I
forgot to mention it last night, but I taught my first two classes
yesterday. The first was a Glide Intermediate (GI, mid-high level
elementary) Speaking class that I'd observed on Tuesday and gotten along
with well, so it was a good first class. The second was a Mountain
Intermediate (MI, mid level middle school) Speaking/Writing class, which
was a bit more difficult. I hadn't met the students
before, and I'd been warned that they might be very quiet, but I
managed to get them to talk a fair amount without too much awkward
silence. Another small challenge was that, as a speaking and writing
class with two books, it was up to me to decide how much time to spend
on each book.
I was, unsurprisingly, really nervous before both
classes (a combination of performance anxiety and the difficulty of
meeting new people), but the classes went better than I expected, and a
lot better than my first classes at AEON and Baron's. I'll be teaching
two more today before jumping into the full five classes on Monday, and
hopefully they'll also be good!
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
First Day of Training at Avalon and First Impressions
Finished my first day of training at Avalon. I observed four classes with different ages and skill levels, learned about the different levels and types of classes, and got a look at my schedule starting next Monday. The school is a LOT bigger than I thought; there are five foreign teachers including me, plus an equal (or greater) number of Korean homeroom teachers. The school is split into two campuses, of sorts, in adjacent buildings, with the elementary school students in one building and the middle and high school students in the other. Each building also has its own manager and support staff, including front desk people and assistant teachers (all Korean) who make copies and such. The elementary school campus also shares space with an Avalon Math hagwon with its own teachers. Needless to say, it was a big shock walking into the faculty room and seeing over a dozen people there.
For the skill levels, elementary students are divided into Dash, Jump, Glide, and Little Nokjiwon classes, with Dash being the lowest level. (Nokjiwon students have lived in English-speaking countries before and are generally near-fluent.) Middle schoolers are divided into Horizon, Mountain, TOEFL, and Nokjiwon. Each of these levels has a beginner, intermediate and advanced sublevel (with the exception of TOEFL, which is from 1-4, and the nokjiwon classes). The youngest students are in fourth grade, and the oldest are in middle school. The high school classes are all taught by the Korean teachers. The Korean teachers also usually teach the grammar and reading classes, while the foreign teachers handle speaking, listening and writing. The kids either come on M/W/F or T/Th, with special classes (such as debate) on Wednesdays.
The work day starts at 2 pm, and from 2 - 3 pm is class preparation. Lunch time is anytime after 3 pm until 4:15 pm, which is when the first class starts. (There is a free lunch room in another adjacent building, but the foreign teachers I went to lunch with said that usually only the Korean staff eats there and that the Koreans and foreigners don't generally mingle.) Classes are 65 minutes long with a five-minute break between classes, so from 4:15 - 10 pm it's straight classes (4:15 - 5:20, 5:25 - 6:30, 6:35 - 7:40, 7:45 - 8:50, 8:55 - 10 pm).
My schedule looks like it has some positives and some negatives. I don't have a 4:15 - 5:20 class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I finish at 8:50 on Friday, though Mondays and Wednesdays I have the full 4:15 - 10 day. I don't have any of the lowest level elementary school students, though I do have middle school school students from Horizon Beginner (HB) to Mountain Intermediate (MI); no TOEFL at this time. I will be bouncing back and forth between buildings, however, which is only going to get worse once they finish moving the elementary school campus from the 2nd floor of its building to the 6th floor. Those five-minute breaks are basically going to be nonexistent for much of the evening. The school also has intensive seasons in summer and fall for a month each when the kids are out of school; then the workday changes to 9:30 am - 6:30 pm and my daily class load changes from 5 to 6. I'm not looking forward to it (though I will be paid overtime), but there's no point worrying about it now.
First impressions are generally good; most of the kids I met today were very well-behaved and had surprisingly good English. The people seem nice, though I've probably already forgotten half their names. I was worried about jumping into a new school with new students and staff and a new way of teaching, but I feel more comfortable that I'll be able to make a somewhat smooth transition. Here's hoping I can pick it all up quickly!
