Today, my challenge was to take an unfamiliar bus to a doctor's office I'd been driven to while feeling terrible. I managed to do that, but it wound up being a big mess that took about an hour longer than needed. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy with how things turned out, but at least it'll be vastly easier the next time.
I've only talked about my recent bout with illness on Facebook, so here's a quick recap for anyone who hasn't seen my many posts about it there: I've been sick for going on four week with what I thought was a cold but appears to be acute sinusitis. I finally went to see a doctor and took a sick day last week when I simply couldn't function anymore due to a horrible, constant, hacking cough. My boss, Julie, drove me to the doctor's office then, and he diagnosed me and prescribed a battery of medicine, including antibiotics and antihistamines, for five days. I ran out of medication yesterday, but I was only feeling maybe 25-50% better, so I needed to go back.
Julie told me to take the 223 bus at the bus stop near Lotte Mart, the nearby supermarket, so off I went at 11 am. I got to the bus stop and confirmed that the 223 stopped there - it had a cool display that showed where each bus was and how long until it would arrive - but when it showed up, the driver looked confused when I tried to get on. He asked me where I was going, but I barely knew myself. I tried my best to explain, and for a while he thought I needed a different bus until I said I was going toward the airport. He told me to go to the bus stop across the street, but when I got there, I didn't see anything that said the 223 would stop there. I texted Julie and asked which stop I was looking for (one stop after E-Mart, she replied), and thankfully the 223 arrived a couple minutes later. Problem solved, I thought.
The bus made its way to the E-Mart stop, but the next stop was about 30 seconds away, wasn't announced and didn't look familiar, so I thought I needed the next stop. Worse case scenario, I would just get on a bus going back and try again. It turned out that the next stop was a good 5-10 minutes away, taking me almost back home! I crossed the street and got on the next 223, though I had to pass through three stops again before I got to the right one. The area still didn't look familiar, but I knew it had to be right, so I blundered around for a few frustrating minutes before I finally saw something I recognized. I finally got to the doctor's office around 12:30 pm, much later than I'd anticipated.
Thankfully, things went smoothly at the doctor's office. The doctor saw me almost immediately, and he had me take some quick X-rays of my sinuses. They showed that my sinuses are still full of mucus, so he prescribed another seven days of medication and said to come back next week. After getting a sizable bag of meds from the pharmacy, I trekked back to the bus stop to go home.
Julie had told me that the bus stopped close to my apartment, though I had no idea where, and somehow managed to get off too soon because I thought it looked familiar (it wasn't). After what felt like a long wait for the next bus, I found out that I'd gotten off exactly one stop too soon. While not a major error, it still annoyed me because I'd messed up both getting there and getting back. I got home around 1:30 pm, which left me with a little time to eat a small snack, brush my teeth and get changed for work. At least I know where to go next time, the next week's trip won't be as frustrating or exhausting. Plus, I'll hopefully be feeling a whole lot better.
On a related note, I am very grateful for the extremely low medical costs here in Korea. My visit today - including X-rays - cost ~$5. I think I spent more taking the bus, though admittedly I took four buses instead of two. My medication was my most expensive yet, but it still only cost ~$18, which is less than my copay back home. This illness might be debilitating and maddeningly persistent, but at least I'm not going broke treating it.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
The Noh Family Wedding
On Saturday, August 31st, I attended the wedding of Soee's older sister at Apgujeong Catholic Church. The ceremony was fairly brief, and I didn't understand much because it was all in Korean, but I thought I'd share some of the interesting differences between a standard Western wedding and a Korean Catholic one:
-Instead of the bride and groom not seeing each other until the bride walks down the aisle, the bride and groom came out together. The groom then walked to the front first, followed shortly by the bride and her father. (On a related note, both the groom and the father wore white gloves.)
-The bride and groom then knelt at the base of the steps leading up to the podium. (I'm not 100% sure if they were kneeling or sitting, since my view wasn't very good.) At the end of the ceremony, I saw people take away a couple wooden objects that they were kneeling on/sitting at.
-The bride and groom almost never faced each other; they spent the vast majority of the ceremony side-by-side looking up at the priest. They also read their vows off a script provided for them.
-Instead of a big kiss to finalize things, they faced the audience and did a quick peck on the lips.
-There was a best man and maid of honor, but no groomsmen or bridesmaids.
-After the ceremony, the bridge changed out of her wedding dress into a simple red dress. I heard that it's traditional to wear a hanbok (a traditional Korean dress), but they can be really hot in the summer, so it's becoming more common for brides to wear Western-style formal dresses instead.
-The bridge and groom cut a small cake as part of the reception, but no one ate any of it. After cutting the cake, they then retreated into a family-only room in the back for what I imagine was some much-needed privacy.
-As is typical in most Asian countries, wedding gifts are usually cash, around 30,000 won (for acquaintances) to 50,000 won (for close friends). I understand that this was the solution to the age-old problem of "I got six of the same thing, and none of them were what I wanted!" Instead of wedding registries, however, they decided to just give money. I brought a Western-style gift (a hair dryer requested by the bride), though only because they wanted me to do it that way.
I think that's about it for the major differences I remember. If I can think of anything else, I'll update the post. Overall, it was very interesting to observe and be a part of it all!
-Instead of the bride and groom not seeing each other until the bride walks down the aisle, the bride and groom came out together. The groom then walked to the front first, followed shortly by the bride and her father. (On a related note, both the groom and the father wore white gloves.)
-The bride and groom then knelt at the base of the steps leading up to the podium. (I'm not 100% sure if they were kneeling or sitting, since my view wasn't very good.) At the end of the ceremony, I saw people take away a couple wooden objects that they were kneeling on/sitting at.
-The bride and groom almost never faced each other; they spent the vast majority of the ceremony side-by-side looking up at the priest. They also read their vows off a script provided for them.
-Instead of a big kiss to finalize things, they faced the audience and did a quick peck on the lips.
-There was a best man and maid of honor, but no groomsmen or bridesmaids.
