Idea Exchange - 29 Nov 2010

Now I've been living in SK for all of 12 weeks but it already seems clear to me that there are a number of areas where the UK and SK should hastily exchange ideas. Entrepreneurs, please find a way to make some money correcting this situation!

1. The UK could teach SK about the value of a soft mattress and pillow. A mattress should not be made (literally) of marble and a pillow should not be filled with sand. I'm sorry but it's just wrong.

2. SK really must teach the UK about plug holes! It is a wonder to behold the joy of pulling out the little bucket containing the washing up debris without getting junk all over your hands! Plus, it's pretty entertaining to see what might emerge. No one likes to unblock a plug hole - why can't we all have these devices?

3. The UK could introduce SK to the wonders of cheese! Although you can get 'pizza cheese' and cheese slices, it's actually impossible to buy real cheese i.e. stuff with cheese-like flavour and texture. Cheese should not be a sweet, rubbery food! One of the things I miss most about my old diet is stilton, cheddar and brie.

4. Whilst the UK has started to embrace a cluster of Korean restaurants in Soho London, it's pretty inconvenient to find them throughout much of the country. This is a crying shame because there is nothing more fun, entertaining and delicious that Korean BBQ AKA galbi. Delicious! Likewise, I'd love it if foreign food outside of Seoul wasn't simply french fries, pizza or spaghetti. Please, SK, open your eyes to variety! It's the spice of life!

5. It would be wonderful if the fearless SK community spirit could rub off on the UK somehow. Outside our apartment is a school and a convenience store. Parents plug their kids into the back of the car and pull up outside the shop. They leave the car door open, the engine running, and go to have a coffee/cigarette/do a spot of shopping. In coffee shops, keys and wallets are left abandoned on tables whilst the owners go outside to have a quick ciggie. It's madness but wonderful.

6. In Korea, history and geography are considered minor subjects sharing their weekly 40 minute slot with psychology, ecology and economic studies. It is a crying shame for a country with such rich history and landscape. There's also a nationwide ban on teaching RE in schools which means that students are deprived knowledge of all religions not found in their own home. On the other hand, Korea embraces 'practical skills'. This teaches how to grow your own veg, balance household finances, build a fire, change a tyre, read a map etc. These are the sort of things that UK kids have to rely on parents for.

7. SK could convey the glory that are pump action shower products to the UK. It is a true delight not to fight with a clip top conditioner and screw top shampoo whilst your hands are soapy and you have water in your eyes.

8. SK could suggest to the UK that the occasional automatic light inside your home is a good idea. Mine lights the way to the toilet between 11pm and 5am with a gentle greenish glow - if it senses my heading in it's direction.

Hiking Seoraksan - 20 Nov 2010

I'm no hiker so it may seem strange that this blog and the last are about mountains we've ascended, however, it's that time of year in Korea so please understand and read on... It's the middle of November and we haven't had a day of rain since August so it's very dry whilst being cool so it's the perfect time to explore the national parks. A fortnight ago, we saw Jirisan because of the beautiful autumnal colours but the foliage had already fallen so we opted for the dramatic rock formations of Seoraksan.

Seoraksan is the tallest peak in the Taebaek mountain range and it's very conveniently reached via a twenty minute bus ride from a nearby city called Sokcho as well as having a number of attractions on the way up the mountain. This was our plan.

On Friday night, we caught a train from Hongseong to Seoul then used the metro to get to the major bus station and took a coach to Sokcho. Arriving at 1am on Saturday morning, we were lucky to find a wealth of cheap motels right by the bus station so we quickly paid our ₩30.000 (£16.50) for the double room and feel straight asleep. Bright and early the next day, we wrapped up warmly and caught a local bus to the entrance of the park. To start with we opted for the easy route (i.e. the cable car!) up one of the steeper mountains and absorbed the views. without breaking sweat - Spectacular!
Feeling more adventurous, we came back down the cable car and started our hike. Almost immediately, we past the Sinheungsa buddha which is a giant bronze buddha at the foot of the mountain. We kept going and a few hours of steady uphill walking we came to Heundeulbawi. Bawi means rock and this particular one got it's name due to it's precarious nature. The rock is massive but perched on the edge of another larger flat rock so that men (only) feel the need to try and push it over.

