More pictures, less talk

On Saturday, Rachel and I tried to go to a traditional Korean folk village in Andong, but the weather was terrible so we stayed at a cheap but gorgeous hotel there on Saturday night to give it another try on Sunday. Thankfully the weather was beautiful that day.

First we visited Andong Dam, which had amazing views of the Nakong River. Then we walked up (almost straight up) through the Andong Folk Village, which often serves as a set for television and movie productions that need a traditional Korean setting, approximately from the early 1700s. It was amazing to see all the structures, especially what would have been considered a kingly dwelling.

Andong is also home to the Shinsae-dong Pagoda, a 7-story brick pagoda, which is the oldest and largest in Korea. This is from the Shilla Dynasty, so that means it was built sometime between 668 and 935.

Then we drove about 30 minutes more to another traditional village in Hahoe (pronounced ha-hway). Amazing wood carvings here, as well as traditional stuctures from the Joseon Dynasty.Too many pictures and experiences to share, but I will also tell you about the traditional Hahoe Mask Dance performance we attended. Even though it was in Korean, I still found it very funny. It's basically a satire making fun of the different stock types of people in a small village (the busybody, the flirtatious maiden, the drunk guy, etc). When the drunk guy was looking for some people from the audience to come dance with him, I must have looked like a prime choice because I was dragged out there. This is me returning in mild shame from my adventure. They didn't really tell us how they wanted us to dance, so I think I looked like Elaine from Seinfeld dancing, which is far from glamorous.When we ate dinner afterward, the coordinator for this event told me I was very good. I think he was just being polite.

The drive back to Hayang was beautiful. During that short time period of dusk, all I could see were mountains. On the right they were reflected in the water of a rice paddy, and on the left they were giving off smoke and looking like volcanoes. No picture, but I'm not sure it would have done this view justice anyway.

On getting back to campus, this is my attempt to capture the enchanting little forest near my pond...

Tranquil ponds... and sea monsters

This is what I call my pond, which is just a couple steps outside our dorm building. On the rainy mornings when I was waking up like clockwork at 7:25 am I would sit under the little gazebo and read (of course now I can manage to sleep in until my alarm goes off). It has a ton of black, white, and gold fish in it, but these are only really active and jumping in the morning. The pond is most beautiful in the evenings, but I don't think a photograph can quite capture it. Very enchanting.

Please direct your attention to the tall grasses behind the gazebo. I heard some bellowing coming from it on a few occasions early in the morning. It was either a plumbing noise (for the pumps that keep the water flowing into the pond) or, the theory I am most fond of, a sea monster. Maybe I was talking too much about it because yesterday the campus groundskeepers chopped all of that grass down... Mysterious.

Speaking of sea monster related news items, here is a photograph of some artwork my students and I drew on the board. I bet you are pretty impressed with our haiku-writing and drawing skills.

Despite the sea monsters... such a beautiful campus.

Food!

It's almost lunchtime, so I have food on my mind.

The orange juice that I bought at the market is called "Squash Gold Orange 100." Very majestic sounding. I thought that there might actually be squash in this orange juice, but I recently figured out that is a Korean translation of "squeezed."

Ramen seems to be the most common cheap convenience food here, although they have a million more varieties than we do at home. I picked up a kind that is rather delicious. The package (aiming at health conscious consumers) says "Body Design Noodle."

One thing I miss: No one is very concerned with cheese here. In fact, I haven't yet found in the store any real cheese that is not the processed, plastic-wrapped singles. Although the Italian restaurant called Tomato we like has real mozzarella on the pizza and pasta...

French-style bakeries/pastry shops are very popular here. Almost every other store along the main street in downtown Hayang is a shop with the most beautifully decorated cakes I've ever seen. I picked up a little piece of chocolate cake with cherry filling the other day (which is quite plain in comparison to the full-sized cakes). It was almost too pretty to eat. But I managed it.

I did try Korean sushi the other day (called kimbap or gimbap, g and k are equivalent sounds). Very delicious. The one I had was tuna with rice and veggies rolled into a sheet of dried seaweed. And the whole roll of it is only $1.60. They consider this "fast food" here. Beats McDonald's any day.

