Where To Next?

Teacher Bonding

Posted on May 3, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

I don’t recall much teacher bonding going on in my schools back home in America. Of course, some teachers became great friends and spent time together outside of school but I don’t remember any group trips being planned for the entire teaching staff.

When I was told there would be a teacher outing at my city school, I assumed maybe a few teachers would go. I didn’t realize the principle, vice-principle, and just about every teacher was going.

It was an optional trip, but apparently the last native English speaking teacher was not liked by the other teachers because she never interacted with them and never tried Korean food at lunch.

I’d rather not have a similar legacy so I went.

Since we only had a half-day at school, we left after lunch. I was told we would be spending some time out in nature and have a barbeque dinner at the end so we could all get to know one another.

Now I’m definitely the type that often rolls their eyes at team-building workshops but when there is free barbeque involved, I’m up for anything.

We took a bus out into the countryside to a herb garden. It’s been raining lately and the mountains are lush and green.

It’s hard to say whether this means that everyone at the school is now best buddies. After all, there are over 40 teachers at this school, and it’s impossible that everyone would become close friends.

But I had a blast and got to spend some time with co-workers I usually don’t get a chance to talk to. We communicated in my poor Korean and they tried speaking English. I’ve talked to other American teachers here who have said they feel isolated at their schools since their co-workers don’t try to talk to them.

I feel lucky that I actually feel welcome and included, and I do try to make an effort to learn Korean.

I’m assuming this trip is all part of the school budget, which is another thing I don’t think would fly in America. Or maybe this will come out of my paycheck and they just didn’t tell me.

Oh well, bonding with co-workers over grilled meat is priceless.

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Pizza, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Time Machines

Posted on April 20, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

Yes, I ordered pizza.

Yes, it had corn on it.

There’s corn hiding in there

There was no corn that I could see on the picture, but I should have known better. Oh well, I had a pizza hankering and it did the trick. I actually preferred it cold when I was eating leftovers.

Pizza Alvolo makes the dough out of rice flour which made the inside of the crust purple. They also apparently like to get creative with their packaging.

bonus points for a cool pizza box design

I might try to order a different kind of pizza next time, maybe I will get lucky and it won’t have corn.

In other news, I seem to be a magnet for Jehovah’s witnesses. I’ve been approached four times in the three months I’ve been here by friendly and somewhat over-enthusiastic Jehovah’s witnesses.

Those were just the times they’ve come up to me on the streets, they have also knocked on my door twice.

I was sitting at a bus stop outside my country school, which is in the middle of nowhere and two older ladies were walking by. I said hello in Korean, thinking they were just walking to their house or down the road but they came over to me.

“Where are you from?”

“America.”

“Do you know Jehovah?”

“Sorry?”

“Jehovah, JW, you know,” and she pointed to the sky “God.”

“Ahh, Jehovah’s witnesses.”

And then they gave me a flyer with the Jehovah’s Witness website on it and tried to tell me something in Korean but I didn’t understand.

They continued on to visit the unsuspecting residents of rural Cheonan. I must be sending out a signal that I need Jehovah’s witnesses to come and convert me.

In my second grade class, I had my students divide up in a group and write a story using the key vocabulary and expressions. Each student had to write one sentence and it could be about anything they wanted.

They were fantastic. There were stories about bears, E.T., cheating boyfriends, picnics, and my personal favorite was about a time machine.

I didn’t tell them to draw, they just knew the story would be incomplete without a drawing of the time machine.

This week we are doing review of all the lessons we have covered so far and we are watching Spongebob. They have mid-terms coming up and many of my students are in school from 8:30 to 4:15 pm and then after-school programs from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. And they get to do homework for both institutions.

I think they deserve a little Spongebob.

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Ordering Delivery Food in Korea

Posted on April 10, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

When you sign up for a language class, you usually learn how to introduce yourself, words like post office and city hall, and different greetings.

No one tells you how to order Chinese food over the phone.

Yes, you need to know how to get to the bank and how to pay your electric bill, but ordering food for your lazy self so you don’t have to leave you apartment is more important.