-After the ceremony, the bridge changed out of her wedding dress into a simple red dress. I heard that it's traditional to wear a hanbok (a traditional Korean dress), but they can be really hot in the summer, so it's becoming more common for brides to wear Western-style formal dresses instead.
-The bridge and groom cut a small cake as part of the reception, but no one ate any of it. After cutting the cake, they then retreated into a family-only room in the back for what I imagine was some much-needed privacy.
-As is typical in most Asian countries, wedding gifts are usually cash, around 30,000 won (for acquaintances) to 50,000 won (for close friends). I understand that this was the solution to the age-old problem of "I got six of the same thing, and none of them were what I wanted!" Instead of wedding registries, however, they decided to just give money. I brought a Western-style gift (a hair dryer requested by the bride), though only because they wanted me to do it that way.
I think that's about it for the major differences I remember. If I can think of anything else, I'll update the post. Overall, it was very interesting to observe and be a part of it all!
Monday, July 8, 2013
Lotte World
Yesterday Joyce and I joined the Global Expats meetup group for a day at Lotte World in Seoul, the largest indoor theme park in the world (or so they claim). The tickets are usually about $44 for an all-day pass, but the organizer got a special deal for the first ten people to pay, so we only had to pay $22. 21 people signed up for the meetup, though the group wound up being about twelve total. We met in Jamsil Station at 12:30 pm and then walked to the entrance of the park, which is actually built into the subway station!
It was already starting to sprinkle and the weather forecast called for rain, so we decided to head to the outside part of the park, Magic Island, before the rain hit.
The lines were still really short at that time, so the first ride we hit up was the Gyro Drop, one of those drop-you-into-freefall rides. I'm not big on rides, but Joyce and the others convinced me to give it a try. The "Gyro" part was only on the way up (it slowly spun in a circle while climbing), though the descent was a straight drop. There was no line after we finished, so the others went again immediately. Once was enough for me, so I hung back and took a few pictures with the organizer's fancy camera.
Next was the Gyro Swing, which was easily the most terrifying ride I went on. It was essentially a circular Viking that went up to about a 90 degree angle and also spun you around. It took a few swings before I was able to stop tensing up and just relax, and after that it was pretty fun. In an odd coincidence, it started raining as we were getting on, but stopped as soon as we got off. Just long enough to completely soak us while flying through the air!
Next we got in line for the Ghost House, partially because it was starting to sprinkle again. A few people decided that they weren't that interested and went their own way, and we never saw them again. For reasons I can't remember now, we chose not to stand in line for the Ghost House and instead see the Samba Parade at 2 pm. A couple people had already gone inside, however, so we waited for them to come out. Joyce and I briefly considered the bumper cars nearly, but decided that the line was too long at the moment. The two people in the Ghost house came out a short while later and said that it had been pretty lame - something about following a cat through a house while watching "scary" video clips.
With our group (mostly) reassembled, we headed inside the main park to watch the Samba Parade. It was kind of neat, with a ton of beautiful/handsome and fit foreigners (and a few Koreans) in a wide array of colorful costumes. I took a lot of pictures, but unfortunately most of them came out blurry.
After the parade passed on the way to the nearby stage, the organizer tried to get us to come to the stage with him, but he moved too fast and we quickly lost track of him. We quickly gave up, and the six of us that had stayed together got in line for the Conquistador, a fairly standard Viking-style ride. It was the first really enjoyable ride for me, mostly because it was a lot easier to just go with it and have fun. Of course, we were in the middle instead of the far ends, but still ;)
Some of us were curious about the Tomb of Horror and Mirror Maze attractions, though unlike the other rides, these were listed as games and required an extra 3,000 won ticket per person. Most of the group balked at this, so we gave up on the idea.
Taking a chance on the rain, we went back outside to see about riding Atlantis, a small car-style roller coaster that zips in and out of a castle. Unfortunately they had to shut it down because of the rain, so we got in line for the bumper cars (Metro Madness!) while we waited for the weather to change. About halfway through the wait the rain stopped, and two of our group who weren't interested in bumper cars got back in line for Atlantis. The bumper cars looked kind of lame - eight cars in a big, ovular track with a divider that seemed to encourage taking laps - but when we got in the cars it was actually pretty fun. Joyce and I got each other a few times, which was good!
The line for Atlantis had grown while we were on the bumper cars, and we had to wait a little while for the staff to do a few test runs, but the wait wasn't bad (maybe 30 minutes). Apparently a worker had died on the ride a few years back during a test run because he hadn't used the safety equipment properly; lamentable, but it does go to show just how important it is to follow safety protocol at all times. The ride itself was quite fun!
Next, following the advice of the "Exciting Thrill Mania" tour in the guidebook, we went to check out the Comet Express. We were quite confused about this one - the guidebook just said it was an "exuberating space train where the seats spin freely" - but we couldn't see any nearby ride that matched that description. After we got inside the building, we discovered that it was actually underground, with a second line in a science/space-themed area. (Lotte World had a lot of these 'hidden' or two-stage lines where we thought we were almost in, just to find another line! I'm sure these are common everywhere, but I haven't been to an amusement park in ages, and it annoyed everyone in the group too.) The ride was sort of like a dark, teacups-style roller coaster, only we couldn't control the seats. This one was hard on my stomach because the ride made a lot of sharp, unexpected turns, and marked the beginning of a building nausea problem.
Following that, we briefly considered riding the Bungee Drop (very similar to the Gyro Drop, only it "bounces" you three times), but since it was already 4 pm we instead chose to get some lunch.
We stopped by Marcos Kitchen and got pasta, omelets and quesadillas (Joyce brought her own lunch of fresh vegetables), then got in the hour-long line for the Flume Ride while we digested. This one was a four-person water boat ride with a jungle theme, and was fairly tame aside from two steep drops. It also took pictures as we went down, and I looked like a stoned zombie on our photo (mostly because I was focused on staying relaxed - I was having fun, I swear!) One of our group bought her boat's photo for giggles, and we said good bye to another member around 6 pm, so we were down to five people.