For the skill levels, elementary students are divided into Dash, Jump, Glide, and Little Nokjiwon classes, with Dash being the lowest level. (Nokjiwon students have lived in English-speaking countries before and are generally near-fluent.) Middle schoolers are divided into Horizon, Mountain, TOEFL, and Nokjiwon. Each of these levels has a beginner, intermediate and advanced sublevel (with the exception of TOEFL, which is from 1-4, and the nokjiwon classes). The youngest students are in fourth grade, and the oldest are in middle school. The high school classes are all taught by the Korean teachers. The Korean teachers also usually teach the grammar and reading classes, while the foreign teachers handle speaking, listening and writing. The kids either come on M/W/F or T/Th, with special classes (such as debate) on Wednesdays.
The work day starts at 2 pm, and from 2 - 3 pm is class preparation. Lunch time is anytime after 3 pm until 4:15 pm, which is when the first class starts. (There is a free lunch room in another adjacent building, but the foreign teachers I went to lunch with said that usually only the Korean staff eats there and that the Koreans and foreigners don't generally mingle.) Classes are 65 minutes long with a five-minute break between classes, so from 4:15 - 10 pm it's straight classes (4:15 - 5:20, 5:25 - 6:30, 6:35 - 7:40, 7:45 - 8:50, 8:55 - 10 pm).
My schedule looks like it has some positives and some negatives. I don't have a 4:15 - 5:20 class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I finish at 8:50 on Friday, though Mondays and Wednesdays I have the full 4:15 - 10 day. I don't have any of the lowest level elementary school students, though I do have middle school school students from Horizon Beginner (HB) to Mountain Intermediate (MI); no TOEFL at this time. I will be bouncing back and forth between buildings, however, which is only going to get worse once they finish moving the elementary school campus from the 2nd floor of its building to the 6th floor. Those five-minute breaks are basically going to be nonexistent for much of the evening. The school also has intensive seasons in summer and fall for a month each when the kids are out of school; then the workday changes to 9:30 am - 6:30 pm and my daily class load changes from 5 to 6. I'm not looking forward to it (though I will be paid overtime), but there's no point worrying about it now.
First impressions are generally good; most of the kids I met today were very well-behaved and had surprisingly good English. The people seem nice, though I've probably already forgotten half their names. I was worried about jumping into a new school with new students and staff and a new way of teaching, but I feel more comfortable that I'll be able to make a somewhat smooth transition. Here's hoping I can pick it all up quickly!
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Bucheon Wandering
Jana and I met up at Bucheon City Hall station today to explore the area and look for a place for me to stay. After wandering through the very large Hyundai department store, we had lunch at the food court of the eMart across the street from the department store. We then went in search of somewhere to stay, asking people on the street and in a few real estate offices. (Well, Jana did all the asking; I just stood there and smiled and nodded like I knew what they were talking about.) We finally ran into a very nice ajusshi (a polite term for an older gentleman you don't know) who actually took us up to a goshiwon on the 7th floor of a nearby building instead of just giving us directions.
For all my talk yesterday of not wanting to bother with a goshiwon unless it was necessary, this one seemed nicer and more comfortable. The rooms were still tiny, but were bigger than the ones in Seoul (by maybe six inches, but still an improvement), and they had a room available with a large window that took up most of the far wall. Seeing the place in the day might have also helped; we visited all the places around Konkuk University at night. The manager was quite surprised when we came in, and honestly didn't know how much to charge us for only five days (since the rooms are usually rented by the month). She made an offer of 80,000 won for the five days, but when I showed my reluctance she lowered the price to 70,000 won. I wasn't expecting to say yes, but it felt like a good place, it would let me explore the Bucheon area, and the price was right. I'll have to use the public bathroom and showers, and I'll be their novelty foreigner for a few days, but I will have access to free rice, kimchi and some other side dishes in the public kitchen!
