Koreans really take recycling to a whole new level. In order to throw away garbage, we need to buy specific garbage bags from grocery stores in a pack of 10 for around $3. However, almost everything can be recycled: plastics, paper, cardboard... pretty much anything that has a recycling logo on it. All that needs to be done is to place them in a netted bag! Food waste can be recycled by placing it in a red bucket with a strainer inside and a lid. We need to also buy a tag from the grocery store in order to let food waste collection know that it needs to be emptied. Collection comes quite frequently (at least twice a week), so nothing ever really piles up.
It is quite cheap to buy food at the open market, but also cheap to eat out. The other day we went to a 막창 (place that serves intestines) by accident. We ended up getting cow intestines stew (sort of like a hot pot). It was chewy and really weird, but everything else was quite tasty ^_^ The hotpot plus rice per person was ~$8+$1. Then we ordered a pop and potato pasta (sort of like gnocchi... I don't know what the exact translation is) and it cost another $1 each. In total, we spent ~$20 eating out, tax and tip included. Dinner always comes with side dishes, so we always have to make sure we do not order more than we can eat.
Yesterday night, we went to downtown Daegu to listen to one of the English teacher's(Bryan's) band. We ate out at an Italian restaurant and each had a type of spaghetti and a German potato salad (which was a vinagrette salad with a potato sliced in half that had sauce on it). Dessert was included, but the dessert here is not what someone would expect. Dessert here is normally a drink (coffee, tea) or some sort of Korean food that is not a sweet. The dinner was extremely filling. I could have done without the salad as the spaghetti was more than enough.
Bryan's band was a hip-hop-like band and it was better than I expected. We ended up leaving early though as a lot of people were smoking and I was starting to feel unwell. I tried a non-alcoholic drink called Cinderella, which was made up of grenadine and pineapple juice. Last night was the first night we took a taxi and it went quite well. The taxi had a DVD player that played some Korean talk show during the drive. The taxi driver understood Aaron and we made it home safe ^-^
Should get internet next week sometime, so hopefully I can post some pictures.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Where do you live?
Curious about where we live? You can find Aaron's and my apartment on Google Maps by typing in : 대구서부버스정류장 West Daegu Bus Station . If you zoom in all the way, to the bottom left, there is a spot that says 푸른마을빌라 and that is our building... You can also just try to copy and paste the building name.
The schools I teach at are Gaejin 개진 and Ugok 우곡, so you can see the general area if you put those into Google Maps. The schools Aaron teach at are Goryeong 고령 and Sungsan 성산.
The schools I teach at are Gaejin 개진 and Ugok 우곡, so you can see the general area if you put those into Google Maps. The schools Aaron teach at are Goryeong 고령 and Sungsan 성산.
Monday, September 7, 2009
The Beginning
Things have finally settled down and Aaron and I have started teaching this week. My entire weekend was spent going to PC bangs (PC rooms) to finish my four lesson plans for Monday and Tuesday. Aaron did not have to plan (or at least he was not told to plan) any lessons, so he partially helped me and surfed the web. The PC bangs are used to play games at such as Counterstrike, Maple Story, etc., so there was no Microsoft Word. I ended up using Prezi for my Canadian culture class, which is quite difficult to use compared to Powerpoint and not as versatile. All my rushing and planning was to naught as I ended made my presentations too long and have yet to actually finish any presentation. In fact, I had to split my lessons into two separate lessons as it was a bit too much for my class.
Today, in my grade 1 class, two of the four students were sick, so we canceled the lesson and ended up watching an episode of Fringe that had Korean subtitles. I'm not complaining ^-^
Tonight, there is a teachers meeting dinner at a restaurant somewhere (I am not sure where as I do not get told everything).
I brought maple cookies to school today and it seemed to be a big hit. Everyone liked the cookies and a teacher asked me if I knew whether or not I could buy it here in Korea (I have no clue!). I think I will ask my mother to send us more cookies since we did not bring enough (we had no clue we would be teaching at so many schools). For lunch, everyone is always telling me to eat more (I really can't@_@). They think I don't take enough food even though I do already eat a lot. Today, one of the teachers even brought more food over to me and put it on my tray. As for eating lunch, everyone pays around 1,000 to 2300Won to eat cafeteria food in schools. In Ugok, everyone sits at the same table, but is separate by gender in half. At Gaejin middle school, I sit with the female middle school teachers while at the elementary school, I sit with my co-teacher and her student. Aaron apparently sits with the female teachers in one school while sitting with his co-teacher and students in another.