Once we had this out of the way, we peeked inside the cave temple before starting the assent. It was so tough! After you've managed the rocky uphill steps you're faced with 808 metal stairs attached to the rock face. At times dangerously steep and at others unnervingly narrow, the fear factor can leave you breathless without counting the strenuousness of the task.

I'm not going to lie, there were a number of times when I desperately wanted to give up but we made it to the apex with only minor injuries (a friend pulled his quad and I banged my knees in a death defying slip).

The view was great and I'm so proud of us all!

On the way back down (with exhausted shaking legs) we were treated to close encounters with a chipmunk and a big, fuzzy racoon. So cute!
A shattering but splendid weekend.

Hiking Jirisan - 6 Nov 2010

After work on Friday night, we caught a train with a group of friends from Hongseong to Guryo where we spent the night at a motel shattered after the four hour trip.

Early the next day, we dragged ourselves out of bed and caught a 40 minute bus from Guryo to the foot of Mt Jiri via the Piagol entrance. We spent the day hiking the Piagol valley and it was so beautiful. We were really lucky with the weather because by 9am it was warm and dry but not so hot that carrying our bags was uncomfortable.

The leaves were right in the middle of their change so we got some great reds, oranges and yellows too. The hike was pretty tough even though we opted for the valley route as the trail does a lot of ups and downs. Nevertheless the views were spectacular and the shots of the crystal clear mountain river were well worth the effort. We had some bimimbap (Korean mixed rice) before retiring to the motel. Of course, we had intended to spend the night on the mountain so took all our stuff on our backs... unfortunately, the websites we'd checked were either outdated or just plain wrong because the closest shelter turned out to be 22km across the mountain range. We probably did more like 10 km.

I was mildly cautious of traversing a forest with wild bears (especially having found that they are fast runners, proficient swimmers and impressive tree climbers), however, the closest we came were the signs warning us not to feed the bears because it rots their teeth.

On the other hand, it was a very narrow path with a lot of avid Korean hikers (in full kits with hiking sticks and rope) who prefer to summit in large groups at high speed. Irritatingly, these human KXT nearly knocked us over a number of times!

The next day we went back into the national park to visit Hwaeomsa - the most famous temple in the park. It was certainly beautiful but nowhere near as spectacular as the scenary the previous day. After recharging with coffee, we started the long journey back to Hongseong to refuel on Lotteria burgers.

Let's dance in Cheonan

An extended video of the prior blog.....

Living in Hongseong - 20 Oct 2010

There is almost no information about Hongseong (홍성) on the internet and certainly not within travel books. I therefore arrived here knowing almost nothing about it. I hope to help start an internet trend towards rectifying this.

To a small town English girl like myself, I initially found Hongseong to be a fair sized city. The Koreans, on the other hand, practically consider it a village. The truth is that Hongseong has a population in the region of 100,000. This puts it somewhere in size between Taunton and Bournemouth or, if you prefer, pretty much on par with Cambridge.

You would expect that this would provide ample entertainment and shopping opportunities, however Hongseong operates with a very small town vibe. There is no nightclub and the cinema is pretty small however there are lots of bars, gyms, restaurants, PC bang (PC방) and karaoke rooms (노려방). There is no real park but there is a city wall which is currently being rebuilt and has parklike areas around it.

There is also a pretty large shopping district with a good array of unique shops but very few brands have made it into this part of the Chungcheong province. This means that a large foreigner will have great difficulties buying shoes and clothes without venturing further afield. There is also nowhere to buy 'foreign' foods so if you fancy some cheese, a curry or steak and chips then you've got to get away first.

There is a well connected train station which is just outside of the city centre and delivers you to Seoul within a couple of hours or to Busan in three in a half. There is a bus station which is currently being redeveloped but nevertheless allows you to catch a bus to Asan in an hour or to a beach in about twenty minutes.

For me, this is the main attraction of Hongseong. You can live the small town life with most conveniences that you need on your doorstep but without the continuous noise and hassle of a massive city like Seoul.

Daejeon Rock Festival - 18 Oct 2010

On Saturday 16th October 2010, Daejeon held it's first ever rock festival... and we were there!

This free event hosted 15 bands as well as foreign food stalls and international beers. The bands started around 6ish but there were hot air balloons and Chinese lanterns before that. It was really atmospheric especially with the bridge all lit up in the background. Although it was a pretty chilly night, it didn't feel cold at all with the hot air balloon blasters going off regularly.

