Ode to those I know

To all those who have moved away from home even for a short period of time, I congratulate you. To all those who have really had to figure things out for themselves, I commend you. To all those who have battled their own being in deciding whether to stick it out or go back home where life is a little easier, I feel for you.


But to those who are still close to the ones you love, I envy you. Love transcends many boundaries be it cultural or geographical. To forget or take for granted those around you when you live so close is the biggest travesty. Perhaps that is part of the reason why I wanted to move so far. This way I can cherish those around me. What a wonderful and tragic paradox!


The teacher sitting next to me, Bae Jin-suk, told me when she was in London with her husband for a while she cried and called her parents all the time. Then she asked me, "Do you miss your family and friends?" --"Yes, very much so." And then I got really quiet and we just stared at each other for a minute. Then I felt in the back of my throat a tightness. She handed me a tissue and said, "My heart hurts for you." What a beautiful thing to say.


Later that day, Kim Shin-suk drove me home and before I left the car she said, "I heard you cried today." (wow news travels fast)

--"Ummm (looking away) Yes I did."
--"I cry too."

I'm not sure if she meant that she cried for me or she cries in general. Either way it was strangely comforting.

"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date"

...I sprung out of bed, slipped and fell on the books that were by my bed, screamed and then ran to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and said, "DAMN." I told myself I was going to get up early to shower in the morning. My hair was not only wild beyond control, it was greasy! The quick fix...a tight ponytail. It works 50% of the time, every time. Time- 8:22am

OH NO! I forgot that one of my teachers offered to pick me up 30 minutes ago! What will they say about me? "That foreign devil can't even get to the bus stop on time. She is no good." My heart was pounding and I felt like a tornado. I got ready in 6 minutes flat. I ran out the door and quickened my step to the bus stop. "Sill-ye hamnida. Han pio juseyo. Sacheon." "Excuse me, one ticket. Sacheon." I paid my fare, 1,600won. Man, of all days could this bus be any slower?

I jump on. Time- 8:43am,

-"Sacheon gammnikka?" "To Sacheon?"

-"Ne" "Yes"

-"Komopseumnida" "Thank you"

I'm all sweaty, my heart is racing and what do I see? This woman in the row next to me is crying. WHAT IS GOING ON? I arrive and realize it is time for me to take my first taxi. I'm excited. I have the paper in my bag of how to say please take me to Sacheon Girls Middle School. Or so I thought until I jumped in a cab and realized it was on top of the books I slipped on earlier in my apartment. Of course this would happen. Time- 9:00am

The conversation:

Me: "Annonghaseyo. Sacheon Girls Middle School."

Taxi driver: "Annonghaseyo. Sacheon .............."

Me: "Sacheon G-url-z Mee-dol Suh-cool"

Taxi driver: no words just pointing to the book in my hand. whipping out a cell phone he pulls at my book.

Me: "No! you can't have that"

Taxi driver: motioning to dial the phone.

Me: realizing he wants to call the number I have written down. I'm desperate right now. "Ne"

Taxi driver: Calls my co-teacher twice. She doesn't pick up. "hagwon?"

Me: "No hagwon! Public school" "Cho neun son sang nim-imnida" "I am a teacher" (thinking it's time to draw a picture) I draw a picture of where the boys middle school is and say "NAM JA" "BOY". I think he understands! I draw the girls middle school in relation to the boys middle school. BINGO!

Taxi driver: says something in Korean and then "Ne"

Me and Taxi driver: We both breathe out and then start laughing.

Taxi driver: Speaking to me here and there in Korean.

Me: Speaking to him in English

We arrive...and I pay my 2,200won fare happily.

Me: "Komopseumnida"

Taxi driver: "Ne"

Me: "Kon kang haseyo" "Take care, be well."

How does the story end?

My superiors weren't very happy. I was taken outside of the staff room and verball berated and then was forced to go stand in the corner and sing the Sacheon Girls Middle School song. Yes, there is a freaking song. I told them I did not know it. Someone then came out and brought me a sheet of paper. I will never be late again.