Restaurants put magnetic menus on your door, hoping you choose them for your delivery food needs. You can order pizza, noodles, fried chicken, but I seem to get mostly Chinese food menus.

I really wanted to try to order food over the phone, how hard could it be? Reading the menu was actually the most difficult part of the process.

…where are the pictures?

that’s better!

Once you call the number, the person just responds with “yes?”. They don’t waste any time, they just want to know what you want.

After you tell them the food you want and how much of it, they will ask “where are you?”. Hopefully you can say your address in Korean. I said it slowly which I’m sure annoyed the person listening. But they managed to deliver it to my apartment quickly, and that is all that matters.

I ordered tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) and bokeumbap (fried rice). It may be Chinese food, but you still need a healthy dose of kimchi and pickled radishes.

It was greasy and hot, just what I wanted on a cold and cloudy day.

I didn’t have to pay extra for delivery, but I don’t know if it’s different for larger orders.

Some delivery places provide actual dishes so they will give you a plastic bag to put your dirty dishes in and they will come back and get the bag. You just leave the bag outside the door if you don’t feel like having any human interaction

Not only do you not have to cook or fetch the food, someone cleans up after your mess.

Now I need to try ordering pizza, without any corn.

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Spontaneous Trip to Suwon

Posted on March 29, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

In keeping with my tradition of leaving Cheonan for a day without any planning, I went to Suwon for a few hours to check out the UNESCO world heritage site, Hwaseong Fortress.

The city section of Suwon looks nearly identical to Cheonan. It has the same chain coffee shops, architecture, bus drivers who seem to enjoy giving passengers whiplash, and the same fashion trends.

But Suwon has a mega fortress surrounding the city. There are sections of the fortress you can just walk onto and take a little hike on an ancient building while still being in the middle of bustling Suwon.

The fortress was built in the 18th century by King Jeongjo. According to the UNESCO site, he built it in order to create a new political center of the country. And if you’re a king, you probably want your house surrounded by some big walls.

I found some stairs next to one of the walls and climbed up.

The fortress is also where King Jeongjo decided to house the remains of his dad. I’m not sure if his dad is still hanging out there though, I might have missed the sign that said “King’s dad buried here”.

There was an area that showed a replica of the King’s quarters. The main visitors were elderly hikers and young families. The people my age walking around were probably fellow history nerds. There were some English descriptions, but I thought most of them were vague. My Korean is not good enough to understand history terms on the Korean signs.

I’m guessing the one with the shiny outfit was somebody important

I saw probably only 1/16th of the whole fortress. Maybe next time I’ll grab some hiking shoes and walk the whole wall.

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Can you teach self-esteem?

Posted on March 29, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

“I hope to lose weight this year.”

We were learning the phrase “I hope ____.”

I asked all of my students to write down their hopes for the school year. At least one student in every class, sometimes two, said they hoped they could lose weight.

Most of the students who mentioned weight were girls.

To be fair, many students also said they hoped to visit an amusement park, get better grades, and buy a new computer game.

I quickly reassured my students who mentioned weight that there was no need for them to lose weight. Not a single student who mentioned weight was anywhere close to needing to lose a few pounds.

Weight is also not seen as a taboo topic here, at least not on the same level as it would be in America. I’ve heard people openly discuss their weight with each other.

When I tried to downplay my students’ need for weight loss, they all shook their heads. They said they needed to go on a diet.

I wasn’t floored when I heard these comments, but I was still uncomfortable. Their age is not what bothers me, I’ve heard even younger children talk about their appearance in a negative way.

When I show up to school, I’m not only there to teach English. My contract doesn’t mention anything about teaching self-esteem, but it’s still a concern.

If the kids bully each other, or if they are feeling depressed, or have problems with body image, I can’t ignore it.

My middle school years weren’t all too long ago, and I know this is the age when you start feeling less and less like an innocent child and more like an awkward young adult.

