To the capital we go!

Sorry Peeps, this post was orginally written to be posted a few days...okay okay, a few (maybe several) weeks ago.  But, better late than never, right?

  It has been another busy week here at Gayang Elementary School. I spent most of the week teaching the children in my before and afternoon school classes about Halloween.  This mostly means that I have been plying them with candy in exchange for their cooperation and correct repetition of key phrases (mostly "may I have some candy please", and "Trick or Treat").  But the candy bribery method of teaching is not what I am writing about today, that is for another entry.  I am going to tell you about my first real sightseeing adventure here in South Korea.

Last Friday(meaning Oct. 17th) my school went on a field trip to Seoul, specifically to the capital area of Seoul.  I learned that on days such as these I have no classes but must be at school for the entire day.  I was also given the option of going on the field trip with the school.  I chose not to spend the entire day sitting at my desk with nothing to do.  My first hint that this would be a good day was seeing the tricked out buses pulling into the schoolyard.



A pic of the schoolyard and the mountains beyond.  The all-sand playground is typical of korean schools

 


Check out the moodlighting on our bus. 
The guy in the aisle is the 4th grade teacher,
and the one sitting is my co-teachr.

 

The uber-cool lady standing next to me
is the 3rd grade teacher.





Two large screen tv's, one at the front and one at the back, really improve the pleasure of the ride.  I have been told that the buses often have karaoke systems and bars aboard as well.  Ours had a coffee and snack bar up front.

At around 9am we all loaded onto the buses and set out for Seoul.  It was an uneventful and comfortable hour plus ride.  The children were well entertained with their own multimedia devices and so had no complaints when the grown ups opted for korean soap operas.  When we arrived we disembarked in front of the Korean National History Museum where the classes set of to see the korean president's house, here called The Blue House.  I was not allowed to go on that part of the tour as you must put your name on the list for security clearance a couple months in advance.  I was clearly not on the list so I had the time free to sightsee.  A few other people were not on the list either so we made a great time of it.





These two smiling and peace sign waiving Koreans are Ah Ra, the school librarian and Un Joon, the principal and VP's secretary/assistant.  They also were not on the list but chose to come on the field trip anyway.

The following pictures are from the grounds of the National Folk Museum.  The place was absolutely lovely, with an atmosphere that encouraged relaxation and enjoyment of simply being there.  My Co-teacher kept telling me that this was his home and that we were honored to have been invited over today.  I believe the building right below this was his home office.  Of course he also told us that the President was his close personal friend.  He has a great sense of humor...or he's delusional.







Cute kindergarten groups like this were all over the place.  All dressed in identical adorable suits.

There were so many things to see and take pics of in the museum I eventually gave up trying to capture it all.  Here are just a few pics that I did get.

 




One of the very first Korean flags, created in 1882.





 















The three of us pose in front of Jong Hyun's close friend's home or as everyone else in Korea refer to to "The Blue House."  This is the Korean version of the White House.  Apparently he forgot to tel his "friend" (the president) we were coming so this is as close as we could get.  Of course I pointed out that my close personal friends Barak and Michelle would have told their guards to admit me anytime I chose to show up.

After the National Folk Museum we went down and across the street a bit and came to another museum that was running a cultural exhibit.  We just happend to arrive amidst some sort of gathering of women dressed in historical court dress.  It was quite amazing seeing them all dressed this way and even posing among the mannequins.

 



I think I look fab with my new 5lb braided ponytail



6th grade girls



 After this museum we headed to a park wich I was told is famous for some such reason, and waited for the rest of the school to show up for lunch.  When they did I was in for a treat.  All the children pulled out little drawstring sacks from which they withdrew cute little mats to sit on, what a great idea.  They then pulled out home packed lunches that consisted of, you guessed it, rice and kimchi and various other Korean foods.  Many children had Kimbap which are like california rolls.  I was told this is the "picnic food" of Korea.

3rd grade girls



 



2nd grade girls





3rd grade boys





This is the faculty picnic.  We had Tuna Kimbap, a traditonal Korean soup (it had some kind of green stuff in it, perhaps seaweed) , cherry tomatoes, oranges and to drink a kind of canned tea water.  They kept telling me it was water, but drinkable water isn't usually brown, hmmm.  The man to my right is the principal, and this is precisely how he was dressed when we went hiking.

After lunch we went to visit one of the major palaces in Seoul.  From what I understand it was all one huge Palace and the royal family all had their own wings.  Now the remaining wings are seperated into what they now call palaces.  You have to visit them all seperately.  This day we went to the Kings Palace, which contains a throne room for your viewing pleasure and has a very cool changing of the guards demonstration.  I have a pretty nice video of it but you will once again have to visit FB to see it.

My 4th grade girls





The firs and only public telephones I have seen in Korea











Palace Guards looking cool as only palace guards can.

I hung with the 4th graders for the rest of the trip.  I began to realize that the teacher was making them compete, boys agains girls to see who would get to show me around the next area of our tour.  There wasn't much else to take pictures of and with the children going "Teacher, Teacher let's go!"  I didn't get a chance to anyway.  Then the teachr bought us all Ice cream in a pouch type treats and we loaded back onto our buses for the long ride home.

