EPIK Feb. 2010 Closing Ceremony Video - You may need a Facebook account to view this video.

"Kickin' it in Geumchon" by the EV Boys - A Beastie Boys style rap video about living in Korea. If you only lived here this would hilarious to you.

Drive around Gumi - A video of Gumi, my Korean home, taken from the back of a scooter, with background music by The Go Team!.

Random picture of downtown.

Corona Bar in downtown Gumi.

Presents that teachers gave me for my birthday. The top one my teacher made herself. It's replica Hanbok, or traditional Korean dress. Koreans still wear Hanbok today at weddings, sometimes for the reception.

A gift from the art department. No comment.

This weekend, I went to Busan for my birthday and to visit my friend Kelly. She was one of my college roommates and she is from Long Island.

This is a picture of Haeundae Beach in Busan. The hill in the background is called Dalmagi Hill. It's a rich area (high property value) of Busan, and it's where Kelly lives.

Here is the most delicious galbi I have ever eaten, in probably the best galbi/samgyupsal restaurant in Busan. Galbi means "rib" in Korean, and samgyupsal is usually strips of fatty pork. These restaurants are the most common Korean restaurants and the cheapest, best food you can ever eat. As you can see, you cook your own meat and vegetables. Then you wrap the good stuff in a leaf and put the whole thing in your mouth. I don't know why I don't show more pictures of food, they get me so excited!

Me and Kelly at the restaurant. She really cant stop doing the "peace sign" when she poses for a picture. Seriously, she has that problem! (j/k, i <3 you)

 The picture was taken from a swanky private "norebang" room (karaoke room). Kelly, two of her friends, and I were there from 5-7am, so we got to see the sunrise over Haeundae beach.

My desk in the teachers office.

A random picture of Gumi.

Gumi train station. It has restaurants, coffee shops, department stores, and a supermarket in and under the building. Public transportation is so well done in Korea.

South Korea has Pizza Hut! I haven't tried it yet, but I hear its good but expensive.

Ego Tripping

The weather has been really schizophrenic lately here in Korea. Today was another rainy day, which we have been getting a lot of, but for every rainy day there is a sunny one. One of my co-teachers told me that March is usually crazy like this. I heard it has been similar in the States with all the snow and such.

Anyway, the last week has taken a lot out of me. It was kind of hard to sleep and wake up at the right times the first few days of school. On the first day I was so nervous the night before I only got one hour of sleep. But I haven't taught yet, so I really should have worried less. The first week has been pretty carefree though, but nothing was as memorable as the first day.

I don't know if I said this before, but I work at Songjeong Girls Middle School. My school has 1000 students, ages about 12-15 years old. So on the first day our entire student body and faculty had an assembly to welcome the first years to the school. When I entered the gym the vice principal told the teachers to stand at the wall in the back. So when the students saw me walking through the crowd to the back of the room, all eyes were fixed on me and the kids were gasping. I didn't know what was up; the kids are well off enough that they probably go to private English institutes. They probably see foreigners often. But having one as your teacher, being able to talk directly to one in your own school, and having him be a young guy in a girls school? The attention was pretty intense. And, of course, the teachers had to be introduced on stage by the principal himself....

The teachers were split into groups, so when my group was called up to the stage I had a chance to look at all of the students at once. When I looked, all eyes were on me. Then I saw that, in a special place on the second floor, the parents of the first year students were also there! I tried hard not to show my nervousness. When the principal called out my name, I stepped forward and bowed to the kids and their parents. The place erupted with clapping, cheering, and the loudest, high pitched girlish squeal I have ever heard. (after talking to the rest of my friends, similar things happened to every one of them) At that point I felt like a rock star. The attention hasn't waned yet though, and its a real ego trip to be here.

Walking through the halls can be dangerous. I have to watch when I go to the bathroom or to the administration office. If I enter the hallways during the students' time, the 10 minutes between each period, I get swarmed by girls with questions, giggles, and creepy stares. The first years will wave and say "Hi!" then usually run away. The second years will say "Hello..." and wait for you to respond, then run away. The third years are usually very embarrassed, probably because they are very socially aware at that age, but one brave one actually said "Hello. How are you?" to me on the stairs. Many times, when I walk away, I will hear "Handsome!!" yelled from down the hall (again, rock star status)....