I signed a small agreement and paid upfront, and then we had to go. Jana had a private lesson back in Seoul and we'd taken a bit longer than we'd expected, so she had to rush off. I took the time to map out the route to the goshiwon very careful, taking notes on directions and landmarks and walking back there twice to make absolutely sure I knew how to find it again. I wandered around some more on my own to take some pictures of the numerous sculptures, and eventually made my way to a movie theater on the 5th floor of a department store connected to the Hyundai department store. There wasn't anything I wanted to see, but I suspect it will be nice to have a movie theater right across the street from my school. I was getting hungry around 5:30 pm, and the department store had two conveyor-belt sushi places, but it felt a little too early for dinner, so I headed back to Incheon.
It's been automatic for me to refer to Incheon as 'home', but very soon it'll be Bucheon I'll call 'home'. I didn't pay much attention to the area when I came for my interview - why bother if I don't know how the interview will go, I figured - but it feels like a place where I could be quite comfortable.
For all my talk yesterday of not wanting to bother with a goshiwon unless it was necessary, this one seemed nicer and more comfortable. The rooms were still tiny, but were bigger than the ones in Seoul (by maybe six inches, but still an improvement), and they had a room available with a large window that took up most of the far wall. Seeing the place in the day might have also helped; we visited all the places around Konkuk University at night. The manager was quite surprised when we came in, and honestly didn't know how much to charge us for only five days (since the rooms are usually rented by the month). She made an offer of 80,000 won for the five days, but when I showed my reluctance she lowered the price to 70,000 won. I wasn't expecting to say yes, but it felt like a good place, it would let me explore the Bucheon area, and the price was right. I'll have to use the public bathroom and showers, and I'll be their novelty foreigner for a few days, but I will have access to free rice, kimchi and some other side dishes in the public kitchen!
I signed a small agreement and paid upfront, and then we had to go. Jana had a private lesson back in Seoul and we'd taken a bit longer than we'd expected, so she had to rush off. I took the time to map out the route to the goshiwon very careful, taking notes on directions and landmarks and walking back there twice to make absolutely sure I knew how to find it again. I wandered around some more on my own to take some pictures of the numerous sculptures, and eventually made my way to a movie theater on the 5th floor of a department store connected to the Hyundai department store. There wasn't anything I wanted to see, but I suspect it will be nice to have a movie theater right across the street from my school. I was getting hungry around 5:30 pm, and the department store had two conveyor-belt sushi places, but it felt a little too early for dinner, so I headed back to Incheon.
It's been automatic for me to refer to Incheon as 'home', but very soon it'll be Bucheon I'll call 'home'. I didn't pay much attention to the area when I came for my interview - why bother if I don't know how the interview will go, I figured - but it feels like a place where I could be quite comfortable.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Goshiwon Exploration
I went out to Konkuk University station on the east side of Seoul to meet up with Jana and consider the possibility of staying at a goshiwon from the 19th to the 24th. What's a goshiwon? Well, it's a very cheap, very Korean place to rent a tiny room for a while, usually by college students looking for a quiet place to study for a month or so. What do I mean by tiny? The room is as long as the bed, which is tucked under the desk at the far end, and is as wide as the bed plus the chair at the desk. A window about the size of a hardcover novel may or not be present. They're a step up from the capsule hotels in Japan, but not by much.
Since they usually rent the rooms by the month, the rates were fairly high for just five days. The first goshiwon wanted 20,000 won per night, though we talked the second place down to 15,000 won per night. The manager wasn't there at the third place, but Jana called him and got an offer of 50,000 won for all five nights for a room without a window, or 70,000 won for a room with a window. She suspected that his not knowing I was a foreigner had something to do with the lower price, but there was no way to know for sure.