When we arrived back at the school we waited until the students were all picked up and then we all piled into cars and headed down the road to a restaurant.  This was my first traditional korean dining experience and it was pretty cool.  I was kind of nervous and wanted to concentrate on not dropping food everywhere as I was only a week old in chopstick experience.  I failed miserably but no one seemed to care, they just handed me napkins and extra chopsticks as needed and praised me when the food actually made it to my mouth.  The grilled me through the translating services of my co-teacher and made sure I tried everything including the beer.  It was a good end to a great day.

Korean Trivia#7 Soda and juice are not the beverages of choice in vending machines here.  Instead of Coca Cola and Minute Maid you will find various types of tea and herbal water and machines dedicated to hot cocoa and coffee everywhere.

Time Sure Flies

Wow! It's been a whole month since my last update.  I can't believe how that time just kept getting away from me.  I have been so busy working, and making new friends that sometimes I am just too pooped out to even think about composing and posting a blog.  Other times I just plain forget and then I remember just as I am going to sleep at night, or at 4 in the morning depending on how I was spending my time. 
     So, what have I been up to.  Well... hmm...let's see.  I have finally been fully initiated into Korean culture. Yep, that's right I did Norebang (노래 방) and Taekwondo (태권도).  If you don't know what Norebang is then don't rest assured because you are definitely missing out.  I mean who doesn't love making a fool of yourself singing karoeke in front of your friends and co-workers, disco ball and all?  The main difference between traditional kareoke bars(notice the two different spellings because I don't know which is correct and I don't feel like looking it up) and norebang is that instead of being up on stage in front of the general public, in norebang you rent a room by the hour, the room is equipped with mics, tv's comfy seating and tables.  There is also generally some type of disco or light ball and of course a giant book from which to pick your songs.  If you purchase drinks there, they will supply you with snacks and they will let you bring your own drinks in as well.  All in all, good fun people, a couple of bottles of Soju (beer if you prefer), some O.J to mix it with, or better yet mango juice, and you're all set for one of the best nights of your life.  Okay, that may be an exaggeration but seriously it is a blast.  Everyone I have met Korean and foreign, loves it
     About three weeks to the day after I arrived I met another foreigner in the grocery store.  She was an American names Suzi, from florida, and she invited me to dinner that night with a group of her friends.  She works at the private school very near my apartment and as it turns out she and her friends are super cool.  I did not go out with them that night but she invited me out again about a week later.  I went to shabu shabu (사부 사부) with them that night and discovered both new friends and a great new meal at the same time, all for about $8, a deal that can't be beat.  Shabu Shabu is basically a soup dinner.  You sit down at the table (on the floor traditional style) and a bowl is put on the heating unit in the center of the table.  A really tasty broth is added and it begins to heat.  During this time the waiter/ress is bring out platters full of green leafy veggies, onions rice cakes and mando (dumplings filled with various things) and another platter full of very thinly sliced beef or fish depending on how you order.  They also bring out various side dishes and salads as well as a bowl of rice with egg yolk on top,and a large bowl of thick noodles.  When the broth is heated you addthe veggies to cook and when they are done you toss in the meat, the meat takes litterally seconds because it is so thin.  This is the BEST SOUP EVER!  It is super filling and so good, and you can just make it a bit at a time as you go along.  when you have done a bit of that soup then you toss in the noodles and enjoy more of it that way.  After the noodles the waitress comes by and scoops out all the noodles and veggies, adds more broth if needed (the broth stays on the table for you to add as it cooks down), and then adds the rice/egg mixture.  Now this make rice porridge which is honestly pretty boring tasting to me but I think it has potential to be spiced up with more flavor.  At this point I was so pleasantly full I barely bothered with it. Shabu Shabu has definitely made my top list of Korean foods.
Something else happened that night.  I met Samantha (Sam to most).  Sam is an American from ??? and she has been here just a bit longer than me I believe.  The important thing about my meeting Sam is that she takes Taekwondo.  Now, I had been thinking about it for awhile but the thought never made it far, and I was trying to hold out for Tai Chi.  Sadly Tai Chi is Chinese and so not easy to find here, while you can find a Taekwondo school on every corner, literally.  To make a long story shorter, I signed up for taekwondo 2 weeks ago and haven't been able to blink without feeling it since.  Yes, I know this exercise thing is supposed to be good for me but geeze! Must I be able to feel every muscle in my front and back with each breath?  And I do believe the masters enjoy torturing me.  Unless of course his gleeful smile as he yells, harder, faster, one more time, one more set of torturous side crunches or push ups, actually means he feeling sorry for me.  Hmm, no, I think he enjoys it.  The really sick and twisted part is that I do to.  No matter how much he puts me through in the beginning of the session, being able to kick and punch him at the end is really cathartic.  So what if I am nothing but a mass of sore muscles, so what if I couldn't even bend down yesterday to use the laminator, so what if walking up to my second floor apartment feels like a special kind of torture(and let's not talk about the steep hill from the bus to the school...sigh), I'm sure it's worth it...................in the long run.
     There is more I'd like to tell you about, but this post is long enough.  So this is where I say goodbye and promise to tell you all next time.  Peace and blessings people.

Korean Trivia #6  The Korean education system is very competitve and your future is pretty much determined in middle school.  If you don't do well on you high school entrance exams then you don't go to a good high school(unless you have a massive number of performance points up till then) and if you don't go to a good high school than you can kiss getting into a good college goodbye.  If you do poorly on your high school entrance exam and have not shown promis till then, then you go to a tech high school and learn a trade, completely forget the university dream.