souvenir 2.21

This event happened over five months ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. 

The winter weather was starting to clear away and I had teacher training with all of the new teachers. Meredith also had to go but for some reason Loree didn't (the lucky duck) but we decided since two of us were already close to my neighborhood that Loree should meet us there after school so we could finally try Hungry Kitchen. 

In January I had a I-need-a-real-burger-now-or-I-will-go-crazy meltdown and started to research the best burgers in Ulsan. There were two burgers that tied for first. One was near the beach an hour away and the other was in my neighborhood. 

When we got to Hungry Kitchen we had to wait a half an hour before the burger would be ready. Since Meredith and I needed cash we decided to quickly run to the ATM while Loree saved our seats. 

I should give a little forward about how awful Meredith's week had been. Nothing seemed to be going her way and even the taxi driver who brought her to training that morning couldn't read the address so he just drove around until he found it. Plus she had a cold. 

I got my cash out with no problem but Meredith's ATM wouldn't spit out her card. It was stuck. We tried calling the help line using the phone there but they hung up as soon as we spoke. 

We tried hitting a few buttons but nothing worked. That was when Meredith started to freak out (rightly so because she was leaving for Hawaii in two days and she needed that card to buy things). 

The only thing I could think of doing was calling my coteacher. So I called her and explained our situation and that we needed help. She then called the bank and told us that someone would come in five minutes to get the card out. Well we waited and waited. Many people came in and took cash out of the same ATM that ate Meredith's card. We were very confused. After about fifteen minutes someone came and saved the day. He went behind the ATMs and pulled out Meredith's card! 

We can back to the restaurant and sat down in time for our hamburgers to be set in front of us. We weren't able to laugh at the situation that night or even after Meredith got back from Hawaii but we can now. That situation could have ended in many terrible ways but it didn't. Instead we got the card and made it back in time to eat one of the best burgers I've had in Korea. 

Bless friends. 

Vacation

I had a week off in August and it was lovely to be quiet and when necessary, lazy. I was able to do one fun thing that Meredith and I had been wanting to do since the winter- visit the trick art museum. The museum travels to different cities and during the winter it was in a city we had never visited and the English information said we would need to take two trains to get there... So we never went. Later we found out there was just one train to get to the city but by that time the museum had moved on. This summer it moved to Busan and we were very excited about that! Busan is one city that we are really getting the hang of. The subway system isn't confusing and we now know where our favorite places to shop are. 

I had mentioned the museum to my friend Yeoung Hee and she was very interested in going as well. She found us a coupon for the museum on a Korean type groupon website and we were ready for our adventure. 

We got Indian food for lunch and spent a lovely afternoon in the museum taking funny pictures and laughing. I think the idea of this museum is brilliant because all of the paintings are two demential but when you take a picture with the painting it becomes three demential. They had classic works like Starry Night that you can be in and also modern funny paintings like helping superman. 

It was a fabulous way to spend an afternoon. 

Then we visited one of our favorite cosmetic shops, Too Cool For School. They were very excited to see Meredith and I return (we are hard to forget) and they got to ask all the questions they wanted in Korean because Yeoung Hee was with us. Common questions are: what do we do in Korea and where do we live. The workers there are so sweet and try very hard to explain each of their products. I'm going to miss their shop. 

It rained the last three days of my vacation and that has really helped change the weather, it's like overnight the evenings decided to cool off. I'm now able to open my windows and enjoy a cool breeze again. I even hear crickets singing when I wake up. Those poor animals must have been hiding for a month because of the heat. I think every bug that flew into school over break died from the heat because every day I walked the halls a new bug would be belly up on the floor. Poor little things.

Bless friends.

Birthday Celebrations

In June I visited Jeju Island with Meredith over a long weekend and as we were leaving for the airport to go back to Ulsan we talked about what else we wanted to see before going back to America. One thing on Meredith's list was to see the Hand of Harmony on her birthday at sunrise. 

