Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Compare/Contrast Busan and Dallas
Hey, I am an English teacher, right? So I’m kicking it old school with a compare/contrast post.
Things they have in Busan and in Dallas:
7 Eleven, McDonald’s (cheap, too - in Barcelona a Big Mac meal was the equivalent of $10, and although here it looks expensive because it’s 3500 Won, that’s really like 3 bucks), KFC, Burger King, Friday’s, Bennigan’s, (well, actually I guess they don’t have Bennigan’s in Dallas any more... maybe if they served spaghetti like they do here, they’d still be in business), Outback (but it’s actually not out back here either, it’s upstairs)*, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts (at least it’s correctly named here, unlike in Spain where it’s called Dunkin Coffee), Starbuck’s (you think it’s expensive in Dallas? Try twice as much here), Cold Stone Creamery, Baskin Robbins (apparently love of ice cream is universal), bad Asian drivers (but somehow it works when everyone’s doing it), waffles, every bad crime show on CBS, 2-year old episodes of MTV and Bravo shows, false eyelashes (and they’re less than $1 a pair, score!!!), baseball (8 teams that play over 100 games a year - AGAINST EACH OTHER - and the Korean obsession with it is something I understand less than the European obsession with soccer)**, strawberry Chap Stick (a million times better than cherry, I don’t care what Katy Perry says), Kenny Rogers music, and plastic surgery (apparently 75% of Korean women have had epicanthic fold surgery on their eyes).
Things they have in Busan that they don’t have in Dallas:
3 million Koreans, PC Bangs (pronounced like ‘bongs’ - internet gaming houses on every corner because gaming is huge here), tons and tons of street vendors selling mostly unidentifiable food that smells delicious (reminiscent of the State Fair, but not costing a million tickets), kimchi (which is delicious, and not at all scary - think non-mayonnaise-y, spicy cole slaw), silver plates, cups, and chopsticks, decorative wall stickers (which are actually really cute), Soju (Soju:Busan as sweet tea:Texas - that is, if sweet tea got you drunk), ham-flavored potato chips and Cheetos (I guess only America is missing out on this phenomenon because they had them in Europe too), McDonald’s Bacon Tomato Burger and corn salad (um, why are they holding out on Americans?), dead fish on display pretty much everywhere you look, umbrellas used as parasols (due to the extreme Korean fear of dark skin), beaches, the subway (which, as subway systems go, Busan’s is really nice and easy to navigate), and of course Angela, Chris, Eric, and Jen.
Things they have in Dallas that they don’t have in Busan:
Chipotle (why, oh, why can’t every place on Earth be as obsessed with Chipotle as I am???), guacamole (but don’t worry, I’m spreading the word), my loved ones (but that’s not exactly a surprise, because duh), deodorant (I guess Koreans just don’t have B.O.), sales tax, forks, fat people (the biggest Korean person I’ve seen is the size of my left calf), gay people (is it because Koreans all choose to be straight? No, it’s because of this)***, any kind of illegal drugs (Korea has a zero-tolerance policy), Daylight Savings, lawns, ethnic majorities/minorities (seriously, Korea only has one race - Koreans), trash cans outdoors (it is literally a scavenger hunt to find a place to throw things away), the ampersand, the letter R.
Things they don’t seem to have either here or at home:
Falafels, Don Simon sangria, nude beaches, hostels, and my Barcelona friends. Sad, but true.
So it turns out it’s not so different here than it is there, and honestly, identifying the little differences is one of my favorite things about life abroad. It’s like a game of quirks that I can’t lose.
*Disclaimer: This joke is just one more step in the direction of ultimately becoming my mother.
**It’s not that I don’t like soccer or baseball, I just don’t understand how having only one big sport doesn’t get boring.
