Christmas in Bucheon and K-Pop

Well guys, it's Christmas time! Sorry for the delay in the posting, but the season got busy, and promises to be get even busier with the start of intensives (winter classes during the day) next week. I'll do my best to keep pictures and stories coming.

On Christmas, I had to teach, but I stayed up late the night before because I got myself all excited for opening presents and couldn't go to sleep. That being said, it meant I was up late enough to see the snow begin to fall around midnight in Bucheon, so we had a white Christmas!!!

On Christmas we went out with everyone from work for a Chinese and did a Secret Santa. Then we went to Noraebang, the Korean version of Karaoke, and sang. The original plan had been to sing Christmas songs, but that degenerated into group songs and musicals, where we serenaded one another with all sorts of nonsense before hurrying off home.

We got to sleep in on Boxing day, so this was all okay. Thank you everyone for my presents!!!

This week we also went into Seoul to Myeongdong, the shopping district. We went to several K-pop shops to buy cds and posters of favorite bands (K-Pop is massive here, all the kids know it, and its hard not to get into some of it, since it's not like it's bad music. It's also a good way to start learning Korean words, because many people have already translated the songs). Then we met up with some of the others for food in the D-Cube shopping center, which is a really cool place. There are waterfalls that start at the top of the building, then run through the middle of each floor as rivers with glass bottoms before dropping to the next floor. Fish live in the water, so you can watch them from above or from below through the ceiling on the lower floors.

Then we headed home in time for the end of year concert where the current stars perform their best hits in celebration of the New Year! So, happy New Year everyone!

-Sam

Myeong-dong snow, outside Forever21!

Brooke and I at Myeong-dong.

Amy and Brooke at Myeong-dong.

Amy and Brooke with a mascot walking in Myeong-dong.

Myeong-dong.

Brooke and Rebekah at the Chinese on Christmas Day.

Everyone during Secret Santa at the Chinese.

Amy at the Chinese.

Amy and I at the Chinese on Christmas Day.

Language Cafes, Bank Accounts, and New Gloves

Sorry for the delay in this week's update. I've been busy with a great many things.

Sometime the other week we went to KBStar and set up our bank accounts, meaning we can finally get flight reimbursements and be paid. I've got paid for a week of teaching I did for November, and that was nice, since I was started to run low on money. My very first paycheck will be split between the Arrival Store and monthly living expenses, so I won't be able to start properly saving up until my paycheck arrives in February, but that's okay. For now I'm feeling comfortable. I have a plan to pay off my credit card (which I've been using recently to pay for meals and such as I originally had planned) and to save up.

I've had to buy myself some new gloves. Korean winters are indeed cold, and mine were really thin. These ones cost me a pretty penny, but that's because they're lined with fur. Yay for fur-lined mittens! Best investment so far. I love them already.

My place is now mostly furnished, so those expenses are done for the most part. I'm just looking at finding some curtains now so I have a bit more privacy in my loft (right now you can see up into it if you wanted to) and to block out the light since my teaching schedule is a bit funny at the moment.

Last Sunday I went with Scott to a language cafe in Hapjeong in Seoul. It was at a little cafe where you paid 10,000 won and they gave you a drink and sorted you into groups to speak in different languages. Most of the English speakers there are Koreans learning to speak English or who have spent time abroad, or else English teachers. Its a good way to meet some friends, and I already made a couple. It takes awhile to get there on the subway, but it was a fairly straightforward trip, and on the way I got the chance to buy myself a new iphone case.

The language cafe was round the corner from Hapjeong station exit 2 (for those readers in Korea itself). Anyone can go, no limits, and its a good place to practice. Scott usually goes to learn Korean, but most English speakers end up speaking English there anyway to help Koreans improve their English. Apparently the English speaking crowd is fairly regular, but the Korean speaking groups tend to shift each time, so you're always meeting new Korean friends, and seeing your old English teaching friends again time after time.

I won't go next week, since I don't have the money to do it again yet, but I'm looking forward to going again sometime and meeting up with people again. I've made a few friends from it already, like I said, and it was nice getting out of Bucheon for once, which is a lovely place, but quite small. I'm trying to expand my social circle to include those who don't teach at Chungdahm with me. For that it's time I started properly and seriously studying Korean.

Which leads me to my next point. There's a great online free textbook that's helpful with the grammar called Basic Korean A Grammar and Workbook by Andrew Sangpil Byon. Obviously the hardcopy costs money, but a pdf version has been made available for free for anyone's use. It's quite grammar heavy, and comes with exercises and full answer keys for testing yourself after each chapter. If you're looking to learn Korean (properly learn, not just pick up some phrases) it's a good thing to get your hands on. A simple google search for the title and author comes up with multiple different sites to download. I got my version from Scott, so I don't know which downloads to recommend to you.

That's all for the moment, but more coming next Sunday.

