Thoughts before, during, and after an end

I started this post a long time ago, saved it, and then haven't come back to it until now...

My job is good. They have given me 0 training, absolutely none. Which is weird, but I've picked it up well enough. When I don't do something they want me to, the boss's wife (because the boss doesn't know English) tells me the problem... and if I'm really lucky, an idea of how I might be able to fix it. Her English is so-so, but enough for me to take action. I typically work from 2:30-8:30 or 3:20-9:20, but the last two weeks I've been getting done occasionally at 7:40, which is great because I can go to a 8:00 workout! 

Teaching is going good. My friends and fellow English teachers (though at different schools) have told me to relax, you're not going to make any kid fluent in a year. Have low expectations for them, and always do what you enjoy doing. With that advice, I sneak in some Korean studying in the middle of my English classes: "Ju-Yang, what's the difference between this pattern in English and... How do you say it in Korean?" or a pair of kids will be chatting in class, I'll listen for 5 seconds and then, like a tape recorder, say what I just heard back to them. They are startled and nonplussed, and then I ask "what does that mean, I don't understand." They are usually just talking about video games though.

When I am not teaching, I like to travel (but that's really only ever done on weekends). During the week days, I work out, at two kendo schools. And of course, I like to cook :-)   I also enjoy trying to chat with people, which has been very tricky thus far here... mostly because in the city I live, there are no colleges and almost everyone in korea goes to college, so nearly all of the 20-30 years old's have moved to a larger city to get a degree; many stay there because the big city is flashy. I'm in the country-side so there isn't much that attracts the recent grads back. There's a huge language barrier to making good friends, but that's to be expected. 

One interesting thing I've noticed is, there are moments where I'll be doing nothing, like eating, walking to work, reading a book, listening to music, sitting in a chair, waiting for the train/bus to arrive, etc. and I'll be a little bored. My favorite part of being here is that when those moments happen, I always remember, "right now, I'm a little bored, IN KOREA!!! With all kinds of crazy, weird, odd, foreign things EVERYWHERE!" It's pretty cool to have that double-take and think, "oh yeah, really life is dynamic."

The American community is rather small (2 girls and 1 guy), but the international community also has an Englishman, 2 South Africans, a New Zealander, a brand new Puerto Rican, and even a Spaniard. Lockie and Greg an Englishman and South African have become my new best friends.

Dusting off the old blog

It's been a while since my last post. This one will be a short one, but a long and very interesting one is coming (probably ~Sunday this weekend). Must return to work now, but check out the pictures of Donghwasa and Gatbawi to see some nearby travels (sub-folders in the Korea folder: http://s635.photobucket.com/user/dcpetit/library/Korea)

Workin' out and mini excursions

Phew! This entry is long overdue. The foreigners are fluctuating, which I am told is a constant process. One left a few weeks ago, another leaves tomorrow, and two more are leaving in June or July. One of the replacements arrived on Friday, now I'm no longer the new guy!

Looking everywhere for a studio that works out after I get off work, I discovered only one (that I could make it two for 3 almost-1-hour workouts a week), which happened to have no adults, and many rambunctious kids. Giving up on that idea I started looking for places that offered classes earlier in the day. The Gumdo (Kendo) school teacher near my house offered to give me individual lessons if I committed to working out every day for an hour, I said yes and then checked out another studio I hadn't ever seen or talked to someone at. The teacher there works with two students who, like me, teach at a hagwan from 3-10 or so. Curious (and rather board in the mornings) I've signed up for that one too. It's also a Gumdo school, but practices a traditional Korean style, which, in my biased opinion, is very fancy, colorful and showy. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

I've made it up to Daegu and down to Busan almost every weekend in May, both are fun places to visit and have a much more lively atmosphere than Miryang. It seems like there are two cliques in the foreigner community here, guys and girls. I have been warmly welcomed to the beer and chicken nights with my English, South African, and sometime Spanish and New Zealand friends, but find the stories that the girls from South Africa and America tell to be a little more funny or interesting. This is probably another thing that I'll wait for a bit and see how it goes.

The English guy, Lockie, is getting married in October, so at the last chicken and beer night, talks of an epic bachelor party started. A long weekend in Shanghai might come to fruition sometime in September.

Friday is Korean Memorial Day so I'll get a long weekend. Still not sure what everyone's plans are, but it'll be fun no matter!

2+ weeks :-)

I'm getting a bit more settled, it's nice. I still don't have an "alien registration card," so getting things like a bank account are still on hold. My boss and his wife drove me to Busan to get a medical exam to immigrate. It was the most quick and informal medical exam I've had. Relatively unhygienic too (at least compared to times I've had blood and urine taken in the states). They then took me out to brunch to a nice buffet style restaurant. I have to go again soon for more paperwork I think at the regional immigration office.

Last weekend was fun, I made it out to Busan with Greg. We met up with a bunch of people for a birthday and surprise engagement party, it was extremely cute. Busan has two famous beaches which I was able to go to. The water is cold but rather clear and the sand to wonderful.

Buddha's birthday was earlier week and during my day off I played basketball with 성훈 Song-hun, my best friend here, and a few middle school students from the haguan. While playing we could sometimes hear singing (chanting?) coming from 옝남루 Yeongnamnu, Song-hun said it was monks singing for Buddha's birthday so after the game (and lunch), I walked over to see what was going on. I got there too late for the monks, but it was really quite amazing. There is much to see up on the hill around Yeongmannu too, most of the signs are in Korean but 2 or 3 explain when and what each thing was built for.

Last night was Song-hun's friend's birthday party. 3 of the 4 people present were also there at my first night out (Adam's goodbye party with his Korean friends), and I felt wonderful because instead of understanding ~1% of what they were saying (hello and English loan words) and the questions they asked me, I was up to ~10%. "Inch by inch, it's a cinch."

I am now taking too many pictures for my phone/computer so they are all going up on photobucket. I'll probably post the best ones on this blog but the whole story can be seen at: http://s635.photobucket.com/user/dcpetit/library/Korea (slideshow option: http://s635.photobucket.com/user/dcpetit/slideshow/Korea)

Yeongnamnu (1 of 4 buildings), "宮 ? 天"

Fortress Above Yeongnamnu, "令"

10 days in

Life here seems to be rather simple, Miryang is a small town, there are a bunch of restaurants but I haven't found else. I've noted three martial arts schools, but I know two of them workout from ~8-9 daily and since I get off work everyday at 8:30 or 9:30 neither work well for my schedule. I'll put on my to do list check out these places during the day but I'm not too optimistic.

Eating has been an adventure here. If I go to a restaurant I don't know any words for anything except "soup" and "rice," so what comes out is always a surprise. I had this bowl of octopus tentacles last week and I think I had breaded tripe two nights ago (not sure). I've been hoping that I'll get a vegetarian meal one of these days, but it doesn't seem popular here.

Tomorrow should be fun, I'm finally going to get a phone (in theory), and I'll be taking a medical exam to get my alien resident card. I've taken the train 3 or 4 times now and I truly love the landscape: winding valleys, bridges of all different sizes, going over rivers, steep green slopes rolling by and by. Someone said the weather like New York (or probably somewhere a bit warmer) so I'll get all four season here: hot soon, then red, then barren, then green again!