Next we took on the Giant Loop, which, unsurprisingly, built up to a 360 degree loop forwards and then backwards. The biggest challenge was finding the way up to it; we went up the exit stairs only to find out that the entrance was through the nearby arcade. We then had to get directions inside the arcade to an almost hidden staircase up to the ride itself. Thankfully there wasn't a line, probably because no one else could find it either!
After the Giant Loop, we took on the French Revolution on the second floor, a corkscrew/looping-style roller coaster. We waited another hour for this one, though at least it didn't have any hidden lines. Joyce and the other women had to take off their earrings for safety reasons, so we knew this one was serious business. This one was probably #3 on the terror scale after Gyro Swing and Gyro drop, but mercifully brief at about two minutes. It was here that I noticed that my nausea was becoming a serious issue that wasn't going away on its own.
Next we went up to the third floor for Jungle Adventure, another water ride complete with creepy animatronics of monkeys, elephants, adventurers, and a shoot out in the middle east (huh?) The ride was on a big, circular, six-person boat with an inner tube-style bumper around the outside that made it spin around unpredictably whenever it hit a way. It was actually pretty tame after the others with no drops at all, and we only got a tiny bit wet (after signs that said "You may get wet" followed by "You WILL get wet"), but it really made my stomach act up.
Everyone then headed up to the fourth floor for the Pharaoh's Fury, but I wisely decided to sit that one out. I had a killer headache by that point, though thankfully two of the women in the group had Advil. I downed the pills at a water fountain, then got a plain hot dog at New York Hotdog so they wouldn't wreck my stomach. I had to eat very, very slowly however, using the meditation techniques I'd learned at Hwagyesa to stay calm and relaxed while the nausea worked itself out. It took about 30-40 minutes to get through my hot dog, though I was feeling a lot better afterwards. The group found me right after I finished, and while it was getting late (around 8 pm), they weren't really that interested in eating, so we went in search of one more ride.
Before going on another ride, we stopped in a very cool illusion-themed art museum. All of the paintings had some way you could interact with them to make a neat photo, like giving yourself angel wings, (accidentally) destroying priceless artwork or holding back a lion from grabbing a zebra. Joyce and I got some interesting shots here :)
Our last ride of the day was on the basement floor, and it was the 4D Shooting Theater. We waited about ten minutes for the next show, then got our 3D glasses and went inside. The theater had moving seats to simulate the feel of a ride, and each one had a light gun that we used to play a group shooting game on the screen. A dwarf gave us some quick story and shooting tips (in Korean, of course), then turned us loose on a mine cart ride infested with bats, goblins, skeletons, mummies, and a lich as the final boss. There were also piles of gold to shoot for bonus points, and shooting the dwarf gave penalty points. With 38 people in the theater it was super chaotic, and I had no idea which of the colors or symbols was mine. After the game they did a run-through of everyone's score from best to worst, and somehow I ended up with the lowest score, which my companions got a big laugh out of.
It was getting close to 9 pm by that point, so we finally called it a day and went our separate ways. The only two rides we didn't go on that we'd considered were the Bungee Drop, the Drunken Baskets (teacups) and the balloon ride along the ceiling, so it was a full day all in all. I wouldn't have gone on half of the rides without the group encouraging me to try them, so I rode my first roller coasters today and had fun. The Gyro Drop and French Revolution were a bit too much for me, but overall I had a great time trying some new things. None of the lines were longer than an hour, which is pretty good compared to a lot of amusement parks. Even with the rain, nausea and headache I had a very good experience at my first amusement park in at least a decade!
It was already starting to sprinkle and the weather forecast called for rain, so we decided to head to the outside part of the park, Magic Island, before the rain hit.
The lines were still really short at that time, so the first ride we hit up was the Gyro Drop, one of those drop-you-into-freefall rides. I'm not big on rides, but Joyce and the others convinced me to give it a try. The "Gyro" part was only on the way up (it slowly spun in a circle while climbing), though the descent was a straight drop. There was no line after we finished, so the others went again immediately. Once was enough for me, so I hung back and took a few pictures with the organizer's fancy camera.
Next was the Gyro Swing, which was easily the most terrifying ride I went on. It was essentially a circular Viking that went up to about a 90 degree angle and also spun you around. It took a few swings before I was able to stop tensing up and just relax, and after that it was pretty fun. In an odd coincidence, it started raining as we were getting on, but stopped as soon as we got off. Just long enough to completely soak us while flying through the air!
Next we got in line for the Ghost House, partially because it was starting to sprinkle again. A few people decided that they weren't that interested and went their own way, and we never saw them again. For reasons I can't remember now, we chose not to stand in line for the Ghost House and instead see the Samba Parade at 2 pm. A couple people had already gone inside, however, so we waited for them to come out. Joyce and I briefly considered the bumper cars nearly, but decided that the line was too long at the moment. The two people in the Ghost house came out a short while later and said that it had been pretty lame - something about following a cat through a house while watching "scary" video clips.
With our group (mostly) reassembled, we headed inside the main park to watch the Samba Parade. It was kind of neat, with a ton of beautiful/handsome and fit foreigners (and a few Koreans) in a wide array of colorful costumes. I took a lot of pictures, but unfortunately most of them came out blurry.
After the parade passed on the way to the nearby stage, the organizer tried to get us to come to the stage with him, but he moved too fast and we quickly lost track of him. We quickly gave up, and the six of us that had stayed together got in line for the Conquistador, a fairly standard Viking-style ride. It was the first really enjoyable ride for me, mostly because it was a lot easier to just go with it and have fun. Of course, we were in the middle instead of the far ends, but still ;)
Some of us were curious about the Tomb of Horror and Mirror Maze attractions, though unlike the other rides, these were listed as games and required an extra 3,000 won ticket per person. Most of the group balked at this, so we gave up on the idea.
