Halloween.................in Korea

This past weekend was Halloween, and I honestly didn't think that I would celebrate it in Korea. My co-teachers had mention to me how the students know about Halloween, therefore, they would be expecting me to dress up sooo I called my mother up and asked her to mail me my Halloween costume from my freshmen year at Bonas. But she took it upon herself to donate that $50 cosutme. I only wore it once, and I had the intention of wearing it again, like now in Korea. So I went online and orderd a new costume off of Ebay , and it was another witch costume. I didn't expect my school to care that much about Halloween. All I planned to do was talk about Halloween in my classes and give out candy and then for my after-school class I would look for Coraline or The Nightmare Before Christmas to watch with them. Well the principal had another idea, he decided that he wanted to have this Halloween celebration for two days with the 4th through 6th graders. So the school gave my co-teachers and I 500,000 Won which is the equivalent to like $450. We went shopping the next day and we were able to find some Halloween decorations, and the rest of the decorations we created on our own. We decorated the whole English center with pumpkins, and skeltons, and tons of Halloween stuff. The classrooms in the English Center, which has four different rooms would be used for the students to rotate to the Game, Activity, Story, and Song Room.

My room was the " Story Zone" so I created a short powerpoint presentation about Halloween and I prepard to show the first four mins of " The Nightmare Before Christmas" because they sing " This is Halloween" . My co-teacher found the " The Nightmare Before Christmas" with Korean subtitle , on this popular Korean website. So the school's computer tech burned to a disc for me.

The day of the Halloween celeberation, I was shocked to see that almost every student wore a costume and created ' Trick or Treat " Bags. It was great !!!!! I never cared too much about Halloween when I was in America, but for some reason while in Korea, I started to care a whole lot about it ,and I was starting to miss celebrating it at home. Later that day after the tenth group , I was starting to get sick of the " This is Halloween" song. It was a great day and the students loved it.

Day 2 of the Halloween celebration was a lot of fun because I wore my costume to school, and all the students were FREAKING out!!! I was the only teacher who got dressed up, I tried to convince my co-teachers to dress up but they refused. So I wore my costume and proceeded to do another day of showing my powerpoint presentation and showing " The Nightmare Before Christmas". This day was more fun because the all the students were very excited and into the movie. They really enjoyed the song, " This is Halloween" . This day was shorter and I was finally exhausted, but I was so happy that my school embraced the halloween celebration with so much passion. I think the only reason they wanted a Native speaker was so they had an excuse to celebrate Halloween. lol


That night after all of the Halloween celebration at my school, I went to an opera with a few of my friends to see " Carmen" . The last time time I saw Carmen, was on a PBS special when I was 11, and it was with Dorthy Dandridge. I assumed that the play was going to be in Korean, but it was French, with Korean and English Subtitles, and the singing and acting , was very nice. It was worht the $30 to go see it.


HALLOWEEN DAY...........I decided to make the trip to Seoul with a couple of my freinds to go out to a club and celebrate Halloween with other foreigners.
We spent most of the day shopping with the intentions of going to the club later, but we became very tired and instead went out for dinner. After dinner we decided to relax in our motel room and then maybe go out for a drinks. So later that night even though we didnt really want to, we decided we would just go to a bar and have some drinks and then call it a night, ( how lame of us ), so we went to the W.A (western style bar) and as usally we were the only foreigners lol. We stayed there for while and had two pitchers of beer and some snacks. We were so tired we decided to call it a night and head back home to go to sleep, however that changed because on our way back we noticed that the malls were opend til 6am, and it was only 12am. SOOOO we first decided to go into one store, so we could look at some of their shoes, but then that turned into 5 hours of shopping. It was great because I was able to find the boots that I wanted, and everyone else was able to buy something that they had wanted as well. After that we decided to FINALLY go back to our motels. And then the next morning I took the train back home $200 poorer, lol.

This past Halloween weekend was better then I had expected it to be, and I am so glad it turned out to be a lot of fun BUT it really made me miss Halloween in America so next year when Im back home I will be sure to really get into the spirit.

^^

Birthdayyy Celebration in Daegu!!!!!!!

I am finally 22 , and the most exciting thing is that I was able to celebrate it with my new friends that I have met here in Korea. We took a trip to a city called Daegu , I believe it is the third largest city in Korea. We stayed with my friend Vincent, who was kind enough to let all 11 of us stay in his tiny tiny apt. But it turns out that I did not stay there, which I will talk about later.





