As most of you know, things have been pretty stressful with all of my hospital trips and misdiagnoses...as well as what went on at my school at the same time. I have been looking for another job and interviewing, while still working at my current school. It's been a long process but things are finally starting to turn around! Before I left the states, one of my grad school professors gave the contact information for one of his former students who is from South Korea, but came to the US and did my same Masters program. Now, him and his wife work at a university in Seoul, really close to Bundang. I have exchanged several emails with him while I've been here about life in Korea, and any questions I've had. When I first got here, he asked if I'd be interested in teaching with him at the university. However, I had already signed a contract with my school and was excited to work the with the kids.
In my job search, I didn't think it would hurt to email him and see if they needed teachers for the new semester beginning in January. Sure enough they were holding interviews last week, and as soon as I sent my resume to his boss, I was set up with an interview. I wasn't sure I wanted to move that far away...only about an hour by bus and subway, but still far from my friends here. However, after the interview I fell in love with the school. It is a beautiful campus, and I'd make the same amount of money, only working 18 hours a week as opposed to the 50+ I work now. I began to really want the job, at the same time worrying that I didn't have the necessary qualifications. Their website for employment says they prefer candidates with a teaching degree and certain certifications that I don't have.
However, my inside contact must have had a lot of pull because I got an email yesterday offering me the job. It couldn't have come at a better time! I will start in January and I can't wait. They offer two different types of housing. You can either live on campus...on a floor with about 15 foreign teachers, in a small flat that is still bigger than the one I have now, free of charge. Or, you can live in a bigger apartment about 15 minutes away and pay all of the electric bills etc. The teaching is mostly conversation classes with university students and adults, which will be very different but I think my experiences learning spanish will really help me relate to them. There are so many perks to the job, in addition to the reduced hours. We also have 9 paid vacation weeks a year, as compared to my 8 days I have with my current job. I'll let you all know more as soon as I find out more. Your prayers must be working because things are falling into place and i'm so happy!
Aside from the job, we are planning out trip to Thailand for Christmas. Staying on the beach in huts...sand and sun and everything is oh so cheap which means lots of shopping. My paradise! Haha. We'll also be there for the full moon party, which happens once a year where EVERYONE stays on the beach for two days partying and having a good time. Another adventure that I'm sure will be once in a lifetime!
Love you and miss you all!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Pepero Day...a little Korean culture
On November 11, South Korea has a holiday called Pepero Day. It's similar to Valentines Day in the US, but was only started about 10 years ago. Pepero are sweet, dry breadsticks coated in chocolate that they sell everywhere here. Supposedly, the company that makes Pepero sticks began the holiday to boost their sales, and it worked amazingly. On Pepero Day, people give Pepero sticks and other candy and gifts to their loved ones and significant others. I read online about what Pepero Day really is and it was pretty interesting.
Pepero sticks are long and skinny, hence the holiday being 11/11 (Nov. 11) to represent 5 Pepero sticks. It is common to exchange them between your girlfriends,to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero." It makes complete sense, given that girls here are obsessed with being thin...and tall, which isn't in their genes. It was cool to learn about the holiday, so different than anything we do in the US. Some of my kids brought me Pepero sticks which was sweet, and of course it was an excuse for me and Si to have a special night. He cooked dinner and we watched a movie with popcorn (which we never have here!) It was another great experience! Hope all is well and I am thinking about you all!
Pepero sticks are long and skinny, hence the holiday being 11/11 (Nov. 11) to represent 5 Pepero sticks. It is common to exchange them between your girlfriends,to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero." It makes complete sense, given that girls here are obsessed with being thin...and tall, which isn't in their genes. It was cool to learn about the holiday, so different than anything we do in the US. Some of my kids brought me Pepero sticks which was sweet, and of course it was an excuse for me and Si to have a special night. He cooked dinner and we watched a movie with popcorn (which we never have here!) It was another great experience! Hope all is well and I am thinking about you all!
Halloween Celebrations
In college, I was in both Spain and Chile for Halloween. In both of these countries, the holiday was just beginning to catch on, from Hollywood movies and such. A few people dressed up but it was basically just a night to go out and have fun. Korea is DEFINITELY a different story! My school, as well as others I am familiar with, went all out with Halloween decorations and festivities. Our school was decorated from top to bottom with ghosts, spider webs, witches and pumpkins. There were more things filling the hallways and classrooms than I have ever seen before! It was like going to work in our own haunted house, and the kids were excited about Halloween and talked about it constantly for all of October. We have a small playroom, set up like a playground at McDonalds, that was transformed into a haunted house.
On Halloween, all of the kids dressed up. There were tons of princesses, witches and wizards among others. In the morning, each class carved their own jack-o-lantern, but the pumpkins are different here and it was the best workout I have ever had! The kids got a kick out of watching me try to jam the butcher knife into a rock-hard pumpkin like object. I must say that I am slightly turned off from carving pumpkins now...at least in this country! I think it would have been easier with a chain saw! After that, classes took turns going to the haunted house. There was a teacher dressed up like a dead person and actually looked pretty scary. The kids had to rummage around the playroom, filled with spider webs, bats and scary music to find a treasure box. They each stuck their hand in the box, that was filled with wet noodles, gummy worms and other gross things to find a piece of candy. Some of them were pretty grossed but it was all in good fun. Throughout the day we did different Halloween puzzles and activities.
After all of the classes had visited the haunted house, we all went to the big playroom, like a gym, for Halloween games. First we played pin the nose on the witch and it was so funny watching the kids...and teachers...scramble around blindfolded trying to place the nose. The next game was a pinata, but instead of hitting it with a stick like we do in the states, the kids were each given a bean bag and on the count of three, everyone thew them at the pinata until it broke open. Not a good idea in a closed space! More than one person got hit in the head with flying bean bags and it seemed to be the teachers who were the lucky targets! When the pinata broke open, the room turned into tackle football, and there was a huge pile up of about 50 kids trying to get the candy that fell out of the pinata. Fun fun!