The manager at the first place had commented, as Jana translated, that he usually didn't rent rooms to foreigners because they were too picky. My first response was, "Well, maybe I'll show him!" My second response, however, was, "Why?" Sure, they're cheap and it would be a novel experience, but don't need to live in a windowless closet for a week and be the subject of curiosity and scrutiny as the only foreigner there, especially not to prove something to some stranger. I'm sure I'm experiencing some American entitlement, but my finances are in good enough shape to afford a modest level of comfort, so I see no reason not to stay somewhere more comfortable. A little bit of culture shock was probably involved as well.
Also, it doesn't really make sense to me to stay on the east side of Seoul when my new job and apartment will be in Bucheon, which is on the west side of Seoul. Jana and Soee both live in the Konkuk University area, so they knew about a lot of these places. They were really hoping that I'd find somewhere I like in the area, so I was sorry to disappoint them, but it ultimately didn't seem worthwhile. I can visit Konkuk University any time I like, but it would be more useful to get familiar with the Bucheon area. Besides, why haul my luggage from Incheon to Konkuk University to Bucheon when I can go from Incheon to Bucheon to somewhere else in Bucheon instead?
Jana and I are going to look around Bucheon tomorrow. It would be nice if I found somewhere reasonably comfortable to stay for a decent price then; if not, there's plenty of hostels and guesthouses and such I can book online in Incheon or Bucheon, so I'm not worried about finding a place to stay. It's finding a GOOD place to stay that's the trick!
Since they usually rent the rooms by the month, the rates were fairly high for just five days. The first goshiwon wanted 20,000 won per night, though we talked the second place down to 15,000 won per night. The manager wasn't there at the third place, but Jana called him and got an offer of 50,000 won for all five nights for a room without a window, or 70,000 won for a room with a window. She suspected that his not knowing I was a foreigner had something to do with the lower price, but there was no way to know for sure.
The manager at the first place had commented, as Jana translated, that he usually didn't rent rooms to foreigners because they were too picky. My first response was, "Well, maybe I'll show him!" My second response, however, was, "Why?" Sure, they're cheap and it would be a novel experience, but don't need to live in a windowless closet for a week and be the subject of curiosity and scrutiny as the only foreigner there, especially not to prove something to some stranger. I'm sure I'm experiencing some American entitlement, but my finances are in good enough shape to afford a modest level of comfort, so I see no reason not to stay somewhere more comfortable. A little bit of culture shock was probably involved as well.
Also, it doesn't really make sense to me to stay on the east side of Seoul when my new job and apartment will be in Bucheon, which is on the west side of Seoul. Jana and Soee both live in the Konkuk University area, so they knew about a lot of these places. They were really hoping that I'd find somewhere I like in the area, so I was sorry to disappoint them, but it ultimately didn't seem worthwhile. I can visit Konkuk University any time I like, but it would be more useful to get familiar with the Bucheon area. Besides, why haul my luggage from Incheon to Konkuk University to Bucheon when I can go from Incheon to Bucheon to somewhere else in Bucheon instead?
Jana and I are going to look around Bucheon tomorrow. It would be nice if I found somewhere reasonably comfortable to stay for a decent price then; if not, there's plenty of hostels and guesthouses and such I can book online in Incheon or Bucheon, so I'm not worried about finding a place to stay. It's finding a GOOD place to stay that's the trick!
Friday, January 3, 2014
Employment Emergency
Unfortunately, I got some very bad news tonight. My bosses had an emergency dropped in their lap this week: roughly 30 students, or about 1/3rd of the school, suddenly and mysteriously quit the school for unknown reasons. They're desperately scrambling to figure out why, but in the meantime they're going to have to take over teaching many of the classes themselves to salvage things until the start of the school year in March. The result is that they had to let me and another coworker go, effective today.
They feel absolutely terrible about it, and they're going to do everything they can to get us new jobs. They assured us that it had nothing to do with our performance, and that they fully intended to have us stay another year before this happened. We'll be able to stay in our apartments for as long as we need to, and we'll be paid for December and January. This weekend they'll be writing glowing letters explaining the situation that we can send to prospective employers, and they're going to call some recruiters that they trust to get us started on the job hunt. They also said that, if we were available in March, they'd like to have us come back, though obviously the way things are now they couldn't guarantee anything.