Some of the bands were pretty good too and there was an interesting mix of genres (indie, rock, metal, ska punk etc). I was impressed to see people rocking out almost immediately and there was a bit of a mosh going on to the ska punk and metal tracks. It was cool to see everyone skanking and having a great time in Daejeon. It was by far the biggest collection of way gook that I've seen since coming to SK. And some of the Korean fans were way too cool for school.

The only improvement would be to the so-called international beers. This was a wash out really as it was just one small tent with a pretty poor collection, a massive queue and not enough pitchers to go around... on the other hand there was no wait to get Korean beers from any of the food stalls so in that respect this top trumps any other festival I've been to. If I were to go again next year then I'd definitely bring my own beer.

General impression: If you get a chance then you should go. Daejeon Rock Festival 2011 would be worth a look see.

My Top 5 Adverts in SK - 16 Oct 2010

I have been absolutely fasinated by the seemingly bizarre adverts that perpetually surround those living in SK. We're frequently stopped in our tracks by the latest slogan or jingle so please enjoy my top 5 list:

5. In fifth place, is 'Lip and Eye Remover'. This make up remover threatens to blind and maim in the cheeriest tones possible.

4. Coming in at fourth is 'non life insurance'. Whilst I get the point of this insurance, I figure it could really be 'death insurance'... and if we're going along those lines then I also want 'taken hostage abroad insurance', 'dying pet insurance' and 'sh*t, I crashed my car insurance'.

3. Scooping third place, is 'Poopy'. By far the crappiest brand of toilet paper locally available to me. Poopy lives up to its name with it's delicate one ply sheets of recycled paper.

2. Stealing second place, is the slogan "Be happy - Be thin" otherwise shown as "Don't worry - Be slim". Irrespective of the subject or the intended recipient of the advertising, it stands to reason that you'll like it better with a just a smidge of Anorexia. Trust me - SK is not the place to expand your waistline.

1. Racing all the way to first place - it's the old favorite 'Pocari Sweat'. With the catchy jingle "I love sweat!", this sports drink has won the hearts of the nation which is no mean feat as a Japanese import. It's actually pretty tasty as long as you can get past the idea of drinking a can of chilled sweat.

Teaching in SK - 14 Oct 2010

I don't know what primary schools are like in the UK today but I remember them to be fairly calm, regulated, well organised affairs. This is a major difference. I find the teaching environment in SK to be exciting and stimulating if a little chaotic. The teachers are so very creative. In my school, this is a wonderful experience because there are so many games, role plays and tools for teaching English.

As a child learning French/German, I don't remember doing any games but if I had then I might not have dreaded foreign language classes above all others.

Teaching English seems to be quite high on the SK agenda, in order to support international relationships for the future benefit of the country, thus funding is pretty good. For example, most kids go to a private English academy in the evenings after school finishes but there are many families for whom this is just too expensive. For these students, the government pays foreign teachers like me to set up free twice weekly after school classes as well as English camps - and the children want to come. My class sizes have doubled in the last month alone. I do 8 after school classes a week but Khalid does 22!

On the other hand, this drive to succeed can also team with the creativity of the English teacher to install a range of nasty little punishments. I hasten to add that this is something that I have never experienced in my school, however, there are so many stories amongst my group of friends that I couldn't possibly list them all. Some of the most common punishments are forced public dancing (humiliation), squats/sit ups/push ups (physical strain) or a painful reminder (pinching, slapping, canes, paddles etc). Whilst I'm not strictly against physical punishment for bad behaviour, I think that these things go too far on 4-11 year old kids who seem to do little more than talk too loudly or forget their textbook.

Nevertheless, if I were to employ such methods (without getting fired) I imagine that I wouldn't have those students who sometimes choose to eat their worksheets instead of completing them.

Cheonan Dance Festival - 10 Oct 2010

Yesterday was Cheonan Dance Festival. A free event, this festival allows Korea to show off its dancing talent and play host to a number of other nationalities who are keen to demonstrate the traditional dance of their own region. The western dancing was very interesting but it couldn't compete with the unique blend of old and new which SK brought to the stage. Whilst I can't comment on their free styling abilities, I think it's fair to say that you can't out formation-dance a Korean. We recorded a little snip of one of the earlier dances but the tiny kids that came on later were pretty cute too (even those in hot pants and red lipstick... hmmmmm?!). The sound quality of the vid may be a bit squiffy because we figured the location of the microphone (under Khalid's thumb) after we finiished recording. Check out the dancing ladies expressions - scary!