Taking a chance on the rain, we went back outside to see about riding Atlantis, a small car-style roller coaster that zips in and out of a castle. Unfortunately they had to shut it down because of the rain, so we got in line for the bumper cars (Metro Madness!) while we waited for the weather to change. About halfway through the wait the rain stopped, and two of our group who weren't interested in bumper cars got back in line for Atlantis. The bumper cars looked kind of lame - eight cars in a big, ovular track with a divider that seemed to encourage taking laps - but when we got in the cars it was actually pretty fun. Joyce and I got each other a few times, which was good!
The line for Atlantis had grown while we were on the bumper cars, and we had to wait a little while for the staff to do a few test runs, but the wait wasn't bad (maybe 30 minutes). Apparently a worker had died on the ride a few years back during a test run because he hadn't used the safety equipment properly; lamentable, but it does go to show just how important it is to follow safety protocol at all times. The ride itself was quite fun!
Next, following the advice of the "Exciting Thrill Mania" tour in the guidebook, we went to check out the Comet Express. We were quite confused about this one - the guidebook just said it was an "exuberating space train where the seats spin freely" - but we couldn't see any nearby ride that matched that description. After we got inside the building, we discovered that it was actually underground, with a second line in a science/space-themed area. (Lotte World had a lot of these 'hidden' or two-stage lines where we thought we were almost in, just to find another line! I'm sure these are common everywhere, but I haven't been to an amusement park in ages, and it annoyed everyone in the group too.) The ride was sort of like a dark, teacups-style roller coaster, only we couldn't control the seats. This one was hard on my stomach because the ride made a lot of sharp, unexpected turns, and marked the beginning of a building nausea problem.
Following that, we briefly considered riding the Bungee Drop (very similar to the Gyro Drop, only it "bounces" you three times), but since it was already 4 pm we instead chose to get some lunch.
We stopped by Marcos Kitchen and got pasta, omelets and quesadillas (Joyce brought her own lunch of fresh vegetables), then got in the hour-long line for the Flume Ride while we digested. This one was a four-person water boat ride with a jungle theme, and was fairly tame aside from two steep drops. It also took pictures as we went down, and I looked like a stoned zombie on our photo (mostly because I was focused on staying relaxed - I was having fun, I swear!) One of our group bought her boat's photo for giggles, and we said good bye to another member around 6 pm, so we were down to five people.
Next we took on the Giant Loop, which, unsurprisingly, built up to a 360 degree loop forwards and then backwards. The biggest challenge was finding the way up to it; we went up the exit stairs only to find out that the entrance was through the nearby arcade. We then had to get directions inside the arcade to an almost hidden staircase up to the ride itself. Thankfully there wasn't a line, probably because no one else could find it either!
After the Giant Loop, we took on the French Revolution on the second floor, a corkscrew/looping-style roller coaster. We waited another hour for this one, though at least it didn't have any hidden lines. Joyce and the other women had to take off their earrings for safety reasons, so we knew this one was serious business. This one was probably #3 on the terror scale after Gyro Swing and Gyro drop, but mercifully brief at about two minutes. It was here that I noticed that my nausea was becoming a serious issue that wasn't going away on its own.
Next we went up to the third floor for Jungle Adventure, another water ride complete with creepy animatronics of monkeys, elephants, adventurers, and a shoot out in the middle east (huh?) The ride was on a big, circular, six-person boat with an inner tube-style bumper around the outside that made it spin around unpredictably whenever it hit a way. It was actually pretty tame after the others with no drops at all, and we only got a tiny bit wet (after signs that said "You may get wet" followed by "You WILL get wet"), but it really made my stomach act up.
Everyone then headed up to the fourth floor for the Pharaoh's Fury, but I wisely decided to sit that one out. I had a killer headache by that point, though thankfully two of the women in the group had Advil. I downed the pills at a water fountain, then got a plain hot dog at New York Hotdog so they wouldn't wreck my stomach. I had to eat very, very slowly however, using the meditation techniques I'd learned at Hwagyesa to stay calm and relaxed while the nausea worked itself out. It took about 30-40 minutes to get through my hot dog, though I was feeling a lot better afterwards. The group found me right after I finished, and while it was getting late (around 8 pm), they weren't really that interested in eating, so we went in search of one more ride.
Before going on another ride, we stopped in a very cool illusion-themed art museum. All of the paintings had some way you could interact with them to make a neat photo, like giving yourself angel wings, (accidentally) destroying priceless artwork or holding back a lion from grabbing a zebra. Joyce and I got some interesting shots here :)
Our last ride of the day was on the basement floor, and it was the 4D Shooting Theater. We waited about ten minutes for the next show, then got our 3D glasses and went inside. The theater had moving seats to simulate the feel of a ride, and each one had a light gun that we used to play a group shooting game on the screen. A dwarf gave us some quick story and shooting tips (in Korean, of course), then turned us loose on a mine cart ride infested with bats, goblins, skeletons, mummies, and a lich as the final boss. There were also piles of gold to shoot for bonus points, and shooting the dwarf gave penalty points. With 38 people in the theater it was super chaotic, and I had no idea which of the colors or symbols was mine. After the game they did a run-through of everyone's score from best to worst, and somehow I ended up with the lowest score, which my companions got a big laugh out of.
