Another Movie!

We've documented a couple of our dining experiences and would like to share them with you. Please check out our new video, Korean Dining: You Never Know What You're Gonna Get

Guryongpo Beach and other stuff...

We went to the beach this morning about 25km away from where we live. We were really surprised by how clean and nice the beach and the water were. There was white sand, clear, blue water and not many people at all. A few feet away from the beach there are some restaurants and stores and you can rent tubes and umbrellas for really reasonable prices.

The Koreans are a bit strange about bathing suits. There were a group of teenagers there and all of the girls went into the water with their clothes (long sleeve shirts with a cardigan over top, capris, hats, sunglasses, etc) and would sit inside an inner-tube while the guys (in their long shorts and t-shirts) pushed them around. Older women walked down the beach with visors that pretty much covered their entire faces, long sleeve shirts and pants AND carried an umbrella. Apparently many of them are afraid of getting too dark.

We went swimming in the water and had a great time...The only bad thing is that I have raccoon eyes because I wore my sunglasses the whole time and neglected to put on sunscreen. Apparently I didn't learn my lesson in Mexico! This time I am REALLY never going to let that happen again!!

We are starting to really like our schedules and the amount of free time we have. In a lot of ways, it really does seem like having a part-time job. Yesterday we went to the gym before work. It is REALLY cheap. It costs about $2 per day or $40 for the month and all the equipment is brand-new and pretty high-tech. There is a strange machine that Koreans are really fond of that basically vibrates your body. Apparently Koreans believe that it burns fat and increases muscle. We both tried it and it made us feel a bit nauseous. You put your feet on this platform and every fatty part of you just jiggles at a rapid speed. The gym also has yoga classes, belly dancing, aerobics, etc and it's still only $2 per day.

Tonight we are going to buy a basketball and play at one of the parks. The cool thing about the parks is that they all have exercise equipment there. You never really see kids playing a game of baseball or soccer here, but there are tons of parks around our neighbourhood.

We went out for dinner last night after work and one of the side dishes was a bowl of bugs. I can't really remember what kind of bugs but MaryAnne tried one and said it was the most horrible thing she'd ever tasted. She actually had to spit it out and the taste lasted in her mouth for about 20mins. It seems Koreans will just about eat anything and they seem to be most fond of unusual cuts of meat. For example, at the restaurant, they served the pig's neck. We have thought multiple times of becoming vegetarians while we are here!!

Being Resourceful...

Our kitchen doesn't have an oven. There's a gas range though. A few days ago our toaster broke and we're trying to hold out for a used one from a teacher who's leaving. So we ended up using a pot on the gas range! It tasted great!!!

Trying New Foods

We're trying to be as adventurous as possible, especially when it comes to food. It would be really easy here to only eat North American food. There's a Dominos pizza place down the street, McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and many other American fast food places all over the city. At the grocery store, you could pretty much find any Korean equivalent to the food back home...however, it's more expensive, way more unhealthy and way less interesting.

We're in the midst of making a new video about our Korean dining experiences, but until then, enjoy some of these pictures of food we've tried! We're getting more and more brave as the days go by....although we're fairly confident we'll spend the entire year without going anywhere close to dog soup!

School Books...

We are supposedly teaching ESL, yet for some reason, the material we're teaching is above grade level for kids back at home. MaryAnne is teaching Hamlet to one of her 9th grade students and if I recall correctly, I read that in the 12th grade and English is my first language. She's also using the massive textbooks shown in the pictures called "The Language of Literature" for 7th graders and is trying to teaching poetry to kids who are still struggling to put a proper sentence together.

This week in science, I've been trying to teach the concept of renewable and non-renewable energy to my 5th grade students which is something that grade would learn back home, but here it's kind of complicated to explain fossil fuels and acid rain when they are still trying to learn how to communicate with each other in English.

On the flip side, I think I'm starting to speak in two word sentences: Need coffee. Feel tired. Want sleep.

New Movie!

Our new movie is now on YouTube! Just follow this link:
Welcome to School!

Korean Sushi...

This is Octopus:

This is MaryAnne before trying the Octopus:

This is MaryAnne after trying it:

This is MaryAnne wishing she'd never tried it

Teaching impressions so far...

Our classrooms are on the 2nd floor beside each other

Well, we have finished our first week of teaching and it has been extremely interesting and a big adjustment. Koreans have a much different way of viewing education than we are used to. High school students begin school at 7am and don't leave until midnight, 7 days a week with one day off a month. They take studying very seriously and everything is about memorization regardless as to whether or not you really understand the concept.