Alternative ending.
My superiors weren't very happy. They were actually really worried. "How did you get to school?" I wanted to make sure you were alright. When Mr. Kang said you didn't show up we wondered what happened. --"Oh I woke up a little later than usual and went straight to the bus, I forgot someone was picking me up. I am very sorry. It won't happen again."

You choose the ending. This is like a goosebumps novel. Oh, how I miss those books. In either case, I ended up buying Mr. Kang some clementines and placing them on his desk with a sorry note. I saw the rinds on his desk. Apology accepted. yes!

Questions from the fans

Well, my celebrity status (just kidding...but not really) is sweeping the internet and I wanted to share some Q&A sessions with my fan base. This will more of an informative post. For those that are allergic to anything academic, you should stop reading now because you will start to itch and your eyes will water. For those of the inquisitive nature, perhaps you will find this interesting.

Hi Sam,

I am loving all of the familial reply all's to your email, very entertaining. Your blog is great and really enjoyable to read, you are making me jealous that I'm not there yet. It sounds like you have been having a good time so far. Have you started teaching yet or are you still training, if so how is that going; the kids, other teachers, curriculum,schedule etc?

How is the language barrier? I know you were/are studying Korean but how has it been so far? I am doing Rosetta Stone which has been good so far but i know i will be submerged and lost when i first get there. Hope all is well with you. Looking forward to your next posting and eventually seeing you in Korea. Annyeonghi gyeseyo

All the best, Leor
___________________________________________________
I have started teaching. There was no training for me. They just threw me in. I was a little surprised. The first class, my teacher, Kim Shin-suk, said, "Just give an introduction." I told them my name, where I lived and were I studied. I told them why I came to Korea. It took about 15 minutes (I was nervous too). Then I stood there looking around because I thought my teacher had a lesson planned. To my surprise, there was no lesson planned. I was supposed to talk about myself for 45 min! It was so awkward. I just started asking them questions like, who is your favorite actor, what is your favorite movie, what music do you listen to? The other classes went better than the first. It just took a little practice and time to get a routine going.

I believe at the hagwons they will train you for the first week if I am not mistaken. But as an outline to talk about yourself I would include where you live. I also explained how I arrived. "I took a plane from New York. I stopped in Tokyo before arriving in Pusan." Then I asked them how many hours they thought it took. The responses I got were: 7, 10, 12, 24. When I told them it took 20 hours including the wait time, delays, and actual flight time they were so surprised. "WHOOOAAAA" was the general response.

I teach at 3 different schools. SURPRISE! I did not know that going in. They are all public schools though since I am in the EPIK program. Monday I teach at Kon-myeong middle school (the students are 12-15), Tuesday I teach at Kon-myeong elementary school (the kids are 10-12 and are great so far), Wed-Fri I teach at Sacheon Girls Middle School (the girls are 13-15). The teachers have been more than helpful. Like you read in an earlier post, I felt like a prostitute in a suit being picked up everyday by different teachers in the morning, but it was great. I think they want to practice their English with me as well. Everyone apologized to me in the beginning about their English being poor, but I think they speak very well. What I notice, besides the difficulty between R's and L's, is the tendency to add extra emphasis on the endings of words. For example, bus, they pronounce it 'bus-uh' and lead, they pronounce it like 'lead-uh'. You are learning in Rosetta Stone that vowels can stand alone (OI = 'i', O = 'eu'), you just have to put a circle in front, or on top of it. The consonant S has 'EU' on the bottom. This is because in hangeul, Korean, a consonant cannot stand alone. In romanized Korean they would write bu-seu.

My advice for combating the language barrier is to learn how to read and write the alphabet. The students will be impressed if you can write your name in hanguel and say a few things. chun-chun-hi - means to slow down. I told them if I speak to fast to say 'chun-chun-hi teacher'. I also created an email just for the students and teachers to contact me. I haven't received any emails yet from students, but I told them that if they want to practice writing, to feel free to write. In the subject I told them to write their class number and their name. I created folders in my gmail account for each class in order to keep track of who is who. Monday and Tuesday my classes are manageable with no class exceeding 14 students (boys and girls). Wed-Fri at the Girls Middle School my classes are 30-32 students. So categorizing is necessary! I also told them NO SPAM.

