6 month itch

With the first 6 months of Korea behind us all its easy to feel we know what we are doing but now and again something small will throw us back into the confusion and chaos that we found in our first few weeks.

The hardest thing I’m finding about my new semester is that my teachers are a lot less forgiven. Here are some of the problems with being a non new waygook.

Language

By now the expect me to know Korean. The polite English they know has run out. There are only so many times you can ask someone where they are from after all.

I feel bad that I can’t talk to them more. So much so that I’m stepping up my level of Korean learning. Now that my Korean lessons are over I am only self learning which is harder than it sounds. I have found an incredible website called:

www.memrise.com

It is fantastic. In one week I have picked up more Korean words (as well as German and Japanese) that I have in a few months.

Its hard to sit on a table of people you respect and not be able to talk so I’ve decided to bite the bullet and just try. Since the winter semester has started I’ve made sure that my lessons have gone from 2% Korean to 60% Korean.

Its all broken and just words not sentences but they seem receptive.

Food

The last few months I have tried to expand my food knowledge but unfortunately I normally fall at the first hurdle. I get hungry and pop in Kim Pasa (big orange restaurants open 24 hours and on every corner of Korea) and leave with Kim Bap and Bimbim Bap.

If I’m feeling even lazier I end up going for western food such as Mc’ds or pizza.

This seemed like it was working until I gained a lot of weight and realized I know nothing about real Korean culture.

So I have downloaded a list of 40 Korean food to try and I’m making my way through the list. I have also got a few boxes of do it yourself Pad Thai to occupy my evenings.

So far my experience of the list has been fantastic as well as spicy! Its an experiment but its been fun.

Exersice

Korea takes you down a peg or two. For blokes they seem to lose weight in the first 6 months. They are eating smaller meals and they seem to thrive on the Korean lifestyle. It’s not strange for a bloke to lose 10 pounds without trying.

Women on the other hand get a quick slap in the face. Although you may not have bread and pasta to entice you we girls do have piles of starchy rice and beer. Buckets and buckets of beer.

I have never really started drinking beer. I’m more of a wine or spirits kind of girl but in Korea it’s so cheap that it’s hard not to drink beer.

I have gained almost a stone since coming to Korea so its time for a plan of action. Despite the horrendous weather that makes even walking down the road hard I have joined a local gym (which is a weird experience on its own) and I’m trying to set myself small goals.

The fact that all holidays here involve the beach is definitely inspiring me plus the fact that I have a very important wedding to be a bridesmaid in soon. Come on weight gain, bring it on!

Friends

The saddest thing about being in Korea for 6 months is that it means a lot of people are leaving. All of the people that we meet when we arrived are getting ready to head home. Luckily for us a few people are staying but its going to be extremely sad to see them leave.

It does mean that lots of new people are on their way and we are now in the position of helping them find their way around Daegu but even though I know my way around downtown and that I recognize a few subway stops that people live at (you normally just smile, nod and pretend you’ve heard of it) I don’t feel ready to show new people everything.

Well its been an exciting 6 months and I can’t wait to see what the next 6 months hold but whether good or bad I’m sure they will be interesting.

Happy 6 months in Korea everyone.

Zombie Summer Camp

A few hours after arriving back from Thailand I was ready to head in to school to start my school summer camp.

In Korea our summers are spent desk warming (more on this later) and in summer camp.

My camp was 3 days long from 9 – 12.

I was allowed to choose the theme so I went with a movie making camp.

There was meant to be 23 kids in total but (as expected) only 10 turned up.

The first day the kids played some games and we decided what genre we wanted to make. Predictably the kids chose Horror.

So after some team fighting between zombies and killers we amalgamated two ideas and came up with our film.

I tried to explain that we would have enough time to make a film so we would have to create a trailer.

They knew they had to bring old clothes and get their best scary faces ready. We allocated jobs and we were set to make a movie.

The filming was great fun (apart from the dread of handing my expensive camera to crazed middle schoolers). The students really got into it and came up with loads of ideas. I loved their face painting attempts and our one girl in the art department worked so hard to create a fantastic poster.

