National Science Museum

On Fridays the kindergarten will sometimes go on an outing. This past Friday they went to the National Science Museum and I had the opportunity to join them.

On the way

 Sunny (4 yrs old; 3 real age), my companion during our ride. Koreans are considered to be a year old when they are born. When you see me give an age, just subtract a year and you'll have their real age.

At the National Science Museum

and they came two by two...

Nicole and Rachel (7s)

Korean boat

A display on how kimchi is made

Traditional architecture

Divine Bell of Seongdeok. It took 6 years to complete (765-771 A.D.). It is the largest known ancient bell, measuring 333 x 227 cm.

Printing press

Drums

Warfare

With the girls (7s)

The 7s enjoying a movie on the ceiling.

Eddy, always the cool guy.

Jacob and Thomas are ready for the 3D movie.

So young and they already know how to strike a pose.

Playing an interactive soccer game.

Video game center...at a science museum no less. Go figure.

The 6s enjoying a movie.

Here are some of the 6 yr. old kids:
Paul

Benny

Lily

Matthew

Chris

Hagyum

Jeff and Alex (4s) say it's time to leave and take a nap.

Back to school

The Laugh Corner #2

My best friend from high school in Ecuador came to visit me this past weekend. She's currently living a few hours south of me, near Busan.

Krista and I

Well, at least she said it was to visit me. I think the visit was really for the american cheese you can get at Costco in Daejeon. We had a nice time walking there and then proceeded to spend way too much money on cheese, dill pickles, ground beef, honey nut cheerios, etc. By the way, Costco pizza is amazing! It's definitely worth the stress of trying to find somewhere to sit. Then again, we did go on a Saturday, an extremely busy day because of there being free samples on weekends.

We then decided to take a taxi back since the thought of carrying what felt like 50 lbs of goods for two miles was not very appealing. Taxis here are very reasonably priced. What can take 40 minutes to walk, takes 5 minutes and about $3 by taxi. Everything went well until it came time to stop. I told the driver "here's ok." The only problem is that I got my "here" (yeogi) and "there" (cheogi) mixed up and the driver wouldn't stop!  I then proceeded to start yelling "Aqui! Aqui!" The problem with this is that "aqui" (here) is Spanish...not Korean. It seems that when my mind goes blank on what to say in Korean, it automatically switches to Spanish. Krista tends to switch to Japenese, however she did save the day when she remembered how to say "stop" and we got off the taxi only a block past my place. The poor taxi driver. I'm sure us two waegugins (foreigners) had him completely confused.

Home Sweet Home

Many people in S.Korea live in officetels; a multi-purpose building with residential and commercial units. An officetel is basically a studio apartment. It is so predominant in Korea that if you look at a city skyline most of the tall buildings you will see are officetels.

Officetels

I've been blessed in being able to live in a small, five story apartment complex owned by a Christian family. They were excited that a Christian foreigner was moving in to their apartments, as they'd never met one before. Apparently many foreigners here are the drinking and partying type. The owners' daughter is fluent in English and has been a blessing to me by extending her friendship, showing me around town, teaching me new Korean words and helping find my way to church.

My apartment is located in one of the industrial areas of Daejeon, close to the Lotte Department Store.

I live on the top floor of my apartment complex. You could call it the penthouse...or the attic, whichever you prefer. And in case you were wondering, no there is no elevator.

It is a nice cozy place, and actually much larger than I had been expecting. Most officetels are one room apartments, whereas my bedroom is separate from the rest of the apartment. Maybe it's because I'm on the top floor and have a slanted ceiling? My school has really taken care of me in that they've provided all of my furniture, most of the kitchen appliances (including a rice cooker...a must have), and a washing machine.

The bedroom. Since I have a slanted ceiling, I have a nice storage area behind the bed...good place to put the big suitcases.

The TV was also courtesy of my school. Notice how my desk is low to the ground and that the chair has no legs. It is popular Asian culture to sit on the ground at low tables for meals, etc. It can get pretty cold during the winter, and the heating system is via water pipes under your floor. The closer you are to the floor, the cozier it gets.

Kitchen/dining area. That big dish of candy on the shelf is what I got from my students on White Day. Valentine's Day is celebrated twice here in Korea. Once on February 14th and once on March 14th. Typically the girls give guys chocolate and candies on February 14th, and on March 14th the boys reciprocate and give the girls chocolate and candies. There's also Black Day on April 14th, which is Singles' Day. The single people get together on that day and eat jajangmyeon, a popular Chinese noodle and black bean dish.

Entryway. Always take your shoes off when you enter a home.
If you noticed the green bag by the door, that is trash bag that you must use in Korea. You can buy it at any grocery store and it's only for regular trash. Pretty much all plastic/paper/cardboard/etc gets recycled and food waste goes in the blue container. You leave your trash, including blue container, out on the sidewalk during the week for pickup. After trash pickup you go and pick up your container back off of the sidewalk.

Laundry room and bathroom. There's only a washing machine. Dryers aren't common here. You hang your clothes to dry. I've heard that it can take a really long time for your clothes to dry in the summer during monsoon season, so fabric softener is a must have otherwise your clothes will smell all musty.

Enclosed balcony area where I can dry my clothes no matter the weather outside.

 The bathroom and shower is all together. The shower head is actually connected to the sink faucet. Everything gets wet, so bathroom shoes definitely come in handy...and don't ever forget to move the toilet paper out the way of the shower spray.