Finally, we played a game where the kids had to try and find the apple. There were four pie pans in a row, with cut up pieces of apple and potatoes, one piece placed on each pie pan. One was an apple and the rest were potatoes. Four students went at a time, and on go, ran up, picked a pie pan, and got on there hands and knees to eat there selected treat. The person who ate the apple won a point for their class. It would have been fun if the lunch ladies hadn't gotten the brilliant idea to mix the apples and potatoes in mayonaise! It was so funny to see the kids faces, some not being able to avoid spitting them right back out. Mayonaise?? At least try yogurt or something a little more appetizing. Needless to say, the teachers couldn't be convinced to take part in this game!
After lunch, the whole school went trick or treating. Teachers stayed in their classrooms with candy, and the students went from room to room for their treats. They had their own version of the trick or treat song that went like this, "Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. Not too big, not too small, just the size of BUUUUUNDANG." Bundang is the city we live in, and the song was pretty cute.
The teachers were all really good sports about dressing up. I borrowed a bright crayola red wig from a friend...it was pretty short hair, and wore devil horns and black clothes. The kids got a kick out of my wig...asking continuously if it was my real hair. It was a wonderful day that I won't soon forget!
On Halloween, all of the kids dressed up. There were tons of princesses, witches and wizards among others. In the morning, each class carved their own jack-o-lantern, but the pumpkins are different here and it was the best workout I have ever had! The kids got a kick out of watching me try to jam the butcher knife into a rock-hard pumpkin like object. I must say that I am slightly turned off from carving pumpkins now...at least in this country! I think it would have been easier with a chain saw! After that, classes took turns going to the haunted house. There was a teacher dressed up like a dead person and actually looked pretty scary. The kids had to rummage around the playroom, filled with spider webs, bats and scary music to find a treasure box. They each stuck their hand in the box, that was filled with wet noodles, gummy worms and other gross things to find a piece of candy. Some of them were pretty grossed but it was all in good fun. Throughout the day we did different Halloween puzzles and activities.
After all of the classes had visited the haunted house, we all went to the big playroom, like a gym, for Halloween games. First we played pin the nose on the witch and it was so funny watching the kids...and teachers...scramble around blindfolded trying to place the nose. The next game was a pinata, but instead of hitting it with a stick like we do in the states, the kids were each given a bean bag and on the count of three, everyone thew them at the pinata until it broke open. Not a good idea in a closed space! More than one person got hit in the head with flying bean bags and it seemed to be the teachers who were the lucky targets! When the pinata broke open, the room turned into tackle football, and there was a huge pile up of about 50 kids trying to get the candy that fell out of the pinata. Fun fun!
Finally, we played a game where the kids had to try and find the apple. There were four pie pans in a row, with cut up pieces of apple and potatoes, one piece placed on each pie pan. One was an apple and the rest were potatoes. Four students went at a time, and on go, ran up, picked a pie pan, and got on there hands and knees to eat there selected treat. The person who ate the apple won a point for their class. It would have been fun if the lunch ladies hadn't gotten the brilliant idea to mix the apples and potatoes in mayonaise! It was so funny to see the kids faces, some not being able to avoid spitting them right back out. Mayonaise?? At least try yogurt or something a little more appetizing. Needless to say, the teachers couldn't be convinced to take part in this game!
After lunch, the whole school went trick or treating. Teachers stayed in their classrooms with candy, and the students went from room to room for their treats. They had their own version of the trick or treat song that went like this, "Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. Not too big, not too small, just the size of BUUUUUNDANG." Bundang is the city we live in, and the song was pretty cute.
The teachers were all really good sports about dressing up. I borrowed a bright crayola red wig from a friend...it was pretty short hair, and wore devil horns and black clothes. The kids got a kick out of my wig...asking continuously if it was my real hair. It was a wonderful day that I won't soon forget!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Back amongst the living!
It's been awhile since i've been able to write and so much has happened! It seems like my life has done a complete 180! When I was in China I had bad abdominal pains and went through a series of tests both there and back in Korea. We thought everything was figured out, but the same thing happened again last month and this time I had to be hospitalized...again. Since arriving in Korea, I had already had my appendix removed, and was now going through so much pain again. I was in the hospital for three days this time, with a specialist running several tests, including a CAT scan and a PET scan. I was finally diagnosed with endometriosis, which isn't very uncommon, and they found a mass on my ovary, a little bigger than a golf ball. There was a cancer scare for awhile, but after seeing the tests results, the doctor seems to think there is no immediate danger. He says I will have to have it removed eventually, but not right away. When I returned to work, things just continued to go downhill. I found out that they were replacing me at my job because of my hospital stay and missing those three days of work. In Korea, there is a completely different mindset about work, and I am learning a lot more about that! I went through some things with the new director at our school, who doesn't seem to think the contract I signed is worth anything. It's hard to understand why things are happening as they are, when I haven't breached the contract in any way, but I'm willing to accept it and move on. Jobs are very easy to come by here, and teachers are needed everywhere!
As for now, I am at my current job until the end of November, and I have another appointment with the doctor to make sure nothing has changed, but as of now I want to get another teaching job and stay in Korea. I have loved every second of teaching, and the kids are wonderful. I will let everyone know what happens as soon as I learn something. Miss you and am thinking of you all!
As for now, I am at my current job until the end of November, and I have another appointment with the doctor to make sure nothing has changed, but as of now I want to get another teaching job and stay in Korea. I have loved every second of teaching, and the kids are wonderful. I will let everyone know what happens as soon as I learn something. Miss you and am thinking of you all!
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