Busan
As promised, here's the weekend catch-up (on Tuesday ;) )
When we went to the immigration office on Thursday, my director asked that I come to the school at 1 on Friday. I assumed it was just for a few hours to train, but I ended up being there until 9:10 when everyone else left. Only an hour of it was training, and the rest of the time I sat at my desk and tried to look busy, reading student reading/activity/workbooks and then Ulsan Pear (foreigner newspaper). During training, though, I found out exactly how cool my school is. First, the curriculum is all set, so there's no work for me to do there. Secondly, it's all very advanced technologically. The kids all have workbooks that correspond to cds. Each classroom has a computer hooked up to a huge flat monitor mounted on the whiteboard, and for lessons the teachers have a remote that moves us through the material. Some of the illustrations are hokey, and the stories can be a little weird ("why doesn't daddy live with us, mommy?" "he left us a long time ago because I made a very loud fart"), but it seems very effective.
After getting home from work around 9:30, I tidied up my already spotless apartment (more about living alone soon) and waited to hear from Kate, who gets off later than I do. She came over, and we intended to watch a movie I'd borrowed from Mark (the sad one) but didn't get to it, and instead gabbed over wine until the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday, Kate and Lindsey and I met in my neighborhood and walked to the bus station by the ferris wheel together. After some confusion about what time the bus was leaving, we were able to get on the right bus and were on our way to Busan! An hour later, the bus dropped us at Haeundae beach, where we started looking for a "Love Motel." Cheap and (usually) clean, Love Motels are recommended in Lonely Planet, and all the teachers use them bc they're affordable. Ours was a few blocks from the beach, and we just had to overlook the red sconces that made for some serious mood lighting, and the 2-pack of condoms laid out with the mouthwash and little soaps. Other than that, it was fantastic, with a California-king sized bed (perfect for 3 girls), a bathtub, a mini-fridge stocked with free orange juice and chilled glasses and a ceiling painted with clouds. After we checked in, we freshened up and went across the street to an Indian restaurant (Ganga) which was a major reason for our visit. After introducing Lindsey to curry, we relaxed for a bit there and then went back to our hotel and got changed for a night on the town. Kate wanted to meet up with some friends with whom she had gone to high school, and who had spent the previous year teaching in Korea too. The girls were leaving Monday (one of them with a torn ACL from a Hapkido accident - second one I've seen since I got here), so Saturday was their going-away party with their local friends and other teachers. We met up with a big group (20ish) at a roof-top bar, where Lindsey and I were fondly called the 'newbies,' and presented with our very first taste of soju. I've heard stories of soju hitting foreigners hard, and I've also heard that it's a 'sleeper'... you don't feel anything until suddenly you're hammered, so we took it fairly easy and sipped light Korean beer between shots. From there Lindsey and Kate and I set out on our own to find somewhere to dance. After one club being unexplainably closed, we found another place, called "Foxy" and headed there. Foreigners get in for free with local ID (which I now have :) ) and we were whisked to the front of the line. The club was very cool and swanky with dark tables and two floors. Upstairs was hip hop, and downstairs was techno/pop. "Downstairs" was actually the 7th floor, and upstairs the 8th. On the 8th there was really cool balcony with a great view of the city lights, where we started hanging out once it got really crowded and hot inside, around 3.
On the way back to the hotel, we ate some street food (well, I did - Kate and Lindsey got McDonalds). Delicious, but fried food at 4, 5, whatever AM is never a stellar idea. We managed to wake up at 11:45 and slowly packed up and got ready to leave. Our first destination: Dunkin Donuts. YES! It was a beautiful thing to have the same iced decaf light and sweet that I used to get in the dirrty Jerz. After that, we had to head to Starbucks because Kate's addicted, and then we walked to a Thai restaurant Kate knew about for lunch. I've had better pad thai, but it was good enough, and the service there was great. Since we were all still pretty tired, we did some window shopping and hopped a bus back.
And now - I have to get out into the beautiful day. I can't wait until I have a computer at my place so I don't have to sit in a basement to type to you people!
OH! My phone number: 82-52-227-8740. I don't have an answering machine, so if I'm not there, I won't know you called. Sorry... and I still don't have a calling card, but hopefully soon! This week will be a bit chaotic, since I'm off and it's the last of the nice weather, so we're traveling. But next week I'll be on a schedule and it'll be easier to reach me. Thursday we're heading to Gyeongju, and on Friday might go to Daegu.
I'll post about teaching and my many other observations soon. Cheers!
When we went to the immigration office on Thursday, my director asked that I come to the school at 1 on Friday. I assumed it was just for a few hours to train, but I ended up being there until 9:10 when everyone else left. Only an hour of it was training, and the rest of the time I sat at my desk and tried to look busy, reading student reading/activity/workbooks and then Ulsan Pear (foreigner newspaper). During training, though, I found out exactly how cool my school is. First, the curriculum is all set, so there's no work for me to do there. Secondly, it's all very advanced technologically. The kids all have workbooks that correspond to cds. Each classroom has a computer hooked up to a huge flat monitor mounted on the whiteboard, and for lessons the teachers have a remote that moves us through the material. Some of the illustrations are hokey, and the stories can be a little weird ("why doesn't daddy live with us, mommy?" "he left us a long time ago because I made a very loud fart"), but it seems very effective.
