Thursday 27 February 2014

Goodbyes, They Usually Come in Waves



For the last few weeks I’ve been mentioning people are leaving. I realise that it might start to get annoying so I swear this will be the last post about it but its hard to put across to you how much I will miss these people.
When I set off to Korea I wanted to experience things, learn about the culture, pay off debts and see the world. The one thing I didn’t factor in is the people who I’d meet along the way.
I am not a very good people person. I have friends I’ve known since I was a sprog, from different jobs and friends from uni. Although I love these people with my whole heart I think I’ve always done a good job of staying on the outskirts of the group. I’ve never jumped in with two feet from fear that they didn’t want me to, from fear of looking like a fool, from illness and from worry that they always had better things to do than put up with me.
Arriving in Korea changed all that. From the first person I sat next to on the plane to the ones I’ve met right near the ends of my travels, I’ve fallen in love over and over again.
Being away from your language, your family and everything you know is scary and you cling onto your friends for dear life. You make sure that you have them around you because if they aren’t then no one is. This means I let down a lot of my walls. I stopped worrying if they would hate me and be annoyed by me. Instead of hiding in my room I went out and the results changed me forever.
I have met creative beautiful people that have taken me under their wing, fun loving sensitive souls that have made my cheeks hurt, intelligent individuals that have introduced me to Sass and tall fools that have broken my heart with their sweetness and caring. 

There isn’t enough time in the world to tell you about why I’ll miss each one of them and a lot of the words have already been said but:
To the ones who know who they are,
Thank you for dancing. Thank you for laughing at stupid jokes and listening to silly stories. Thank you for never making me feel you wanted me to change and for listening to me apologise for no reason without getting angry.
Thank you for being our first mutual friends and friends we’d travel the world to see.
Thank you for drinking and eating and drinking some more.
You’ve made my cheeks hurt and made my liver cry
The serious chats, coming to your houses when you were down and helping you home when you needed it were an honour. Nights out  turned into days with you and the light outside was the only thing that made us have to go home .
Cinema socks, Microphones, sticky tape, playing cards, dinners and many hugs.
Singing rooms, Soju , bag drinks , bad bowling, puppies and lazy days.
All of these things are you.
Over the year I’ve fallen in love with each of you over and over again. Watching you make rice effigies or taking a casino for all its got. Sharing your Pimms and m&m’s and letting us have a Christmas in your house. Being in hospital and still smiling, telling disgusting stories in ski lodges or singing Disney songs. Coming out to see us even with 10 minutes of sleep and peeling individual carrot slices. Dancing like no ones ever danced, Singing Les Mis, making a 12 hour flight fly by or letting the fates decide.

Being away from your family and home is hard but you have not only made it bearable but one of the best years of our lives.
People come and go, things change and memories make room for other ones but you will all stay with me. Lee and I thank you for accepting us, letting us tell silly stories (and being in them). Thank you for bringing us into your homes. We love you.
We will see you soon xxxx


Tuesday 25 February 2014

How to get through Desk Warming


Firstly what is desk warming?

If you are thinking about coming to live in Korea you probably hear the term ‘desk warming’ being thrown around a lot so I thought I’d explain a little more about it.
During the summer and winter months the kids go home but the school stays open. The other Korean teachers will pop in over the month but the English teachers have a different contract.
For some unknown reason a few years ago some teachers moaned so much about their schedules being slightly different from others that the DMOE had to put strict rules in place. Now the rule is we come to school from 8:30 till 4:30 every day of the vacation (apart from your 8 /10 days holiday)
This sounds like a weird thing for the DMOE to ask you to do but to be honest it really is a fantastic way to spend a few days. I think I may have been more productive in this job than every before.
If you are smart you can do a years set of lesson plans, read a few books, write, draw, watch movies or do some crafts. Pretty much anything you want since the school is empty.
It is annoying I suppose since the kids aren’t around but on the plus side…..the kids aren’t around.

