Spelling Bee Competition!

Last Wednesday at ECC we held a spelling bee competition! All the kids participated, and competed according to their age groups, and whoever won received a month of tuition free! So pretty big incentive! The english teachers took turns choosing and reading the words (except Sam because of her Welsh accent) for kids. It was a nice way to break up the week! Here's the gym all decked out (and Cassy):

 Bora and I giving instructions to the kids:

Me reading off one of the words to Lui:

Cassy reading off some words for my class of 7-8 yr olds I teach a few times a week:

Some of the younger kid's words were just as hard as the older kids! These little kids have just amazing english skills. One of my little Stanford girls, Jenny (she's 7), won the spelling bee for that group, so on Friday her mom bought all the teachers pizza and cokes!

In other news, I have a fever and was ill this past weekend. It was quite miserable, I don't have ice so I just kept getting towels and washcloths wet and then sticking them in my freezer and then laying them over my body. I was just burning up and it was the only thing that made me feel a little better. My fever broke late Sunday night so I've been feeling much better today, just weak. Working with kids is going to be the death of me this winter!! But I'm taking my medicine, drinking fluids, and plan on being in full on vacation mode for our 3 day weekend in 4 days when we go to Busan! It's our LAST days off until New Years! Very sad but at least we're taking the opportunity to do some traveling! Ok until later!

An Eventful Week

So a lot has once again happened this past week. We got a new English speaking teacher at our school, Dan, and.... lost him. That's right, Dan pulled a runner! His first day at work was last Thursday, so he shadowed all of us, told Bora that he could teach better than us, and then on Friday called in sick. Ya, we knew it was probably a red flag if he was already was skipping work, but we giving him the benefit of the doubt. Sam even called him to check up to make sure he didn't need anything like food or medicine. Then I come to work on Monday and Bora tells me that he's gotten and a plane and already back in Canada! I mean, really? He's going to give it one day and then just head home with his tail between his legs? Who doesn't give it AT LEAST a week or month? It takes so much effort to get all your documents together (and money!) and to apply and everything, why would you only stay one day?! Anyways, it was pretty crazy. But we already have a teacher lined up to take his place, it's someone who's already in Korea but their contract is up at their school so they'll be taking the position here. I'll let you know if they stick around!

In other news, I received a present this week from one of my students with a really sweet note! I love presents for no reason!

It's a travel bath set, so will come in handy while I'm here! I was also invited to two korean weddings this past week! The whole invitation process is a lot different here, they only pass them out 2-3 weeks ahead of time and there's no rsvp'ing or anything, you just show up or you don't. And you can bring as many people as you want! The first wedding, Robins, is this coming weekend and I can't go because I'll be in Busan! Here's her invitation:

She very nicely wrote it in English on the 2nd flap because as you can see everything else is in Korean! And then the second wedding is Amys (both Robin and Amy are Korean teachers at my school) and her's is October 8th, so I will be going to that one! I'm excited to see a traditional Korean wedding, should be interesting.

That invitation's all in Korean, so we'll have to ask Bora about when and where it is. That's it for this post, I'll make a separate one about the spelling bee!

Mid-September Already?

So I feel as if I've caught up on my blog posts (this is my fourth one tonight, so if you haven't read the others, read those first!) and now I'm sitting here thinking that I can't believe I'll be doing report cards again next week because it will be the end of the month! I feel like I'm getting better at teaching, and there are always funny stories to tell and hear about amongst us ecc teachers. I was telling Sam this past weekend that I have one class of 8 girls and 1 boy that are 9-10 years old and are my worst class, uh they are awful. And there is no discipline system here, we can't give them detention or send them to the principle or call their parents, so these kids can be out of control sometimes. Well one thing I found that really works is if they're acting out to make them go stand up in the corner and do their workbook! Haha I have no idea where it came from but one day I just got so frustrated with one them that I made her do it, and it really works. Sam teaches the really little kids (3-4 years old) so she always has funny stories about ridiculous things these kids do. Just never a dull moment that's for sure!