It was quite a surprise to hear this, though I'm honestly doing okay. I'd had a feeling that I might not have a second year at Baron's, so I got over all the stress of that possibility before Christmas. I certainly wasn't expecting to lose my job today, and it sucks, but that's life. I'm very grateful for the Buddhist philosophy I've been learning at Hwagyesa Temple in Seoul because it helped me realize (before this happened) that I was afraid of losing this job because I was attached to the school and the people there. Recognizing that allowed me to mentally prepare for the possibility of change, so while I am sad, I'm not freaking out like I probably would have a year earlier. Everyone I've talked to about it so far has been shocked that I'm taking this so well!
I'll definitely miss the school and all (well, most) of the kids, but I had a good ten months with them and I feel like I ended things on a good note. It's also an opportunity to find work in Seoul and be closer to all my excellent friends there, and I can devote more time to my writing (which I've done precious little of since finishing my second screenplay) while I'm on the job hunt. Who knows, maybe things will turn around here as suddenly as they went bad and I'll go back to Baron's in a couple months. I'm going to stay in Korea, and I have no doubts about my ability to find employment soon. There's going to be a lot of uncertainty in my life for the foreseeable future, but I'm doing okay and I'm confident that everything with turn out alright :)
They feel absolutely terrible about it, and they're going to do everything they can to get us new jobs. They assured us that it had nothing to do with our performance, and that they fully intended to have us stay another year before this happened. We'll be able to stay in our apartments for as long as we need to, and we'll be paid for December and January. This weekend they'll be writing glowing letters explaining the situation that we can send to prospective employers, and they're going to call some recruiters that they trust to get us started on the job hunt. They also said that, if we were available in March, they'd like to have us come back, though obviously the way things are now they couldn't guarantee anything.
It was quite a surprise to hear this, though I'm honestly doing okay. I'd had a feeling that I might not have a second year at Baron's, so I got over all the stress of that possibility before Christmas. I certainly wasn't expecting to lose my job today, and it sucks, but that's life. I'm very grateful for the Buddhist philosophy I've been learning at Hwagyesa Temple in Seoul because it helped me realize (before this happened) that I was afraid of losing this job because I was attached to the school and the people there. Recognizing that allowed me to mentally prepare for the possibility of change, so while I am sad, I'm not freaking out like I probably would have a year earlier. Everyone I've talked to about it so far has been shocked that I'm taking this so well!
I'll definitely miss the school and all (well, most) of the kids, but I had a good ten months with them and I feel like I ended things on a good note. It's also an opportunity to find work in Seoul and be closer to all my excellent friends there, and I can devote more time to my writing (which I've done precious little of since finishing my second screenplay) while I'm on the job hunt. Who knows, maybe things will turn around here as suddenly as they went bad and I'll go back to Baron's in a couple months. I'm going to stay in Korea, and I have no doubts about my ability to find employment soon. There's going to be a lot of uncertainty in my life for the foreseeable future, but I'm doing okay and I'm confident that everything with turn out alright :)
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Sunrise Watching on the Korean East Coast
To celebrate the new year, Joyce and I decided to join a meetup to watch the sun rise on the Korean east coast. The trip cost us 30,000 won each (~$30) for the tour bus and guide. We met the group at 11:15 pm on December 31st and boarded the bus a short while later. After ringing in the new year at midnight (and sharing a small cup of white wine the meetup group leader brought), we settled in and tried to get some sleep. Unsurprisingly, we didn't have much success; it's hard enough to sleep on a bus, but we also made three pit stops (lasting between 30-60 minutes each time) and they turned the lights on in the bus every time we stopped. I maybe got an hour of uncomfortable sleep, but most of my time was trying trying and failing to get any meaningful rest.