***If it’s not clear that I’m kidding here, you must not know me. But welcome to my blog.
Things they have in Busan and in Dallas:
7 Eleven, McDonald’s (cheap, too - in Barcelona a Big Mac meal was the equivalent of $10, and although here it looks expensive because it’s 3500 Won, that’s really like 3 bucks), KFC, Burger King, Friday’s, Bennigan’s, (well, actually I guess they don’t have Bennigan’s in Dallas any more... maybe if they served spaghetti like they do here, they’d still be in business), Outback (but it’s actually not out back here either, it’s upstairs)*, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts (at least it’s correctly named here, unlike in Spain where it’s called Dunkin Coffee), Starbuck’s (you think it’s expensive in Dallas? Try twice as much here), Cold Stone Creamery, Baskin Robbins (apparently love of ice cream is universal), bad Asian drivers (but somehow it works when everyone’s doing it), waffles, every bad crime show on CBS, 2-year old episodes of MTV and Bravo shows, false eyelashes (and they’re less than $1 a pair, score!!!), baseball (8 teams that play over 100 games a year - AGAINST EACH OTHER - and the Korean obsession with it is something I understand less than the European obsession with soccer)**, strawberry Chap Stick (a million times better than cherry, I don’t care what Katy Perry says), Kenny Rogers music, and plastic surgery (apparently 75% of Korean women have had epicanthic fold surgery on their eyes).
Things they have in Busan that they don’t have in Dallas:
3 million Koreans, PC Bangs (pronounced like ‘bongs’ - internet gaming houses on every corner because gaming is huge here), tons and tons of street vendors selling mostly unidentifiable food that smells delicious (reminiscent of the State Fair, but not costing a million tickets), kimchi (which is delicious, and not at all scary - think non-mayonnaise-y, spicy cole slaw), silver plates, cups, and chopsticks, decorative wall stickers (which are actually really cute), Soju (Soju:Busan as sweet tea:Texas - that is, if sweet tea got you drunk), ham-flavored potato chips and Cheetos (I guess only America is missing out on this phenomenon because they had them in Europe too), McDonald’s Bacon Tomato Burger and corn salad (um, why are they holding out on Americans?), dead fish on display pretty much everywhere you look, umbrellas used as parasols (due to the extreme Korean fear of dark skin), beaches, the subway (which, as subway systems go, Busan’s is really nice and easy to navigate), and of course Angela, Chris, Eric, and Jen.
Things they have in Dallas that they don’t have in Busan:
Chipotle (why, oh, why can’t every place on Earth be as obsessed with Chipotle as I am???), guacamole (but don’t worry, I’m spreading the word), my loved ones (but that’s not exactly a surprise, because duh), deodorant (I guess Koreans just don’t have B.O.), sales tax, forks, fat people (the biggest Korean person I’ve seen is the size of my left calf), gay people (is it because Koreans all choose to be straight? No, it’s because of this)***, any kind of illegal drugs (Korea has a zero-tolerance policy), Daylight Savings, lawns, ethnic majorities/minorities (seriously, Korea only has one race - Koreans), trash cans outdoors (it is literally a scavenger hunt to find a place to throw things away), the ampersand, the letter R.
Things they don’t seem to have either here or at home:
Falafels, Don Simon sangria, nude beaches, hostels, and my Barcelona friends. Sad, but true.
So it turns out it’s not so different here than it is there, and honestly, identifying the little differences is one of my favorite things about life abroad. It’s like a game of quirks that I can’t lose.
*Disclaimer: This joke is just one more step in the direction of ultimately becoming my mother.
**It’s not that I don’t like soccer or baseball, I just don’t understand how having only one big sport doesn’t get boring.
***If it’s not clear that I’m kidding here, you must not know me. But welcome to my blog.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Jen Entertains Herself
Today was my first day as a teacher - ever. It was a little rough, seeing as how Korean kids are allowed to behave about a thousand times rowdier than American kids, and they can’t understand me when I threaten their loud, rambunctious behinds. Also, even if I could learn every kid in the school’s name by the first week (that’s right, in Korean schools, every kid in 3 grades goes to my English class once a week), turns out they all sound the same when you’re quickest pneumonic device is to think, okay, remember that that one’s name sounds Asian. I had the same problem in Barcelona with the metro stops... okay, remember it sounds Spanish-y and has an ‘a’ near the end... not the most reliable way to figure out how to get places.
In order to combat my own ignorance (because turns out they write their own names using Korean letters, not phonetically in English - who knew?), and because I thought it would be fun for them, I decided to let them choose English names to be called in my class. I’d just make a seating chart and let them fill it in with their new names, ones I was good at pronouncing. Brilliant! Being my first day and all, and not knowing how many English names the average 15-year-old Korean kid knows, I decided make a list of common male names they could choose from if they couldn’t come up with one on their own.
So I started listing all the names I could come up with, and believe it or not, after like 7, I started having trouble. How is that possible? So then I started thinking of groups of people who I could list, like biblical people, movie and TV characters, Cowboys players and ooh, Ticket personalities, presidents, and every male in my family. It got pretty fun at that point.
