Sports Day at Yangsan

It certainly has been a long time since I posted, huh? June was filled with work, work, work and more work. Every time I thought I’d have a moment to sit down, send myself pictures from my phone, and write something longer than a paragraph, my co-teachers dumped more work on me. Without going into the grizzly boring details, in the last month I hosted two open classes, an English festival, sang Taylor Swift’s Love Story for nearly 900 people, wrote a three week long lesson plan for summer camp, wrote and graded a final exam, gave an oral exam, and planned a conference. WHEW. I’m so happy June is over.

But–I haven’t been a complete bum. The camera on my cellphone is so good that I really have no excuse for not taking photos–so I do have a lot of pictures of my events. Since work has been miserable, I’ve been getting out a lot on the weekends (also why I haven’t posted anything). Here are the various things I’ve done in the last month that I promise I’ll catch up on, and post about:

• Participated in my school’s Sports Day
• Attended a baseball game in Gwangju (goooo KIA Tigers!) with my main co-teacher, Jin Young.
• Traveled to Damyang, where a famous bamboo forest is located
• Attended a work conference in Boseong, on the coast about an hour and a half from Gwangju
• Traveled to Seoul to see a concert, watch Korea lose in the World Cup, and just generally goof off
• Traveled to Mokpo and visited a dinosaur(!) museum
• Hosted a 4th of July party for all of my…non-American friends.
• Hosted a Mary Tyler Moore Conference at Yangsan
• Was interviewed in Korean for a major broadcasting station

Without further ado, let’s get into Sports Day (complete with pictures!).

Seoul Friendship Festival

First a few listy updates:

• My hair is Draco Malfloy blonde. Which I loved until my kids started calling me Lady Gaga (as a compliment). So, it’s going away in a couple of weeks. I’d post a picture, but I don’t think I want to remember this era. Or want you to remember this era.
• I have a cellphone! And internet! So, I will be able to leave Skype on 24/7. Anytime you see me there, feel free to call.
• Because I have a cellphone (that is way too smart for me), I will have no excuse for not taking pictures. I’m generally lazy when it comes to picture taking, but it’s kind of fun on my phone. Keep hounding me, and results are more likely to come.
• Speaking of photos…all the ones below were taken on my phone. Way to go Korean technology!

I decided to head up to Seoul on Saturday to run a couple of errands, and to just explore the city. My computer charger was objecting to the add-on plug I had, and the only Apple stores are, naturally, in Seoul (although they’re not actually run by Apple, oddly enough). But it was a great excuse to get out of Gwangju for a day!

The bus up took three and a half hours, which my friends here seem to think is ridiculous. To me, it’s going from UW to Vashon by bus on a Friday evening when the Mariners are at home. Not at all bad.

Oh, child racism.

I made a four year old cry yesterday. Huge crocodile tears.

Apples to Apples (jr.)

Because we had a firedrill at school yesterday, class ended at 2:30 pm. Unfortunately, I still had to teach my after-school English class, which for whatever reason, was at it’s usual 3:55 pm, leaving me with 20 Korean children at 3:00 pm with nothing to do for an hour.

The Importance of Meat

One of the most memorable lectures I ever had in university was based on the idea of social norms–the little unwritten rules that govern any given society, however big or small it might be.  In a classroom, no one ever tells you to sit down at a desk when you walk in a room; you just do it. Social norms set the tourists apart from the locals. A true Seattlite knows that you don’t jaywalk. Ever. People who jaywalk get glares because they’re breaking our unwritten code.

I’ve been thinking about social norms a lot since I arrived. Mainly because I’m in the unique position where I’m never going to fit in, no matter what I do.

Taxis…

Taxi drivers are the unsung heroes of Korea.

Welcome to Gwangju

I’ve been in the city for a week now, and, so far, it seems pretty nice. Some basic statistics? Sure! Population: 1.6 million people. Major industries: KIA motors and mushrooms…er, the legal kind. Weather: A more extreme Seattle. Claim to fame: Korean poetry, and host of the World Cup. It’s also the 5th largest city in Korea.

My middle school, Yangsan, is out in the suburbs, by Korean standards. By American standards, I’m pretty much downtown. It’s a ten minute taxi ride to Shinsegae Department Store, the Nordstrom of Korea. Yangsan is also the name of my neighborhood, and it seems to be quite poor. Trash litters my street, and if I want to shop for any foodstuffs that isn’t used to make kimchi, I need to walk fifteen minutes. But, it’s a small price to pay. It’s perfectly safe, my apartment is quite nice, and my commute to school is a five-minute walk.

I haven’t taken any photos yet of my apartment, due to a lack of storage. I’ve unpacked, but there’s a pile of electronic cords, miscellaneous clothing and oodles of books that need places to go. When I buy a desk, or a bookshelf…or something they will be dealt with, and pictures will be taken. Until then, you’ll have to do with photos from my classroom. A couple of years ago the Korean government gave every public school x amount of money to refurbish, remodel, or build a new English classroom. Mine was finished last year. I don’t know how much they spent, but it was easily $150,000.