After getting home from work around 9:30, I tidied up my already spotless apartment (more about living alone soon) and waited to hear from Kate, who gets off later than I do. She came over, and we intended to watch a movie I'd borrowed from Mark (the sad one) but didn't get to it, and instead gabbed over wine until the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday, Kate and Lindsey and I met in my neighborhood and walked to the bus station by the ferris wheel together. After some confusion about what time the bus was leaving, we were able to get on the right bus and were on our way to Busan! An hour later, the bus dropped us at Haeundae beach, where we started looking for a "Love Motel." Cheap and (usually) clean, Love Motels are recommended in Lonely Planet, and all the teachers use them bc they're affordable. Ours was a few blocks from the beach, and we just had to overlook the red sconces that made for some serious mood lighting, and the 2-pack of condoms laid out with the mouthwash and little soaps. Other than that, it was fantastic, with a California-king sized bed (perfect for 3 girls), a bathtub, a mini-fridge stocked with free orange juice and chilled glasses and a ceiling painted with clouds. After we checked in, we freshened up and went across the street to an Indian restaurant (Ganga) which was a major reason for our visit. After introducing Lindsey to curry, we relaxed for a bit there and then went back to our hotel and got changed for a night on the town. Kate wanted to meet up with some friends with whom she had gone to high school, and who had spent the previous year teaching in Korea too. The girls were leaving Monday (one of them with a torn ACL from a Hapkido accident - second one I've seen since I got here), so Saturday was their going-away party with their local friends and other teachers. We met up with a big group (20ish) at a roof-top bar, where Lindsey and I were fondly called the 'newbies,' and presented with our very first taste of soju. I've heard stories of soju hitting foreigners hard, and I've also heard that it's a 'sleeper'... you don't feel anything until suddenly you're hammered, so we took it fairly easy and sipped light Korean beer between shots. From there Lindsey and Kate and I set out on our own to find somewhere to dance. After one club being unexplainably closed, we found another place, called "Foxy" and headed there. Foreigners get in for free with local ID (which I now have :) ) and we were whisked to the front of the line. The club was very cool and swanky with dark tables and two floors. Upstairs was hip hop, and downstairs was techno/pop. "Downstairs" was actually the 7th floor, and upstairs the 8th. On the 8th there was really cool balcony with a great view of the city lights, where we started hanging out once it got really crowded and hot inside, around 3.
On the way back to the hotel, we ate some street food (well, I did - Kate and Lindsey got McDonalds). Delicious, but fried food at 4, 5, whatever AM is never a stellar idea. We managed to wake up at 11:45 and slowly packed up and got ready to leave. Our first destination: Dunkin Donuts. YES! It was a beautiful thing to have the same iced decaf light and sweet that I used to get in the dirrty Jerz. After that, we had to head to Starbucks because Kate's addicted, and then we walked to a Thai restaurant Kate knew about for lunch. I've had better pad thai, but it was good enough, and the service there was great. Since we were all still pretty tired, we did some window shopping and hopped a bus back.
And now - I have to get out into the beautiful day. I can't wait until I have a computer at my place so I don't have to sit in a basement to type to you people!
OH! My phone number: 82-52-227-8740. I don't have an answering machine, so if I'm not there, I won't know you called. Sorry... and I still don't have a calling card, but hopefully soon! This week will be a bit chaotic, since I'm off and it's the last of the nice weather, so we're traveling. But next week I'll be on a schedule and it'll be easier to reach me. Thursday we're heading to Gyeongju, and on Friday might go to Daegu.
I'll post about teaching and my many other observations soon. Cheers!
posted by pixelpulp at 1:30 AM
3 Comments:
Hi Lex,
I loved reading ALL your posts since you arrived in So Korea. Today is the first chance I've had/taken to read your blog...what an adventure! Keep us informed on your daily "happenings". I'm sorry I wasn't able to get down to Santa Rosa while you briefly were in California. My trip with Mom to Colorado was fun. I said Hello to Michael & Melissa for you-said Hi back. I will keep them up on your time over there.
Love ya, Uncle Mike
oh man... this is an adventure in it's self.. getting the blog thing figured out. but way cool.. Uncle Mike kind of touched on our trip to Co., I need to say you were truly missed. I reflected on the trip you took with us and I missed your ice chest management style, you know what I mean, wink wink nod nod. Even tho granny didn't say so, she missed you, and she missed me too (I don't think she knew I was there).Every time I go to visit the folks in Co. it brings up my memories of our trip by train back to Co when you were a weee pup. Do you remember buying me a cool ring when we had a stop in New Mexico? I still have it. Your adventure sounds great, keep posting, I will call you soon, everyone here loves you and wisshes you well.
PaPa
Now, on a serious note, what do you know about the political unrest going on now, I'm sure you are aware that there is unrest going on now, what is going on, on the local levels? Are you being briefed on what could happen, or what might happen? I and all who care for you are concerned for your well being We love you.
PaPa
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