My wonderful friend pursued that dream with persistence that only comes from living in South Korea. There was not a ton of English information on the Hand of Harmony and there was not any English options for booking a hostel or hotel. Thankfully I have a wonderful friend from church who is Korean and he booked us a hotel that we found that said it was "near" the Hand of Harmony. 

The day of our departure came and we made the bus to Pohang just in time. We found a taxi once there and went to our hotel. The driver took a long and twisty road along the coast and we were very impressed with out situation. I was starting to think that this would be our first trip with no hiccups. There was a college student working at the desk and she spoke perfect English and while she showed us our room she asked what we were going to see in Pohang. Meredith explained about the hand and that was when we found out that "near" actually meant a 20 minute car ride. Thankfully she helped us call a taxi that night and arrange for it to pick us up at 5am so we could get to the Hand in time for the sun to rise. 

5am came way too quickly and soon we were in another taxi continuing on the twisty road along the coast. There was a decent size group waiting near the Hand to watch the sunrise when we got there. We found a spot near the rocks and waited for the sun's grand entrance. It started off slow and red but soon the sun lit the sky yellow. It was breathtaking. After seeing the sun shine through the fingers of the hand we turned around and the crowd was gone so Meredith and I were able to enjoy a quiet morning walking around the coast drinking coffee from a tin can. 

We called our taxi driver back around 7am and went back to our hotel to enjoy the comfort of tv and a bed for a few hours before once again getting back into the same taxi and head into the city. We spent the rest of the day at the beach reading and making new friends. 

It was a lovely vacation and an excellent way to spend a birthday. It has me wondering what I'll do for my own birthday in October. I love the idea of seeing the sunrise for mine as well. 

Bless friends. 

Summer Camp

I think I have finally recovered from summer camp. In all honesty it wasn't as stressful as winter camp because it was only two weeks long, the classes were shorter and I knew what to expect. 

My classes were much quieter and I didn't have many discipline problems. I worried I'd have too quiet of classes because my afternoon classes ended being 3 students and 1 student. I also had a first grader come and listen to both classes. I felt bad for him because he had no idea what was going on. I ended up printing off color by number worksheets for him so he could stay busy while I taught. 

This camp's theme was pirates. I enjoyed it but I think the students liked the Harry Potter theme better (I know I liked it better!) We had two field trips and I was excited for the one to Hyundai Mortars Company but it ended up being a let down because the factory they typically show was under construction so our tour was given on the bus while we drove around the company and a worker explained in korean about each building. There wasn't a whole lot of English used that day but I guess they had fun. We also went to the Ulsan Museum again and it was similar to our winter camp experience. 

Here are some pictures from camp. We made candles one day and a korean dessert another day. 

Bless friends

10.

Somehow I've made it to my tenth month anniversary of living in Ulsan, South Korea. The month of August has started out hot and sticky but I fixed my little fan a few weeks ago and I've been able to have cool nights for sleeping.

The school semester ended on July 26th and I can tell that the summer holiday has officially started in Ulsan. The buses are slow and packed full of people and the traffic is bad. The hardest thing to get used to is random businesses being closed for vacation.

I had three days off at the end of July and I wanted to visit this cute little brunch cafe near the park with my friends. We all met up and walked to the cafe only to find a sign in Korean on the window and dates 7/29-8/29. Really? You're on vacation for a whole month and your little cafe will be closed? That was frustrating mainly because we were hungry and hot.

There are a few places near my apartment that are closed for the week too. A cell phone store that is a part of a big chain in Korea is closed for four days and a Korean restaurant will be closed for the same days. It is interesting to think that people close their whole store just because they won't be there.

I'll be very busy the next two weeks with English Summer Camp. For this camp I picked a pirate/survival theme. I hope the kids will enjoy learning how to speak pirate and tying ropes. This camp is only 9 days long and I'm so thankful for that! Winter camp was 15 days and I was so tired that when my vacation finally started all I ended up doing was sleeping.

It's hard to believe that I'll be home in a little over two months. I have some important decisions to make, like should my first meal be Jimmy John's or Chipotle... or both? ha.

Bless friends.