It was getting close to 9 pm by that point, so we finally called it a day and went our separate ways. The only two rides we didn't go on that we'd considered were the Bungee Drop, the Drunken Baskets (teacups) and the balloon ride along the ceiling, so it was a full day all in all. I wouldn't have gone on half of the rides without the group encouraging me to try them, so I rode my first roller coasters today and had fun. The Gyro Drop and French Revolution were a bit too much for me, but overall I had a great time trying some new things. None of the lines were longer than an hour, which is pretty good compared to a lot of amusement parks. Even with the rain, nausea and headache I had a very good experience at my first amusement park in at least a decade!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Costco in Korea
Last Thursday I went to Costco with one of my two bosses, Julie, and her mother. (Yes, it did take me over a week to get around to writing this -_-) I was going to just give Julie a list of things to pick up for me like my coworkers, but I didn't have any idea what they had in stock and I was curious about the differences between Costco here and in the US. We met at the school at 10:30 am and started the hour-long drive there, crossing four toll stations along the way. (Korea is similar to Japan, in that you have to periodically pay tolls on the vast majority of the highways as well as when crossing bridges. This can make taking taxis to other cities extra expensive, as the drivers will add the cost of the tolls to the fare.) We did get a little lost on the way and had to break out the GPS, which is why we had to go through four toll stations (it was three on the drive home). I wasn't keeping a close eye on the costs, but it was over $10. Keep in mind that's one way!
The store is located in Goyang, a town to the northwest of Seoul and near Gimpo Airport. The facility was, I thought, really very interesting: what you see above ground is just the five-story parking garage, while the store itself takes up two floors underground. We parked on the first floor and grabbed three double-sized shopping carts (and filled all three to the brim, too!), then went down two slanted, stairless escalators to get to the bottom floor.
(The above picture isn't from Costco, but these escalators are common in big stores in Korea. The escalators are magnetized to keep the carts from sliding. At Costco, they have staff at the top of the escalators going up to help you pull your full carts off when the magnetism lets go.)
According to Julie, the bottom is all non-perishables (clothes, appliances, dishes, soap, vitamins, rice/grains, canned food etc.) while the next floor up has the perishable food (fruit/vegetables, meat, cheese, frozen food, dried fruit and nuts, bread, etc.) as well as the checkout counters and hot food. It looked very much like the Costcos back home, not too surprisingly.
I picked up some calcium gummis (because I don't like to swallow pills if I don't have to), California black olives and diced tomatoes down here, which none of the local stores sell. They didn't have cans of plain tomato sauce, unfortunately, though on the next floor they had a large variety of pre-made pasta sauces (which I didn't buy because I prefer to make my own.) I also got two huge bottles of environmentally friendly liquid laundry detergent and splurged on a Sonicare toothbrush (which, at 149,000 won, was more than half of my total bill). It's a different style than the ones my family and I used back home, but it came with a UV toothbrush sanitizer and five heads, so I won't need to get more for over a year. I will need to get adapters if I want to bring them back to the US, but I'll worry about that bridge when I cross it :)
I'd largely been following Julie around on the bottom floor, but we got separated pretty quickly on the next floor because it was a complete madhouse. I was tempted by cheese and ravioli/tortellini, but decided not to because I didn't really need them and I had no idea how much I was going to wind up spending (hint: it was no small sum). I did get bananas and a big package of frozen shrimp, but I was underwhelmed by their bread selection; even the "whole grain" bread was like Wonder Bread with brown flakes. Their peanut butter and cereal were also disappointing - all they had was Jiffy (I didn't buy any), and 90% of their cereal was diabetes in a box. They didn't have plain Cheerios (just Honey Nut), though I did get a couple boxes of something with heritage grains that seemed pretty healthy. I had plenty of oatmeal from my trip to the Itaewon Foreigner Market, so I didn't need to buy more. I also got a big bag of raisins to go with my oatmeal.
About that time Julie found me, and I helped her load up our two carts with things for my coworkers and stuff for school snacks, including seven big packages of penne and six huge bottles of tomato sauce. We checked out and sat down to eat lunch - Julie got us three large trays of sushi. According to her, the store rotates its stock frequently and often moves things around in an effort to get people to come more often (to see new things) and explore the whole store (to find what you're looking for). The place is also apparently quite popular with students, who come to the food court for cheap food after school. When lunch was over, we hauled our carts back to the van and loaded it up, then headed back to the island. They dropped me and my stuff off at my apartment around 2 pm, giving me a little time to push away a few things and change into my work clothes before classes started.
Later, I worked out what I owed Julie (the total was around $276, which surprised me) and paid her through an online bank transfer. I may not have gotten the cereal, bread or peanut butter I wanted, but it's nice to have olives and diced tomatoes again, at least for a little while. It was a very tiring trip, though I might go again next time just to poke around again. Julie said she goes every six months or so, so we'll see. All in all, it was in interesting excursion!
The store is located in Goyang, a town to the northwest of Seoul and near Gimpo Airport. The facility was, I thought, really very interesting: what you see above ground is just the five-story parking garage, while the store itself takes up two floors underground. We parked on the first floor and grabbed three double-sized shopping carts (and filled all three to the brim, too!), then went down two slanted, stairless escalators to get to the bottom floor.
(The above picture isn't from Costco, but these escalators are common in big stores in Korea. The escalators are magnetized to keep the carts from sliding. At Costco, they have staff at the top of the escalators going up to help you pull your full carts off when the magnetism lets go.)
According to Julie, the bottom is all non-perishables (clothes, appliances, dishes, soap, vitamins, rice/grains, canned food etc.) while the next floor up has the perishable food (fruit/vegetables, meat, cheese, frozen food, dried fruit and nuts, bread, etc.) as well as the checkout counters and hot food. It looked very much like the Costcos back home, not too surprisingly.
I picked up some calcium gummis (because I don't like to swallow pills if I don't have to), California black olives and diced tomatoes down here, which none of the local stores sell. They didn't have cans of plain tomato sauce, unfortunately, though on the next floor they had a large variety of pre-made pasta sauces (which I didn't buy because I prefer to make my own.) I also got two huge bottles of environmentally friendly liquid laundry detergent and splurged on a Sonicare toothbrush (which, at 149,000 won, was more than half of my total bill). It's a different style than the ones my family and I used back home, but it came with a UV toothbrush sanitizer and five heads, so I won't need to get more for over a year. I will need to get adapters if I want to bring them back to the US, but I'll worry about that bridge when I cross it :)
I'd largely been following Julie around on the bottom floor, but we got separated pretty quickly on the next floor because it was a complete madhouse. I was tempted by cheese and ravioli/tortellini, but decided not to because I didn't really need them and I had no idea how much I was going to wind up spending (hint: it was no small sum). I did get bananas and a big package of frozen shrimp, but I was underwhelmed by their bread selection; even the "whole grain" bread was like Wonder Bread with brown flakes. Their peanut butter and cereal were also disappointing - all they had was Jiffy (I didn't buy any), and 90% of their cereal was diabetes in a box. They didn't have plain Cheerios (just Honey Nut), though I did get a couple boxes of something with heritage grains that seemed pretty healthy. I had plenty of oatmeal from my trip to the Itaewon Foreigner Market, so I didn't need to buy more. I also got a big bag of raisins to go with my oatmeal.