At the end of the 2^nd day I was feeling a little worse for ware (the 10 days of travel and 10 middle schoolers may have been something to do with that).

I headed home to edit like crazy and hope I could do their hard work justice.

So here it is. Here is the final version of my middle schoolers zombie attempts.

 Trailer

Dinner at the Korean family home

When Lee told me he had been invited to his co teachers home for dinner and I was also invited I was beyond happy.

I really wanted to visit a Korean family’s home since arriving here and I was not disappointed. We were picked up in the car by his teacher as well as her adorable children. A 5 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. When I say they were cute it really doesn’t do them justice. They melted my heart.

They were so smart. The little boy could name every dinosaur. He had a book of 130 and no matter which one you showed him while hiding the name he knew what it was. That’s a special skill.

The little girl was amazed by our English ways and kept telling me things in English to impress me. Unfortunately my Korean was a little less than hers so she taught me the basics. Being taught to count by a 3 year old actually helped me more than the Korean teachers I have.

Another 2 of Lee’s teachers turned up, all of which had very good English considering they aren’t English teachers. We chatted the night away while eating fantastic food cooked by our host and laughing a lot at the kids entertainment.

Paper dinosaur collection

Practice chopsticks...Lee needs these

Our lovely dinner

The house was beautiful and I’m glad we brought along a gift. We weren’t sure of the Korean custom but guessed a gift was appropriate. The gifts people give here always amuse me. Toilet paper, noodles and spam are just a few of the usuals.

We gave some English tea we had bought on holiday while the other guests brought a bulk box of toilet roll and grapes (which weirdly they peel or suck out the middle of in Korean?!)

The night was what I’d hoped for and I really hope we get a chance to visit another family’s home.

Haeinsa

Another day, another temple!

This time we were on the hunt for a piece of history we had heard about in orientation. The Tripataka Koreana

Haeinsa is classed as one of the Three jewel temples of Korea (the other two being Tongdosa , in Yangsan and Songgwangsa in Suncheon-si. )

It was easy enough to get to. We took a bus from Seobu bus terminal that cost 7,000 won for a single (make sure you take cash with you to get home and buy things as cash points aren’t popular on top of this mountain, although the gift shop did let me use my card)

We traveled for about an hour and a half with our ears popping from the height of the mountain we were scaling. The small town that houses Haeinsa is beautiful and I wish we had had time to explore but the temple is so high it would mean getting on and off busses all day.

When we arrived at the temples base we were told it was only a 1km walk to its main entrance. It was a little steep at times but very manageable. I did it in flip flops (or Slip Slops to you South Africans out there)  The temple is a huge tourist destination so there were rest stops every few yards. You can even try some Red Pepper juice (?)

Once the boys had filled up on Slushies we started our scaling of the mountain. The streams surrounding the temple form lots of waterfalls and it makes for a really lovely walk. As well as this there are shires and statues dotted along the route and of course there was this to keep the boys entertained.

When we arrived at the temple we were greeted by these angry fellows.

 All Buddhist (and Hindu) temples have these before you enter. They are the guards of the temple and watch over it. They are called the Narayeongeumgang (in most other Asian countries they are called the Dvarapala.) Sometimes they are statues but in Haeinsa they are paintings. People leave money to them to ask for their safe passage through the temple. Some people believe that these four warriors traveled with Buddha to protect him when he was alive. They are normally portrayed as soldiers with demon features.

As well as the temple guarsds there is also an extremely old tree at the enterance to the building. It is said to have been planted 1200 years ago by King Aejang who built the temple. The temple was built to thank two Buddhist who prayed and cured his wife of an incurable illness. The tree was planted to remember their kindness.

The tree is dead now but it’s still impressive to look at and think about how long it’s been there.

We toured the temples and listened to the Buddhist chants as well as drank some water from the temple spring. This is starting to become a tradition for us as we have done it in all of the Buddhist temples. I might see how many spring we can drink from. The spring water is meant to have healing properties and give you ‘long life’ so surely we should drink bucket loads of the stuff.

