From Brittney to Beethoven

Two memorable teaching moments happened today that I just had to share.



The first was in a 5th grade class. The students were writing, and this little conversation took place...



Sean: "Teacher, raba is r-a-b-a?"
Me: "What is that?"
Sean: "The things comes from volcano."



The second moment happened during the last class of the day with a group of second graders. They were also writing. One student was finished and started mindlessly humming Beethoven's 5th. One by one, other students joined in, humming their own part! Pretty soon, I had a second grade symphonic concert happening in my little classroom! Two months ago, my American 4th grade students were strutting around in their hoochi-mama pants and singing baby-oh-baby songs, and now I'm being serenaded by savants who have memorized their sheet music!

My Apartment

Holy cow, it's snowing! SNOWING! It was 64 degrees on Saturday! I had heard that the weather here is as fickle as Chicago, but now I've finally seen it for myself.

Anyway, that's way off the topic. Today I want to write about my apartment. I've been here for three weeks now, so it's about time I post some pictures. I live in Seoul, but just like Chicago, Seoul has different areas. I live in the area called Gangnam and my section of Gangnam is called Seocho because it's near Seocho Station. I actually live about 200 meters from Seocho Station, which is fantastic! It's a very convenient station. Gangnam is also a wealthy area, which could have meant two things for me: 1. an apartment the size of a matchbox or 2. an apartment that was super fabulous. I am blessed to say that I have the latter.

When I first walked in, I was amazed by the size. It's not large by American standards, but I had heard that most apartments here are the size of a single-occupancy hotel room. That's not at all what I have. The apartment that I'm in is in a newer building and in a business district. I live on the seventh floor. I have a guard that loves to greet me with, “Amandaaaaaaa, where you is go?!” and then correct me once again because I lack the skill to have a clue what he's telling me when he points to garbage cans and says things in Korean. There are tons of coffee shops, including a Starbucks that opened next door, which I have yet to visit, and Ediya down the street which I frequent due to the people, many restaurants, and interesting people-watching opportunities.

As far as blogging, I'm still having issues with the pictures and text ending up where I want them, so I think I will just explain the pictures here and post them all as a group underneath. Hope you don't mind! Enjoy!

1. My building: S.R. Tower. To the left of this picture is the convenient Seocho Subway Station.

2. What I see when I walk in the front door. This is the main living space; office/living room/ dining room.

3. The bathroom. There is no shower door. The whole room is the shower. I have to squeegee the water into the drain under the sink when I'm done and use shower shoes until it's all dry.

4. The quaint little kitchen. Yes, that's a washing machine under the stove top. On the left is the fridge and on the right is the pantry. I already had plenty of dishes and cookware, which is way more than most had.

5. The view from my window. This is southern Seoul. On clear days, I have a view of the mountains, but now that it's Yellow Sand season, I'll have to wait a while.

6. The view from my window looking back. Above is my loft. It's an amazing space creator.

7. The loft. Cute bedding, right?! Yes, that is a crucifix above my bed; one of many reminders in my apartment that I work for a Catholic school. To the left is a great storage area. Storage!

8. The main light fixture. I really like it.

9. The front door. I feel very safe at all times due to the triple lock which locks automatically when I enter and exit, and the video-activated doorbell so I never have to open the door to see who's there.

10. Oh, and I have a walk-in closet.

11. This was the clock that was already in my apartment. I started to learn that slogans here sound very strange in English. This is just one of many examples. “Happy to you” doesn't make sense, the elephants, bear, and food doesn't work together. And since you probably can't read the center, allow me to quote it for you. It says, “About our story: I can make you happy to make you feel my love.” What?

Seoul Tower

If y'all don't mind, I'd like to backtrack a wee bit to the end of our week of training. This entry will be mostly pictures, if you don't mind that as well. Last Friday, we finally got to leave the center and go to one of the local schools to do an observation and eat lunch. I had heard about kimbap from April and was happy when that turned out to be our lunch. This particular one had veggies, rice, pickled radish, and Spam...yes...Spam. Never thought I would be eating a Korean dish and Spam for the first time all in one bite. Oh, and I liked it very much. I think Spam will now be a staple in my diet!