Trip to Busan - 25 Sep 2010

Chuseok (추석) is the Korean equivalent of harvest festival and occurred this year between Tuesday 21st and Thursday 23rd September 2010 (in line with the lunar calendar). In Hongseong many of the public schools closed for the whole week so we took the opportunity to travel to the south eastern point of SK to visit Busan (밧안).

The cheapest area to stay overnight in Busan is in Jung Gu. This may be because the area is known to be a bit smelly due to its famous, massive and fantastical fish market known as Jagalchi Market (자갈치). We paid 17,000 won a night (about 9 quid) for a double room with air con and private bathroom.

Our impression of Busan is 100% excellent. Whilst people may love Miami for the beaches, Shanghi for the shopping, London for the culture and Wellington for the access to the countryside - we feel that Busan has it all! Yes - I should be the new tour guide!!!

We photographed the illuminated Grand Gwangang bridge at night and climbed to Busan tower through a lovely little hillside park. Twice, we wondered the endless stream of fish stalls at Jagalchi market and watched the defenceless octupus, squid, fish, anemones and slugs wiggling around in their shallow tanks before they where whipped up and unceremoniously skinned, sliced or simply boiled in spicy sauce.

Using the efficient and tremendously cheap underground Metro system we were able to visit two of the six sand beaches (Haeundae and Gwang alli), two of the beautiful anchient temples (Beomeosa and Seokbulsa) set within lushous untouched mountain scenary, as well as the largest department store in the world which is next door to a massive mall.

I can't recommend Busan enough and we shall certainly be visiting again as four days was nowhere near enough to see everything that this exciting city has to offer. Some of the photographs that we took here will soon be making up part of a Korean Cuisine blog that shall shortly be posted.

Birthday in SK - 8 Sep 2010

Another day but another two years older! Although I arrived in Korea just 3-4 weeks ago aged 25, I am now officially 27. Sucks!

It turns out that the day you are born you are considered 1 years old. Then every New Year or birthday (depending on how traditional you are) you add another year on. I'm not sure I'm keen to be this close to 30 just that quickly.

My birthday was on the Monday and so we went to Seoul for the weekend. It was totally amazing and I was a little dumb founded to start off with. The scale of the city is just crazy. For example, according to Wiki the Big Smoke has a population of around 7 mill and a density of 4761 per square kilometre. Seoul on the other hand has over 10 million but 24.5 million if you include the surrounding overspill within Incheon and Gyeonggi (population density 17,288 per square kilometre). It's definately the biggest city I've ever been to.

I can't post pictures until we get the internet at home (which should be soon as we now are officially registered aliens - quite a relief) but the temples were awe inspiring, the river beautiful and the views from Namsan Seoul Tower just incredible.

Just after dark (it was 32 degrees in the day) we started climbing the steep steps up to Seoul Tower which is an observation tower located on Namsan mountain right in the middle of Seoul. It is 1574ft above sea level and has a staircase of more than 800 steps. Yes - I did almost die but it was absolutely worth it. I can't wait to show you some photos - the river is lit up and there are amazing skyscrapers in all directions.

On Monday night, two of the Korean English teachers that I have made friends with took us to dinner as a birthday treat. The food was fabulous (indoor pork BBQ) and it's nice that they make such an effort with us.

The following day we met up with a gang of other foreigners within Hongseong (South Africans and Americans) and went bowling. I put in a spectactually bad performance peaking at 27 points when everyone was getting more like 100 but it was good fun anyway.

All in all, I really missed everyone but there is so much to see and do here and everyone tries so hard with us that I had a great birthday

- despite my sudden advance in years.

Typhoon Rusa - 8 Sep 2010

The Rusa typhoon that hit our area last week was the worst typhoon that anyone here can remember (and worse since 1959 according to the news reports). It's sort of been predicted because of the changes in South Korea due to climate change. Another example is that the amount of Malaria in the country has very recently increased because mosquitos thrive now that it's hotter and more humid.

Over the area, predictions have risen to a death toll of 200 and the amount of damage done to roads, bridges, windows and houses near to rivers was quite drastic.