Yesterday, we ended up going to a restaurant called Tudari and Aaron ordered for us by pointing out pictures (we love it when they have pictures on menus). We ate a bunch of meat and veggies on skewers although we were not really sure what most of the meat was-.-;
I finally took the bus with Aaron yesterday and today. It was really crowded and instead of everyone lining up, seniors rush to the doors and the rest of us gather behind them. I had my bag held by someone who was sitting. It is common in Korea for someone who is sitting to ask a person standing if they want their bags held.
Today, in my grade 1 class, two of the four students were sick, so we canceled the lesson and ended up watching an episode of Fringe that had Korean subtitles. I'm not complaining ^-^
Tonight, there is a teachers meeting dinner at a restaurant somewhere (I am not sure where as I do not get told everything).
I brought maple cookies to school today and it seemed to be a big hit. Everyone liked the cookies and a teacher asked me if I knew whether or not I could buy it here in Korea (I have no clue!). I think I will ask my mother to send us more cookies since we did not bring enough (we had no clue we would be teaching at so many schools). For lunch, everyone is always telling me to eat more (I really can't@_@). They think I don't take enough food even though I do already eat a lot. Today, one of the teachers even brought more food over to me and put it on my tray. As for eating lunch, everyone pays around 1,000 to 2300Won to eat cafeteria food in schools. In Ugok, everyone sits at the same table, but is separate by gender in half. At Gaejin middle school, I sit with the female middle school teachers while at the elementary school, I sit with my co-teacher and her student. Aaron apparently sits with the female teachers in one school while sitting with his co-teacher and students in another.
Yesterday, we ended up going to a restaurant called Tudari and Aaron ordered for us by pointing out pictures (we love it when they have pictures on menus). We ate a bunch of meat and veggies on skewers although we were not really sure what most of the meat was-.-;
I finally took the bus with Aaron yesterday and today. It was really crowded and instead of everyone lining up, seniors rush to the doors and the rest of us gather behind them. I had my bag held by someone who was sitting. It is common in Korea for someone who is sitting to ask a person standing if they want their bags held.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Day at the market
The past few nights for dinner, we have had nothing but meat to eat for dinner (mainly pork). Having had more meat the past few days than I have had the past year (Being vegetarian is very difficult in Korea, especially when we do not know what the menu items are and when we do not want to offend our hosts), Aaron and I have been yearning for fresh vegetables. As Aaron was predisposed yesterday with two dinners, I was left alone at home. I decided to try my hand at laundry. My experience consisted of me pressing a big button to turn on the machine, then putting the laundry detergent into the washing machine along with the clothes, then pressing an even larger button to start. The machine showed the time to finish, so I ended up falling asleep while I was waiting. After I woke up, I did the best I could to hand them on a hanging drying rack that was too small. We'll need to go buy a new drying rack with more space.
After hanging everything to dry, I decided to attempt the market. There is a large market one block from our apartment that spans a couple blocks or so. They sell clothing, seafood, pharmacy products, fruit, vegetables, and a whole lot of other stuff. There are even street vendors that sell cooked food. Ugok, where my main middle school is situated, is known for their watermelons, so I was wandering around the streets looking for watermelon. The season is almost over, so it was very diffiult to find. I did eventually find a watermelon, which cost 5000won (~$5) and also bought some grapes for 3000won (~$3). The watermelon here is a lot sweeter and heavier than a watermelon of the same size I would buy in Canada. It was very difficult trying to bring the watermelon home because I had to walk for 5 min or so carrying the really heavy watermelon on a string (not really sure how I should describe it, but it's ingenius :P).
Gaejin Elementary school is quite a lot of fun. I really like the kids and they are really cute ^_^ The classes are really small though. It is somewhat difficult to communicate with some of them as they are at all different levels of English and some do not know what I am saying hen I ask them questions. However, they help each other, so that does help things. I am in charge of greetings and storytime at the elementary school, which is quite a lot of fun even though the students are still quite shy of me. My co-teacher, Ms. Kim, is really nice and quite fluent in English so we can have long conversations.
After hanging everything to dry, I decided to attempt the market. There is a large market one block from our apartment that spans a couple blocks or so. They sell clothing, seafood, pharmacy products, fruit, vegetables, and a whole lot of other stuff. There are even street vendors that sell cooked food. Ugok, where my main middle school is situated, is known for their watermelons, so I was wandering around the streets looking for watermelon. The season is almost over, so it was very diffiult to find. I did eventually find a watermelon, which cost 5000won (~$5) and also bought some grapes for 3000won (~$3). The watermelon here is a lot sweeter and heavier than a watermelon of the same size I would buy in Canada. It was very difficult trying to bring the watermelon home because I had to walk for 5 min or so carrying the really heavy watermelon on a string (not really sure how I should describe it, but it's ingenius :P).