Then we were all taken to a local attraction, the Seoul Tower. It was built in 1969 and is 777 feet tall from the base and 1, 574 feet above sea level. We first had to drive up a mountain, but not quite to the top; for that we had to walk. I was SO thankful that I changed from heels to flats in the last minute before leaving the center because the hike was pretty steep. Coming down would have be brutal in heels!

There is lookout point at the top of the mountain where there is something quite interesting. It is said that if a couple comes here and puts a lock on the fence, their love is forever. Needless to say, thousands of couples have come here to solidify their love or just to participate in a quaint legend. There are even benches to aid in “bringing the couple together.”

There is a more ancient side of the mountain where there are relics and like this smoke tower that is said to have been able to warn neighboring countries of impending doom, and not just the rest of Korea.

Next, it was up to the observation deck of the tower. All the windows were covered in the names of cities, in the direction of that particular city, along with its distance from the tower. I think they should to that at the Sears; pretty cool idea!

Just as we were headed back to the buses, a performance started in the square showcasing the Korean sword fighting tradition.

The ride back was about an hour or so. How did we spend our time? Karaoke...ON...THE...BUS! Only in Korea!

Gangnam

Do you remember the National Geographic videos of the poor little baby bird being pushed out of the nest? It has two options as it plummets to the ground; either learn to fly in the next five seconds, or crash. I am that bird, and this is where my real life in Korea starts.

After a really great week of training and getting to know 160 other people in the bubble of the Hyundai Learning Center, we were whisked away by our supervisors to the district office of our respective areas. I got on the bus with 15 other people who were going to the Gangnam District (pronounced Kongnom). Gangnam is said to be the richest district in Seoul, and it is referred to as Beverly Hills. But so far I haven't seen any mansions, so my guess is that it's more like the penthouse life of Chicago. At the district office, we were told to wait for our co-teachers to come and fetch us. One by one, the people who had become my comfort zone were being pushed out of the nest until, at last, my supervisor arrived. Thankfully, I found out earlier that the school that hired me also hired another teacher, Kyla, at the same time, so I wasn't being whisked away alone. Kyla seems like a really great person. She's fresh out of college, has lots of energy, and is very kind. She even carried some of my luggage!

Lise, the supervisor, who speaks English almost like a Westerner, hit us with tons of information in the car as she ate her pistachio ice cream cone from Baskin Robins. First of all, the school, Gyeseong Elementary, is a private Catholic school. That one hit me hard because I feel like my calling is to the public schools, not to private, but I have to get over it because God knows what He's doing. The school is more that 120 years old, though the building is brand new, and it is the most prestigious school in Gangnam, and perhaps all of Seoul. She gave us a short tour of the school and I felt like I was walking through a Lake Forest school. It was far too big to go through the whole thing, but get this, there is a teacher's lounge for the regular subject teachers AND one for the English language teachers. Why? Because there are eleven of us in all! I don't know yet if that means that all of them are native English speakers, but that would be amazing.

Another kicker was that our contract is slightly different than a regular S.M.O.E. Contract (Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education). With them, the contract is twenty-two teaching hours, and here it's thirty, but we'll be compensated well. The next surprise was that my class size is going to be ten (I was expecting 35-40) and I will be teaching 2nd and 5th grade. That sounds fabulous to me! Plus, I will have my own classroom with a huge flat-screen TV, computer, and other goodies that I haven't seen yet. My students are going to be the “beyond” students, the ones who have very high English skills.

Next, I was taken to my apartment building. It's called S.R. Tower. I pretend it's Trump Tower. I'm on the 7th floor. Lise said that the nun who runs the school wanted to treat us well in hopes that we'd love it and want to come back. She also said that she was jealous because our accommodations were so nice. I'll post a picture of the building here, but I'll wait until everything is in order before I post the inside. My expectation was a small studio with barely enough room to get around. This is far different. It has a good-size bathroom, a walk-in closet (small but holy cow), tiny but nice kitchen, washer, big living/working space with TV/DVD, and a loft where my bed is along with a huge space for storage. My view is the roof of another building, but beyond that, I can see highrises.