I didn't fully realize how funny it would actually be until at the end of my first class I look down and see what the kids have chosen. Oh, I see here that Bob and Dan sit next to each other, that makes sense. I wonder if they know that that funny bald kid over there, Donovan, is supposed to be their sidekick? And that we are going to have to play Gay or Not Gay every time they are in class (even though in Korea the answer will always be Not Gay). I also notice that I have students named Linguini (neither a name, nor technically English since I’m pretty sure it’s Italian, but guess whose name I'll never forget?), I Love You (but you don’t even know me), and Sexy Man (total misnomer because he is neither).
Wouldn’t it be great if they somehow just knew who their namesakes were? This is how I imagine class going:
How was everyone’s weekend? What’s that Bill? You and Ted had an excellent adventure? Cool, but I hope you are able to keep your bogus journeys to a minimum.
Gordon, you are always disrupting class, of course, but your Bart Simpson impression is dead on. And please stop bothering George, no matter how much it makes Junior laugh.
Felix, your face says you’re 70, and Patrick, stop staring at me with those giant eyes. Tony, you look like you’d be a heartbreaker... if this wasn’t an all-boys school. Also, quit throwing things because the other kids will just pluck that balled up paper right out of the air.
Wayne, Garth, both of you need haircuts. Try using this Suck-Cut. And after that I need coffee and cruellers, stat.
Matt, Mark, Luke, and John thanks for being so well-disciplined.
I’m doing great, Joey, now go sit down, and Chandler, pay attention and quit trying to make the other kids laugh.
Hey, if I can’t speak the language, at least I've come up with some way to entertain myself.
In order to combat my own ignorance (because turns out they write their own names using Korean letters, not phonetically in English - who knew?), and because I thought it would be fun for them, I decided to let them choose English names to be called in my class. I’d just make a seating chart and let them fill it in with their new names, ones I was good at pronouncing. Brilliant! Being my first day and all, and not knowing how many English names the average 15-year-old Korean kid knows, I decided make a list of common male names they could choose from if they couldn’t come up with one on their own.
So I started listing all the names I could come up with, and believe it or not, after like 7, I started having trouble. How is that possible? So then I started thinking of groups of people who I could list, like biblical people, movie and TV characters, Cowboys players and ooh, Ticket personalities, presidents, and every male in my family. It got pretty fun at that point.
I didn't fully realize how funny it would actually be until at the end of my first class I look down and see what the kids have chosen. Oh, I see here that Bob and Dan sit next to each other, that makes sense. I wonder if they know that that funny bald kid over there, Donovan, is supposed to be their sidekick? And that we are going to have to play Gay or Not Gay every time they are in class (even though in Korea the answer will always be Not Gay). I also notice that I have students named Linguini (neither a name, nor technically English since I’m pretty sure it’s Italian, but guess whose name I'll never forget?), I Love You (but you don’t even know me), and Sexy Man (total misnomer because he is neither).
Wouldn’t it be great if they somehow just knew who their namesakes were? This is how I imagine class going:
How was everyone’s weekend? What’s that Bill? You and Ted had an excellent adventure? Cool, but I hope you are able to keep your bogus journeys to a minimum.
Gordon, you are always disrupting class, of course, but your Bart Simpson impression is dead on. And please stop bothering George, no matter how much it makes Junior laugh.
Felix, your face says you’re 70, and Patrick, stop staring at me with those giant eyes. Tony, you look like you’d be a heartbreaker... if this wasn’t an all-boys school. Also, quit throwing things because the other kids will just pluck that balled up paper right out of the air.
Wayne, Garth, both of you need haircuts. Try using this Suck-Cut. And after that I need coffee and cruellers, stat.
Matt, Mark, Luke, and John thanks for being so well-disciplined.
I’m doing great, Joey, now go sit down, and Chandler, pay attention and quit trying to make the other kids laugh.
Hey, if I can’t speak the language, at least I've come up with some way to entertain myself.
Hilarious Witty First Blog Title
So a lot of people have asked me the question, “South Korea, huh?”
Yeah, I get it, it’s not really on the top of most of my peoples’ must-see lists, and especially not as a place to actually reside. And no, it doesn’t sound as glamorous as Barcelona sounded. But you know, glamour isn’t what it’s all about for me. I guess maybe I should have known that, but if I start counting the things I should have known, this blog is going to become really depressing, really fast. Maybe it should be titled Live and Learn.