So I though I would make a short list of things I've learned about Korea so far that are fairly different from America:
1. White skin is in! Most of the face and body lotions here having a bleaching element in them to make the skin whiter, so you have to be careful when purchasing those things here! Even US brands like Clean & Clean have a bleaching ingredient in them here! They love the pale look!
2. Koreans like big noses. Most Koreans have small petite noses, which in America is fashionable. Well here it's the opposite. Now my nose has always been that one thing about myself that I'm sensitive about, you know that one thing for the question " If you could change anything about yourself what would it be?". Well here I get strangers telling me all the time how much they love my big nose. And they're being so nice about it, to them they're giving me this compliment, so of course even though I'm just so embarrassed that they're pointing it out I have to be nice and say thank you. For example, on the Subway on Saturday this Korean girl sits next to me and starts talking to me in English (happens a lot, they like to practice) and she starts talking about my nose and how my face is so small but then my nose sticks out so far and it's so beautiful! You just feel like you're in some parallel universe, the one thing you dislike about yourself is the one thing that everyone is pointing out that makes you beautiful here!
3. Korean elementary school boys wear nail polish on a normal basis here. They love to wear nail polish, they are proud of their nail polish, it is completely normal. Definitely different from the US!
4. As a foreigner you get told on almost a daily basis how pretty you are. You definitely get a huge confidence boost being here haha! I'm going to come back to the US and have a hard time with being normal again! Sometimes I forget how different I really look because I don't see myself from their eyes. But then I look around and see Sam with her blonde hair, light eyes, and pale skin amongst a sea of black hair and dark eyes and think, oh right, we look reaaaaally different.

Ok there are so many things but those are good enough for now!

This past weekend Sam and I went to Seoul for the day. You can find drugstores that that have American products so she needed some face care things. We were also looking for an English Bookstore, which I know I saw one last time I was there, but I couldn't find it this time! We also went to Myeong-dong (the massive shopping area) and looked around for a long time. And then for dinner we went to Outback Steakhouse! Oh my gosh it was so good. I got a Mango Chicken Grilled salad and it was heaven. That is the first real salad I've eaten since coming here, they just don't have them, so it was amazing. So very American of me to go to Outback, I know, but it was so good.

I also finally bought a cell phone this week, it was about time! It's an old school flip phone, but it was only $30 and then I just have to put $10 a month on it. So now I will be able to get ahold of everyone and text finally! Well, everyone in Korea that is.

We got a cool front in today so now all this week the it's going to be in the low 50s at night and mid 60s during the day! Fall is definitely here! Anyways it's Sunday night so I need to get ready for the week ahead, sorry for not posting for awhile but I think I made up for it well enough! Until later!

Everland!

On the actual day of Chuseok (Monday September 12th) Cassy and I headed to Everland! Everland is the Korean version of Disneyworld. Getting to Everland was quite a journey. It took a long time and at some points we had no idea where we were going, but once we made it there it was so worth it! It was the first weekend of their Halloween theme, so everything there was decked out! And they were selling Halloween costumes and trinkets in all the stores to! I love Halloween so much! Here's some pictures:

They had a big Halloween parade later in the day:

Everland's like a cross between Six Flags, Disneyworld, and a Zoo. There's a big Safari ride that we went on too! You ride in a big bus through different animal habitats:

And of course you have to walk through the gift shop to exit:

They're all so close! After the Safari we found a candy shop and just had to get a few goodies! It is impossible to find gummies or candy corn here, so we had to have some:

The park is broken up into different areas of the world, so after "Africa" and the Safari, we headed into Germantown!

Not exactly your traditional German food! They also had a big Halloween maze and haunted house area:

Ah here's one of me going through a funhouse:

The European section of Everland had a massive garden that was so beautiful with tons of fountains:

Can't really see it well but it was so pretty. Let's see we rode one of the roller coasters in the American section of Everland, one part was decorated all old school 50's diners and rock 'n roll, and the other part was the old west:

Yep, Korean cowboy. Everything looked so pretty lit up one it got dark too!

And then just goofing off with all the random things in the shops:

 That hat even had a little panda poofball tail at the back of it! it was a very popular hat, we saw a lot of korean teenage boys wearing it around!And then Cassy clawing me with a giant panda paw:

It was so much fun and definitely worth the trouble it took to get out there. I bought myself some little cat ears to wear for the school Halloween party just in case I can't fine any costume stuff anywhere else. They're on little clips, and the cat ears have small pearl studs in them, they are really cute. So that was how we spent our Chuseok! Definitely not in the traditional Korean way!