Dynamic

Every city that I have been to in Korea has an English phrase that is plastered all over. Deagu: Colorful Deagu. Seoul: Soul of Asia. Ulsan: Ulsan for you. Busan: Dynamic Busan. I'm not sure how accurate those sayings are. When I visited Daegu in December I didn't see a colorful city, not even from the tower that overlooks the city. I just saw a lot of gray roofs. Asia is a big place so I'm not so sure if Seoul is really the soul of Asia but it's a creative saying. I guess Ulsan is for me but with how many things don't go my way I think Ulsan should have the title dynamic. I like Busan as a whole and even though I've gotten lost there I haven't had things randomly closed on me there. I'd prefer Busan to have the "for you" saying.

In the foreign community the country as a whole has been tagged along with Busan's phrase. I've heard over and over again, "this is Korea" or "remember this is dynamic Korea". The definition of dynamic is a very accurate account of my experience: Characterized by constant change, activity, or progress.

This is a blog entry about the constant change in places that change doesn't happen back home.

A common hobby of mine is looking at movie times on Thursday or Friday afternoon because I like watching movies and the movie theaters here are great. The seats are huge, they rarely show previews before the movie and you get to pick your seat when you buy your tickets, which means that movie planners like myself get great seats and don't need to arrive early!

Last Thursday I saw something that made me super excited! The animation movie Turbo was going to be shown in English AND in 4D. Most animation movies that come through Ulsan are dubbed in Korean so the little kids don't have to read the subtitles. 4D is the amazing crazy experience offered in Japan and now South Korea that includes a movie with 3D glasses and graphics but also has moving seats built with the capability to spray water in your face and air at the back of your neck. It is the full body movie experience. When I found out about the 4D option at the new theater in Ulsan I knew it would be something I'd want to do before leaving Korea but I wanted to pick the perfect movie so I wouldn't get sick or scared. Every weekend an action packed movie with fight scenes was offered in 4D until last Thursday.

I was so excited about the possibility of finally seeing a racing animation movie in 4D that I asked a bunch of friends if they wanted to see it with me. On Friday it was decided that I would buy the tickets online with my co teacher's help and we'd see the movie on Saturday. So I bought five tickets online and happily left school. Later that night I had a few missed calls and a text message in Korean. The only things I could read in the text were CGV (the movie theater's name) and 27 (the day we were going to see the movie). I sent the text to my co teacher and she told me the movie had been changed. I checked the movie times in the morning and saw that ALL of the Turbo showings in English were canceled. All of them. They just vanished even though they were there the day before and I had bought five tickets for the show.

I was speechless. I was shocked. I was angry. I was confused. I was a paying customer and my movie had vanished!

I decided to go to the movie theater and ask what had happened because I had spent a lot of money on those 4D tickets (each ticket is 18,000Won which is around $17) and I wanted my money back or switched to the only other 4D movie option, Pacific Rim.

My wonderful friend Meredith came with me and together we went to the counter and I showed the worker the text message I had received. She then had us talk to a different lady who seemed in charge and she explained that the movie had been changed and we could see it at a different time. I asked, "In English" and she sadly looked at us and said no. I then decided to ask if we could switch our tickets to Pacific Rim. She told us the first showing was at 9pm, which was fine with us since Turbo in English wasn't going to be shown until 8:30pm anyways. After she printed out our new tickets she told us that the movie was free. Free? Free. I asked, "my money will be on my card?" She said, "okay". I walked away with our "free" tickets surprised by our luck and confused by her "okay". I checked my bank account today and the tickets were refunded! I'll take a free movie any day.

The 4D experience was great. I was worried about Pacific Rim because I knew the movie plot was big robots fighting giant aliens that come out of the sea. There was bound to be a lot of seat shaking and water spraying. When we sat down in our seats an advertisement for 4D started to play and the chairs started moving out of control and all five of us couldn't help but make noise. My first thought was, "this is going to be a long movie". Thankfully the actual movie wasn't as theme-park-ride-crazy as the preview. In fact, I think the 4D added a whole new wonderful quality to an action movie (besides the water spraying in my face). We all enjoyed the movie and want to watch another 4D movie soon. I may never be able to go see another movie in America again (that's a lie - there are too many great movies coming out in November and December).