Sam gyup sal and daeji galbi, another two delicious foods that are from the Korean barbecue restaurant. One is pork and one is marinated beef, not sure which is which. We just order some of both and it is a happy time. In this picture you can see both. The beef is on the grill with garlic and mushrooms, and the pork waiting in the wings.

They also have this delicious steaming hot egg soup sort of thing at the barbecue that I'm determined to find out how to make. So simple but so wonderful. Side dishes are king here. If you order 1 main dish, they will bring you an endless variety of sides, including kimchi, different types of salad, sauces for everything, sometimes watermelon, raw hot peppers, and cherry tomatoes.

I have also now eaten twice with my students in the campus cafeteria for dinner. It is pretty notorious for being not so good, but it's free, so I don't mind too much. Lots of sticky white rice and other things that I have to ask my students about ("What is this?"). They think I am a very slow eater with my chopsticks, mainly because I can only pick up one or two small pieces of food at a time. Also because I hesitate when I don't know what something is!

Water is also an interesting experience here. They don't drink large glasses of water with a meal; usually, if at all, it's just a shot glass sized glass of water. They don't drink tap water because it has too much iron in it or something (even though it just tastes like Huron water to me), so there are water machines with purified hot and cold everywhere (and the hot is hot enough for tea, even by Mom's standards, I think!). Anyways, at the cafeteria they have this long "water bar" with a whole row of water spigots and the little shot glasses, so after eating, students go there and take their shot of water. It seems they think it's a little strange that we waste time (and stomach space) drinking liquids during a meal.

Which leads me to another habit: Everyone brings their toothbrushes to school and brushes their teeth in the bathrooms right before class begins. Even the English department secretary is brushing her teeth in her office when she gets to work. Joel asked one of his students, "Don't you have sinks at your dorm?" and the reply was basically equivalent to a "duh," but no explanation for this ritual. I guess I am just too messy when I brush my teeth to participate in it publicly.

Well, that is off topic, so I will stop for now. Some of us from MSU are meeting a few students who are planning to go to the States for a study abroad and want to practice their English conversation. It's so nice being helpful and appreciated just for speaking a language you were practically born speaking (thanks, Mom and Dad).

Catch the fever

Teaching ESL (English as a second language) here in Korea has been amazing. This is a special 4-week summer program for University students who want to improve their score on a special government test (the TOEIC) that helps them get a better job if they have good reading and listening comprehension in English.

Each of us from MSU are responsible for 3 of our own classes, each 1 hour long: Project English I, Project English II, and Tutorial. Each of our Project English classes has a theme, mine being poetry, and we do projects with the class according to our theme. These are their "fun" classes because their other courses (they go to class 5 days of the week from 9 am to 8 pm, with 1 hour for lunch and 1 hour for dinner) are very difficult and regimented.

I have been teaching them haiku, which they love because it has a specific number of syllables. In our project, we find a photograph and then write a haiku about it. We practiced this as a class during our Project English class. Then for tutorial, which is basically like study hall or homeroom for them, instead of doing their homework, they wanted to get to know me. So they take turns asking me questions about myself, what I like to do, and where I'm from, which is a good way for them to practice their English.

They asked me where I have traveled, so I told them some places, and then they asked if I have any pictures to show them. I showed them a picture of Laura, Erin, and me in Ireland last summer, and they gasped because they say we are so pretty! Then I showed them a scenic picture I had taken, and they asked if they could write a haiku for me about it. So we composed this in English, then they also wrote it in Korean for me, signed their names, and wrote "Thank you, Teacher." And this was on the first day of class. So there is an amazing amount of eagerness and gratitude from the students that I've never experienced before from a whole class.

I'm still incredibly nervous when teaching, but it is so much fun. I am nervous because I want them to learn from me, but no matter what we do in class, they are so appreciative. There is lots of spontaneous clapping, and everyone says thank you as they leave the room at the end of class. Having spent a few days with them now, they are such individual personalities! They are starting to remind me of people back home.