So the Birthday celebration began Friday, Oct. 16, and we went out for dinner . We were able to find one place that would seat like 11 foreigners. The meal was great and then the DRANKING began. We went to this club called the " GoGo Club", and it was cool because we got our cocktails in a zip-loc bag. It was delicious! I had gin and tonic. Also if you wanted your drink to be stronger, then the bartender would make it extra strong for you, FOR FREE!!! YUMMYY ( I made you proud Cindy)

After we drank our zip-loc bags of cockatils, they told us to go to the new club that they opened up and we would get free beers. So, as the smart drunks that we were we went to go get some more free beer. The " GoGo Club" was fun, the bartenders were cute and really cool. We drank some more , played pool, and talked. Since I was feeling really good, I decided to buy myself a " JagerBomb". ( JagerBomb, JagerBomb JagerBomb). They were very cheap too! They were only 5,000wons so the equivalent to $3 USD. So cheap so , I bought FOUR~



After the " GoGo Club" we decided to move the fun to a new club, " G-2CLUB" This club was very cool, and we got more free drinks, well only 1 . The club was 98% Koreans. They played a lot of American Hip-Hop/Rap music and Korean Pop ( KPOP) music. Those Koreans, can party.We were able to push ourselves to the front of the club and then jumped on stages. It was great ! We danced for basically five hours, and by the time 5am came around, I thought the club would be closing but, no, more and more Koreans were coming to the club but we decided to call it a night and leave. I decided since Vincent place was soo small , that I would stay at a JiJim Bang ( Public Bathouse/Sauna/Spa) with two of my friends. It was very uncomfortable, the " pillows" were rock hard.



The next morning, I woke up with everything hurting, I was so sore from the night before, that I didn't think I could repeat the same night again. But I decided I would be a trooper and try to party again for the second night in the row. We spent most of the day shopping, or just walking around and looking around. We went to a bookstore, in which this lady asked me if I was " American or Indonesian" which took me by surprised, I mean usually people ask if I'm American or African, so being asked if I was Indonesian was a bit of a surprised. Anyway , at the bookstore I found a new book from Mitch Alboum, so I closed my eyes and bought it, because it was fucking expensive !!!



Later that night, we decided to go back to the " Gogo Club" but after about an hour more than half of our group decided they just could not last for the rest of the night so the went home. The rest of us went to a hookah bar, and smoked and had a drink, then we tried to go back out and drink some more, which we did, but we were soo tired and sore from the previous night that we ended up calling it a night too. But we decided to go back to the JiJim Bang, because while sleeping would not be comfortable, we knew in the morning going to the spa would be well worth it.

The next day we left Daegu to go home although I was sad that my birthday celebration was over, it was nice to go back home to relax !!!!!!

However , my birthday celebration was not over , like I thought it was, my co-workers suprised me at work by throwing me a party!!!!! They made me a huge banner that said, " Happy Birthday '! I was soo excited and they bought me a cake and my co-teacher bought me a beautiful scarf!!! Later they took me out for duck which was delicious, and they came over to my apartment and we had drinks !!!!!

Even though last years 21st birthday celebration at Bonas was awesome, it was nice that I was still able to enjoy my 22nd birthday in a foreign country.....

Chuseok ! ( Korean Thanksgiving)

So the Chuseok holiday has already passed, and it was awesome to have two days off from school. I spent my vacation in Busan which is the second largest city in Korea. I stayed with my friend Jing, and three other of my friends who came to visit. It was an awesome, and much needed vacation. I assumed that since Busan was the 2nd largest city, then I would not be stared at a lot. But boy was I wrong lol, I had an old man on the train just lean in and stare at me , it was a little awakward, but Im used to it now. I have to admit though that the " Hello" and " Nice to meet you" is starting to get on my nerves. Sometimes, I just don't even say anything. I know thats means, but sometimes people can be obnoxious about it. We spent must of our time traveling to various Tourist spots in Busan such as Haeundae Beach , Busan Tower and Gwanglli Beach. We took a lot of pictures, which I have yet to post. Lol. We got a lot of things done then I had anticipated. We also visited the largest department store in the world, called " Centum City". I was more excited then everyone else to visit because I was desperate to find makeup for my skin color. It is so hard to find make-up for black people here, but I succeeded.The nightlife in Busan is absolutely wild. Jing's apartment is right in the middle of madness, and she has to deal with the loud noise from all the bars, and restaurants by her apartment. I don't think I could handle living where she lived, but definitley coming to party wouldn't be so bad.

It was a great vacation in Busan, but my birthday is quickly approaching so I anticipate all the crazy festivities that will be occurring this coming weekend in Daegu.

Okgye !!!