So now that you know what it is, how do you cope with 3 weeks of it…well its actually about 7 weeks in total with exams and summer vacation so its good to have a way to cope straight away.
The only way I have coped is with lots of planning. Here are a few ideas:

.Blogs
Your initial reaction when you hear about blogs might be to roll your eyes, although you are reading this one so hopefully it’s not too much of a stretch for you to start one. Blogs are indulgent things but they are also a fantastic record of your time and a great way to practice writing.
I have 3 blogs that I keep. One for travel, one for animation and one for my love of all vintage things. I did intend to blend the vintage and travel blog but in the end they were such different things that I kept them separate. The animation one is just a geek fest so that’s hidden away too.
These became my life line during free lessons since I had to sit in the large teachers office with no internet. I would have to look busy so opening Word and just typing away was the perfect distraction. Another great things about a blog is that it is always there. This experience of living abroad flies by with so many new things to experience that sometimes you forget those special moments, they all tend to blur in together. My blog helps me to remember the little things and hear the excitement in my writing from when I first arrived to the worry I felt before teaching for the first time. It is a silly thing and I wouldn’t go into it thinking you will be the next big thing in the blogesphere but if it’s being written for you and as a way to pass the time then it’s a great element to add to your desk warming routine.

.Projects
Everyone is different. Your project might be something you’ve been meaning to sew, recipes you’ve been meaning to type out or, like me things I’ve been wanting to animate and learn on different computer software’s for years. This is more of a long term desk warm. I am currently in my winter desk warming phase. I set myself the task of building my own character to animate and it’s made the week whizz by. Luckily my textbooks are all staying the same so my lesson planning is done. This allowed me to invest a large portion of time to anything I wanted and I am really happy with the results.

.Internet
This one is listed with caution. If you are one of the lucky few that not only has internet but has internet that’s not blocked then it’s a great source of entertainment. Especially for those one - off lessons when you have no classes. I have been more productive than I ever have been in my year at my desk but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been completely sucked into evil Facebook. It’s a hindrance I wish I wanted to get rid of but its definitely a necessity when living so far away from home. It makes you feel less alone at your desk. That being said, it’s easy to get sucked into a stranger’s page for hours. Have a quick catch up and then close it! Go to the BBC website and read a news story. ‘Wiki it’ and research something random and see what else it leads you to learn about. The internet is shockingly more than photos of friends drinking shots and videos of puppies. Who knew!

Korean
For the majority of Westerners coming to Korea, Korean is something you have visions of mastering. I always thought that after 3 months of being immersed in the culture I was bound to just wake up one day and understand everything they were saying, almost like my own ‘see the matrix’ moment. This of course is not the case (although I still live in hope). If you want to learn Korean, especially Hangul then your desk is as good a place as any. There are great websites out there such as www.memrise.com that will help you learn up to 60 words a day if you are dedicated. I am lazy. Because I can order food, read Korean and get taxi’s I have let my Korean studies slip but it really would be a shame to leave this place without at least being able to have a fully Korean conversation with the people around me. It’s my mission for year two.

Lesson plan
This sounds like an obvious one, so much so that I considered not putting it on the list but knowing lovely people such as my boyfriend who think planning is just a suggestion I thought I’d list it on here. Lesson planning is a pain, it really is and we all know it. We could all just troll through www.waygook.com and steal our lessons but there is something special and easy about teaching a lesson you created yourself. Saying that, I do love getting games from there for those awkward, ‘not learning - not playing’ lessons but when I’m teaching I like to create them myself. The beautiful thing about lessons planning is that it gets easier every time. The amount of things I added to my first lesson plans, just in case I ran out of material and had 40 kids looking at me, is probably enough material for 6 lessons. You learn very quickly how long things take in class and what the kids react to. Adding relevant and funny pictures to your power points will get a good reaction. Adding pictures of yourself will probably be met with raucous laughter but it will keep them engaged.