Other questions that I was asked on the first day of tutorial:
"Do you have a boyfriend?" (I get asked this very often, they are quite curious and usually very blunt). When I say no, they all gasp.
Next question: "How do you like Korean men?" To which I say, "They are very polite."
And then: "Would you marry a Korean man?" So I said, "I have only been here for 5 days. That is a lot to think about." And again they gasp (a common reaction) because they think I am doing very well for only having been here 5 days.

Students are also exceptionally impressed when I know any Korean phrases, so I've been working to practice new ones on them so I can get the collective gasp and "How did you know that?" I know jing-jing-day-joo-mah, which means "Stop complaining," but I don't think I will ever have to use that on them.

The language barrier is very difficult. Always 5 or 6 students come up to me after class and try to ask a question, and sometimes we just stare at each other until someone comes up with a phrase the other will understand. I've also had to learn to talk slower and more clearly, especially without using too many figures of speech and the like that don't translate well. When they speak English, often their accents are hard for me to understand, so I will have to go to the board and have them talk me through spelling it. It's a challenging thing, for sure, but very exciting. The camaraderie among the students and teachers is wonderful. Their faces just light up when they say hello and can carry on a little conversation with you. I'm excited for Monday when we switch student groups and I will be able to get to know another 20 of the 60 students in the program.

And let me say, these are the cutest, most put together, well dressed college girls I've ever seen. I think I could take a lesson from them. Very stylish. Modest though. Tanktops are not okay, but lots of jewelry is good. I'm glad I brought mine or I would feel very plain next to them.

I'm very glad to be here for this. All I can say is it's like a wonderful disease, this contagious thing we all share in class.

Taking off shoes... and more

Taking shoes off before entering the main part of a house (or in this case, moving from the entryway to the main part of the deluxo-dorm I'm staying in) is a big deal here. No one doesn't do it. I think I'm beginning to get into the spirit of it. I'm sorely disappointed in myself when I forget and am traipsing around on the beautiful, clean wood floor with my dirty outside shoes on.
Speaking of this custom, on Friday night we went to a Korean barbeque restaurant where you remove your shoes and step up onto this raised platform and sit on the floor around a low table. Then you cook your own meat and veggies on a round grill plate set into the middle of the table. Oh so delicious marinated pork and beef, and I finally tried kimchi for the first time, which is essentially fermented spicy cabbage. I really quite like it. But I don't think I could handle eating it for breakfast as many people do.

Sunday was an interesting day. An American teacher named Rachel who has been in Korea for 4 years took me on a short hike on one of the hills near the campus. Then we stopped at the tennis courts on campus, where they were playing a tournament of a game I can't find out the name of, where essentially teams of 6 men face off on either side of the tennis court with a soccer ball going back and forth. Soccer rules, so no hands, but the objective seems more like volleyball, and the court is for tennis. Very interesting. After a few minutes, one of the officials came over and requested that we eat with them. They had us sit with the players and coaches and served us tons of Korean food. It was very suprising but quite the experience. We were a bit of a novelty for them, being the only foreigners at the tournament. They also gave us a common Korean gift: embroidered hand towels. Everyone wanted to meet us, so we stayed for a while before politely excusing ourselves because we could not possibly eat any more food. This is definitely the Korean hospitality and generosity I have heard about.

After this, Rachel took me to the saunas in the building with her gym. There are about 8 or so rooms of different temperatures, made from different materials in each (rock, tile, clay, etc). There is even a cold room, which is basically like a walk-in freezer. People spend hours here. Even the really little children are in the hottest rooms. We also went to the female bathhouse (yes, a communal nude experience for the women), which has different pools of different temperatures. I guess I got all my "Look, it's a foreigner!" done with in one swoop. So next time you are being stared at in a foreign country, imagine also being nude... Just walking down the street fully clothed can't possibly bother me now.

Coming next: teaching experiences! Which have been a little too wonderful for me to exactly articulate, but I will try.