Our apartment was absolutely fine as we have a kind of triple glazing that slides sideways so it couldn't rattle too much but there was no chance of sleeping through it. Some of my students windows were blown in around the early hours of the morning as everyone lives in high rise blocks but we don't know anyone that was hurt. Friends in Seoul slept in their basements. The river in Hongseong burst it's banks and flooded the adjacent carpark which contained cars and a tractor. Trees and traffic lights were flattened.

In true tenacious and resilent Korean style, there is now no trace that there was ever any bad weather. But check out how Seoul looked on the 2nd of September:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/22230215.stm

The reaction to this natural disaster has been heartfelt community spirit and everyone pulling together. I came down in the morning to find someone from our street cleaning up other peoples spilt rubbish quite happily, for example. The schools were very concerned for us and made us feel so welcome with their genuine enquiries. It has given us such a good impression of Hongseong.

First few days - 14 Aug 2010

On arriving in South Korea, we spent our first night in Incheon in a hotel provided by the recruitment company. We really needed this after a nightmare flight where Khalid and I were not seated together, were sandwiched in the middle seat in the middle isle between 'interesting' strangers and the flight was packed.

The next morning we were driven to the South Korean Office of Education in the Chungnam province about two hours away. Here we had a formal interview with the provincial Education Director. Following this, we were whisked away and taken to the two schools where we shall work so that we could be interviewed by the Vice Principles at each. This was a little confusing because they gave us our instructions in Korean and we just nodded along but it seemed to go well and they gave us our settlement allowance in cash (300,000) so I guess they want to keep us!

Finally, we were driven to our apartments. Khalid's apartment is smaller but has a little balcony and we intend to live in my apartment anyway. We really like it - it has a wet room (with shower, western toilet and sink), a lounge-kitchen (with hob, microwave, toaster, a fridge-freezer, bamboo sofa and a PC on a floor desk) , a laundry room (with the biggest washing machine I have ever seen in my life) and a double bedroom (with a flatscreen TV, large wardrobe and a 4ft bed). Plus, the air conditioning unit is absolutely fabulous!

The next day, the provincial Education Director had arranged for a co-ordinator to collect us and help us buy the things that we needed immediately e.g. bedding, a wok, water etc. She also took us to get our health tests which we must pass in order to maintain residence. They checked our eyes and ears, took urine and blood, gave us mammograms etc. It was pretty thorough and the hospital was modern and efficient.

The weather has been really wierd. It's very warm and humid but the thunder and lightening has been spectacular. It doesn't stop - it's just continuous peels and flashes for hours at a time. And it's so loud. It rained this morning but it's sunny again now. I'm melting...

We've spent the whole day walking around Hongseong today and trying to work out how to get to the schools, supermarket, restaurants etc. It seems like a nice little city (?town?). We don't have a telephone yet and we don't have the internet at home either but the school is providing both and then it will be easier to post pictures.

We have our first day at work on Monday now so we'll write after that - however we don't think that we'll have any classes because it is the school holidays until the 23rd (we think!).

Off to Korea - 11 Aug 2010

So the visa's arrived this morning and we have booked flights for tomorrow evening. One of our lovely friends has volunteered to drive us to the airport so it's just a case of packing now. We are going to be collected by one of the recruitment agents when we arrive in Incheon and they are driving us straight to the school in Hongseong to meet the Principle (lucky it's only an 11 hour flight). The next time we blog it will be from South Korea after our first visit to the school. Goodbye everyone!

Preface - 20th Jul 2010

The aim of this blog is to describe the trials and tribulations of teaching English as a foreign language in South Korea and for our family and friends to keep up to date on where we are and what's happening for us. We hope it will be a nice record of our time teaching abroad and that it will provide advice to those who might be thinking of doing the same.

Having just completed a 100 hour TEFL course and with no relevant work experience to speak of, it's been a challenge to find a couple post in South Korea but we have finally accepted an offer and have sent all the documents off. That should mean that in two weeks we have a meeting at the Republic of Korea embassy and are given our visas.

The post comes with a two-person apartment and would see us employed in public schools in the Chungcheongnam-do province (otherwise known as Chungnam). We don't yet know if we'd be based in Hongseong, Buyeo or Gongju but everything is very exciting for us at the moment.

Watch this space for dates, photos and challenges we face during the relocation...