I feel silly sometimes that I cannot speak more Korean. Annonghaseyo goes a long way though with everyone at all hours of the day! I am trying everyday and I go through scenarios with my teachers sometimes. It is difficult though because they want to speak English and I want them to get used to different pronunciations. But I try to slip in Korean phrases here and there. In class, I practice writing a bit when I ask the students to spell their names in hanguel. We also have a good laugh at my inability sometimes, but it's good. It keeps the girls attentive. The last teacher that was at the school I was told spoke no Korean. I find that really crazy, but needless to say, they were super impressed with me. Just adding to my celebrity status haha.

I plan some of my own material and I have asked the teachers to tell me what chapters they are on in their books so I can integrate the words and phrases they would like me to work on. I work with five different teachers between the 3 schools: 1 in the elementary, 1 in the middle school, and 3 in the girl's middle school. It'll be a learning process for me so I just have to adapt right now. I tell myself everyday that I am a chameleon. You may find yourself in my blog Leor!

Annongghi gyeseyo,

Samantha or as they say here, Chin SamanDa

I'm laughing at how your students will pronounce your name Leor!

Dining Solo

I am excited that I can use the barter system here in Korea. I love that my native speaking ability is a commodity and can be traded for tennis lessons. I think I will bring my coach and apple next time too. Food goes a long way. But anyway, after taking lessons with Kim Kyu-min sii (**sii- this is the honorific suffix that would translate into me saying, 'Mr. Kim Kyu-min") the hunger pangs in my stomach were too loud to ignore.

I walked around the Gyongsang university campus area. First, I followed three boys and tried to take pictures of their clothes and their satchels without being noticed, but the light wasn't right. It's interesting when you know you are being creepy and you continue to do it anyway.

I didn't have any particular craving, so I decided to let the restaurant appearance and clientele dictate my decision. The only problem was, I was nervous to enter any place alone. I wanted a nice atmosphere but I had nobody to dine with. If I walked into a place full of varying groups of Koreans, I would become the foreign outcast.

Finally, I got over my fear and did like most creepy feeling people would do. I walked into a restaurant that had two other couples and sat as far away as I could. I purposely sat near the window to show the outside world that, YES, I am foreign and, YES, I am proud to eat alone! I can't let these Koreans hold me back. Who's with me?!? Ok, Ok, Ok... I didn't rally any troops nor did any foreigners come in and give me the awkward high five. But I had a good meal. Look at the pics:

The picture on the far left is what was given to me after I placed my order. Some pork-rind looking bowl of edible circles and peppery soup with strips of tofu. The other picture was a seafood soup with browned rice. Forgive me for the lack of clarity. I didn't want to bring even more attention to myself with my camera. In honoring being creepy, I took a picture when no one was looking.

It was set on fire in front of my face and I saw it come to a boil. A really beautiful display. The squares of rice were excellent. It looked like many replicas of SpongeBobSquarePants were floating in the broth. And again, creepily that brought a smile to my face. So just picture me smiling at boiling soup ALONE!

This next delicacy is a what I can describe only as a cheese danish. What a delectable morsel. As you can see I took a nibble first. In my mind, after the explosion of flavor was fully realized, I wanted to commit to every second of my dessert; to the cheese leaving no space between my front teeth unfilled. Yet, I failed. The time lapse of the two images was about 8 seconds. It was simply too Masitseoyo 'delicious'. Hold on, after seeing the picture I need to go finish it now. Like my friend Jeff once said after I explained that you should pace yourself when eating because it takes 20 minutes for your brain to realize you are full, "I always try to eat as much as I can. I'll just have to race brain, so I can beat...myself." Yes Jeff, that is the American way. Don't stop until your bowl is empty and you have either licked or sucked every crumb from every place you see one. :)

The woman at the bakery where I bought my treat gave me another treat just because I spoke a little English. I basically feel like a celebrity. I am just given presents all the time. Another lady nearKon-myeong middle school bought me a drink with bits of Aloe in it. She said nothing. She just handed it to me. RIDICULOUS, but super satisfying.