Best,
Sam

First Week of Teaching, Making Friends, and Visiting the Royal Palaces

So it's been a rather long week. We began teaching this week, so I've now officially become a teacher. I have about 60 different kids to keep track of and learn names for. Some of my classes are quite loud and silly and others are really quiet and I'd love for them to speak up more, but on the whole I'm feeling fairly confident and I know at least some of the kids like me and learn from me (they're already stopping to tell me goodbye). As a joke I've told almost all my kids that Amy Teacher is from Scotland where Hogwarts is, and she used to teach there before coming to teach them. Some of them believe me, others know it's complete rubbish. We all got a laugh out it anyway. These kids need a break from intensive classes on occasion.

Earlier in the week we planned a night out for Brynn and Austin, who have since returned back from America. Brynn was loads of fun, and despite only just having met her, we already miss her.

Above: Brynn, Rebekah, Amy, and I.

On Saturday, we got up early to take a trip to two of the palaces in Seoul. There are pictures below of all that.

The first palace was Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was the bigger of the two. That's the one that attracts the most tourists. You can walk through tons of back-alleys and gates and whatnot for hours, and in the middle where one of the large towers sits is the National History Museum of Korea, featuring artifacts from all walks of life. The capital was moved to Seoul in the 1300s, and this was the palace built to house the famous King Seojong, whose picture you can see below. He's something of a hero to all Koreans, and he's famous for the creation of the Korean alphabet that made 99% of the Korean population literate in the 1400s.

While we were there, we also ended up keeping sidetracked by a film crew for a Korean television show that comes on in the mornings at 6:00am here for kids. They wanted to interview some of us, so Amy and Scott ended up under the watchful eye of the camera answering all sorts of questions about bank overdrafts and credit card debt. It was fairly amusing watching them try and answer seriously. By the time we were done, it was almost time to get a move on to the next palace, but we arrived at the gate just in time to see the changing of the guard. Amy, of course, needed a picture of herself with the guards, who are similar to those at Buckingham Palace in that they never ever smile or move except on ceremony.

The second palace, Deoksugung, was far smaller, but more entertaining, because you could actually go into the buildings, and here there were signs translated to English telling you what happened where. I think, if I had to pick, I'd prefer the smaller one. It seemed far more cozy and secluded than the bigger Gyeongboksung Palace. One of the buildings at Deoksugung had served as a prison to one of the old Queens during civil war for five years, but later became a nursery for one of the little Princesses of a later dynasty. It was also cheaper entry to this palace (approx. $1, though the other was only $3), which was nice. We wandered around that, going into the buildings (you have to take your shoes off when you do) and taking our pictures before deciding at long last to head on home.

Here are the pictures:

Deoksugung Palace main throne room. The ceiling in here was carved into the shape of dragons and painted green and gold and red.

One of the gates leading up to the main throne room in Deoksugung.

The juxtaposition of old and new in Seoul.

Amy and Rebekah at Deoksugung.

The main throne room building again.

Changing of the guard at the Gyeongbokgung Palace main gate.

One of Gyeongbokgung's walkways surrounding massive paved courtyards in the main buildings.

The perfect place in Korea for a city is between a mountain and a river. Gyeongbokgung Palace goes almost all the way to the mountain range in the distance, and Seoul is spread out before the main gate in the other direction, with high-rises and such all about. This picture is actually of Deoksugung Palace, but it was prettier.

The main lake and overlooking pagoda at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Amy, Rebekah, and Scott posing like the Koreans do for pictures.

Scott during his interview for Korean TV.

These posts used to stand at the entrances to villages to mark the village territory and to welcome visitors.

The pagoda, and below it the National History Museum of Korea.

The stone zodiac circle. We all got our pictures taken with our animal.

Me at the stone zodiac circle.

The height of the gates separating different courtyards at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Gyeongbokgung Palace first courtyard.

Gyeongbokgung Palace inner courtyards. The guy in the red and the blue Doctor Who Tardis hat is Van, who refused to smile for pictures, so I only have ones of the back of his head or him refusing to smile.

Statue of King Seojong, who inventing Hangul, the Korean alphabet. On either side of the roads are the City Hall, the U.S. embassy, and the U.K. embassy.

View from inside Gyeongbokgung Palace.

The interior of the first of Gyeongbokgung Palace's throne rooms.

The main gate to Gyeongbokgung Palace with the hills beyond.

Scott, Van, Amy, and Rebekah under the statue of King Seojong. The Korean on the statue says "Seojong Taewang".

One of the sundials near the statue, and one of a few we saw within the palaces. The Koreans used sundials starting at about the 1300s, and they were located around audience chambers so they could keep track of scheduled time.

Me in the main gate courtyard of Gyeongbokgung where the changing of the guard ceremony begins and the palace starts.

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures! Sorry there were so many! Next post due next week.