I guess I should start with why I left Barcelona in the first place because that feeds into why I came to Korea. There were a lot of factors, not the least of which being homesickness, but practically, living in Barcelona wasn’t sustainable for me. The job market was tough, and I felt that when I did find a job I would have to work much harder than I wanted to work on my ‘lifelong vacation’ in order to pay the bills. I sold myself on the idea of coming home and teaching math somewhere, and beginning a practice as a personal finance coach. It seemed so appealing at the time, plus it was just nice to have a plan. And by that point, I was also coming home to a boy, but I have to be clear - I was not coming home FOR a boy, just TO him. I know how it might have looked, but please, give me some credit. If I’m bold enough to move across the planet, hopefully it would follow that I’m also not dumb enough to move back across the planet for a guy who it already did not work out with once.
Needless to say that lasted about 4 minutes, and being home wasn’t nearly the charmed life I had built it up to be while I was looking forward to it back in Spain. I was living back at home with my parents, which I loved because I got to spend so much time with my baby sister Carly, and I became besties with Carly’s cat, Cleo. Plus, it was free. But it was harder than I had anticipated to go back to life in Dallas and to be broke. I’ve recently realized that material things don’t matter to me (hence I sold everything I owned and moved off), but after years of indulging in that Dallas lifestyle, where what kind of car I drove was ‘important’, it was going to be mighty humbling to live very frugal life, and move back in with my parents in Forney, TX, while I got my life back in gear. Especially while getting my life back in gear entailed finding a job so I could afford to get an apartment and fill it up with new versions of all the crap I had sold merely 3 months before.
It was literally easier just to up and leave again. And thank goodness for that because what really makes me happy, what really is the only thing I know doesn’t get old for me, is new places, new people, new sites. That I learned while I was in Europe. So even though Barcelona didn’t ‘work out’ for me, it still did serve a purpose. And just because I left doesn’t mean it wasn’t a life-changing experience.
So where did I get the idea for Korea? Well, one of my Barcelona friends, Christina, was coming to work here in Korea after Barcelona. She already had a job before we even got to Spain. And it is a really sweet deal: free flight, free housing, public transportation so no car payment, no car insurance, and you get paid around $2,000 a month, tax-free for the first two years. So basically all that money is bank. No other place on the planet will give you that good a deal (I know because I’ve looked), and teachers here are very highly esteemed, put on a pedestal as they should be everywhere else. But at the time when she first told me about it, none of this phased me. I had never considered Asia as place for me, and I even remember at one point saying the words, “There is no way in hell I would go to Korea.” Live and learn, right?
Then, when my BFF Angela was visiting me in Barcelona, I told her about Christina and her plan. Angela’s interest was immediately piqued, and she started researching it and was sold from the start. Her boyfriend Chris and her brother Eric were on board in no time, so when I decided I had to get back out of Dallas, Korea was the natural choice. Having 4 friends here made Korea appealing in a way that going it alone could not have been, no matter how brave I was, and the job/apartment setup could not be beat. Plus, another of Angela’s friends, Greg (who we know from high school), had just completed his first year and loved it. As it turns out, everyone I talk to either knows someone or has a friend who has taught in Korea - it’s pretty common, surprisingly. My Uncle David also lived here for 4 years in the 80s and loved it so much it seemed he may have never come back.
Fast forward 3 weeks, and here I am! Greg recommended his recruiting firm, Footprints Recruiting (www.footprintsrecruiting.com), and they helped me find a job (even though they basically dropped the ball on about 100 things along the way, but more about that later). All I needed was my college degree, no experience necessary, and it didn’t even matter that my degree wasn’t in English.
I will teach at Chojang Middle School, an all-boys school here in Busan city. The schools here are much nicer than the ones back home, with great amenities for English classes because apparently learning English has become a high priority for Koreans in the past few years. Luckily for me. My school is nestled on the side of a mountain, overlooking the bay and the city sprawling out below. The view is truly breath-taking, and I will post pictures as soon as I have some.
I honestly have so much more to say, but this has become more like a short story than a blog post, so I’ll save it. I thought that maybe it’s because I can’t speak a word of Hangul (the language they speak in Korea) that I have so much to say here on my blog, but who am I kidding? I’ve always had a lot to say. Some things don’t change no matter where you are on the globe.
Yeah, I get it, it’s not really on the top of most of my peoples’ must-see lists, and especially not as a place to actually reside. And no, it doesn’t sound as glamorous as Barcelona sounded. But you know, glamour isn’t what it’s all about for me. I guess maybe I should have known that, but if I start counting the things I should have known, this blog is going to become really depressing, really fast. Maybe it should be titled Live and Learn.