Schmoozing around the world

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Yesterday we were treated quite like visiting dignitaries on campus. Mr. Song, who I believe is the Coordinator for External Affairs for the university, picked us up at 9:30 and took us to breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts, which is huge in Korea. I've seen more here than in the U.S.; people love it. Then we took a campus tour, first with the head librarian. Then we stopped at the auto mechanic and performance testing department and were shown all the padlocked rooms with super expensive engines and cars, which was pretty neat. They have a partnership with BMW, who donates cars for the performance testing. Have to say there was a beautiful little silver two-door BMW that I wanted to pull some kind of Gone in 60 Seconds type stunt with and steal. Just like one of my favorite phrases... "Drive it like you stole it." Which really applies to any activity.

Anyways, getting back on track. Then we took a tour of the campus museum, which had an amazing collection of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art pieces, pottery items, artifacts, etc., some dating back to the 15th century, which were donated by a lady who had these things stored up in her house. There was also an extensive collection of these wooden cake stamps that put patterns into the rice-based cakes they make. Then we met with the VPs of the International Office, who had quite the office for hosting foreign visitors. They even had a photographer shooting pictures of our meeting.

We took lunch in downtown Hayang at a little Italian cafe run by a Korean woman. The restaurants are tiny here, usually just a few tables. With 6 of us from the university, we just about took up the whole place. Delicious stuff. Forks though, so no chopstick practice yet. I also found out at lunch that the rooms we have are special *guest* rooms, not at all like the rooms students stay in. Very special, Mr. Song tells us.

Well ... better run to dinner. More later.

Korea Happy Morning Time

Friday, June 20, 2008

It’s about 7:20 am here—5:20 pm on Thursday back home—and that’s as late as my body will let me sleep, even after a heinous 29 hours straight of traveling (via plane, bus, train, and car) and very little sleep before and during that time.

I’ve had a few long flights before on the way to Europe, 9 or 10-hours, but those extra few hours that make it 14 were killer. I was trapped in the middle seat of a 3-seat row, with a heavy sleeper on the aisle, so I only got up twice, which I can tell you was not nearly enough to prevent an aching backside. However, I’ve got nothing but praises for Korean Air, which made it as pleasant as possible … and has the most fashionable flight attendant uniforms I’ve ever seen.

We’re here in Hayang, Daegu (which is like the county), South Korea. Last night as we waited at the train station for a staff member from the university to come pick us up, a Korean man approached us simply to practice his English. I guess this happens a lot. Many Koreans are taught English in school, but few of them get to practice it conversationally. The last thing he asked us before leaving to catch his train was, “Why are your suitcases so large?”—which is something I was asking myself after having to haul mine on and off all of the aforementioned modes of transportation.

Our rooms here at the university are nice. Nicer than a lot of hotels I’ve stayed in. Very clean and open and a lot larger than my dorm room as an undergrad, also it’s own bathroom, a small balcony, and I have the room all to myself. Although I am sleeping on some sort of pebble-filled pillow, I feel decently rested. Hopefully I can adjust to the extreme time change quickly.

I am thankful for having taken a trip prior to this, to the Dominican Republic, where I was an extreme minority and got stared at a lot. I think that was good preparation. I’m also trying to keep my loud American voice to a minimum on public transportation.

Two phrases I know so far:
Ahn-nyung-ha-se-yo = A standard greeting, equivalent to “How are you?” but literally “Have you eaten today?” or “Are you at peace?”
Gahm-sah-ham-ni-da = Thank you

I’m also working on sil-le-ham-ni-da (“Excuse me”) and jwe-song-ham-ni-da (“I am sorry”) for when my clumsy self is bumping into people, which makes me realize that I’m not so tactful about that at home because my standard “Excuse me” is an often barely audible sound—“Whoop.” I’m scared to admit that I think it’s a shortened form of “whoopsie daisy.”

Enough for now… I better go try to wrangle with that shower, which isn’t a “shower” as we think of it back home but a handheld sprayer, whose name is the “Da Da Seven,” and a bathroom floor that apparently has a drain in it. There may be a typhoon in my bathroom.