At the end of the day I wasn't angry anymore at dynamic Korea because, like they often do, things worked out.

Bless friends.

Victories

I have never been good at celebrating victories because there always seems to be something else off in the distance that needs to be done. Today I want to acknowledge two victories I've had in the last week or so. They aren't huge or dramatic but having lived in Korea for almost ten months now they are as close to a victory as I'll ever get.

On one of my few all-day-desk-warming days I brought my laptop with so I could make a movie of my Sports Day pictures. It was a great way to spend a few hours and I think it turned out great. I was very excited to show it to my students and to have a solid ten minutes planned for each class.

After finials I showed the movie to each grade. The responses were pretty similar, lots of laughing at their friends and hidden faces when their picture came up. Last Friday one of my 4th grade classes asked if they could watch the movie again. I didn't have anything super special planned because the textbook was finished so I decided to show the movie. As the movie progressed I noticed one boy sitting under his desk. When he saw me looking at him he crossed his arms to make an X (which is the common body language of "no" here) and said "no teachuh". The students in the class started to make a drum roll on their desks and I realized they only wanted to watch for one reason - to laugh at the boy under the desk. I knew he had a close up picture of himself in the movie (and I still remember him asking me to take his picture) and that the students must have planned this little humiliating act. Right before the boys picture came up I turned off the tv so the boy wouldn't have to endure that torture. You would have thought I'd murdered someone right in front of them by the noise they made. "TEACHUH NO" "BACK TEACHUH BACK". The little boy under the desk gave me a big smile and he sat in his chair. The students continued to yell at me and when I turned the tv on so they could watch the rest of the movie I explained that their friend didn't want his picture on the tv so they need to be nice to their friend. That caused a great shift in the yelling and the class started to yell at the boy in Korean. I didn't know what was being said but I could tell it wasn't nice.

I knew I wouldn't be able to convey to the students why I did what I did and I knew they wouldn't understand my reasoning even if they understood my words because the standard of bullying isn't the same. I have been in far too many classes where the whole class picks on one student and the teacher does nothing to stop it, as if this is part of everyday life and the kids who are difference should get used to it. It broke my heart when I first got here and it still does.

After the movie finished my Co Teacher could tell that the tension was still bad so she came up and started to speak to them in Korean. I could tell she was using her "mom" voice and by the end of her speech a few students were looking shamefully at their desks. I was very surprised by the turn of events. There I was feeling proud and shameful for what I had just done because it was against the grain of what I've seen teachers do here and my Co Teacher seemed to pick up on what happened and translated for me.

When class was finally over the little boy who hid under the desk ran out so fast I couldn't tell him I was sorry for showing the movie. I told my Co Teacher that I didn't know they were going to tease the student or else I wouldn't have played the movie again. My Co Teacher then continued to surprise me by explaining that she told the students that this was my culture (turning off the tv because someone didn't want to watch it) and that they needed to respect my culture. She then told me how she thinks the American culture is better because if someone is hurt then they won't do it but in Korea everyone will still do it even if someone is crying.

I was totally blown away by what happened in that hot classroom. I still am. I don't think we ended that classes' ability to bully each other but at least that little boy wasn't totally humiliated by his class and maybe they will remember what my Co Teacher said about considering everyone's feelings.

My last victory is on a much lighter note. I showed my 5th grade "What time is it" from High School Musical 2 for their lesson titled "I go to school at 8". The song really has nothing to do with the lesson but it is July and those poor students are sick of school. They really enjoyed it because it has dancing and they could understand "what time is it? summer time!". My Co Teacher liked the song too and I guess has been showing the students the song every class period since.

So during story telling yesterday I walked into 5-5's classroom and when a few boys saw me they all turned to the clock (like in the movie) and started to chant "summer. summer" just like in the song. That was a very happy American pop culture moment I was glad to have.

Today is the last day of the semester (finally) and I get to sit at my desk in the air conditioned room (YAY!) all day.

Bless friends.