This is our school:

The students we teach are very intelligent in a lot of ways. 7 year olds can read and write in both English and Korean and probably do about 3 hours of homework a night. At the same time, they are very babied. Parents sit in on our classes (extremely annoying and obnoxious). I had one girl in my class sneeze and her mother came up and blew her nose for her. Some of the parents will talk to each other at the back of the room, answer their cell phones, send text messages and the worst part is they try to whisper the answer to their children when I'm asking a question. We've been told just to be very firm to them and ask them to leave if they're being disruptive, but it's school policy that the parents can sit in on their child's class.

By middle school, the children seem almost void of any emotion whatsoever. They have little to no enthusiasm about anything and it is almost painful to try to get them to talk. If you ask them a question, they whisper the answer and avoid eye contact. They seem more comfortable taking notes from a board than interacting with each other or the teacher. Of course, it has only been a week so this may change with time and how well they get to know us.

There are lots of advantages though! We get a $50 budget every month to spend on our class, we can order any books we want without question, there are only 23 teaching hours a week and after we get used to the classes we teach, there is little to no prep time. Teachers who have been working there longer than us pretty much do their lessons on the fly and take no work home. The Korean children are also VERY respectful. The biggest discipline "problem" at the school is not doing homework. I think it would be unheard of for a child to talk back to his/her teacher (probably because they are terrified of us -- not sure why yet). Anyway, here are a couple pictures of my 5th Grade students:

More updates....

It has come to our attention by a couple of our readers that this blog sucks! We're pleased to announce that starting today, the blog will be updated on a more regular basis with lots of updates and more importantly, lots of pictures.

Stay tuned!

The cost of glasses in Korea

Eye exam: Free

Frames: $15

Lenses: $10

Time: 15 minutes

Overall, a very fun experience! They had high-tech equipment and both of us got stylish new glasses!

Our First Movie!

Please follow this link to see our first movie, "Welcome to Pohang!" on YouTube:
Welcome to Pohang!

We've arrived!!

Well, we got here on Monday morning Korea time and it is now Friday afternoon. Today is really the first day that we seem to be on Korea time. We went downtown and it is actually not as small as we thought. There are tons of places to shop, a really cool market with food, clothes, household stuff, etc.  There are movie theatres with current, english movies and the tickets are about $4 each. You can also get a large popcorn and drink for $3 or $4 (as well as a side of squid). There are tons of bars, clubs, restaurants, you name it in the downtown area, but also a lot where we live.  There's a bus right outside the apartment complex which costs 1000 won (less than a dollar).  It's a less than 10min ride and you're already downtown so you could walk it in about 30mins.  

Today for lunch we went to a very traditional Korean restaurant where you have to sit on the floor and take your shoes off.  Unfortunately, MaryAnne had to go to the bathroom in her bare feet (there were however slippers by the bathroom entrance you put on).  We're trying everything offered although we definitely like some things more than others.  The kimchi is VERY spicy and not like anything back at home at the sushi restaurants.  Then there was a large bowl of soup with noodles that had a grated type of seaweed on the top.  The noodles had a very gelatin like texture to them and I have to say, it was definitely NOT my favourite! There was a "korean pizza" that was pretty good however.  It was basically spring onions and squid in dough and then fried.  Everyone shares from the "pizza" with their chopsticks.  It will definitely take some getting used to, that's for sure!

There's an "E-Mart" next to our apartment complex which is essentially like a really fancy Wal-Mart.  They have pretty much anything you could need and so we do have some comforts of home (last night was a peanut butter and jam sandwich for dinner).

We start teaching in two days so tomorrow we will go in and set up our classrooms.  We will teach everything from little kids to adults, some in groups no bigger than 15 and some one-on-one.  

We've started taking pictures and videos and plan on uploading some today so check back soon.

In general, the Koreans are some of the friendliest, most polite people we've ever met although a woman did push me off the bus this morning and I almost fell down the stairs (this was my true initiation into Korean culture although we have yet to experience someone spitting near us).  After we got off the bus, the same woman put her arm around MaryAnne and said several things to her in Korean.

Well, there are lots of things to say, but not enough time, but please download Skype (even if you don't have a webcam) and we can talk for free.  Our username is lamashere...we basically leave our Skype on all the time and the best time to  call us would be at your night time so from 6pm onwards. Hope to talk to you soon!!