I don’t think anyone can look back at their middle school years and say “I was completely comfortable in my own skin and I was self-assured and confident all the time”.

Is this the media’s fault? Is it their mother’s fault? Is this just a phase that every teenager goes through? Is it a combination of several factors? Is there nothing I can do?

Maybe I’m just over-thinking.

I think it’s human to compare yourself to other humans. If we didn’t have photoshopped magazine covers, parents who are obsessed with dieting, or hormones, we would still look at someone else and wish we could be just a little bit more like them.

Being skinny doesn’t make every problem go away. You can be the thinnest person in the room and still berate yourself for not being the smartest person in the room or the only person in the room without a significant other.

I’m not naive enough to think that I can come to this country and overhaul the entire education system, make my students fluent in English, and reach past every single obstacle in every student’s life to make their confidence issues disappear.

But just because I can’t change everything doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to change anything. I can ask them about their hopes and fears and let them know their thoughts and opinions matter to me.

I have one hope for this year. When my students come to my class, I want them to feel better about themselves.

Posted in Korean schools | 2 Comments

Open air market in Cheonan

Posted on March 23, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

I didn’t have any plans one Saturday and my friend asked if I wanted to see a more traditional side of Korea.

By traditional, I mean less sleek and modern like the downtown area I live in and more of a relaxed, less sterilized part of town.

A group of five of us went to the open air market near the Cheonan subway station. You could buy fresh vegetables, fruit, live squid, pickled radishes, chicken feet, hand bags, sweat pants, hanboks, flowers, Buddhist charms, and most importantly, fried pieces of bread.

hanbok shop

this part was not for the faint of sinus

This is where I’ve felt the most eyes on me out of all the places I have been to in Korea. It’s not like I have been to a long list of places, but I don’t get many stares when I walk around. Or maybe I do and I’m just oblivious.

But this kind of market appeals to the older crowd, and older people here don’t seem to be subtle about anything. When they stared, it wasn’t as discreet.

you could buy a cactus

or a nice cap

I’m not sure whose hand that is

all the kimchi you could want

I enjoyed myself though, especially since these weren’t antagonistic stares, just looks of surprise that a group of white people wandered out to a place where live octopus were being sold. And we were met with nothing but kindness and smiles at every little shop and stand we stopped at.

I didn’t know there would be doughnuts! I ate two just to make sure I liked them.

I’m just impressed I only ate two

We also had hotteok. A hotteok is a small pancake that is usually filled with brown sugar. I only had a bite since I used up all of my stomach on the wonderful doughnuts.

This was a fun place to take a stroll and a nice break from an e-mart or a shopping mall. Variety is necessary in life.

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Saturday in Seoul

Posted on March 17, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

I’ve been lucky to see some cool sights around Cheonan, but I was itching to get out of the city. I didn’t move to Korea to just hang out in the same town all the time.

So I picked a Saturday that wouldn’t be too cold and gross and hopped on a bus to Seoul.

I’m fully aware that you can’t see Seoul in one Saturday, but you need to start somewhere.

From Cheonan, you have several transit options. I could take a high-speed KTX train. I could take the subway. Or I could take an express bus.

I knew some other teachers took the express bus into Seoul and they said it was a simple option. They also said you could buy your tickets at the bus terminal right before you wanted to leave.

I could have gone to the ticket counter and ordered tickets the old-fashioned way but I saw everyone else using the touch screen kiosk.

Naturally, the kiosk for buying tickets was only in Korean. My strategy was to push every button until I found something that seemed correct.

I found a button that said “Seoul” and pressed it because that had to be the direction I needed to be in. A screen popped up with a time table and I picked the next available time. It showed the cost of the bus ride and the duration.

A one way ticket to Seoul from Cheonan was 5,400 won or $5.40. The bus ride was one hour.

The bus itself was comfortable. There was a big screen tv at the front of the bus playing news, but it didn’t have sound. The chairs were soft and you could close the curtains over the windows. My seat mate was snoozing, so no bus chatting for me.

And most importantly, it was clean.