Night out in Itaewon

Last saturday, Chuseok weekend, Cassy, Sam, and I decided we wanted to go out in Seoul. Now Seoul is a massive city, so when you go out at night you have to choose one of the neighborhoods, and we picked Itaewon. Itaewon has more foreigners than any other area, it's right by the US Army base so most of the shops, restaurants, and bars cater to foreigners. To get to Seoul from Songdo you travel by bus (1 hr) or by subway (1-2 hrs), and since it was Chuseok and the traffic was going to be insane, we decided to go by subway. But first we did a little pre-partying in Cassy's apartment before heading out and took some pics:

Then we headed out for the trip there. It took us forever to get there that night because of all the people traveling for the holiday, so it took us about two and a half hours! Another thing you do since it's such a long journey with lots of stairs and escalators is you wear a pair of fold up flats that you can stick in your purse when you get there and carry your heels until then. We all had bought some at H&M earlier that day, so we also were all matching! Haha we got a lot of stares:

So we finally made it to Itaewon and headed to the Grand Ole Opry. You heard me, there is a country bar in South Korea called the Grand Ole Opry! Just off the main street and up a steep street called Hooker Hill you see a big lit up sign that says "Grand Ole Opry - Seoul, Tennessee". Stepping inside sends you straight back to Texas. You can tell it's all regulars and we were obviously not ones especially since we were really overdressed. We grabbed beers and found a seat at about 15 til midnight. Every Saturday at midnight they play Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" followed by the National Anthem, and everyone stands and sings along to both while facing the giant American flag they have on the wall. It was so great! Here's a few pics:

So great. And then afterwards is when the line dancing starts. They have a verrry small dance floor right in the middle of the bar and the people who get out there are very serious about it! Not very inviting to new comers, but then they played one I knew so I got out there and danced!

Haha it was a lot of fun, and I was obviously laughing really hard. They also played the Cotton Eyed Joe, but there was absolutely no room on the dance floor! Sam wants me to teach her some of the line dances so we can go back and she can get out there (she's from Wales). So after being there for almost two hours, we went to look for something else!
We walked back to the main street and ran into two guys who stopped us because they heard Sam's accent. One of the guys was from Yorkshire and the other was actually from Virginia, and they seemed nice and normal enough so when they invited us along to meet up with some of their friends at one of the pubs we went along. We walk in and the only people there are this group of about 15 guys, besides that the place is dead. So we think, well, we'll be nice and have a beer and then leave. But we actually end up staying for a long time because they're actually a really nice group of guys from all over the world and they play on the same intramural football team in Seoul. After a while though we tell them that we've got to go because we really want to go dancing, and one of the guys, Manos (Greek), says that he knows the DJ of the most popular club in Itaewon and he can get us straight in.
Turns out Manos seems to know all the right people, because for the rest of the night we bypass all the long lines of people waiting outside, pay no cover, and just get to go right into numerous clubs. It was so much fun! We definitely ran into the right people that night! Clubs in Seoul don't close until 6 or 7 am, so we stayed out all night. Around 6 we decided it was time to grab a taxi back to Songdo so we said goodbye, grabbed some food and headed back. A taxi back runs about $15-$20 a person, so it's definitely worth it on the way back.
It was a really fun night, and the three of us are planning on going out in Seoul again this coming weekend, but this time not Itaewon but in a University area!

Chuseok

So time to do a ton of blog posts!! I know it's been awhile since my last post, but we had a big holiday here in Korea last weekend so I've been enjoying my time off and not really had time to write any! So I'll start from the beginning, which is all about Chuseok.

Chuseok is basically a the Korean equivalent to an American Thanksgiving, except it's an even bigger deal. All the Koreans go home for the Chuseok Holiday, which was on Monday September 12th this year. So since everyone is traveling back to their hometowns, you want to stay away from the airports, trains stations, and bus stations on that weekend. Songdo was literally a ghost town last weekend, since no one is actually from here since it was just created about 8 years ago. It was so weird, no cars, people, nothing. Just us foreigners! 

Apparently for Chuseok teachers get gifts that Friday before, so I came home from work with some goodies, which was a nice surprise! Although they are not exactly things you get in America. Haha ya ok so my first gift I got from one of my kindergarden kids:

That was my first gift of the day, a fancy wrapped box of Elizabeth Arden beauty products. At that point I had no idea that it was normal to get gifts from the kids on Chuseok, so it was all very random to me!

Next I got this beautiful box filled with Korean rice candy and desserts:

Oh and then from the directer all the foreign teachers received a giant gift set of Laver, which is dried seaweed!! I actually tried some of it, but it tastes awful!!

You can't really tell how much is actually in there, but it's about a years supply of seaweed. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Other than that I got some smaller gifts like boxed pastries, a Starbucks gift card, some fruit, and small rice ball desserts. Huge gift sets of Spam are also a very popular gift over here. They really love their Spam and Seaweed. Cassy got a huge gift set of Spam, so since we've both never even eaten it before we're going to find a decent looking recipe online and experiment. It just doesn't seem right letting it all go to waste without at least trying!!

So that's Chuseok in Korea, family, food, and spending time together. Of course I spent my weekend very differently, but I'll tell more about that in my next post!