I guess I should start with why I left Barcelona in the first place because that feeds into why I came to Korea. There were a lot of factors, not the least of which being homesickness, but practically, living in Barcelona wasn’t sustainable for me. The job market was tough, and I felt that when I did find a job I would have to work much harder than I wanted to work on my ‘lifelong vacation’ in order to pay the bills. I sold myself on the idea of coming home and teaching math somewhere, and beginning a practice as a personal finance coach. It seemed so appealing at the time, plus it was just nice to have a plan. And by that point, I was also coming home to a boy, but I have to be clear - I was not coming home FOR a boy, just TO him. I know how it might have looked, but please, give me some credit. If I’m bold enough to move across the planet, hopefully it would follow that I’m also not dumb enough to move back across the planet for a guy who it already did not work out with once.
Needless to say that lasted about 4 minutes, and being home wasn’t nearly the charmed life I had built it up to be while I was looking forward to it back in Spain. I was living back at home with my parents, which I loved because I got to spend so much time with my baby sister Carly, and I became besties with Carly’s cat, Cleo. Plus, it was free. But it was harder than I had anticipated to go back to life in Dallas and to be broke. I’ve recently realized that material things don’t matter to me (hence I sold everything I owned and moved off), but after years of indulging in that Dallas lifestyle, where what kind of car I drove was ‘important’, it was going to be mighty humbling to live very frugal life, and move back in with my parents in Forney, TX, while I got my life back in gear. Especially while getting my life back in gear entailed finding a job so I could afford to get an apartment and fill it up with new versions of all the crap I had sold merely 3 months before.
It was literally easier just to up and leave again. And thank goodness for that because what really makes me happy, what really is the only thing I know doesn’t get old for me, is new places, new people, new sites. That I learned while I was in Europe. So even though Barcelona didn’t ‘work out’ for me, it still did serve a purpose. And just because I left doesn’t mean it wasn’t a life-changing experience.
So where did I get the idea for Korea? Well, one of my Barcelona friends, Christina, was coming to work here in Korea after Barcelona. She already had a job before we even got to Spain. And it is a really sweet deal: free flight, free housing, public transportation so no car payment, no car insurance, and you get paid around $2,000 a month, tax-free for the first two years. So basically all that money is bank. No other place on the planet will give you that good a deal (I know because I’ve looked), and teachers here are very highly esteemed, put on a pedestal as they should be everywhere else. But at the time when she first told me about it, none of this phased me. I had never considered Asia as place for me, and I even remember at one point saying the words, “There is no way in hell I would go to Korea.” Live and learn, right?
Then, when my BFF Angela was visiting me in Barcelona, I told her about Christina and her plan. Angela’s interest was immediately piqued, and she started researching it and was sold from the start. Her boyfriend Chris and her brother Eric were on board in no time, so when I decided I had to get back out of Dallas, Korea was the natural choice. Having 4 friends here made Korea appealing in a way that going it alone could not have been, no matter how brave I was, and the job/apartment setup could not be beat. Plus, another of Angela’s friends, Greg (who we know from high school), had just completed his first year and loved it. As it turns out, everyone I talk to either knows someone or has a friend who has taught in Korea - it’s pretty common, surprisingly. My Uncle David also lived here for 4 years in the 80s and loved it so much it seemed he may have never come back.
Fast forward 3 weeks, and here I am! Greg recommended his recruiting firm, Footprints Recruiting (www.footprintsrecruiting.com), and they helped me find a job (even though they basically dropped the ball on about 100 things along the way, but more about that later). All I needed was my college degree, no experience necessary, and it didn’t even matter that my degree wasn’t in English.
I will teach at Chojang Middle School, an all-boys school here in Busan city. The schools here are much nicer than the ones back home, with great amenities for English classes because apparently learning English has become a high priority for Koreans in the past few years. Luckily for me. My school is nestled on the side of a mountain, overlooking the bay and the city sprawling out below. The view is truly breath-taking, and I will post pictures as soon as I have some.
I honestly have so much more to say, but this has become more like a short story than a blog post, so I’ll save it. I thought that maybe it’s because I can’t speak a word of Hangul (the language they speak in Korea) that I have so much to say here on my blog, but who am I kidding? I’ve always had a lot to say. Some things don’t change no matter where you are on the globe.
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