We finally arrived on the east coast at the city of Samcheok at around 5 am. The sun was expected to rise at 7:30 am, and we were told to be back at the bus by 8:20 am or risk being left behind. Joyce and I left the bus at 5:20 am, though we hadn't been given any directions on where to go from there. We wound up simply following the largest groups of people and made our way to a cliffside observation spot above the nearby beach. It was already crowded by then, but we managed to find a good spot standing at a railing. We chatted idly about movies for a little while, though we were both too tired to make much conversation, and shared a sandwich she had made for breakfast. We also watched as people on the beach and a ridge close by released small red lanterns/hot air balloons into the air (each containing a written wish), as well as the movements of the fishing boats in the water (catching squid, she said). Eventually, at 7:41 am the sun rose, and everyone took out phones and cameras to take a million pictures. A lot of people also took selfies (selkas, or self cameras, in Konglish) with the rising sun in the background.
When we were finished admiring the sunrise, we joined the departing crowd and headed back to the bus. While on our way to the next stop, we snacked on a couple bananas Joyce brought and split some Ghirardelli chocolates my family had sent me for Christmas, then napped a little more. Our next destination was Mukho harbor in the city of Donghae, where we were given free time from 9:30 am to 11:50 am. Joyce and I set off on our own and climbed the hill to the Mukho lighthouse, admiring the many, many murals and other artwork on house and buildings in the neighborhood.
Once we finished thoroughly exploring the steep, narrow alleys and taking dozens of pictures, we went back down and had lunch at one of the many seafood restaurants in the area. The menu was limited, but Joyce picked a dried pollack soup with daikon radish and bean sprouts for us that was very good. (I'm not sure of the name - hwangtaeguk, maybe - and I forgot to take a picture.) I picked up the tab (paid the bill, for any English learners reading this!) for lunch since she provided breakfast. We didn't have a lot of time left, but we quickly walked through a seafood market and checked out the small fishing boats in the harbor before going back to the bus.
The next part of the tour involved driving along the east coast, which turned out to be fairly underwhelming. The best view were on the right side, but Joyce and I were sitting on the left side. The bus turned back around after about an hour, but we were too tired to really care by that point. It started to snow a couple hours in, and we got stuck in traffic (most likely a combination of the weather and everyone going home) for a long time. Joyce fell asleep for about three hours almost as soon as we started driving, and I did my best to do the same. I read a tiny bit before remembering that reading in cars and on buses made me motion sick. I tried to follow the movie the driver put on, then tried and failed to ignore it. (it was a despicable film that I already thoroughly lambasted on Facebook, so I won't repeat myself here.)
This unfortunately wound up making me very motion sick around 5 pm, and I spent the next hour sitting up at the front watching the road very, very carefully and concentrating very hard on not throwing up. We mercifully made a pit stop around 6 pm and I was able to get my stomach under control, and we arrived in Seoul at about 7 pm. Joyce and I said our farewells and parted ways for the night, and I got back to my apartment around 9 pm, almost exactly 24 hours after I left to join the group. I ate a quick dinner, took some advil for the headache that had been plaguing me all day, and relaxed for a couple hours before crawling into bed for some much-needed rest.
Overall it was a good trip, as I got to do some new things (such as watching the new year's sunrise and visiting another province) and see some beautiful urban artwork. However, the traveling was miserable and reminded me of why I hate early-morning activities and long car/bus rides. At least I got a ton of nice pictures out of it!
Happy New Year, everyone!
We finally arrived on the east coast at the city of Samcheok at around 5 am. The sun was expected to rise at 7:30 am, and we were told to be back at the bus by 8:20 am or risk being left behind. Joyce and I left the bus at 5:20 am, though we hadn't been given any directions on where to go from there. We wound up simply following the largest groups of people and made our way to a cliffside observation spot above the nearby beach. It was already crowded by then, but we managed to find a good spot standing at a railing. We chatted idly about movies for a little while, though we were both too tired to make much conversation, and shared a sandwich she had made for breakfast. We also watched as people on the beach and a ridge close by released small red lanterns/hot air balloons into the air (each containing a written wish), as well as the movements of the fishing boats in the water (catching squid, she said). Eventually, at 7:41 am the sun rose, and everyone took out phones and cameras to take a million pictures. A lot of people also took selfies (selkas, or self cameras, in Konglish) with the rising sun in the background.
