the collars anymore like the washer did when I didnt use a washing bag.  Other than teaching, I have not done much this week.  This Friday we are going to dinner after work to welcome the new teachers.  There are also 2 new KT's (Korean Teachers).  Each homeroom has a KT that works with the students in english while we are on lunch break.  It's nice to see the Hawkeyes winning some games unlike the Cubs.  That's the best thing about football season this year!  I can finally watch a team that will win.  Alright, well I'm about to leave my apartment to meet Emily and Elyse for some dinner.  Another post will probably come next week!

First Few Days

Very first breakfast. A carmel and banana waffle. Yummy!

Scary washing machine that I have no clue how to work

Notice the hole in the ground? Yeah, that's my shower.

Door to my apartment

It's weird to imagine that I'm finally here! For awhile I thought I was never going to make it. With the long delay from des moines to chicago because of fog (over 3 hours) I got off the plane about 20 minutes before the plane to Korea was supposed to leave. Having to run across the terminal and hop on the train to the international terminal was very stressful. When I got to the terminal I had to check-in and go through security once again. Waiting in line for security, a few Korean Air workers spotted me and helped me through security much faster than everyone else. That was very nice of them. I was relieved once I finally got on the plane.

Getting into my apartment was nice. From what I've seen from Emily's apartment, mine is 2-3 times bigger. It's hard to imagine but there are so many apartment buildings here each one is completely different from the next. Also, the girl who just left POLY from my school left a bunch of helpful things in the apartment. I was also told that people leave stuff for whoever moves in next which is really cool. The girl left me a ton of books about korea, maps of the subway, a few chick flick movies which I'm sure I'll watch because what else am I going to do sometimes?? A few minutes after I moved in the man who showed me into the apartment (Joon- he is one of the academic coordinators at my school) took me down to the subway station that is closest to my apartment to meet Emily and her co-worker. With Emily having been in Korea for over 2 months now it has made things much easier for me. I haven't met any of my co-workers yet because I'm not allowed in the school for 1 week just to make sure I don't have the H1N1 flu, so I can only imagine how much harder it would be to not know a single person right when you get there. I have been familiarzied with the subway already. It's very easy to learn the system because the subway maps on the subway are also in English and each stop is said in English over the intercom when the next one approaches.

So after meeting up with Emily and her friend the first night they took me out to a Korean BBQ restaurant. I have a feeling I'll be eating at these types of restaurants because they are very good! Each table has its own grill so you cook your meat, kimchi, garlic, onions, or whatever else you prefer right in front of you. When you eat it you take a piece of lettuce and first put rice on it, then add the meat and whatever else you want onto it, then wrap it up and eat it. Apparently you're supposed to eat the wrap in 1 bite since thats what EVERYONE does, but sometimes I don't know how its humanly possible.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. It was my first full day. When I got up I unpacked everything and set up my apartment how I wanted it. Next I wanted to find the school on my own (very close to the subway) so I walked around the area for a little bit just to see how it would be easiest to get there. Since I had not eaten breakfast yet I thought about getting starbucks and maybe a muffin or something. After I left the school I notice a coffee shop called Caffe Bene that is very close to the school. I had a frappucinno, strawberry gelato and the best waffle in the world! I have a feeling that will be my favorite coffee shop for the next year. It was also fun to try and practice my korean when I was in the coffee shop. The two guys working were around my age and they were very nice. Last night I had a meeting with the Director and Vice Director of the school (obviously after all the kids were gone since I'm not allowed around them yet. The school is on the 4th floor of a building that has over 10 floors. It's very nice inside, although I didn't really walk around I just sat in one of their offices while we talked for a few minutes. After leaving I met emily again and she invited me to go out to dinner with a bunch of her co-workers because it was someones birthday. The guy who had the birthday was from Chicago and he was wearing a Cubs shirt which was awesome to see. He has been teaching here for 3 years! Another guy in the group was from northwestern Iowa. He went to school at Bethel in Minnesota. I never imagined meeting someone from Iowa this soon into my trip. We went out to another Koean BBQ. It was just as good as the one the night before. By the time we left the restaurant it was around 11. Next, we went out to a bar that emily and her co-workers love to go to. We ended up staying until 3:30! That seems very late to people in the United States, but there was still a TON of people out and about. At this bar we went to, the bartenders do a fire show. This is where they light both ends of a special bottle and twirl it around doing crazy stuff like spitting out alcohol onto the fire making a huge flame.

Today I had my health check up at the hospital. It was really weird compared to the hopsitals in the states. What I got was prettymuch a regular physical with a few random things. I had blood taken, eyes checked, height and weight measured, blood pressure, x-ray, etc. Unlike having the same nurse do all of this for you, we went to a different person/part of the hospital for every task.

Tomorrow I have training at the POLY headquarters somewhere in Seoul. I get to start teaching Monday which I cannot wait for! As fun as it is not having to work this week, I do get very bored during the day because I can only do so much walking around before I get tired. And there really isnt much to do in my apartment besides read or play on the computer. I think people in the U.S. definately take for granted all the things we have because people in Korea seem to live very simple lives!

Hopefully this hasn't been too long, but I wanted to let everyone know about what has gone on so far! More updates will come whenever more fun/or not so fun things happen. Feel free to email (mjdempsey09@gmail.com) or facebook me whenever. Also, go Hawkeyes!!