I got into Seoul at 11:30 am and the first thing I did was find a Kimbap Nara and chow down on lunch. I know Seoul has countless delicious eateries but I didn’t really want to spend too much money on food in case I found clothes that actually fit me.

Now this trip didn’t showcase my planning expertise. I also didn’t have a phone plan at the time so I couldn’t just use the internet freely, I needed to leech off whatever free wifi I could.

I knew the places I wanted to go to were all on Line 2 of the subway. The Seoul bus terminal was connected to a subway station. This particular subway station was not on Line 2 so I needed to take the subway to a station where I could transfer.

Fortunately subway stations in Seoul are filled with English signs for clueless foreigners who didn’t bother to download maps. I just followed the giant signs for the subway that said it was going to Konkuk University.

Of course reading Korean helps, but if you are just visiting Seoul, you could probably get away with just reading English.

Konkuk University station is on Line 7 from the bus terminal subway station and is also on Line 2. If you look at a subway map in Seoul, they tell you which stations allow transfers.

I already know I prefer subways to buses in Korea. No one is holding on for dear life and no one has to run for their seat before the driver guns it.

Once I made it to Konkuk University station, I transferred over to Line 2 (which was easy to find since a giant sign told me where to go) and headed to Euljiro-3-ga Station.

What is at Euljiro-3-ga Station you ask? I was there to see the Cheonggye Stream.

the giant purple and red swirling unicorn horn points the way to the stream

It wasn’t crowded since the windy winter is not the ideal time for hanging out by a body of water. I will have to go back in the summer.

I enjoyed getting to walk around without the crowds but I didn’t stay long, I wanted to see Hongdae.

I continued on Line 2 to Hongik University station. The area surrounding Hongik University is called Hongdae. I wanted to stop by Ehwa Women’s University too, but I ended up loving Hongdae too much.

Hongdae is the young, trendy hipster oasis of Seoul. It surrounds Hongik University. Since Hongik University is known for its fine arts instruction, it makes sense that Hongdae is an artist mecca.

You just walk out of Hongik University station in any direction and you will see vendors selling key chains, clothing that was way to small for me, cell phone cases, and every other kind of artsy accessory. Street art was everywhere, and I mean whimsical and beautiful art. Why can’t all street art be this charming?

Spongebob!

Hongdae is where Korea’s indie bands and artists go to perform. I didn’t go to any clubs, but there was a guy rapping in the middle of the street to an enthusiastic crowd.

While one half of Hongdae seemed like party central, the other half was a quiet residential neighborhood with little independent coffee shops and clothing boutiques in and around the houses.

I only stayed in Hongdae until 5 pm. I walk on the wild side, I know. I was worried that I would miss the last bus to Cheonan and then I would be stuck in Seoul for the evening.

Although that probably wouldn’t be a terrible situation.

But I dragged myself back to the bus terminal, ate a snack and made the return trip to Cheonan. I know I will be back to Seoul sooner than later. There are only a million more neighborhoods I need to see

Posted in Korea travel | 1 Comment

A look at my schools

Posted on March 11, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

I started teaching at the beginning of March, and while I feel like I have no idea what I am doing most of the time, I’m hoping that will pass.

Fortunately there are friendly teachers at both schools that are willing to help me out, and sometimes they even bring me oranges!

outside the country school

I have two middle schools. I go to the country school one day a week, and the city school four days a week.

The country school is way out in the sticks. When they were showing me where the schools were, the country school wasn’t even on the map. I have a 40 minute bus ride from my apartment.

It’s a long time to be on the bus, but I don’t mind getting to be out of the hustle and bustle of the city for a little while. And the countryside will be gorgeous in the summer!

I have an English room where I teach and plan lessons and whatnot. Most of the other teachers share one big office.

the best part is the heating fan under the desk

I teach 1st grade (7th graders), 2nd grade (8th graders), and 3rd grade (9th graders). Each class only has about 20 students.

They apparently like to draw pictures of me, which is adorable!

My city school is only a 20 minute bus ride, or 15 in fast traffic and 30 in slow traffic.