When we were finished admiring the sunrise, we joined the departing crowd and headed back to the bus. While on our way to the next stop, we snacked on a couple bananas Joyce brought and split some Ghirardelli chocolates my family had sent me for Christmas, then napped a little more. Our next destination was Mukho harbor in the city of Donghae, where we were given free time from 9:30 am to 11:50 am. Joyce and I set off on our own and climbed the hill to the Mukho lighthouse, admiring the many, many murals and other artwork on house and buildings in the neighborhood.
Once we finished thoroughly exploring the steep, narrow alleys and taking dozens of pictures, we went back down and had lunch at one of the many seafood restaurants in the area. The menu was limited, but Joyce picked a dried pollack soup with daikon radish and bean sprouts for us that was very good. (I'm not sure of the name - hwangtaeguk, maybe - and I forgot to take a picture.) I picked up the tab (paid the bill, for any English learners reading this!) for lunch since she provided breakfast. We didn't have a lot of time left, but we quickly walked through a seafood market and checked out the small fishing boats in the harbor before going back to the bus.
The next part of the tour involved driving along the east coast, which turned out to be fairly underwhelming. The best view were on the right side, but Joyce and I were sitting on the left side. The bus turned back around after about an hour, but we were too tired to really care by that point. It started to snow a couple hours in, and we got stuck in traffic (most likely a combination of the weather and everyone going home) for a long time. Joyce fell asleep for about three hours almost as soon as we started driving, and I did my best to do the same. I read a tiny bit before remembering that reading in cars and on buses made me motion sick. I tried to follow the movie the driver put on, then tried and failed to ignore it. (it was a despicable film that I already thoroughly lambasted on Facebook, so I won't repeat myself here.)
This unfortunately wound up making me very motion sick around 5 pm, and I spent the next hour sitting up at the front watching the road very, very carefully and concentrating very hard on not throwing up. We mercifully made a pit stop around 6 pm and I was able to get my stomach under control, and we arrived in Seoul at about 7 pm. Joyce and I said our farewells and parted ways for the night, and I got back to my apartment around 9 pm, almost exactly 24 hours after I left to join the group. I ate a quick dinner, took some advil for the headache that had been plaguing me all day, and relaxed for a couple hours before crawling into bed for some much-needed rest.
Overall it was a good trip, as I got to do some new things (such as watching the new year's sunrise and visiting another province) and see some beautiful urban artwork. However, the traveling was miserable and reminded me of why I hate early-morning activities and long car/bus rides. At least I got a ton of nice pictures out of it!
Happy New Year, everyone!
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Seoul Christmas Adventures
I had a (very unexpectedly) busy day in Seoul today. My only plan was to go to the French Christmas Market in Seorae Maeul, but it quickly turned into a much bigger adventure than I'd planned.
I'd never been to Seorae Maeul before, and instead of simply taking the train (which is easy) I also had to take a bus. I don't like taking buses because I so often can't tell which stop I'm at and get off at the wrong one. This time I figured out pretty quickly that I'd gotten off too soon, but I got out my phone and tried to find out where I needed to go. I stumbled around in the snow for about a half hour, in the process finding the office of the people holding the event but not the event itself, before I realized that I'd gotten off TWO stops too soon (there were two Seorae Maeul stops). I finally made it to the right place and got a sausage, a pork tartine and some chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) as a quick lunch. I also picked up some cheese and a few raffle tickets that didn't win. (The money was going to charity, though, so I didn't mind.)