About that time Julie found me, and I helped her load up our two carts with things for my coworkers and stuff for school snacks, including seven big packages of penne and six huge bottles of tomato sauce. We checked out and sat down to eat lunch - Julie got us three large trays of sushi. According to her, the store rotates its stock frequently and often moves things around in an effort to get people to come more often (to see new things) and explore the whole store (to find what you're looking for). The place is also apparently quite popular with students, who come to the food court for cheap food after school. When lunch was over, we hauled our carts back to the van and loaded it up, then headed back to the island. They dropped me and my stuff off at my apartment around 2 pm, giving me a little time to push away a few things and change into my work clothes before classes started.
Later, I worked out what I owed Julie (the total was around $276, which surprised me) and paid her through an online bank transfer. I may not have gotten the cereal, bread or peanut butter I wanted, but it's nice to have olives and diced tomatoes again, at least for a little while. It was a very tiring trip, though I might go again next time just to poke around again. Julie said she goes every six months or so, so we'll see. All in all, it was in interesting excursion!
Saturday, March 30, 2013
One Month Already?
It's hard to believe I've been here a month already. The first couple
weeks were hell, but now that I'm settling into a routine (and we have
all of the books,) things aren't too bad. This week actually went by
really quickly, surprisingly. We're working on some April Fools pranks
for the kids tomorrow, like switching teachers and giving them word
searches with none of the words. It should be a lot of fun!
Every Friday we're supposed to have a test for the kids, and it's our responsibility to come up with the tests (since every class could be at a different point and have covered different vocabulary.) I've mostly done spelling tests with my first graders, though I'm experimenting a lot with my other classes right now. I've done vocabulary definitions, story writing (use 5/10 of the 10/20 words to make a story,) story sequencing (put the events in order,) and reading comprehension questions. Finding the right balance between too easy and too hard is tricky, of course, and so far I think I've been leaning towards too hard. I like the story-writing tests, but some words (especially nouns and adjectives) are really easy to use without really showing that they know what they mean. I've been writing questions like "Why did you thrash a rock?" and having them rewrite their stories with my corrections and answers to my questions. They also take a long time to grade because I'm correcting their grammar, spelling and sentence structure (sometimes extensively,) and interpreting what they're saying and their understanding of the words can take a lot of thought.
One small problem that I'm noticing is that the classrooms get really dirty REALLY quickly. Each room has one small trash can, but while we're not responsible for cleaning the rooms, the cleaner only comes in once a week. Things are nice on Monday, but by Friday the rooms are pretty filthy. The students aren't always tidy eaters, of course, so certain snacks (especially noodles, rice and anything with sauce) can get everywhere.
Speaking of dirty, my washing machine is driving me up the wall. Even after cleaning out the lint filters as best I can, my clothes still come out dirty. I'm going to have to re-wash a pair of pants because the outside is covered in soap that didn't get washed off. I've not sure how much of it is the machine and how much is my not knowing how to use it correctly, but it's really aggravating. Baron still needs to come over sometime and help me get rid of the old TV and such, so hopefully he can help me figure out what the problem is, whenever that happens. I'd hate to have to go to the trouble of getting a new washing machine, but it's hard to live like this when I don't know how to get my clothes properly clean.
I should be getting my alien registration card soon, which means I'll be able to set up a bank account and get a new phone. The phone will be a little pricy, but so far my expenses have been relatively low. I've only needed to withdraw 400,000 won (~$400), and combined with the 200,000 they gave me to get started and the $200 I took out at the airport, I've spent about $700 this month. My first paycheck is coming on 4/8, and that'll give me roughly $2000 more to work with. In another two months, they'll repay me for the plane ticket and I'll stop having to add to my apartment's security deposit, so my monthly salary will go up to ~$2200. Despite what I said about about food prices before, I can eat out for $7-9, sometimes less. For a quick meal, I can get two things of triangle kimbap (rice and fish wrapped in seaweed) for 1400 won at a convenience store. Taking the train into Seoul only costs about $3.50, and the subway is only $1 for the closer stops.
Every Friday we're supposed to have a test for the kids, and it's our responsibility to come up with the tests (since every class could be at a different point and have covered different vocabulary.) I've mostly done spelling tests with my first graders, though I'm experimenting a lot with my other classes right now. I've done vocabulary definitions, story writing (use 5/10 of the 10/20 words to make a story,) story sequencing (put the events in order,) and reading comprehension questions. Finding the right balance between too easy and too hard is tricky, of course, and so far I think I've been leaning towards too hard. I like the story-writing tests, but some words (especially nouns and adjectives) are really easy to use without really showing that they know what they mean. I've been writing questions like "Why did you thrash a rock?" and having them rewrite their stories with my corrections and answers to my questions. They also take a long time to grade because I'm correcting their grammar, spelling and sentence structure (sometimes extensively,) and interpreting what they're saying and their understanding of the words can take a lot of thought.
One small problem that I'm noticing is that the classrooms get really dirty REALLY quickly. Each room has one small trash can, but while we're not responsible for cleaning the rooms, the cleaner only comes in once a week. Things are nice on Monday, but by Friday the rooms are pretty filthy. The students aren't always tidy eaters, of course, so certain snacks (especially noodles, rice and anything with sauce) can get everywhere.