My First Korean Friends

So what my new Korean friends are between the ages of 35-46 and are married. Don't judge me!

I was supposed to meet some people today to play soccer at one of the university fields. I got there a bit early ready to meet some native English speakers and have a real conversation. Yet to my dismay there was no one at the field! Luckily, I brought a book and it was a beautiful sunny day. I decided to walk up a bit to see the university, but I stopped to watch some people play tennis. It was so relaxing to watch that I stood there for about 20 minutes. Then I heard, "HEY!" rather loudly and close to my face. "Do you like tennis-uh?". "Yes, I do." was my reply. Then I decided to sit on the steps leading down to the tennis court and read my book.

Secretly, I was hoping someone would take pity on me and ask me to play. I felt like that kid who had no one to play with at recess in grammar school because they too much dandruff or smelled funny. I comforted myself with my book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and continued to peer up over my sunglasses and spy. I wanted to be seen, but not seen staring too much. Then 30 minutes later my plan worked! Moo hahahaha. Someone yelled, "Hey you, come here." So of course I obeyed. The man who called me offered me some coffee and gave me an XL Prince tennis shirt. I accepted with pleasure and confusion. I suppose he thought since I was from the U.S. an XL would fit me.

I asked if I could borrow a racket and hit with him. I think things got lost in translation. He thought I was asking to take the racket. Then another person came and sat down, Lim Sang-hyo was his name. I saw that he had no one to play with and he could understand my English a bit better. So I asked if I could hit with him. Deep down I felt ridiculous. This is what they teach you to say in grammar school, but it actually goes a long way. Little did I know what I was getting myself into!

I played 3 sets that lasted from 4pm until 7pm. They had to turn the lights on because it was getting dark. I played with Park Su-yong twice and Lim San-hyo once. I could tell they were actually impressed with my ability. They were the best doubles matches I have played in a long, long time. And the best part was me making up names for my opponents. Raging Bull was No Hong-seok (I had to make up nicknames before I knew their real names) and the other was Flying Dragon or Bak Sang-ki.

-"Ok, nice to meet you. Thanks for lending me your racket. Perhaps I will see you next weekend."
My body was aching and my eyes were slowly shutting from fatigue. But wait!
- "No, no, no Sa-man-da. You must come to dinner with us. I will pay."
- "Oh, dinner OK!"
So we all went to dinner. I had a Hite beer, udon noodle soup with tofu (man was it spicy. they put pepper in the soup, but it was strangely delicious), chicken and scallion on a stick, some fresh cucumbers and chinese apples, fried chicken wings, and what looked like pork rinds but only smaller and not different colors. We sat for an hour and a half. My new friends told me that my head was a nice size. I am not making up these terms. We talked about head sizes. They said their heads were big and Park Su-yong's head was 'triple size'. We all had a good laugh at that. This is what I need to know how to say in Korean. Forget about my name is, i live in jinju, i am a teacher. I want to know how to say, my head is smaller than yours.

Moral of the story. I am meeting them tomorrow at 7pm to play tennis and to meet a tennis coach. They said they will try to get me a discount on lessons. I'll offer to tutor anyone the coach would like in English if I get lessons half-off.

I can't wait to wear my XL Prince tennis shirt tomorrow. I put it on and it is swimming on me, but at least I look Semi-Pro.

So I lied (sort of)

My first night in my apartment was what I wrote about. My first night in South Korea I stayed in what you call a "Love Motel" in Jinhae, which is close to the Gimhae airport in Pusan.


It was actually a lovely place. The biggest room I have been in for a motel or hotel for that matter. It was 25,000 won a night without internet. When I gave my credit card to the woman at the check-in counter. She was so impressed that I wrote my name in Hanguel or Korean that she peeped out of the window at me. I felt like a celebrity! haha. I go to the room and put my bags in and then some random woman walking around the hall with a bathrobe just comes right into my room and hands me a little boxed drink. I said Komopseumnida, which is thank you and motioned toward the door. It was a nice gesture, but I just wanted to get some rest! Man.