Finally we got to the top and were ready to see what we had come for. The Tripataka Koreana. This was the piece of history we had learnt about in Orientation and for some reason it really held an appeal for Lee and myself.

It is the world first printing press or photo copier to be precise. The 81, 258 wooden blocks are housed in a building built specifically to look after them as it has done for many years successfully despite the crazy extreme weather conditions of Korea and a guerilla attack made in the Korean war by North Korea.

The blocks are the first time in history that words were carved so that a written text could be reproduced. The text on the Tripataka is the ancient Buddhist scriptures and contains 52,382,960 characters which are organized in over 1496 titles and 6568 volumes.

This is impressive enough but when you see the detail and effort that must have gone into carving these wooden blocks it is pretty impressive. Most impressively though is the fact that there is no mistakes. Out of more than 81 thousand blocks there is not one error or correction. I can only imagine how much work and effort must have gone into these blocks. It is definitely worthy of its world heritage status. It especially holds an appeal for someone who could survive without spell check.

Unfortunately for us , the building was closed.

The building is under renovation for the next 3 years so we couldn’t see the blocks, but we could see through the windows and the rest of the temple was worth the visit. There is a block on display for you to see as well as a stall where you can buy a print from the actual Tripataca for only 5,000 won. We have bought one which I’m proud to say is the only Korean tourist thing we’ve indulged in. I think it will be lovely framed in our house one day, when we finally stop being lazy bums and traveling the world that is.

I also popped into the gift shop or the ‘Monk Junk’ store as our friend Rob liked to call it. I bought a jade bracelet and a small charm to send home. I’m very aware that I will be taking a lot of random rubbish home but I’m trying very hard to only buy one or two important or meaningful items. It’s proving easier than I thought but this is mainly due to moving houses 8 times in 8 years. ‘Stuff’ really annoys me but I am happy to make an exception for a piece of ancient history (And a pretty bracelet).

With the day drawing to an end we had a seat and realized we were sat at an important location (we only knew this when a crowd formed in front of us)

The tree we were sat next to was said to be the spot that a famous scholar and writer use to sit and play music, unfortunately I stupidly didn’t take a picture of the sign with the information and can’t find it online to give you names. When he would play music cranes would land and listen. One day he put his cane into the ground and from that grew a great tree which only grows up and straight.

The tree was impressive and I love stories like that. It always adds an air of magic to a place. The boys on the other hand were just happy to have some shade from the scorching sun.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. We got the bus home and ate far too much Korean BBQ. All in all the perfect Korean day. After all it’s not a Korean day without some frying meat and a temple in the sunshine.

First day, again!

The first day back after any holiday is always horrible but going back to teaching after a good month’s vacation is terrifying, not to mention the month we had of exams and the wind down to the holidays. 

I have only been a teacher for 6 months and a lot of that has been desk warming or exam prep. I’d say if you averaged out all the exam times, sports days and random school events that a teacher probably teachers for about 17 hours a week which isn’t a lot if you are new to a job.

I am currently waiting for my first class of the second semester and I am too nervous for words. Luckily they are a kind and lovely 1^st grade class (to ease me in) but fingers crossed I haven’t forgotten all my skills over the summer, even if it feels that way. 

Hopefully its like riding a bike.

After lesson

Okay so the rumors are true. Its hard to get back into teaching. Not as hard as it was initally but still like opening night of a play.

Coming back from the summer also means that your lovely middle schoolers will have hit puberty like a brick wall and personally blame you for everything wrong in their lives. I can't blame them too much as I distinctly remember doing the exact same at the end of every summer but being the teacher on the other side is definitly a wake up call. 

 My cute first graders have disappeared! Instead I have a bunch of angry teens.

I haven't had thrid grade yet who are normally the worse offenders but i'm hoping they will have matured and become young adults. I fear this may be a wish too far for even an all powerful wizard. 

No one can fix teenagers after all. 