Gaejin Elementary school is quite a lot of fun. I really like the kids and they are really cute ^_^ The classes are really small though. It is somewhat difficult to communicate with some of them as they are at all different levels of English and some do not know what I am saying hen I ask them questions. However, they help each other, so that does help things. I am in charge of greetings and storytime at the elementary school, which is quite a lot of fun even though the students are still quite shy of me. My co-teacher, Ms. Kim, is really nice and quite fluent in English so we can have long conversations.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Different country, different culture
Well, I have been going to my schools for orientation. Everyone is quite nice and they all say I look young and seem to be comfortable around me (I am guessing because I look Asian?). Right now, it is Wednesday, so I am at Gaejin Middle School. I watched my co-teacher, Ms. Um, teach the grade 1 middle school class. It consists of 3 boys (there are only around 16 students in the school). The basic instruction is a lecture focusing on teacher to student communication. I will be teaching 3 classes (one per level) about Canadian culture.
As for my apartment, we have 'officially' moved in. We have a fridge, gas range, TV, table and chairs. Notice anything missing? We're missing a bed and have been sleeping on the floor the past two nights. The hot water needs to be turned on and off everytime you want to take a shower. We have no internet at the moment. I think we need to get our alien registration card in order to apply for internet service. I found out from my co-teacher the other day that the area where we live is famous for its grilled pig intestines. For an entire block, there are restaurants for grilled pig intestines (and other food, but that is the main focus).
Today, I will be going to the immigration office with my co-teacher from Ugok Middle School to get an alien registration card and a multiple entry visa. For the alien registration card, we need 2 passport sized photos, our passport, contract, ARC application, and fees. I'm really lucky because my co-teacher from Ugok, Mr. Phie, helps me with everything and tells me everything I need to know to live in Korea. There's still so much I need to learn.
This morning I took the subway for the first time. Thanks to Mr. Phie and Aaron's co-teacher, Mr. Lee, having given us a demonstration last week, I was able to buy my token and get to the proper station without getting lost. I was unaware that token machines only took 1000won bills and coins, but fortunately had 2 1000won bills in my wallet (my only 2!) and managed to pay the 1100won fare.
Last night, we went to a newly opened restaurant near our apartment. The waitresses could not speak any English, but we managed through hand gestures and props. We ended up ordering mandu (dumplings) and a meal for 2 people, which consisted of a ton of side dishes, chap chae (fried potato noodles), and gooksu (noodles in broth). We definitely ordered too much, but the waitress explained to us that we could take the mandu home if we did not finish them. They were really helpful and Aaron and I plan to go again, but this time order less! The meal here was really cheap and came out to only 20,000won, which is around $20.
As for my apartment, we have 'officially' moved in. We have a fridge, gas range, TV, table and chairs. Notice anything missing? We're missing a bed and have been sleeping on the floor the past two nights. The hot water needs to be turned on and off everytime you want to take a shower. We have no internet at the moment. I think we need to get our alien registration card in order to apply for internet service. I found out from my co-teacher the other day that the area where we live is famous for its grilled pig intestines. For an entire block, there are restaurants for grilled pig intestines (and other food, but that is the main focus).
Today, I will be going to the immigration office with my co-teacher from Ugok Middle School to get an alien registration card and a multiple entry visa. For the alien registration card, we need 2 passport sized photos, our passport, contract, ARC application, and fees. I'm really lucky because my co-teacher from Ugok, Mr. Phie, helps me with everything and tells me everything I need to know to live in Korea. There's still so much I need to learn.
This morning I took the subway for the first time. Thanks to Mr. Phie and Aaron's co-teacher, Mr. Lee, having given us a demonstration last week, I was able to buy my token and get to the proper station without getting lost. I was unaware that token machines only took 1000won bills and coins, but fortunately had 2 1000won bills in my wallet (my only 2!) and managed to pay the 1100won fare.
Last night, we went to a newly opened restaurant near our apartment. The waitresses could not speak any English, but we managed through hand gestures and props. We ended up ordering mandu (dumplings) and a meal for 2 people, which consisted of a ton of side dishes, chap chae (fried potato noodles), and gooksu (noodles in broth). We definitely ordered too much, but the waitress explained to us that we could take the mandu home if we did not finish them. They were really helpful and Aaron and I plan to go again, but this time order less! The meal here was really cheap and came out to only 20,000won, which is around $20.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