I walked outside the next morning around 10 am, a Sunday, and it was dead. So to amuse myself I decided to play the crane game. There were so many to choose from that I walked around for 20 minutes only to end up at the one next to my motel. Go figure. I guess we all are looking for something familiar sometimes in an unfamiliar world. It just so happened that it was the RAINBOW crane game that caught my attention.

Monday at 1pm I packed my bags and dropped my key off and was told to wait on the corner where Eunkyung was going to pick me up with Marilyn, the CEO of World English Service. These were the two women that helped me get into the schools that I am teaching in. So again, I found myself on a corner, waiting, watching, and looking around. But to backtrack just a bit, I told you before how great I thought the motel was. It was only when I grabbed my coat from the hook did I notice a relatively large smear on the wall. Guess what color it was? Well it wasn't blue, black, green, grey, or orange. It was red! I'll go so far as to say it looked like Blood Red and it didn't look like a lipstick trail... Maybe that's why it was 25,000 won or $25 a night.

At least I got to jack someone's wifi. To me, it was all worth it :)

Fearsome Foursome

I just wanted to share some photos: A time lapse of sorts.

This was taken in 2009








This was taken 2005. Amazing I still have the same friends.




To all my other lovely faces. Don't take offense that I want to keep you hidden. The internet viewers will not take pity on the conditions of your faces as I did :) hehe

My First Night

So let me say that my friend's know me best. This is what my friend Amara emailed me after hearing that I arrived safely.

Amara: "I miss you already. Just the thought of you being in another country makes me sad, regardless of how often i talk/see you. Sounds like you got a great deal on the room and the internet. I hope you are still not on the computer playing anime games or something. So how has it been? I'm assuming since you sent this 2 days ago that you have hopefully ventured out of your room. I don't think you can last more than a few hours without food of some sort hah. How is it?"

BAM! right there. Food made me explore after getting settled in my apartment.

Amara, I did have to venture out. So I walked the streets alone. I felt like I was inside a crazy arcade. There were lights everywhere, but some sketchy looking streets. So of course, I went down the sketchy streets. I wanted to enter one restaurant that had all men in it just to see the looks on their faces, but my tummy didn't want to take the chance. So I walked into a place and lo and behold I was in a sushi spot. I saw beauty; sushi on a conveyor belt that went around the U-shaped sushi bar. I sat down by my lonesome and I was given salad and miso soup with no spoon. After surveying the scene I saw that it was acceptable to simple drink it as if it were tea. Then the frenzi began. Oh! Hamachi, Oh! California roll, EW crunchy mayonnaised encrusted thing (but it looked so good). Different colored plates brought different flavors to my palate. It was a sapid experience. I was waiting for the bill, but realized I had to go to the counter. It was only when I got up did the cash register person go over to my spot to count the number of plates I consumed and what color they were. It came out to 9,600 won. About $9.40. MMM

With no hot water or gas in my apartment, I had to find solace somewhere. And it was in food. I know Korea has a place for me.

I'm in a Suit in the City (of Jinju)

Korea is good. Everyone has been so helpful. I was supposed to take the bus to school, but different teachers keep picking me up. They see me standing helplessly at the bus stop in a suit.. a suit in the city (of Jinju). I have said Annonghaseyo so many times that I have lost count.

My friend Judy's reply is priceless.
"I can't believe Sam is in a suit in the city! That's cool that you are just getting into different cars everyday (like a prostitute in a suit!). Glad they are not psycho killers. "

My American Introduction to Pop Culture in Korea

Stephen Colbert is my inspiration to create my own Korean music video after getting to Korea. This will take 20 minutes total between waiting, watching, and laughing. Please dedicate the full time to go through the links first until you get to my posted video.

Click here for the Rain's original video:

This is Stephen Colbert's version (it's at the end of the clip but worth watching all):

This was the outcome:

Well Stephen Colbert, I created a VIDEO OF MY OWN...HIT IT!

Thank goodness I'm not running for office.... OR WILL I? :)