 It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be though. They were more chatty than evil. I played the authoritive teacher for the first lesson and set my ground rules. Fingers crossed this first day intimidation will set them up to be better behaved the rest of the year or at least that’s what I have read.

The teaching came back to me instantly but unfortunatly there was a definite lack of skills I originally posessed to come back to me in the first place. Teaching is organic and nothing like any profession I’ve ever had. It changes every day. There doesn’t seem a right or wrong way to do things but just guide lines so I’m making my mark on the classes slowly and trying to help the students as much as possible.

I just hope that these 6 months will teach me even more than the last 6 have, which would be a hell of a lot.

Ahh well, one day done, 87 to go.

Welcome back to school everyone.

Gyeong Ju

Gyeong Ju

Our recent travels have definitely given all the teachers here the traveling bug. When we have time off it feels wrong to not be up at the crack of dawn and traveling onwards somewhere.

I’ve never been on holiday and come home to somewhere hotter and with as many incredible sights I haven’t seen. It’s easy to be excited about exploring the world around you and forget to explore your home so we decided to get a bus to Gyeong Ju.

Gyeong Ju is referred to as “the museum without walls” by Koreans. It is about an hour and a half away from Daegu by bus and only cost us 4,000 won for a single so it was an easy decision.

We stupidly went on the hottest day of the year so it was sweltering in the mid day heat. This did lead to a quick stop off at a Korean BBQ restaurant which turned out to be delicious (I’ve yet to find a non-delicious Korean BBQ). As soon as we were done with food we were back on the temple hunt.

Patrick cooking up a storm

wrap the sam gyap sal and some red pepper sauce in a sesame leaf.....

Then its 'SAM'...eat in one!

The boys are 'very' friendly when it comes to BBQ

Gyeong Ju was the original capital of Korea and the capital of the Shilla Dynasty in 57 BC to 935 AD. A lot of the original temples and shrines still remain in Gyeong Ju and it is a beautiful place to visit if you have a day to spare.

There are hundreds of thing to see in this city but we decided to take the bus out of the center and see the cliff temple named Bulguksa.

It is home to seven of the national treasures of Korea and was extremely serine. It can get very crowded so if you are going to travel there then a weekend or a Sunday may be best.

Guardians of the temple

Eerie!

I am not a Buddhist but the religion does appeal to me and fascinate me. When I was younger and very ill I read one of the Dali Lamas books (who is a Tibetan Buddhist which is slightly different to Korean Buddhists) and it really helped me. I’d been in hospital for 3 months solidly so I needed all the help I could get.

Buddhism is something that intrigues me and I’d love to research in to it more as there is so much of it in Korea. It feels rude to not understand it.

You aren’t allowed to take pictures inside the temples which was actually a nice relief. I do get stuck behind my camera sometimes so it let me pause and actually look around.

As long as you take your shoes off you are allowed into the temples. They had on display some tiny white stones in a very elaborate glass box. There were magnifying glasses to allow you to look closer. We tried to work out what these objects were and we think they were the remains of Buddha so I can only guess they were bone shards.

It sounds creepy retelling it but it was very interesting (and only a little gross).

There was a live screen outside displaying them so I can only imagine how busy the building gets on religious occasions.

Korean 'Matchy-matchy'

The day was really lovely and made me want to get out and about around Korea even more.

If you are thinking of traveling to the city, there is a bus that leaves from Dongdaegu express bus terminal (the bus station on the same side of the road as the KTX train station) We bought our return tickets to Daegu from GyongJu bus terminal and some how arrived half hour early for our bus. The staff at the station were more than happy to let us change our ticket.

We went with a friend who is leaving Korea soon (don’t get me started on this sad story!) He has suddenly realized how little he’s done while in Korea so it’s a nice wake up call for us too. We will be sad to see him leave but we are happy to help him check some tourist things off his list before he goes.

If you’re looking for something to occupy your tired teacher’s brain on a weekend this is the trip for you.

I also got a chance to take some beautiful pictures of Marks girlfriend Jessie.