One last thing, which is probably the cutest and most telling thing about how scared these kids are of speaking English to a foreigner. In groups they will come up to you and be brave, but if singled out they will enter panic mode. One group of second years knocked on and opened the door to the teachers office, only to find that most of the teachers were in class and I was one of the only ones there. One of them thought that they were all going in, but when she looked back she saw her friends were staying put. When I looked at her face she gasped loudly and turned her whole body around to face the corner. She looked like she was thinking of the quickest, least embarrassing way to get out of the situation. How funny is that! I wonder how it will be when I am in the front of the classroom, trying to get the kids to speak English.

My co-teachers are all really friendly and hospitable. The two that I will be working with the most speak excellent English and are very open to helping me with my lesson plans. One of them has been teaching for two years so far, and this is her first year at Songjeong Middle School. The other is a contract teacher, which means she isn't licensed but her job is less stable. The rest of my teachers are a little older, but just as easy to work with. It is a real blast going in every day and talking to all of the staff and students. I hope it stays this good all year.

Well that's about all I have time to talk about right now. For the time being I have internet in my apartment, so I can talk a little more often. Monday I teach my first class so wish me luck!

Bring nothing.

Well I took my moms advice and didn't bring up the contract again. I know Koreans like to do things at the last minute, and the lease just started the day I arrived, so of course they didn't have furniture yet. They had already ordered it online so my closet and bed actually arrived the next day and when I got back from EMart (Korean Walmart) they were both already there and set up. Koreans are the nicest people in the world to foriegners so I feel at home here.

I randomly ran into my friend Shamus at Lotte Mart, who told me that it's best to be Polite but Firm. He is a New Zealander who has been teaching in Korea for years.  He kinda got the short end of the stick. His school is in the sticks, where there are literally two buildings and just a few houses. When he got there he asked where his apartment was and they told him they didn't have one ready for him yet. They tried to get him to stay in the basement of the Administration Officer's business. He told them that he was really thankful for their gracious offer, but he "wanted to keep his Personal life seperate from his Professional life." They put him up in a motel for a day and went around with him for hours looking for an apartment in Gumi proper. They wouldn't buy him a year lease, probably because they thought he would run. So they got him a month-to-month apartment near Gumi Station, in the downtown area.

In comparison, I really lucked out. I just wish I had internet in my apartment (which I will get soon), but there are plenty of PC rooms (internet cafes) around where I live, along with tons of restaurants (yes Seongy, Outback Steakhouse, Popeyes, McDonalds, etc. are all here to keep my cholesterol up, although I haven't tried any restaurant yet) and convienience stores.

After I set up my apartment with food and necessities, and did my laundry, I just walked around the city for hours. It is a lot like Queens, quite spread out but with a lot of restaurants, dry cleaners, and salons, and a lot going on. I just need to get my camera battery charger (which I left at home) and take some pictures to post.
The weather is rainy and humid, but cold. I am wearing layers and I am still a little cold, although it's better than being hot and sweaty. I have already cased most of the city and I know how to find my house on Google Maps. If you want, here are some instructions:
 
-Type Songjeong Dong, Gumi, South Korea into Google Maps search bar and click Search Maps.
-Click Satellite, a button on the top right corner of the map.
-Find Gumi Civil Stadium, which looks like an egg-shaped oval with a smaller maroon colored dome next to it. It should be on the bottom right of the screen.
-My school is one of the large, open dirt areas with surrounding buildings to the northwest of Gumi Stadium. Specifically it is the southern one, as the northern one is an elementary school.
-I live so close to the school that I can see it from my apartment, so I live on the street north of the school grounds.
 
I start my first day of school tomorrow. When I called my co-teacher, Park seungsennim (literally Park teacher), she told me to "bring nothing." When I asked her what I would be doing tomorrow she said, "You will find out about the school." Sounds good to me! Some people will have to start teaching right off the bat. But it won't hurt if I make a few introductory lesson plans. I can always fix them later to fit the situation.
 
The one thing I do have to bring is a few indoors shoes. They all take off their shoes when they get to work, and put on leather slipper looking things. I figure for the first week I may be able to clean the bottoms of my two good looking pairs of shoes and leave those at school until I get a sweet pair of slippers like they wear. When I met my principal and administration I made sure to scope out what type of slippers they were wearing. They were black leather slippers with what looked like sandal straps around the toes and top of the foot.... I guess thats professional here, but I really couldn't stop thinking about how ridiculous it looked.
 
Oh well, that's enough of my nervous banter. Now its time to study Hangul (the Korean alphabet) and start reading and speaking some Korean! I want to be able to read all my kids names by the 8th, the day I should start teaching.