After the Christmas market, I figured that, since I was in Seoul anyway, I should really follow through with an idea for a Christmas gift for a friend here. I'd also been craving good Japanese ramen (Korean ramen, or ramyeon, is almost universally made from instant ramen packs), and I found a big bookstore and a well-reviewed ramen place right next to each other. I went to Gangnam and walked for a long, long time (most of the not-very-clear directions said to walk 500m, which was accurate) before I found the bookstore. (Bizarrely enough, another station on a different line was right across the street. Why everyone told me to go to Gangnam and walk half a kilometer instead of just going to Sinnonhyeon, I have no idea.) I got what I was looking for after some searching (finding it in English was easier than finding it in Korean), then went back outside to find the ramen place (Raw). I looked where the reviews said it would be (behind the bookstore), but couldn't find it anywhere.
Eventually I gave up and decided to look for another, better-reviewed ramen restaurant in Itaewon. It was on the way home, and I'd been thinking about going to the foreign food market again anyway. I traveled to Itaewon and tried to find the restaurant (81 Banya), but had no luck. Double checking on my phone finally found a single, relatively recent link that said it had gone out of business. Well, damn. I gave up on ramen and decided to go to a Nigerian restaurant I'd visited once before and had been eager to try again. Thankfully, it was open, and I got some fufu with egusi soup that was quite good. I also picked up a couple delicious soft cookies (peanut butter and oatmeal raisin) at a cookie shop I'd never passed before. The foreign food market, sadly, was out of the dates I really like, but I did get some tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.
I did go to a lot of new places today and saw some new things, but it was exhausting trying to find four new locations in the snow. It's a great example of how easy it is to hop all over Seoul on the subway, though I am glad to be back in my nice, warm apartment!
I'd never been to Seorae Maeul before, and instead of simply taking the train (which is easy) I also had to take a bus. I don't like taking buses because I so often can't tell which stop I'm at and get off at the wrong one. This time I figured out pretty quickly that I'd gotten off too soon, but I got out my phone and tried to find out where I needed to go. I stumbled around in the snow for about a half hour, in the process finding the office of the people holding the event but not the event itself, before I realized that I'd gotten off TWO stops too soon (there were two Seorae Maeul stops). I finally made it to the right place and got a sausage, a pork tartine and some chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) as a quick lunch. I also picked up some cheese and a few raffle tickets that didn't win. (The money was going to charity, though, so I didn't mind.)
After the Christmas market, I figured that, since I was in Seoul anyway, I should really follow through with an idea for a Christmas gift for a friend here. I'd also been craving good Japanese ramen (Korean ramen, or ramyeon, is almost universally made from instant ramen packs), and I found a big bookstore and a well-reviewed ramen place right next to each other. I went to Gangnam and walked for a long, long time (most of the not-very-clear directions said to walk 500m, which was accurate) before I found the bookstore. (Bizarrely enough, another station on a different line was right across the street. Why everyone told me to go to Gangnam and walk half a kilometer instead of just going to Sinnonhyeon, I have no idea.) I got what I was looking for after some searching (finding it in English was easier than finding it in Korean), then went back outside to find the ramen place (Raw). I looked where the reviews said it would be (behind the bookstore), but couldn't find it anywhere.
Eventually I gave up and decided to look for another, better-reviewed ramen restaurant in Itaewon. It was on the way home, and I'd been thinking about going to the foreign food market again anyway. I traveled to Itaewon and tried to find the restaurant (81 Banya), but had no luck. Double checking on my phone finally found a single, relatively recent link that said it had gone out of business. Well, damn. I gave up on ramen and decided to go to a Nigerian restaurant I'd visited once before and had been eager to try again. Thankfully, it was open, and I got some fufu with egusi soup that was quite good. I also picked up a couple delicious soft cookies (peanut butter and oatmeal raisin) at a cookie shop I'd never passed before. The foreign food market, sadly, was out of the dates I really like, but I did get some tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.
I did go to a lot of new places today and saw some new things, but it was exhausting trying to find four new locations in the snow. It's a great example of how easy it is to hop all over Seoul on the subway, though I am glad to be back in my nice, warm apartment!
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