So I have a few backlogged posts that will be coming up soon, so this will not be chronological, but due to popular demand I'm trying to get a post up ASAP, so the other things that I haven't finished yet will just be a little look into what I've been up to the past month.
So this past weekend I went to Daegu again. As you may remember, my IU sorority friend lives there with her roommate, and they hosted an ugly Christmas sweater party. Saturday morning I went to Daejeon to meet up with friends, do some shopping, then head to Daegu. We ate lunch at this delicious bakery, then took the 3:15 train to Daegu. It was a good time - I didn't have a sweater, but I did have a Santa hat. A sort of funny story: I had recently bought a very Asian sweater (i.e. it has like anime characters on it and looks sort of like something a little girl would wear) that I really liked and decided to wear on Saturday. This is what happened during lunch:
My friend: What are you guys wearing tonight?
Me: *points to anime sweater* This.
My friend: Oh, okay. That's what I thought, but I didn't want to ask if that was your ugly sweater.
Hey, I like that sweater!!! Whatever, we'll just say he has no fashion sense.
Regardless, it was good to see my friends in Daegu again. Sunday we went to this place called the Holy Grill. It's a Western restaurant owned by Canadians, and they have some AMAZING macaroni and cheese. It's practically worth a trip to Daegu alone.
Sunday night was our Secret Santa gift exchange. My friend Piro made dinner for everyone, and it turned out we had drawn each other for secret Santa. He got me this awesome purple scarf, some hand lotion, and Belgian chocolates (obviously, he knows me well), and I got him two bow ties and this Korean hat/glove combo (if you knew Piro, you would know how much he appreciated it).
Everyone's been wanting to know about Christmas in Korea. Yes, they celebrate Christmas... there are a lot of Protestant/Catholic Koreans. However, Christmas just isn't as big of a deal here. Kids have school on Christmas Eve, and I don't even know if they'd get Christmas day off if it wasn't a Saturday. There are some decorations and some Christmas music, but it's just not very Korean. We got some heavy snow on Friday, but it melted really fast and wasn't very deep anyway. The weather here appears to be much milder than that at home, but people keep talking about how cold Korean winters are, so either the cold hasn't settled in yet or the Midwest is just that much colder than everywhere else.
However, as previously stated, I don't understand the pathological Korean need for fresh air. The temperature extremes are kind of hard to take. On one hand, when it was snowing last Friday, the doors to the outside were open, so venturing into the hallway was equivalent to stepping outside. Going to the bathroom is NOT FUN. On the other hand, I can't even wear my jacket in the teachers' lounge because it's so hot. There's cultural differences for you.
For my own personal Christmas, I'm going to Boryeong (nearby city to the west) with about 29 other people from Buyeo and Nonsan. We've booked a "pension," which appears to be some kind of retreat/camp/cabin-type deal. Basically we'll head out there, cook lots of food, play games, secret Santa, and just celebrate Christmas together. I'm pretty excited; it sounds like a lot of fun.
I really can't believe Christmas is so soon - I think because Koreans don't really do much for it, it doesn't seem real. I also can't believe that 2011 is so close! I still don't have plans for winter vacation. I wanted to go on a trip with one of my friends, but she and I have different vacations so it didn't work out. I'm trying to convince one of my Buyeo friends to go on a trip with me, but she's on the fence about what she wants to do, so we'll see. If I don't leave the country I think I'll finally make it up to Seoul to see one of my hometown friends, and hopefully see some more Korean culture.
I've been getting busier and busier. When I first got here, I had a lot of free time. It's not like I don't still have free time, but I'm realizing how tiring and time-consuming it is to have a social life! As my network of friends in Korea continues to expand and I try to keep in touch with friends and family back home, I think more about how easy it is to keep in contact with people through the Internet, yet that same ease kind of translates to more work because since it's so easy, you just find more and more people to talk to and keep in touch with. But I'm happy to be able to talk to my friends and family so readily.
So the Buyeo Office of Education has arranged Korean lessons for all the native teachers, which is really nice. They started last week and are every Tuesday and Thursday from 6-8 and will go until the end of February for a total of 40 hours. Koreans love banners and certificates, so they made up this fancy banner for the first class and told us if we attend all the classes and do our homework, etc. we'll get a graduation certificate. I've already noticed the Korean propensity for banners and certificates, and I kind of love it, especially the certificate part.
I'd forgotten how hard it is to pick up a foreign language from ground zero. I've been studying French for so long that now it's more a matter of improving it, but with Korean I'm studying the alphabet! I think it's going to be helpful on so many levels though... I will be able to communicate/get around easier and I'll be able to better help the students because I will know more why they do the things they do. For example, the dreaded "finishy" and "Englishy" and "lunchy." In Korean, each box of symbols (i.e. 네) is one syllable, and each syllable is made from a consonant + vowel or consonant + vowel + consonant, etc. Basically, there's no such thing as a syllable without a vowel (I think). So the single syllable word "lunch" is impossible in Korean, they think of it as 른치. ㄹ = l, ㅡ = uh, ㄴ = n, ㅊ = ch, and ㅣ= y. So you get "른" luhn "치" chy, luhn-chy. Lunchy. No such thing as "른ㅊ." Have to have the "ㅣ", can't just have the "ㅊ." I've tried writing this direct translation on the board then erasing the ㅣ but they just don't get it.
Regardless, I'm having difficulty remembering the Korean from my classes. We're still in the ABC Hi my name is ____ I am ___ years old, etc, but even that I can't always remember. Some stuff I know is very useful though. I like how some of my phrases can be used in almost every situation. For example, 없어요 (hmm, I think that's how you spell it). Anyway, it's pronounced obseoyo, and it means "It's/They're not there, I don't have it/them, etc." Know how I know this? Because my kids are always saying, "Oh Teacher, notebook obseoyo. Pencil obseoyo." It works for people too as far as I can tell, so if I can't find someone I ask if they're "obseoyo." The other day taking a taxi from the train to the bus station the cabbie asked if I had an umbrella because it was raining, so I was just like, "Obseoyo." Nice guy, he insisted on giving me one since I didn't have one. Other handy Korean words/phrases I know:
Molayo. I don't know.
Kanchanayo. It's okay/No problem.
Nun yeogi. Eyes up here.
Yah! Hey!
____ juseyo. ______, please.
I can also ask how much things cost, but since I don't know money, this question is fairly useless to me. I really need to learn this though as it will be super helpful. I only know two money number, 1,500 won and 10,000 won. 10,000 is man won, and 1,500 is chon obek won. Why do I know these? Because 10,000 is easy and 1,500 is my bus fare. I've been having problems on the bus recently. I take the same bus Mon-Wed and Fri, but Mon-Wed I pay 1,200 to get to my main school, and Friday I pay 1,500 to get to my second school. However, lately the bus drivers have been hassling me about not paying the correct amount. I think because they see me go the 1,200 route so often they think I don't realize my Friday stop is 1,500. So last Friday the driver actually wouldn't let me off the bus, I had to go up to where he was sitting so he could tell me "Chon obek won!" and I was like, "I know! I paid you your chon obek won! Why weren't you paying attention since this is kind of your job, and instead now you have to shout at me in Korean on this bus full of strangers?" So I just pulled out a handful of change and let him take three 100 won coins, which is how I've arrived at my 1,200 theory. I think next time I get on the Friday bus I'll show him the chon obek won before I put it in the money box.