Ok it has been officially three weeks, that I have been at Okgye Elementary School. I'm really liking it here. The staring is getting a little less , and the constant hellos, and nice to meet you is starting to die down. Everyone has been really sweet to me, and have made me feel so included in every activity and event that has been happening at our school. However it is sad to say that I may no longer be a vegetarian anymore, considering at the last school dinner a week ago, I ate duck. It was soo good though, and it was my first time having it so of course, I had to eat it. Its a lot harder than I thought to be a vegetarian, because EVERYTHING has meat in it. But Im going to continue to try, but if it doesnt workout, than I will go back to being a vegetarian when Im back in America.





The nightlife in Korea has been going really well so far, I have been going out with either my my co-workers or other foreigners. These Koreans LOVE to drink but at the same time Im curious to know if they have Drinking and Driving Laws. Whenever I go out with my co-workers , theyyy get soo smashed , and Im wondering how they drive home. One night we went out to play pool, get chinese food ( how funny in Korea) , go to narebang(karaoke room) , and every place we went ,everyone DRANK. Not just drank like a beer or two, but they were taking tons of shots. By the end of the night , everyone was wasted, and I should mention that this was only a MONDAYYY. But thankful everyone got home safely, and was on time for work , the next morning.





Last weekend, I had the oppertunity to a visit another city, Daejaon ( I know I spelt that wrong). It is about 1 1.5 hours from Gumi, and another big city in Korea. I went to visit my friend Linda, who I met at Orientation. She showed me around her city, and than we went on a hunt for dinner. We were stopped by these two old ladies, who only spoke Korean, who were just fasciniated by us, I think because we were black. LOL. With the veryy little Korean, that Linda and I know we were able to figure out that they had a friend who teaches at the elementary school that Linda works at. We told them we were looking for a resturant that served bulgogi and bibimbop. They kept nodding their head then they lead us to their church , because they wanted to recruit us. I knew it ! So we eventually got away from them, by promsing them we would go to church in the morning, but of course that wasnt going to happen





Later that night after a short nap, we woke up at 12am, and decided we were still going to go out. We went to this bar about 15 mins from her apartment, and it was FLOODED with foreigners. It was great to meet more foreigners and just speak English. We met two cool guys , one was from New Zealand and the other was AMERICAN!!!!! They were very nice and both had already spent 5 years in Korea, oh yeh , they were 35 years old ( old menn !!! ) . We also met another guy named Ricardo, who happen to be Korean, his English name was Ricardo, but it felt weird calling him that , so I prefered his Korean name. He was really nice, and really wanted to get to know us. His English was basically fluent , becasue he spent five years living in Brooklyn, NY. He took us to a DVD bang, which is a room that you can rent with friends , and watch movies. Its your own personally movie theatre all for a whopping $ 12usd.





I am definitely passed the honeymoon phase of being in Korea and I am now in the culture shock phase. I miss home a lot, but a lot of the people that I have met here, have been making it a lot easier. I still do not have a cellphone :( but today , I get my alien registration, which means, I can go out and buy a phone. THANK GOD !!!!!! I really need one it is so hard to make plans, and I want to call my family and everyone back home.



Ok thats all for now, sorry these post have been late, but I have been so busy with teaching!

Next post there will be pictures !!!!!! YAY :) stay tunee...

Yes...Gumi 08/30-09/05

Ok , so far it has been five days that have been living in my new city. I am really starting to like it. Its in a city, thank God im not in a rural area. Lol. I have met other foreigners here, in total about four . I'm glad I met them because if I didnt , I would have been lonely here, and than the staring really would start to get to me. I arrived in Gumi, more specifically Okgye ( the town) Friday evening. I was greeted by two-coteachers who than took me to the elementary school that I would be working at and introduce me to my main co-teacher and the vice-principal and prinicipal. They were all very nice to me, and were shocked by age. I dont think 21 is that young, but to them they were surprised. We then went out for dinner with the other staff member because it was a " Farewell" dinner for the current vice-principal ( He was handsome, for an older man, im sad ). Dinner was really good but I don't know how they can sit " Indian style" for such a long period of time, my legs started to cramp. I ate a lot of food, there werre so many side dishes. One of the teachers, made me take a shot of soulju, which doesnt taste that good. I was also encouraged to drink a lot of beer. The staff members were all afraid to talk to me, because they were so embarassed of their english, but I was so afraid to talk to them becaue the only words I know in Korean are Hello, Thank You, and How Much( Of course, I would remeber that). They gawked at me as I tried to eat with my chopsticks, which was very difficult, but then the applauded me when I was able to pick up a piece of sushi and but it in my mouth. It was hilarious.



The first foriegner I met was, Melody. Since my apartmet was not ready for me, they set me up with Melody. Melody has been in Korea for about 5 months now. She is from Georgia,and she is really cool. She didnt mind that I was up her ass the whole weekend. But finally after three days , I moved out of her apartment and into my new apartment. My apartment is relly nice . Its realllyyyyy small, but its comfortable. I will have to post pics later. Its only across the street from my school which is really convienet. I cant wait until I start working at my new school !!!!