 Well, hope you've enjoyed getting a view of my home sweet home...while it's still orderly condition. :P

Toddler School

A little about the school:
The Toddler School is a hagwon (private school), located in Taepyeong-dong, next to an elementary and middle school. It is about a 30 minute walk to there from my place. It is a small kindergarten with 31 kids aged 4-7 (Western age 3-6). In the afternoon it also serves as a private English school for about 40 elementary/middle school kids. I am there from 10-6 each day during the week and teach for six hours: three hours with the 4 kindergarten classes (separated by age) teaching Art, "Science," and English Conversation; and three hours with the elementary/middle school students teaching English and Writing. There are six 30 minute classes, and the kids are placed in the classes based on their English level. The kids are a joy and a challenge all rolled up into one package. Some kids really want to learn whereas others are there because of their parents...sounds like about every school out there. Some of the kids have been learning English for a while, while with others we're starting at ground zero.

All the kids here have an English name. If they don't then we name them. It's quite a big responsibility as they will most likely use that name for the rest of their life. I had the honor of naming a first grade boy on my first day of school. I named him John, as his Korean name sounds like "Juan". I should have named him Dennis the Menace though.

I've heard other people mention sudden changes of schedules but didn't think too much of it until today. My Wednesday kinder teaching schedule was changed which was no problem, however half-way into the first new class a teacher came in and said that we're actually not changing the schedule today but instead we're to do the original schedule and then start with the new schedule next week. I think the Korean teachers were just as confused as I was as to what the schedule was supposed to be today. I only ended up teaching two classes instead of three because of the mix-up. That's ok because that's how I ended up with time to write this post.

Lunch is provided at the school which is a great way to try many different kinds of Korean food, however there is something that I've been wondering about. Why do they always serve lukewarm food? Is it so the kids don't burn their mouths on the food, or do they just like lukewarm food? Any thoughts?

Some pictures of school:
The Toddler School

Each month the kindergarten kids spend the day at an indoor play zone and celebrate the birthdays that take place that month. This month it was Joy's birthday. The birthday kids dress up in a hanbok (traditional Korean outfit) for their party.

The 7 year old class with Joy. Sarah (far left) is their main teacher. She is also one of the three English teachers for the afternoon classes with the elementary/middle school kids. The kids are smart, energetic, curious and have a mischievous streak in them.

Maria is the other main English teacher at the school. She's a Korean-American from Los Angeles, and has been a huge help in learning my way around a new school, city, culture, language, and pretty much everything else. We do have another English teacher, Carly, but she only works part-time at the school.

The pizza here is sweet, has corn on it, and comes with a side of pickles.
They love their fried chicken here. All of my students have said that it's their favorite food. That and ice cream.
Kimbap (kim=seaweed, bap=rice) is a party must have.

Paris Baguette is a popular bakery chain here. There are at least two of them located within a few blocks from my place.

I plan to put up more pictures of the kids at school and life in Daejeon in the near future, so stay posted. In the meantime, happy White Day!

The Laugh Corner #1

I've been in the Daejeon, S.Korea for about a week now. I arrived last Saturday night and hit the ground running starting work on Monday. Although I haven't gotten my own internet set up yet my neighbor YeJung has been kind enough to let me use hers. Thanks YeJung!

I may have mentioned to some of you before that I would post about my blunders in a new country. Well, it didn't take more than 5 hours of being in a new country before I performed my first blunder. It all started out well with me getting through immigration, buying a bus ticket for Daejeon, and getting on the right bus. It all ended with me getting off at the wrong station. My rep was waiting at the third stop, while I was waiting for my rep at the fourth and final stop. I though maybe they were running late, but after over an hour the "uh oh" thought started running through my mind. There was a coffee shop at the station, so gathering up my courage I went to the waiter there and asked to use his phone. Sounds easy right? I think this was the moment that I realized that I'm truly in a foreign country where I don't speak their language and they don't speak mine and I have no phone. Through broken Korean and lots of gestures, I was able to use his phone and then we played the "let's pass the phone around" game a few time until my rep could figure out where in the world I was. Which she did figure out, otherwise I might still be there. :P All this to say, I don't think I'll ever forget the word "cheon-hwa" (telephone/phone call).

8 hours and counting...

The bags are finally packed and the last few hours in San Diego are coming to a close. I'll be flying out to San Francisco bright and early tomorrow morning and from there a 12 hour flight to Incheon, S.Korea. Does your trip end there you might ask? No, in fact I must navigate a foreign airport to find the bus stop and go on a 3 hour bus ride to Daejeon. This calls for strategic planning in what I will take in my carry-on. Music? Check. Books? Check. Food? Check. Sleep? I sure hope so.

I'm excited about this new stage in life and am glad to have the opportunity to share it with you all. I remember growing up in Ecuador where it would take a month for snail mail to arrive and dial-up internet. It's so nice seeing how technology has progressed so much over these last years. Speaking of technology, Daejeon is known as "Asia's Silicon Valley" and "High Technology City." Daejeon is S.Korea's fifth largest metropolis with a population of over 1.5 million, and is the hub of transportation for S.Korea. Daejeon is considered to be the science and technology capital of Korea and several important research institutes are based in the city, which means I had better brush up on my studies and learn some big words.

Well, the next time you hear from me will be from the other side of the world. I will miss you all from sunny San Diego and hope to continue hearing of your adventures as well.