Speaking of dirty, my washing machine is driving me up the wall. Even after cleaning out the lint filters as best I can, my clothes still come out dirty. I'm going to have to re-wash a pair of pants because the outside is covered in soap that didn't get washed off. I've not sure how much of it is the machine and how much is my not knowing how to use it correctly, but it's really aggravating. Baron still needs to come over sometime and help me get rid of the old TV and such, so hopefully he can help me figure out what the problem is, whenever that happens. I'd hate to have to go to the trouble of getting a new washing machine, but it's hard to live like this when I don't know how to get my clothes properly clean.
I should be getting my alien registration card soon, which means I'll be able to set up a bank account and get a new phone. The phone will be a little pricy, but so far my expenses have been relatively low. I've only needed to withdraw 400,000 won (~$400), and combined with the 200,000 they gave me to get started and the $200 I took out at the airport, I've spent about $700 this month. My first paycheck is coming on 4/8, and that'll give me roughly $2000 more to work with. In another two months, they'll repay me for the plane ticket and I'll stop having to add to my apartment's security deposit, so my monthly salary will go up to ~$2200. Despite what I said about about food prices before, I can eat out for $7-9, sometimes less. For a quick meal, I can get two things of triangle kimbap (rice and fish wrapped in seaweed) for 1400 won at a convenience store. Taking the train into Seoul only costs about $3.50, and the subway is only $1 for the closer stops.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Status Update 3/23/2013
Things are slowly getting easier. The confrontation of discipline is
still stressful for me, though I'm getting better at it and having to do
less of it. I have one class that I really gel with already, and
they're great. My youngest kids are best when I give them some sort of
activity (they breezed through 12 pages of the workbook yesterday,) but
they're a lot more restless when I start asking them questions about the
book we're reading. About half the class would rather chat with their
neighbors or play with lint than talk to me, though, so it's my most
discipline-heavy class. My oldest kids also do their best to ignore me,
and while I respect the
fact that they're here against their will until 9 pm, they really
frustrate me. Baron keeps telling me not to try to herd cats and that
it takes about two months for them to see me as their teacher, while
Julie wants me to be tougher with them (she basically acts as the
principal/yeller-in-chief.) They also have their own ideas about how we
should teach our classes, so there's a lot of mixed messages right now.
I spent the Saturday doing laundry and grading test papers - I had two classes write stories using at least 10 vocabulary words from the week, and it's slow going because it's often hard to interpret whether the students are using the words correctly or not. One student wrote a page about how she didn't know what any of the words meant and how much she doesn't like tests (I had to give her a zero,) and another gave up on writing a cohesive story and just started tossing out all 20 words (he got a 5/10 because I was generous.) I also stopped by a nearby street/farmers market and picked up a few things, including a big bag of grapes for ~$10. It's looking like I'll be grabbing dinner with one or two of the other teachers tonight as well.
Food, cooking and scheduling are also being challenging. I'm trying to adjust to a schedule of going to bed around 1 am (if I can finish eating a quick something by 10 pm) and waking up at 10 am, though that generally means I'm finishing breakfast at 11 am and thinking about lunch around 1 pm (so I can be at school and preparing for my classes by 2 pm.) I don't have the obnoxious early Saturday schedule I had with AEON, but the timing of my work schedule is still at an awkward time and not having a dinner break is rough. I get a snack with the kids at 4 pm and one at 5 pm, but I only have time to eat if I don't have to prepare anything for class. If I need to get up early for anything, I have to skip dinner and go to bed hungry. I've actually been going to bed earlier on the weekends than during the week :) I make sure to clean the house and cook on Sunday, though my pots and bowls are smaller than in Japan, so I haven't made more than two servings at a time yet. (Plus, it's hard to get online to check recipes.)
As for food, I can get about 14 bananas for $4-6 (the price varies for some unknown reason) from the closest market, though they go brown fairly quickly, so using them all up has been an interesting challenge. I finally found soy milk, and while it has a different flavor than American soy milk, I'll be glad to stop relying on low-fat milk (fat-free milk basically doesn't exist here.) Broccoli costs twice as much to get half as much, and I haven't found cauliflower yet. Garlic always comes pre-peeled in bags of 25-30 cloves or more, which sounded great at first until I found out that it also goes moldy quickly that way (I'm experimenting with sealing it in a Ziploc bag to keep it fresh.) I can't buy canned tomatoes, so I've been cutting up fresh ones (they come in big bags of 10,) but bottles of sauce are everywhere. Sliced meat is almost nonexistent except for small, expensive packages of sliced ham (pork is easily the most common meat here,) and like Japan, there's no such thing as whole-grain bread. I have an 8 kg bag of brown rice, but my rice cooker doesn't handle it very well (it wants to boil over, and it's a pain to clean,) so I've mostly been cooking rice porridge in a pot. Cereal is pretty expensive ($5-7 a box, though I can buy big double-packs of Special K for about $13,) and Korean food labels almost never list sugar or fiber. I've doing a lot of experimenting to figure out what is relatively healthy and what is loaded with sugar.
All in all, it's been a lot of adjusting, and there's still a lot more to do. The kids make me grouchy on a regular basis, but I'm happy to say that things are more pleasant and less stressful after my third week here!
I spent the Saturday doing laundry and grading test papers - I had two classes write stories using at least 10 vocabulary words from the week, and it's slow going because it's often hard to interpret whether the students are using the words correctly or not. One student wrote a page about how she didn't know what any of the words meant and how much she doesn't like tests (I had to give her a zero,) and another gave up on writing a cohesive story and just started tossing out all 20 words (he got a 5/10 because I was generous.) I also stopped by a nearby street/farmers market and picked up a few things, including a big bag of grapes for ~$10. It's looking like I'll be grabbing dinner with one or two of the other teachers tonight as well.