Public Bathhouse and Gumi !!!

There, I changed the font so that it is easier to read. Ok so far orientation is still going on , but it ends this Friday. Which is quite scary and exciting. My Korean, so far is terrible, the only thing I know is Hello, Thank-You, and How Much. Im not sure how Im going to survive in the next couple of days because I will soon official be living on my own in Korea. Ahhhh!!!! I have a phrasebook but if you don't have the pronunciation master in this language, then no one will understand what your trying to say :(. But I will not let that get me down and I will continue to make practice.

So in other news the other day me and a couple of my friends went to this place called a Jjim Bang( The spelling is completely wrong). It is a public bathhouse, if you think this is weird its not. Its very popular over here, and it is pretty much a spa. We went to this HUGEEEE Jjim Bang . It was incredible, but I have to be honest. The whole getting naked thing was a bit mind blowing to me. When you first go into the spa , they give you a small bag with a cute top and pants, and some towels, and then the women and men separate into the locker rooms. You take off all of your clothes and then the women and men separate into their own bath house. Oh my god, it was soo hard getting naked in front of people. I saw naked bushes everywhere lol. You could tell who the foreigners were because we were the ones dressed in the a ton of towels and giggling. But we eventually dropped them ,and took a shower and got into the jacuzzi. It was incredible . Than we went upstairs ,( btw there was like three floors lol ) and we went to a sauna room, and a cold spa room ( to close our pores afterwards). Also then you put on your shirt and pants that they had gave us to wear ,to go to the sauna, and its co-ed. Only the showers and bath are separated. It was soo NICEE. There was a massage room, a place to get your nails done, a lil eating area. a fitness room, and an outside spa where you can soak your feet. The whole experience is something that I definitely recommend to anyone. Just get over the whole naked experience. Ohh ......and the whole experience was only $8,400WON basically the equivalence to like $7.00. Totally worth it!

I found out what city im going to finally !!!!YAYYY !!!! :) The city is called Gumi :) Im nervous and excited at the same time. I think Culture Shock is going to set in when im no longer surrounded by foreigners, but we'll see. Oh and im teaching Elementary School students, sooo i hope that goes well. I don't know how much teaching is going to get down, we are probably going to play games. I start teaching on Monday. I will definitely write another post to say how that went !

안녕하세요 ( An-nyong -ha-sea-yo) Hello !!!!

Finally my first entry ! Im so sorry that it took so long but it has been very hectic here . I did not have internet connection for a long time and my day has been pack with so many different things. I have six hours lectures on how to teach and than I have one hour of Korean lessons. Ok so I just want to say Korea is different but FUN! Its a whole different world over here, but I guess you could say that Im in the Honeymoon phase ( I learned about that in my class ) .

The flight here was super long, of course, but I had to take two connecting flights one from LGA to Philly then Philly to San Fran, and then San Fran to Korea. The flight from LGA to Philly was super scary ( for those that are afraid of flying do not do it ) . The plane was so freaking small that when I step on it my head almost hit the ceiling and my backpack could not fit on the plane they had to check it under the plane. Other then that my flight from Philly to San Fran, was pretty much smooth sailing. The food from San Fran to Korea was good, I watched Xmen : Wolverine movie, the Soloist, and Family. They gave us a ton to eat, and I had the Korean Fish and Rice. Im already liking Korean food.

Im staying at Jeonju University ,and I have an awesome roommate name Helen, whose from Chi-town aka Chicago. Its great because we are both in the same boat, with being excited and nervous about starting to teach here. Just like about 70% of the other people here. There are about 600 people from the EPIK program ( English Program in Korea), and everyone is not American. There are people from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand ,Canada and South Africa. The dorm rooms that we are staying in are soo nice. Its also a Korea style room . I have to take my shoes off before I actually enter the room.

We went out the other night which was awesome. I got to try some Korean Beer ( which wasn't that good, it kinda of tasted like Budlight Lime) and try this liquor called Souljo ( which has a Grey Goose feel to it, only because it goes down smoothly ) Ahh , almost forgot we went to a Narebong( a Karaoke Club) Its not your typical Karaoke club in which we are singing to the whole club , but you pay for your own room. Its so cool , and the lyrics come up on the screen, and there two microphones, its so cool. ( I will post pictures soon)

We also took a trip to the city of Jeonju and we got to walk around the cute Korean village. There were a lot of traditional style houses. We made fans and took a tour of a lot of temples. The temples were incredible. Also this teenage Korean boy came up to me and gave me high five ! They are so fascinated by Americans. I love when they stare ,LOL . ( Yeah I know that was weird)