Tips for Desk Warming
. Make a ‘to do’ list and cross them off
. Think of things you’ve always wanted to research or learn
. Bring your own lunch if you aren’t sure it’s provided. (Some days there is one other teacher in the office who has a sandwich box with them and other days its 12 teachers who all order food but forget to ask me, it varies so an emergency Kimbap will keep you going)
. Bring coffee!
. Hangovers can be had but best avoided. That VP will be watching you closely.

No matter how much you plan I promise you there will be a moment when you want to pull your hair out and the clock goes backwards but I hope these tips help you to make the most of it. Most importantly, enjoy it.  Yes you are sat in school for 8 hours but you are being paid to do anything you want. Catch up on TV shows while you learn to draw, make a crazily ambitious present for friends who are leaving Korea, watch cooking shows and write down the recipe, join a fantasy rugby league. What every you end up doing, enjoy this time as it’s a rare gift you may not get again and have fun!

Happy Desk Warming Everybody.

Thursday 13 February 2014

The Photoshoot




As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it is almost leaving time for all of these special people so it was decided that we would try and gather in one place and have at least one photo of us all looking in the same direction. The theme was set as cutesie Korean which translated to us as glasses and bows. (We thought this was surprisingly accurate)
After a lovely JimDak meal we headed to the bowling alley, the perfect setting for Waygook (forginer) craziness.

The lovely Chris took our photos and was very patient while we faffed about and posed in every possible manner.
There are about 40 photos over all but the theme of our year has been crazy excess  so it was good to stay with what we know.
It was a great night and even though it was a step nearer to goodbyes it was a night that confirmed how much I love these people.
The human pyramid was inevitable. We almost completed it but were thwarted at the final hurdle. I will have to drag a photo from my video of it to see if I can capture it at its highest point.
Worryingly the pyramid wasn’t drink induced, which only goes to prove that we are all as crazy as each other, with or without soju.

There is still a good few days, some meals, sleep overs and boys in yoga lessons to happen yet but its been a fantastic end to a incredible year.
In the mean time I’m using Desk warming to its full potential and editing these up Korean style !








Say it with a Montage


Goodbye Lovely People from Tania Vincent on Vimeo.


It’s been a year since we arrived in this crazy country. There was times when I couldn’t believe I didn’t jump on a plane home but the over riding feeling has been of joy and sheer unbelievable happiness at the different experiences I’ve been part of.
We have decided to stay another twelve months and are getting ready for the next school year as well as moving into a new apartment but our friends are all packing up and getting ready to move onto different adventures.
We knew this situation was coming and we watched others experience it 6 months ago but nothing can really prepare you to say goodbye to your family because that’s what they are. In this kind of environment where you really are alone in a country, your friends become your home. I don’t think I’ve gone one week without seeing at least one of them and I know for a fact I haven’t gone a day without talking to them (The proof of this is the thousands of messages on our phone app Kakao)
A big part of me is excited to see them go. Each person is heading off to a new adventure that will bring with it exciting opportunities but I can’t help but be deeply sad at the prospect of them not being here.
I have avoided the inevitable sadness for now by busying myself with plans such as going to Seoul with them, planning dinners and forcing them to dance with me in random places but I wanted to give them all something to show them how much this year has meant to me and so I made this little video.


It’s not much and it’s not even a fraction of the fun we had but I hope they like and watch it during those first scary steps on their new adventures. I never thought I’d find people like this on my way through Asia so I’m excited to see what other un-expected surprises lie ahead.
Luckily I have a few people left behind and they are all lovely so we will be clinging onto each other for dear life until life relaxes back into normality.

To everyone off on their new paths, whether its Cambodia with a new love, Indonesia for Yoga and sunsets, Home to start businesses, South Africa to see family or Budapest with their little lady…. I already miss you and things will never be the same but from here we will always have memories and future plans.
I will see you all soon xxxx