I also have my own English classroom at the city school. This school is double the size and population of the country school. There are so many teachers so there are several offices and my class sizes are about 34.

I only teach 1st and 2nd grade at the city school.

Both schools are incredibly modern, and the lunches are tasty. When was the last time you had fresh strawberries for an American public school lunch? I know I never saw any.

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Getting a haircut in Korea, with zero Korean skills

Posted on March 9, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

I can read and write Korean at a painfully slow pace. My comprehension and speaking skills are low.

And I definitely have no clue how to ask for a haircut in Korean.

But when your hair gets shaggy it’s time to bite the bullet. I went to a hair cut chain called Leechard Pro Hair. Don’t know what Leechard means but it seemed busy so I figured it couldn’t be too terrible.

Since I already have short hair I knew cutting my hair too short wouldn’t be an issue. There wouldn’t be any “oh I just want a trim” and then they cut off eight inches because I don’t have eight inches of hair to begin with.

It was swanky by my standards. They take your coat, offer you coffee and juice, make you sit down on comfy leather stools. I’m not sure if every haircut chain in Korea is like Leechard, but if they are, I can see why they have loyal customers.

After they sat me down in the lobby, one man came over with a clip board and asked me some quick questions in Korean. All I could make out was “cut” and “style” and I said yes, hoping I did not just agree to dye my hair pink.

I’m sure you could call and make an appointment but I just walked in and only waited 5 minutes.

A staff member guided me over to the lady who would actually cut my hair, and I showed her a picture of what I was hoping for. I just pointed to different parts of my hair and said “shorter.”

Language barrier aside, she knew what she was doing.

After she cut it, another woman came over and took me to the hair washing room. She washed and conditioned my hair and brought me back to the lady doing the cutting.

This place was efficient. They didn’t leisurely chat and take their time while cutting hair.

Once my hair was washed, I got it dried and styled. And this was all happening while the hair washing woman was dusting loose hairs off my face with a giant make up brush.

The lady who actually cut my hair gave me her card and then the staff bowed 90 degrees as I left. I felt so fancy.

Oh and it was all only 16,000 won or $16.

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Korea has no shortage of tasty food

Posted on February 22, 2015 by sadielynwelhoff

I have a feeling I’m going to be one lame food blogger.

As soon as the food gets placed in front of me I think “I should take a picture of that, someone might think it’s interesting”. And then I have eaten half the food and I realize it’s too late for a picture.

Kimbap Nara and Kimbap Chungook are everywhere. They serve classic and simple Korean food. But so far all the ones I have visited have been clean and you get good portion sizes for the price.

And most importantly, they serve all kinds of Kimbap.

$1.50 deliciousness

Kimbap is rice wrapped in seaweed with a variety of fillings. The most popular one has egg, radish, spinach, carrot, and ham. Then it gets a spread of sesame oil and sesame seeds.

You can get kimbap with tuna, donkasu (pork cutlet), cheese, kimchi, and whatever else the kimbap lady comes up with.

So far, donkasu, dwenjang jigae (soybean paste soup), and duk mandu guk (rice cake and dumpling soup), have been my favorites.

side dishes at Kimbap Nara, kimchi, radish, fish cakes, and little sausages

omurice

I haven’t gotten sick of rice…yet. Maybe I can handle rice once a day, I don’t know about every meal.

roast chicken and rice

I also tried Indian food for the first time. I have nothing to compare it to if I wanted to judge its authenticity, but I liked it. And the piece of naan was enormous! It was more like naan with a tiny side of chicken tikka masala.

I’ll try to get more food pictures, but good food is awfully distracting.

Posted in Slice of Life | 1 Comment

Where To Next?

Teacher Bonding

Pizza, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Time Machines

Ordering Delivery Food in Korea

Spontaneous Trip to Suwon

Can you teach self-esteem?

Open air market in Cheonan

Saturday in Seoul

A look at my schools

Getting a haircut in Korea, with zero Korean skills

Korea has no shortage of tasty food

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