Food, cooking and scheduling are also being challenging. I'm trying to adjust to a schedule of going to bed around 1 am (if I can finish eating a quick something by 10 pm) and waking up at 10 am, though that generally means I'm finishing breakfast at 11 am and thinking about lunch around 1 pm (so I can be at school and preparing for my classes by 2 pm.) I don't have the obnoxious early Saturday schedule I had with AEON, but the timing of my work schedule is still at an awkward time and not having a dinner break is rough. I get a snack with the kids at 4 pm and one at 5 pm, but I only have time to eat if I don't have to prepare anything for class. If I need to get up early for anything, I have to skip dinner and go to bed hungry. I've actually been going to bed earlier on the weekends than during the week :) I make sure to clean the house and cook on Sunday, though my pots and bowls are smaller than in Japan, so I haven't made more than two servings at a time yet. (Plus, it's hard to get online to check recipes.)
As for food, I can get about 14 bananas for $4-6 (the price varies for some unknown reason) from the closest market, though they go brown fairly quickly, so using them all up has been an interesting challenge. I finally found soy milk, and while it has a different flavor than American soy milk, I'll be glad to stop relying on low-fat milk (fat-free milk basically doesn't exist here.) Broccoli costs twice as much to get half as much, and I haven't found cauliflower yet. Garlic always comes pre-peeled in bags of 25-30 cloves or more, which sounded great at first until I found out that it also goes moldy quickly that way (I'm experimenting with sealing it in a Ziploc bag to keep it fresh.) I can't buy canned tomatoes, so I've been cutting up fresh ones (they come in big bags of 10,) but bottles of sauce are everywhere. Sliced meat is almost nonexistent except for small, expensive packages of sliced ham (pork is easily the most common meat here,) and like Japan, there's no such thing as whole-grain bread. I have an 8 kg bag of brown rice, but my rice cooker doesn't handle it very well (it wants to boil over, and it's a pain to clean,) so I've mostly been cooking rice porridge in a pot. Cereal is pretty expensive ($5-7 a box, though I can buy big double-packs of Special K for about $13,) and Korean food labels almost never list sugar or fiber. I've doing a lot of experimenting to figure out what is relatively healthy and what is loaded with sugar.
All in all, it's been a lot of adjusting, and there's still a lot more to do. The kids make me grouchy on a regular basis, but I'm happy to say that things are more pleasant and less stressful after my third week here!
A Clean(er) Apartment at Last!
From March 10th:
Yesterday was a weird and busy day. I knew the cleaning lady was coming,
but I didn't know when, and I'd stayed up late the night before at a bar
with my fellow teachers. I was on the toilet when she showed up at 11 am,
unshaved, unshowered and unbrushed, but I hurried out so that she could do
her work. Julie told me to give her my key and to pick up the spare key at
school around 3 pm, so I had a lot of time to kill. I brought my laptop
along in the hopes of finding a wifi connection somewhere, but the internet
cafe refused to let me in (I later learned that many of them have a "no
foreigners" policy), the school was locked up and the library's wifi needed
a username and password I didn't have. I wound up reading in the library
for awhile, then got lunch and went to school.
Baron gave me the spare key when I arrived, and then asked me to help him
find all the teacher's manuals around the school. After that, we spent a
couple hours going over how to teach the reading classes and properly use
the teacher's manuals. (I'm not sure they know what a weekend is anymore.)
He gave me some 'homework' to come up with questions, vocabulary and simple
explanations for the first several 1st grade lessons, then sent me home.
Once I did get back to my apartment, I was amazed by the difference. There
were some things even the cleaning lady couldn't get rid of, but overall it
feels like a new place! I was finally able to unpack and put everything
away, as well as throwing away all the small junk I didn't want and washing
the dishes I wanted to keep. I snuck in a load of laundry while I was
running around, too. A couple hours later I could finally relax and settle
down for dinner and a shower. There's still a few big items that I need
help getting rid of (an old TV, a beaten-up coach and a dirty toaster oven),
plus I need to replace the toilet seat and get a drainer installed. Still,
it feels a lot more like MY place.
Today's been a slightly lazier day. I went to the supermarket and finally
got a clock and some food disposal bags, so now I can throw out my food
trash. I spent about an hour working on my 'homework', and I'm hoping to
work on my screenplay after dinner.
Yesterday was a weird and busy day. I knew the cleaning lady was coming,
but I didn't know when, and I'd stayed up late the night before at a bar
with my fellow teachers. I was on the toilet when she showed up at 11 am,
unshaved, unshowered and unbrushed, but I hurried out so that she could do
her work. Julie told me to give her my key and to pick up the spare key at
school around 3 pm, so I had a lot of time to kill. I brought my laptop
along in the hopes of finding a wifi connection somewhere, but the internet
cafe refused to let me in (I later learned that many of them have a "no
foreigners" policy), the school was locked up and the library's wifi needed
a username and password I didn't have. I wound up reading in the library
for awhile, then got lunch and went to school.
Baron gave me the spare key when I arrived, and then asked me to help him
find all the teacher's manuals around the school. After that, we spent a
couple hours going over how to teach the reading classes and properly use
the teacher's manuals. (I'm not sure they know what a weekend is anymore.)
He gave me some 'homework' to come up with questions, vocabulary and simple
explanations for the first several 1st grade lessons, then sent me home.
Once I did get back to my apartment, I was amazed by the difference. There
were some things even the cleaning lady couldn't get rid of, but overall it
feels like a new place! I was finally able to unpack and put everything
away, as well as throwing away all the small junk I didn't want and washing
the dishes I wanted to keep. I snuck in a load of laundry while I was
running around, too. A couple hours later I could finally relax and settle
down for dinner and a shower. There's still a few big items that I need
help getting rid of (an old TV, a beaten-up coach and a dirty toaster oven),
plus I need to replace the toilet seat and get a drainer installed. Still,
it feels a lot more like MY place.
Today's been a slightly lazier day. I went to the supermarket and finally
got a clock and some food disposal bags, so now I can throw out my food
trash. I spent about an hour working on my 'homework', and I'm hoping to
work on my screenplay after dinner.
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