But then Lise, Kyla, and the driver left, and I was that bird plummeting to the ground. I kept saying to myself, “I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry,” and I didn't, but I don't know what kind of accomplishment that was. I was hesitant to unpack because that would mean that I was living here. I was so excited all week to just get to the apartment and unpack, but in that moment, it was the most difficult thing in the world to do. I made it through one suitcase and then through another. I was starving but didn't know where to go for food. I ate one of my treasured fruit snacks from home and tried getting on the internet. When it logged on automatically, it was a moment of pure bliss until it asked for a user name and password.

The night seemed to drag on forever until I finally went to bed at 8:30. Yep, 8:30. This morning was a little better. It was weird getting out of bed in “my apartment,” the place I will be living for the next 51 weeks. I took a shower, did some laundry, almost cried when I realized I left some irreplaceable things at the training center, and went to the tiny market down the street to see if they had anything that I needed, which they sort of did, kind of.

I decided I was going to be brave and try to navigate the subway system with no formal training. I wanted very badly to go to church, and I thought I remembered reading that there was an English speaking one by Gangnam Station. The Seocho Station is just one block from me, and Gangnam is just two stops from that, so I knew it couldn't be too horrifying. It was hard, and the people weren't nice, but I think I could do it again. I never found the church, but I wandered around, feeling very much like I was in Chicago, searching anywhere for a store where I could buy a watch, and then getting back on the sub and going “home.” Then I wandered around my neighborhood, which is quite pretty, I must say. I stopped in every coffee house I could find to see if they had internet access. I finally found this quaint little shop, and here I sit, amking a mental note to never again order a green tea latte, and unsuccessfully fighting back the “What did I get myself into” tears. Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow I start my new job and meet new people, people who speak English and can be used as a resource and maybe even become a new friend. I am anxious to start a routine. I am lonely at this moment, but I know it won't last.

This bird needs to fly.

Hyundai – It's Not Just Another Car Company

I've been in Korea now for four days. I figured it was time for another post.

The flight was ... long. I was really impressed with the service and the entertainment. I was able to watch a few movies that I had been wanting to see! I met up with the other Footprints teachers at the airport and then it was off to the bus. And, oh, what a bus it was! The interior was stuck in an identity crisis. It was a strange mix between Mother Goose and Cash Cab.

We were driven to Who-Knows-Where, Korea, about a mile and half from Seoul, to the Hyundai Training Center, the place I will call home until Saturday. It's up in the mountains, and even though Korea is the most mountainous country in the world, it's still a picturesque location and quite different than the plains of Illinois. Most everything is in or around the mountains. It is a beautiful and impressive facility. To give you an idea of how this place is situated on the mountains, I am in the dormitory building, and I have to go down to the first floor and take a bridge that connects directly to the fifth floor of the training center. It has a fitness room, convenience store, pool, ping-pong, lounges (just couches, people), cafeteria with three meals a day, and hotel-like dorm rooms. Because I've only left here once, it feels like I'm just somewhere in the States at a camp.

I have two roommates for the week. Tamra is from Seattle, and Katie is from London. They are really great people and it's great to have instant friends here. We've had quite the experiences together already!

I was able to leave on Sunday to go to church. It was encouraging to see how many people are here at the training who are Christians. The church is a non-denominational church located in the city on the seventh and eighth floor of a large building. The service was great and the church body was very international.

Opening ceremonies started on Monday with a performance of traditional Korean music. Here's a little clip for your enjoyment! Sorry about all the heads, I was sitting near the back.

The food has been...interesting. We have had rice and kimchi at every meal, even breakfast. Breakfast has also included squid cakes and potatoes roasted in syrup. Most foods come bathed in chili paste. Yesterday we had a special treat; whole fish! Yum! Try eating that with a set of chopsticks!

The grounds are beautiful. Yesterday, I took a walk on the path surrounding the center, and today it snowed! Here's a few of the pictures below.

It's now close to 10pm here, and I just got back from a rousing evening of Korean culture. We learned three types of traditional Korean dances. The instructor was so engaging with an infectious smile. I felt really honored to be able to learn something that is so important to the people here. Here's a short video of the dance competition.

This entry turned out to be much longer than I had expected, but there's so much to share! I'm safe, healthy, blessed, and still loving life.